ABSTRACT
Christian thinking on Muhammad is inevitably linked with overall assessments of Islam. This especially applies to how the Qur'an, the revelation that Muslims believe Muhammad received from God, is understood. Negative Christian attitudes towards Muhammad, represents a complete denial that his life had any positive aspects, rejects everything that Muslims believe to be true about his character, spiritual status and significance. Muhammad 'oscillated between revelations from Satan and Allah'. One midway position between total denial of Muhammad and limited positivity sees God's hand behind Muhammad's life but only as a punishment against Christian disunity. An important Christian re-evaluation of Muhammad was offered by Tor Andrae in Muhammad: the man and his faith, in which he located Muhammad's revelatory episodes within a general framework of mystical experience, comparing him with shamans. Andrae accepted Muhammad's sincerity and the genuineness of his religious experience, and unlike William Muir he saw more continuity between the pre- and post-hijra phases of Muhammad's life.
