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Orientailsm is a broad and complex movement. It has been associated positively and negatively with the study of the culture and religion of the East in general and Islam and its history in particular. Therefore, it is crucial to know about this movement and its approach of studying Islamic history. The aim of the first chapter of this study is to give a linguistic definition to the concept of orientalism by introducing the most important definitions which are introduced by both western and eastern researchers. Then, an attempt is made towards tracing back the emergence of the concept and its development stages, explaining the motivations that lies behind this movement and the objectives that it seeks to achieve. Brief overviews of the main schools of orientailsm and some biographies of the orientalists discussed in this study have been introduced. Finally, this chapter has come to a conclusion that orientalism is a movement created by Western intellectuals to determine the parameters of eastern and Islamic thoughts, cultures and sciences. Orientalism also, in most cases, is stemmed from purely religious motives. These motives still revolve its wheel to the present days. In the second chapter an attempt is made to clarify the stages of writing down the Biography of the Prophet (pbuh) in the past and present since its association with codification of the Hadith until it becomes independently known as Sier or Maghazi. An attempt has been also made to determine the reasons of the attention that have been paid by both Muslim historians and Western orientalists to the codification of the Prophet’s biography. I have also presented an overview of the most important books of Maghazi and Sier from the first Hejra (migration) for three centuries. These books are considered as the primary resources that the latest historians rely upon. I have also presented some orientalists who wrote the Biography of the Prophet (pbuh) and their resources.
This chapter has been concluded with a brief overview of the impact of the medieval thought in the contemporary writings on the Prophet’s Biography. The chapter has also come to a conclusion that the modern West is still suffering from residues of hostility left by the Crusades era as well as the exaggerated racism against Islam during the Middle Ages. Although some orientalists were known with their objectivity, the thought of the Middle Ages is still sharpening the awareness of western culture. The third chapter presents different views of English orientalists (subjects of the study) on the Prophet’s Biography during the era of Makkah concentrating on the suspicions that they tried to raise explicitly as in the case of Mober and Margelbout, or implicitly under the cover of objectivity as in the case of Watt. A conclusion has been made that these orientalists have sought in all possible ways to the defamation of the person of the Prophet (pbuh) and his pure biography. They tried to convince the western reader in the first place and Muslims in the second that Mohammad (pbuh) is the author of the Qur’an and Islam is a religion that needs reforming in many aspects. Finally, an attempt is made to respond to the suspicions and untruths of these falsifiers of history using Qur’anic texts, and scientific and historical evidence. I have also left the opportunity for some honest orientalists to take a response. Chapter four tackles the position of the orientalists of the Prophet’s Biography in Al-Madena era. I have come to a conclusion that the orienalists had prejudiced a lot against the Prophet (pbuh) and his Siera especially with regard the way he dealt with the Jews of Al-Madena. They have also defamations in the private life of the Prophet (pbuh). The chapter also concluded that the English orientalists were not far away from the approach which was drawn by Westerns before them to study the East in general and Islamic history in particular. This approach, which analyzes historical events from a material perspective, reflects the view of Christianity and the west to the world as well as the orientalists relines in their studies on old, bias and inaccurate sources. Despite the fact that the orientalist Montgomery Watt was known with his objectivity, it becomes clear to us through this study that he has been influenced a lot by his predecessors. Therefore, his writings echo the bigoted Muir and the Jewish bigoted Mrgelyot. Further research is needed through the views of the European orientalists in general and the English in particular in order to respond to their fabrications that tried to undermine Islam by the defamation of the Prophet (pbuh).
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