‘Mahometanism’: a case of father Bombo’s pilgrimage to Mecca

Abstract

Scrutinizing the diverse history of the Atlantic world reveals intriguing insights into the complex interactions between the Orient and the Occident. While Islamophobia and Orientalism are commonly discussed in relation to Muslims and Arabs, the somewhat archaic term Mahometanism shares semantic similarities but is less familiar in contemporary literature. This study adopts a methodology rooted in literary theory to examine the trajectory of the term Mahometanism in Orientalized discourse from the 11th to the 18th centuries. Comparing European Mahometanism with its American counterpart, this study claims that the former primarily symbolizes the perpetual religious conflict between Christianity and Islam, whereas the latter represents the clash of civilizations, transitioning from religious perspectives to secular attitudes during America’s separation from Britain. Given the scant body of relevant literature, the current study makes a unique contribution by offering a deeper understanding of the evolvement of Mahometanism over time and its enduring significance in the literary canon alongside its profound implications on past and modern-day anchors between the East and the West.

Keywords

• Mahometanism
• first American novel
• cultural and religious conflicts
• eighteenth century
• orientalism
• Oliver Nyambi, English, University of the Free State, South Africa