Dore’s and Blake’s illustrations of Muhammad in Hell came over five hundred years after Dante penned his famous poem. These two images inspired by the Divine Comedy are a testament to an enduring legacy. In terms of negatively stereotyping Islam and Muslims, Dante Alighieri’s description of Muhammad’s torments in the Eighth Circle of Hell is one of the most noteworthy passages found in medieval Western European poetry, not only because of its graphic imagery, but also because of the impression it has left on the imagination of later European scholars and authors. Gustave Dorés (183283) illustrations and Dantes Divine Comedy have become so intimately connected that even today, nearly 150 years after their initial publication, Dorés rendering of the poets text still accompanies, or even determines, our vision of the Commedia. Durante degli Alighieri, known as Dante (12651321), was a major Italian poet of the Middle Ages. By portraying two of Islam’s most important figures as schismatics, Dante demotes Islam to the status of a particularly virulent brand of Christian heresy. The punishment visited upon Muhammad and Ali by the sword-wielding demon fits their crimes as they proceed in a single-file line, their bodies are sliced open: “How is Mohammed mangled! Before me walks Ali weeping, from the chin his face cleft to the forelock and the others all whom here thou seest, while they liv'd, did sow scandal and schism, and therefore thus are rent.” Muhammad and Ali are nearly cut in half, only to be restored and forced to endure this bodily torment over and over again. Gore’s engraving and similarly Blake’s watercolor show the eternal fate of the Prophet Muhammad and his companion Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, vividly capturing the narrative of Dante’s famous poem.
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