The most charitable medieval Christian appeal to Islam was deadlocked by Latin
Evidence
Equally his hope that he might convert the Moslems by exposing the weaknesses of the Koran was vain, for his exposure remained buried in the obscurity of the Latin language. Islam never heard the charitable voice of the abbot of Cluny explaining, “I attack you, not as some of us often do by arms, but by words; not by force, but by reason; not in hatred, but in love. I love you; loving you, I write to you; writing to you, I invite you to salvation.” — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 217
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: The image of the era’s most ‘loving’ Christian-Islamic overture being linguistically sealed off — a charitable intent rendered futile by the very medium of its composition — is a dense study of how goodwill and structural barriers interact.
- CANDY: The quote ‘I attack you not by arms but by words, not by force but by reason, not in hatred but in love’ is a striking, portable line about a medieval abbot addressing Islam.