Medieval polemicists quietly dropped claims lacking cross-tradition confirmation

Evidence

Not only in treating the life of Muhammad and the sexual institutions of Islam, but in all aspects of that religion, facts were exaggerated, sometimes out of little or nothing, and were often distorted almost beyond recognition; sound information was regularly discarded for unsound. Only in matters apparently favourable to Christianity was a very high degree of accuracy achieved, as, for example, in treating the Qur’anic beliefs about Christ and His mother. This draws attention to the motives underlying inaccuracies on themes where there was conflict. Accuracy in the one case, inaccuracy in the other, were equally useful in support of Christian belief. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1367 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval polemicists recycled general accusations of Muslim vice without personal knowledge; Informed medieval polemicists still clung to untenable anti-Muslim fables; Medieval Christian polemicists treated Christian and Muslim legends as mutually confirmatory (+2 more)

Related

• Informed medieval polemicists still clung to untenable anti-Muslim fables (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval polemicists distinguished what Muslims believed from what they only thought they believed. (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval polemicists recycled general accusations of Muslim vice without personal knowledge (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval polemicists ignored known facts to fabricate Muslim heretical intent (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval Christian polemicists treated Christian and Muslim legends as mutually confirmatory (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval Christian writers were accurate only where accuracy favored Christianity (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval polemicists used Muslim sources to validate anti-Muslim legends (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval polemicists quoted the Qur’an inaccurately without scruple (similarity 0.86)
• Medieval Christians polemicists routinely conflated the Qur’an with reported sayings of Muhammad (similarity 0.86)
• Medieval Christian polemicists attacked Islam with knowingly false evidence (similarity 0.86)
• Christian polemicists studied Muslim revelation accounts seriously rather than dismissing them (similarity 0.86)
• Medieval audiences preferred Islam accounts easier to ridicule over accurate ones (similarity 0.86)
• Polemical scholars adopted textual accuracy only as a tactical weapon against Islam (similarity 0.86)
• Scholarly polemic failed because it never spoke in terms Muslims could recognize (similarity 0.86)
• Medieval critics saw Islamic truths as deliberate bait for deception (similarity 0.86)

Broader Connections

• Informed medieval polemicists still clung to untenable anti-Muslim fables #contradicts (0.85)
• Medieval Christian polemicists investigated Muhammad’s claims carefully rather than dismissing them #corroborates (0.82)
• Medieval Christian writers were accurate only where accuracy favored Christianity #corroborates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1367
• Medieval Christian polemicists treated Christian and Muslim legends as mutually confirmatory #expands (0.78)