Medieval attacks on Islam centered on its denial of chastity and reason

Evidence

It has never come gratefully to Christian minds that in Islam incontinence, and even unchastity, can come together with prayer and devotion. The theme of false monachism was surprisingly widespread. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1189 (#expands, via linked claim)

Martí’s fourth fruit of prophecy is that the prophet bring a good and holy law; here he tries to show that Muslim law goes against both divine law (as mandated by Scripture) and natural law (as mandated by reason). Of the eleven precepts that Martí here condemns as transgressions of divine and natural law, seven involve sex and marriage: polygamy is “against divine mandate, against natural law and against reason.” He similarly condemns what he presents as Muslim law regarding divorce, nonvaginal intercourse, concubinage, coitus interruptus, and homosexuality. Acknowledging that homosexuality is in fact illegal in Islam, he nonetheless claims that since four witnesses are needed to convict homosexuals, Muhammad thus “gave cause and opportunity to his followers so that many of them perpetrate this shameful act almost without shame and fear.” — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1202 (#expands, via linked claim)

Within this general theme a variety of different emphases is met. In this context sex has its place only as the chief among several symptoms of an underlying laxity. Peter the Venerable spoke of Islamic institutions as “‘prudentes secundum carnem’ - judicious in a fleshly way, we might almost say - as if to speak so were to make a significant concession to Islamic feeling. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 855 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval polemicists attacked Islam mainly through its marriage and sexuality laws — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1202; Medieval polemic treated Muslim sexuality as a symptom of a deeper spiritual laxity — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 855; Medieval Christian polemicists framed Islam as lust-driven heresy rather than separate religion (+2 more)

Related

• Medieval polemicists attacked Islam mainly through its marriage and sexuality laws (similarity 0.92)
• Medieval polemic treated Muslim sexuality as a symptom of a deeper spiritual laxity (similarity 0.85)
• Polemical categories like adultery fail when applied to another religion’s marriage law (similarity 0.85)
• Christian polemicists portrayed medieval Muslim sexuality as wholly unregulated (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval fixation on genital washing mirrored Christian obsession with Islamic sexual sin (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval Christians could not accept that devotion and unchastity could coexist in Islam (similarity 0.83)
• Twelfth-century Christian polemicists framed Islam as lust-ridden heresy. (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval Christian polemicists framed Islam as lust-driven heresy rather than separate religion (similarity 0.82)
• Critics linked Islamic sexual laxity to its doctrines of determinism and paradise (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval Latin polemicists condemned Islamic law as merely legalized lust (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval Christians misread Islamic concubinage as unregulated promiscuity (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval Christian polemicists fixated on Islam’s legal theory while knowing nothing of its practice (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval Christians held that true devotion and unchastity were mutually exclusive (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christian polemic held Muslim sexuality as a core mark of heresy. (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christians explained Islamic licentiousness through Arab climate and temperament (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Medieval polemicists attacked Islam mainly through its marriage and sexuality laws #expands (0.85) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1202
• Medieval polemic treated Muslim sexuality as a symptom of a deeper spiritual laxity #expands (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 855
• Medieval Christians could not accept that devotion and unchastity could coexist in Islam #expands (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1189
• Medieval Christian polemicists framed Islam as lust-driven heresy rather than separate religion #expands (0.80)