Mediaeval critics mocked the Qur’an’s chapter names as irrational

Evidence

Peter asserted that there is nothing about this prophecy in the Q., and nothing in those other books of the Muslims which have less authority. It is stupid, he added, to believe things on doubtful authority, and senseless to believe them on none — remarks that in the circumstances have an unintentional irony. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1965 (#responds-to, via linked claim)

When Landon is found and brought to court, the audience is told a tale of a Muslim convert who is led to murder: he is misogynistic, anti-Semitic, critical of American foreign policy, and convinced that America is part of a conspiracy against Islam. During court proceedings to determine his bail, he chants in Arabic, “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, I am a slave to Allah” (God is great, God is great, I am a slave to God), and demands a Muslim lawyer. “This prosecution is part of America’s crusade against Islam. I want a lawyer who sees that,” he declares. His hostile and inappropriate courtroom behavior positions him as a fanatic who is not in touch with reason. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 971 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The Qur’an, he continued, confirmed the authority of the earlier Testaments as prior to its own, ‘not only for the past, but for the present’. By guaranteeing the Scriptures, it invalidated itself, and yet, ‘so far as the visions of such a man could’, its confirmation of the Scripture held good. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 298 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Anti-Quran polemics were crafted for Christian audiences rather than actual Muslims; Media portrayals frame Muslim religious expression itself as irrational fanaticism — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race…, 971; Public figures argue anti-Islamic feeling is reasonable because Islam appears irrational — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 93 (+14 more)

Related

• Mediaeval Christian polemicists dismissed Quranic metaphors by misreading them as literal physics (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval attacks on the Qur’an obscured its evident piety to unlearned readers (similarity 0.86)
• Media portrayals frame Muslim religious expression itself as irrational fanaticism (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval polemicists attacked the Qur’an with pedantic misreadings to prove Muhammad misunderstood truths (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval Christian polemic interpreted Qur’anic texts as nastily as possible (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval polemicists mocked Muslim textual authority while relying on their own dubious sources (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval polemicists quoted the Qur’an inaccurately without scruple (similarity 0.82)
• Mediaeval anti-Islamic polemics convinced neither Muslims nor Christians (similarity 0.81)
• Christian annotators charged the Quran with self-contradiction on points later seen as mere nuance (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval polemicists distorted Quranic verses to serve anti-Muslim arguments (similarity 0.81)
• Claims that the Quran borrowed from Scripture were linguistically unserious (similarity 0.81)
• Christian polemicists distorted Qur’anic verses with small, impactful translation shifts (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christian polemicists attacked the Qur’an’s Christology as internally inconsistent (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval critics charged the Qur’an with contradicting natural philosophy and simple logic. (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christians polemicists routinely conflated the Qur’an with reported sayings of Muhammad (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Medieval polemicists mocked Muslim textual authority while relying on their own dubious sources #responds-to (1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1965
• Media portrayals frame Muslim religious expression itself as irrational fanaticism #corroborates (0.95) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 971
• Medieval attacks on the Qur’an obscured its evident piety to unlearned readers #qualifies (0.90)
• A Qur’anic verse was distorted into an incitement to fight non-Muslims #contradicts (0.90) — Asena Karipek, Portrayals of Jihad, 46
• Christian polemicists argued the Qur’an’s own endorsements invalidate it #contradicts (0.90) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 298
• Scholastic Christians judged the Qur’an by alien stylistic criteria and inverted its self-understanding #corroborates (0.85)
• Claims that the Quran borrowed from Scripture were linguistically unserious #contradicts (0.85)
• Medieval critics charged the Qur’an with contradicting natural philosophy and simple logic. #contradicts (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 357
• Anti-Quran polemics were crafted for Christian audiences rather than actual Muslims #complicates (0.80)
• Christian polemicists repeatedly charged Islam with being fundamentally irrational #corroborates (0.80)
• Medieval polemicists distorted Quranic verses to serve anti-Muslim arguments #corroborates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2364
• Medieval polemicists attacked the Qur’an with pedantic misreadings to prove Muhammad misunderstood truths #corroborates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 953
• Medieval Christian polemicists attacked the Qur’an’s Christology as internally inconsistent #corroborates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 950
• Failed conversion attempts led to labeling Muslims irrational rather than questioning Christianity #corroborates (0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1215
• Mediaeval Christian polemicists dismissed Quranic metaphors by misreading them as literal physics #corroborates (0.75)