Renan depicts Muslims, with the exception of the occasional Muslim child prior to conversion, as lacking reason and intelligence simply by virtue of adhering to Islam. To be a Muslim is by definition to reject “the European spirit” and all that makes this spirit superior: reason, science, and the drive for knowledge. Fanaticism and irrationality constitute the unchanging essence of Islam and the Arab race.

Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Intro…, loc. 196