Britons in India, unlike Americans, faced an active (if exaggerated) Muslim threat to their political order, yet both shared convictions regarding Islam’s coercive proselytizing and violent spread.

Evidence

Although Britons in India differed from Americans because of the active (if exaggerated) threat to their political order, both shared a conviction regarding two alleged qualities of Islam that made it a perennial menace: the proclivity of Muslims to spread their religion and to do so violently. In their reflections on the proselytizing power of Muslims – an issue among Europeans since at least the eighth century when predominantly Christian north Africa and Spain converted almost entirely to Islam – Americans and Britons almost universally explained mass conversion as the result of coercion. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 81 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

Related

• Although Britons in India differed from Americans because of the active (if exaggerated) threat to their political order, both shared a conviction regarding two alleged qualities of Islam that… (similarity 0.97)
• Anglo-American observers explained Muslim expansion as violent coercion. (similarity 0.88)
• Americans and Britons alike viewed Islam as inherently expansionist and violent. (similarity 0.86)
• Nineteenth-century Americans and Britons attributed Islam’s spread to coercion rather than persuasion. (similarity 0.86)
• Most Americans and Britons seemingly accepted that the inherent fanaticism of (male) Muslims produced their violent success. (similarity 0.86)
• British India feared pan-Islamism later than America did (similarity 0.85)
• Anglo-American observers explained Muslim expansion as caused by inherent religious fanaticism. (similarity 0.83)
• While these Americans and Britons avoided any suggestion that someone, drawn by a positive characteristic of the religion, might willingly accept Islam, others argued that, if there had been a… (similarity 0.82)
• A worldwide Muslim threat narrative came to frame British perceptions (similarity 0.82)
• Both Americans and Britons held Islam a perennial menace by its proselytizing and violence (similarity 0.82)
• Britons in India refashioned inherited Islamophobia to serve colonial governance needs (similarity 0.82)
• American commentators read the 1857 uprising as a religious awakening of Islam against Britain (similarity 0.81)
• Americans derived much of their Islamophobia from British colonial sources. (similarity 0.81)
• Britons defined their own superiority as the middle ground between Hindu and Muslim extremes (similarity 0.80)
• Mass Christian conversion to Islam forced Christians to view Muslims as religious rivals (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Although Britons in India differed from Americans because of the active (if exaggerated) threat to their political order, both shared a conviction regarding two alleged qualities of Islam that… #corroborates (0.95)
• Both Americans and Britons held Islam a perennial menace by its proselytizing and violence #corroborates (0.90)
• Nineteenth-century Americans and Britons attributed Islam’s spread to coercion rather than persuasion. #corroborates (0.85) — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 81
• Most Americans and Britons seemingly accepted that the inherent fanaticism of (male) Muslims produced their violent success. #expands (0.60)