Editing Muhammad (section)

==Legacy==

===Islamic tradition===
{{Main|Muhammad in Islam}}

Following the attestation to the [[oneness of God]], the belief in Muhammad's prophethood is the main aspect of the [[Aqidah|Islamic faith]]. Every Muslim proclaims in the {{tlit|ar|[[Shahada]]}}: "I testify that there is no god but God, and I testify that Muhammad is a Messenger of God". The {{tlit|ar|Shahada}} is the basic creed or tenet of Islam. Islamic belief is that ideally the {{tlit|ar|Shahada}} is the first words a newborn will hear; children are taught it immediately and it will be recited upon death. Muslims repeat the shahadah in the call to prayer ({{tlit|ar|[[adhan]]}}) and the prayer itself. Non-Muslims wishing to [[convert to Islam]] are required to recite the creed.<ref>Farah 1994, p. 135.</ref>

[[File:Mohamed peace be upon him.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Calligraphic rendering of "may God honor him and grant him peace", customarily added after Muhammad's name, encoded as a [[Typographic ligature|ligature]] at [[Unicode]] code point [[Arabic script in Unicode|U+FDFA]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 October 2009 |title=Arabic Presentation Forms-A |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/Unicode-3.1/U31-FB50.pdf |access-date=9 May 2010 |website=The Unicode Standard, Version 5.2 |publisher=The Unicode Consortium |location=Mountain View, CA}}</ref> {{script|Arab|ﷺ}}]]

In Islamic belief, Muhammad is regarded as the last prophet sent by God.{{sfnm|Esposito|1998|1p=12|Nigosian|2004|2p=17}} Writings such as [[hadith]] and {{tlit|ar|[[Prophetic biography|sira]]}} attribute several miracles or supernatural events to Muhammad.<ref>A. J. Wensinck, ''Muʿd̲j̲iza'', [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]. Vol. 7, p. 295</ref> One of these is the [[splitting of the Moon]], which according to earliest available {{tlit|ar|[[tafsir]]}} compilations is a literal splitting of the Moon.{{sfn|Brockopp|2010|p=47}}

The [[sunnah]] represents the actions and sayings of Muhammad preserved in hadith and covers a broad array of activities and beliefs ranging from religious rituals, personal hygiene, and burial of the dead to the mystical questions involving the love between humans and God. The sunnah is considered a model of emulation for pious Muslims and has to a great degree influenced the Muslim culture. Many details of major Islamic rituals such as daily prayers, the fasting and the annual pilgrimage are only found in the sunnah and not the Quran.<ref>''Muhammad'', Encyclopædia Britannica, p. 9.</ref>

[[File:Sahadah-Topkapi-Palace.jpg|thumb|The {{tlit|ar|[[Shahadah]]}} illustrated in [[Topkapı Palace]], [[Istanbul]], Turkey.]]

Muslims have traditionally expressed love and veneration for Muhammad. Stories of Muhammad's life, his intercession and of his miracles have permeated popular Muslim thought and poetry ({{tlit|ar|[[naʽat]]}}). Among Arabic odes to Muhammad, {{tlit|ar|[[Qasidat al-Burda]]}} ("Poem of the Mantle") by the Egyptian [[Sufi]] [[al-Busiri]] (1211–1294) is particularly well-known, and widely held to possess a healing, spiritual power.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stetkevych |first=Suzanne Pinckney |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F-nY3_DXo-gC&pg=PR12 |title=The mantle odes: Arabic praise poems to the Prophet Muḥammad |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-253-22206-0 |page=xii |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref> The Quran refers to Muhammad as "a mercy ({{tlit|ar|rahmat}}) to the worlds".<ref>{{qref|21|107|b=y}}</ref>{{sfn|Buhl|Welch|1993}} The association of rain with mercy in Oriental countries has led to imagining Muhammad as a rain cloud dispensing blessings and stretching over lands, reviving the dead hearts, just as rain revives the seemingly dead earth.{{efn|See, for example, the Sindhi poem of Shah ʿAbd al-Latif}}{{sfn|Buhl|Welch|1993}} [[Muhammad's birthday]] is celebrated as a major feast throughout the [[Muslim world]], excluding [[Wahhabi]]-dominated Saudi Arabia where these public celebrations are discouraged.<ref>[[Seyyed Hossein Nasr]], Encyclopædia Britannica, ''Muhammad'', p. 13.</ref> When Muslims say or write the name of Muhammad, they usually follow it with the Arabic phrase {{tlit|ar|ṣallā llahu ʿalayhi wa-sallam}} (''may God honor him and grant him peace'') or the English phrase ''[[peace be upon him]]''.<ref>Ann Goldman, Richard Hain, Stephen Liben 2006, p. 212.</ref> In casual writing, the abbreviations SAW (for the Arabic phrase) or PBUH (for the English phrase) are sometimes used; in printed matter, a small calligraphic rendition is commonly used ({{lang|ar|ﷺ}}).

