Norman Daniel characterizes the first four hundred years of contact (between 700 and 1100 CE) as the "age of ignorance." During this period the West "knew virtually nothing of Islam as a religion. For them Islam was only one of a large number of enemies threatening Christendom from every direction, and they had no interest in distinguishing the primitive idolators of Northmen, Slav, and Magyars from the monotheism of Islam. . . . There is no sign that anyone in northern Europe had even heard the name Mahomet."

QUESTION: When and how did the West first gain accurate knowledge of Islam's actual beliefs and practices? What ended the 'age of ignorance'?

Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politi…, loc. 49