{{italicize title}} {{about|the word and its history|the adherents of Islam|Muslim}} {{redirect|Mohammadan|the village|Mohammadan, Iran}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}} {{Short description|Formerly common term referring to Muslims and to Islam}}{{Muhammad}} '''''Mohammedan'''''{{Efn|Also spelt as ''Muhammadan'', ''Mahommedan'', ''Mahomedan'' or ''Mahometan''.}} is a historical term used to denote a follower of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet.<ref>John Bowker. "Muhammadans". ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions''. 1997. p. 389.</ref> It is used as both a noun and an adjective, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muhammad or the religion, doctrines, institutions and practices that he established.<ref>-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc.</ref><ref>Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, edited by Noah Porter, published by G & C. Merriam Co., 1913</ref> The word was formerly common in usage, but the terms ''Muslim'' and ''Islamic'' are more common today. Though sometimes used stylistically by some Muslims, a vast majority consider the term archaic or a misnomer, as it suggests that Muslims worship Muhammad himself instead of the God in Islam.

==Etymology== thumb|1883 map of world religions showing "Mohammedan" areas in grey.<ref>{{cite web |year=1883 |title=Error's chains: how forged and broken. A complete, graphic, and comparative history of the many strange beliefs, superstitious practices, domestic peculiarities, sacred writings, systems of philosophy, legends and traditions, customs and habits of mankind throughout the world, ancient and modern |url=https://archive.org/stream/errorschainshowf00dobb#page/n31/mode/2up |work=archive.org}}</ref> The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' cites 1663 as the first recorded usage of the English term; the older spelling ''Mahometan'' dates back to at least 1529. The English word is derived from Neo-Latin ''Mahometanus'', from Medieval Latin ''Mahometus'', Muhammad. It meant simply a follower of Mohammad.<ref>A concise etymological dictionary of the English language, By Walter William Skeat</ref>

In Western Europe, down to the 13th century or so, some Christians had the belief that Muhammad had either been a heretical Christian or that he was a god worshipped by Muslims.<ref name="meyer2">Kenneth Meyer Setton (1 July 1992). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=hk4LAAAAIAAJ Western Hostility to Islam and Prophecies of Turkish Doom]". DIANE Publishing. {{ISBN|0-87169-201-5}}. pg 4–15 – "Some Europeans believed that Moslems worshipped Mohammed as a god,[...]" (4)</ref> Some works of medieval European literature referred to Muslims as "pagans" or by sobriquets such as the "paynim foe" (enemy). Depictions, such as those in the ''Song of Roland'', show Muslims praying to a variety of "idols", including Apollyon, Lucifer, Termagant,<ref>''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', "[http://www.bartleby.com/81/16352.html Termagant]</ref> and Mahound. During the trials of the Knights Templar (1300–1310s), reference was often made to their worship of the demon Baphomet; this is similar to "Mahomet", the Latin transliteration of Muhammad's name, and Latin was, for another 500 years, the language of scholarship and erudition for most of Europe.<ref name="meyer2"/>

These and other variations on the theme were all set in the "temper of the times" of the Muslim–Christian conflict, as medieval Europe was becoming aware of its great enemy in the wake of the rapid success of the Muslims through a series of conquests shortly after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, as well as the lack of real information in the West of the mysterious East.<ref name="Watt">Watt, Montgomery,''Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman.'' Oxford University Press, 1961. from pg. 229</ref>

==Obsolescence== The term has been largely superseded by ''Muslim'' (formerly transliterated as ''Moslem'') or ''Islamic''. ''Mohammedan'' was commonly used in European literature until at least the mid-1960s.<ref>See for instance the second edition of ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' by HW Fowler, revised by Ernest Gowers (Oxford, 1965)</ref> ''Muslim'' is more commonly used today, and the term ''Mohammedan'' is widely considered archaic or in some cases even offensive.<ref>The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000) annotates the term as "offensive". The ''OED'' has "its use is now widely seen as depreciatory or offensive", referring to ''English Today'' no. 39 (1992): "The term Mohammedan [...] is considered offensive or pejorative to most Muslims since it makes human beings central in their religion, a position which only Allah may occupy". Other dictionaries, such as Merriam-Webster, do not label the term as offensive.</ref>

The term remains in limited use. The Government Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College in Lahore, Pakistan, retains its original name, while the similarly named "Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College" in Aligarh, India, was renamed and succeeded by the Aligarh Muslim University in 1920, and "Mohammedan Literary Society" in Calcutta, India, was renamed and succeeded by the Muslim Institute of Calcutta in 1930. There are also a number of sporting clubs in Bangladesh and India which include the word, such as Mohammedan Sporting Club (Dhaka), Mohammedan Sporting Club (Chittagong), Mohammedan Sporting Club (Jhenaidah) and Mohammedan S.C. (Kolkata).

==Muslim objections== Some modern Muslims have objected to the term,<ref>see e.g. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fUw7Eks1UooC&dq=Mohammedanism+misnomer&pg=PA135 Mohammedanism a Misnomer]{{dead link|date=April 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, by R. Bosworth Smith, Paul Tice; [http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Mohammedanism Definition of Mohammedanism], {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607033409/http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Mohammedanism |date=7 June 2011 }} Farlex Encyclopedia; [http://www.islamicbulletin.org/intro.htm#a6 What does Islam mean?], Islamic Bulletin</ref> saying it was not used by Muhammad himself or his early followers, and that the religion teaches the worship of God alone (see ''shirk'' and ''tawhid'') and not Muhammad or any other of God's prophets. Thus modern Muslims believe "Mohammedan" is a misnomer, "which seem[s] to them to carry the implication of worship of Mohammed, as Christian and Christianity imply the worship of Christ."<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| last = Gibb| first = Sir Hamilton| title = Mohammedanism: an historical survey| year = 1969| page=1 | quote=Modern Muslims dislike the terms Mohammedan and Mohammedanism, which seem to them to carry the implication of worship of Mohammed, as Christian and Christianity imply the worship of Christ.}}</ref> Also, the term ''al-Muḥammadīya'' (the Arabic equivalent of Mohammedan) has been used in Islam to denote several sects considered heretical.<ref name="bowker">JOHN BOWKER. "Muhammadans." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved 8 June 2012</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | last=Strothmann | first=Rudolf | date=1934 | chapter=al-Muḥammadīya | doi=10.1163/2214-871X_ei1_SIM_4812 | editor-last1=Houtsma | editor-first1=M. Th. | editor-last2=Wensinck | editor-first2=A. J. | editor-last3=Levi-Provençal | editor-first3=E. | title=Encyclopaedia of Islam | edition=1st | volume=3 | publication-place=Leiden | publisher=Brill | issn=2214-871X }}</ref>

==See also== {{Wiktionary|Mohammedan}} {{Portal|Islam}} * Christianity and Islam * Moors * Muhammad in Islam * Orientalism * Saracen

==References== {{Notelist}}{{Reflist}}

Category:17th-century neologisms Category:Islam and other religions Category:Christian terminology Category:English words Category:Archaic English words and phrases Category:Linguistic controversies Category:Islam-related controversies Category:Muhammad