It seems that my opinion of the Byzantines was shared by Arab scholars. Al-Jahiz in his al-Radd ‘ala al-nasara says:
The Rum subsequently attributed to themselves some of the books of the ancient Greeks. Since the Rum could not change the names of the most famous Greek authors, they ended by claiming that the Yunan are actually a tribe of the Rum…. Kitab al-Mantiq and Kitab al-Kawn wa al-Fasad were written by Aristotle, who was neither Byzantine [Rum] nor Christian; the Almagest was written by Ptolemy, and he was neither Byzantine nor Christian; the Elements was written by Euclid, and he was neither Byzantine nor Christian; medical books were written by Galen, who [also] was neither Byzantine nor Christian; and similarly with the books by Democritus, Hippocrates, Plato, and many others who were neither Byzantine nor Christian…. In reality, the Christians and the Rum have neither science, nor expository literature, nor vision, and their names should be erased from registers of the philosophers and the sages.
The philosopher Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi says:
We also found it a generally valid proposition that no other nation has a more subtle falir, nor a more manifest wisdom, than the Greek nation.
Of course Islam was at war with Byzantium and naturally they would hold negative attitudes of their enemy.