Medieval Western writers recognized little spiritual life in Islam.
Evidence
- MUSLIM REVERENCE Lack of interest in Islamic religious practice marks the failure to recognise any kind of spiritual life in Islam; but this does not apply evenly to all aspects, and it is not that the authentic Islamic accent in religion was wholly unfamiliar. It sometimes seemed, indeed, as though the phraseology of an alien piety were relished, but, if so, it was very mildly. The seriousness, and perhaps the fervour, of Muslim devotion were known, but faintness of interest defined the limits of knowledge very narrowly. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1141
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the vault’s Anidjar/Aziz cluster on how Islam is constructed as lacking interior spiritual authenticity, recapitulated in ‘Racial Muslim’ framings.