The Muslim ruler’s monstrosity is tied to his dark magic and sexual excess.

Evidence

The towering “quasi-Babel” tower that Vathek constructs in Samarah follows him wherever he goes. In the original French edition, it is clear where he gets his magical powers-”se coi[t] initié dans les mystères astrologiques”-Vathek is a practitioner of dark magic. Vathek’s monstrosity is also predicated on the character’s multiple sexualities, which includes a large harem of beautiful women: The fifth palace, denominated “The Retreat of Joy, or the Dangerous,” was frequented by troops of young females beautiful as the houris, and no less seducing, who never failed to receive with caresses all whom the Caliph allowed to approach them; for he was by no means disposed to be jealous, as his own women were secluded within the palace he inhabited himself. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 507

Categorization

• XREF: The sexuality/power/monstrosity link echoes the reader’s earlier framing (book chapter context) that the Muslim monster carries Western anxieties about uncontrolled desire and despotism.
• DEFINE: Shows how ‘monster’ here fuses despotism, occult power, and deviant sexuality into one figure—a distilled composite definition.