3D. Historical accounts of how the Islamic religion of Jesus

was falsified: Constantine

Constantine establishes Christianity

[185] The sons of Bīlāṭus ruled after him, until the rule came to his son Constantine.

[186] He [acted] outwardly according to the Roman religions, but his mother, this Helena,

urged him to love the Cross. She accustomed him to Christian conventions and to that

which they say about Christ. [187] Now leprosy had appeared in his body, and the

Romans did not allow someone with leprosy to rule.1 Indeed it was forbidden for them to

make a leper king. [188] This distressed and worried him, so he concealed it. He

secretly intended to oppress the Romans and turn them away from their opposition to

making a leper king.

[189] The nations were raiding them. The burjān2 and the Berbers raided at the same

time. [Constantine] aligned his troops according to the forms of the planets. He called

for the elders of the Romans, those well versed in the Roman religions, and dispatched

them against the enemy. [190] Yet he did not seek assistance from schemes or spies as

kings and those who command armies do. [191] Thus what they did not want took place:

they were killed and the rest routed. [192] [Constantine] now made a show of sadness

and distress and said, “We sought assistance from and aligned ourselves according to

the forms of the planets that we venerate and our fathers venerated before us, and to

which we have sacrificed. Yet we have not seen them benefit or profit us.”

[193] He continued to manage them in this way, and to state: “No one should worship

something that does not benefit him. This is a time of need and severe crisis, [194] and 1 In a popular Christian narrative, present in the history of Agapius (or Maḥbūb) of Manbij (d. 4th/10th), the leprosy of Constantine is cured by Saint Sylvester, proving to the emperor that Christian priests have more power than their pagan counterparts and encouraging his conversion. ‘Abd al-Jabbār, on the other hand, along with Mas‘ūdī and al-Khaṭīb Iskāfī (d. 421/1030), uses the tradition of Constantine’s leprosy to malign Constantine’s conversion, portraying it as a maneuver to avoid the prohibition of a leper king. See Agapius (Maḥbūb) de Menbidj, K. al-‘Unwān, PO 7:4, ed. A. Vasiliev (Paris: Firnim-Didot, 1910-47), 540; Mas‘ūdī, 137; al-Khaṭīb Iskāfī, Luṭf al-tadbīr, ed. Aḥmad ‘Abd al-Bāqī (Cairo: Maktabat al-Khānjī, 1964), 48-9; MT, 110, 112, 173-4.2 In Islamic sources burjān refers to the Turkic people along the Danube River in the northern Balkans. They are distinct from the bulghār, who were from the same ethnic background as the burjān but settled along the Volga River. See I. Hrbek, “Bulghār,” EI2, 1:1304-5; Cf. ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s reference to the Christianization of both groups below, 3:499.

these planets are not defending us. One should reflect and worship that which will

benefit and defend him.” [195] Then he said, “Here is a woman who has dreamed of

someone who said to her, ‘Seek victory through this!’ and brought out to her a Cross.”

[196] It just so happened that the commander of the troops who were raiding them died

and they withdrew. [197] Therefore [Constantine] and those of his view and inclination

said that this was because of the blessing of the Cross.

[198] It was a practice of the Romans to put crescents, and things like the crescent, on

their banners, seeking the blessing of the moon and the planets, for the moon is the

quickest of the planets in its motion. [199] They took them down and put in their place

crosses. Thus they remain to the present.3

[200] Then [Constantine] began arranging to move the Romans away from venerating

the planets to venerating crosses. [201] There were many philosophers in their land who

venerated the planets and claimed that they are living and rational. [202] They were

overbearing to the people and looked down at the kings, claiming to be the elite of the

elite. [203] They earned no living and made a habit of inactivity, relying on the

possessions of the people. They corrupted the youth and anyone who listened to them,

whether king or commoner. [204] They claimed to have spells and talismans, with which

they could bring benefit or harm, and to be able to perceive hidden things through

astrology. They terrified [people] with geometry and figures.

[205] Now this Constantine was a wicked, calculating man, who patiently scrutinized

matters, greatly concerned for his rule and the affairs of his subjects. [206] He looked

into the matter of these philosophers and that which they claimed regarding planets and

talismans. He found it entirely invalid and found these people to be corrupt, deceitful

tricksters. [207] He began to kill them in order of their ranks, to burn their books and to 3 For precedents to ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s account of Constantine’s vision in Islamic works see MT, 172-3. The source of this particular tradition, where the vision takes place during a battle with barbarian enemies, is perhaps the East Syrian Chronique de Séert. Other Eastern Christian accounts, including those of the Melkite Eutychius (born Sa‘īd b. Biṭrīq, d. 328/940) and Agapius of Manbij, follow the standard Christian narrative of Constantine’s battle with Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. See Eutychii Patriarchae Alexandrini Annales, CSCO 50, ed. L. Cheikho, B. Carra de Vaux, H. Zayyat (Louvain: Durbecq, 1954), 121; Agapius (Maḥbūb) de Menbidj, 540; MT, 202n.

bring down their temples. [208] He continued to do so until Athens, which was the city of

philosophers, was empty of them. No one remained there except for farmers, tanners,

and dyers. [209] He made the temples of the planets into churches, and settled the

monks in them, saying “These humble ones are more deserving than those ignorant,

lying tricksters.” [210] He gave the monks and the common people authority over them

everywhere. Every book of medicine and geometry that they brought forth was burned.

[211] He turned against those who followed the opinions of the philosophers, washing his

hands of them and seeking help against them. [212] His mother Helena became

powerful in that time and she gave power to the monks and the Christians. She

summoned them from all over and made them informers and agents for her son. She

sought assistance through them.

[213] He made an external show of venerating Christ and the Cross. Yet he confirmed

the Roman religious practices as they were, including praying to the East and other

things that have been mentioned. [214] He removed nothing other than the worship of

the planets and he added nothing other than the veneration of Christ, espousal of his

divinity, and veneration of the Cross. [215] Yet this was not unfamiliar to the Romans.

[216] For one who believes that the planets (which are inorganic, dead things) are lords

that bring benefit and harm, is not unlike one who says that a person (who is not only

living, sensible, and discerning but is also said to have brought the dead to life), is a god

who created the planets with his Father and [his Father’s] wife.4 [217] This is easy for

westerners.5 [218] Do you not see how the Egyptians believed in the divinity of Pharaoh,6

that he was their only god?

[219] This Constantine went to Mesopotamia, heading for Ḥarrān and its districts, where

they were more determined in their veneration of the planets than those in Athens and

the lands of the Romans. [220] So he put them to the sword in order to exterminate

them. Some of them fled to the mountains and he pursued them himself. [221] They

4 Cf. Q 5:116. 5 Seen from the perspective of ‘Abd al-Jabbār in Iran, the Egyptians were indeed westerners.6 Cf. Q 26:44.

found leprosy abhorrent, so he had a special concern with them. [222] His officers

advised him, “Do not send people to pursue them, for the snow that is in these

mountains will destroy them. [223] If there is a remainder of them left, we will make

them cuppers for the Romans.”

Constantine convenes two ecumenical councils and enforces the Creed

[224] [Constantine gathered…]7 all of the Christians, the hermits and the monks, [225] in

order to learn from them the truth about Christianity and what should be decreed for the

people to hold, from which they should not deviate. Whoever deviated would be killed.

[226] About two thousand of their leaders gathered and made a declaration not unlike

the Creed.8 [227] Among them were some who objected and said, “The Word of God is

created” (The word of God is Christ). [228] Arius, Macedonius, Eunomius, Appolinaris [?]9

and their companions were there and among those who said, “The Word is created. The

speech of God and His statement are among his creations.” [229] They caused discord

and matters came to a standstill. That decree was invalidated.

[230] Then, after that, three hundred and eighteen men gathered in Nicaea, among the

lands of the Romans, and composed the Creed that has been mentioned.10 [231] They

brought it to Constantine who took it, implemented it and imposed it upon the people.

He killed those who did not accept it. [232] Thus everyone had to accept it outwardly,

7 There is a lacuna in the ms. here, most likely a very brief one, presumably corresponding to the phrase inserted in brackets.8 On the tradition of an original gathering of two thousand before Nicaea, v.s., n. 17.9 Arius (d. 336), persona non grata at the Council of Nicaea, which condemned his doctrine that the Logos is created. Later Christian tradition often associated his heresy with that of Macedonius (d. ca. 360), who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Eunomius (d. ca. 395), meanwhile, is said to have combined the heresies of his two predecessors, holding that only the Father had the quality of uncreatedness, ἂγέννησια. None of these figures attended the Council of Nicaea. As for the fourth figure, the ms. is orthographically closest to the Arabic form of Apollinaris: افولنارس (cf. Nāshi' al-Akbar, K. al-Awsaṭ fī ‘l-maqālāt [Beirut: Franz Steiner, 1971], 81) or بلنارس (cf. Warrāq, al-Radd fī l-ittiḥād, ed. D. Thomas in, Early Muslim Polemic against Christianity, 209). His death date (390), meanwhile, matches those of the preceding trio. Yet Apollinaris held to a stringent form of Alexandrian Christology in which the uncreated divine Logos was said to be the only animating principle (or nature) in Jesus Christ. His doctrine is fully opposed to that of the other three figures mentioned by here. Alternatively, the reference may be to another Alexandrian theologian, Origen (Ar. اوروجيانس) (d. early 3rd), a figure who is sometimes seen as a predecessor to Arius, Macedonius and Eunomius. See W. R. Inge, “Alexandrian Theology,” Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. J. Hastings (New York: Scribner, 1909),1:316. On Arius and his relation to Origenist thought, B. Studer: Trinity and Incarnation, trans. M. Westerhoff (Collegeville, MN: Michael Glazier, 1993), 103-4.10 V.s. 1:47-56.

for fear of the sword. He invalidated every other decree. [233] Anyone who followed the

religion of Christ suffered everything disdainful. They took up venerating the Cross,

eating pork, and following the religious practices of the Romans. Whoever did not eat

[pork] was killed.

[234] Now among the Ṣābians of Ḥarrān, there were some who did not eat broad beans,

for they claimed that [the beans are] the enemy of the celestial sphere, since they are

shaped like a cube and the celestial sphere is shaped like a ball. [235] They cooked

beans at the doors of the church and gathered the people to them. It was said to [the

people], “Come out. Everyone will eat beans.” [236] Those who did not eat them were

killed and their heads were cut off. Swordsmen were posted with their swords

unsheathed and they killed those who did not eat.

Christianity after Constantine

[237] Constantine continued to rule for fifty years, busy killing those who did not

venerate the Cross and declare that Christ was Lord until [Christianity] became

entrenched and empowered. [238] He bequeathed it to the kings after him, adjured

them, and had them swear to it, saying, “This is superior to the veneration of planets and

to the views of the philosophers.” [239] He passed this decree on to his sons, officers,

and friends and gave the kingdom to his sons. [240] The Byzantines describe him as

resolute and bold. He is to them like Ardashīr son of Bābak,11 the king of Persia, to the

Persians. [241] His sons rose after him to rule and confirmed his oaths. They continued

to decree numerous things about Christianity.

[242] In this way one of the kings had the idea to make Sunday the holiday on which

they would gather together, just as Saturday is to the Jews. [243] This was a long period

after Constantine. They held a synod for that.12

11 Cf. Stern, “Account,” 145, n. 7. The reference is to Ardashīr, son of Papak (the son of Sāsān) and founder of the Sāsānian Empire (r. AD 224-241). The analogy goes further, since it was Ardashīr who made Zoroastrianism the state religion of the Empire. See N. Söderblom, “Ardashir I,” Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, 1:774; J. Wiesehöfer, “Ardašhīr I,” EIR, 2:371-6.12 Perhaps a reference to Constantine’s edict of 321, requiring that all public work (agriculture withstanding) be stopped on Sunday.

3E. On Christian practice and its origin

Pagan origin of Christmas

[244] The Romans and the Greeks had a holiday which they called the “Birth of Time.”13

It was at the return of the sun in December. [245] They made it the birthday of Christ,

adding and subtracting [things from it]. [246] This is the great holiday for them, which

the Christians celebrate and call Christmas or Christmas Eve. This is the cause and basis

of it. [247] The Christians in the time of Christ, and his companions after him, did not

know this holiday and did not celebrate it.

Pagan origin of Christian fasts

[248] The Romans and the Ṣābians had days on which they fasted, the days of the

planetary perigees, during which they refrained from eating meat. [249] When they

began to espouse the divinity of Jesus, they confirmed [these fasts], and then added to

them in some ways and subtracted from them. [250] Today they fast fifty days, until the

zenith of the sun, then they break their fast on some days. This is the way they fast in

Byzantine lands.

[251] Now the Byzantines are the origin of these three Christian sects.14 [252] Then the

Jacobites, the companions of Jacob, branched off. [253] Then after the Jacobites the

Nestorians, the companions of Nestorius [branched off], who differ regarding the fast.

[254] Those who are in Iraq do not fast for half of every day, like the Byzantines. [255]

They – I mean those who are in Islamic lands – break the fast after the [Islamic] afternoon

prayer.15

13 Or the birth of Chronos, the Greek god of time and father of Zeus. In Roman religion Chronos was associated with Saturn whose festival, the Saturnalia, was celebrated for a week in winter, beginning on December 17.14 A reference to the Melkite, or Chalcedonian, Christians.15 See MT, 118.

On the Eucharist

[256] In church they sip wine, which according to them is the Eucharist.16 Paul said, “This

drink is the blood of the Lord. This host is the flesh of the Lord. [257] Whoever doubts

that this is the flesh of the Lord and His blood shall not take it and not taste it; it is not

permitted to him.”17 [258] The hosts are baked loafs which are carried to the church,

soaked in wine and eaten as a sacrifice.

On the fifty-day fast

[259] Christ -- peace be upon him -- and his companions did not fast except in the

manner of the Israelites. [260] These Christian sects say, “If Christ did not fast these fifty

days, then he fasted when Satan imprisoned him for forty days and nights.18 We made

them fifty days.”

