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Zaynab bint Jaḥsh in 20th century English biographies on the life of the prophet Muḥammad

The prophet Muḥammad’s marriage to Zaynab bint Jaḥsh has been viewed as one of the more controversial events in the life of Muḥammad. In the West, Christian authors have long used the events surrounding the marriage to attack Muḥammad’s character, suggesting a lack of morals and unquenchable sexual appetite.  This thesis explores whether these negative portrayals of the marriage has been carried over into modern depictions of Muḥammad’s life. A close examination of the historical sources and a discussion of the concept of “Orientalism” precede an analysis of three prominent 20th century English biographies of Muḥammad’s life.  The thesis concludes that there is little in way of “Orientalism” to be found in these works. Instead, the authors examined go to great length to exonerate Muḥammad from any immoral acts, motives or intentions, with regard to his marriage to Zaynab bint Jaḥsh.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-232445
Date January 2014
CreatorsSundblad, Erik
PublisherUppsala universitet, Religionshistoria
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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