These two early examples demonstrate three significant dimensions of Anglo-American Islamophobia that would be rehearsed repeatedly over succeeding centuries. First, depictions of Muslims— and of the final Islamic prophet in particular—often served as a foil serving social critiques of British and American domestic issues entirely unconnected to Islam. Just in the various editions of the two influential examples noted above, depictions of Muhammad’s life aided endeavors to warn Britons and Americans against deism, federalism, political tyranny, religious apathy, and religious zealotry.

XREF: Connects to Edward Said's Orientalism and ongoing scholarship on how images of the Other are weaponized for domestic political purposes.

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 106