A linguistic confusion fueled Byzantine accusations of Muslim idolatry

Evidence

This confusion between the name Habar (or Koubar) and the word akbar becomes the basis for later Byzantine writers to accuse Muslims of idolatry; see chap. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1518

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with the reader’s interest in how category-mistakes and translation errors become polemical weapons — comparable to how medieval polemics elsewhere built on misreading pagan names.
• SEED: An article angle: how a single mishearing or mistranslation of a foreign liturgical word (akbar/Habar) hardened into a centuries-long accusation of idolatry.