In writings about Islam penned by famous Christians like Jerome and Bede, it is worth remembering that much of the so-called knowledge produced about Islam was based on folk tales about monsters and mythical narratives about the East and its associated mysteries. These early works were nothing but musings and conjecture, written by individuals who had never opened the pages of a Qur'an or met a Muslim. When Bede attempts to validate his opinions about Islam, writing, "ex priorum maxime scriptis … Anglo-Saxon perceptions of Islam "were formed in a Christian literary matrix, since most people had no chance to witness Islam for themselves or to hear a first-hand report—and even a pilgrim to Jerusalem such as Atculf or Willibald had been informed to some extent by the Christian literary corpus before arriving in Saracen territory."

Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imag…, loc. 143