The Medieval Islamic Attitude Towards Christianity

The medieval Islamic attitude towards Christianity varied quite considerably; often Christians would be considered as either ‘People of the Book’, or as heretics. There was a common belief among Muslims that, while Muslims tolerated Christians and accepted them, Christians had a tendency to pre-condemn Muslims. On the other hand, although Christians did undeniably attempt to convert Muhammad, and many other Muslims, to Christianity, as well as refer to them repeatedly as pagans within their literature, it is almost understandable; within a century of the death of Muhammad in 632, Islam had spread across much of the known world, a dilemma that was unfathomable, theologically incomprehensible and simply terrifying for most Christians. The†¦show more content†¦It is clear that the East was a place that filled many European Christians with both fear and fascination, but the very nature of the Christian holy places being largely ruled by Muslims meant that the Christian West could not help but come into repeated contact with the East. The Islamic world was generally associated with relentless stereotypes, such as the character of the oppressive Oriental ruler, as well as the persistent idea of sexual immorality within Eastern customs. Some Christian doctrines, for example the thirteenth century Franciscan friars, strongly identifies Islam with the coming of the anti-Christ, and many medieval Christian writers displayed resentment towards Islam through attacking the basis of the religion in an attempt to undermine its validity. Muslims in Christian literature were ultimately not Muslims at all, but the fictional, projected Western archetype; as Matsushita states, the ‘medieval Christian literary repres entation of the Muslim was no