Medieval Christian polemicists mocked Islam chiefly through exaggerated sexual caricatures.

Evidence

Daniel was shocked by the inaccuracy and hostility of what he found in many of the medieval texts he analyzed, and understandably so. Medieval Christian writings about Islam contain much that is appalling to the twentieth-century reader: crude insults to the Prophet, gross caricatures of Muslim ritual, deliberate deformation of passages of the Koran, degrading portrayals of Muslims as libidinous, gluttonous, semihuman barbarians. Daniel’s reaction to his own catalog of such hostile caricature is to shake his head in sad consternation. Yet there is little in his book to suggest why Christian writers presented Islam in this way or what ideological inter- ests these portrayals might have served. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 54 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

But it is Muslim sexual mores, once again, that become the favorite target for the polemicists’ ridicule. Both authors dwell on Muhammad’s marriage with Zaynab, and the Koranic revelation said to have validated it; for both, this is proof that the Koran, far from being divinely inspired, is manipulated by Muhammad to serve his own base desires. The Liber denudationis dwells on the supposedly sordid details of Muhammad’s other marriages. The Liber denudationis (like the Risâlat al-Kindî and al-Qûtî) attacks Muslim divorce law, which allows a man to remarry the wife he has divorced only after she has had sexual intercourse with another man. And all these texts ridicule the Muslim idea of heaven, dwelling on the sexual delights that Muhammad promised there. The Liber denudationis even goes so far as to claim that Muslims believe that in the next life each Muslim in paradise will be awarded for his virtue by an elongation of his penis: it will be so long, in fact, that he will need seventy Christians and seventy Jews to carry it before him! — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 820 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Christian polemicists portrayed medieval Muslim sexuality as wholly unregulated; Christian polemicists caricatured Islamic paradise as crudely carnal to discredit it.; Medieval Christian polemicists caricatured Muslim ablutions into a distorted parody. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1171 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Medieval Christian polemic mocked Muslim sexual mores to discredit the Koran #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 820
• Medieval Christian polemic libeled Muslims as libidinous, gluttonous, semihuman barbarians. #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 54
• Medieval Christian polemicists framed Islam as lust-driven heresy rather than separate religion #corroborates (1.00)
• Medieval Christian polemic held Muslim sexuality as a core mark of heresy. #corroborates (0.95) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 805
• Medieval Christian polemicists caricatured Muslim ablutions into a distorted parody. #complicates (0.89) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1171
• Medieval polemic attacked Muslim aspects that scandalized Christian observers #complicates (0.88) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1472
• Medieval polemicists fabricated Muslim inferiority to justify Christian superiority claims. #complicates (0.84) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1252
• Medieval Christian polemicists attacked Islam with knowingly false evidence #complicates (0.83) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1347
• Medieval Christian writers mocked Islamic eating rules by exaggeration #complicates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1268
• Medieval Christian polemicists caricatured Muslim paradise beliefs with absurd bodily inventions #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 820
• Medieval polemicists ridiculed Islamic paradise for its alleged carnal absurdities. #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1251
• Medieval polemicists sexualized and demeaned Muhammad’s marriage to discredit him #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 752
• Medieval polemicists mocked Muslim textual authority while relying on their own dubious sources #complicates (0.79) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1965
• Medieval Christian writers distorted Islam where accuracy served polemic #complicates (0.79) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1367