Christian polemicists developed attribute-based Trinitarian arguments against Muslim unitarians

Evidence

The author shows a good knowledge of Islam and of the Koran: the Muslim’s letter presents Abraham as the first Muslim; the Christian retorts by saying that Muhammad himself said that he was the first Muslim and provides a citation from the Koran to prove it. He defends the Trinity while affirming God’s unity; far be it from a true Christian to say that “God is the third of three.” Does not God, in the Bible, refer to himself in the plural? God has many attributes, he asserts, two of which are eternal: life and knowledge. Life corresponds to Christ (´, kalima), knowledge to the Holy Spirit (ˆ, rûh); thus the Trinity can be proven from a reflection on God’s nature. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 388 (#expands, via linked claim)

Ricoldo seems to combine Marti’s argument with those of the Contrarietas (cap. 11); as usual, it is to the latter that he was principally indebted. Thus he argued, as Marti had done, that the Gospel was incorrupt in Muhammad’s time, and also that Christians and Jews were permanent guarantors of the text of Scripture. But the actual arguments employed are inferior; they are repetitive, arguments of the aut-aut type, seeking to impose a generally unreal logical dilemma on the opponent; finally, they sometimes treat unlikely alternatives as seriously important ones. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1972 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Many of their arguments were founded on premises unacceptable to Muslims. Logically it seems absurd to argue from facts derived from Scripture that Scripture must be sound and the Qur’an in error. Similarly, more general arguments, intended to show that the Islamic claim cannot stand, could have satisfied only men who already shared the writers’ attitude to morals and faith, and their mental background. Such discussion went no distance to bridge the differences between Europeans and Islamic traditions. There was not much to convince the Muslim in what was said. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 272 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A Christian polemicist proved the Trinity by equating divine attributes with persons — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 388; Medieval polemicists coerced the Qur’an’s own terms into proofs of the Trinity — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 997; Anti-Islam polemics made identical Christian behavior an exception and Muslim behavior a doctrinal proof — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1362 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• A Christian polemicist proved the Trinity by equating divine attributes with persons #expands (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 388
• Medieval Christian polemic against Islam recycled a narrow stock of weak logical templates #complicates (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1972
• Christian polemics against Islam argued from premises only Christians accepted #complicates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 272
• Trinitarian literary debate revealed Christianity’s deep textual kinship with Islam #complicates (0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1019
• Anti-Muslim polemic functions primarily to define its Christian authors #complicates (0.75) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 177