====<!--Please leave the following "anchor" here, as a number of pages link to this section using it (see WP:ANCHOR):--><span class="anchor" id="Islamic depictions of Muhammad"></span> Appearance and depictions====
{{Main|Depictions of Muhammad}}
Various sources present a probable description of Muhammad in the prime of his life. He was slightly above average in height, with a sturdy frame and wide chest. His neck was long, bearing a large head with a broad forehead. His eyes were described as dark and intense, accentuated by long, dark eyelashes. His hair, black and not entirely curly, hung over his ears. His long, dense beard stood out against his neatly trimmed mustache. His nose was long and aquiline, ending in a fine point. His teeth were well-spaced. His face was described as intelligent, and his clear skin had a line of hair from his neck to his navel. Despite a slight stoop, his stride was brisk and purposeful.{{sfn|Bennett|1998|p=36}} Muhammad's lip and cheek were ripped by a slingstone during the [[Battle of Uhud]].{{sfn|Gabriel|2014|p=120}}{{sfn|Rodinson|2021|p=181}} The wound was later [[Cauterization|cauterized]], leaving a scar on his face.{{sfn|Gabriel|2014|p=121}}

However, since the [[Aniconism in Islam|hadith prohibits the creation of images of sentient living beings]], Islamic religious art mainly focuses on the word.<ref name="Wagtendonk1987" />{{sfn|Esposito|2011|pp=14–15}} Muslims generally avoid [[depictions of Muhammad]], and instead decorate mosques with calligraphy, Quranic inscriptions, or geometrical designs.<ref name="Wagtendonk1987">{{Cite book |last=Wagtendonk |first=Kees |title=Effigies dei: essays on the history of religions |publisher=Brill |year=1987 |isbn=978-90-04-08655-5 |editor-last=van der Plas |editor-first=Dirk |pages=119–124 |chapter=Images in Islam |access-date=1 December 2011 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ops3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA120}}</ref>{{sfn|Peters|2010|pp=159-161}} Today, the interdiction against images of Muhammad—designed to prevent worship of Muhammad, rather than God—is much more strictly observed in Sunni Islam (85–90% of Muslims) and [[Ahmadiyya]] Islam (1%) than among Shias (10–15%).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Safi |first=Omid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s63i21E9dr8C |title=Memories of Muhammad |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-06-123135-3 |page=32 |access-date=29 December 2011}}</ref> While both Sunnis and Shias have created images of Muhammad in the past,<ref name="Safi2011" /> Islamic depictions of Muhammad are rare.<ref name="Wagtendonk1987" /> They have mostly been limited to the private and elite medium of the miniature, and since about 1500 most depictions show Muhammad with his face veiled, or symbolically represent him as a flame.{{sfn|Peters|2010|pp=159–161}}<ref name="Bakker2009" />
[[File:Muhammad destroying idols - L'Histoire Merveilleuse en Vers de Mahomet BNF.jpg|thumb|Muhammad's entry into Mecca and the destruction of idols. Muhammad is shown as a flame in this manuscript. Found in Bazil's {{tlit|ar|Hamla-i Haydari}}, [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], India, 1808.]]
The earliest extant depictions come from 13th century [[Sultanate of Rum|Anatolian Seljuk]] and [[Ilkhanid]] [[Persian miniature]]s, typically in literary genres describing the life and deeds of Muhammad.<ref name="Bakker2009" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gruber |first=Christiane |title=Muqarnas |publisher=Brill |year=2009 |isbn=978-90-04-17589-1 |editor-last=Necipoglu |editor-first=Gulru |volume=26 |pages=234–235 |chapter=Between Logos (Kalima) and Light (Nur): Representations of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Painting |chapter-url=https://umich.academia.edu/ChristianeGruber/Papers/443477/_Between_Logos_Kalima_and_Light_Nur_Representations_of_the_Prophet_Muhammad_in_Islamic_Painting_ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711133658/http://umich.academia.edu/ChristianeGruber/Papers/443477/_Between_Logos_Kalima_and_Light_Nur_Representations_of_the_Prophet_Muhammad_in_Islamic_Painting_ |archive-date=11 July 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> During the Ilkhanid period, when Persia's Mongol rulers converted to Islam, competing Sunni and Shia groups used visual imagery, including images of Muhammad, to promote their particular interpretation of Islam's key events.<ref name="Elverskog2010" /> Influenced by the [[Buddhist]] tradition of representational religious art predating the Mongol elite's conversion, this innovation was unprecedented in the Islamic world, and accompanied by a "broader shift in Islamic artistic culture away from abstraction toward representation" in "mosques, on tapestries, silks, ceramics, and in glass and metalwork" besides books.