Early Christian writings about Islam existed before any real contact with Muslims.

Evidence

John is one of the first significant theologians to possess a fairly accurate knowledge of Islam based on firsthand familiarity with Islam’s sacred texts. He correctly recalls important Islamic beliefs, such as the oneness of God, Jesus as the Word of God and a prophet, Jesus’ miraculous birth, the denial of Jesus’ crucifixion, the Qur’an as God’s revelation to humanity, and so forth. A greater knowledge of Islam, however, does not make him a more benevolent interpreter of Islam. John’s agenda is not to provide an impartial description of Islam but to assist Christians who, as dhimmis, need help in their efforts to survive the pervasive claims of Islam and to resist the impulse to convert. The more Christians can see Islam as a perversion of the Christian gospel, the better equipped they will be to maintain steadfastness in the faith. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 132 (#expands, via linked claim)

In the earliest encounters between Christians and Muslims, the lack of awareness about Islam is easily explained. Christians simply did not show much curiosity in learning about Islam because most Christian authors initially viewed Muslims as a scourge sent from God to punish Christians for their sins. Dionysus of Tel-Mahre, a ninth-century Syrian patriarch, viewed the Muslim invasions of Syria as God’s punishment of the Byzantine church for embracing Dyophysite theology—that is, the belief put forth by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 that Jesus consists of two distinct natures, divine and human, united in one person. There was no shortage of Byzantine theologians to adopt the flip side of the coin and maintain that God was punishing the Monophysites, those who rejected the Chalcedonian position and insisted on the divine and human natures merging into one nature in the person of Jesus. Both sides shared in common the hope that God might lift the scourge if genuine repentance ensued. Few thought it worth the trouble to study the religious beliefs of Muslims in order to find relief from divine chastisement. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 123 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The heresy view of Islam predated the crusades in John of Damascus’ writings — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 128; Reformation-era Christian scholars rarely studied Islam seriously — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 147; Accurate knowledge of Islam did not soften early Christian hostility toward it — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 132 (+2 more)

Related

• Christians ignored Islam’s actual beliefs because they read Muslim conquests as divine punishment (similarity 0.90)
• The heresy view of Islam predated the crusades in John of Damascus’ writings (similarity 0.88)
• Accurate knowledge of Islam did not soften early Christian hostility toward it (similarity 0.87)
• Early Christian writers read Muslim conquest as divine punishment for Christian heresies. (similarity 0.83)
• European study of Islam originated in fear, not curiosity. (similarity 0.83)
• Early Christian accounts of Islam were written without any contact with Muslims (similarity 0.82)
• European understanding of Islam was ignorant but complex until the early eighteenth century (similarity 0.82)
• Earliest Christians saw Muslim conquerors as secular Arabs, not religious foes (similarity 0.82)
• Christians explained Muslim conquest as divine punishment for sin (similarity 0.82)
• Reformation-era Christian scholars rarely studied Islam seriously (similarity 0.81)
• Islam threatened Christianity because it mounted a rival revelatory claim (similarity 0.81)
• Early Christian responses to Islam aimed to slow conversions away from Christianity (similarity 0.80)
• Early Christian writers framed Islam as one more heresy, not a new religion (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christians first classified Islam as heresy within their own taxonomy (similarity 0.80)
• John of Damascus wrote barely a dozen pages on Islam despite his position. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Positive depictions of Islam emerged only where real daily contact occurred. #contradicts (0.75)
• Accurate knowledge of Islam did not soften early Christian hostility toward it #expands (0.70) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 132
• Christians ignored Islam’s actual beliefs because they read Muslim conquests as divine punishment #expands (0.60) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 123