The military activities of Prophet Muhammad against heathens in the eyes of orientalists

The present study aims to identify, classify and analyze the claims of orientalists regarding the battles of Prophet Muhammad and the Muslims against the polytheists. The battles, which are considered important milestones in the struggle against the polytheists and occupy a large place in the military activities of the Prophet, were chronologically examined in three chapters. Through these battles, answers were sought to the questions of to what extent the interpretations of orientalists and the knowledge in classical Islamic historical sources overlap, which narrations, why and how they are used and interpreted, what issues they are solving, and how they are trying to put forward a prophetic portrait. The fact that these military activities have become the subject of Islamophobic discourse, especially in recent years, on the one hand, some orientalists admit that early Islamic wars and conquests are successful and lasting, on the other hand, some of the efforts to show the Prophet side by side with sword, blood and violence have encouraged us to study this topic. Considering the richness of orientalist literature, orientalist studies that are written only in English and translated into English or Turkish have been included in the scope of our dissertation. In this regard, approaximately seventy stduies written by more than sixty orientalists were examined from the historical section dating from the last quarter of the XVII. century to the present. As a method, no effort was made to give an answer or present a rejection to every claim of the orientalists in the dissertation by using classical Islamic historical sources. However, the present study was also not allowed to be a pile of information, conveying only the comments of orientalists. As a result, it was seen that orientalists were very comfortable with the Prophet in general and his military activities in particular, some orientalists were found to be looking at the issue scientifically and objectively, while others used a style far from objectivity.