Medieval Christian polemicists treated Christian and Muslim legends as mutually confirmatory

Evidence

San Pedro had some doubts about the Maurus legend but felt sure that episodes told by ibn Ishaq (the delay in revelation over the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and the accusation by the Quraysh that Muhammad had a foreign teacher) implied the substantial truth of the main point of it. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2044 (#expands, via linked claim)

In that religion there are both many truths inserted into the lies, and good things mixed with the bad, even with malice to deceive: namely, so that the false things should be believed because of the true, or else that the bad things should be received because of the good. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 904 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval polemicists distinguished what Muslims believed from what they only thought they believed.; Christian polemicists read Muslim sources as unwittingly confirming Christian legends — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1314; Medieval polemicists used Muslim sources to validate anti-Muslim legends — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2044 (+2 more)

Related

• Medieval polemicists used Muslim sources to validate anti-Muslim legends (similarity 0.92)
• Medieval critics saw Islamic truths as deliberate bait for deception (similarity 0.91)
• Christian polemicists read Muslim sources as unwittingly confirming Christian legends (similarity 0.91)
• Informed medieval polemicists still clung to untenable anti-Muslim fables (similarity 0.90)
• Medieval polemicists ignored known facts to fabricate Muslim heretical intent (similarity 0.89)
• Scholars perpetuated apocryphal Islamic legends despite knowing they lacked sources (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval polemicists claimed Islam mixed truths with lies to deceive believers (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval polemicists quietly dropped claims lacking cross-tradition confirmation (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval polemicists recycled general accusations of Muslim vice without personal knowledge (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval polemicists distinguished what Muslims believed from what they only thought they believed. (similarity 0.87)
• Christian polemicists studied Muslim revelation accounts seriously rather than dismissing them (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval Christians polemicists routinely conflated the Qur’an with reported sayings of Muhammad (similarity 0.86)
• Best-informed authors combined fabulous Christian legends with reliable Islamic sources without resolving conflict (similarity 0.85)
• Even well-informed medieval authors chose implausible stories when framing Muslims (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval Christian polemicists attacked Islam with knowingly false evidence (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Medieval polemicists used Muslim sources to validate anti-Muslim legends #expands (0.92) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2044
• Medieval polemicists claimed Islam mixed truths with lies to deceive believers #expands (0.78) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 904