Medieval biographies invented a pig-death for Muhammad to explain pork taboos

Evidence

Mathomus’s heels, for Guibert, become the supreme relics of Islam; attacking false relics (in general, closer to home) was one of Guibert’s favorite pastimes. For Adelphus, only the arm is left after the pigs have had their fill. The story is supposed to explain why Saracens do not eat pork. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 776

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to the reader’s interest in how out-groups get animal-adjacent disgust narratives; also parallels the ‘immodesty’ moral panic pattern of attesting superstition to explain a cultural practice. — connects to: Medieval polemic assigned Muhammad a death by pigs reflecting his supposed teaching of uncleanness; A medieval Christian death story combined pig, Jew, and ascension motifs into one narrative
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 776