The poisoned lamb story originates in Islamic sources, not Christian polemic

Evidence

There were also miraculous versions of the same story, also Islamic in origin. Vitry and the Syrian Apology cited very similar forms in which the shoulder of lamb spoke to the Prophet: ‘I have poison in me, be careful not to eat me in the food’, or ‘See you do not eat me, for I am poisoned.’ Why, asked Vitry, paraphrasing an argument that appeared in the Risalah, did Muhammad not recognise the poison that eighteen years later he died of; why, asked the original from which Paris and Viterbo derived, did he not save his companion who died? — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 596 (#expands, via linked claim)

Where better information made it difficult to believe the death from swine, the notion that he was poisoned was the best credible and authenticated substitute; poison is not, among Christians, the hall-mark of martyrdom, as it sometimes seems to be among Muslims. Such stories as the Prophet’s death in the arms of ‘A’ishah were thought valuable, because from the Christian point of view they were unedifying, though only from the Christian point of view. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 619 (#complicates, via linked claim)

In the early centuries of Islam, Christians were essentially writing in the dark; even during the Crusades, they were woefully ignorant of Islam. Anglo-Saxon perceptions of Islam “were formed in a Christian literary matrix, since most people had no chance to witness Islam for themselves or to hear a first-hand report—and even a pilgrim to Jerusalem such as Atculf or Willibald had been informed to some extent by the Christian literary corpus before arriving in Saracen territory.” Literary and artistic representations of Christian-Muslim encounters often reflect a reliance on mythology, as seen in the descriptions of the purple-skinned Saracens and Muslim dog-headed men that Christian soldiers encountered in battle. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 144 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: In some Islamic miracle versions the poisoned lamb itself warned Muhammad — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 596; Christian depictions of Islam emerged from literary mythology, not lived contact — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 144; Christians and Muslims assigned opposite moral meanings to poisoning and martyrdom — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 619

Related

• In some Islamic miracle versions the poisoned lamb itself warned Muhammad (similarity 0.88)
• Christians and Muslims assigned opposite moral meanings to poisoning and martyrdom (similarity 0.86)
• Christian depictions of Islam emerged from literary mythology, not lived contact (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• In some Islamic miracle versions the poisoned lamb itself warned Muhammad #expands (0.78) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 596
• Christian depictions of Islam emerged from literary mythology, not lived contact #complicates (0.72) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 144
• Christians and Muslims assigned opposite moral meanings to poisoning and martyrdom #complicates (0.72) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 619