Islam has been framed by passion, prejudice, and political interests since the Middle Ages

Evidence

Over forty years ago, the late Palestinian academic Edward Said once wrote of Islamophobia that, “I have not been able to discover any period in European or American history since the Middle Ages in which Islam was generally discussed or thought about outside a framework created by passion, prejudice and political interests.” … We are surrounded by evidence that Professor Said’s statement still remains true today. — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 699

Categorization

• XREF: Hooks directly into the Beydoun/Kumar/Sweida-Metwally cluster on structural and European-rooted Islamophobia. — connects to: Western hostility to Islam shifted from theological to political rationales across the centuries — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 106; Anti-Muslim rhetoric was founded in the Middle Ages and persists into today; The link between whiteness, race, and Christianity was founded in the Middle Ages. (+18 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 699

Related

• Western hostility to Islam shifted from theological to political rationales across the centuries (similarity 0.87)
• Islamophobia is increasingly theorized as a form of racism rather than mere religious prejudice (similarity 0.86)
• Islamophobia has been present in Western discourse since the Middle Ages, when negative stereotypes about Muslims helped build support for the Crusades and rationalized European colonial domination. (similarity 0.86)
• Elites mobilized Islamophobia to advance their political agendas across centuries (similarity 0.86)
• Western attitudes to Islam have shifted across history rather than forming a constant clash. (similarity 0.84)
• No era since the Middle Ages has discussed Islam outside prejudice and politics (similarity 0.83)
• Many historians trace the structural distortions of Islam represented by modern Islamophobia to medieval Europe, and aversive portrayals emerged nearly as early as Islam itself. (similarity 0.83)
• European Islamophobia has moved from the far right into the political mainstream. (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval theological justification for opposing Muslims has faded in Europe. (similarity 0.83)
• European study of Islam originates in fear, not curiosity, and that hostility persists today. (similarity 0.83)
• European study of Islam originated in fear, not curiosity. (similarity 0.82)
• Islamophobia is rooted in centuries of religion-politics-warfare conflict (similarity 0.82)
• Islamophobia is political rather than religious and must be fought politically (similarity 0.82)
• Islamophobia and racial prejudice are entangled in distinct ways across Western contexts (similarity 0.82)
• Europe’s historical fear of Islam derived from its military expansion reaching multiple continents (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Elites mobilized Islamophobia to advance their political agendas across centuries #corroborates (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 98
• Medieval depictions of Islam as heresy served to justify violence and resist conversion #exemplifies (0.65) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 139
• Medieval elites first linked Islam and Muhammad to violence and sexual deviance #exemplifies (0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 66
• Islamophobia has material and political causes beyond ignorance or xenophobia #expands (0.50) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 706
• Islamophobia scholarship often treats medieval Christianity as a united whole against Muslims #complicates (0.50) — Ali Qureshi, The Fall of Constantinople, 25
• Islamophobia is produced by state action, not only cultural bias #expands (0.45)
• Islamophobia has become the dominant prejudice in Western societies #expands (0.40) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 15
• Islamophobia is political rather than religious and must be fought politically #expands (0.40) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 576
• Islamophobia and racial prejudice are entangled in distinct ways across Western contexts #expands (0.35) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 64