Medieval passion plays made Muhammad the god of Christ’s Jewish and Roman tormentors

Evidence

Both Jews and Muslims appeared as dog-headed men in a number of medieval texts and paintings that identified them as monsters associated with the devil. The association of dogs with Jews continues to the modern period; and while I do not provide a complete anthropology here, I would like to point to the importance of this particular anti-Semitic hate sign, which contributes to, and is supported by, Muslim dog-headed monsters. The association of dogs with Satan informs this relationship: The dog was interpreted as a manifestation of the Devil, especially in medieval times. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 226 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: An epic poem converted Muhammad into a powerless idol to justify crusade conquest — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 126; Twelfth-century Christians catalogued Muhammad as a compiler of condemned heresies — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 137; Passion narratives co-identified Jews and Muslims as a single enemy (+3 more)

Related

• Dog-headed men served medieval art as both Jew and Muslim monsters of evil (similarity 0.89)
• Jews and Muslims shared a canine monstrous identity in medieval literature (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval writers represented Jewish and Muslim bodies as jointly diseased and degenerate (similarity 0.84)
• Jews and Muslims shared the dog-headed monster linked to the devil in Christendom (similarity 0.83)
• Bestiaries transferred Jewish monstrous symbols onto Muslim characters (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christians inhabited a world where monsters coexisted with humans everywhere (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval art and text conflated Jews and Muslims into a single Saracen body (similarity 0.81)
• Islam’s military threat explains why Muslim dog-men outnumber Jewish ones in medieval texts (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval anti-Muslim rhetoric borrowed bodily-debility tropes from anti-Jewish writing (similarity 0.80)
• Muslims were ideologically collapsed into heretics, Jews, and the devil by Christian writers. (similarity 0.80)
• Muslim monsters were depicted as cannibals who ate their enemies. (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Muslims were cast as dog-headed men, demons, and Antichrist figures (similarity 0.80)
• Bestiaries cast both Jews and Muslims as dogs and dog-headed men (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval bestiaries transferred Jewish animal-symbols onto Muslims as dog-headed monsters (similarity 0.80)
• Fantasy tropes shaped how Orientalism constructed Jewish and Muslim men (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Passion narratives co-identified Jews and Muslims as a single enemy #corroborates (0.85)
• Jews and Muslims shared a canine monstrous identity in medieval literature #expands (0.75) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 226
• Dog-headed men served medieval art as both Jew and Muslim monsters of evil #exemplifies (0.70)
• Medieval writers represented Jewish and Muslim bodies as jointly diseased and degenerate #expands (0.70)