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elverskog |first=Johan |url=https://archive.org/details/buddhismislamons0000elve |title=Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8122-4237-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/buddhismislamons0000elve/page/164 164]–169 |url-access=registration}}</ref> In the Persian lands, this tradition of realistic depictions lasted through the [[Timurid dynasty]] until the [[Safavids]] took power in the early 16th century.<ref name="Elverskog2010" /> The Safavaids, who made Shia Islam the state religion, initiated a departure from the traditional Ilkhanid and Timurid artistic style by covering Muhammad's face with a veil to obscure his features and at the same time represent his luminous essence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gruber |first=Christiane |title=The Art and Material Culture of Iranian Shi'ism: Iconography and Religious Devotion in Shi'i Islam |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84885-168-9 |editor-last=Khosronejad |editor-first=Pedram |pages=46–47 |chapter=When Nubuvvat encounters Valayat: Safavid painting of the "Prophet" Mohammad's Mi'raj, c. 1500–50 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/1176067 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102103545/http://www.academia.edu/1176067/When_Nubuvvat_Encounters_Valayat_Safavid_Paintings_of_the_Prophet_Muhammads_Miraj_ca._1500-50 |archive-date=2 January 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Concomitantly, some of the unveiled images from earlier periods were defaced.<ref name="Elverskog2010">{{Cite book |last=Elverskog |first=Johan |url=https://archive.org/details/buddhismislamons0000elve |title=Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8122-4237-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/buddhismislamons0000elve/page/167 167] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bhxPW9B8s1oC&pg=PA344 |title=Visual sense: a cultural reader |last2=Bhaumik |first2=Kaushik |publisher=Berg |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84520-741-0 |page=344}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ruggles |first=D. Fairchild |author-link=D. Fairchild Ruggles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Te5QRi35W5EC&pg=PA56 |title=Islamic Art and Visual Culture: An Anthology of Sources |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4051-5401-7 |page=56}}</ref> Later images were produced in [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Turkey and elsewhere, but mosques were never decorated with images of Muhammad.<ref name="Safi2011">{{Cite news |last=Safi |first=Omid |author-link=Omid Safi |date=5 May 2011 |title=Why Islam does (not) ban images of the Prophet |url=http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/05/why_islam_does_not_ban_images_of_the_prophet.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202195337/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/05/why_islam_does_not_ban_images_of_the_prophet.html |archive-date=2 February 2012 |access-date=27 December 2011 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]]}}</ref> Illustrated accounts of the night journey ({{tlit|ar|mi'raj}}) were particularly popular from the Ilkhanid period through the Safavid era.<ref name="Boozari2010" /> During the 19th century, [[Iran]] saw a boom of printed and illustrated {{tlit|ar|mi'raj}} books, with Muhammad's face veiled, aimed in particular at illiterates and children in the manner of [[graphic novels]]. Reproduced through [[lithography]], these were essentially "printed manuscripts".<ref name="Boozari2010">{{Cite book |last=Boozari |first=Ali |title=The Prophet's ascension: cross-cultural encounters with the Islamic mi'rāj tales |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-253-35361-0 |editor-last=Gruber |editor-first=Christiane J. |pages=252–254 |chapter=Persian illustrated lithographed books on the miʻrāj: improving children's Shi'i beliefs in the Qajar period |editor-last2=Colby |editor-first2=Frederick Stephen |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sjLHirJmvPUC&pg=PA252}}</ref> Today, millions of historical reproductions and modern images are available in some Muslim-majority countries, especially Turkey and Iran, on posters, postcards, and even in coffee-table books, but are unknown in most other parts of the Islamic world, and when encountered by Muslims from other countries, they can cause considerable consternation and offense.<ref name="Safi2011" /><ref name="Bakker2009">{{Cite book |last=Bakker |first=Freek L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4KNSp-uEO18C&pg=PA207 |title=The challenge of the silver screen: an analysis of the cinematic portraits of Jesus, Rama, Buddha and Muhammad|date=2009 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-16861-9 }}</ref>

