Medieval Christian writers framed Muhammad as both wicked and humanly frail

Evidence

In all the accounts of Muhammad’s life which have some relation to reality, but omitting the wholly fabulous, two consistent themes dominate all that is said. Muhammad was violent; he levied war and ordered assassinations unscrupulously for private ends, for plunder, and even more for ambition. Secondly, he was subject to human frailty; he had his ups and downs, a history which revealed the ordinary fluctuations of fortune: szcut alu tyrannt. This seemed extremely important to the mediaeval writer whose mind was filled by thoughts of the divinely guaranteed successes of the Jews of the Old Testament. Still more important was the comparison between Muhammad and Christ; although Muslims claimed no divinity for the Prophet, Christians were aware of the contrast at every moment. Muhammad was both wicked and human, and these two points seemed almost equally important. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 552

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval Christian writers uniformly stressed Muhammad’s orphaned poverty