Europe, by contrast, was going through a bitter and violent conflict between Protestants and Catholics. The first half of the sixteenth century saw the emergence of the Reformation. This internal dissent within Christianity created a climate where Islam came to be seen as yet another schism, albeit a dangerous one. Thus, even while Martin Luther, who led the Protestant Reformation, had negative things to say about Islam, he viewed the Vatican as the greater enemy. For Luther, only after the defeat of Catholicism could Islam be beaten.

XREF: This reframes Luther's relationship with Islam — many assume he was uniformly anti-Islamic, but his agenda was primarily anti-Catholic.

Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politi…, loc. 80