[261] We reply: Assuming that we believed you in that, then why is such [a fast]

necessary for you, when you say that Moses fasted for eighty days and nights, during

which he did not eat anything at all, and did so twice, [262] and you claim that Elijah

fasted forty days and nights, yet it was not obligatory for the people of Moses to fast as

Moses fasted, so that [fifty-day] fast is not obligatory for you. [263] Moreover, when

Christ returned to you after Satan released him, he remained with you but did not fast

this fast of yours, nor did he command you to do it. He and his companions only fasted

the fast of the Israelites. [264] You annulled the fast that you knew with certainty to be

necessary and you practice a fast that he neither fasted nor commanded you to [fast].

On the temptation of Christ

[265] According to their Injīl Satan imprisoned Christ and kept him confined for forty days

in order to test him. Christ abstained from eating and drinking, fearing that it would end

up as a ploy of Satan against him. [266] [Satan] said to him while he was in his hands,

“If you are the son of God, then tell these rocks to become bread.” [267] Christ said to 16 Or sacrifice, “qurbān.” This is the same word that ‘Abd al-Jabbār uses to refer to pagan sacrifices above. 17 Cf. I Corinthians, 11:23-9.18 Cf. Mt 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-13.

him, answering, “It is written that the life of a person shall not be by bread but by every

word that comes from God.”

[268] Then Satan conveyed him to the city of Jerusalem, brought him up to the corner19

of the temple and said to him, “If you are the son of God, then throw yourself from here,

[269] for it is written that the angels are assigned to you, so that your foot will not

stumble on a stone.” [270] Christ said, “It is written, do not test God your god.”

[271] Then he conveyed him to a high mountain, showed him all of the kingdoms of this

world and their ornaments, and said to him, “If you fall down prostrating yourself to me, I

will make this entire world yours, just as I gave it to one before you.” 20 [272] Christ said

to him, “Depart, O Satan! For it is written, ‘Prostrate to the Lord your god.’” [273] Then

God sent an angel who removed Satan from his place and threw him in the sea, leaving

Christ free to go on his way.”21

[274] This which I have reported to you is part of the ignorance that is written in their

gospels. They claim that it is the evidence for their fast. [275] Have you heard of Satan

imprisoning a god, confining him, moving him from place to place, and desiring to make

his god his servant? [276] Satan is not able to take the donkey of a Jew! Yet according

to the Christians, he took his Lord until an angel came, freed him, and broke his captivity.

[277] According to the Christians, when Christ appeared he bound Satan away from

creation and did away with his wrath. He eliminated his damage and evil. [278] Now

here they say that [Satan’s] strength and control over [Christ] were even greater, even

while [Christ] was his lord and his god. Consider this and be amazed!

19 ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s Arabic term here, qurna, differs in meaning from that of the Greek gospels (πτερύγιον, “wing,” “tip”). S. Pines argues that his text here is influenced by Syr. qarnā, “horn, angle,” which appears in Ephraem and in the Old Syriac Gospels, but not in the Peshitta (which has kenpā, “wing,” corresponding to the Greek). See S. Pines, “Gospel Quotations,” 200-1.20 Perhaps a reference to Adam.21 ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s account of the temptation of Christ follows the order of Matthew (4:1-11; cf. Lk 4:1-13). Furthermore, Satan tells Christ to turn stones, not a stone (Lk 4:3), into bread in ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s account, as in Matthew’s account (4:3). Cf. Qāsim b. Ibrāhīm, 324; ‘Alī al-Ṭabarī, K. al-Dīn wa-l-dawla, 194 (English trans.: 151); idem, Radd, 122, 132; al-Ḥasan b. Ayyūb, 2:324-5.

Pagan origin of incense

[279] The Romans and the Ṣābians used smoke and incense in the temples of the planets

and idols. [280] This continues to this day among the Christians, who have not annulled

it. It is used in churches and they call it the smoke of Mary and the incense of Mary.

[281] Yet Mary did not know of it at all, nor did Christ or his companions, even for a

moment. They did not use it. [282] They attributed this incense to Mary just as they

attributed their fast to Christ and just as they made the wine and sacrifice his flesh and

blood.

Pagan origin of icons

[283] The Romans, along with their worship of the planets, venerated idols, erecting

representations of them in their temples. [284] They continued in this way even after

they accepted the veneration of the Cross, without any decrease, with Christ, his mother

and his companions in the place of those idols. [285] Then they left this bit by bit with

the passing of time.22

3F. On corruption in Byzantine society

Fornication in Byzantine society

[286] The [Romans] considered fornication licit and did not refrain from it. They

continued with this even after they began to venerate Christ. [287] It is prevalent among

them and widespread in their cities and markets. [288] They say, “If a woman does not

have a husband and chooses not to be married, having a predilection for fornication,

then she has the greatest right to control her own person and is free to do that. [289]

The king sets the price for it, and appoints for it judges and governors. [290] A man

[owes] one fils for every ejaculation (four fils is worth one silver dāniq).

[291] There are many markets in their lands for prostitutes, who have stores. They open

shops, adorn themselves and sit by the door, conspicuous and uncovered. [292] They do 22 Apparently a reference to the Iconoclast controversy. If so ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s description is anachronistic, as Iconoclasm was decisively rejected in 843, after the death of the emperor Theophilus (r. 829-42).

not forbid uncovering the private and obscene parts of either men or women. [293]

Rather, when the free woman among them is brought in procession to her husband, she

rides and passes among people in the markets with uncovered face and head, [294] with

[her hair] let down in braids and plaits, showing all of her traits of beauty so that

everyone will look at her.

[295] It is said that the majority of married women are chaste. [296] Yet for those who

are not married, their situation is as we have described. It often happens that they

fornicate in the house of their parents.

[297] Now if one of these prostitutes brings forth a baby, she carries it to the church, if

she wishes, and hands it over to the patriarch, the bishop, and the priest. [298] She

says, “I have donated this child to Christ that he may be His servant and caretaker in the

church.” [299] They reward her and say to her, “Holy, pure, and blessed woman,

congratulations. You will have approval, satisfaction, and merit from Christ.” [300] The

people call on her and congratulate her for merit. [301] They have a large group of wet

nurses and nannies for bastards such as these.

Castration of Muslim prisoners

[302] They scorn circumcision, but they castrate infants. When they take Muslims

captive, they find the infants, castrate droves of them and then cast them away. Many of

them die, [303] yet they claim to be kind and merciful.

Byzantines no longer respect Muslim strength

[304] In the beginning of the Islamic era [the Byzantines] were careful with captives,

because of the strength of Islam and their weakness, in order to get ransom for them.

[305] Yet when the conduct of the kings of Islam worsened and their concern for [the

faith] decreased, [306] when those raiding them were like Sayf al-Dawla ‘Alī b. Ḥamdān,23

23 Sayf al-Dawla Abū l-Ḥasan ‘Alī b. Ḥamdān (r. 333/945-356/967), Emir of the Ḥamdānid state based in Aleppo. He is praised for his efforts in the jihad against the Byzantines by many in the poetic circle (among whom was Mutanabbī) that he established at his court, yet in fact he experienced more setbacks than advances in the contest over the frontier.

and those who are in Egypt,24 the enemies of Islam, who seized the endowments of the

frontier region, [307] the Muslims ceased to be a significant threat in the eyes of the

Byzantines. They say that the Islamic state disappeared about eighty years ago.25 Today

you are in about the year 385.26

Castration and fornication contrary to the Tawrāt, further proof of

Christian fault

[308] Now I return to mentioning the conduct of the Christians. Castration is not part of

the law of the Tawrāt, nor does it make fornication licit. [309] Thus know that the

Romans did not become Christians and did not acknowledge Christ, but the Christians

became Romans and apostasized from the religion of Christ, annulled its doctrine and

practice [310] and adopted the religions of his enemies. This is the case with these three

sects of the Christians, [311] They reached this point due to their desire for leadership

and the things of this world, as you have found in their books and in their admission,

which have already been mentioned to you.

24 The Ismā‘īlī Shī‘ī Fāṭimid Empire, based in Cairo, a city which the Fāṭimid caliph al-Mu‘izz founded in 359/970.25 If the subject of this sentence is the Byzantines, they might have considered the end of the Islamic state to have occurred with the decline of the ‘Abbāsid caliphate. In particular, the reign of al-Muqtadir (295/908-320/932) marked a sharp decline in caliphal authority. Yet the subject of this sentence may be the Qarāmiṭa, a group with whom ‘Abd al-Jabbār is occupied at length elsewhere in this treatise. The sentence would then relate to the claim of the Qarmaṭī leader Abū Ṭāhir Sulaymān al-Jannābī (d. 332/943-4) that the era of Islam ended in 316/928 (sixty-nine lunar years before ‘Abd al-Jabbār wrote the Critique), signaled by the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. The following year Abū Ṭāhir led a raiding party to Mecca and stole the black stone of the Kaʽba, an act designed to symbolize the end of the Islamic era. On this see Madelung, “Qarāmiṭa,” EI2, 4:661a. 26 AD 995.

Excursus: Christian Trinity taken from Roman philosophy

[312] The Roman philosophers followed the same idea as the Trinity of the Christians,

holding that the intellect, the perceiver and the perceived become one thing.27 [313]

They also called Hermes, an ancient philosopher, the Threefold Hermes.28

Excursus: Three Islamic traditions on the importance of morality

[314] The Messenger of God -- God’s blessing and peace be upon him -- said, “The love

of this world is the source of all sin.”29 [315] Ka‘b b. Mālik al-Anṣārī30 said, I heard the

Messenger of God -- God’s blessing and peace be upon him -- say, “Two starving wolves

loosed in a pen of livestock are not more harmful to them than the desire for wealth and

honor is to a man’s religion.”31 [316] Ibn ‘Umar32 said, the Messenger of God -- God’s

blessing and peace be upon him -- said, “Two ravenous wolves eating and devouring in a

27 Yaḥyā b. ‘Adī (d. 362/972), among others, uses this intellectual model to demonstrate the reasonability of the Trinity. See his Jawāb ‘an radd Abī ‘Isā al-Warrāq ‘alā l-naṣārā fī l-ittiḥād, CSCO 490 (text), CSCO 491 (French trans.), ed. and trans. E. Platti (Louvain: Peeters, 1987), 78-9. Elsewhere, however, Yaḥyā insists that Christian doctrine need not conform to philosophical logic, since revelation, not reason, is its source. See Jawāb al-shaykh Yaḥyā b. ‘Adī ʻan mas’ala sa’ala ʻanhā mukhālifū l-Naṣārā in Petits traités apologétiques, ed. A. Périer (Paris: J. Gabalda, 1920), 92. Well before Yaḥyā, Augustine (d. 430) found in the process of perception a model with which to consider the Mystery of the Trinity, noting, “By the very order or our condition, whereby we are made mortal and carnal, we apply ourselves more easily and, so to speak, more familiarly with visible than with intelligible things” (De Trinitate, 11, 1, trans. McKenna). He continues by describing how three become one in the process of sight: “When we see a body we have to consider and to distinguish the following three things, and this is a very simple task: first, the object which we see, whether a stone, or a flame, or anything else that can be seen by the eyes, and this can naturally exist even before it was seen; secondly the vision, which was not there before we perceived the object that was presented to the sense; thirdly the power that fixes the sense of sight on the object that is seen as long as it is seen, namely, the attention of the mind” (Ibid., 11, 2).28 Hermes Trismegistus, Ar. Harmas (or Harmīs, Hirmīs) al-muthallath bi-l-ḥikma, “Hermes of threefold wisdom” (cf. Ibn al-Nadīm, 327). In Greek tradition he appears both as incarnate god (the Greek version of the Egyptian Thoth) and the author of philosophical and magical works. In Islamic tradition he has three incarnations, the first as the Prophet Idrīs (or Akhnūkh, Enoch). See M. Plessner, “Hirmīs,” EI2, 3:463-4. The attribution of three incarnations in Islamic tradition presumably owes something to the threefold nature of Hermes in Greek tradition. ‘Abd al-Jabbār, meanwhile, argues that the Christian attribution of three hypostases to God likewise is influenced by the idea of “Hermes of threefold wisdom.” On the Islamic Hermes see K. van Bladel, Hermes Arabicus (Dissertation, Yale University, 2004).29 A ḥadīth not found in the canonical Sunnī collections but widespread in later tafsīr and ḥadīth works. See, e.g., Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1209), Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, ed. Muḥammad Bayḍūn (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1421/2000), 14:77, on Q 7:51; Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505), Jāmi‘ al-aḥādīth, ed. ‘Abbās Ṣaqr and Aḥmad al-Jawwād (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1994), 4:214.30 A companion of Muḥammad, reported to have died ca. 50/670.31 See Ibn Ḥanbal (d. 241/855), Musnad, ed. Muḥammad Zaghlūl (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1413/1993-1421/2001), 3:556 (#15790), 560 (#15800); Suyūṭī, 6:257.32 A companion of Muḥammad and son of the second caliph, d. 73/693.

sure enclosure are not quicker to destroy than the love of honor and wealth destroys the

religion of a Muslim man.”33

Paul’s conduct similar to that of Mani

[317] Similar to the deed of Paul in going along with the Romans in their religion and

deviating from the religion of Christ is the deed of the priest Mani,34 [318] the leader of

the Manicheans. He lived long after Paul, and had a leading position. After serving as a

priest he became the bishop of the Christians in Iraq, in the kingdom of Persia. [319] He

mixed with the Persians, praising light and condemning darkness as the Zoroastrians do.

[320] He praised Zoroaster, the prophet of the Zoroastrians, saying “The Light chose him

and sent him to the East, as it sent Christ to the West.” [321] He condemned Abraham,

Ishmael and the prophets whom Christ affirmed, [322] since the Persians wash their

hands of them. Mani sought favor with them by condemning [the prophets], saying,

“Satan sent them.” [323] He would write, “From Mani, the servant of Christ,” just as Paul

wrote. He attempted to imitate [Paul] and follow in his footsteps.35

[324] He took the Avesta, which is the book of Zoroastar, the Prophet of the Zoroastrians.

