Christians expected Muslims to ally with them in asserting monotheism against Buddhists
Evidence
Thus Alan of Lille could say that the Muslims agree with the Christians in affirming one God, Creator of all things together; and with the Jews in denying the Trinity within the divine unity. Again, Vitry said that Muslims, like Jews, reject pork and scaleless fish as food, ‘but agree with the Christians in this, that they believe in one only, almighty God, Creator of all things’. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 251 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
The next question was to decide whether to take on the Buddhists or the Moslems in the first instance. The Nestorians strongly favored an immediate attack on the Moslems; but here again they showed their dialectical simplicity. As William pointed out, the Christians and Moslems agreed on the fundamental points of the nature and existence of one God; so, as against the Buddhists, they would start as allies; but in a dispute with the Moslems the Christians would have no allies at all. — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 308 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
As William recounts it, in preparation for the debate, he conferred with the Nestorians as to how they should best argue for Christianity. The Nestorians wanted first to debate against the Muslims, but William convinced them that it would be best to argue first against the Buddhists, since the Muslims would side with the Christians in affirming that there is only one God. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1135 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Christians and Muslims could ally against pagans over shared monotheism.; Shared monotheism made Christians and Moslems natural allies against Buddhists — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 308; Medieval Christians assumed Muslims shared common ground on monotheism — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1135 (+21 more)
Broader Connections
- Shared monotheism made Christians and Moslems natural allies against Buddhists
#corroborates(1.00) — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 308 - Medieval Christians assumed Muslims shared common ground on monotheism
#corroborates(1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1135 - Medieval Christians classified Muslims as sharing monotheism with Christians but trinitarian denial with Jews
#corroborates(1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 251 - Medieval Christians could align with Muslims against pagans over monotheism
#complicates(0.90) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 265 - Christian polemics against Islam argued from premises only Christians accepted
#complicates(0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 272 - Byzantine churchmen preferred claims of Muslim idolatry over shared monotheism
#complicates(0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 684 - Islam threatened Christianity because it mounted a rival revelatory claim
#complicates(0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 64 - Shared monotheistic traits make Islam and Christianity uniquely prone to conflict
#complicates(0.80) - Christians deployed antiheresy polemics and voluntary martyrdom against Muslim expansion
#complicates(0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 287 - Christian views of Islam reflected their own preconceptions more than actual Muslims
#complicates(0.70) - Centrist religious conservatives ally with Muslims against a shared secularist enemy.
#complicates(0.70) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 994 - Christians lumped Islam with Catholicism and Mormonism as rival heretical faiths
#complicates(0.70) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 159 - Christians fantasized Muslims as pagan idolaters to justify crusading violence
#complicates(0.70) - Subject religious minorities amplified anti-Islamic malice to win favor with Christian conquerors
#complicates(0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2175 - Medieval Christian polemicists projected their own violence onto a monolithic Islam to justify crusade
#complicates(0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 746