- In Williamsburg, Virginia in 1765, Thomas Jefferson bought
a copy of the Qur'an. He put it in his law library since, for him, it was an
inspired law book produced by one of the world's great
legislators, Muhammad. From the 18th century onwards, many European and American
leaders saw Muhammad as a symbol of justice and law. Napoleon was among them, as we shall see. Indeed today, portrayal of
Muhammad as one of 18 law givers, graces the frieze1 in the central chamber of the US Supreme Court meant
to incarnate the principles of justice that the court upholds. I'm John Tolan, professor of history at the University of Nantes in France. For over 30 years, I've been researching
the intertwined histories of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Europe in the Mediterranean world. This video is based on a
chapter of my recent book, "Faces of the Prophet: A History of Western
Portrayals of Muhammad." In the book I show that while many Europeans
from the Middle Ages to today had a negative
polemical perception of Muhammad, others looked on him with
fascination and admiration. Let's get back then to Jefferson's Qur'an. It was a copy of the translation by George Sale published
in London in 1734. Earlier translations of the Qur'an into Latin, French, English and other European languages explained that they translated the Muslim holy book in order to refute it, to
expose Islam as fallacious. Sale, on the contrary, sought to faithfully render the spirit and letter of the Qur'an,
which he saw as the work of a brilliant inspired
religious reformer, Muhammad. In his introduction, Sale
traced the early history of Islam and idealized a prophet as an iconoclastic anti-clerical reformer who had quashed the power of a corrupt and avaricious clergy and
banished the superstitious beliefs and practices of early Christians. "They take their priests and
their monks for their lords, besides God, and Christ the son of Mary; although they're commanded
to worship God only: there is no God but He!" Sale's translation was widely read and appreciated in England, particularly by those who sought to limit the power of the Anglican church. Muhammad had become a symbol
of anticlerical republicanism. Sale's translation was influential outside of England as well. We saw that Thomas Jefferson
bought a copy in 1765. It helped him conceive
of a philosophical deism, which surpassed confessional boundaries. When Keith Ellison, the first
Muslim member of Congress, took his oath of office in 2007, he had his hand on Jefferson's
copy of the Qur'an, which is now in the Library of Congress. Goethe read a German
translation of Sale's version. It helped color his evolving notion of Muhammad as inspired
poet and archetypal prophet. And Voltaire says with
admiration Sale's translation. In his world history, the
"Essai sur les moeurs," he presents Muhammad as a
(John speaking in French), an inspired reformer who
abolished superstitious practices and eradicated the power
of a corrupt clergy. Indeed, by the end of the century, writers such as English wig Edward Gibbon, an avid reader of both Sale and Voltaire, saw Muhammad as a great man,
charismatic leader, reformer and legislator of the Arab nation. Napoleon, thanks to his
reading of the Qur'an, styled himself as a new Muhammad. Claude-Etienne Savary produced
a new French translation of the Qur'an in 1783. He wrote his translation in Egypt. There, surrounded by the
music of the Arabic language, he sought to render into French the beauty of the Arabic text. Like Sale, he wrote long introduction in which he presents Muhammad as a great, extraordinary man,
a genius on the battlefield, and a man who knew how to inspire loyalty among his followers. Napoleon read this translation on the ship that took
him to Egypt in 1798. He took inspiration from Savary's portrait of Muhammad as a brilliant
general, sage law giver and charismatic leader. Napoleon sought to be a new Mohammed and hoped that Cairo's
religious elite would accept him and his French soldiers
as fellow Muslims come to liberate Egyptians
from Ottoman tyranny. Napoleon even claimed that his own arrival in Egypt had been predicted in the Qur'an. If Bonaparte saw himself
as a new Muhammad, he wasn't alone in that assessment. Goethe in 1806 proclaimed enthusiastically that the emperor was
(John speaking in German), the Muhammad of the world, and Victor Hugo portrayed him as a (John speaking in French), Muhammad of the West Napoleon himself, at the end of his life, exiled by the British to
the island of Saint Helena, as he ruminated at his defeat, wrote about Muhammad, defended his legacy and presented the prophet as a great man who changed
the course of history. Napoleon saw in Muhammad qualities that resembled his own: conqueror, and law giver, persuasive and
charismatic, but recognized that Muhammad was far more
successful never being exiled to a cold wind-swept island
in the South Atlantic. Both Napoleon and Muhammad are represented among the 18 law givers
in the frieze sculpted by Adolph Weinman for the
US Supreme Court in 1935. Brandishing his law book, the
Qur'an, the prophet stands between Christian Emperors
Justinian and Charlemagne. For Weinman, the US Supreme Court epitomizes universal principles of justice embodied by historical figures of diverse cultures from ancient Egypt and China to 20th century America. The representation of Muhammad stands tall among these historical
figures of law and justice, just as he had in the writings
of enlightenment authors, like Voltaire and Jefferson. This is worth bearing in mind today when Islamist extremists
claim to apply the law of the prophet Muhammad and right-wing nationalists
in the US and Europe ignore the important role Islam has played in the making of Western culture. These are just a few of the
surprising Western portrayals of Islam's prophet that explore my book, "Faces of Mohammed," recently published at
Princeton University Press. If you like this video, please share it and
take a look at my book. Thank you. I'm John Tolan for the Emir Stein Center. (tranquil music) - [Narrator] If you wanna
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