The History of European Insecurity about Islam

Here's a long, but really well-sourced article about anti-Muslim polemics through Western history.

The common accusation that litters the Internet these days about the Prophet being a paedophile are almost funny when juxtaposed with what they were accusing him of in the 17th and 18th century:

Prideaux, for instance, in his work of “gross bigotry” - Vie de Mahomet - wrote, “Mahomet (Mohammad) married Cadhisja (sic) (Khadijah) at five, and took her to his bed at eight years old.

Americans in particular have long harboured ill-informed fantasies of the mass conversion of the Muslim world, as detailed in another fascinating article by Baylor U Prof Thomas S. Kidd, from a 2006 article in Christianity Today.

The more things change . . .