It is a book neither in the Persian language nor in any language at all. [325] No one

comprehends what it is; it is only mumbling.36 They simply pronounce it even though 33 Cf. the previous ḥadīth. Muḥammad b. Salāma al-Quḍā‘ī (d. 454/1062) reports a version of this ḥadīth on the authority of Ibn ‘Umar: Musnad al-Shihāb, ed. Ḥamdī ‘Abd al-Majīd al-Salafī (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risāla, 1985), 2:26 (#812). He also reports differing versions on the authority of Abū Hurayra (2:25, #812; 2:26, #813). Suyūṭī (op. cit.) likewise reports variations of this ḥadīth, on the authority of Usāma b. Zayd (6:341), Ibn ‘Umar (6:343; 11:127) and Abū Hurayra (11:127).34 The following section might be compared to the extensive biography of Mani in the work of ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s contemporary Ibn al-Nadīm (pp. 391-402). Ibn al-Nadīm, who mentions (p. 391) that Mani’s father originated from ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s home region of Hamadhān, describes in detail Mani’s birth and the revelation that came to him at the age of twelve (p. 392). He also devotes a section to Mani’s belief in the “wars between light and darkness” (pp. 392-4). According to Ibn al-Nadīm Mani had seven holy books, only one of which was in Persian. The rest were in Syriac (p. 399). Yet Ibn al-Nadīm also lists (p. 400) a large number of letters attributed to Mani.35 Cf. ‘Alī al-Ṭabarī, K. al-Dīn wa-l-dawla, 43 (English trans.: 11).36 Cf. Pines, Jewish Christians, 67, n. 13. The Christian author of the 3rd/9th or 4th/10th anti-Muslim polemic, Risālat al-Kindī, makes a similar observation: “Even the impure Zoroastrians recount, according to what they claim and allege, how revelation came upon Zoroaster when he was on Mt. Sīlān. At that time he preached to the king Vishtapa [and his people] who responded to him and submitted to him, when he showed to them -- through his magic, deception, and falsification -- supernatural signs, such as the horse that he brought to life and the senseless raving that he would mumble, which they claimed contained every tongue and joined within it the speech of the most perfect language that humans articulate. They wrote it in twelve thousand volumes of buffalo skins and called it the Avesta, meaning the book of religion. Yet when they are asked about its meaning they do not claim to have knowledge of it but rather admit their ignorance thereof. ” Risālatānī fī l-ḥiwār wa-l-jadal bayna l-masiḥiyya wa-l-islām, ed. G. Tartar. Ph.D. Dissertation,

they do not comprehend it. [326] The priest Mani claimed that he was acquainted with it

and that he knew what it was. Mani claimed that he was the messenger of the Light. He

record for them ignorant things, explaining, “This is the interpretation of the Avesta.”

[327] He deluded the common people. His market rose among them and they obeyed

him. They claimed that he performed miracles and signs. [328] Then one of the Persian

kings arrested him to examine him and investigate his affairs, [329] finding that he was a

liar and a trickster,37 seeking to take power and to find favor the Persians and the

Zoroastrians through whatever pleased them, in order to play the hypocrite with them in

things that have nothing to do with the religion of Christ. [330] Therefore [the king]

killed him, just as that [other] king had done with Paul.

[331] The companions of Mani remained after him, claiming that he was a prophet and

reading his letters and his gospels. His letters might exceed those of the apostles and

the letters of Paul. [332] Many of these three sects believe in his teachings, but they

hardly reveal this in fear of the Christians and the Muslims that are among them in

Islamic lands. For according to the Muslims, the Manicheans are not to be tolerated.38

Christian fornication

[333] It is part of [the Christians’] conduct that the women who worship in convents, who

are exclusively devoted to churches and worship, [334] make the rounds of single men

and monks. They go out to the fortresses, where there are single men. [335] [The

Christians] make them licit, for the sake of God, the other realm and mercy to single

men. [336] Whoever of these women does this is thanked and praised for the act, and

she is considered blessed. [337] It is said to her, “Christ will not forget your kindness and

compassion.”

Strasbourg (1977), 149-50; cf. ‘Alī al-Ṭabarī, K. al-Dīn wa-l-dawla, 42-3 (English trans.: 10).37 Cf. Pines, Jewish Christians, 67, n. 18. This is the same term that ‘Abd al-Jabbār uses above (3:177) to describe Paul.38 As they are not mentioned in the Qur'ān, the Manicheans generally did not enjoy the juridical status of ahl al-dhimma, or “tolerated non-Muslims,” that Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians could claim.

Account of a Muslim married to a Byzantine woman

[338] According to them a man is not permitted more than one woman, nor is he

permitted to take a concubine or have intercourse with a woman whom he owns.39 [339]

Yet if he becomes friends with a woman or a servant, there is no damage or shame in

this. [340] This is commonplace in the Byzantine lands, as is fornication.

[341] Now Muṣbiḥ al-Ṭā’ī, Abū ‘Abdallāh al-Ḥusayn b. al-Ṣaqr, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān, the

companion of Ibn al-Zayyāt,40 and other frontier warriors,41 including those who resided

many years in Constantinople -- some in prison -- have spoken about this. [342] Because

of the length of hardship and the absence of anyone to redeem them or raid [for their

freedom], they made the appearance of being Christian, in dissimulation. They spread

out among [the Christians] and mixed with them.

[343] One courageous man, who had become a Christian after experiencing severity and

long hardships, spoke about this. [344] He said:

The king gave to me and gave generously. He said to his servants and agents,

“See to it that these new Christians have well-to-do women to marry, so that they

might improve their state.” [345] One man among them said, “So and so’s father

has died. She has an estate and cattle and great wealth. Let us marry her to this

[man],” [346] pointing to me. They married me to her. Now, she was beautiful

and had great wealth. Therefore I resided with her happily.

[347] Then the king sent a group, including me, to depart to a place with crops

ready to be harvested, since they feared that the enemy would prevent them

from doing so. [348] Our stay there would be forty days. Then after us troops

would come and take our place that we might return to our families. [349] We

departed and resided there for this period. [350] Then the troops came, and I

39 Mulk al-yamīn, cf. mā malakat aymānukum, a Qur'ānic expression (e.g. Q 4:3) referring to slaves.40 Presumably Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn Ibn al-Zayyāt, the Emir of Tarsus (near the Byzantine frontier) who rebelled against Sayf al-Dawla in 350/961. 41 Ghuzā, those warriors who are dedicated to fighting on the frontiers of the Islamic world, to defend and expand Islamic territory.

questioned one of those who had arrived about my family and house. He told me,

“Your wife has married after your departure.” [351] I tried hard to confirm this

with those who were arriving. I was [again] informed of the fact and became

deeply disturbed.

[352] Therefore when I returned to the city, I avoided my house but stayed

instead to the market of pack animals. [353] My family asked around about who

had arrived from our troops. They were told of my safe arrival and learned of my

location. [354] The mother of my wife came to me with a great procession of her

female neighbors, who were wearing ornate robes and jewelry. [355] My mother-

in-law said to me, “Why is it that you avoided your house and family and stayed

here, while we are seeking reports about you and we missing you?” [356] I said,

“What am I to do with my wife? While I was absent she married another. I should

go into the king and break my sword, and cut my belt in his presence, letting him

know what occurred to me.”

[357] Then she said, “Whoever said this erred, for your wife did not marry. How

could a Byzantine woman marry two husbands? [358] That one is only her friend.

When you were absent he came and settled with her. When we knew of your

entrance he took up his mat and went away.” [359] She called upon those

women and neighbors as witnesses. They gave witness that he is not a husband

but simply her friend. According to them this is no damage or shame. [360] Then

my mother-in-law began to explain to me, “Come up to your house and see the

valuables, the wine and what you left behind. You will find it has not lessened but

rather is preserved and abundant.” [361] She thus gave me the good news…that

my wife’s friend saved me the trouble of supplying her provisions in my absence,

telling me this to please me and acting as if a great favor had been granted to

me. She pleased me with this and rewarded me with it. [362] Those women,

powerful women and wives of important men, declared to me, “Get up, may God

give you strength, and go to your house. For there is nothing disdainful or

reproachable in this.” [363] I got up, picked up my burdens, arrived at my house

and resided with my wife. I did not find anything wrong and my jealousy

subsided.

[364] Then he said, “O Abū l-Fatḥ,42 anyone who enters the Byzantine lands is in good

spirits when his wife takes friends. He leaves his former ways. [365] Jealousy is erased

from his heart. He ceases to care about protecting [what is his] and he leaves what were

his ways when he was a Muslim.”

Conclusion: Christianity is not an innovation of the religion of Christ,

but a continuation of Roman practice

[366] If they say, “The innovator in the Christian religion is like the innovator in Islam,”

[367] one should reply to them: Before they became Christians, the Romans ate pork,

practiced castration and raided the nations, taking captives, killing and enslaving. You

see what we have mentioned about fornication and what we have described of their

conduct. [368] When they became Christians, they continued in that conduct. They did

not eliminate it; it has not ceased. Therefore when did this innovation occur?

[369] There is no difference between one who claims this and one who claims that the

Romans were opposed to this [conduct] but then adopted it when they became

Christians. [370] Whoever goes this far is obstinate and arrogant, and there is no

disputing with the arrogant.

42 Abū l-Fatḥ Ibn al-‘Amīd (d. 366/976), Vizier of Būyid Rayy, successor to his father Abū l-Faḍl Muḥammad Ibn al-‘Amīd (d. 360/970). He was executed by the Būyid prince Aḍuḍ al-Dawla (d. 372/983), apparently victim of a plot by the counselor al-Ṣāḥib b. al-‘Abbād (d. 385/995), who replaced him as Vizier. See C. Cahen, “Ibn al-‘Amīd,” EI2, 3:704a. This reference suggests that ‘Abd al-Jabbār heard this account while in the majlis of Abū l-Fatḥ in Rayy. Note that Abū l-Fatḥ is an honorary laqab, and so there is noting presumptuous about this ghāzī referring to a Vizier in this manner.

3G. Against the Christian apologetical argument based on

miracles

Christian claims of miracles are false

[371] One of the things that the Christians adduce as evidence, and this is the greatest of

their specious arguments regarding their religion, the most exalted proof in which they

take refuge, and a standard for the elite and the common people among them, is that

they say, [372] “Christianity is a difficult and strict religion. Yet great nations and kings

have acknowledged it, with no compulsion, sword, coercion, or constraint. [373] They

would not have acknowledged it except for the signs and miracles which were brought

forth through the monks and nuns who prayed for them.”43

[374] One should reply to them: We have demonstrated that the Christians substituted

the religion of Christ and moved to the kings of the Romans, as is known. We have

clarified that and made it known. [375] We have found only that the Christians became

Romans; the Romans did not become Christians. [376] The origin of your sects is the

Romans. This is convincing and sufficient.

[377] Even if we did not know this, how there was a plot from the beginning [of

Christianity] to the end, it would not be difficult for us to show clearly the invalidity and

flaw of this argument. [378] God does not bring forth miracles through the people of this

religion, nor does He do anything supernatural through any of them. [379] How could

this be, when only the prophets -- peace be upon them -- in their era, performed

miracles?

43 This argument is quite common among Arab Christian apologists. See, e.g., Theodore Abū Qurra (d. 204/820), Fī wujūd al-khāliq wa-l-dīn al-qawīm, ed. I. Dick (Jounieh: Saint Paul, 1982; also published by L. Cheikho, al-Machreq 15 [1912]), 265. On the authenticity of this text see GAS, 2:16-9; Abū Rā'iṭa (d. early-mid 3rd/9th), Risāla fī ithbāt dīn al-naṣrāniyya wa-ithbāt al-thālūth al-muqaddas, in Die Schriften des Jacobiten Ḥabīb Ibn Khidma Abū Rā'iṭa, CSCO 130 (text), 131 (German translation), ed. and trans. G. Graf (Louvain: Durbecq, 1951), 131-59 (text), 159-94 (trans.). This argument also appears with ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s younger contemporary Elias of Nisibis (448/1056): K. al-Majālis, ed. L. Cheikho in al-Machreq 20 (1922), 268-9. I am grateful to David Bertaina for this last reference.

Numbers are no proof of a sound religion

[380] Then one should reply to the Christians: You claim the validity of your religion

through the multitude and the kings who have taken up your religion. Yet multitude is

not a proof of the validity of religions. [381] For the only proof, without exception, of the

validity of religions is evidence and logical demonstration, whether the people of that

religion are few or many. [382] Christ and those who followed him were few, while the

Romans, Jews and companions of the king were greater in number. [383] According to

your analogy, this would prove that he did not perform miracles.

Christians have not seen miracles

[384] Then one should reply to them: You claim miracles and signs for your monks, nuns,

and leaders in every era, which have not been cut off or removed. Yet you have

acknowledged this religion and have not seen a miracle or a sign. [385] Thus it was with

those before you, who acknowledged it in the same way. This is enough for one who

seeks the truth.

Christians change their religion at will, without miracles

[386] They meet together whenever they want to permit or forbid something and hold a

synod (that is, a meeting to make decisions) to do so. [387] If it was held long ago, they

explain, “This thing was forbidden by that group only because of the appearance of a

sign or a miracle.” [388] Do you not see that, according to them, the seats of the

Katholikos and Metropolitan were once allowed to those who have a family and children?

But then the Katholikos and leaders passed leadership on to their sons and bequeathed it

to their offspring. [389] The Christians met and made it forbidden to those who have

family, children or have been married. [390] Thus this became their religious law. They

met about it and acted according to it without any sign or miracle.

[391] According to them, the marriage of two sisters to two brothers used to be licit.

[392] Then it happened that the enmity between two sisters, who were with two

brothers, led to enmity between the two brothers. They met and forbade that. [393]

This became their religious law, by which they acted, even though they did not see a sign

or a miracle.

[394] According to them marrying the daughter of one’s brother used to be licit. [395]

Then this became a means by which some of them sought to promote themselves.44

They met and forbade that. [396] This became their religious law without any sign or

miracle.

[397] Among these are things that they have done recently, in the Islamic world, in the

‘Abbāsid state, [398] like that which the Metropolitan of Samarqand did. He forbade his

people [to eat] fowl, for he claimed that the Holy Spirit descended in a dove. [399] They

accepted this from him and made it a religoius law.

[400] If you mix with them, investigate them, enter among them, if you get into the inner

circle of the Katholikos and the monks, you would find there many instances of lies,

ignorance, covetousness for this world, desire for leadership, hording, and prohibition.

[401] If one of them who had nothing becomes a monk he becomes a burden to others.

