Islam served as Europe’s constitutive outsider against which its civilization defined itself

Evidence

By this point, however, Muslims were no longer one enemy among many; the other pagan raiders (such as the Normans and Magyars) that had relentlessly invaded Christian Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries had been converted and integrated. The only enemy that remained was the Muslims. This is not to suggest, however, that Europe was united and at peace. Rather, Islam became a convenient “other” to mobilize support for the territorial ambitions of various rulers. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 60 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Somewhat contrary to what might be presumed, the first anti-Islamic, anti-Muslim discourses therefore emerged from a setting where both the language of Islam and the people of Islam – Muslims – were known. At the outset therefore, Islam and Muslims were far from the distant and unknown ‘Other’ that later historical periods would suggest may have become the norm. It was in europe however where the overriding notion of the threat of Islam was widespread and where these discourses became coupled and embellished by the absence of direct contact. Consequently, europe’s Christian elite began the long history of codifying what might be described as its subjectively informed scholarship about Islam and Muhammad. This period and setting was therefore vitally important in recognising and understanding the meanings and perceptions that have permeated much of the thinking throughout europe, roman Christendom, and beyond, both in terms of the interaction between europe and the Muslim world as well as establishing the concept of Muslims as Other. — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 171 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Islam symbolized lasting trauma and danger, so its representation tamed it for Europe; Islam became the convenient enemy to mobilize Europe’s territorial ambitions — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 60; Anti-Islamic discourse in Europe was codified in absence of direct contact — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 171 (+6 more)

Related

• Islam became the convenient enemy to mobilize Europe’s territorial ambitions (similarity 0.89)
• Islam symbolized lasting trauma and danger, so its representation tamed it for Europe (similarity 0.85)
• The papacy manufactured Muslims as a holy-war enemy to unify Christian Europe (similarity 0.85)
• Islam’s proximity and shared sacred geography made it a unique spiritual threat to Europe. (similarity 0.85)
• Christian institutions constructed the Muslim enemy to maintain their own power. (similarity 0.85)
• Empire served as a dumping ground for Europe’s undesirables and repressed desires (similarity 0.84)
• Europe’s self-identity depends on constructing Islam as its hostile other (similarity 0.84)
• Europe’s image of Islam tracked its political and military needs, not theology (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval theological justification for opposing Muslims has faded in Europe. (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval depictions of Islam as heresy served to justify violence and resist conversion (similarity 0.84)
• European Islamophobia frames Muslim migration as soldiers in a renewed crusade. (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval Christendom defined itself by expelling threatening forces beyond its perimeter (similarity 0.84)
• Europe’s intellectual engagement with Islam arose because Islam outcompeted it culturally (similarity 0.84)
• Islam served as Europe’s principal civilizational other for centuries. (similarity 0.83)
• Islam has been Europe’s defining other across centuries (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Islam became the convenient enemy to mobilize Europe’s territorial ambitions #corroborates (0.95) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 60
• Anti-Islamic discourse in Europe was codified in absence of direct contact #expands (0.85) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 171
• Islam’s proximity and shared sacred geography made it a unique spiritual threat to Europe. #expands (0.85)
• Medieval depictions of Islam as heresy served to justify violence and resist conversion #exemplifies (0.80) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 139