Five Allusions in Hamlet to Islam

ALLUSIONS TO ISLAM IN HAMLET:
BACKGROUND: Some Protestants like Luther viewed Islam with concern and envy, regarding Islam as (to them) a “false” religion but admiring the unity of the Ottoman Empire compared to Christianity. Luther compared an emphasis discipline in Islam to Catholic emphasis on works (not "faith alone" for salvation). Luther was also instrumental in the publication of a German translation of the Qur’an. Political leaders viewed the Ottoman Empire as a geopolitical threat, concerned about reports that Turkish pirates in the Mediterranean had captured Christians to use as slaves or deck hands, and that some of these converted to Islam.

Three of the more explicit references in Hamlet to Islam or its adherents:

A. A reference by Hamlet to Termagant [1] in 3.2.14, with Termagant as a fictional god, in Christian propaganda, falsely attributed and used to discredit Islam, a word also used by Falstaff who calls Hotspur a "hot termagant Scot" in Henry IV, Part 1, 5.4.;

B. Hamlet speaks of how his fortunes may “turn Turk” (3.2.302, may betray him scandalously like a Christian converting to Islam);

C. Hamlet calls his uncle Claudius a ‘moor” (3.4.77, possibly implying various meanings [2], including a religious reference to Muslims, apparent enemies of Christians through multiple crusades, and viewed as excluded from Christian salvation.

To these three explicit references to Islam or its adherents we could add at least two more indirect references, Francisco and Bernardo [3], whose names were most famously associated with two saints, both associated with crusades, and with monasteries that were "dissolved" in England during the reign of Henry VIII, bringing it to a total of at least five: 

Francisco - Francis of Assisi famously met with the Sultan of Egypt during the 5th Crusade;
Bernardo - Bernard of Clairvaux famously preached in favor of the 2nd Crusade, which failed.

NOTES:

[1] “Termagant”: The earliest (now) known mention is in "The Song of Roland" (11th-century work about a Frankish military leader (Paladin) engaged in a battle in AD 778 under Charlemagne). See Whaley, D. (1997). Voices from the Past: A Note on Termagant and Herod. In: Batchelor, J., Cain, T., Lamont, C. (eds) Shakespearean Continuities. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26003-4_2.   
- Note also, in King Lear, that Edgar (as Mad Tom o’Bedlam)) says, “Child Rowland to the dark tower came” (3.4.195), so Shakespeare may have had some access to a memory of “The Song of Roland.”

[2] “Moor”: Claudius is compared to a moor in a geographical sense, as compared to Hamlet’s father, who is a fair mountain;
- Hamlet and Shakespeare may also imply that Claudius is a (Thomas) More who (to some) seemed a defender of the “incestuous marriage” of Henry VIII to his first wife;
- Claudius may also be a “Moor,” a reference to ethnicity and skin color (as noted by Patricia Parker in 2003). See Parker, Patricia, "Black Hamlet Battening on the Moor," Shakespeare Studies, Vol. 31, 2003.

[3] See my series on Francisco and Bernardo (index here): https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/04/index-of-posts-on-francisco-bernardo.html

IMAGES:

Top Right: St Francis before Al-Malik al-Kamil Nasir ad-Din Muhammad (Arabic: الملك الكامل ناصر الدين محمد; c. 1177 – 6 March 1238).
Francis met peacefully with the leader of Egypt during a crusade; Francis is the namesake of Francisco, one of the sentinels in the first scene of Hamlet.
Date 1452.
Artist: Benozzo Gozzoli (1420–1497).
Museum Complex of San Francesco (Montefalco).
Public domain via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Benozzo_Gozzoli_-_Scenes_from_the_Life_of_St_Francis_(Scene_10,_north_wall)_-_WGA10241.jpg

Bottom Left: Image of Nureddin, Sultan of Damascus, at the time when Bernard of Clairvaux preached a crusade, which failed. Bernard had been a trusted religious leader who influenced kings, and who helped convince an English king to support a man later recognized as legitimate pope, instead of an anti-pope. One of Bernard's students had become pope and asked him to preach in favor of the crusade. When it failed, Bernard said the cause was good, but the endeavor was failed due to the sins of the crusaders and their leaders.
Origin: France, N. (Picardy?).
Unknown image author.
English: Historiated initial 'R'(eines) with a mail-coated Nureddin, the Sultan of Damascus, with bare legs and an open helmet, fleeing on horseback with a foal underfoot from two knights (Godfrey Martel and Hugh de Lusignan the elder) pursuing him on war horses, trampling a dismembered torso.
Date 1232 and 1261.
Collection: British Library, London.
Public domain via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nur_ad-Din_Zangi.jpg

Bottom Right: Selim I., Sultan earlier in the lifetime of Martin Luther (succeeded by Suleiman II)
Date 16th century
Library of the Topkapi Palace Museum, Hazine, Nr. 1562.

Top left: Artist: Anon. Depicted: Sultan Suleiman II. (1495/1496-1566).
Sultan Suleiman II was the second leader of the Ottoman Empire during the lifetime of Martin Luther, who admired that empire's unity as compared to fractured Christendom, and because Luther preached salvation by "faith alone" and not works, he sometimes compared the discipline of Muslims to the corruptions of Roman Catholicism, which to him, depended too much on works.
Date: 1530s. Kunsthistorisches Museum.   
Public domain via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nakka%C5%9F_Selim.jpg

Top Left:  The second sultan during the lifetime of Martin Luther, Sultan Suleiman II. (1495/1496-1566). Image Date: 1530s.
Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Public domain via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EmperorSuleiman.jpg 

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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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