[402] Not much time will pass before he has tremendous wealth. It often happens that

he dies with tens of thousands [of dinars].

Christians are liars

[403] Then one should reply to them: You are many sects and between you there is a

great conflict over the basis of religion. You say that the Melkites and Jacobites are

misguided. [404] Likewise the Nestorians do not accept the Melkites and the Jacobites.

[405] All of these sects claim that their monks, nuns and leaders have miracles and

signs, as do the Manicheans. [406] According to their analogy, the truth is with one sect.

The rest of them lie in their claims.

44 On istanṣara bi see R. Dozy, Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes, (Leiden: Brill, 1881), 2:687a.

[407] A wise man said, “You can know the lies of the people of these religions and

articles [of belief], among which is Christianity, through the briefest contemplation.

[408] They claim that their great men perform signs and that these do not cease for

them in any era, and that whoever acknowledged Christianity did so because of miracles.

[409] One should reply to them: You who have acknowledged it have seen neither a sign

nor a miracle.”

3H. On the false claims of various sects

Astrologers are liars

[410] Among [the liars] are the astronomers. They seek to trick by claiming that their

founders got things right. They say, “Junna45 pronounced judgments for Khosrau,46

regarding nations and their demise and regarding the birth of kings. He did not err in

one letter.” [411] Thus it is with the Indian astrologer Kinkah47 for the kings of India.

Thus with Dorotheos48 for the kings of the Romans and with Ptolemy49 for the kings of the

Egyptians.

[412] They often made books through this [science], about previous states and

kingdoms, claiming that both general and specific events, and the life-spans of kings,

could be known from it. [413] Yet they mention things in a collective manner and do not

clarify the names of those kings, that their lie may not be known. [414] When the

gullible and those heedless of such deceptions read these books and notebooks -- or they

are read to them -- they think that the astrologer has mentioned [the event of] a

45 In ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s text Janān. A Persian scholar and astrologer of the Sassanian kings. See GAS, 8:94.46 Khosrau I, Sassanian ruler (r. 531-579), remembered both as a powerful military leader and as a patron of arts and sciences, notably astronomy.47 An astrologer also mentioned by Ibn Nadīm (p. 330), perhaps identical with Garga (fl. 2nd or 1st century BC), who is known as a founding figure of Indian astrology and author of the Gargasamhita. See W. Knappich, Geschichte der Astrologie (Frankfurt: Klostermann, 1988), 120-1. The rise of astrology in the Sassanian Empire was encouraged by the transmission of Indian (along with Greek) texts, including the Farmāsb, most notably during the reign of Ardashīr I (r. AD 224-41). 48 Dorotheos of Sidon, astrologer (d. ca. AD 75), many of whose works were translated into Pahlavi and later into Arabic. See D. Pingree, “Astrology and Astronomy,” EIR, 2:859; GAS, 7:32-8; Ibn Nadīm, 328. 49 Claudius Ptolemaeus, (d. AD 170), Alexandrian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer; author of Almagest, which was translated into Pahlavi and Arabic.

previous age before it took place. [415] They believe that the decrees of the stars are

correct and that the people [of astrology] have spoken with knowledge.

[416] One should reply to them: The planets and the sky have not been removed. They

continue to be and have not been voided. They are as they were. [417] Come now and

inform us about what will be or about that which was and occurred, which you witness

with your eyes and touch with your hands. [418] Let us turn towards a thick notebook

with writing. We will say to your bright men: Take your divining stars and inform us: how

many pages are in it and how many lines are on each page? [419] We discover your lie

in it by sight and by touch! You do not need to report about a star that will rise after a

year or twenty years and inform us about those events. [420] We have made it easy to

understand so that you might know that these claims are lies, tricks, and deceptions

meant to fool people and that you may know the lie of the first and last of you.

[421] If they ask, “Why not limit us to the knowledge of the pages in this notebook, and

not the lines and the letters that are in it?” [422] We reply: This much and greater has

been achieved by chance by boys and ignorant people who play with a ring,50 or with

even and odd. [423] Come now with something that exceeds the achievements of boys,

and ignorant and crazy people, if you are genuine and if your craft is true. [424] You

have no way to do this. Your embarrassment in this is like that of the Christians.

[425] If they ask, “Do we not have achievements in [foretelling] births and matters?”

[426] We reply: That might be so for a few cases among the many in which you are

wrong, and in summary, without detail, while that which the prophets bring is not wrong

in anything, despite the multitude of it. [427] Your success in this is like the success of

players, as we have mentioned, and like the people who [find] a sign in pebbles, camels,

by looking at a palm, and like one who draws auguries from a bird. [428] They achieve

more than you, they do it faster and their methods in it are more disclosed.

50 I.e. divination with a ring, a form of dactylomancy.

[429] This is also like how some people who encounter a fox experience some happiness

and others who encounter an owl experience some tribulation.51 [430] It is also like the

success of the spells of Indians, Christians, and exorcists52 in invigorating and reviving.

Those people claim that this is because of their spells and exorcisms, that they follow the

truth and that they have spoken with knowledge.

An anecdote on Aristotle’s talismans and Alexander the Great

[431] Among [the liars] is the party of talismans. They are tricksters who say that

Alexander complained to Aristotle about the distance of water for him and his troops

when they met the enemy. [432] [Aristotle] made a talisman for him and water traveled

with [Alexander] in his travels and stopped with him at his stops.

[433] When they arrived at a sea, [Aristotle] told him that if he occupied himself with the

crossing of it he would be delayed and miss reaching his enemy. [434] [Alexander] said

to him, “Sage, for this day I have prepared you. Perform a trick before my enemy

escapes.” [435] [Aristotle] asked him, “Which is preferable to you, O king: that I make a

talisman for you so that you will march with your troops across the water as you march

upon land, or that I join together the two shores that you might cross?” [436] He replied,

“Join together the two shores, for this will be shorter distance.” [437] He joined the two

shores together for him and he crossed.53 51 “In oneiromancy, seeing a fox presages an affectionate spouse and a happy conjugal life.” F. Vire, “Tha‘lab,” EI2, 10:433a. It is still considered to be a bad omen -- usually of death -- to see an owl in the Islamic Middle East. The owl’s call, meanwhile, is said to portend a message of bad news. Earlier Islamic traditions relate that the soul of one who has died wrongfully takes the form of an owl, flies around its grave and cries for vengeance. See I. Goldziher in Globus 83 (1903), 3ff.; C. Pellat, “Ḥayawān,” EI2, 3:305b. C.M. Doughty also notes this upon discovering engravings of birds in Himyaric funeral monuments. See his Travels in Arabia Deserta (New York: Boni and Liveright, n.d.), 168. Flavius Josephus (d. ca. 100) reports that Herod Agrippa (d. ca. 44) – whose death is also described in Acts 12 – saw an owl over his head before his pitiable death (Antiquities of the Jews, 19:8:2).52 Cf. Dozy, 2:126a.53 This narrative is based on an anecdote of the Alexander romances, texts by Jewish and Christian authors who describe Alexander the Great’s adventures to the ends of the earth (including his search for the fountain of life). Another version of this narrative is found in the Arabic Biography of Alexander by the Coptic author Jirjis b. al-‘Amīd al-Makīn (d. 672/1273), extant in an Ethiopic translation. Therein Aristotle describes a talisman he has made for Alexander: “The third talisman shall provide thee with water. Whensoever thou lackest water, either on thy journey or into far countries, or in the desert, set up this talisman, and it shall bring forth water for thee, wherewith thou and thine army shall be nourished and thy beasts and their beasts.” See E.A. Wallis Budge, The Life and Exploits of Alexander (London: C.J. Clay, 1896), 359. My thanks to Prof. Kevin van Bladel for this reference. The Qur'ānic narrative in sūrat al-kahf (18:69-82) of Moses and the servant (known in Islamic tradition as al-Khiḍr or al-Khaḍir) is related to this Alexander literature, as

Party of talismans are liars

[438] [They say] that others have made talismans for herds of cows, sheep and similar

animals, which have followed them and traveled with them. [439] They make talismans

for bedbugs, scorpions, locusts and other vermin, which repel them from one town at a

time. [They say] that one who knows the workings of the stars may also perform that.

[440] One should reply to them: These are all tricks. If you want to know the lie of your

founders, you will know it by your lie in your era. [441] The planets have not ceased to

be and continue to exist. Come now and produce something of this. Your inability in this

proves your lie and the lie of your founders.

[442] They might say, “There are no scorpions in the city of Ḥimṣ. If a scorpion enters it,

it will die. This is because of what a talisman did for [the city].”54 [443] We reply: We

have demonstrated your lie tangibly, as we have demonstrated the lie of the Christians

and the astronomers. [444] If there are no scorpions living in Ḥimṣ, this is because of the

action of God -- Blessed and Most High. [445] He might make some animals die in some

places, if this occurs, because of his direction -- Mighty and Exalted. God knows this, and

the reason for it, better. [446] Do you not see that in the lands of the Byzantines almost

no camels remain, despite their desire for [the camels’] survival? One who has no

knowledge said that this is because of the severity of the cold there. [447] One should

reply to him: The lands of the Turks are more severely cold, but they have camels.

[448] Turks, if they dwelled in Rayy, could barely stay, since they would be listless [from

the heat]. If an Iṣfahānī were to travel to Rayy he should write his will [first]. This is not

because of a talisman.

[449] There is almost no rain in Egypt and other various places. That is not because of a

talisman. [450] No pepper will grow in Iraq, despite its gardens and the sweetness of the

is the narrative later in that Sūra (vv. 83-98) on the “Two-Horned One” (dhū l-qarnayn). See A.J. Wensinck, “al-Khaḍir,” EI2, 4:902-5.54 On the Islamic view of the danger of scorpions see Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-Damīrī (d. 808/1405), K. Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān al-kubrā, ed. As‘ad al-Fāris (Damascus: Dār Ṭalās, 1989), 122.

water, nor will long pepper, aloe, ginger, cinnamon, saffron, or Indian spikenard, and

there is no ambergris in their rivers. [451] Now imagine all of the talismans that are

placed in Iraq! [452] Female mules never become pregnant. Nay, they are not even

aroused. Do you imagine that this is because of a talisman?

[453] Do you think that it is because of a talisman that there are no crocodiles in the

river valleys of Iraq, when there are many in Egypt? Do you think that this talisman was

placed in Iraq so that they would not be there, or in Egypt so that they would not leave?

[454] The crocodile is in the Nile of Egypt, but only in certain places there. [455] Now in

the lands of Kūfa, Baṣra, Wāsiṭ,55 Baghdād, Sāmarrā’,56 Egypt, Qayrawān, and elsewhere,

which are all Islamic outposts, established in Islamic times and marked out for Islam,

[456] many matters regarding animals more extraordinary than that which they claim for

Ḥimṣ and elsewhere have occurred with no talisman.

The Zoroastrian claims of a Mahdī are lies

[457] The Zoroastrians claim to have an awaited one, a living, surviving mahdī from the

offspring of Vishtāspa, the son of Lōhrāsp who is called Peshōtan.57 [458] [They claim]

that he is in a great fortress around Khurāsān and China. [459] There are many who are

with him. They are all trustworthy, reliable, good people who do not lie or rebel against

God and have no sins at all, either small or great. Their supplications are answered and

they have many proofs, signs, and miracles. [460] They came to that place in the era of

Zoroaster, who, they claim, is a prophet. [They claim] that they are luminous lights, and

that they possess great beauty, benevolence, and vision. They do not cry, grow old, or

die. [461] Peshōtan has no need of food or drink. He emits no urine, feces, or anything

injurious.

55 A city in central Iraq founded by the Umayyads in 83/702.56 A city to the north of Baghdad established on an ancient Sumerian and Akkadian site in 221/836. It was the capital of the ‘Abbāsid empire until 279/892.57 Vishtāspa (fl. 7th or 6th century BC), son of Lōhrāsp, ruled a small kingdom in Khwārazm (classical Chorasmia). He is known in Zoroastrian tradition as a protector and follower of Zoroaster.

[462] I have made certain of this from what Aturpāt, the son of Emēt,58 the mūbadh59

mentions, describing how Peshōtan does not eat, drink, urinate, or defecate. [463] As for

his companions, I have not made certain that he describes them as not eating or

drinking, but it seems probable to me that he described them in this way. [464] As for

[his] infallibility and his companions being like him in this, I have no doubt about [him

describing them so].

[465] One should reply to the Zoroastrians: If you want to know the origin of your matter,

then consider it by its conclusion.60 You will find its invalidity clear and demonstrated,

just as the Christians, astronomers, and the party of talismans find it. [466] For you

claim that these are the attributes and qualities of a people in our era, and in this you

have even greater invalidity. [467] For you are many, ancient nations, and you inform us

of the existence of these [companions of Peshōtan], that they are with us in this world

and in this era, that they will come out with this Peshōtan, [468] that they will possess all

of the world, restoring Zoroastrianism, the Persian religions and the [Persian] empire, to

which Islam put an end. [469] Yet, if this group were here in this world as they claim, we

would know this according to your report. Our lack of knowledge of that is a proof that

this matter has no basis. [470] There is no person in this world who claims [to be

Peshōtan]. This is only something invented by an individual or two, or a small group.

You believed in it and thought well of them and it became widespread among you. [471]

This is a lie, but you do not know that it is a lie, a matter that also afflicts Christians and

others who are similar.

58 A 4th/10th century Zoroastrian priest, described as the leader of the Zoroastrians in Fars and Kirmān, editor of chapter three of the Zoroastrian scripture the Dēnkart.59 Persian mobed. A title derived from Persian magū-pat, “Head of the Mages.” It designates a rank of Zoroastrian priest above the herbed (on whom see below). It is noteworthy here that Aturpāt is so identified, since the title appears only rarely in the Islamic era. See Monnot, Penseurs, 287, n. 1; M. Guidi, “Mōbadh,” EI2, 7:215.60 Cf. Ḥunayn b. al-Isḥāq, Fī kayfiyyat idrāk ḥaqīqat al-diyāna, in Vingt traités philosophiques et apologétiques d’auteurs arabes Chrétiens du IXe au XIVe siècle, ed. P. Sbath (Cairo: Friedrich, 1929), 182. Ḥunayn includes a series of “Principles for Accepting Truth,” the fourth of which is “that the conclusion of a matter agrees with its origin.” This text will be published forthcoming in a critical edition by Samir Khalil Samir.

