''Mahomet'' (french: Le fanatisme, ou Mahomet le Prophète, literally ''Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet'') is a five-act
tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
written in 1736 by French
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
. It received its debut performance in
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
on 25 April
1741
Events
January–March
* January 13 – Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township.
* February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, popularizes the term "the balance of power" in a spe ...
.
The play is a study of
religious fanaticism
Religious fanaticism, or religious extremism, is a pejorative designation used to indicate uncritical zeal or obsessive enthusiasm which is related to one's own, or one's group's, devotion to a religion – a form of human fanaticism which cou ...
and self-serving
manipulation based on an episode in the traditional biography of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
in which he orders the murder of his critics.
[Voltaire, ''Mahomet the Prophet or Fanaticism: A Tragedy in Five Acts'', trans. Robert L. Myers, ( New York: Frederick Ungar, 1964).] Voltaire described the play as "written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect".
Plot summary
The story of ''Mahomet'' unfolds during Muhammad's post exile
siege of Mecca in 629 AD, when the opposing forces are under a short term
truce
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...
called to discuss the terms and course of the war.
In the first act the audience is introduced to a fictional leader of the
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
ns, Zopir, an ardent and defiant advocate of
free will
Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.
Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...
and
liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
who rejects Mahomet. Mahomet is presented through his conversations with his second in command Omar and with his opponent Zopir and with two of Zopir's long lost children (Seid and Palmira) whom, unbeknownst to Zopir, Mahomet had abducted and enslaved in their infancy, fifteen years earlier.
The now young and beautiful captive Palmira has become the object of Mahomet's desires and jealousy. Having observed a growing affection between Palmira and Seid, Mahomet devises a plan to steer Seid away from her heart by indoctrinating young Seid in religious fanaticism and sending him on a
suicide attack
A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...
to assassinate Zopir in Mecca, an event which he hopes will rid him of both Zopir and Seid and free Palmira's affections for his own conquest. Mahomet invokes divine authority to justify his conduct.
Seid, still respectful of Zopir's nobility of character, hesitates at first about carrying out his assignment, but eventually his fanatical loyalty to Mahomet overtakes him and he slays Zopir. Phanor arrives and reveals to Seid and Palmira to their disbelief that Zopir was their father. Omar arrives and deceptively orders Seid arrested for Zopir's murder, despite knowing that it was Mahomet who had ordered the assassination. Mahomet decides to cover up the whole event so as to not be seen as the deceitful impostor and tyrant that he is.
Having now uncovered Mahomet's vile deception, Palmira renounces Mahomet's god and commits suicide rather than fall into the clutches of Mahomet.
Analysis and inspiration
The play is a direct assault on the moral character of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
.
Omar
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
is a known historical figure who became second caliph; the characters of Seid and Palmira represent Muhammad's adopted son
Zayd ibn Harithah
Zayd ibn Haritha ( ar, زَيْد ٱبْن حَارِثَة, ') (), was an early Muslim, sahabah and the adopted son of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He is commonly regarded as the fourth person to have accepted Islam, after Muhammad's wife Kha ...
and his wife
Zaynab bint Jahsh
Zaynab bint Jaḥsh ( ar, زينب بنت جحش; 590–641 CE), was a first cousin and wife of Muhammad and therefore considered by Muslims to be a Mother of the Believers. Abdulmalik ibn Hisham. ''Notes to Ibn Ishaq's "Life of the Prophet"' ...
, though in no way their life resembles the characters.
Pierre Milza
Pierre Milza (16 April 193228 February 2018) was a French historian. His work focused mainly on the history of Italy, the history of Italian immigration to France and the history of fascism, of which he was a recognized specialist.
He was prof ...
posits that it may have been "the intolerance of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and its crimes done on behalf of the Christ" that were targeted by the philosopher. Voltaire's own statement about it in a letter in 1742 was quite vague: "I tried to show in it into what horrible excesses fanaticism, led by an impostor, can plunge weak minds." It is only in another letter dated from the same year that he explains that this plot is an implicit reference to
Jacques Clément
Jacques Clément (1567 – 1 August 1589) was a French conspirator and the assassin of King Henry III.
He was born at Serbonnes, in today's Yonne ''département'', in Burgundy, and became a Dominican lay brother.
During the French Wars of Re ...
, the monk who assassinated
Henri III
Henry III (french: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; pl, Henryk Walezy; lt, Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of ...
in 1589. However, Milza considers that Islam wasn't the only focus of the plot and that the author's aim when writing the text was to condemn "the intolerance of the Church and the crimes that have been committed in the name of the
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
".
Reception
Voltaire sent a copy of the play to
Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...
, with a couplet in Latin and a request for two holy medals. The Pope had the medals sent, as well as a reply in which he thanked him for his "very beautiful tragedy of ''Mahomet''" and discussed the grammar of his couplet. Voltaire had this correspondence published in every future edition of the play, which aided its publicity.
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, during his captivity on
Saint Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
, criticised Voltaire's ''Mahomet'', and said Voltaire had made him merely an impostor and a tyrant, without representing him as a "great man":
''Mahomet'' was the subject of deep criticism. 'Voltaire', said the Emperor, 'in the character and conduct of his hero, has departed both from nature and history. He has degraded Mahomet, by making him descend to the lowest intrigues. He has represented a great man, who changed the face of the world, acting like a scoundrel, worthy of the gallows. He has no less absurdly travestied the character of Omar
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
, which he has drawn like that of a cut-throat in a melo-drama.'
An 1881 revival in Paris was officially protested by the
Turkish ambassador.
In 2005, a production of the play in
Saint-Genis-Pouilly
Saint-Genis-Pouilly (; frp, Sant-Genés-Polyi) is a commune in the Ain department within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France.
It is located in the Pays de Gex, at the foot of the Jura Mountains. Bordering the Swiss frontier, ...
,
Ain
Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...
, France, resulted in demands for cancellation and street disturbances outside the performance itself.
[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Muslims ask French to cancel 1741 play by Voltaire"]
06 March 2006 Under pressure to cancel the play, the Mayor allowed the play to continue despite "street disturbances" from Muslim groups. "Mayor Bertrand says he is proud his town took a stand by refusing to cave in under pressure to call off the reading. Free speech is modern Europe's 'foundation stone', he says. 'For a long time we have not confirmed our convictions, so lots of people think they can contest them.
[
]
Translations into English
There are four known translations of the play into English:
* James Miller's '' Mahomet the Imposter'', completed by John Hoadly
John Hoadly (27 September 1678 - 19 July 1746) was an Anglican divine in the Church of Ireland. He served as Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin (1727 to 1730), as Archbishop of Dublin (1730 to 1742), and as Archbishop of Armagh from 1742 until hi ...
, first performed 1744, published by A. Donaldson, 1759 (technically an adaptation, rather than a translation)
* The translation by E. P. Dupont publishers (New York, 1901)
* The translation by Robert L. Myers, published by Frederick Ungar, 1964
* The translation by Hannah Burton, published by Litwin Books, 2013[Voltaire, ''Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet: A New Translation'', trans. Hanna Burton, (Sacramento: Litwin Books, 2013).]
References
External links
*
*
*A freely downloadabl
edition of Voltaire's plays
including ''Mahomet'', is available from the Online Library of Liberty.
{{Authority control
1741 plays
Criticism of Islam
Plays set in the 7th century
Cultural depictions of Muhammad
Religious controversies in theatre
Plays by Voltaire
Plays set in Asia
Tragedy plays