Carlyle reframed the Qur’an’s merit as sincerity, reversing medieval critiques

Evidence

‘Sincerity’, he said, ‘in all senses seems to me the merit of the Koran.’ The Romantic thus reversed almost every traditional view: ‘The indulgences, criminal to us, which he permitted, were not of-his appointment … His Religion is not an easy one’; and, in contradiction of the most popular opinion of all: “We shall err widely if we consider this man as a common voluptuary.” — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1633

Categorization

• XREF: Carlyle’s sincerity-first reading connects to Victorian authenticity culture and to modern defenses of religious texts on the founder’s internal conviction rather than doctrine.
• SEED: Potential essay: how the Romantic sincerity criterion — judging a prophet by inner conviction not doctrine — quietly became our default modern yardstick for religious figures.