Logical argument of recognition proves Shī‘ī claims of a Mahdī are lies

[472] This is like those who claim that there is an infallible Imām with us in our era,

established for us, that he is the proof against us and the people of the entire earth.

[473] One should reply to them: You make up many and great communities, in Iraq,

Syria, Persia, Egypt, the Maghrib, the Ḥijāz, Yemen, Bahrain, the districts of Ahwāz, Jibāl,

Daylam, and Khurāsān.61 [474] All of you inform us that there is a man like this in this

world, who calls [us] to himself and that all of you are his companions, waiting for him

and calling to [to cause]. [475] The compositions of books on that have filled up the

world. Yet we quarrel [with you] about that.

[476] If there were a person like this in the world, we would know this by your report, and

by what we hear from you, [477] even if we did not believe what he claimed, accept his

statement, see his person, or hear his speech. [478] Do you not see regarding our

Prophet Muḥammad -- God’s blessing and peace be upon him -- that when he claimed

that he is the Messenger of God to all of creation, that he is God’s proof against them,

everyone whom the report reached knew his claim, whether they believed in him or

counted him a liar, whether they saw him or did not see him? [479] Likewise with the

knowledge about Musaylima62 and that which he claimed, even though all of the people

counted him a liar.

[480] In fact, if a group reported that a concealed woman is moral or immoral, people

would know that by their report, if [the group truly] knew what they reported. [481]

Therefore how is it that you large and great communities, who cover the earth, land and

sea, plain and mountain, believe this, report it and claim it, alleging that you are the

companions of this man and his followers, [482] when contemplation, reflection, and

consideration only corroborates the knowledge that there is no person in the world who

claims that or has this claimed about him? [483] If you reflected and examined this

matter properly, you would know that the origin of your matter is invalid, like its 61 The last four are all Iranian provinces: Ahwāz, in southwest Iran; Jibāl, in west-central Iran; Daylam, in north-central Iran; Khurāsān, in northeast Iran.62 Musaylima b. Ḥabīb, appears in Islamic sources as a contemporary of Muḥammad, and a false prophet, from the region of Yamāma.

conclusion, and that the Prophet -- God’s blessing and peace be upon him -- did not

profess that or call for it. Neither he nor any of his companions [did so].

Sunnī Islam is not subject to this critique

[484] If it is asked, “If someone says to you that the origin of your affair also is like its

end, for there is no one in your era who has a miracle or a sign, and this was the way of

the first of you, what would your response be?” [485] One should reply to him: This is

out of the question for us, since we deny that anyone after the prophets could [produce]

a sign or a miracle. We do not claim a sign or miracle other than this Qur'ān, and that

which came with this Qur'ān, as everyone knows who has heard the reports. [486] We

reply: There is no proof against creation other than the Messenger of God -- God’s

blessing and peace be upon him -- alone. Know the difference between us and those

about whom we have reported.

[487] The other answer is that everyone who has heard the reports of the Prophet --

peace be upon him -- whether they have believed him or counted him a liar, knows by

necessity that he claimed to be a prophet and that he claimed to have signs, proofs, and

miracles.

Christ is not the ancestor of the Christians

[488] If the Christians say, “Christ is the first of us. He is our ancestor and you agree that

he had signs and miracles. Therefore how can you say that our origin, like our end, is

[invalid]?” [489] One should reply to them: Who conceded to you that Christ -- peace be

upon him -- is your ancestor? [490] We have denied this to you and demonstrated that

you have opposed Christ -- peace be upon him -- in his doctrine and practice. You have

broken his covenants and annulled his commandments. [This is] a demonstration that

you cannot refute. [491] We do not know that Christ is a prophet and that he had signs

and miracles by your statement, by your transmittal or by your claims. We know this

only by the statement of our Prophet -- God’s blessing be upon him.

3I. On the Christian claim that their religion was

established by miracles

Christianity established not by miracles but by coercion

[492] Yet you claim that these nations acknowledged Christianity only because of signs

and miracles that Paul, George, Father Mark, and their likes brought forth.63 [493] You

recorded this in your books as did the Manicheans, the Zoroastrians, and others. You

claimed that [this was so] in every era. [494] Yet the people who are with you and

witness you see neither a basis for that nor a trace of it. The only thing they see is the

sword, coercion, and tyranny, since the origin of this matter was only the sword and

coercion, as we have demonstrated. [495] This is current, continuing and constant. It

has not changed, but rather has increased.

[496] We found you assaulting the people of al-Maṣṣīṣa,64 ‘Ayn al-Dharba,65 the island of

Crete, the island of Cyprus, the island of Arwād,66 the Syrian frontier, the Mesopotamian

frontier, the Armenian frontier, Azerbaijan, [497] countless [areas]. Experts estimate

what you have occupied to the present day to be one thousand square parasangs,67 all

inhabited land. [498] The number of captives and prisoners are about twenty million

people. They have not remained in Islam but rather entered Christianity by compulsion,

driven by terror and temptation. [499] Likewise, all of those who entered [Christianity]

among the Bulghārs and the Burjān68 did so by compulsion and the sword. Then much

time passed and people forgot how that took place.

[500] You have claimed that these people entered Christianity only through signs and

miracles, and that the patriarch of the Byzantine lands came to them from the Byzantine

63 For ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s narratives on George and Mark, v.i., 3:828-57 and 3:789-805, respectively.64 Classical Mopsuestia, a town in Cilicia on the banks of the Jayḥān River.65 Two villages near Tarsūs on the Byzantine frontier. See Yāqūt, “‘Ayn Zarbā,” 4:177-8.66 An island off the Syrian coast, near Latakia. See Yāqūt, “Arwād,” 1:162.67 A parasang (a word of Persian origin) is traditionally measured as a one hour march on horse at an ordinary pace. Its actually value in Islamic society varies by era and place. See A. Kazimirski, Dictionnaire arabe français (Paris: Maisonneuve, 1860), 2:569b.68 On this term v.s., n. 272.

lands and arrived by himself, with a woolen cloak,69 a priestly alb,70 a loincloth,71 a cap72

on his head and fabric73 in his hand. [501] He raised their dead from the graves. All of

them rose up with their families, by their own accord, and went to the Byzantine lands.

[502] Thus the monk Michael came to the people of al-Maṣṣīṣa, transformed the Saḥyūn74

into oil, and made their sheep and goats into horses. [503] They all got up, by their own

accord, kissed the Cross and went to the Byzantine lands. [504] Likewise it was with the

people of Samosata75 and Ḥisn Manṣūr.76 These people are not liars or defrauders, but

they are a people whose leaders lie to them and they accept their lie.

[505] The Byzantine kings frequented nearly all of these outposts and frontier forts for

many years and forayed there in many successive years. [506] They burned their crops

and blockaded them, keeping them from their sustenance, until they began to eat dogs,

cats, and carrion. They killed them with hunger and thirst. [507] They killed their

fighters, took their offspring captive and led them away with chains and ropes. The

calamities that they brought upon them would take too long to explain. [508] Their

affair, from its origin to its end, is like this. [509] No sword has been carried with so

much wrong, in any era, as the sword of Christianity, as we have demonstrated.

[510] Now where they do not have the rule or the sword, then the one among them who

becomes a Muslim is cut off by his family. His financial claims are invalidated. [511]

69 See R. Dozy, Dictionnaire détaillé des noms des vêtements chez les arabes (Amsterdam: Müller, 1843), 131. 70 Graf, Verzeichnis arabischer kirchlicher Termini, 96. Cf. Syr. kūtīnā, “linen” (C. Brockelmann, Lexicon syriacum, 352b-3a). This is the term used to describe Aaron’s robe in the Syriac Peshitta, Exodus 39:27. 71 See Dozy, Supplément, 2:807 (under “wazra”).72 See Dozy, Dictionnaire détaillé des noms des vêtements, 344-6.73 I am unsure of the precise meaning here. For the meaning of “fabric” see Dozy, Supplément, 2:460; Cf. Payne Smith, 1713.74 A river in eastern Anatolia, more commonly named Sayḥān, traditionally identified in Islam as one of the rivers of paradise (see Q 47:15). Much of the area around the course of the river, including Maṣṣīṣa, stood in the frontier zone between the Arabs and Byzantines. 75 A city on the northern Euphrates in Anatolia. It was conquered in 347/958 by the Byzantines and remained in Byzantine control in ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s day.76 A village to the west of the Euphrates in Anatolia near Samosata, today known under the name Adiyaman. See Yāqūt, “Ḥisn Mansūr,” 2:265-6.

They condemn him for all sorts of indecency. They attempt, as far as they are able, to

bring a calamity upon him and to harm him. [512] This is also a type of compulsion.

Manicheans also claim miracles and that their religion is free of

coercion and exacting

[513] Then one should reply to [the Christians]: These Manicheans overcame the entire

East, and they had neither sword nor wealth. [514] They claim that their religion is the

most stringent and most difficult of all. They do not eat meat or injure any animal. They

eat only that which the land produces. [515] Their acts of worship regarding fasting and

prayer are many and great. They do not keep property.77 [516] They claim that they

were brought to this religion through miracles. They claim that the clairvoyants of your

monks and leaders are from among them, as they claim for the herbeds78 of the

Zoroastrians. [517] They say, “Yet according to the Muslims we do not have tolerated

status like the Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. When we display our religion to them

they kill us.” [518] They say, “Thus the kings of the Byzantines do with us.”

[519] Among the signs and miracles of Manī they mention that he was entirely pure light

and that he did not have a shadow in the sun, [520] that angels would come and carry

him up to the sun and into it, as his companions witnessed, [521] that crowds

transmitted this to crowds and groups to groups. They claim miracles for his followers.

[522] Meanwhile, they also claim that they are the companions of Christ and follow the

religion of Christ and that the gospel that they have is the truth, not that which is with

you. [523] According to your analogy they should be the true ones, since this came to

them only through signs and miracles as you have claimed. [524] They have books that

record [Mani’s] signs and miracles, which are perhaps even more than those of your

77 Cf. Ibn al-Nadīm (p. 396), who writes that Mani ordered his followers to fast seven days each month, to abandon idolatry, deception, avarice, killing, fornication, and stealing. He also describes in detail (pp. 396-7) the stringent prayer practice that Mani required of his followers.78 A Persian word (middle Persian ehrpat) meaning “master of knowledge,” and a title used for Zoroastrian priests. See Monnot, Penseurs, 281, n. 1.

apostles and more than the signs that you might attribute to all those who have been

called Christian since Christianity began.

Indians also claim miracles and have no coercion

[525] India has great communities perhaps exceeding the Christian communities. They

have intellects and wisdom that the intellects of the Armenians and the Byzantines can

hardly approach. They worshiped the Buddhas many ages before the Romans became

Christians. [526] They do not call people to follow them with the sword, terror or

temptation. Yet they do not prevent one from entering [their religion]. [527] They claim

that their idols speak to them, commanding and prohibiting them, warning them of

matters before they occur, [528] providing them with rain and whatever comfort and

grace for which they pray, and that they keep evil away from them and heal their sick.

[529] They carry their chronically ill before their funerals to the market of idols, where

they recover and return walking. [530] They claim that [the idols] bring the dead to life.

They have spells that they claim heal and bring to life. [531] These people should be

truthful and correct.

Zoroastrians also claim miracles and have no coercion

[532] The Zoroastrians claim more miracles and signs for Zoroaster than the Christians

claim for those who called them to Christianity. [533] They say, “We do not compel

anyone to enter into our religion, nor do we lure them to it. This is a religion that God

gave especially to us. [534] We do not prevent anyone from entering it. We only fight

and carry the sword against nations in order to exact tribute and have them enter into

obedience. [535] Yet we do not wage war for the sake of religion.”

[536] People know about the intellects and wisdom and learning of the Persians. The

amount and size of their territories was much greater than that of the Byzantines. [537]

According to your analogy, they should be true and correct. [538] If you said to them:

“You have wild, tyrannical kings who made you enter into this religion by coercion, the

sword, temptation, and terror,” [539] they would say to you, “They did not engage in

bringing the people into the religion, nor are they occupied with doing so. [540] They

conquered the people for the sake of obedience and subservience to the king. This is

well known.”

Christianity established by coercion, not miracles (2)

[541] The Christian religion that is clear and present in these sects is marked by

coercion, constraint, and the sword from its beginning until the present. [542] There is

no sword that has been carried with so much wrong as the sword of the Christianity, from

it origin up to now.

Jews, too, have missions and could claim miracles

[543] Now one of the Khazar Jews, who make up many communities, called the people

[to Judaism].79 They responded to him and entered into his religion recently, in the days

of the ‘Abbāsids and in their state. [544] One could, if he wanted to, claim that they

embraced [Judaism] as a result of signs and miracles, as the Christians claim about those

who became Christians. In fact, this would be more plausible and this one would have

more right to start a controversy than the Christians. [545] For this is the case of one

man who went against a very great king, to a people who were severely formidable, yet

they acknowledged him without conquest or sword. [546] They tolerated what is severe

in the law of the Tawrāt, such as circumcision, ritual cleansing, major ablutions for

intercourse, forbidding work on the Sabbath and on holidays, forbidding whatever

animals are included in this law, and so on. [547] The Jews could claim that this

missionary [performed] signs and miracles, for some of them consider it possible for the

righteous. [548] This is more deceptive than that which the Christians claim. Yet the

Christians are greater liars and more bold in claiming things that did not occur.

79 A group originally from the Russian steppes, who migrated to the south of the Caspian Sea, in the region of Ṭabaristān, during early Islamic times. A significant portion of the Khazars became Jewish in this period. See Yāqūt, “al-Khazar,” 2:367-9; W. Barthold, “Khazar,” EI2, 4:1172-81.

3J. Against the Christian apologetical argument based on

austerity

The austerity of a religion does not prove its validity

[549] Then one should reply to the Christians: You claim that your religion is strict and

difficult. [550] You said, “This is one of the proofs of its validity, that the nations

accepted it and entered into it as a result of signs. [551] This we know from their

statements regarding the signs.”80 Even if [their religion] were strict, difficult and severe,

this would not prove its validity, [552] since this claim is like their claims regarding

miracles. [553] A religion’s strictness and difficulty does not prove its validity. [554] For

a trickster and falsifier often devises a plot to show the validity of that which he claims by

using mysticism, austerity, frequent acts of worship, and strictness in order to gain

power. [555] Then he brings forth his evil deeds. This would be a deceptive argument to

those who see and hear it.

