Medieval bestiaries transferred Jewish animal-symbols onto Muslims as dog-headed monsters

Evidence

In some cases, the monsters are disguised. Such is the case of the medieval bestiary. In this genre, the killers of Christ are often cast as dogs. Both Jews and Muslims are described as dogs and, as we shall see, are depicted as dog-headed men. The bestiary is one way in which monstrous identities are established, through Jewish symbols that are then transferred onto Muslim characters in Muslim cynocephalie. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 212

Categorization

• XREF: Sharply answers the reader’s question on how the Muslim monster was manufactured: a template built first for Jews was reused for Muslims, showing recycling rather than fresh invention.
• DEFINE: Introduces cynocephaly (dog-headed men) as a bestiary monster-category applied to Muslims.