As a follow-up, is there a particular reason that the Spanish-speaking world seems to be the exception to the Christian side of this? "Jesús" is a relatively common Hispanic name, but almost unheard of in other languages.

Well, I think I can answer the first half of your question, though I don't know enough to answer the second half beyond the vague familiarity with questions about iconography and iconoclasm that comes with a Catholic upbringing and one year at a Jesuit university, so I think I'll leave that aside and stick to the Islamic half of your question.

Ok, with that being said, let's break this down into constituent parts.

Firstly, I want to answer something that you didn't ask, but is good for background:

1. Why was Muhammad named "Muhammad", what does that name mean and how do Arabic names work?

We might actually go back even further and ask an interesting side question of why Muhammad was named Muhammad. Etymologically in Arabic the name "Muhammad" means sort of 'one who is praised' or 'one who is praiseworthy'. In pre-Islamic Arabia it seems to have been a highly unusual name for males. My understanding is that all of the surviving examples of other men with the name Muhammad in pre-Islamic Arabia were also holy men. The female version "Muhammada" seems to have been much more common. This has even produced some (albeit fringe) speculation that Muhammad might have been an appellation rather than a name as such. I don't buy that, nor is it necessary to.

Etymologically it's also worth noting that as Arabic is a semitic language it works on tri-letter roots, in this case H-M-D, and therefore the name Muhammad is etymologically related and similar in meaning to names like Ahmed, Hamid and Mahmoud.

Also, "Muhammad" would not have been Muhammad's only personal name. Arabic names can also include what is known as a Kunya. Most commonly this takes the form of "Father of X" with X being your oldest male child. But it can also be an epithet. The first caliph Abu Bakr's name literally means "Father of Camel Foal," but it just means that he spent a lot of time riding camels and had a family that was engaged in herding. Muhammad's kunya was Abu al-Qassim, the father of Qassim, who was his son who died in early childhood.

Arabic names also typically include a patronymic or nasab (ibn Fulan...son of so-and-so). This can string along for as long as is necessary back to whichever ancestor is most relevant for tribal or other purposes. It can also skip generations to get to a more uniquely identifying individual. I'm less familiar with pre-Islamic naming practices but it's also worth mentioning laqabs, which today are often translated as simply surnames but in a pre-modern context could include nickname-like titles, particular for important individuals and rulers, as well as nisbas, which today are likewise often a last name but could also refer to a tribe or place of origin.

I'll come back to this later (and I'm sure one of our native Arabic speakers here will correct me if I've mis-identified part of this) but to take the example of a well-known medieval religious scholar you might have a name like: Aḥmad (Ism, or name) bin Muḥammad (nasab) bin Ḥanbal (nasab) Abū ʿAbd Allāh (kunya, i.e. Ahmad's son is named Abdullah) al-Shaybānī (tribal nisba, indicating descent from the Banu Shayban).

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Phew, ok, with that background moving into your questions. I'll start with the easier one first:

2 . Why do Muslims name their male children Muhammad?

There's potentially a very long explanation of getting into how exactly these practices developed and whether this was universally true at all times and particularly in the earliest years of Islam, but to cut a long story short, the practice of Islam is based on carrying out God's commandments. Etymologically "Islam" means submission to God or to God's will as delivered through the message of his Prophet, the seal of the prophets (i.e. the last and most perfect prophet), Muhammad.

In Islam, the Qur'an is the perfect record of God's speech and revelation to mankind. But very early, in all likelihood during Muhammad's lifetime, it became assumed or presumed that in the absence of a Qur'anic message or commandment, it is best to follow the example of the Prophet in all things, down to the most minute details. Together the collected records of this side of Muhammad's personal life is known as the "sunna" and is recorded in the Hadith, and gives its name to "Sunni" Islam. NB that Shia Muslims also follow the prophetic example but also believe in following the examples of Ali and his descendants (who are also Muhammad's descendants, as he married Muhammad's daughter, and was incidentally his nephew [edit: h/t /u/asoomdeys ] cousin to begin with).

In any event, included among these hadith are statements by Muhammad suggesting that Muslims name themselves and their children after himself: https://sunnah.com/search/?q=use+my+name

"Name yourself...?" you may be asking. Well, one of the traditions in Islam is to take on an Islamic/Arabic name when you convert. It's not 100% guaranteed universal, but was very common.

Also note that Muhammad forbade the use of his Kunya, Abu al-Qassim. Like all religious strictures of course, this one has been broken historically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasim

3 . Why is it that Muslims are opposed to the depiction of Muhammad?

This is slightly more complicated, at least historically or when discussing historical practices. The contemporary sort of Salafist or ultra-orthodox answer is very simple, which is that images of human beings generally are potentially idolatrous. In practice this can be somewhat bi-polar: the Arab Persian Gulf states plaster the faces of their rulers on practically every building, but only put gazelles and coffee-pots on their coinage.