[556] People feel sympathy for a mystic, one who is austere and who constantly prays

and fasts, even if this is done in order to falsify. [557] They think well of him and rush to

accept what he says without examining his situation. [558] In researching his situation

they content themselves with his outward behavior. For going through examination and

research can be severe and hard. [559] [Likewise] they are averse to the one who

carries the sword, even if in a righteous [cause].

Manichaeism, being stricter than Christianity, should be more correct

by the Christians’ logic

[560] Now the Manichean religious laws are stricter than Christianity, [561] because they

forbid eating all animals, riding them, or injuring them in any way. They even forbid

killing beasts of prey, such as snakes and scorpions, and simply bear their injuries. [562]

They forbid keeping property. They require more fasts and prayers than the Christians.

80 On this Christian argument see the short untitled treatise of Abū Rāiṭa in Die Schriften des Jacobiten Ḥabīb Ibn Khidma Abū Rā'iṭa, 162 (text), 197 (trans.).

[563] They forbid marriage and all corporeal pleasures entirely.81 [564] Their religion

should be a thousand degrees more correct than Christianity.

Hinduism, being stricter than Christianity, should be more correct by

the Christians’ logic

[565] The Indians posses numerous acts of worship and great asceticism. The most

ascetic Christian monk does not even approach them. [566] Their religion requires them

to kill themselves and even burn themselves alive. [567] If their leader dies, not only do

they burn him, they burn his loved ones, friends, belongings, and wife with him. Her

father, mother, and family will do this to her.82 [568] Now Christianity has none of this.

[569] The religion of [the Indians]83 should be more correct than the teachings of these

Christian sects.

Proof that Christianity is not strict: it offers no threat of punishment

[570] We do not know of a more accommodating, more permissive, and easier religion

than Christianity. [571] For it has neither penalties that impose fear, like the [Islamic]

written punishments, nor fire or punishment in the next world. [572] The most severe

punishment in the next world is for the stubborn [person] who knew the truth and

abandoned it. He will experience a period of distress, but it will vanish and be

terminated.84 [573] As for the one who is not stubborn, even if he did wrong, and even if

81 Manichean doctrine is at once gnostic and dualist. It teaches that there is an opposition between spirit and matter and that, to be saved, the believer must seek connection with the divine intelligence (nous) through mortification and asceticism, a doctrine reflected in ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s comments. In order to avoid rebirth into the world of matter the Manichean is instructed to avoid various material activities, including not only fornication but also procreation, not only eating meat and drinking wine, but also cultivation and harvesting. 82 ‘Abd al-Jabbār is referring to the practice of suttee (Sanskrit satī), mentioned by the 1st century BCE Greek author Diodorus Siculus, in which a widow would burn herself, or be burned, after her husband’s death. In other cases, the family of a warrior would collectively immolate themselves (a practice known as jauhar) in anticipation of his death in battle. Muslims later witnessed this firsthand during Alā’ al-Dīn Khaljī’s (r. 696-715/1296-1315) invasion of Chittaurgarh in 702/1303 when the defenders, before fighting to the death, had their families immolated. This would be later twice repeated during Muslim attacks on Chittaurgarh.83 This according to the context but pace the Arabic: “the Manicheans.”84 In the first sentence ‘Abd al-Jabbār is apparently referring to apostasy. The second sentence is more opaque. It would seem to be a reference to purgatory, a doctrine which is generally associated with the medieval Western Church. However, it has been suggested that a similar doctrine can be found in the East Syrian Church, notably in the writings of Jacob of Sarug (d. 521). Yet in both cases purgatory would be the destination of those whose faith is valid but actions are deviant, whereas ‘Abd al-Jabbār refers to deviance of faith. See MT, 193-6.

his belief was contrary to the Christian religion, he will have no fear or punishment, [574]

if his intention was decent and he thought his belief true, even if it was invalid.

[575] As for Christians, they need have no fear, for they will not be held responsible for

any sin. [576] They say that the Lord, who is the father, sent his son to be crucified and

killed, to bear our wrongs and forgive our sins.

[577] There is no religion that incites evil, encourages indecency, and excites wickedness

more than Christianity. [578] Yet they claim, impudently and startlingly, that it is strict.

[579] Yet it is as you see. They only claim miracles for their people and those who call

people to [the religion] because there is no evidence in it and there is no proof of its

validity.

Christians are hypocrites for criticizing Muḥammad of violence

[580] Thereafter we ask the Christians: According to you, is the one who carries the

sword a wrongdoer? [581] If they answer, “Yes,” We reply: then Christ is the greatest

wrongdoer, since according to you he sent Moses -- peace be upon him -- and other

prophets with the sword. [582] [Moses] killed men and women opposed to him. He

permitted [Moses] in some wars to kill men and all women who had slept with a man,

allowing [only] the virgins to remain alive. [583] He permitted booty to Moses, to take

possessions, and hand them over to the Israelites. [584] Likewise with the rest of the

prophets whom you support and who you say were right.

[585] This continued until Christ came and appeared to people and said, “I did not come

to oppose Moses, nor the Tawrāt, but I only came to complete. For with God it is easier

for the sky to drop to the earth than to permit something that Moses proscribed. [586]

Whoever omits even an iota from the revelation of Moses will be lacking in the kingdom

of heaven.”85 [587] Furthermore, according to them the people whom they rule and have

power over cannot pay the jizya or abide in their religion. They must either acknowledge

85 Cf. above: 3:26. Cf. Mt 5:17-9; Lk 16:17.

[Christianity] or be killed. [588] This is more terrible, more severe, and cruder than the

religion of Islam and its law.

[589] We see you claiming the Christ was kind and compassionate and above causing

pain, severity, harm, and affliction. [590] Yet according to you he legislated the Tawrāt,

its regulations and its punishments. He drowned the people of the earth in the flood of

Noah. [591] According to you death, elephantiasis, leprosy, blindness, deafness,

plagues, and illnesses, as well as the suffering of dumb livestock, are his doing. [592] He

made it licit for them to be slaughtered, have their meat eaten, be pained by toiling,

being ridden, and being burdened down and other things men do [with animals]. [593]

Now where is the kindness and compassion? What a difference between that and what

our Prophet, Muḥammad -- God’s blessing and peace be upon him -- made licit: the killing

of those who disbelieve in God and act wickedly in the land. [594] If you saw that Christ

was only a prophet sent [by God], then it would not be necessary to denounce the

carrying of a sword, [595] since he came and sanctioned the prophets before him who

carried the sword, and he declared animals licit, [596] and [said] that sicknesses and

illnesses are directly from God. [597] How then when you claim that the one who did all

of this is Christ?

[598] No one has heard of a people more ignorant, insolent, and perplexed than the

Christians. [599] For this is their statement, yet they denounce Muḥammad -- God’s

blessing and peace be upon him -- for carrying the sword against unbelievers and those

who worshipped idols, planets, and fires apart from God. Yet their lie and fraud is greater

than this. [600] For they say, “These prophets carried the sword by the command of

God.” [601] One should reply to them: Therefore it cannot be concluded that carrying

the sword is invalid in every case, as you suggest. It is necessary to examine the one

who carries the sword. If he did so with a proof, then he would be justified. [602] It is

necessary to look at the proclamations, miracles, and signs of Muḥammad -- God’s

blessing and peace be upon him. Then they will know that he is like the prophets who

preceded him.

Christians are hypocrites for accusing Muḥammad of sexual immorality

[603] You claim to have mysticism, austerity, lengthy fasts, and prayers and to prohibit

carrying the sword. [604] Yet the Christians, Manicheans and Bardesanites have no

evidence. They deceive people with a dress of wool and an appearance of asceticism.86

[605] Among their ignorance and tricks is the way they denounce Muḥammad for taking

wives, [606] even though they know that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Isaac, Jacob, the

tribes of Israel, Moses, Aaron, David, Joshua, and others, who they say are prophets and

whose teachings they consider right, [607] took wives and concubines as [Muḥammad]

did. In fact, among them are those who took many times more, like David and those like

him.87

[608] The Romans, who are the origin of Christianity, did not find a blemish in the

Messenger -- God’s blessing and peace be upon him -- so they denounced him for

carrying the sword and taking wives. [609] Yet while they denounce him for this -- God’s

blessing be upon him -- they claim that God took Mary as a mother to give birth to Him

and took a son to Himself, even if they do not call Mary a wife.

On confession among the Christians, showing that their religion is not

strict

[610] An amazing thing in their religious practices is when the sinner says to the priest or

the monk, “Make for me forgiveness and repentance. Bear my sins.” [611] [The priest]

sets a payment for him according to the extent of his wealth or poverty. Then the priest

spreads out his garment, takes the payment and says to the sinner, [612] “Come now

and mention to me your sins, one by one, so that I may know them and bear them.” 86 The mystical movement in Islam, in which asceticism is also emphasized, is known as taṣawwuf. The root of this term is Arabic ṣūf, or “wool.” Most likely, the term arose because of the simple wool garments, like those of monks, that ascetics would wear.87 Biblical David had at least eight wives and presumably concubines as well. See II Samuel 3 and I Chronicles 3. The number of wives and concubines attributed to Muḥammad varies. At the high end is the claim of the Christian polemicist Kindī that Muḥammad took 15 wives in addition to two slave girls. See Risālatāni, 76; trans: The Apology of al-Kindy, trans. W. Muir (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1887), 52.

[613] Whether a man or woman, king or vagabond, this person begins to mention what

he has done, one by one, until he concludes, “This is all of it.” [614] Then the priest

responds to him, “[The sins] are great, yet I have borne them and forgiven you.

Therefore rejoice.” [615] He often gathers up the garment by its edges, places it on his

back, and says, “How heavy are the sins in this garment!”

[616] It is widespread and well known among them that a woman will confess her sins to

a priest, saying, “A man penetrated me on such and such a day.” [617] He inquires,

“How many times?” and she tells however many. [618] Then he says to her, “Inform me.

Is this man a Christian or a Muslim?” She often says, “A Muslim.” He considers this more

terrible and will raise her payment. [619] If she pays, it is alright, but if she does not, he

becomes angry and leaves, saying, “The Muslims have fornicated with her and she wants

me to forgive her but only gave me so much!” She brings him back, pays him more and

appeases him.

[620] This is their religion that they claim is strict and is the religion of Christ. But it is

not possible for this to be his -- God’s blessing be upon him -- religion.

The real purpose of confession is to raise money

[621] It has been said to one of their priests, “What kind of repentance is this?” [622] He

said, “We have no choice but to ask them about their sins and make them desire to have

them with forgiven. [623] If we did not do that and did not take money from them, the

churches would be impoverished.”

Christians have no fear of hell

[624] You will find that few of them fear the punishment of the next world, for they

believe that Christ killed himself to safeguard them from sins and punishment. [625]

[They believe] that he is sitting at the right of his father. His mother is sitting there to

the left. [626] If sins come up, she receives them and says to her son, “O son, ask your

father, the Lord, to forgive them.” [627] According to them, [Christ] forgives them and

asks his father to forgive them.

Christians wrongly have leadership above Muslims

[628] Now the kings of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Mesopotamia, and Persia, and so forth, [629]

rely on the Christians as secretaries, ministers and officials. They have leadership above

Muslims. [630] They collect their property, taxing them on everything, [taxes] for which

God did not send down authorization. [631] They belittle Islam with them and spend

them in calamities against Muslims.

On Zoroastrian immorality

[632] Now the Persians also have embarrassing defects like those of the Christians we

have presented. [633] For example, Zoroaster legislated to them that they purify a

menstruating woman, a woman in childbed, and a woman whose fetus has died in her

stomach, with cow urine. [634] The herbed is entrusted with this, after having stripped

her and made her naked. [635] He carries that out with his hand and watches with his

eye. Then he places her on hands and knees, washing that place with his hand.

Sometimes he will make her drink from [the urine]. [636] He takes a payment for this

according to her capacity. [637] The first thing he does is to take off what she is wearing

to strip her for purification. The smallest amount that he might take for the poorest of

the poor is four weights88 of silver. [638] The Persians and the Zoroastrians claim that in

the days of their reign the chief priest89 would raise four million dīnārs in this manner and

disburse them to the priests.

[639] [Zoroaster] also legislated that it is obligatory for a married man, if he is absent

from his wife or unable to copulate with her, to assign one whom he chooses from his

friends, confidants, or acquaintances to lie with her.

88 Mithqāl, a measure of weight usually from 1.5 to 2 grams.89 Persian mowbedān mowbed.

The apologists for Christianity rely on pagan philosophy

[640] Yet we are not refuting the Zoroastrians or the Christians. We intend simply to

demonstrate that [the Christians] are contrary to Christ and his religion in doctrine and

practice. [641] For [the preceding], may God have mercy on you, is the basis of Christian

teachings and the teachings of their scholars and ascetics. [642] As for those who

debate and dispute among them, those who devote themselves to defending Christianity

and composing books on that, they are all atheists and zindīqs. [643] They count Christ

and all of the prophets -- peace be upon them -- liars, and they consider [religious] laws

ignorance and those who act by them ignorant. [644] You can hardly find among them

someone who is not like this. For example: Qusṭā b. Lūqā, Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq, his son

Isḥāq, Quwayrī [645] and Matta al-Jarmaqānī, also known as Abū Bishr b. Yūnus,90 who

commented on the books of the heretics.91 He perished sometime in the 320’s. [646]

After him was Yaḥyā b. ‘Adī,92 from whom the heretics in your era draw. Yet teachings

are not established by debate.

[647] If this is said to them, they say “Our evidence in this is from the tongue of Aristotle,

from his statement and his principles.” [648] Yet Aristotle did not believe in a [divine]

book, or a prophet or a [religious] law. He denied the parting of the sea, the

transformation of [Moses’] staff into a snake, the bringing of the dead to life and Mary’s

giving birth without a man. [649] [Aristotle] thought that to believe in these things is to

be ignorant, foolish and weak-minded. [650] Now tell me who is more weak-minded:

[Aristotle] or the one who makes him the proof for his religion and relies on him. There is

no greater embarrassing defect than this. Know that this is their way.

