Arab Christian scholars distinguished pride in Arabic culture from detested Islam

Evidence

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

Categorization

• XREF: Complicates a flat ‘West vs Islam’ opposition — Maronite scholars already performed the culture/religion split that later Orientalist and Islamophobic discourse would rework.