Voltaire's Mahomet

New English Review







Recent Publications by New English Review Authors
	The West Speaks interviews by Jerry Gordon
	Mohammed and Charlemagne Revisited: The History of a Controversy Emmet Scott
	Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy Ibn Warraq
	Anything Goes by Theodore Dalrymple
	Karimi Hotel De Nidra Poller
	The Left is Seldom Right by Norman Berdichevsky
	Allah is Dead: Why Islam is Not a Religion by Rebecca Bynum
	Virgins? What Virgins?: And Other Essays by Ibn Warraq
	An Introduction to Danish Culture by Norman Berdichevsky
	The New Vichy Syndrome: by Theodore Dalrymple
	Jihad and Genocide by Richard L. Rubenstein
	Second Opinion by Theodore Dalrymple
	Not With a Bang But a Whimper: The Politics and Culture of Decline by Theodore Dalrymple
	In Praise of Prejudice: The Necessity of Preconceived Ideas by Theodore Dalrymple
	Defending The West: by Ibn Warraq
	Nations, Language and Citizenship: by Norman Berdichevsky
	Romancing Opiates by Theodore Dalrymple
	Which Koran? by Ibn Warraq
	Our Culture, What's Left of It by Theodore Dalrymple
	What The Koran Really Says by Ibn Warraq
	Life at the Bottom by Theodore Dalrymple
	The Origins of the Koran by Ibn Warraq
	Why I Am Not Muslim by Ibn Warraq
	Spanish Vignettes: An Offbeat Look Into Spain's Culture, Society & History by Norman Berdichevsky
	Leaving Islam Edited by Ibn Warraq
	The Danish-German Border Dispute, 1815-2001: Aspects of Cultural and Demographic Politics by Norman Berdichevsky
	What's Love Got to Do with It?: Emotions and Relationships in Pop Songs by Thomas J. Scheff

The Iconoclast

‹‹ Churchill sculpture sparks uproar.

A healing place for children ››

Saturday, 11 March 2006

Voltaire's Mahomet

Jack Wheeler has the entire play up here and writes:

The claim is being made that Voltaire wrote Mahomet as an attack on religious fanaticism in general and as a disguised attack on Christianity in particular. Nonsense. He dedicated the play to Pope Benedict XIV, who wrote back a letter of appreciation.

Voltaire knew his Mohammed and Koran. The characters of Seid and Palmira are taken from Mohammed's adopted son Zeid and his wife Zainab bint Jahsh. Mohammed's lechery over Zainab caused him to invent a Commandment from God saying that God ordered Zeid to divorce Zainab and that is was Divinely OK for Mohammed to marry his daughter-in-law. This is in the Koran, Sura 33:37.

The play is a direct assault on the moral character of Mohammed by Voltaire. This is a classic work by a classic Western writer and should be performed on Broadway, by drama clubs and college/high school thespian groups all over the country.

Submit Your Comment

Posted on 03/11/2006 11:06 AM by Andy Bostom

Permanent Link | Email Article | Print | Share This | Back to Top

Comments

11 Mar 2006
Esmerelda Weatherwax
Strangely I have just been looking at the website of the Ayatollah Sistani at www.sistani.org/html/eng/ In his Q&A section he deals with questions of adoption. Zeid was Mohammed�s adopted son. The revelation which allowed him to marry Zainab effectively forbade adoption, which meant that Zeid was not Mohammed�s son, and so Zainab was not a relative. Sistani says �It is permissible to adopt child, but he is not legally considered one�s son; it has no inheritance rulings, Mahramiyyah (intimacy) and the like�the child's lineage has to be preserved. Social Services in the UK are very careful that an abandoned or abused child can only be placed for adoption within its own ethnic and religious group. With adoption forbidden in Islam who knows how many children languish in children�s homes.

5 May 2006

Bill Jarrell
Voltaire may have dedicated Mahomet to the Pope, but he generally detested Catholicism. He was not above two-faced opportunism and given his constant attacks on the Catholic Church this was probably one of those occasions.

Most Recent Posts at The Iconoclast

22-May-2012
Yemen suicide bomb massacre ‘beginning of Jihad,’ says Al Qaeda 22-May-2012
Dewsbury: 11 years for rape of teenage girl 22-May-2012
Mustafa new name, moans hater Hamza 22-May-2012
US Sen. Mark Kirk wants to stop Palestinian Rights of Return 21-May-2012
German Iranian Rapper Shehin Najahi Learns You Don’t Invoke the 10th Imam Against the Islamic Republic 21-May-2012
Brighton police release images of men wanted in connection with March for England violence 21-May-2012
Sister ‘saw parents kill teenager Shafilea Ahmed for bringing dishonour on family’ 21-May-2012
In Memoriam: Robin Gibb 20-May-2012
In Memoriam David Littman: 1933 – 2012 20-May-2012
Germany; Jihadists calls 'Kill all the Pro NRW members' 20-May-2012
Libyan Lockerbie bomber Megrahi dies 20-May-2012
Pakistan blocks Twitter over Mohammed cartoons 20-May-2012
Taking on the Litterbugs 20-May-2012
Netanyahu's Important Message on Iran to the G-8 Camp David and NATO Chicago Summits 19-May-2012
Obama Administration, Unhinged, Wants To Trade Alawite Rule For Fanatical Sunnis In Syria

Search The Iconoclast

Enter text, Go to search:

The Iconoclast Posts by Author

Ali Sina (1) Artemis Gordon Glidden (881) Bat Ye'or (2) Brian of London (10) Christina McIntosh (262) David Wemyss (1) Dexter Van Zile (40) DL Adams (21) Dr. Michael Welner (3) Esmerelda Weatherwax (5717) G. Murphy Donovan (4) Geert Wilders (4) Geoffrey Clarfield (24) Hugh Fitzgerald (12900) Ibn Warraq (3) Jerry Gordon (1166) John M. Joyce (307) Jonathan Hausman (1) Kenneth Timmerman (1) Mark Anthony Signorelli (11) Mark Durie (2) Mary Jackson (4881) NER (1106) Nicolai Sennels (1) Nidra Poller (18) Nonie Darwish (2) Norman Berdichevsky (51) Rebecca Bynum (5201) Richard L. Benkin (15) Richard L. Rubenstein (21) Robert Harris (4) Sam Bluefarb (1) The Law (59) Theodore Dalrymple (189) Thomas J. Scheff (4) Walid Phares (2) z - all below inactive (7) z - Ares Demertzis (2) z - Andrew Bostom (74) z - Andy McCarthy (536) z - John Derbyshire (1013) z - Marisol Seibold (25) z - Mark Butterworth (49) z- Robert Bove (1189)

The Iconoclast Archives

2012
January February March April May 2011
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2010
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2009
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2008
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2007
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2006
January February March April May June July August September October November December

sun

mon

tue

wed

thu

fri

sat

RSS Site Feed