ABSTRACT
An analysis of the contents of Turcica specifically in reference to those subjects that we would define as ‘religious,’ including Western understandings of the Pillars of Islam, the Qur’an, the life of Muhammad, etc., provides a description of the state of knowledge concerning Islam potentially available to early modern Europeans.
This chapter begins with an analysis of the terminology used for the Turks/Islam and what that terminology reveals about understandings of Islam. One central argument of the chapter concerns the role of Christian-Islamic relations in this period in the development of the Western concept of ‘religion.’ I argue that the reification of the concept of religion begins earlier than generally believed. The chapter continues by examining how these authors understood the Muslim view of Jesus and of salvation. Other topics examined include Western views of Muhammad, the Qur’an, and Islamic rituals and spirituality. This includes the developing understanding of Sufism, theology of food, pilgrimage, almsgiving, ritual washings, and prayer. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the perceived relationship between Christianity and Islam and between Judaism and Islam, emphasizing the Protestant move away from understanding of Islam fundamentally as a Christian heresy.
