Christian polemicists explained Muhammad’s prophethood as a fraudulent bid for kingship

Evidence

It seemed likely, not only that the Bahira of Muslim legend was the same as the Christian apostate whom Muhammad, in Christian legend, customarily consulted, but also that Islamic sources betrayed the hidden truth when they spoke of Muhammad’s retirement from the world just before the first revelation, in the hills around Mecca - this suggested that the time was really spent with the renegade, secretly preparing the details of the fraud. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1314 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Christian polemicists knowingly distorted Muhammad’s biography to fit Antichrist archetypes; Medieval Christian polemicists judged Muhammad by Christian criteria for prophecy; Medieval polemicists cast Muhammad as a failed Antichrist to explain Islam’s spread (+3 more)

Related

• Early Christian polemicists accused Muhammad of fraud committed with a renegade monk (similarity 0.90)
• Christian polemicists read Muslim sources as unwittingly confirming Christian legends (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval legends credited Muhammad’s revelations to a heretical monk (similarity 0.86)
• Christian polemicists studied Muslim revelation accounts seriously rather than dismissing them (similarity 0.86)
• Medieval polemicists read Ismael’s biblical disinheritance as prophecy of Islam’s enmity. (similarity 0.84)
• Christian polemicists preferred a fabricated teaching monk over Muslim claims of miracle (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval polemicists cast Muhammad as a failed Antichrist to explain Islam’s spread (similarity 0.83)
• Mediaeval authors often deliberately chose the worst accounts of Muhammad. (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval polemicists quietly dropped claims lacking cross-tradition confirmation (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval polemic framed Muhammad as Antichrist figure and Islam’s spread as fraud’s persistence (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval Christian polemicists could read Muhammad’s revelations as akin to pagan oracles (similarity 0.82)
• Ancient criteria of prophecy were applied selectively to predetermine Muhammad’s failure (similarity 0.82)
• Christians selected from Muslim sources only details that served their polemic (similarity 0.82)
• Christian polemicists seized on Muhammad’s wounds as proof he lacked divine protection (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval Christian polemicists judged Muhammad by Christian criteria for prophecy (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Medieval Christian polemicists investigated Muhammad’s claims carefully rather than dismissing them #contradicts (0.82)
• Early Christian polemicists accused Muhammad of fraud committed with a renegade monk #expands (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1314
• Christian polemicists knowingly distorted Muhammad’s biography to fit Antichrist archetypes #complicates (0.78)
• Medieval polemicists cast Muhammad as a failed Antichrist to explain Islam’s spread #expands (0.75)
• Medieval Christian polemicists judged Muhammad by Christian criteria for prophecy #expands (0.72)
• Christian polemicists measured Muhammad against Hebrew prophecy criteria he was not claiming to meet #expands (0.72)