Martyrdom hagiography framed Islam as worldly and Christianity as otherworldly
Evidence
The choice given to Anthony by the caliph—wealth and worldly honor on the one hand, martyrdom on the other—carries a polemical message: Islam is the religion of this world; Christianity, the religion of the next. The Christian reader is reassured that he is right after all and his encouraged to endure the rather minor “martyrdom” of life as one of the dhimmi in return for the celestial rewards Christ is saving for him. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 366
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: The dhimmi martyrdom rhetoric is a striking frame: everyday life under Muslim rule reframed as a lesser martyrdom traded for heaven.