Early medieval European knowledge of Islam was thin and unverifiable
Evidence
For Roger Bacon, neither Islam nor Judaism had the support of philosophy. These were in three cases the conclusions of writers with no personal knowledge of Islam. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 358 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
It is certain that the essentials of Islamic belief were known to those scholastic and other educated authors who took a serious interest in the subject; much was even publicised by popular writers. There was not, of course, any very subtle appreciation of the niceties of Islamic doctrine, and there was not usually a great desire to understand what was known. We shall see that this knowledge served a polemic use, and that the data were assessed in ways which must be unacceptable to Muslims. There was more Christian propaganda than genuine attempt to communicate over the frontier. The physical frontier was not very clearly marked and was easily crossed. The frontier that divided the mental attitudes of Christians and Muslims was emphatically defined and crossed only with the greatest difficulty. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 267 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
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 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Medieval attacks on the Qur’an obscured its evident piety to unlearned readers; Theory outweighed direct observation in medieval European writing about Islam — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1281; Medieval Christian knowledge systems failed to explain or influence Islam — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 168 (+19 more)
Broader Connections
- Medieval Christian knowledge of Islam served polemics, not understanding
#corroborates(0.95) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 267 - Medieval Christian anti-Islamic polemics were written without personal knowledge of Islam
#corroborates(0.95) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 358 - Accurate knowledge of Islam did not soften early Christian hostility toward it
#complicates(0.85) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 132 - Medieval Muslims dismissed Europe as historically and intellectually insignificant
#complicates(0.80) - Medieval Christian deformation of Islam coexisted with accurate knowledge
#complicates(0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 109 - Early modern Europe reused medieval texts about Islam rather than writing new ones
#complicates(0.75) - Medieval European literati did not believe Islam was idolatrous
#complicates(0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 238 - Medieval Europeans explained Muslim traits through climate and body rather than theology
#complicates(0.75) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 231 - Medieval Europe’s intellectual labor was transmission of Arabic-held knowledge rather than invention
#complicates(0.75) - Medieval anti-Islamic scholarship often went unread for centuries
#complicates(0.70) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 61 - Islam menaced Europe more in 1600 yet mattered less intellectually than in 1000
#complicates(0.70) — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 71 - Medieval theorists assumed Muslim culpability rather than argued it
#complicates(0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 644 - Medieval European conflation of Qur’an and Traditions may have been a deliberate polemic tactic
#complicates(0.70)