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Articles

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2021): Illuminatio/Svjetionik/Almanar

Why Did Dante Aligerhi Condemn Prophet Mohammed a.s. to Hell?

DOI
https://doi.org/10.52510/sia.v2i2.31
Submitted
October 18, 2021
Published
2021-10-27

Abstract

This year, 2021, marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, Italian poet, writer and thinker, who has been honored by grand attributes and signs of recognition by many. On the occasion of this anniversary, this essay briefly deals with some of the reasons for which Dante, in his work Divine Comedy, assigned God’s Prophet Mohammed a place in hell. The essay deals with the issues of sources and literature, primarily medieval, which had impact on Dante in the formation of his general notion of Islam and Mohammed, a.s. The essay suggests that Dante did not put a stop to the European medieval, mostly negative and very often hateful and degrading treatment of Islam and Mohammed a,s. The essay points to the need to distinguish Dante from Christianity, since Dante represents only himself, his poetry and his opinion.