Muslims’ well-meaning silence in religious debates was often misread by Christians as defeat.

Evidence

There are many reasons why Christians may have been unable to distinguish under (a) or have been deluded under (6). As far as the latter is concerned there seems often to have been the aim on the Muslim side to avoid controversy which would be bound to lead to trouble for the Christian concerned, and silence that was really due to kindness may have been mistaken for inability to reply. The proof of this is that we cannot assume that any Muslim would have been silenced by any argument to which there is a fairly obvious answer from a Muslim point of view. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2414 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Muslim courteous silence in debates was misread as inability to answer — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2414; The claim that Muslims refuse to dispute became Christian dogma

Related

• Muslim courteous silence in debates was misread as inability to answer (similarity 0.93)
• Muslim courtesy silence in disputations was misread by Christians as intellectual defeat (similarity 0.87)
• The claim that Muslims refuse to dispute became Christian dogma (similarity 0.85)
• Islamic refusal to dispute likely stemmed from caution, not fear of reason (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval Christian polemic invented a silent Muslim opponent who never objected (similarity 0.85)
• Islamic religious toleration was predicated on silence about Muhammad (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christian-Muslim disputation mostly argued from premises neither side shared (similarity 0.81)
• Recorded Christian-Muslim disputations rarely prove genuine learned exchange occurred (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christian polemic offered no common ground that could persuade Muslims. (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval interreligious polemics operated without shared evidentiary premises (similarity 0.78)
• Medieval Muslims and Christians living together avoided religious discussion, breeding mutual misconceptions (similarity 0.78)
• Medieval disputation records were largely constructed strawman debates (similarity 0.78)
• Christian-Muslim controversy necessarily centers on their fixed points of doctrinal disagreement (similarity 0.78)
• Christians under Muslim rule avoided attacking Muhammad or the Koran for fear of reprisal. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Muslim courteous silence in debates was misread as inability to answer #corroborates (0.95) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2414
• The claim that Muslims refuse to dispute became Christian dogma #expands (0.80)