Medieval Christian polemicists judged Muhammad by Christian criteria for prophecy

Evidence

The Christian monk then explains “the signs of prophecy which oblige one to recognize the title of prophet and of apostle to him who shows them.” The Muslim notion of rasûl differs from Christian and Jewish notions of “prophet.” The Christian author does not acknowledge this, again suggesting that his real audience is fellow Christians and not his fictitious Muslim correspondent. The two signs of prophecy are revelation of things unknown (past and future) and performance of miracles. Muhammad foretold nothing, whereas the Hebrew prophets, Christ, and the apostles did. Muhammad produced no miracles, as the Koran expressly states; the miracles attributed to him are false. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 394

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of Christian polemic against Islam and how religious criteria get applied cross-traditionally.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what specific Koranic verses the author cites for Muhammad producing no miracles.

Related

• Medieval Christians judged Muhammad by criteria his own theology did not claim (similarity 0.94)
• Ancient criteria of prophecy were applied selectively to predetermine Muhammad’s failure (similarity 0.92)
• Medieval polemicists read Ismael’s biblical disinheritance as prophecy of Islam’s enmity. (similarity 0.90)
• Christian polemicists seized on Muhammad’s wounds as proof he lacked divine protection (similarity 0.89)
• Modern Western scholars retained medieval judgements about Muhammad. (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval Christians held Muhammad’s lack of miracles as decisive against his prophethood (similarity 0.86)
• Medieval polemicists tested Muhammad as a prophet against falsifiability-style criteria (similarity 0.85)
• Twelfth-century Christian polemic against Islam argued Muhammad failed the Old Testament prophetic test. (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval critics narrowed prophecy to future-telling to disqualify Muhammad. (similarity 0.84)
• Muhammad’s alleged false prophecy legitimized Christian political rule over Muslims (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval Christian polemic schematized prophecy tests to reject Muhammad empirically, not by definition (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christian polemicists read military defeats as disproof of prophets (similarity 0.82)
• Christian and Muslim concepts of prophethood differ fundamentally in meaning (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval Christian polemic sources included absurd pseudomiracles about Muhammad. (similarity 0.82)
• Christian polemicists explained Muhammad’s prophethood as a fraudulent bid for kingship (similarity 0.82)