Biblical exegesis, not observation, shaped Bede’s view of Muslims

Evidence

Yet Bede does not always portray Saracens as quasi-Christians. He gives a different view in his commentary to Acts 7:43, where God upbraids the Israelites for lapsing into idolatry. Among other foreign gods, they worship “the star of Remphan.” This star, Bede explains, is “Lucifer, into whose cult the race of the Saracens is enslaved in honor of Venus.” In the eighth century “Lucifer” refers to the morning star (i.e., the planet Venus) rather than to the devil; yet this association with the devil will suggest itself to Bede’s later medieval readers. The way to understand the Saracens is to comb the Bible for references to them. Having done so, Bede can assign to them an appropriate niche in Christian history. Here Bede seems not to suspect that the religion of Saracens may have changed and the cult of Remphan fallen into disrepute; the Bible, after all, was his surest guide to truth in the world around him. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 437 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

It is impossible that Ricoldo should have had the knowledge necessary to discuss the Qur’an on anything like equal terms with Muslim theological teachers or students. Mediaeval contempt for the Islamic world as unphilosophical contrasts strangely with our modern concept of the mediaeval Latin West as wholly indebted for its philosophy to the Islamic East. Even if the modern view is correct, we need not assume mediaeval hypocrisy, but just a lack of historical perspective. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1995 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Bede understood the Saracens through biblical references rather than observation — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 437; Medieval Christian critics of Islam derived claims from literary sources, not observation — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1359; Christian depictions of Islam emerged from literary mythology, not lived contact — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 144 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Bede understood the Saracens through biblical references rather than observation #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 437
• Medieval Christian-Muslim disputation mostly argued from premises neither side shared #complicates (0.90)
• Medieval Christian critics of Islam lacked Arabic competence and historical perspective #complicates (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1995