In any event, the concern with images of Muhammad in particular is multifaceted. There is concern that the image of Muhammad is perhaps uniquely susceptible to idolatry and he must therefore, in particular not be depicted. Insofar as it is taken as being commanded against in the religion, depictions of Muhammad are therefore also ipso facto blasphemy. And lastly there is concern that in the case of cartoons or depictions of Muhammad drawn by non-Muslims that these are an assault on the honor of Muhammad (who, as we've discussed, is basically regarded as a perfect human being) and on the religion of Islam itself. It's therefore an incredibly emotive issue.

The more complicated answer would be how that came to be and whether it was always so as /u/FlamingBlankets and /u/Newtothisredditbiz allude to. This is a historiographically complex and deeply debated question, which to my knowledge largely focuses on two distinct periods in Islamic history.

The first is earliest Islamic period. Representational art was not really a feature of pre-Islamic Arabic culture. After the conquest period Muslims apparently adopted representational art quite readily. So you have the frescoes in the Umayyad desert palaces or the so-called "standing caliph" coins: https://www.google.ae/search?q=standing+caliph+coins&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwil7bCcw8HQAhUKKY8KHQ0EAWYQ_AUICCgB&biw=1680&bih=871

There are lots of questions about this. Were these simply accommodation to pre-existing Greco-Roman and Zoroastrian culture? After all, these coins were clearly modeled on existing Byzantine coinage. Or did something about the depiction of humans in Islamic ideology change fundamentally under Abd al-Malik in the late 7th/early 8th century such that he adopted (or perhaps invented?) the more distinctly "Islamic" coinage style: https://attwiw.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/abd-al-malik-coin.jpg (And, indeed, did so in art and architecture as well, as in the construction of the Dome of the Rock.)

To bring this back to Muhammad, in particular, this is complicated by theories that the "standing caliph" in those coins might actually be Muhammad himself. This is unresolved, but there are plausible reasons for thinking that it might be.

I'm rapidly running out of space here, but suffice it to say by the end of the reign of Abd al-Malik, Islamic artistic and religious norm was distinctly an-iconic, and there are some really interesting essays and discussions about the interplay and dialogue between Islamic and Byzantine iconoclasm from this period.

The second period, which I'm far less familiar with, relates to the "Persian Miniature" tradition (which was also practiced by the Ottomans and Mughals.) I'm far less familiar with the historiography or debates around these images of Muhammad or why they subsequently went out of fashion and so I'll withhold comment.

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Interesting addenda:

One of the features of the above that I find to be interesting is that there are actually far more Muhammad's in the world than many people may realize. Because it is traditional to name sons Muhammad, that obviously isn't an especially useful name to have for identification purposes-- like being named John Smith only much more so. The result in countries like Egypt is that it's very common for men to be named Muhammad but then go by a second name. So to give some well known examples: Anwar Sadat was actually Muhammad Anwar Sadat. Hosni Mubarak is actually Muhammad Hosni Mubarak. The "Yasser" in Yasser Arafat is actually an adopted name but he was actually Muhammad Arafat. Etc.

Sourcewise

I'm running out of characters and am at work but can post some citations and additional reading later tonight.

Related question:

When did depictions of Mohammad become taboo?

I can't answer the christian part of the question while fully abiding by the rules and giving sources, so I'm leaving that part to someone else to answer. I can, however, give what I think is a sufficient and rules-abiding answer on the Muslim part of the question. However, since the only way to give a sufficient answer would be to get to Arabic sources that might not be all translated I think it's sufficient to give the Arabic source while trying my best to translate it myself.

First, Muhammed itself means "blessed", his father chose that name so he can be "blessed in the skies and the earth"^^[1] .

In Islam they have what's called "sunnah", which basically is trying to follow the prophet in what he did and who he was, the name is no exception. Also, there are multiple "Hadiths" (supplemental teachings) recommending the name:

Narrated by Abdulrahman ben-Ahmad ben-Muhammed : "I heard the prophet say : Whoever had those three names in his home will never see poorness, 'Ahmad, Muhammed, and Abdullah' "^^[2]

--

Narrated by Abu-Baker Muhammed ben-Ahmad ben-Khalaf Al-Warraq : "I heard the prophet say : Whoever names his son thinking of me will be in the paradise with said son.^^[3]

--

As well as many other sayings by Muhammed.

As for the second part of your question, The Quran does not explicitly forbid images of Muhammed, However there are several hadiths that prohibit it, the hadiths aren't strong-for lack of a better word-, however, the Islamic Fiqh Academy discussed the issue back in 2010 in response to the movies that depicits Muhammed and decided it's prohibted^^[4].

I hope this is a sufficient answer, the mods of course are free to ask me for better/other sources if they feel it's needed but as with many Islamic historic texts not everything is "officially" translated online, not anywhere I could find anyway, and the sources I used are from very reputable and trusted Fiqh sites.

Hello everyone,

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