INSIGHTS, ‘Mu╒ammad (peace be on him) and the West’ Number, 02: 4 (Summer 2010) pp. 029-100 Image of the Messenger Mu╒ammad (peace be on him) in the English Literature From Early Middle Ages to Present Fahd Mohammed Taleb Saeed Al-Olaqi ∗ English Language Department, Faculty of Science & Arts — Khulais King Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia <falolaqi@kau.edu.sa> <http://sak.njb.kau.edu.sa> A B S T R A C T This paper delves into the corpus of English literature written from the early middle ages to the present age to study the attitudes of English writers toward the Messenger Mu╒ammad (peace be on him) and examines how they varied during various literary ages in the English Literature. This paper argues that the image of the Messenger Mu╒ammad (peace be on him) passed through two phases in the English Literature. The paper shows that the image of the Messenger Mu╒ammad (peace be on him) which was created in early mediaeval times continued through the Elizabethan period without much change, which do popup every now and then in the western media and literary works even in the contemporary times. On the other hand, new literary images of the Messenger Mu╒ammad (peace be on him) which started emerging in the Victorian era are recurring in the Modern times with some ups and downs. The paper closes with the plea to western academy to do more academic efforts for making a truthful image of the Messenger Mu╒ammad (peace be on him) necessary for a meaningful dialogue of civilisations and for better Muslim Christian relations. ∗ Dr Fahd Mohammed Taleb Saeed Al-Olaqi is Associate Professor at the English Language Department, Faculty of Science and Arts — Khulais, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. He has contributed research papers in various academic journals. His areas of interest include, Orientalism, English Literature, and Messenger Mu╒ammad (peace be on him) and the Qur’┐n in Western writings.