Medieval Christian polemic cited the Qur’an’s textual history as proof of corruption.

Evidence

The difficulties experienced by the early Caliphs in securing an acceptable text were utilised polemically by the Arab author of the Risalah, and this theme was thought by William of Auvergne, and after him by Vincent de Beauvais, to constitute the special value of this work: ‘it speaks of the Book of his Law, which is called the Qur’an, how it was composed and how torn apart and disordered’. Paris thought that bits of the Bible were added to the Qur’an, after Muhammad’s death, to satisfy popular demand. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 210

Categorization

• QUESTION: Which ‘Risalah’ is meant here, and how did the caliphal textual difficulties become known to the Latin West?