=== Islamic social reforms ===
{{Main|Early social changes under Islam}}

According to [[W. Montgomery Watt]], religion for Muhammad was not a private and individual matter but "the total response of his personality to the total situation in which he found himself. He was responding &#91;not only&#93;... to the religious and intellectual aspects of the situation but also to the economic, social, and political pressures to which contemporary Mecca was subject."<ref>Cambridge History of Islam (1970), p. 30.</ref> [[Bernard Lewis]] says there are two important political traditions in Islam—Muhammad as a statesman in Medina, and Muhammad as a rebel in Mecca. In his view, Islam is a great change, akin to a revolution, when introduced to new societies.<ref name="Lewis1998">Lewis [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4557 (1998)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408105440/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4557|date=8 April 2010}}</ref>

Historians generally agree that Islamic social changes in areas such as [[social security]], family structure, slavery and the rights of women and children improved on the status quo of Arab society.<ref name="Lewis1998" /><ref>See:
*{{harvnb|Watt|1961|p=234}}
*{{harvnb|Robinson|2004|p=21}}
*{{harvnb|Esposito|1998|p=98}}
* R. Walzer, ''Ak̲h̲lāḳ'', [[Encyclopaedia of Islam Online]].</ref> For example, according to Lewis, Islam "from the first denounced [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocratic]] privilege, rejected hierarchy, and adopted a formula of the career open to the talents".<ref name="Lewis1998" /> Muhammad's message transformed society and [[Islamic ethics|moral orders]] of life in the Arabian Peninsula; society focused on the changes to perceived identity, [[worldview]], and the hierarchy of values.<ref>''Islamic ethics'', [[Encyclopedia of Ethics]].</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2014}} Economic reforms addressed the plight of the poor, which was becoming an issue in [[Jahiliyyah|pre-Islamic]] Mecca.{{sfn|Holt|Lambton|Lewis|1977|p=34}} The Quran requires payment of an alms tax ({{tlit|ar|[[zakat]]}}) for the benefit of the poor; as Muhammad's power grew he demanded that tribes who wished to ally with him implement the zakat in particular.{{sfn|Esposito|1998|p=30}}{{sfn|Holt|Lambton|Lewis|1977|p=52}}

