The Prophet’s (pbuh) Encounters with Christians in the Context of Orientalists’ Arguments of Cultural Borrowing

This article explores the perspectives and assertions of academic Orientalism concerning the Prophet Muhammad’s interactions with Christians. The purpose here is not to exhaustively catalog all such views, but rather to delineate the predominant trends within academic Orientalism on this topic, as exemplified by the most recurrently cited opinions. It does not aim to enumerate every scholar who has articulated a perspective shared widely among Orientalists. Instead, the focus is on evaluating the fundamental tendencies of the Orientalist paradigm, preferring an analytical overview to a critique of individual opinions. Given that the stance of academic Orientalism, especially that of its early exponents, on the Prophet’s engagements with Christians was shaped under the influence of medieval assertions, a concise overview of these medieval claims is provided initially.