Aggressive doctrinal attack on Islam hardened Muslim resistance rather than winning converts.

Evidence

These figures are certainly exaggerated, and the Dominican missions had also hardened the resistance of many Jews and Muslims: what easier way to offend them than to directly attack their holy writings and to tell them they have been interpreting them wrong for centuries? The Franciscan approach to mission was different; instead of engaging bookish confrontation between religious scholars, the barefoot Franciscan Friars preached to the assembled masses, at times provoking the Muslim rulers to martyr them. Franciscan mission, “of the heart more than of the head,” gained the respect of Muslims, even if it won few converts; the Dominican methods led to spirited intellectual defense of Islam. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1217

Categorization

• XREF: The contrast between confrontational bookish polemics and relational presence parallels modern debates over proselytizing versus interfaith engagement — an echo of the vault’s treatment of how encounter style shapes Muslim-Christian relations.