Eighteenth-century Europeans ranked Islam as a civilization on par with Christendom

Evidence

In the seventeenth century Ottoman power was still great. Commercial and diplomatic exchanges with the Porte were coupled with regular military clashes involving mostly Dutch and Ottoman ships in the Mediterranean, but also in the Atlantic. There is no evidence that seventeenth-century Europeans dreamed of dominating the Muslim East. If they did they would have had to be satisfied with a dream. Dutch emissaries in Constantinople plotted to obtain commercial privileges by the grace of the sultan, not to influence the course of his government. Economically the Ottomans could still easily match the West. Militarily, they continued to be an ever increasing threat. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 181 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

One could retort that the same is true about Muslim attitudes toward Christianity or about Arab attitudes toward the West. True enough, but that is not the subject of this book. A sentiment of Western superiority over Muslims and over Arabs runs deep in European and North American culture: this sentiment has its roots in the Middle Ages. “Roots” is a deliberately vague term: I do not mean to suggest that twentieth-century Europeans and North Americans have passively inherited a prejudice that has remained unchanged since the thirteenth century. Thirteenth-century Europeans defined their perceived “superiority” primarily as religious (though cultural and other concerns were inseparable from religion); their twentieth-century counterparts tend to see themselves as culturally or intellectually superior: more “enlightened,” more technologically advanced, and so on. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 56 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Europeans’ sense of superiority over Muslims shifted from religious to cultural grounds across centuries — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 56; Seventeenth-century Europeans did not yet dream of dominating the Muslim East — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 181; Twelfth-century Christian interest in Islam was driven by its cultural prestige (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Europeans’ sense of superiority over Muslims shifted from religious to cultural grounds across centuries #complicates (0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 56
• Seventeenth-century Europeans did not yet dream of dominating the Muslim East #corroborates (0.75) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 181
• Twelfth-century Christian interest in Islam was driven by its cultural prestige #qualifies (0.72)