Christian views of Islam reflected their own preconceptions more than actual Muslims

Evidence

Muslim praying, and Ricoldo in his I¢tznerarium.3® These were spontaneous reactions to factual observations, instead of theoretical disquisitions. The Liber Nicholay supposed the Prophet to have taught just that men should pray for forgiveness (in the words of the psalm, Miserere met, Deus, etc.) at the ablution. It was more usual to say that the washings were a false baptism, or imitation of baptism, and to administer the reproof that what was really required was penitence, or interior, not exterior, cleanliness; Muslims were even corrected for having thought that baptism (represented by this false washing ) and not confession was for the remission of habitual sin.°° In the light of so much interpretation in terms chiefly Christian, the curious stress upon the cleansing in the ablution of the sexual parts ought perhaps to be seen as reflecting the importance given to Islamic sexual sin in all mediaeval polemic. … The sermonising about interior cleanliness was probably inevitable, particularly as there is relatively little Christian ritual of impurity and cleansing to provide a standard of reference.4! This subject reveals some familiar aspects of the Christian legend of Islam — interpretation in Christian terms, unwillingness to consider the actual intentions of Islam, and sometimes indignant, horrified scandalisation at a fiction of the Christians’ own imagining. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1173 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

This is why I begin this survey of Christian perceptions of Islam before the rise of Islam. The point is to show how key Latin Christian authors of the seventh century viewed their world: in particular, how they defined the differences between Christian and non-Christians (Jews, pagans, and heretics) and what they saw as their place in history. For when they first meet Muslims they will try to understand their military successes and their religion in terms familiar to them, to fit Islam into already existing Christian categories by portraying them, variously, as a divinely sent punishment, as pagan idolaters, as Christian heretics, as followers of Satan, or as devotees of Antichrist. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 88 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Christian polemists preferred their own readings over traditional Islamic interpretation; Scholastic Christians judged the Qur’an by alien stylistic criteria and inverted its self-understanding; Lull saw Muslim and Christian fears of misbelief as mirror images (+25 more)

Broader Connections

• The Christian image of Islam served Christian self-understanding, not Islam itself #corroborates (1.00) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 165
• Christian thinking forced Islam into Christian analogical categories, misrepresenting it #corroborates (1.00)
• Medieval Christians interpreted Muslim ablutions through their own categories rather than Islam’s #corroborates (1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1173
• Anti-Quran polemics were crafted for Christian audiences rather than actual Muslims #corroborates (1.00)
• Medieval Christians understood Islam through preexisting biblical categories rather than direct encounter #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 88
• Christian and Muslim accounts of pre-Islamic religion shared a single source tradition #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1525
• Christian authors framed Islam using pre-existing biblical categories, not firsthand knowledge #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 88
• Islam was judged deficient for differing from Christian structures #complicates (0.95) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1266
• Christian thinkers consoled themselves that Islam’s rise was prophesied #qualifies (0.95) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 721
• Better-informed Christians under Muslim rule produced far more hostile views of Islam #expands (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 460
• Christian depictions of Islam in both conventions derive from Christian perceptions of Judaism #expands (0.95) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 234
• The medieval Christian image of Islam was self-referential and internally self-correcting #corroborates (0.95)
• Christian polemicists doubted Muslims really believed their own stated faith #complicates (0.90) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 253
• Christian polemics against Islam argued from premises only Christians accepted #complicates (0.90) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 272
• Christian taxonomy of the world frames later perceptions of Muslims #complicates (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 92