Medieval polemic assigned Muhammad a death by pigs reflecting his supposed teaching of uncleanness

Evidence

Since he often fell into a sudden epileptic fit, it happened once, while he was walking alone, that he suddenly fell into a fit; while he was writhing in this agony, he was devoured by pigs, so that nothing could be found but his heels. While the true Stoics, that is, the worshipers of Christ, 142 • Forging Polemical Images (Eighth-Twelfth Centuries) killed Epicurus, lo, the greatest lawgiver tried to revive the pig, but the pig itself lay exposed to be eaten by pigs, so that the master of filth appropriately died a filthy death. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 773 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

A mass of literature gave Muhammad a very much worse, and highly melodramatic death, one that now seems wholly ridiculous. A reader of mediaeval writings comes incidentally across references to the Prophet’s shameful death. These take it for granted that he knows what this means - that Muhammad was eaten by dogs, or that he was eaten, or suffocated, by pigs. Thus Alan of Lille referred to Muhammad’s monstrous life, more monstrous sect, most monstrous death; he believed him to have been devoured by dogs. Pigs were more popular; Guibert believed in them and so did some of the authors who reproduced the Corozan text. Gerald of Wales and Higden added that this happened when he was in a drunken stupor, and Gerald commented, ‘since he taught uncleanness and shame, it was by pigs, which are considered unclean animals, that he was devoured’. Ludolf said that he was seized by an epileptic fit in the desert, and just that he was devoured by wild beasts. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 601 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval polemicists had Muhammad die in an epileptic fit eaten by pigs — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 773; Medieval polemicists gave Muhammad a death matching their view of his moral uncleanness. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 601; Medieval Latin texts gave Muhammad a death by pigs as theologically fitting punishment. (+5 more)

Related

• Medieval polemicists gave Muhammad a death matching their view of his moral uncleanness. (similarity 0.95)
• Medieval polemicists had Muhammad die in an epileptic fit eaten by pigs (similarity 0.93)
• Medieval polemicists treated Muhammad’s death-by-pigs as poetic justice for teaching uncleanness (similarity 0.89)
• Medieval Christian polemicists fabricated a grotesque death for Muhammad to discredit him. (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval biographies invented a pig-death for Muhammad to explain pork taboos (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval Christian writers invented horrible deaths for Muhammad to seal his unsanctity (similarity 0.85)
• A medieval Christian death story combined pig, Jew, and ascension motifs into one narrative (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval Latin texts gave Muhammad a death by pigs as theologically fitting punishment. (similarity 0.84)
• A medieval chronicler depicted Muhammad’s death as divinely ordained swine-consumption (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval Christian writers invented Muhammad’s death by swine to mark Islam unclean. (similarity 0.84)
• The pig-death slander on Muhammad circulated across English, Hebrew, and chronicle texts (similarity 0.82)
• Hostile polemics about Muhammad circulated even within medieval Jewish anti-Christian texts. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Medieval polemicists had Muhammad die in an epileptic fit eaten by pigs #corroborates (0.92) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 773
• Medieval polemicists gave Muhammad a death matching their view of his moral uncleanness. #expands (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 601
• Medieval Latin texts gave Muhammad a death by pigs as theologically fitting punishment. #corroborates (0.85)
• A medieval chronicler depicted Muhammad’s death as divinely ordained swine-consumption #corroborates (0.82) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 100
• Medieval biographies invented a pig-death for Muhammad to explain pork taboos #qualifies (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 776
• Medieval Christian polemicists fabricated a grotesque death for Muhammad to discredit him. #expands (0.78) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 527
• Medieval Christian writers invented horrible deaths for Muhammad to seal his unsanctity #expands (0.76) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 618