William Montgomery Watt (14 March 1909 – 24 October 2006) was a
Scottish Orientalist,
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
,
academic and
Anglican priest. From 1964 to 1979, he was Professor of
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
and
Islamic studies
Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theologies of other religious traditions, such as Easter ...
at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...
.
Watt was one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
in the West, and according to
Carole Hillenbrand "an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s all over the world". Watt's comprehensive biography of the
Islamic prophet
Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets ar ...
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...
, ''
Muhammad at Mecca'' (1953) and ''
Muhammad at Medina'' (1956), are considered to be classics in the field.
Early life and education
Watt was born on 14 March 1909 in
Ceres,
Fife, Scotland.
His father, who died when he was only 14 months old, was a minister of the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
.
Career
Ordained ministry
Watt was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
in the
Scottish Episcopal Church
The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland.
A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...
as a
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
in 1939 and as a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
in 1940.
He served his
curacy at
St Mary The Boltons,
West Brompton
West Brompton is an area of south-west London, that straddles the boundary between the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The centuries-old boundary was traced by Counter's Creek, now lost ...
, in the
Diocese of London from 1939 to 1941.
When St Mary's was damaged in
The Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
, he moved to
Old Saint Paul's, Edinburgh to continue his training.
From 1943 to 1946, he served as an Arabic specialist to the
Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem
The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem ( ar, أبرشية القدس الأنغليكانية) is the Anglican jurisdiction for Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It is a part of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Mi ...
.
After Watt returned to academia in 1946, he never again held a full-time religious appointment. He did, however, continue his ministry with part-time and honorary positions. From 1946 to 1960, he was an
honorary curate at Old Saint Paul's, Edinburgh, an
Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...
church in Edinburgh.
He became a member of the
ecumenical Iona Community in Scotland in 1960.
From 1960 to 1967, he was an honorary curate at
St Columba's-by-the-Castle
St Columba's-by-the-Castle is a congregation of the Scottish Episcopal Church in central Edinburgh, Scotland. The church is located close to Edinburgh Castle, on the south slope of Castle Hill, and is protected as a category B listed building.
...
, near
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...
.
Between 1980 and 1993, following his retirement from academia, he was an honorary curate at St Mary the Virgin,
Dalkeith and at St Leonard's Church,
Lasswade
Lasswade is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River North Esk, nine miles (14.5 kilometres) south of Edinburgh city centre, contiguous with Bonnyrigg and between Dalkeith to the east and Loanhead to the west. Melville ...
.
Academic career
Watt was Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh from 1964 to 1979.
He has been called "the Last
Orientalist".
Watt held
visiting professorships at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, the
Collège de France, and
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...
Later life
Watt died in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
on 24 October 2006 at the age of 97. He had four daughters and a son with his wife Jean. The family went on holidays in
Crail, a Scottish village. On his death, the writer
Richard Holloway
Richard Holloway FRSE (born 26 November 1933) is a Scottish writer, broadcaster and cleric. He was the Bishop of Edinburgh from 1986 to 2000 and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 1992 to 2000.
Early life and education
Born in Pos ...
wrote of Watt that "he spent his life battling against the tide of intolerance".
Honours
Watt received the American
Giorgio Levi Della Vida Medal and won, as its first recipient, the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies award for outstanding scholarship.
Watt received an
Honorary Doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
from
Aberdeen University.
Views
Watt believed that the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...
was
divinely inspired but not
infallibly true.
[
]Martin Forward
Martin Forward is a British, Methodist Christian lecturer and author on religion and Professor of History at Aurora University, Illinois. He has taught Islam at the Universities of Leicester, Bristol and Cambridge, and had spent a period of time i ...
, a 21st-century non-Muslim Islamic scholar The following is a list of notable non-Muslim authors on Islam.
Chronological by date of birth
622 to 1500
*Sebeos (fl. 651), Armenian historian, documented in his ''History'' the rise of Muhammad and the early Muslim conquests.
* Joannis Damascen ...
, states:
Carole Hillenbrand, a professor of Islamic History at the University of Edinburgh, states:
His account of the origin of Islam met with criticism from other scholars such as John Wansbrough of the University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
's School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ...
, and Patricia Crone and Michael Cook, in their book '' Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World (1977)'', and Crone's '' Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam''. However, Both Patricia Crone and Michael Cook have later suggested that the central thesis of the book "Hagarism" was mistaken because the evidence they had to support the thesis was not sufficient or internally consistent enough.
Reception
Pakistani academic, Zafar Ali Qureshi, in his book, ''Prophet Muhammad and His Western Critics: A Critique of W. Montgomery Watt and Others'' has criticized Watt as having incorrectly portrayed the life of Muhammad in his works. Qureshi's book was praised by Turkish academic İbrahim Kalın
İbrahim Kalın (born September 15, 1971 in Istanbul) is a Turkish bureaucrat and Islamic studies scholar. In 2018, he was appointed as deputy chairman of the Security and Foreign Policy Council of Turkish Presidency and chief adviser to the Presi ...
.
Georges-Henri Bousquet has mocked Watt's book, ''Muhammad at Mecca'', describing it as "A Marxist interpretation of the origins of Islam by an Episcopal clergyman."
Selected works
* ''The faith and practice of al-Ghazālī'' (1953)
* '' Muhammad at Mecca'' (1953)
* '' Muhammad at Medina'' (1956)
online
* ''Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman'' (1961) , a summary of the above two major works
online
* ''Islamic Philosophy and Theology'' (1962)
* ''Islamic Political Thought'' (1968)
* ''Islamic Surveys: The Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe'' (1972)
* ''The Majesty That Was Islam'' (1976)
* ''What Is Islam?'' (1980)
* ''Muhammad's Mecca'' (1988)
* ''Muslim-Christian Encounters: Perceptions and Misperceptions'' (1991)
* ''Early Islam'' (1991)
* ''Islamic Philosophy And Theology'' (1987)
* ''Islamic Creeds'' (1994)
* ''History of Islamic Spain'' (1996)
* ''Islamic Political Thought'' (1998)
* ''Islam and the Integration of Society'' (1998)
* ''Islam: A Short History'' (1999)
* ''A Christian Faith For Today'' (2002)
References
External links
"Sirat An-Nabi and the Orientalists"
Criticism of some of Watt's works by Muhammad Mohar Ali
Obituary
by Charlotte Alfred. Edinburgh Middle East Report Online, a journal founded in Watt's former department. Winter 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, W. Montgomery
British Islamic studies scholars
Scottish Arabists
Scottish orientalists
Scottish Episcopalian priests
1909 births
2006 deaths
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Iona Community members
Scottish Christians
20th-century Scottish historians
Writers from Fife
Christian scholars of Islam