Dark skin signified sin and the devil in Christian theology from the fifth century.

Evidence

Dark-skinned Muslims found in medieval psalters, paintings, poetry, and romances are not always monstrous, but their blackness indicates that they are evil. In an image from fourteenth-century France depicting a battle, the Muslim soldiers wear turbans and have dark eyes, but perhaps what is most interesting is the face on their shields—an African man. This is but one indication of how Muslims were related not just to Jews, but also to Africans. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 201 (#expands, via linked claim)

Although Turkish figures, typified by light skin and turbans, were commonly featured in Renaissance depictions of Christian martyrs, black Muslims make appearances as well. It is likely that this character is the Black Turk, a character as connected to the devil, much like his predecessor, the Black Saracen. In some cases, this character was identified as a “Moor,” a word used as a general descriptor for all Muslims. Black Muslims were often featured in scenes that portrayed the devil. Following the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, there was a parade featuring a Black African as Charon, the ferryman who transported souls to Hades, as well as the occupant of the boat, an Ottoman, both symbols of Islamic damnation. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 268 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial Christian doctrine taught that women were the origin of sin. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 88; Blackness itself, not monstrosity, signified Muslim evil in medieval imagery — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 201; Renaissance art linked black Muslims directly to the devil and damnation — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 268 (+2 more)

Related

• Renaissance art linked dark skin to Satan and Muslim villainy (similarity 0.88)
• Dark skin signified sin and animality in Christian theology since the fifth century (similarity 0.87)
• Blackness itself, not monstrosity, signified Muslim evil in medieval imagery (similarity 0.87)
• Renaissance art linked black Muslims directly to the devil and damnation (similarity 0.86)
• The dark-skinned Muslim monster persisted from medieval iconography into American imaginations (similarity 0.84)
• Blackness coded Muslim evil in medieval art, linking Muslims to Africans. (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christian chroniclers racialized dark-skinned Muslims as diabolical and deceptive. (similarity 0.83)
• The devil was pictured as dark-skinned long before Muslims became Western Christianity’s enemy (similarity 0.82)
• A medieval haircut could mark a man as betraying his ethnic community (similarity 0.81)
• Dark-skinned Muslim monsters encode Western anxieties about Africans and Muslims together (similarity 0.81)
• Muslim males in Gothic horror are framed as essentially evil, deviant, and child-murdering (similarity 0.81)
• Muslims were identified with darkness as the antithesis of Christ’s light. (similarity 0.81)
• Hell’s paintings filled with Jewish, Muslim, and African monsters torturing humans. (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christians classed non-Egyptian Africans with Saracens as monstrous races (similarity 0.80)
• Dark skin itself functions as a moral and demonic signifier in Gothic fiction (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Blackness itself, not monstrosity, signified Muslim evil in medieval imagery #expands (0.85) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 201
• Renaissance art linked black Muslims directly to the devil and damnation #expands (0.75) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 268
• Blackness symbolizes Evil and Ugliness in white thought #expands (0.70)
• Cultural and religious practices can racialize a body just as skin tone does #expands (0.50) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 89