Mohammedan

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Mohammedan (variant forms: Muhammadan, Mahommedan or Mahometan) is a term used as both a noun and an adjective meaning belonging or relating to either the religion of Islam or to that of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. The term is now largely superseded by Muslim, Moslem or Islamic but was commonly used in Western literature until at least the mid 1960s. (See for instance the second edition of "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage" by HW Fowler, revised by Ernest Gowers (Oxford, 1965)). Muslim is more commonly used today than Moslem, and the term Mohammedan is generally considered archaic or in some cases even offensive.[1] According to the SOED (1973), Mohammedan was in use by 1681, along with the older term Mahometan that dates back to 1529.

The "Online Etymology Dictionary" reports that the earliest form in English of the name of Muhammad, was Mahum (c.1205) and originally used confusedly for "an idol" while that Wyclif has Macamethe (c.1380). In Christian Western Europe, down to the 13th century or so, there was a mistaken Medieval Christian view of Muhammad belief among some that Muslims worshiped Mahomet, while some considered him a heretic.[2] Other Middle ages European literature referred to Muslims as "pagans" or by sobriquets such as the paynim foe. Depictions such as those in the Song of Roland represent Muslims worshipping Muhammad as a god, or worshipping various deities in the form of "idols", ranging from Apollo to Lucifer, but ascribing to them a chief deity known as "Termagant".[3]. When the Knights Templar were being tried for heresy reference was often made to their worship of a demon Baphomet, which was notable by implication for its similarity to the common of the Prophet's name, "Mahomet" used by Christian writers of the time. These and other variations on the theme were all set in the "temper of the times" of what was seen as a Muslim-Christian conflict as Medieval Europe was building a concept of "the great enemy" in the wake of the quickfire success of the Muslims through a series of conquests shortly after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, as well as the lack of real information in the West of the mysterious east.[4]

Muslims have objected to the term, saying it implies that they worship their prophet Muhammad, in the manner Christians worship Christ.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition (2000) annotates the term as offensive [1][2]. The OED has "its use is now widely seen as depreciatory or offensive", referring to English Today no. 39 (1992): "The term Mohammedan [...] is considered offensive or pejorative to most Muslims since it makes human beings central in their religion, a position which only Allah may occupy."
  2. ^ Kenneth Meyer Setton (July 1, 1992). "Western Hostility to Islam and Prophecies of Turkish Doom". DIANE Publishing. ISBN 0-87169-201-5. pg 4-15
  3. ^ Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, "Termagant
  4. ^ Watt, Montgomery,Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press, 1961. fromm pg. 229
  5. ^ "thetruereligion.org" (2004)[unreliable source?]

[edit] See also

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