90 These are the well-known Christian philosophers/doctors/apologists of Baghdād: Qusṭā b. Lūqā al-Ba‘labakkī (d. 300/912-913), Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq al-‘Ibādī (d. 260/873) his son Abū Ya‘qūb Isḥāq b. Ḥunayn (d. 289/910-11), Ibrāhīm Abū Isḥāq Quwayrī (elsewhere Qūyurā, from Greek κύριος, d. late 3rd/9th), Abū Bishr b. Yūnus (d. 328/940).91 I.e. the Greek philosophers.92 Yaḥyā b. ‘Adī composed a number of jadal works in response to Muslim anti-Christian polemic, most notably his monumental reply to Abū ‘Īsā al-Warrāq. He also responded to al-Radd ‘alā l-Naṣārā of the Muslim philosopher Abū Yūsuf Ya‘qūb al-Kindī (d. 3rd/9th) in the aforementioned Jawāb al-shaykh Yaḥyā b. ‘Adī ʻan mas’ala sa’ala ʻanhā mukhālifū l-Naṣārā. Regarding this see A. Périer, “Un traité de Yaḥyā ben ‘Adī,” Revue de l’Orient Chrétien 22 (1920-1), 2-21. Cf. E. Platti, Yaḥyā b. ‘Adī. Théologien chrétien et philosophe arabe (Leuven: Departement Oriëntalistek, 1983).

[651] It has been demonstrated to you that the religious practices of these Christians are

opposed to the religious practices of Christ, his commandments and decrees. [652] Now

you know that Muḥammad -- God’s blessing and peace be upon him -- knew this and that

his knowledge of it is from God and among his miracles.

3K. That Christianity is not the religion of Christ can be seen

from the Bible

Christians act contrary to the actions of Christ, inventing their own

practice

[653] The Christians say, “By my life, Christ did not act in any way like us his whole life

long. [654] The same goes for his disciples after him, in what they required from the law

of the Tawrāt. [655] Yet those who came after them transmitted to us, and said to us

that Christ said, ‘Act after me according to what you see fit.’”

[656] We reply: Why did you count their claims true when they took leadership over you,

to rule over you and your property? [657] If they say, “We only accepted [their claims]

through miracles,” we have dispensed of this by demonstrating that the origin [of

Christianity] is from Constantine the son of Helena. [658] We have demonstrated that

Christ prescribed the law of Moses -- peace be upon him -- to them, [that he designated]

that they act according to how they saw him act his whole life long, [659] as we have

presented above, and [that he taught] pure monotheism, the transcendence of God --

Mighty and Exalted -- and the confirmation of the law, as we have demonstrated.

[660] The report of their deviation is in their book known as Acts and in the Synod which

they have.93 [661] They simply bewilder the one who does not know, saying, “We [act]

according to the law of Christ.” [662] If a knowledgeable person confronts them

regarding that, they say, “We deviated from it because of signs and miracles.” [663] If

he informs them of the situation of Constantine the son of Helena and all of what he did, 93 Most likely a reference to Synodicon orientale, a late 2nd/8th century Syriac compilation of thirteen East Syrian (Nestorian) synods, stretching from 410-775. It is edited and translated into French by J.-B. Chabot in Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la bibliothèque nationale 37 (1902).

as we have demonstrated, they say, “[Christ] prohibited us from debating, researching,

and investigating.”

Christ himself disavowed his self-professed followers

[664] One of the amazing things that they preserved about Christ -- peace be upon him --

is that he said to them: [665] “You will come to me on the day of resurrection. The

inhabitants of the earth shall be assembled around me, standing to my right and my left.

[666] I will say to the sons of the left, ‘I was hungry and you did not feed me, naked and

you did not cover me, sick and you did not care for me or treat me, imprisoned and you

did not visit me.’ [667] They will answer by saying to me, ‘When, O master, were you

sick, naked, hungry, or imprisoned? [668] Did we not prophesy in your name? Heal the

sick and lodge the ill in your name? Feed the hungry, cover the naked, and treat the sick

in your name? Eat and drink in your name?’ [669] I will reply to them, ‘You would

mention my name, but you did not witness to me truthfully. Get away from me, you

sinners!’ [670] Then I will say to the sons of the right, ‘Come, O you righteous ones to

the mercy of God and to eternal life.’”94 [671] There is no one who eats, covers, and

treats the sick or eats or drinks in the name of Christ, or does this for Christ except for

these Christian sects. [672] This is a clear text showing [Christ’s] washing his hands of

them and his enmity towards them.

Christ did not teach that all foods are clean, shown from Acts 11

[673] The Romans eat pork, all animals, and what is slaughtered by any people. The

[Christians] followed the Romans in this, as they followed them in other things.

[674] If this is said to them, they say: “Simon Cephas had a dream. A sheet, attached by

its four edges, descended from heaven to earth. [675] In it were all of the beasts, all the

four-legged creatures, the creeping animals of the earth, birds of the sky and animals of

the sea. [676] He heard a voice that said, ‘Get up, Simon. Get up, slaughter and eat.’

[677] Simon said, ‘Absolutely not, O Lord, for I have never eaten anything impure.’ [678]

94 Cf. Mt 7:21-3; 25:31-46.

The voice returned and said to him, ‘Do not declare impure what God has made pure.’” 95

[679] Simon saw this, according to them, after the death and lifting up of Christ.

[680] We reply: Simon witnessed that Christ forbade this and declared it impure. This

confirms your embarrassing defect, for [Christ] came only to complete, not to change or

abrogate. [681] What is amazing is that according to their own [Book] of Isaiah the

Prophet, the most evil, impure and wicked nation is the one that has a foreskin and eats

pork and all beasts. This describes them.96

Biblical reports prove Christ did not abrogate the Sabbath laws

[682] Among the Christians are those who add to the lying and tricks by saying, “The

Jews killed Christ because he brought the dead to life and raised paralytics on the

Sabbath. [683] This is proof that he permitted [work on] the Sabbath and abrogated

what is in the Tawrāt.”

[684] We reply: We have demonstrated from that which is in the Gospels and Acts, and

from that which he did, that Christ designated the Tawrāt. This shows the invalidity of

these claims. [685] What adds to the demonstration of their lie is the statement of

Matthew in his Gospel: “Christ walked among the crops on the day of the Sabbath. [686]

His disciples were hungry and they began to rub the ears of grain and to eat. [687]

When the rabbis saw this they said to him, ‘These disciples of yours are doing what is not

permitted to them to do on the Sabbath.’ [688] Christ said, ‘Did you not read what David

did when he was hungry, how he entered the house of God, [689] and ate the bread of

the table of the Lord which was not permitted for him to eat, but only for the priests?’”97

[690] He also said to them, “Did you not read in the Tawrāt that for the priests in the

temple [work on] the Sabbath98 was permitted, and they were not blameworthy?”99 [691]

Look at how he demonstrated that they did not permit [work on] the Sabbath or permit

95 Cf. Acts 11:4-9.96 Cf. Isaiah 65:3-4; 66:17.97 Cf. Mt 12:1-4; I Samuel 21:3-6.98 The manuscript repeats “temple” (haykal) here but the context indicates that “Sabbath” is the intended reading. Cf. Mt 12:5.99 Cf. Mt 12:5; cf. Numbers 12:9; Leviticus 24:5; 1 Chronicles 9:32.

that which is [forbidden] in the Tawrāt. They only acted according to what was permitted

in the Tawrāt, [692] but you have ignored this. If he had abrogated it, he would have

said to them, “They rub the ears of grain on the Sabbath because God has abrogated

that through me.” [693] He would not have needed to argue the necessity for it.

[694] Matthew mentions in his gospel that when Christ healed the paralyzed man, the

Jews asked him, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?” [695] ‘He said to them, ‘If one

of you had a ram that fell into a well, would you not try to get him out? And a person is

better than a ram.’”100 [696] He allowed them to do a virtuous action on the Sabbath.

[697] But if he were permitting [work on] the Sabbath, he would have said so, and

brought that forth, instead of making an argument.

[698] Luke says in his gospel, “Christ was teaching in the synagogues on the Sabbath.

[699] A deformed woman, who was sick for eighteen years, was there. She was bent

over and unable to stretch out her frame. [700] When Christ saw her, he said to her, ‘O

woman, I have let you go from your sickness,’ and she immediately recovered. [701] The

master of the Jews said, ‘There are six days on which work is possible. On [these days]

you may treat [the sick], but not on the Sabbath.’ [702] Christ said to him, ‘Have none of

you sent off his bull or ass to the trough on the Sabbath, gone with it and watered it?

[703] This is a daughter of Abraham -- peace be upon him -- whom Satan has bound for

eighteen years, must she not be released from [her] captivity?’”101 [704] Now, if it were

as this liar says, [Christ] would have said, “The Sabbath is abrogated. All works on it are

allowed and licit.”

[705] Matthew mentions in his gospel that Christ reported the tribulations and

evacuation that would come upon his companions. [706] Then he said to them, “Pray to

God and implore Him that your flight and evacuation be not on the Sabbath day and not

in winter.”102 [707] He said this to them when he parted with them and bid them

100 Cf. Mt 12:9-12.101 Cf. Lk 13:10-16.102 Cf. Mt 24:20

farewell. Thus you know his affirmation of the establishment of the Sabbath and of

adherence to the laws of the Tawrāt after him. [708] He ordered them to ask God that

their flight would not be on the Sabbath day, [709] because it is not permitted to them to

carry anything of their belongings and possessions [during the Sabbath]. It is only

permitted to them to save themselves, nothing else. [710] All of this demonstrates that

the Christians have rejected the religion of Christ.

Biblical reports prove Christ did not abrogate the qibla towards

Jerusalem

[711] If it is said to them: Why do you pray to the east, when you know that Christ always

prayed to Jerusalem, until he left this world, while east is the qibla of the Romans? [712]

They say, “Because God addressed the prophets from the east.” [713] Some of them

say, “When Christ was crucified, he turned his face to the east. [714] For this [reason] we

pray to the east.”

[715] One should reply to them: Who knows better, you or Christ? You know -- you are

certain -- that he did not pray to the east, yet you have followed the religions of the

Romans and deviated from the religion of Christ.

[716] In the gospel a Samaritan woman addresses him: “I see that you are a Prophet.

Our fathers would prostrate in worship only on this mountain, yet you [people] say, ‘The

only place in which one must prostrate in worship is Jerusalem.” [717] Jesus said to her,

“O woman believe me, his followers will not prostrate in worship to the Lord on this

mountain or in Jerusalem.”103 [718] Look at the explicit statement and declaration in this!

[719] Christ only prayed to Jerusalem (ūrashalīm, that is, bayt al-maqdis) to make it

known that they are opposed to his way.104

103 Cf. Jn 4:19-21.104 Ūrushalīm is the traditional Semitic form of Jerusalem. The Arabic word likely stems from Syr. Ūrishlem. Bayt al-maqdis, or Holy Abode, is a pious epithet for the city with which ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s Muslim audience would be more familiar.

Excursus: Uniqueness of this book; list of standard Islamic polemics

against Christianity

[720] I have mentioned to you that we do not intend to demonstrate the error of

Christianity. We simply intend to demonstrate that [the Christians] deviated from the

religion of Christ and opposed it in both doctrine and practice despite their determined

testimony, [721] that Muḥammad’s -- God’s blessing and peace be upon him --

knowledge of this is from God -- Mighty and Exalted -- and that this is one of his miracles

and signs. [722] If it has turned out that quotations of their opinions and refutations of

them can hardly be found in any other book, especially the quotations of their hymns and

the statements of their leaders, [723] then keep this in mind, for you can hardly find it in

[another] book and you have the greatest need to memorize it.

[724] Meanwhile, there are many [other texts] which question and refute them. [725]

Among them is the book of al-Jāḥiẓ, another of his books known as al-Risāla al-‘asaliyya;

[726] that of Abū Ja‘far al-Iskāfī, and the excellent section in the Kitāb al-Ma‘ūna of Abū

Bakr Aḥmad b. ‘Alī b. al-Ikhshīd. [727] Abū ‘Īsā al-Warrāq has a book against them. Abū

‘Alī has a book against them. [728] Abū Hāshim has a discussion of them in his al-

Baghdādiyyāt. In the Ūsūl of Ibn Khallād and its commentary, [729] and the Īḍāḥ of Abū

‘Abdallāh al-Baṣrī -- May God’s mercy be upon all of them -- there is a discourse against

them.105

105 All of the authors to whom ‘Abd al-Jabbār refers the reader are Mu‘tazilī mutakallimūn, for the most part of the school of Baṣra: Jāḥiẓ’s (d. 255/869) aforementioned Risāla fī radd ‘alā ‘l-Naṣārā is extant. His al-Risāla al-‘asaliyya is not extant, but it may have been an anti-Jewish treatise (the expression ‘asaliyyu l-yahūd signifies the color that the Jewish minority were required to display according to Islamic law. See Lane, 5:2046b). Iskāfī (d. 240/854) was a Baghdādī Mu‘tazilī and the student of Ja‘far b. al-Ḥarb (d. 236/850). Ibn al-Ikhshīd (d. 326/938) was likewise a Baghdādī Mu‘tazilī, from several generations later, most known for his (Shāfi‘ī) legal writings. ‘Abd al-Jabbār quotes an anti-Christian statement from Ibn al-Ikhshīd’s Ma‘ūna above (2:522). The aforementioned Abū ‘Īsā al-Warrāq was at times affiliated with the Baṣran Mu‘tazilī school, but was often accused of heresy. ‘Abd al-Jabbār himself earlier names him among the heretics (2:261 and 2:280); his long treatise against the Christians on the Trinity and the Incarnation is quoted by Yaḥyā b. ‘Adī. The excerpts of Abū ‘Īsā in Yaḥyā’s work have recently been edited and translated by D. Thomas as: Anti-Christian Polemic in Early Islam and Early Muslim Polemic against Christianity. The first monograph includes an edition and translation of Abū ‘Īsā’s section against the Trinity. The second includes an edition and translation of his section against the Incarnation and the introduction to the section on the Trinity; Abū ‘Alī al-Jubbā'ī (d. 303/915-6) and his son Abū Hāshim al-Jubbā'ī (d. 321/933) were the founding figures of the Baṣran school; ‘Abd al-Jabbār often refers to them simply as the shaykhayn. Their anti-Christian writings are not extant, but ‘Abd al-Jabbār quotes from them in the “Radd ‘alā 'l-naṣārā” of his Mughnī. Regarding this see G. Monnot, “Les doctrines des chrétiens dans le ‘Moghni’ de ‘Abd al-Jabbar.” MIDEO 16 (1983), 9-30. Abū ‘Alī Muḥammad b. Khallād al-Baṣrī (d. 350/961), meanwhile, was also a Baṣran Mu‘tazilī, and the teacher of ‘Abd al-Jabbār’s teacher Abū ‘Abdallāh al-Ḥusayn b. ‘Alī al-Baṣrī (d. 369/980). The anti-

3L. Flaws of the Bible

The Gospels, unlike the Qur'ān, leave Mary open to the charge of

fornication

[730] According to them Christ did not speak in the cradle106 and did not declare his

mother pure.107 [731] The prevalent [view] among them is that Mary -- peace be upon

her -- belonged to the son of her paternal uncle who was called Joseph, the son of Jacob,

the Carpenter, and that she was with him. [732] People thought that Christ was the son

of Joseph until John baptized him in the Jordan and a voice came from heaven, [saying]:

“This is my son in whom I am pleased.”108 [733] They say, “Therefore we know that he is

the son of God Most High, not the son of Joseph the Carpenter.” [734] They say, “This

was after Christ reached thirty years.” People had no doubt that [Christ] was the son of

the carpenter until, according to the claim of the Christians, this voice came.

