A twelfth-century anti-Islam polemic’s authorship remains genuinely undetermined

Evidence

For Roger Bacon, neither Islam nor Judaism had the support of philosophy. These were in three cases the conclusions of writers with no personal knowledge of Islam. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 358 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Help came to the embattled humanists in the form of a letter to the council from none other than Martin Luther himself, who declared his support for the project, saying that there was no better way to injure Muhammad and the Turks than to publish their “lies and fables” for all to see. Earlier the same year Luther himself had completed his German translation of Riccoldo’s Contra legem Sarracenorum. When Martin Luther and his contemporaries sought to comprehend Islam and to engage in polemics against it, they turned naturally to translations and texts produced between the twelfth and the early fourteenth centuries. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1355 (#complicates, via linked claim)

The Basel municipal council judged that it was dangerous to publish the “fables and heresies” of the Koran. Help came to the embattled humanists in the form of a letter to the council from none other than Martin Luther himself, who declared his support for the project, saying that there was no better way to injure Muhammad and the Turks than to publish their “lies and fables” for all to see. Earlier the same year Luther himself had completed his German translation of Riccoldo’s Contra legem Sarracenorum. When Martin Luther and his contemporaries sought to comprehend Islam and to engage in polemics against it, they turned naturally to translations and texts produced between the twelfth and the early fourteenth centuries. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1355 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ketton deliberately obscured Islam’s claim to universal prophethood; Medieval Christian anti-Islamic polemics were written without personal knowledge of Islam — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 358; Reformation-era anti-Islamic polemic drew on medieval translations and texts — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1355 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Medieval Christian anti-Islamic polemics were written without personal knowledge of Islam #qualifies (0.95) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 358
• Reformation-era anti-Islamic polemic drew on medieval translations and texts #complicates (0.85) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1355
• The Reformation polemic against Islam reproduced twelfth-century medieval texts #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1355
• Medieval Christian writers distorted Islam where accuracy served polemic #complicates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1367
• Medieval anti-Islamic polemic could work from accurate hadith rather than fabricated detail #complicates (0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 407
• Medieval polemicists used Muslim sources to validate anti-Muslim legends #complicates (0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2044
• Medieval anti-Islamic scholarship often went unread for centuries #complicates (0.75) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 61
• Thirteenth-century anti-Islamic polemics were still recycled by Luther and later eras #complicates (0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 63
• Medieval polemic distinguished actual belief from what Muslims merely profess #complicates (0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 253
• Medieval European literati did not believe Islam was idolatrous #complicates (0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 238
• Medieval anti-Islamic polemic worked through fact curation rather than argument #complicates (0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1302
• Medieval polemicists conflated Qur’an and hadith authorship by Muhammad #complicates (0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2225
• Medieval polemicists framed Islam as a pragmatic corruption of prior scriptures #complicates (0.70)