Hostile biographies grew more distorted as real Muslim contact receded

Evidence

Many later medieval writers reiterated the twelfth-century view of Islam as heresy. Some tried to refute Islam in theological treaties or missionary manuals. Others reproduced the hostile biography of Muhammad, having him produce bogus miracles, be devoured by pigs, and so on. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 889 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Anti-Muslim hate exists because of ignorance about Muslims that is fuelled by the media. People don’t understand Muslims because they are not exposed to them. If the only information people get is from the media, then they are naturally going to assume that all Muslims are as bad as ISIS. But if you live next to Mr and Mrs Khan [common Muslim family name] you will realise that Muslims are just normal people. — Irene Zempi and Imran Awan, Islamophobia, 129 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

One would expect a very different view of Islam in the writings of Spaniards thrust into the role of dhimmi. Indeed, ninth-century writer Paul Alvarus, who wrote in Muslim Córdoba in the 850s, was much better informed about Islam than Bede and far more hostile. Muhammad, for Alvarus, was an Antichrist, and in his readings of the Prophets and of Revelation, Alvarus saw the clear predictions of Islam and the Muslim conquests. Alvarus wrote in defense of the Córdoba martyrs, Christians (mostly monks) who publicly insulted Islam and its prophet in a deliberate attempt to provoke the Muslim authorities into executing them for blasphemy—or, in the eyes of Alvarus, martyring them. Alvarus forged an aggressively anti- Muslim theology of history, with which he tried (unsuccessfully) to convince his fellow Christians to support and revere the martyrs. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 460 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Closer contact with Islam quickly dispelled the idolatry image; Physical contact with Muslims forced medieval authors toward greater accuracy; Christians fabricated authoritative-sounding refutations of Islam by forging famous names — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 384 (+17 more)

Broader Connections

• Physical contact with Muslims forced medieval authors toward greater accuracy #contradicts (1.00)
• Christians fabricated authoritative-sounding refutations of Islam by forging famous names #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 384
• Better-informed Christians under Muslim rule produced far more hostile views of Islam #contradicts (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 460
• Real historical Muslims were turned into monsters in imaginary retellings #corroborates (1.00) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 59
• Even factually accurate Christian accounts distorted Islam through selective emphasis #corroborates (1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1357
• Personal contact with Muslims substantially reduces anti-Muslim sentiment across party lines #contradicts (1.00) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 846
• Sustained daily contact tempered hostile European images of Muslims. #contradicts (1.00) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 51
• Later medieval polemicists reproduced hostile biographies of Muhammad as heresy #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 889
• Personal contact with Muslims breaks the media-fed assumption that all Muslims are terrorists #contradicts (1.00) — Irene Zempi and Imran Awan, Islamophobia, 129
• Hostile Christian descriptions of Islam repeated themselves virtually unchanged across centuries #corroborates (1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1574
• Philological study reduced Muslims to an arrested-development subspecies #complicates (0.90)
• Anticipated hostility makes Muslims alter dress and public identity strategically #complicates (0.90) — Irene Zempi and Imran Awan, Islamophobia, 187
• Hostile public scrutiny becomes internalized as the architecture of Muslim American identity #complicates (0.90)
• Both hostile stereotyping and well-meaning PR equally distort a public Muslim figure’s identity. #complicates (0.90) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 288
• Naming Islamophobia shifted the burden of justification onto anti-Muslim actors. #complicates (0.90) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 322