===European appreciation===
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<div class="depiction">[[File:La.Vie.de.Mahomet Christies.jpg|thumb|Muhammad in {{lang|fr|La vie de Mahomet}} by M. Prideaux (1699). He holds a sword and a crescent while trampling on a globe, a [[Christian cross|cross]], and the [[Ten Commandments]].]]</div>
[[Guillaume Postel]] was among the first to present a more positive view of Muhammad when he argued that Muhammad should be esteemed by Christians as a valid prophet.{{sfn|Buhl|Welch|1993}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Warraq |first=Ibn |title=Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism |publisher=Prometheus |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-61592-020-4 |page=147 |quote=Indeed, [Postel's] greater tolerance for other religions was much in evidence in {{lang|grc|Πανθενωδια}}: {{lang|la|compostio omnium dissidiorum}}, where, astonishingly for the sixteenth century, he argued that Muhammad ought to be esteemed even in Christendom as a genuine prophet.}}</ref> [[Gottfried Leibniz]] praised Muhammad because "he did not deviate from the [[natural religion]]".{{sfn|Buhl|Welch|1993}} [[Henri de Boulainvilliers]], in his {{lang|fr|Vie de Mahomed}} which was published posthumously in 1730, described Muhammad as a gifted political leader and a just lawmaker.{{sfn|Buhl|Welch|1993}} He presents him as a divinely inspired messenger whom God employed to confound the bickering Oriental Christians, to liberate the Orient from the despotic rule of the Romans and Persians, and to spread the knowledge of the unity of God from India to Spain.{{sfn|Brockopp|2010|pp=240–242}} Voltaire had a mixed opinion on Muhammad: in his play {{lang|fr|[[Mahomet (play)|Le fanatisme, ou Mahomet le Prophète]]}} he vilifies Muhammad as a symbol of fanaticism, and in an essay in 1748 he calls him "a sublime and hearty charlatan". But in Voltaire's historical survey {{lang|fr|Essai sur les mœurs}}, he presents Mohammed as a legislator and conqueror and calls him an "enthusiast".{{sfn|Brockopp|2010|pp=240–242}} [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], in his ''[[The Social Contract|Social Contract]]'' (1762), "brushing aside hostile legends of Muhammad as a trickster and impostor, presents him as a sage legislator who wisely fused religious and political powers".{{sfn|Brockopp|2010|pp=240–242}} In [[Claude-Emmanuel de Pastoret|Emmanuel Pastoret]]'s 1787 ''Zoroaster, Confucius and Muhammad'', he presents the lives of these three "great men", "the greatest legislators of the universe", and compares their careers as religious reformers and lawgivers. Pastoret rejects the common view that Muhammad is an impostor and argues that the Quran proffers "the most sublime truths of cult and morals"; it defines the unity of God with an "admirable concision". Pastoret writes that the common accusations of his immorality are unfounded: on the contrary, his law enjoins sobriety, generosity, and compassion on his followers: the "legislator of Arabia" was "a great man".{{sfn|Brockopp|2010|pp=240–242}} [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] admired Muhammad and Islam,<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/talkofnapoleonat007678mbp#page/n321/mode/2up ''Talk Of Napoleon At St. Helena''] 1903, pp. 279–280.</ref> and described him as a model lawmaker and conqueror.{{sfn|Brockopp|2010|p=244}} [[Thomas Carlyle]] in his book ''[[On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History]]'' 1841 describes "Mahomet" as "A silent great soul; he was one of those who cannot <em>but</em> be in earnest".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carlyle |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/onheroesherowor08carlgoog |title=On heroes, hero worship and the heroic in history |publisher=James Fraser |year=1841 |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/onheroesherowor08carlgoog/page/n95 87]}}</ref> Carlyle's interpretation has been widely cited by Muslim scholars as a demonstration that Western scholarship validates Muhammad's status as a great man in history.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ali |first=Kecia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-oWYBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 |title=The Lives of Muhammad |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-674-74448-6 |page=48}}</ref>

