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Medieval Christian readers judged the Qur'an by its Christology

Properties2
tagsja-picks, factual_claims, singleton, xref, category/factual-claims
aliases@daniel_islam_1960, loc. 1079

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Medieval Christian readers judged the Qur’an by its Christology

Evidence

The greatest and the characteristic contribution of mediaeval thought to the study of Islam was the persistent sense of how that religion witnesses to Christ. This was often, as when the Qur’an was said involuntarily to teach the Trinity, wholly unintelligible to Muslims; it came a little closer to Muslim interpretation when it developed the Qur’anic ‘corroboration’ of the Christians, and really close when it stressed God’s election of Jesus and Mary. We shall see that in practice there was also some perception of Islamic works of religion and an appreciation of 
 Islamic virtues. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1079 (#expands, via linked claim)

The same annotator of the Cluniac Qur’an who had very fully understood and apparently appreciated the Islamic Names of God was much less gracious about the Qur’anic story of Christ, which he despised as ‘unheard of and monstrous’, the ‘absurdities of apocryphal writers’. He noted siirah x1x for ‘an impudent lie’ that revealed total ignorance of Scripture. It was the doctrinal error that determined his attitude, and preoccupied him: ‘Note that he everywhere says Christ, son of Mary, against the Christians - as if he said, son of Mary, not Son of God; which is the sum of all this devilish heresy.’ — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 924 (#expands, via linked claim)

The Islamic doctrine of Christ, like the story of Him, was partly true: Muhammad preached Christ ‘born of the Virgin, acknowledged Him messenger of God, Word of God, Spirit of God; he neither understood nor acknowledged Him messenger, Word or Spirit as we (do) .. .’ This important warning about the use of terms was generally neglected. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 923 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

  • XREF: connects to: Scholastic Christians judged the Qur’an by alien stylistic criteria and inverted its self-understanding; Medieval Christian polemic interpreted Qur’anic texts as nastily as possible; Medieval Christians valued Qur’anic Christ references over Islamic monotheism — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 920 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

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