Missionaries sought martyrdom through provoking Muslim violence when war was unavailable
Evidence
Where acts of war were out of the question there often developed a strange desire to provoke violence instead. Some missionaries seem to have allowed or encouraged ‘preaching’ and ‘disputation’ to degenerate into provocation. Lull exemplified this when he ‘defended’ the Trinity by publicly abusing Islam; Ricoldo, more sympathetically, showed, amid considerable evidence of courage for religion’s sake, no sign at all of zeal for the martyr’s crown. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 683 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
St Francis, before his own journey to Egypt, had already despatched a party to Africa who successfully forced a reluctant Muslim government to martyr them. Before they left Christian territory they announced that God had chosen them to be numbered in the glorious army, Deus nos vult in numero suorum martyrum computare. In Seville they tried to break into the Friday mosque, and, when they were driven away by the crowd, as ‘ambassadors of the King of Kings’ they went and abused Muhammad and Islam outside the royal palace instead. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 686 (
#exemplifies, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Medieval missionaries aimed at martyrdom rather than Muslim conversion — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1465; Christian missionaries deliberately provoked Muslim rulers into martyring them; Franciscan missionaries deliberately provoked Muslim authorities to secure martyrdom — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 686 (+6 more)
Related
- Christian missionaries deliberately provoked Muslim rulers into martyring them (similarity 0.95)
- Medieval missionaries often converted preaching into deliberate provocation of violence (similarity 0.92)
- The urge to seek martyrdom through provoking Islam was widespread, not isolated (similarity 0.88)
- Franciscan missionaries deliberately provoked Muslim authorities to secure martyrdom (similarity 0.85)
- Medieval missionaries aimed at martyrdom rather than Muslim conversion (similarity 0.83)
- Medieval Franciscan missionaries deliberately provoked martyrdom by insulting Islam (similarity 0.82)
- Franciscan missionaries deliberately sought execution by abusing Islam publicly (similarity 0.81)
- Lack of dialogue and fear of God’s punishment drove violence and martyrdom-seeking (similarity 0.80)
- Medieval friars debated whether provoking one’s own martyrdom was suicide (similarity 0.80)
- Martyrdom served as political violence to sever Muslim-Christian collaboration (similarity 0.80)
- Seeking martyrdom repeatedly endangered Christian-Muslim coexistence across centuries (similarity 0.80)
- Christians deployed antiheresy polemics and voluntary martyrdom against Muslim expansion (similarity 0.79)
- Martyrdom-seeking missionaries provoked Muslim judges into executing them by blaspheming Muhammad (similarity 0.79)
- Christian friars debated whether provoking Muslim executioners to martyrdom was licit (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Christian missionaries deliberately provoked Muslim rulers into martyring them
#corroborates(0.95) - Franciscan missionaries deliberately provoked Muslim authorities to secure martyrdom
#exemplifies(0.90) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 686 - Medieval missionaries often converted preaching into deliberate provocation of violence
#corroborates(0.90) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 683 - The urge to seek martyrdom through provoking Islam was widespread, not isolated
#corroborates(0.88) - Medieval missionaries aimed at martyrdom rather than Muslim conversion
#corroborates(0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1465 - Martyrdom served as political violence to sever Muslim-Christian collaboration
#complicates(0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 509 - Dominican missionaries pragmatically targeted Muslims and Jews over Cathars to avoid martyrdom
#qualifies(0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1180 - Muslim rulers spared Christian missionaries out of reciprocity and honor
#contradicts(0.72) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1291 - Lack of dialogue and fear of God’s punishment drove violence and martyrdom-seeking
#complicates(0.72) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 746