[735] What stupidity, lowliness and defamation to the wisdom of God could be greater

than this? According to them he is the Lord of the Worlds, yet he allowed his servants to

vilify his mother. [736] A group of them, who are the elite, hold that their Lord is a Jew,

the son of a Jew, born from a Jew, and that his mother is a Jewish woman. [737] Matthew

says in his gospel, “When Mary the Virgin’s pregnancy with Christ showed, Joseph the

Carpenter was anxious to divorce her. [738] An angel came to him in a dream and

informed him, ‘O Joseph the Carpenter, do not doubt your lawful wife Mary. For that

which dwells in her is from the Holy Spirit.’ Therefore he refrained from divorcing her.”109

[739] Look at how he witnesses that she is the lawful wife and the spouse of Joseph the

Carpenter, that he was to divorce her, considered her a fornicator, and wanted to divorce

her to avoid disgrace.

Christian writings of the last two figures are also not extant.106 Cf. Q 3:46; 19:29.107 Q 19:32ff; cf. Jāḥiẓ, Radd, 12; 22-4. 108 Cf. Mt 3:16-7; Mk 1:10-1; Lk 3:22. Cf. Aḥmad b. Isḥāq al-Ya‘qūbī (d. 292/897), Ta'rīkh, n.e. (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1419/1999), 1:65; al-Ḥasan b. Ayyūb, 323.109 Cf. Mt 1:19-20, according to which, however, Mary is not Joseph’s wife but his fiancée.

[740] One of them mentions in the translation of his gospel: “This is the genealogy of

Jesus the son of Joseph the Carpenter.”110 [741] Matthew says in his gospel, “This is the

genealogy of Jesus Christ.” [742] He says, “Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary

from whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.”111 [743] Look at how they testify that

Joseph was her husband.

[744] It is in the gospel that Christ was circumcised eight days after he was born,112 and

that Joseph the Carpenter took him with his mother and went out with them to Egypt,113

[745] where they resided for twelve years.114 Then he took them and brought them back

to Jerusalem. [746] It is in [the gospel] that Joseph entered his house and said to Mary,

“Where is the boy?” (meaning Jesus Christ). She said to him, “I thought that he was with

you.” [747] He said, “And I thought that he was in the house with you!” They became

worried because of this and were afraid that they might lose him. They went out

together, seeking him. [748] Joseph the Carpenter said to Mary, “You take one road and

I will take another, and perhaps one of us will find him.” [749] They walked, burning with

anxiety. His mother Mary found him and asked him, “O my son, where were you? I

thought you were with your father and your father thought that you were with me. When

he did not see you we became worried. [750] Your father took a road and I took this

road. So where were you, and with whom, for your father is burning with anxiety for

you?” [751] He replied, “I was in Jerusalem, learning.”115

[752] Matthew mentions in his gospel, “Christ met with the Jews and spoke to them in

parables. [753] When he was done with these parables, he turned and entered his city.

He would teach in their synagogues, [754] and they would be amazed, saying, ‘From

where does this man get such wisdom? Is he not the son of Joseph the Carpenter? [755]

Are not his mother, who is called Mary, and his brothers Jacob, Simon, Judas, and all of

110 This statement perhaps reflects a marginal note in an Arabic translation of the Syriac Peshitta.111 Cf. Mt 1:1, 16.112 Cf. Lk 2:21.113 Cf. Mt 2:14.114 This comment seems to be based on the report in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus was twelve years old when his parents took him to the feast of Passover in Jerusalem (Lk 2:42). ‘Abd al-Jabbār conflates the report in Matthew of the flight to Egypt with this report in Luke of the Passover feast.115 Cf. Lk 2:43-9.

his sisters among us? Where did he get all of this?’ [756] They began to scorn him,

accuse him of sin and vilify him. Christ replied to them, ‘A prophet is always scorned in

his city.’”116

[757] Christians agree with Muslims that Christ was born without a male. [758] Then

they say in their gospels that Joseph the Carpenter is the husband of Mary the mother of

Christ, Mary’s spouse, and the father of Christ. [759] They do not deny that he was

called this and was known by it, [760] and that [Christ] had brothers and sisters. [761] It

is in their gospels and reports that when [Christ] was crucified, his mother Mary, with her

children Jacob, Simon, and Judas came to him and stood by his side. [762] He said to

her, when he was upon the wood, “Take your children and depart.”117 [763] What type of

demonstration [is needed] beyond this, that Mary gave birth to this group after Christ

from Joseph the Carpenter and that Christ had brothers from his mother? [764] And what

embarrassing defect could be more unpleasant than this?

[765] An amazing matter of the Christians is that the four gospel authors seek to report

the lineage of Joseph the Carpenter in particular. [766] Yet this is not the lineage of

Christ, since he was born without a male. [767] His lineage is connected with Solomon

the son of David -- peace be upon them -- only from the side of his mother and not from

any one on his paternal side.118 This is evident nonsense and manifest ignorance. In this

the Jews found a way to defame Christ.

Shortcomings and contradictions in the gospels

[768] Know -- May God have mercy on you -- that these Christian sects are the most

ignorant of God’s people regarding Christ, the reports about him and the reports about

his mother, [769] and that each of the writers of these gospels gathered what he wrote a

long period after Christ and after [Christ’s] companions passed away, from those who do

116 Cf. Mt 13:53-7; cf. Mk 6:1-4; Lk 4:16-24. 117 No Biblical correlation, see Pines, Jewish Christians, 61-2.118 Mt 1 connects Jesus to Abraham though Joseph. Lk 3 connects Jesus to Adam through Joseph.

not know or comprehend. [770] Between [these gospels] are so many conflicting

accounts and contradictions that a explanation of this would take too long.

[771] In their gospels, a group of Jews came to [Christ] and ask for a sign from him.

[772] He vilified them and said, responding to them, “The wicked, impudent clan

demands a sign. Yet no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the Prophet.”119

[773] This clear expression, according to their statement, proves that he had no sign and

that he did not even claim to have one when it was needed. [774] Christians do not

understand divinity. They do not differentiate between it and humanity. [775] They do

not establish any evidence for their transmission and their claims except the signs of

Christ. [776] Yet if the Messenger of God -- God’s blessing and peace be upon him -- did

not witness that Christ -- peace be upon him -- was a Prophet, then no one would know

that.

3M. False reports of miracles that Christians use as evidence

for their religion120

False accounts of miracles by Christian holy men (1. Anonymous monk)

[777] Among the greatest schemes of Christian leaders is to claim miracles for

themselves and others like them who have preceded them as leaders. [778] Christians

accept that from them without any logical demonstration or evidence. [779] If a leader

dies, be it a monk, priest, Metropolitan or Katholikos, a monk sits down and says, “I was

serving him and I saw wonders from him.” [780] Then the Christian community asks

[God’s] mercy upon [the deceased] and they entreat God through him as a witness.

They treat his grave as a shrine and make pilgrimages to it.

119 Cf. Mt 12:38-41; 16:4; Lk 11:29-32. 120 The following anecdotes reflect the popularity of miracle tales, in which monks are usually the protagonists, in the Eastern Church of the Early Middle Ages. Many of these tales, which originated largely in the Egyptian monastic environment, were collected and organized in formal treatises, including the late fourth century History of the Monks of Egypt, the Syriac Lausiac History (or Book of Paradise) of the monk Palladius (d. early 5th), the early sixth century Systematikon, the Alphabetikon and Tales of Daniel of Scētē of the mid-sixth century, the late seventh century Tales attributed to Anastasios the Sinaïte (d. 678) and the Spiritual Meadow, compiled originally by John Moschus (d. 619) and apparently continued by his disciple, later patriarch of Jerusalem, Saint Sophronius (d. 639), to whom John dedicates the book.

[781] The Christians say to [this monk], “O holy one,121 report what you saw of him.” He

will decline and say, “Spare me from explaining.” [782] Yet the more he declines, the

more they persist in demanding. He will continue to decline in order that they only

desire [to know] more and inquire more. [783] He will say, “He did not speak about it in

his life, so I would not want to speak about it after him. I only mentioned his exalted

status to you so that you would entreat God through him. [784] If you believe me, then

[entreat God]. If not, forget about it. It will not harm me for it is not my wonder and

sign, but his.” Their desire will only increase. [785] Finally he will explain, “Our oil in the

church ran out, but he would not ask anyone for oil nor let me ask for it. [786] When it

was night, he would light the lamp, get up and go to a jar of his in which there was

vinegar, and pour it into the lamp. [787] Immediately it would become oil. He used it to

light for a number of months. [788] In the jar there were more than fifty raṭls122 of

vinegar. “We would eat [the vinegar] at breakfast, and at night, when he poured it into

the lamp, it would become oil.”

False accounts of miracles by Christian holy men (2. Father Mark)

[789] Another [monk] told the story of a monk, his companion, called Father Mark,123 who

performed many acts of worship: “[Father Mark] put his trust in God and cast himself into

the sea, [790] saying, ‘Let God do with me as He wishes. If He wishes He will drown me,

and if He wishes He will save me and cast me wherever He wishes upon His land.’”

[791] [The first monk] said:

I did not have the courage to do what [Father Mark] did. I stayed in my place

after him, for a long time [filled with] longing because of his parting from me.

[792] Then the longing for him called upon me to do what he had done. If I

121 This is a Syriac expression, as has been pointed out by P. Crone. See “Islam, Judaeo-Christianity and Byzantine Iconoclasm,” JSAI 2 (1980), 88, n. 164.122 A raṭl is a measure of weight, assigned at various times from 500 g. to 2 kg.123 Ar. abā marqūs. This perhaps indicates an Egyptian origin to the story, as priests are commonly referred to in Egyptian Arabic as appa so-and-so.

drowned, I would be delivered from loneliness. I did it and remained in the sea for

some time.

[793] Then God cast me to a land that I did not know and on which there were no

edible plants.124 [794] I began to walk upon it and my eye fell upon a person who

was standing and praying. I made my way towards him and [and saw that] it was

my companion Father Mark. [795] I said to him, “O holy one! For how long have

you been here?” [796] He said, “From the time that I parted from you God cast

me to this land.” [797] I asked him, “How do you live when there are no plants

that even an animal could eat?” [798] He said, “At evening when I have

concluded my prayers I find a grilled, hot fish on a plate, two loaves of bread and

a bowl of honey. [799] I break my fast with this and the plate is taken up. I do

not see who takes it up or who puts it down.”125 [800] I said to him, “This is the

extent of your nourishment, and if I shared in it with you, I would reduce it. What

should I do when this land is desolate? It has neither green plants nor dried-out

plants.” [801] He said, “I do not know, but if you wish to reside with me and to

share with me in what comes to me, then do it.” Therefore I remained. [802]

When it was evening, behold, there were two plates, two fish, two loaves126 and

two bowls. One of these was for me and the other for him. [803] He said to me,

“Provision has come to you as it came to me.”

[804] I remained with him for a number of years. Then he got sick and instructed

me to bury him. [805] He ordered me to depart to you after burying him, so that I

might tell you what became of him, so that your insight into your religion might

increase. If not for his order, I would not have parted from that place.

124 Cf. the Biblical account of the prophet Jonah, who casts himself from the boat headed towards Tarshish trusting that God would then save the gentile sailors of his ship. God then sends a great fish who swallows Jonah and then spits him ashore (Jonah 1). Later Jonah finds himself on a spot to the East of the great city of Nineveh, which he watches in expectation of its destruction. The spot is apparently barren, but God makes a plant sprout up there to shade Jonah from the sun (and later sends a worm to attack the plant; Jonah 4:5-7). 125 Cf. the Biblical account of the prophet Elijah being fed bread and water in the desert by an angel (I Kings 19).126 Following the logic of the account, of course, this should be four loaves.

False accounts of miracles by Christian holy men (3. Metropolitan of

Khurāsān)

[806] Another of the monks said to them, “Rejoice, Christians, for your religion is the

truth. I have seen such wonders that I know its validity.” [807] They said to him, “What

kind of thing have you seen?” [808] He said: “It is nothing that [happened] to me but

rather to another one. I was in the group of the Katholikos so-and-so, who told me, [809]

‘My brother, it has reached me that the Metropolitan of Khurāsān eats meat. Make your

way to him and say to him, ‘Did you not know that a Metropolitan should not eat meat?’.’

So I made my way to him. [810] When I entered upon him, he had in his hands a frying

pan filled with hot, fried birds that he was eating. He said to me, ‘Eat!’ [811] I replied to

him, ‘The Father Katholikos has sent me and says to you, ‘Do you not know that a

Metropolitan should not eat meat?’.’ [812] