Medieval Christian views on Muhammad

In contrast to the views of Muhammad in Islam, the Christian views on him stayed highly negative during the Middle Ages for over a millennium.^[1]^[2]^[3] At this time, Christendom largely viewed Islam as a Christian heresy and Muhammad as a false prophet.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

^ "Muhammad." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 10 January 2007, eb.com article.
^ Esposito, John (1998). Islam: The Straight Path. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511233-4. p.14
^ Watt, W. Montgomery (1974). Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-881078-4. New Edition, p.231
^ Buhl, F.; Ehlert, Trude; Noth, A.; Schimmel, Annemarie; Welch, A. T. (2012) [1993]. "Muḥammad". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. J.; Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Vol. 7. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 360–376. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0780. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
^ Quinn, Frederick (2008). "The Prophet as Antichrist and Arab Lucifer (Early Times to 1600)". The Sum of All Heresies: The Image of Islam in Western Thought. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 17–54. ISBN 978-0195325638.
^ Goddard, Hugh (2000). "The First Age of Christian-Muslim Interaction (c. 830/215)". A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 34–49. ISBN 978-1-56663-340-6.
^
Criticism by Christians [...] was voiced soon after the advent of Islam starting with St. John of Damascus in the late seventh century, who wrote of "the false prophet", Muhammad. Rivalry, and often enmity, continued between the European Christian world and the Islamic world [...]. For Christian theologians, the "Other" was the infidel, the Muslim. [...] Theological disputes in Baghdad and Damascus, in the eighth to the tenth century, and in Andalusia up to the fourteenth century led Christian Orthodox and Byzantine theologians and rulers to continue seeing Islam as a threat. In the twelfth century, Peter the Venerable [...] who had the Koran translated into Latin, regarded Islam as a Christian heresy and Muhammad as a sexually self-indulgent and a murderer. [...] However, he called for the conversion, not the extermination, of Muslims. A century later, St. Thomas Aquinas in Summa contra Gentiles accused Muhammad of seducing people by promises of carnal pleasure, uttering truths mingled with many fables and announcing utterly false decisions that had no divine inspiration. Those who followed Muhammad were regarded by Aquinas as brutal, ignorant "beast-like men" and desert wanderers. Through them Muhammad, who asserted he was "sent in the power of arms", forced others to become followers by violence and armed power.
— Michael Curtis, Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India (2009), p. 31, Cambridge University Press, New York, ISBN 978-0521767255.
^ Hartmann, Heiko (2013). "Wolfram's Islam: The Beliefs of the Muslim Pagans in Parzival and Willehalm". In Classen, Albrecht (ed.). East Meets West in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: Transcultural Experiences in the Premodern World. Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Vol. 14. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 427–442. doi:10.1515/9783110321517.427. ISBN 9783110328783. ISSN 1864-3396.

[Britannica-1] "Muhammad." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 10 January 2007, eb.com article.

[2] Esposito, John (1998). Islam: The Straight Path. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511233-4. p.14

[3] Watt, W. Montgomery (1974). Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-881078-4. New Edition, p.231

[Buhl1993-4] Buhl, F.; Ehlert, Trude; Noth, A.; Schimmel, Annemarie; Welch, A. T. (2012) [1993]. "Muḥammad". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. J.; Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Vol. 7. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 360–376. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0780. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.

[Quinn2008-5] Quinn, Frederick (2008). "The Prophet as Antichrist and Arab Lucifer (Early Times to 1600)". The Sum of All Heresies: The Image of Islam in Western Thought. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 17–54. ISBN 978-0195325638.

[Goddard2000-6] Goddard, Hugh (2000). "The First Age of Christian-Muslim Interaction (c. 830/215)". A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 34–49. ISBN 978-1-56663-340-6.

[Curtis2009-7] 
Criticism by Christians [...] was voiced soon after the advent of Islam starting with St. John of Damascus in the late seventh century, who wrote of "the false prophet", Muhammad. Rivalry, and often enmity, continued between the European Christian world and the Islamic world [...]. For Christian theologians, the "Other" was the infidel, the Muslim. [...] Theological disputes in Baghdad and Damascus, in the eighth to the tenth century, and in Andalusia up to the fourteenth century led Christian Orthodox and Byzantine theologians and rulers to continue seeing Islam as a threat. In the twelfth century, Peter the Venerable [...] who had the Koran translated into Latin, regarded Islam as a Christian heresy and Muhammad as a sexually self-indulgent and a murderer. [...] However, he called for the conversion, not the extermination, of Muslims. A century later, St. Thomas Aquinas in Summa contra Gentiles accused Muhammad of seducing people by promises of carnal pleasure, uttering truths mingled with many fables and announcing utterly false decisions that had no divine inspiration. Those who followed Muhammad were regarded by Aquinas as brutal, ignorant "beast-like men" and desert wanderers. Through them Muhammad, who asserted he was "sent in the power of arms", forced others to become followers by violence and armed power.
— Michael Curtis, Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India (2009), p. 31, Cambridge University Press, New York, ISBN 978-0521767255.

[Hartmann_2013-8] Hartmann, Heiko (2013). "Wolfram's Islam: The Beliefs of the Muslim Pagans in Parzival and Willehalm". In Classen, Albrecht (ed.). East Meets West in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: Transcultural Experiences in the Premodern World. Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Vol. 14. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 427–442. doi:10.1515/9783110321517.427. ISBN 9783110328783. ISSN 1864-3396.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]