Bacon read the Mongol sack of Baghdad as proof Islam would soon collapse

Evidence

For Bacon, the current situation was dire: a divided, apathetic, unphilosophical Christendom was surrounded by numerous infidel peoples, against which it sent ineffectual crusading armies and poorly prepared missionaries. Yet there was cause for hope: the predictions of the Apocalypse, con- firmed by the scientific calculations of Saracen astrologers and by the Mongol sack of Baghdad, showed that Islam had at most thirty years ahead of it. The need to educate Franciscan missionaries in Bacon’s intellectual system was urgent, but the hopes for success were good. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1162 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The first and most important difference is that, whereas earlier thinkers had seen Islam as a religion with only a negative role in history as a falling away from the truth, a preparation for the final holocaust of Antichrist, part of a downward movement, Bacon (and he is not the only man of his time to see this) had some conception of an upward movement toward unity and articulateness in which Islam had an essential role to play before it withered away. He entirely abandoned the Bible as an instrument for understanding the role of Islam in the world, and relied exclusively on philosophy. — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 352 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Roger Bacon predicted Islam’s end within thirty years using apocalyptic math; Thirteenth-century scholars calculated Islam’s imminent demise from astrology and the Mongol sack of Baghdad — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1162; Bacon abandoned biblical prophecy to read Islam through philosophy — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 352 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Thirteenth-century scholars calculated Islam’s imminent demise from astrology and the Mongol sack of Baghdad #corroborates (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1162
• Roger Bacon predicted Islam’s end within thirty years using apocalyptic math #corroborates (0.92)
• Bacon abandoned biblical prophecy to read Islam through philosophy #complicates (0.85) — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 352