Forged intellectual duels gave Christian audiences symbolic victory over Islam

Evidence

It may well be that a ninthor tenth-century Christian polemicist composed both letters and attached to them two illustrious names: what could be more satisfying to a Christian reader than to see how a famous Byzantine emperor had refuted Islam and bested an early caliph? — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 384

Categorization

• SEED: The fabricated emperor-versus-caliph correspondence is an early case of invented historical ‘debates’ used as identity propaganda — a thread connecting medieval polemic to modern manufactured civilizational clash narratives.