Early Koranic teaching rejects sensory asceticism and fuses the earthly and divine cities

Evidence

Peter himself undertook the task of refuting Islam, writing his Contra sectam siue haeresim Saracenorum (Against the sect or heresy of the Saracens) probably in 1155–56. The work as it survives is composed of a long prologue and two books; it may be that Peter wrote more that was subsequently lost or that he left it incomplete at his death on Christmas day, 1156. Both the structure and the strategy of the Contra sectam siue haeresim Saracenorum are quite different from those of the Summa. In the Summa he lambasted Muhammad from a Christian perspective; in the Contra sectam (after a prologue in which he justifies his polemics to Christian readers) he (in book 1) enjoins his Muslim readers to listen impartially to his arguments and tries to convince them that according to the Koran they should accept Christian scripture. In book 2 he tries to prove that Muhammad is not a prophet, by contrasting his life with those of Old Testament prophets. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 849 (#responds-to, via linked claim)

All five of the Mozarabic texts argue for the possibility or plausibility of the incarnation based on analogies to events attested in the Koran (and hence accepted by Muslims). The Koran acknowledges that God spoke directly to Moses through the intermediary of the burning bush. Both the Tathlîth alwahdânîyah and the priest Augustine’s Mashaf al-‘âlam argue that God is present, incarnated, in Jesus in the same way that he was present in the burning bush. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 825 (#responds-to, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Cities explicitly teach behavioral rules only when tradition and cues break down; Eastern patristic pedagogy prescribed gentler, more specific correction than Western doctrine — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 3326; Peter the Venerable addressed his anti-Islamic polemic directly to Muslim readers using Koranic logic. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 849 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Peter the Venerable addressed his anti-Islamic polemic directly to Muslim readers using Koranic logic. #responds-to (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 849
• Mozarabic apologists argued for the incarnation using Koranic precedents Muslims already accept #responds-to (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 825
• Arabic’s written-oral diglossia stems from deliberate preservation of the Koranic register #expands (1.00)
• Eastern patristic pedagogy prescribed gentler, more specific correction than Western doctrine #complicates (0.95) — , The Rod and the Child, 3326
• An illiterate nine-three-year-old Morisco woman wielded great authority in Koranic knowledge #complicates (0.95)
• A mistranslation of one Koranic word made Muslims appear to worship a metal idol. #complicates (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 683
• Cities explicitly teach behavioral rules only when tradition and cues break down #complicates (0.85)
• Granada’s Christian theologians missed the Koranic resonance of the Sacromonte texts #complicates (0.85) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1323