Medieval polemicists attacked Islam mainly through its marriage and sexuality laws

Evidence

Martí’s fourth fruit of prophecy is that the prophet bring a good and holy law; here he tries to show that Muslim law goes against both divine law (as mandated by Scripture) and natural law (as mandated by reason). Of the eleven precepts that Martí here condemns as transgressions of divine and natural law, seven involve sex and marriage: polygamy is “against divine mandate, against natural law and against reason.” He similarly condemns what he presents as Muslim law regarding divorce, nonvaginal intercourse, concubinage, coitus interruptus, and homosexuality. Acknowledging that homosexuality is in fact illegal in Islam, he nonetheless claims that since four witnesses are needed to convict homosexuals, Muhammad thus “gave cause and opportunity to his followers so that many of them perpetrate this shameful act almost without shame and fear.” — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1202

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors the pattern in ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ where moral panic over sexuality serves political ends rather than genuine concern. — connects to: Polemical categories like adultery fail when applied to another religion’s marriage law; Christian polemicists portrayed medieval Muslim sexuality as wholly unregulated; Medieval attacks on Islam centered on its denial of chastity and reason