Doing History: The Life of the Prophet

1. Noticing point of view: Consider these four visual sources together with the other images within the chapter. What general impression of the Islamic world emerges? What point of view, if any, is reflected in this selection of visual sources? Do they convey a positive, negative, or neutral impression of Islamic civilization? Explain your answer with specific references to the various images.
2. Considering Muhammad: How might you describe the understanding of Muhammad that these images present? In what ways is Muhammad an exemplar for Muslims of a fully realized human being? Do such images have any usefulness for knowing “what really happened” as opposed to grasping Muslim views of their prophet?
3. Reflecting on religious history: What do these images reveal about Muslims’ understandings of their relationship to earlier religious practices? What did they accept from the past, and what did they reject? How does that understanding compare with Buddhists’ and Christians’ views of their place in religious history?
4. Comparing narrative textbook and visual sources: What do these images add to the understanding of Islam you derived from the narrative text of this chapter?