Ketton’s medieval Qur’an mistranslated but did not deliberately distort Islam

Evidence

The implications of the text as this puts it are obvious. A careful comparison with the Qur’anic original will show how, with a minimum of inaccuracy, it gives an erroneous sense. Thus the Prophet’s being allowed more wives than the other believers becomes promiscuous access to all women; a suggestive phrase about their offering their bodies derives really from permission for marriage without a dowry. The final verse refers to the obligation of the Prophet to sleep with his wives in rotation; instead of conferring promiscuous licence, it regulates marital rights. It was to this Revelation that ‘A’ishah referred when she said that God hastened to satisfy Muhammad’s desires; but the reprobatio understood something much more shameful. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 565 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

The infinite respect for authority did not extend to the letter of the text. Provided that the words of the Qur’an cited proved the untruth of Islam, they were correctly cited. Verbal accuracy was not sought at all. The Qur’an would be quoted as rendering correctly some tenet of Islam (whether true or supposed ) to which it was desired, for polemic reasons, to draw attention; for example, ‘they were ordered to rob, to make prisoner and kill’ or ‘whatever (those in Paradise ) desired would immediately be supplied’. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1410 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval Christians read the Qur’an as inadvertent testimony to Christian truth — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1079; Medieval European conflation of Qur’an and Traditions may have been a deliberate polemic tactic; Medieval polemicists quoted the Qur’an inaccurately without scruple — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1410 (+3 more)

Related

• Medieval Christian polemic distorted Qur’anic texts with minimal inaccuracy (similarity 0.91)
• Medieval European conflation of Qur’an and Traditions may have been a deliberate polemic tactic (similarity 0.90)
• Medieval attacks on the Qur’an obscured its evident piety to unlearned readers (similarity 0.89)
• Christian polemicists distorted Qur’anic verses with small, impactful translation shifts (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval Christian polemic interpreted Qur’anic texts as nastily as possible (similarity 0.87)
• Ketton deliberately obscured Islam’s claim to universal prophethood (similarity 0.86)
• Medieval polemicists quoted the Qur’an inaccurately without scruple (similarity 0.84)
• Christian polemicists distorted the Qur’an by insisting it lacked charges they knew were there. (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval Christians read the Qur’an as inadvertent testimony to Christian truth (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval polemicists distorted Quranic verses to serve anti-Muslim arguments (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval anti-Muslim translators deliberately mistranslated texts to make Islam repulsive. (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christians polemicists routinely conflated the Qur’an with reported sayings of Muhammad (similarity 0.83)
• Ricoldo first conflated hadith commentary with the Qur’anic text (similarity 0.82)
• Mediaeval Christian polemicists dismissed Quranic metaphors by misreading them as literal physics (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval polemicists attacked the Qur’an with pedantic misreadings to prove Muhammad misunderstood truths (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Medieval Christian polemic distorted Qur’anic texts with minimal inaccuracy #contradicts (0.92) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 565
• Medieval polemicists quoted the Qur’an inaccurately without scruple #contradicts (0.90) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1410
• Medieval European conflation of Qur’an and Traditions may have been a deliberate polemic tactic #qualifies (0.88)
• Medieval Christians read the Qur’an as inadvertent testimony to Christian truth #expands (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1079
• Medieval attacks on the Qur’an obscured its evident piety to unlearned readers #expands (0.82)