[[Ian Almond]] says that [[German Romantic]] writers generally held positive views of Muhammad: "[[Goethe]]'s 'extraordinary' poet-prophet, [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]]'s nation builder (...) [[Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel|Schlegel]]'s admiration for Islam as an aesthetic product, enviably authentic, radiantly holistic, played such a central role in his view of Mohammed as an exemplary world-fashioner that he even used it as a scale of judgement for the classical (the dithyramb, we are told, has to radiate pure beauty if it is to resemble 'a Koran of poetry')".<ref>Ian Almond, ''History of Islam in German Thought: From Leibniz to Nietzsche'', Routledge 2009, p. 93.</ref> After quoting [[Heinrich Heine]], who said in a letter to some friend that "I must admit that you, the great prophet of Mecca, are the greatest poet and that your Quran... will not easily escape my memory", [[John V. Tolan|John Tolan]] goes on to show how Jews in Europe in particular held more nuanced views about Muhammad and Islam, being an [[ethnoreligious]] minority feeling discriminated, they specifically lauded [[Al-Andalus]], and thus, "writing about Islam was for Jews a way of indulging in a fantasy world, far from the persecution and [[pogroms]] of nineteenth-century Europe, where Jews could live in harmony with their non-Jewish neighbors".<ref>Tolan, John. "The Prophet Muhammad: A Model of Monotheistic Reform for Nineteenth-Century Ashkenaz." ''Common Knowledge'', vol. 24 no. 2, 2018, pp. 256–279.</ref>

Recent writers such as [[William Montgomery Watt]] and [[Richard Bell (Arabist)|Richard Bell]] dismiss the idea that Muhammad deliberately deceived his followers, arguing that Muhammad "was absolutely sincere and acted in complete good faith"<ref>{{cite book|first1=Richard|last1=Bell|date=1970|page=18|title=Bell's Introduction to the Qurʼān|first2=William Montgomery|last2=Watt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ONI-AAAAYAAJ|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-0597-2 }}</ref> and Muhammad's readiness to endure hardship for his cause, with what seemed to be no rational basis for hope, shows his sincerity.{{sfn|Watt|1961|p=232}} Watt, however, says that sincerity does not directly imply correctness: in contemporary terms, Muhammad might have mistaken his subconscious for divine revelation.{{sfn|Watt|1961|p=17}} Watt and [[Bernard Lewis]] argue that viewing Muhammad as a self-seeking impostor makes it impossible to understand Islam's development.{{sfn|Holt|Lambton|Lewis|1977|p=37}}<ref>Lewis 1993, p. 45.</ref> [[Alford T. Welch]] holds that Muhammad was able to be so influential and successful because of his firm belief in his vocation.{{sfn|Buhl|Welch|1993}}

===Criticism===
{{Main|Criticism of Muhammad}}
{{See also|Criticism of Islam|Criticism of the Quran}}

[[Criticism of Muhammad]] has existed since the 7th century, when Muhammad was decried by his [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|non-Muslim Arab]] contemporaries for preaching monotheism, and by the [[Jewish tribes of Arabia]] for his perceived appropriation of Biblical narratives and [[List of biblical names|figures]] and proclamation of himself as the "[[Seal of the Prophets]]".{{sfn|Gottheil|Montgomery|Grimme|1906}}{{sfn|Stillman|1979}}{{sfn|Goddard|2000}}{{sfn|Buhl|Welch|1993|pp=360–376}} In the [[Middle Ages]], Western and Byzantine Christians labeled him a [[False prophet#Christianity|false prophet]], the [[Antichrist]], or portrayed him as a [[Heresy in Christianity|heretic]].{{sfn|Quinn|2008}}{{sfn|Goddard|2000}}{{sfn|Curtis|2009}}{{sfn|Buhl|Welch|1993|pp=360–376}} Contemporary criticism involves questioning Muhammad's legitimacy as a prophet, his moral conduct, [[Muhammad's wives|marriages]], [[Slavery in Islam|ownership of slaves]], treatment of enemies, approach to doctrinal matters, and psychological well-being.{{sfn|Quinn|2008}}{{sfn|Cimino|2005}}{{sfn|Willis|2013}}{{sfn|Spellberg|1996}}

