Latin critics asserted Islamic sexual practices without reliable knowledge of them

Evidence

To sum up: the Latins thought this matter very important. In their principal contention about verse 11.223 they were perversely wrong. In their minor contention they had some justification, although there is no evidence that what they so stressed was ever encouraged, let alone generally taught, or that it was even accepted at all widely. On none of these points can they have had any reliable knowledge of actual practice. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1815

Categorization

• SEED: A pattern — polemic attached maximal importance to a misread Quranic verse about practices with no epistemic warrant — is a template for analysing how moral-panic claims gain traction absent evidence.