Alan of Lille’s polemic fixated on Islam’s supposed carnality and misreading of scripture

Evidence

This is the gist of most of Alan’s anti-Islamic arguments: he lambasts the Muslims for asserting that God impregnated the Virgin through a material breath (flatus materialis). They hope for carnal pleasures in heaven, interpreting literally the biblical promises of a land of milk and honey. They practice ablutions thinking that water—rather than contrition and confession—can wash away sin. They justify their polygamy by citing the example of the Old Testament patriarchs, when in fact they merely want to satisfy their lust. The Saracens, along with the Jews, misinterpret Old Testament prohibitions against idolatry and polygamy, erroneously accusing Christians of idolatrous worship of images of the saints. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 882

Categorization

• XREF: Documents the oldest catalog of anti-Islamic calumnies (carnal heaven, polygamy-as-lust, material ablutions, false idolatry charges) that persist into modern orientalism per the vault’s Anidjar/Aziz claims.