===Sufism===
{{See also|Sufism}}

The sunnah contributed much to the development of Islamic law, particularly from the end of the first Islamic century.<ref>J. Schacht, ''Fiḳh'', Encyclopaedia of Islam.</ref> Muslim mystics, known as [[Sufi]]s, who were seeking for the inner meaning of the Quran and the inner nature of Muhammad, viewed the prophet of Islam not only as a prophet but also as a perfect human being. All Sufi orders trace their chain of spiritual descent back to Muhammad.<ref>''Muhammad'', Encyclopædia Britannica, pp. 11–12.</ref>

===Other religions===
{{See also|Judaism's view of Muhammad|Muhammad in the Baháʼí Faith}}
Muhammad Sahib is honored by Sikhs as one of the divine messengers sent to mankind, along with Moses, Jesus and others.<ref name="jj1">{{cite book |last=Johal |first=Jagbir |title=Sikhism today |publisher=Continuum |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4411-8140-4 |pages=1–2}}</ref> Guru Granth Sahib, the holiest book of Sikhism, states that a true Muslim who follows the faith of Muhammad would put aside the "delusion of death and life."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com.pk/books/edition/The_Sikh_Review/t3XXAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Becoming+a+true+Muslim,+a+disciple+of+the+faith+of+Mohammed&dq=Becoming+a+true+Muslim,+a+disciple+of+the+faith+of+Mohammed&printsec=frontcover |title=The Sikh Review |date=2003 |publisher=Sikh Cultural Centre. |language=en}}</ref> The founder of Sikhism, [[Guru Nanak]], is specifically said to have praised Muhammad as a source of divine experience having a personal influence on his life, as stated in the {{Transliteration|pa|[[janamsakhi]]}} of [[Bhai Bala]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/KhalsaSamachar-GurubaniIsJagMahiChanNu/page/n7/mode/2up |title=Khalsa Samachar - Gurubani Is Jag Mahi Chan Nu |language=Punjabi}}</ref>

Followers of the [[Baháʼí Faith]] venerate Muhammad as one of a number of prophets or "[[Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)|Manifestations of God]]". He is thought to be the final manifestation, or seal of the [[Progressive revelation (Baháʼí)|Adamic cycle]], but consider his teachings to have been superseded by those of [[Bahá'u'lláh]], the founder of the Baháʼí faith, and the first manifestation of the current cycle.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=P. |title=A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith |publisher=Oneworld |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-85168-184-6 |location=Oxford |page=251}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Baháʼí Approach to the Claim of Finality in Islam |url=http://bahai-library.com/fananapazir_fazel_finality_islam |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160619035122/http://bahai-library.com/fananapazir_fazel_finality_islam |archive-date=19 June 2016 |access-date=20 June 2016 |website=bahai-library.com}}</ref>

[[Druze]] tradition honors several "mentors" and "prophets",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brockman |first=Norbert C. |title=Encyclopedia of Sacred Places |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-59884-655-3 |edition=2nd |page=259}}</ref> and Muhammad is considered an important prophet of God in the Druze faith, being among the seven prophets who appeared in different periods of history.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hitti |first=Philip K. |title=The Origins of the Druze People and Religion: With Extracts from Their Sacred Writings |publisher=Library of Alexandria |year=1928 |isbn=978-1-4655-4662-3 |page=37}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dana |first=Nissim |title=The Druze in the Middle East: Their Faith, Leadership, Identity and Status |publisher=Michigan University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-903900-36-9 |page=17}}</ref>