Medieval transcriptions of the adhan captured how it sounded to Christian ears

Evidence

The bare contrast between adhan and bells has been a commonplace of travellers’ reportage, but was rare in the Middle Ages. The anonymous English pilgrim said that ‘five or six fellows’ (ribaldi) made the call ‘to the three corners of the world, leaving out the east’; this was ‘in place of bells’. The adhan actually is made facing the Qiblah, that is, in the direction of Mecca, the mu’adhdhin turning left and right at the phrase ‘come to prayer’. The east would be omitted, therefore, only at a point east of Mecca. It is impossible that this author could have observed the adhan at such a point. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2323 (#expands, via linked claim)

This is why I begin this survey of Christian perceptions of Islam before the rise of Islam. The point is to show how key Latin Christian authors of the seventh century viewed their world: in particular, how they defined the differences between Christian and non-Christians (Jews, pagans, and heretics) and what they saw as their place in history. For when they first meet Muslims they will try to understand their military successes and their religion in terms familiar to them, to fit Islam into already existing Christian categories by portraying them, variously, as a divinely sent punishment, as pagan idolaters, as Christian heretics, as followers of Satan, or as devotees of Antichrist. When these Christian authors wish to understand Islam, they will turn only rarely to Muslims themselves, normally preferring those time-honored authorities, the Bible and the church fathers. Medieval Christians, with very few exceptions, did not use the words “Muslim” or “Islam”; instead they used ethnic terms such as “Arab,” “Saracen,” “Ishmaelite.” Information about these peoples could be found in the venerable books of old. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 88 (#expands, via linked claim)

In all these stories there was almost every possible permutation of a few basic versions. The sudden success of heretical Christianity and Talmudic Judaism which such a picture supposed the rise of Islam to represent fitted conveniently the idea of a more or less Christian pre-Islamic Arabia, but it equally well suited that of an ignorant, undiscriminating and wholly obtuse heathenism. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 481 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Early European scholarship transcribed the Muslim call to prayer in musical notation; A medieval pilgrim’s account of the adhan betrays it as invented — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2323; Medieval Christian accounts of Islam’s origins recycled a few basic narrative permutations — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 481 (+2 more)

Related

• A medieval pilgrim’s account of the adhan betrays it as invented (similarity 0.85)
• A medieval pilgrim fabricated or garbled a description of the Muslim call to prayer (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval Christians interpreted Muslim ritual through Christian sacramental categories (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval Christians understood Islam through preexisting biblical categories rather than direct encounter (similarity 0.79)
• European observers misconstrued the Muslim call to prayer as praise of Muhammad. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• A medieval pilgrim’s account of the adhan betrays it as invented #expands (0.82) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2323
• Medieval Christians understood Islam through preexisting biblical categories rather than direct encounter #expands (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 88
• Medieval Christian accounts of Islam’s origins recycled a few basic narrative permutations #expands (0.78) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 481
• Medieval Christians interpreted Muslim ritual through Christian sacramental categories #expands (0.75)