While Luther unfailingly viewed the Ottomans as enemies, and Muslims as unbelievers, still he sought to understand them. He wrote reams about the Ottomans, whom he always referred to as “the Turks.” He studied Islam deeply, and even contemplated sponsoring the first German translation of the Qur’an. Many Islamic concepts, as we will see, would influence his own notions of religion. As one scholar explains it, “the ‘terrible Turk’ and his religion lurks in the shadows throughout all of Luther’s life.”
