[source: Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe, p. 

CHRISTIAN PORTRAYAL OF ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY AS LIGHT AND DARKNESS IS A SHADOW OF HATRED WITHIN CHRISTIANITY
The war of light and darkness sounds well, but in this post-Freudian world men 
realize that the darkness ascribed to one's enemies is a projection of the 
darkness in one's self, that is not fully admitted. So, in this way, the 
distorted image of Islam is to be regarded as a shadow side of European man. 
[source: Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe, p. 83]

When one keeps hold of all the facets of the Medieval confrontation of 
Christianity and Islam, it is clear that the influence of Islam on Western 
Christendom is greater than is usually realized. Not merely did Islam share with 
Western Europe many material products and technological discoveries. Not merely 
did it stimulate Europe intellectually in the fields of science and philosophy, 
but it provoked Europe into forming a new image of itself, because Europe was 
reacting against Islam, it belittlted the influence of the Sarasins and 
excagerrated its dependence on its Greek and Roman heritage. So today, an 
important task for Western Europeans, as we move into the era of the one world, 
is to correct this false emphasis and to acknowledge fully out debt to the Arab 
and Islamic world.
[source: Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe, p. 84]