Christian polemists preferred their own readings over traditional Islamic interpretation

Evidence

Marti cited the argument that one should consult the farmer about agriculture and the doctor about medicine; it is ironic that the failure to find out what Muslims themselves asserted to be their beliefs should have been characteristic of Christian polemic. A brilliant Christian writer perceived what was far from obvious to his contemporaries: ‘if Christians deny the histories of the Muslims and the Jews’, said Bacon, who never, so far as we know, had the opportunity personally to speak to a Muslim, ‘they, by the same right, will deny the histories of the Christians’. … The invariable tendency to neglect what the Qur’an meant, or what Muslims thought it meant, or what Muslims thought or did in any given circumstances, necessarily implies that Qur’anic and other Islamic doctrine was presented only in a form that would convince Christians; and more and more extravagant forms would stand a chance of acceptance as the distance of writers and public from the Islamic border increased. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1439 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Out of such and many other misconceptions “there formed a circle which was never broken by imaginative exteriorisation.… The Christian concept of Islam was integral and self-sufficient.” Islam became an image—the word is Daniel’s but it seems to me to have remarkable implications for Orientalism in general—whose function was not so much to represent Islam in itself as to represent it for the medieval Christian. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 165 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Christian views of Islam reflected their own preconceptions more than actual Muslims; Anti-Quran polemics were crafted for Christian audiences rather than actual Muslims; The Christian image of Islam served Christian self-understanding, not Islam itself — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 165 (+10 more)

Related

• Christians wrote about Islam mainly to persuade themselves, not to understand Muslims. (similarity 0.91)
• Medieval Christian polemic constructed Islam for Christian audiences, not from Muslim sources. (similarity 0.89)
• Christian anti-Islamic polemic targeted Christian readers, not Muslims (similarity 0.89)
• Christian polemicists never consulted Muslims about actual Muslim beliefs (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval Christians weaponized accurate Islamic learning for polemics (similarity 0.88)
• Christian polemicists read the Qur’an against its own interpretive tradition (similarity 0.86)
• Scholarly polemic failed because it never spoke in terms Muslims could recognize (similarity 0.86)
• Medieval Christians understood Islam only as a distorted copy of Christianity (similarity 0.86)
• Mediaeval anti-Islamic polemics convinced neither Muslims nor Christians (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval anti-Islamic polemics aimed to fortify Christians rather than convert Muslims (similarity 0.85)
• A fixed polemical image of Islam served Western needs better than firsthand observation did. (similarity 0.85)
• Christian polemicists studied Muslim revelation accounts seriously rather than dismissing them (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval Christian distaste, not ignorance, distorted portrayals of Islam (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval Christians polemicists routinely conflated the Qur’an with reported sayings of Muhammad (similarity 0.84)
• Christians misread Islamic ritual by assuming it mirrored their own (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Christian views of Islam reflected their own preconceptions more than actual Muslims #corroborates (0.90)
• Christians wrote about Islam mainly to persuade themselves, not to understand Muslims. #corroborates (0.90) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1439
• The Christian image of Islam served Christian self-understanding, not Islam itself #corroborates (0.88) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 165
• Anti-Quran polemics were crafted for Christian audiences rather than actual Muslims #expands (0.85)
• Medieval Christian polemics against Islam were written for Christian audiences, not Muslims #corroborates (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1421
• Christians selected from Muslim sources only details that served their polemic #corroborates (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1353
• Christian anti-Islamic polemic targeted Christian readers, not Muslims #corroborates (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1469
• Christian polemicists studied Muslim revelation accounts seriously rather than dismissing them #contradicts (0.80)
• Medieval Christian polemicists deliberately cherry-picked Hadith for shock value rather than understanding #expands (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1199
• Medieval Christians understood Islam through preexisting biblical categories rather than direct encounter #corroborates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 88
• Christians understood Islam only through the distorting analogy of Christ #qualifies (0.75) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 165