John V. Tolan
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032221
- eISBN:
- 9780813038964
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032221.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
“Sons of Ishmael” is the epithet that many Christian writers of the Middle Ages gave to Muslims. This book focuses on the history of conflict and convergence between Latin Christendom and the Arab ...
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“Sons of Ishmael” is the epithet that many Christian writers of the Middle Ages gave to Muslims. This book focuses on the history of conflict and convergence between Latin Christendom and the Arab Muslim world during this period. These eleven essays explore, in greater depth than the author's previous books, a wide variety of topics. The Bible and Qur'an agree that Arabs were the descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar. Ishmael is described in Genesis as “a wild man; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him.” To many medieval Christians, this was a prophecy of the violence and enmity between Ishmael's progeny and the Christians—spiritual descendants of his half-brother Isaac. Yet the author also discusses areas of convergence between Christendom and Islam such as the devotion to the Virgin Mary in twelfth-century Syria and Egypt and the chivalrous myths surrounding Muslim princes, especially Saladin. By providing a closer look at the ways Europeans perceived Islam and Muslims in the Middle Ages, the author opens a window into understanding the roots of current stereotypes of Muslims and Arabs in Western culture.Less
“Sons of Ishmael” is the epithet that many Christian writers of the Middle Ages gave to Muslims. This book focuses on the history of conflict and convergence between Latin Christendom and the Arab Muslim world during this period. These eleven essays explore, in greater depth than the author's previous books, a wide variety of topics. The Bible and Qur'an agree that Arabs were the descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar. Ishmael is described in Genesis as “a wild man; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him.” To many medieval Christians, this was a prophecy of the violence and enmity between Ishmael's progeny and the Christians—spiritual descendants of his half-brother Isaac. Yet the author also discusses areas of convergence between Christendom and Islam such as the devotion to the Virgin Mary in twelfth-century Syria and Egypt and the chivalrous myths surrounding Muslim princes, especially Saladin. By providing a closer look at the ways Europeans perceived Islam and Muslims in the Middle Ages, the author opens a window into understanding the roots of current stereotypes of Muslims and Arabs in Western culture.
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