Christian-Muslim Relations 600 - 1500

'The sufficient, on the clear meaning' Gerasimos Date: Unknown; 13th century Original Language: Arabic Description Gerasimos’ work is divided into six parts. The first five seek to discover the marks by which one can recognize the true religion. They include an extensive collection of testimo…

Discourse on the Intellect, the Intelligent, and the Intelligible Muḥyī l-Dīn al-Iṣfahānī Date: Possibly 12th century Original Language: Arabic Description This is a short treatise that attempts to demonstrate, following two ways of argumentation, that the Creator and ‘God of the world’ is ‘intellect, intelligent, and intelligible’. The author uses a terminology that he probably borrowed from Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī, who employed it in a philosophical demonstration of the Trinity. Although the recipient of this treatise is not mentioned, it seems that the author had a Muslim reader in mind. Significance This short treatise provides an example of an attempt to explain the concept of the Trinity with the help of philosophical categories that would be familiar to both Christians and Muslims. Manuscripts MS Paris, BNF – Ar. 202, fols 36v-37v (1310) MS Aleppo, Qusṭanṭīn Khuḍarī Collection (inaccessible MS in private collection, lost; see Sbath, Fihris i, p. 63, no. 513) Editions & Translations Allard and Troupeau, Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Iṣfahānī, pp. 55-61 (edition on the basis of the Paris MS, with French trans.) Studies Samir, ‘Muḥyî ad-Dîn al-ʿAğamî al-Iṣfah…

Discourse on the Union Ibn al-Ṭayyib Date: Unknown; before October 1043 Original Lang…

Discourse on the principles of existents Abū Sulaymān al-Sijistānī Date: Unknown; before about 985 Original Language: Arabic Description This brief treatise is presumably the work to which M. Allard has given the name Kitāb al-tawḥīd wa-l-kathra wa-l-jawhariyya wa-l-uqnūmiyya, ‘[Divine] unity, plurality, substantiality and hypostaticity’, which is a full description of its contents (‘Les Chrétiens à Baġdād’, Arabica 9 (1962) 375-88, p. 385). As G. Troupeau explains in his edition, its author’s name is given in the unique MS as Abū Sulaymān Ṭāhir, and…

Īḍāḥ fī l-tawḥīdOn the principles of beings and the orders of their potencies, and the qualities with which the First Essence may be qualified, and how Christians qualify [the First Essence] by unity and multiplicity, substantiality and hypostaticity (followed by:) Four marginal notes on the Unity of God and his foreknowledge of what is before it comes into being, Clarification concerning the Unity [of God]…

Kalām fī l-lāhūtDiscourse on the Holy Trinity, Theological discourseThe little book of benefit ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Faḍl al-Anṭākī Date: After 1043 Original Language: Arabic Description The Discourse on the Holy Trinity (often called Theological discourse or, erroneously, the Little book of benefit) is ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Faḍl’s concise treatise on Trinitarian theology and Christology in 14 chapters. It spans five folios in MS Beirut, Bibliothèque Orientale – 541. The date of the treatise is determined by the fact that it cites Benefit, written after 1043. The Discourse on the Holy Trinity deals with some of the same issues discussed in the theological sections of Benefit, though mo…

‘Important words about the treatment of the People of protection’ Jamāl al-Dīn al-Asnawī Date: After 1349; possibly between 1354 and 1359 Original Language: Arabic Description This tract is one of a large number of anti-Christian polemics written in Mamluk Egypt during the 13th and 14th centuries. It has a number of titles in the different manuscripts. The British Library version is entitled Al-kalimāt al-muhimma fī mubāsharat ahl al-dhimma, while the Tunis version has Risāla fī ʿadam istikhdām ahl al-dhimma wa-ʿadam tawliyatihim al-Muslimīn (‘Treatise on not employing the p…

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‘The exposure of intrigues regarding the repair of churches’ Al-Subkī Date: 1353 Original Language: Arabic Description This work was written in response to a particular event in Lebanon. In the summer of 1353, the dome of a church collapsed, and a commission of Muslim scholars was convened to decide whether it could be rebuilt. In September of that year, they granted permission, and at this point al-Subkī wrote his response to their judgement. He completed it in just four days, but continued to work on it until…

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'A lament on the capture of Thessaloniki according to my abilities' John Anagnostes Date: After 29 March 1430 Original Language: Greek Description Tsaras ( Hē teleutaia halosē ,…

Against Muḥammad Against Muḥammad Date: Uncertain; probably 10th or 11th century Original Language: Greek Description Despite its title, this work is not so much a polemic against the person of the Prophet of Islam as an attempt to give a minimum of knowledge about his life and…

Kitāb ilā ʿAlī ibn Yaḥyā jawāb kitābihi fīmā daʿāhu ilayhi min dīn al-islāmHow to discern the truth of a religion (with variations)A work written to ʿAlī ibn Yaḥyā [ibn al-Munajjim] in response to the work in which he invited him to the religion of Islam Abū Zayd Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq al-ʿIbādī Date: Unknown Original Language: Arabic Description This text is another of the few works by Ḥunayn that deal exclusively with religion, constituting a defense of Christianity in response to pressure to convert to Islam. The work is known in two different recensions, a shorter one with a personal touch, which was part of a correspondence involving Ibn al-Munajjim and Qusṭā ibn Lūqā, and a longer, more impersonal one.…