The Bahira legend was inverted to make a heretical monk the mastermind of Islam

Evidence

Bahira, the Christian monk who (according to the Hadîth) recognized in the young Muhammad the future prophet, was made by hostile Eastern Christians into an Arian or Nestorian heretic who schooled Muhammad in doctrinal perversion (see chapter 3). He plays a prominent role in the four twelfth-century biographies. For Gautier this nameless saint (sanctus) is a positive character, forced into helping Muhammad in order to avoid the persecution of Christians and destruction of Solomon’s temple. For the other three authors, however, this hermit is the real scoundrel and mastermind of the Saracen heresy: Adelphus calls him Nestorius, equating him with the heresiarch of the same name. Guibert does not name him, but compares him with Arius; Embrico simply calls him Magus. This false, heretical hermit seeks to become pontifex of Jerusalem (for Embrico) or patriarch of Alexandria (for Gautier); spurned because of his heretical views, he goes off into the desert and plots revenge. At this point the hermit meets Muhammad and recognizes him as future spiritual and political leader of his people. This is based on the traditions of Bahira’s meeting with Muhammad, here presented in as hostile a manner as possible. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 750

Categorization

• XREF: The recycling of heresy-accusations (Arian/Nestorian) onto Islam prefigures how later polemic repurposed familiar enemy-categories — relevant to the vault’s genealogy of Islam-as-Christian-heresy framing.