A skilled medieval polemicist attacked Islam using only Islamic sources

Evidence

The author was not one of those who invented details of Islamic religion or of the life of the Prophet in order to attack them. Thus his outline of the career of Muhammad from his birth to his call summarised the hadith and contained little that was controversial, or even that was unfavourable to Muhammad. The lies of the Prophet which the author cited were just different erroneous aspects of Islamic belief, simply listed from the Qur’an and the Traditions, and classified as true or untrue. The same economy of method was employed against the holiness of the Prophet and of his religion, and against his miracles: a chain of Islamic authorities. This work was presumably intended rather for the information of propagandists than for propaganda; but it was a skilled advocacy that did not overstate the case. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 407

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: how the most persuasive critics borrow their opponent’s own sources rather than fabricating attack material.