Medieval Christian scholars read the Bible as evidence about the Saracens

Evidence

The advantage that the Saracens held over other distant invaders (say, the Magyars), from the point of view of a monk and scholar like Bede, was that one could find out about them by looking in the Bible. After all, the Bible, says Bede, is superior to all other writings in antiquity, utility, and authority. It is in his biblical commentaries that Bede shows that he indeed is aware of the breadth and importance of the Saracen invasions. Genesis 16:12 described Ishmael as “a wild man” whose “hand will be against every man.” Like many of his contemporary Eastern brethren, Bede saw this as a clear reference to the Saracen conquests: “Now how great is his hand against all and all hands against him; as they impose his authority upon the whole length of Africa and hold both the greater part of Asia and some of Europe, hating and opposing all.” — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 447

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Anidjar’s claim that medieval Christianity constructed ‘the Saracen’ as a biblical-typological enemy rather than an empirical one.
• DEFINE: Genesis 16:12’s ‘wild man’ description being read typologically as the Saracen conquests is the originating schema later Islamophobic polemic inherits.