During his journey through Hell, does Dante encounter the Prophet Mohammad?

Yes, Dante speaks of encountering Mohammad in the 8th circle of Hell in his work, "The Divine Comedy".

The Divine Comedy was written between 1308 and Dante's death in 1321, and it describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso).

During the journey, Dante is first guided by the Roman poet Virgil, and then by Beatrice (Beatrice Portinari), the object of his love and the subject of another of his works, La Vita Nuova.

The actual meeting of the Prophet Muhammad is described in Canto 28 of Dante's "Inferno":

Durante degli Alighieri (c.1265-14 Sep 1321) is commonly known as Dante Alighieri and was a Florentine poet of the Middle Ages.

His most widely known work is the Divina Commedia (originally called "Commedia" and later called "Divina" (divine) by Boccaccio, hence "Divina Commedia").

This work is often regarded as the greatest literary masterpiece composed in the Italian language and a veritable masterpiece of world literature.

The ideology that Muhammad was indeed "hell-bound" is further explored in the c.1415 fresco, "Last Judgement", by Giovanni Da Modena

Bologna’s 14th-century Basilica of San Petronio houses the circa 1415 fresco of "The Last Judgement", by Giovanni da Modena.

It visualises the final fate of the Prophet Mohammed - bound to a rock in Hell, being clawed by demons.

 

Dante encounters Mohammed in the 9th ditch of the 8th circle of Hell.

Dante names the eighth circle of Hell, "Malebolge", which could roughly be translated as "evil sacks".

This name reflects the structure of the circle, which is made up of ten concentric ditches ("bolge"). Each ditch is lower than the previous one, and all the ditches are linked to each other by several bridges.

Each ditch contains a different group, or groups, of sinners:

Here, two lines of naked souls (seducers on the inside, and panderers on the outside) move in opposite directions. Horned demons chase after them with whips and lash them, causing "immense and eternal pain".

There is a "stench most foul" here - the flatterers are drowning in excrement. They are forced to smell the "disgusting odour" and are to wallow around in the "grotesque filth" for the rest of eternity.

This ditch is comprised of tube-like holes distributed in the ground, which house upside-down sinners and mockers of God. The sinners' legs are exposed to the calf, and their "feet are ablaze" (heated according to the amount of their guilt). Here, the sinner remains until another person, who has sinned as they have, arrives to take their place and crush them deeper into the hole for all eternity.

The "Simonists" are specifically mentioned, who were "fraudulent ecclesiastics" who profited from the Church or its offices.

The Fortune-tellers are a group of weeping shadows who find themselves in the 4th ditch.

Here we find fortune tellers, diviners, and sorcerers - those who, in life, sought to see the future. Now, they are doomed to walk forward with their heads twisted behind so that they are unable to see what is coming. This punishment is reflective of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

"Who makes the signs of those who give word of the future come to nothing, so that those who know secret arts go off their heads; turning the wise men back, and making their knowledge foolish..." (Isa, 44:25).

Having claimed to be able to see the future in life, these sinners' heads are now twisted around, so completely, that "their tears fall on their buttocks".

The fifth ditch is full of sticky pitch and contains the Grafters, who sinned against the State and are now tormented by a company of pitchfork-wielding devils.

Grafters are those who were placed in public offices and betrayed the civic trust; namely, they stole things by using their power and influence. Once again, the punishment fits the crime as the sticky pitch mirrors the sticky fingers of the grafters.

Here, we find the Hypocrites wearing gilded but heavy, lead-lined cloaks. And it is here that we find Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate's evil counsellor, who has been crucified and impaled by three stakes.

The hypocrites have been sentenced to walk endlessly in a circle, while weighted down by their robes of lead.

"The outside is all dazzle, golden and fair"; however, the robes are lined with lead to represent the weight of the "sinner's deceit".

Dante purposely describes the robes as being similar to those worn by monks to condemn the hypocrisy of false worship further.

Serpents attack thieves in the seventh ditch. The thieves spend eternity being burned into ashes, before being returned to human form.

Here is the eternal resting place for the souls of thieves. The ditch is full of snakes and reptiles that eternally torture the souls of the thieves. This is an apt symbol for "thievery" because, according to the notes by Ciardi," Thievery is reptilian in its secrecy; therefore, it is punished by reptiles."

The snakes wrap themselves around the sinner's hands, binding them behind their back and winding themselves through the loins. The thief's hands are bound forever to symbolise their misuse during their life. Reptiles bite the sinners, and they burst into flames and turn to ash. Then, through a painful restoration, the soul becomes whole once again, and the process repeats. While they were living, the thieves did nothing but steal from others, and so in hell, they do nothing but steal from each other.

The origin of the evil counsellors comes from those who, in Dante's view, used their God-given gifts to their advantage. Two people stand out more than others in this stage of hell, and they are Ulysses and Diomede. The Evil Counsellors and Deceivers of the eighth ditch are nothing more than flickering flames.

The ninth ditch is where Sowers of Discord are banished, disfigured, and dismembered. Their sin is the cause of disharmony and creates factions between people, groups, and religions.

Mohammad is punished here, in the ninth ditch of this circle, among the sowers of religious, political and familial discord, and who are "split" or mutilated by a "devil's sword".

Here we find the Sowers of Discord - their sin was that they caused disharmony and created factions among people, groups, and religions. As a punishment, a demon slices them open as they walk in an eternal circle. Furthermore, while they are walking, their wounds begin to heal; however, the wounds are reopened by the demon again.

The sowers of discord are also separated into three distinct groups of punishment according to their level of discord:

1) The first being the Sowers of Religious Discord, and it is here that Dante meets "Mahomet" and Ali. These men are responsible for splitting the Christian and Muslim religions, and because of their sin, they are also split apart.

2) The second group are the Sowers of Political Discord, which includes Pier da Medicina and Mosca dei Lamberti. Pier da Medicina warns Dante that Messers Guido and Angiolello will be thrown from their ships by an angry tyrant and that they should be cautious unless they wish to end up with them.

3) The third group are the Sowers of Discord between the Kinsmen. These people caused factions in families. For example, Bertrand de Born, who had put son against father, was condemned to carry his head in his hand.

Here are the diseased and pestilent falsifiers, who continually shriek and frantically scratch at their sores. The sinners are covered in sores and scabs from head to foot, and they constantly scratch at themselves "to ease the burning of the itch."

The falsifiers include alchemists, evil impersonators, or falsifiers of persons, counterfeiters, or falsifiers of money, and false Witnesses, or falsifiers of words.

Dante, in canto XXVIII of his vision of hell, identifies Mohammad, the prophet of Islam, as an inmate therein: