Byzantine creed misread the Koran to call God hammer-beaten metal.

Evidence

This confusion between the name Habar (or Koubar) and the word akbar becomes the basis for later Byzantine writers to accuse Muslims of idolatry; see chap. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1518 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Two eighth-century Byzantine writers followed Anastasius’s lead in presenting Muhammad’s monotheism as a veneer covering his true idolatry. For Nicetas of Byzantium, Muhammad was in fact a devotee of the goddess Khabar: it is her idol the Muslims actually worship in Mecca. Georges the Monk gives a fraudulent translation of the Arabic Allahu akbar! (God is great!) that dhimmi would constantly hear intoned from minarets. He transcribes it as Allah wa Koubar, and he says that it means “God and Koubar”; the latter, he explains, is the Saracens’s name for the moon and Aphrodite. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 305 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A linguistic confusion fueled Byzantine accusations of Muslim idolatry — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1518; Medieval Christian polemic dismissed the Koran as satanic, not divine — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 396; Medieval polemicists cited an accurate Koran while inverting its emphasis — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1082 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• A linguistic confusion fueled Byzantine accusations of Muslim idolatry #exemplifies (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1518
• Medieval polemicists cited an accurate Koran while inverting its emphasis #complicates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1082
• Early Byzantine polemic concluded Muhammad’s God is a devil rather than the true God #complicates (1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 59
• Medieval Christian anti-Islamic polemic relied on the Koran’s own text to refute it #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1263
• A mistranslation of one Koranic word made Muslims appear to worship a metal idol. #exemplifies (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 683
• Byzantine polemicists twisted Muslim monotheism into idolatry claims #exemplifies (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 305
• Medieval polemicists attacked the Qur’an with pedantic misreadings to prove Muhammad misunderstood truths #expands (1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 953
• Medieval missionaries misread Muslim scripture so badly they argued from it wrongly #corroborates (1.00)
• Medieval polemicists misread Arabic idioms and accused Muslims of absurdities. #exemplifies (1.00)