Orienta ists’ Views on the Prophethood of Muhammadصلى الله عليه وسلم: A Critical Study of W.Montgomery Watt’s rguments

Abstract

It is a very unfortunate and unrealistic attitude of the 
West that most Westerners do not recognize and 
appreciate the great services of Islam and its Prophet 
Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم in uplifting humanity. Rather they are 
spreading hatred and enmity against Islam and its Prophet 
in the West and European societies even in today‟s 
modern era of scientific research and education. One of 
the Orientalists of English and Christian background, 
W.Montgomery Watt in his book “Muhammad at Mecca” 
has established so many arguments against the 
Prophethood of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, to prove that he صلى الله عليه وسلم
was not Prophet of Allah (SWT). Out of these arguments 
two namely (a & b) had been analyzed in my previous 
article published in one of the issues of the same journal 
(Al-Adwa) and now we are going to analyze the 
following two other important arguments critically or 
scientifically in this research paper:
c) Who told Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم that “thou art the 
Messenger of God”?
d) The Issue of Recitation (i.e Meaning of Ma Ana 
Biqari).
The conclusion of this research work is that the declaration about Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم (was a Messenger of 
God declared through Jibril at the very initial stage of 
revelations or Wahy and not directly by God Himself or 
by the physical appearance of God. Similarly, the 
conclusion of his argument about the reading and writing 
ability of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم (is that he 
(Watt) is lacking about the basics of Arabic grammar. 
Consequently, he (Watt) wrongly claimed that the 
Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم (knew the reading and writing of the 
Arabic language and hence reading and writing of the 
Quran.