Anti-Muslim polemic justified the subjugation of Spanish Muslims and denied their rule legitimacy

Evidence

The thirteenth century saw a flourishing of different strategies to grapple with the “problem” of Islam: crusade, theological refutation, mission, martyrdom. Part 3 is devoted to exploring the complex and varied approaches to Islam in the thirteenth-century Latin West; the focus is on the development of the polemical images of Islam analyzed in part 2 and their deployment for specific ideological purposes: justification of conquest and subjugation of Muslims, elaboration of strategies to convert Muslims, and so on. Chapter 7 examines the use of anti-Muslim images in some of the chronicles and legal texts of thirteenth-century Spain. These polemical ideas, in particular the hostile biography of Muhammad, were used to deny any political legitimacy to Muslim rule in Spain and to justify the social and political subjugation of Muslim subjects of Spanish Christian rulers. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 71

Categorization

• XREF: Anchors the vault’s claim that Islamophobia is a tool of political subordination: the hostile biography of Muhammad was deployed to deny political legitimacy and justify conquest.