Christians treated Jews, Muslims, and heretics as a single enemy category

Evidence

Many of the polemics against Islam are framed within concerns about Christian orthodoxy and typically include charges of idolatry and heresy. These writings often identify Muslims with Satan, a figure strongly implicated in many Muslim monsters. The Venerable Bede wrote, “the Saracens occupy the same ideological space as the erring, the worldly and the gentiles in opposition to the spiritual fraternity: in short, as enemies of the church they are in the company of Jews, Philistines, heretics and the devil.” Satan was among the many idols that Muslims were accused of worshipping. One of the earliest references to Muslim devil-worshippers is found in Jerome’s writings, where he refers to a Lucifer-worshipping cult in pre-Islamic, fourth century Arabia. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 142 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The Venerable Bede wrote, “the Saracens occupy the same ideological space as the erring, the worldly and the gentiles in opposition to the spiritual fraternity: in short, as enemies of the church they are in the company of Jews, Philistines, heretics and the devil.” Satan was among the many idols that Muslims were accused of worshipping. One of the earliest references to Muslim devil-worshippers is found in Jerome’s writings, where he refers to a Lucifer-worshipping cult in pre-Islamic, fourth century Arabia. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 142 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

As Cluny’s spiritual head, Peter was particularly well placed to repulse demonic incursions: through pastoral care of his monks, through doctrinal works such as his De miraculis, and through his trilogy of theological polemics against Jews, heretics, and Saracens. The three groups were increasingly linked in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and were often seen to represent a common danger. As Dominque Iogna-Prat has shown, all three rejected the spiritual economy that Cluny embodied, where Christians through sacrifice could transform themselves and prepare themselves for the next life. This sacrifice centered around the Eucharist, reenactment of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice for humanity, which was to be performed by priests who had sacrificed their sexual life in order to devote themselves to God; Christian laymen could offer up their lands to God, turning them over to monasteries like Cluny whose monks would pray to shorten their benefactors’ purgatory punishments. The whole was meant to be harmoniously ordered, with the Pope at its head. Muslim, Jews, and heretics were united in their rejection of this system, clinging instead to this world in an irrational obsession with all that was physical and carnal. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 872 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Crusade and jihad converged on tolerating alien religions only as subjects.; Cluny’s spiritual economy defined Jews, Muslims, and heretics as its joint enemies; Christians clustered Muslims with Jews and heretics as devil-aligned enemies — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 142 (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Christians clustered Muslims with Jews and heretics as devil-aligned enemies #corroborates (0.97) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 142
• Christians classified Muslims with Jews and heretics as devil-allied enemies of the church #corroborates (0.97) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 142
• Medieval polemicists framed Jews, Muslims, and heretics as one common enemy #corroborates (0.96) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 872
• Medieval polemic fused Jews, Muslims, and heretics into one spiritual enemy. #corroborates (0.96) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 872
• Medieval Christians classified Muslims as sharing monotheism with Christians but trinitarian denial with Jews #complicates (0.78) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 251