Contact Us

What boosted Goethe's interest in the Prophet Muhammad

The Age of Enlightenment, which gave rise to the French Revolution, undermined the church's authority in Europe. While the church previously controlled all the information on Islam and Prophet Muhammad, this began to be questioned with the Enlightenment. The details on the prophet, in particular, were investigated once again, which manifested itself in the fields of culture, arts and literature. Anti-Islamism under the control of the church lost influence; however, the hatred took a different form this time. For instance, Voltaire, a prominent French Enlightenment writer, pushed all his humanist ideas to the background and targeted Prophet Muhammad. He prepared a disparaging stage play featuring imputations about him, which formed a basis for many radical secularist plays. Despite all these publications that fueled hatred in Europe, there were also those who praised and defended the prophet. German Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, one of the most prominent writers of world literature, is the poster child of this.

  • 4
  • 6
Eastern diwan in West No doubt, one would write pages on Goethe's life and each of his works. One of the most important masterpieces that distinguish him from his contemporaries is the book of poetry called "West–Ostlicher Divan" ("West–Eastern Diwan"). In eastern literary tradition, "diwan" is a collection of poems by one author, in which they array their poems according to their types and the last letter of their rhymes. Goethe wrote this poetry book as a nazire – a parallel poem in the same meter and rhymes with another poet's poem – to Persian poet Hafez. Goethe got to know "Divan of Hafez" through historian Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1774-1856), about which he says: "I found Hafez's poems, with Hammer's translation, the last year in 1814. ... His collected poems made a great impression on me that I realized that I should also be productive in the face of him. Otherwise, I would not have been able to stand in front of this powerful personality." Goethe was invited to Weimar by Duke Karl August in 1775. This is the second milestone in his life. During the 57 years he stayed here, he was involved in many other works besides his scientific and literary works, from inspecting mines and irrigation canals, to choosing the uniforms of the small Weimar Army as the duke's special embassy adviser. His acquaintance with Islamic works, especially the Quran, boosted his interest in the Prophet Muhammad. He read the Quran several times and even wrote some surahs in Arabic. He collected these review essays under the name "Koran-Auszüge" ("Summary of the Quran"). This text, which appears to have studied at least two-thirds of the Quran, is currently in the Goethe Museum in Düsseldorf.