Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete

Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete (English: Law of Muhammad the pseudo-prophet/false prophet) is the translation of the Qur'an into Medieval Latin by Robert of Ketton (c. 1110 – 1160 AD). It is the earliest translation of the Qur'an into a Western language.

In 1142 Peter the Venerable persuaded Robert to join a team he was creating to translate Arabic works into Latin in hopes of aiding the religious conversion of Muslims to Christianity. The translation of the Qur'an was the principal work of this collection: the undertaking was huge, taking over a year and filling over 100 folios (180 pages in modern print). This translation of the Qur'an was popular in its time, with over 25 manuscripts still existing, together with two 16th century prints. It was the standard translation for Europeans from its release until the 18th century.

Despite its success and early influence, scholarly consensus deems the text unreliable. Thomas E. Burman states, "from the 15th century to the present, scholarly opinion has condemned it as a loose, misleading paraphrase".Juan de Segovia criticised the translation for the liberties Robert of Ketton took with it. The traditional 114 suras had been expanded into more, and Juan de Segovia claimed that the explicit from the Arabic was often left out while the implicit was included, not to mention numerous order changes. Ludovico Marracci, Hadrian Reland, and George Sale all criticized the translation with Sale even stating that it "deserve[d] not the name of a translation".

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