Western scholars resist Muhammad’s success because they romanticize failure and martyrdom.

Evidence

As Rahman says, “Western critics … [are] so addicted … to pathetic tales of sorrow, failure, frustration, and crucifixion that the very idea of success in this sphere seems abhorrent,” Islam, 19. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1466

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to broader scholarship on Western bias in orientalist historiography (Said’s Orientalism).
• SEED: Angle: how a hermeneutics of suffering shapes which historical actors Western scholars deem legitimate or profound.