Christian institutions constructed the Muslim enemy to maintain their own power.

Evidence

This chapter outlined some of the key shifts in the European image of Islam from the eighth to the eighteenth centuries. This journey through history shows us that at first, between the eighth and eleventh centuries, Muslim incursions into Europe were viewed no differently from other pagan invasions. In fact, the Saracens were believed to be descendants of Abraham and therefore from the same “family” as Christians and Jews. Yet once other pagans integrated into Christian Europe, the powerful Muslim enemy became an “other” that had to be vanquished through holy wars. The papacy sought to unite a fractious Europe under the banner of Christianity as a way to advance its power. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 93 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

By this point, however, Muslims were no longer one enemy among many; the other pagan raiders (such as the Normans and Magyars) that had relentlessly invaded Christian Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries had been converted and integrated. The only enemy that remained was the Muslims. This is not to suggest, however, that Europe was united and at peace. Rather, Islam became a convenient “other” to mobilize support for the territorial ambitions of various rulers. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 60 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A government can manufacture crisis to construct its own people as enemy — , The Braided Reading EPUB: 5-Year…, 111; Church institutional power disciplined believers into accepting the Muslim monster; Islam became the convenient enemy to mobilize Europe’s territorial ambitions — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 60 (+10 more)

Related

• The papacy manufactured Muslims as a holy-war enemy to unify Christian Europe (similarity 0.88)
• Church institutional power disciplined believers into accepting the Muslim monster (similarity 0.85)
• Islam served as Europe’s constitutive outsider against which its civilization defined itself (similarity 0.85)
• Theological explanations blamed Christian corruption and cast Muslims as God’s punishing instrument (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval Christendom defined itself by expelling threatening forces beyond its perimeter (similarity 0.84)
• Christians treated all non-Christian monstrous figures as interchangeable enemies (similarity 0.84)
• Islam’s demonization varied with its military threat to Christendom (similarity 0.83)
• Islam became the convenient enemy to mobilize Europe’s territorial ambitions (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval enemies were institutional constructs tied to Christian power (similarity 0.82)
• The Crusades were less coherent religious triumph than convenient enemy-making (similarity 0.81)
• Islam threatened Christianity because it mounted a rival revelatory claim (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christian infighting outweighed the shared threat of Islam (similarity 0.80)
• Muslim dog-men outnumbered Jewish ones because Islam posed a military threat (similarity 0.80)
• Secularists and Christians alike deployed Muslims as foils (similarity 0.79)
• Christians read celestial portents as harbingers of Muslim invasion. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• The papacy manufactured Muslims as a holy-war enemy to unify Christian Europe #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 93
• Secularists and Christians alike deployed Muslims as foils #expands (0.80)
• Islam became the convenient enemy to mobilize Europe’s territorial ambitions #expands (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 60
• Muslims are positioned as an external threat against America’s internal enemies. #expands (0.70)
• Theological explanations blamed Christian corruption and cast Muslims as God’s punishing instrument #complicates (0.70)
• Medieval Christian infighting outweighed the shared threat of Islam #complicates (0.60) — Ali Qureshi, The Fall of Constantinople, 45
• Orthodox authorities perceived an invasion by the Latins as worse, for they would not afford them autonomy which might be hoped under Muslims. The land might remain under Christian rule, but the… #complicates (0.60)
• Islam threatened Christianity because it mounted a rival revelatory claim #contradicts (0.55) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 64
• Church persecution as doctrine caused the emergence of Muslim monsters #complicates (0.55)