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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.

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Worth almanac He wrote "Mahomet's Gesang" in preparation for a drama called "Mahomet," praising Prophet Muhammad contrary to Voltaire. However, this drama was never published and remained a draft. It is most likely that he learned that it is not appropriate to portray the prophet in Islam and stopped it out of respect for him. "Mahomets Gesang" was first published anonymously in 1774 in the literary newspaper, "Göttinger Musenalmanach," under different titles. Goethe's teacher Herder, in a letter to a friend, praised this poem, saying: "In 'Göttinger Musenalmanach,' there are two poems by Goethe that you must read. They are worth the whole of this almanac." One of the most detailed reviews of the poem is by German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. In his analysis in aesthetics courses, he explained the poem, saying: "Thus, the brave rise of Muhammad, his rapid spreading of his religion and his gathering of all peoples under one religion has been successfully depicted through a symbol of a powerful river." After reading the poem, German poet Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, one of the masterminds of Romanticism, said "Goethe's poetry is the dawn of pure beauty and true art."