Islam as a Christian Heresy

doi:10.1017/9781108556620.014

11 - Islam as a Christian Heresy

from Part II - Case Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2025

John Tolan

Edited by

Richard Flower

Show author details

Richard Flower: Affiliation:
University of Exeter

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Numerous Christian authors from the seventh century to the twenty-first have classified Islam as a Christian heresy. Writers from John of Damascus in the seventh century to Hilaire Belloc in the twentieth have seen Muhammad as a heresiarch who forged a heresy based on elements of Judaism, Christianity and Paganism. Comparison between Muhammad and earlier heresiarchs (such as Arius or Nestorius) allowed Christian authors to denigrate and dismiss Islamic doctrine. Such comparison also facilitated the denunciation of new heretics closer to home: Luther and Calvin, for Catholic polemicists of the sixteenth century, or on the contrary the ‘papists’, for Protestant writers.

Keywords

Islam polemic Saracen Qur’an John of Damascus

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy , pp. 215 - 232

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108556620.014 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Select Bibliography

Belloc, H. 1938. The Great Heresies, London.Google Scholar

Bibliander, T. 1542a. Ad nominis christiani socios consultatio, Basel.Google Scholar

Bibliander, T. 1542b. A godly consultation vnto the brethren and companyons of the Christen religyon, Basel.Google Scholar

Bibliander, T. 2007. Le Coran à la Renaissance: plaidoyer pour une traduction, trans. H. Lamarque, Toulouse.Google Scholar

Chick, J. 1988. The Prophet: Alberto Part Six, Ontario, CA.Google Scholar

Dimmock, M. 2013. Mythologies of the Prophet Muhammad in Early Modern English Culture, Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9781139507530CrossRef Google Scholar

Mango, C. A., Scott, R. and Greatrex, G. (trans.) 1997. The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor: Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284–813, Oxford.Google Scholar

Miller, G. J. 2013. ‘Theodor Bibliander’s Machumetis saracenorum principis eiusque successorum vitae, doctrina ac ipse alcoran (1543) as the sixteenth-century “Encyclopedia” of Islam’, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 24.2: 241–54.CrossRef Google Scholar

Roggema, B. 2009. The Legend of Sergius Bahira: Eastern Christian Apologetics and Apocalyptic in Response to Islam, Leiden.10.1163/ej.9789004167308.i-580CrossRef Google Scholar

Thomas, D. et al. (eds.) 2009–2022. Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History, 40 vols., Leiden.Google Scholar

Tolan, J. V. 2002. Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination, New York.Google Scholar

Tolan, J. V. 2018. Muhammad the European, Princeton.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.0 A

The PDF of this book conforms to version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), ensuring core accessibility principles are addressed and meets the basic (A) level of WCAG compliance, addressing essential accessibility barriers.

Content Navigation

Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.

Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.

Reading Order & Textual Equivalents

Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.

Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.

Full alternative textual descriptions
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.

Visual Accessibility

Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.

Use of high contrast between text and background colour
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.

Structural and Technical Features

ARIA roles provided
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.