Medieval Christian polemicists fixated on Islam’s legal theory while knowing nothing of its practice

Evidence

If we review the Western approach to Islam over the whole field of morals, we shall be struck by the theoretical, and almost legalistic, character that it assumes. This draws attention to the inexactitude of the theoretical information so obstinately stated. In their assertions about Islamic jurisprudence, Christian writers were perhaps as often wrong as right, yet it was characteristic that they insisted on specifying minutely, for example, the numbers of wives and concubines permitted, and the regulations that governed marriage, divorce and remarriage. Of Muslim practice there can have been practically no information available. Thus it was the number of wives allowed that was the focus of interest, rather than the number Muslims mostly had; it was generally implied, rather naively, that they would always enjoy in practice as many as they could by law. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 890 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Islamic rules about witnesses, but not, strangely, to those that disqualified Christians from testifying in court cases that came before the qadi.**® Discrepancy between the Qur’anic and Mosaic laws of witnesses mysteriously irritated Ricoldo, who pointed to it with that triumphant air characteristic of his work whenever he felt that he or his source had unearthed some particular conclusive and self-evident absurdity. What he thought so significant in this now escapes us. There might well have been more attack than there was upon the acceptance of magical practices in Muslim society.®° Little polemic use was made of the Islamic seclusion of women.®! The serious criticism of Islam that it made no provision for restitution in cases of injury was not raised widely.®* None of these points loomed very large in the mediaeval tradition which was always dominated by the consideration of Islamic lubricity. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 848 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval polemicists recycled general accusations of Muslim vice without personal knowledge; Christian polemicists obsessed over Islamic legal rules while knowing nothing of Muslim practice. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 890; Medieval Christian polemicists fixated on Muslim sexuality over graver legal issues — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 848 (+6 more)

Related

• Christian polemicists obsessed over Islamic legal rules while knowing nothing of Muslim practice. (similarity 0.92)
• Medieval Christian polemicists fixated on Muslim sexuality over graver legal issues (similarity 0.88)
• Christian polemicists portrayed medieval Muslim sexuality as wholly unregulated (similarity 0.87)
• The social character of Islamic practice went unrecognized by medieval Christian writers (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval fixation on genital washing mirrored Christian obsession with Islamic sexual sin (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval Western critics attacked Islamic law’s theoretical allowances, not actual Muslim practice (similarity 0.85)
• Christian polemicists never consulted Muslims about actual Muslim beliefs (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval writers ignored Islamic ritual because praising it served no polemic purpose (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christian polemic interpreted Qur’anic texts as nastily as possible (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval polemic treated Muslim sexuality as a symptom of a deeper spiritual laxity (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval Christians weaponized accurate Islamic learning for polemics (similarity 0.82)
• Even well-informed medieval authors chose implausible stories when framing Muslims (similarity 0.82)
• Factual corrections to Christian anti-Islamic polemic only patched a weakened doctrinal structure (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval polemicists recycled general accusations of Muslim vice without personal knowledge (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval Christians misread Islamic concubinage as unregulated promiscuity (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Christian polemicists obsessed over Islamic legal rules while knowing nothing of Muslim practice. #corroborates (1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 890
• Medieval Christian polemicists fixated on Muslim sexuality over graver legal issues #qualifies (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 848
• The social character of Islamic practice went unrecognized by medieval Christian writers #expands (0.80)
• Medieval Christians weaponized accurate Islamic learning for polemics #complicates (0.75)
• Medieval Christian knowledge systems failed to explain or influence Islam #complicates (0.75) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 168
• Medieval Christian distaste, not ignorance, distorted portrayals of Islam #contradicts (0.75)
• Medieval Christian polemicists framed Islam as lust-driven heresy rather than separate religion #complicates (0.75)