An early Christian polemic accused Islam of spreading by violence, greed, and sensual reward.

Evidence

His arguments are both apologetical (in defense of the Trinity, for example84) and polemical (he criticizes Islam for condoning violence and for promising sensual rewards in this life and the next). Islam, like most other religions, spread with the military and political power of its adherents; base, worldly reasons (political ambition, greed, etc.) play a prominent role in encouraging conversions to Islam. Not so for Christianity, says Abû Qurrah: it spread far and wide despite the best efforts of the Romans to extinguish it; this shows that its adherents are inspired only by a desire for God and for the rewards of the world to come, not by earthly ambitions. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 379

Categorization

• XREF: This is a root source of the enduring trope that Islam is violent and sensual versus pure, spiritual Christianity — directly genealogical grounding for the Islam-West opposition claims in the vault.
• SEED: Possible essay angle: tracing this ‘Islam spreads by the sword, Christianity by martyrdom’ binary from Abû Qurrah’s 9th-century apology to modern Islamophobic discourse.
• ADDENDUM: Supports and genealogically grounds claims about the religious framing of the Islam-West divide already in the vault — this shows the trope’s medieval origin in Christian apologetics.