Medieval polemicists cited an accurate Koran while inverting its emphasis

Evidence

In his description of “the infidelity of the Saracens,” Fidentius gives a largely accurate (if extremely hostile) description of the differences between Muslim and Christian beliefs about Jesus and the Trinity. He, like William of Tripoli and the author of De statu, cites the Koran, in a fairly faithful Latin translation, to illustrate his points. But for De statu the similarities were more important than the differences: they showed that the Saracens “believed in their hearts.” For Fidentius, these differences are crucial and irreparable: he emphasizes their hostility to Christian doctrine and to Christian ritual objects: These very same Saracens greatly abhor images, and they destroy pictures, and trample them, and fling them into filthy places. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1082

Categorization

• XREF: Both authors reading the same Koran yet drawing opposite conclusions (essence vs. difference) foreshadows the modern scholarly split over whether Islam is ‘really’ peaceful — an important nuance to the Anidjar/Aziz genealogical claims in the vault.