The Prophet of Islam in Old French: The Romance of Muhammad (1258) and The Book of Muhammad's Ladder (1264)

Download or read book The Prophet of Islam in Old French: The Romance of Muhammad (1258) and The Book of Muhammad's Ladder (1264) written by Reginald Hyatte and published by BRILL. This book was released on 1997-04-01 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Prophet of Islam in Old French gives the first English translation of the only medieval French narratives that present comprehensive accounts of Muhammad's prophethood: Alexandre du Pont's Romance of Muhammad from 1258 and the 1264 translation of a Muslim apocalypse, The Book of Muhammad's Ladder. The introduction addresses the problems of the romance's divergence from conventional Christian representations of Muhammad's confirmation as prophet and the absence of Christian commentary in the apocalypse. It discusses the traditions regarding Muhammad's prophethood, the conventions of the apocalyptic genre, and the propagandistic aims of both narratives in relation to the crusades and missionary activity at that time. These works are of particular interest because they are the first to present to a French lay audience the topic of Muhammad's prophethood, and scholars have long debated whether the apocalypse influenced Dante's Divine Comedy.