A twelfth-century Christian scholar credited Arabs with superior rationality and learning
Evidence
One such scholar, Adelard of Bath, proclaimed “I learnt from my masters, the Arabs, to follow the light of reason, while you are led by the bridle of authority; for what other word than ‘bridle’ can I use to describe authority?” — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 853 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
The presence of the Maronites, Gabriel Sionita and Abraham Ecchelensis in Paris in the second quarter of the century, although their primary interests were Biblical and Syriac, and although they were by no means friendly to Islam, undoubtedly favoured the influence of authentic scholarship in questions of religion, and Sionita sought his facts, about some aspects of Islam at least, in Muslim sources. His colleague preferred to stress Arabic philosophy (in a wide sense) rather than Islam; both felt pride in Arabic culture which they distinguished from a religion they detested. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1669 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Muhammad is not the only adversary of Saint Isidore. Lucas’s hero is the intellectual superior of the most illustrious of the Muslim sages, Avicenna (Ibn Sînâ). After glorifying Isidore’s piety and learning, Lucas explains that his successor, a shifty Greek named Teodistus, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” stole several manuscripts of Isidore’s as-yet-unknown works in medicine and other sciences, then “out of hatred of the Faith, excising the truth and inserting errors, had them translated from Latin into Arabic by a certain Arab named Avicenna,” who pretended the works were his own. … Faced with the impressive edifice of Arabic science, Lucas responds that the Arabs stole it all from the good Isidore. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 940 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Medieval Christian apologists explained Arab scientific achievement as stolen Latin learning — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 940; Peter the Venerable targeted Christian admirers of Arabic learning — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 853; Arab Christian scholars distinguished pride in Arabic culture from detested Islam — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1669 (+16 more)
Broader Connections
- Christian Arabophile scholars contrasted Arabic reason with Latin authority
#corroborates(0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 853 - Medieval Christian apologists explained Arab scientific achievement as stolen Latin learning
#complicates(0.85) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 940 - Arab Christian scholars distinguished pride in Arabic culture from detested Islam
#complicates(0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1669 - Medieval Christians weaponized accurate Islamic learning for polemics
#complicates(0.85) - Twelfth-century Christian learning constructed non-Christians as occupying the margins between humanity and animals
#complicates(0.85) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 221 - Peter the Venerable targeted Christian admirers of Arabic learning
#complicates(0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 853 - Arabized Christian apologetics proved more durable than anti-Islamic diatribes
#complicates(0.80) - Medieval Christians explained Islamic licentiousness through Arab climate and temperament
#complicates(0.80) - An 18th-century explorer praised Arabs as naturally virtuous pre-Christians
#complicates(0.75) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 375 - Arab scholars absorbed conquered peoples’ learning while Christian Rome rejected it
#complicates(0.75) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 454 - Early English Arabists judged Eastern wisdom superior to Western
#complicates(0.75) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 210 - Seventeenth-century Arabic learning centered on scripture and lexicons.
#complicates(0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2455 - Eighteenth-century scholars studied Arabic to illuminate the Bible
#complicates(0.75) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 233 - Biblical textual criticism drove the era’s Arabic scholarship
#complicates(0.75) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 231 - Michaelis subordinated Arabic study to biblical understanding
#complicates(0.75) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 231