European critics praised Muhammad as a weapon against Christianity

Evidence

Voltaire, never one to mince words, compares Muhammad to Jesus in a biting critique of Christianity: “At least his lies were more noble, and his fanaticism more generous. At least Mahomet wrote and fought; Jesus did not know how to write nor how to defend himself. Mahomet had the courage of Alexander… and your Jesus sweated blood and water as soon as he was condemned.” — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 367

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s larger thesis that the Western image of Muhammad was a projection shaped by local European anxieties — here anti-clerical Enlightenment critique weaponizes rather than merely demonizes him.