The use of arguments from classical philosophy against Muhammad’s carnal paradise

Abstract

In 1687 was published the work called Manuductio ad conuersionem Mahumetanorum by pater Tirso González de Santalla (1624-1705), who in that same year achieved the tittle of Superior General of the Society of Jesus. That work -continuing the line of the medieval controversy interreligious literature- receives from a group of authors whose rhetoric and method were been using during centuries to combat Islam, and –at the end- we can register them in the firsts works of polemic against Jews and pagans. Here, nevertheless, we can directly find the word of classics used –Christian way- to reprove customs and the way of life of the followers of Muhammad. The fundamental object of the present work is an example of use of arguments from classical authors like Aristotle or Seneca (among others), in the refutation against the Islam life from a carnal and righteous point of view.