Medieval Christians labeled Muslims by ethnicity, not by religion, from biblical sources

Evidence

When these Christian authors wish to understand Islam, they will turn only rarely to Muslims themselves, normally preferring those time-honored authorities, the Bible and the church fathers. Medieval Christians, with very few exceptions, did not use the words “Muslim” or “Islam”; instead they used ethnic terms such as “Arab,” “Saracen,” “Ishmaelite.” Information about these peoples could be found in the venerable books of old. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 88

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains why the book is titled ‘Saracens’ — the operative medieval term was ethnic-biblical, not religious.
• XREF: Feeds the vault’s genealogy of how ‘Islamophobia’ names a category constructed from outside, of a piece with Anidjar’s claim about ‘the Jew’ and ‘the Arab’ as western-invented figures.