Political Aspects Of Seerah : A Case Study Of Montgomery Watt’s Works

Abstract

The study contextually analyzes Montgomery Watt's claims regarding the political aspect of Seerah in the context of his sociocultural background. Despite the fact that he develops many different influential hypotheses, his writings have not been thoroughly examined. The objective of analysis is to identify the discourse's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the principles that shape his discursive positioning. The study employs Critical Discourse Analysis, a qualitative research approach, to examine Watt’s opinion as part of orientalists’ discourse on political aspects of Seerah. Instead of solely focusing on language and text, the technique primarily analyzes the relationship between linguistics and socio-historical background. The three stepwise analytical processes that constitute this study's approach paradigm are, in order, textual evaluation, methodological assessment, and contextual analysis. In findings, the overall conclusions of this study explored the fact that, despite Watt's lack of prejudice as a scholar, several of the ideas he holds are quite unpersuasive. With the exception of certain cases, his discourse constructed its hypotheses in an impartial and non-polemical manner. The research nevertheless found, among many other hypothesized claims, a correlation between Watt's ideological framework and the cultural dynamics of power. Weakness has resulted from context-related variables involving western skepticism, Islamophobia, the narrow scope of religion, and especially from studying Seerah via the prism of a materialistic perspective. It additionally explored the actual identity of Muhammad's صلى الله عليه وسلم leadership by exposing and refuting hollow perceptions around his political character.