discord and schism. Muhammad is portrayed as split in half, with his entrails hanging out, representing his status as a heresiarch (Inferno 28): No barrel, not even one where the hoops and staves go Every which way, was ever split open like a frayed Sinner I saw, ripped from chin to where we fart below. His guts hung between his legs and displayed His vital organs, including that wretched sack Which converts to shit whatever gets conveyed down the gullet. As I stared at him he looked back And with his hands pulled his chest open, Saying, "See how I split open the crack in myself! See how twisted and broken Mohammed is! Before me walks Ali, his face Cleft from chin to crown, grief–stricken." This graphic scene is frequently shown in illustrations of the Divine Comedy: Muhammad is represented in a 15th-century fresco Last Judgment by Giovanni da Modena and drawing on Dante, in the San Petronio Basilica in Bologna, as well as in artwork by Salvador Dalí, Auguste Rodin, William Blake, and Gustave Doré. In his depiction of Muhammad, Dante draws inspiration from medieval Christian views and misconceptions on Muhammad. As stated by historian Karla Mallette, “medieval Christians viewed the historical Muḥammad as a frankly theatrical character.” One common allegation laid against Muhammad was that he was an impostor who, in order to satisfy his ambition and his lust, propagated religious teachings that he knew to be false. Cultural critic and author Edward Said wrote in Orientalism regarding Dante's depiction of Muhammad: Dante's representation of Muhammad Inferno 28 is generally interpreted as showing Dante’s disdain for Muslims. However, Dante's relation to Islam is more nuanced than what this canto would suggest. Dante lived during the eighth and ninth Crusades and would have been brought up around the idea that it is righteous to war against Muslims—namely, against the Hafsid dynasty, the Sunni Muslims who ruled the Medieval province Ifriqiya, an area on the northern coast of Africa. It is not surprising that he would have been surrounded by anti-Islam rhetoric and have seen Muslims as the general enemy. For example, he shows his admiration for the crusaders when he writes about his great-great-grandfather Cacciaguida in the heavens of Mars in Paradiso. However, this narrative is complicated by Dante’s intellectual admiration for some Muslims in Inferno 4, and specifically Averroes, Avicenna, and Saladin. Later presentations The depiction of Islam