Medieval Christian polemicists framed Islam as a religion of compelled violence

Evidence

Even more than San Pedro, Ricoldo summed up the arguments that so many others had used before him. His version of the prophesied fall of Islam was to the effect that Muhammad taught that ‘that religion shall last as long as the victory of its sword shall last’. Islam was the religion of violence and murder: /ex violenta and lex occisionis et mortis. The Qur’an said that there was no compulsion in the religion of God, ‘yet there is no greater compulsion than to compel by killing’. This was one of the contradictions characteristic of the Qur’an; he took up Pedro de Alfonso’s point, and said that the Qur’an, which forbade bitter disputation with men of other religions, yet commanded the death of infidels; in reality God does not love forced service. Compulsion, together with a general approval of murder and robbery, was part of what was carried forward from Muhammad’s personal practice into the future behaviour of Islam. In spite of his own claim to have disputed with Muslims, Ricoldo several times asserted what had now become a Christian dogma, the refusal of Muslims to dispute. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 710

His version of the prophesied fall of Islam was to the effect that Muhammad taught that ‘that religion shall last as long as the victory of its sword shall last’. Islam was the religion of violence and murder: /ex violenta and lex occisionis et mortis. The Qur’an said that there was no compulsion in the religion of God, ‘yet there is no greater compulsion than to compel by killing’. This was one of the contradictions characteristic of the Qur’an … Compulsion, together with a general approval of murder and robbery, was part of what was carried forward from Muhammad’s personal practice into the future behaviour of Islam. … He said that the wise among the Muslims did not believe, and refused to discuss the matter for that reason. The Qur’an here was inferior to pagan philosophy, since it ‘says practically nothing about the virtues, but (speaks of) wars and plunder’. Force was substituted for miracles. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 710

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how social systems construct and enforce reputation — here a constructed Islamic reputation for violence used as polemical ammunition. — connects to: Medieval polemicists derived Islam’s violence from Muhammad’s Medina wars; A medieval polemicist conceded that bad Christians violated Gospel pacifism; Protestant-Catholic-Islamic parallels in polemic relied on incredibly thin points (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Ricoldo claimed the Qur’an forbids disputation yet commands death of infidels — worth checking against the actual qur’anic verses he cites, since he forged the contradiction to enable easy criticism.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 710