Medieval Lull framed Muslim theological resistance as wilful stupidity

Evidence

Muslims fear to believe the Trinity for fear of doubting the unity of God, but Christians fear to doubt the Trinity for that very reason. By dishonouring the Incarnation, Muslims dishonour God just when they try to honour Him. Belief in the raising of human nature, by the Incarnation, so honours the creature as to honour the Creator more. To think the Incarnation against nature is to deny the creation of the world, the resurrection and Heaven and Hell, all of which are contrary to nature, and all of which, Lull of course realised, Muslims believe. By denying the Trinity, Muslims deny intrinsic infinite and eternal acts in God, and thus lessen their own fortitude to make acts to resist temptation. Much of this seems very tenuous to us, but Lull felt perpetually teased by the wilfulness or stupidity of Muslims who could not understand and would not accept what he had once explained to them. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 996

Categorization

• XREF: Lull’s portrait of Muslims as perpetually non-comprehending others who refuse to accept what they have been told echoes the vault’s construction of the Muslim as constitutive outside who cannot reason properly.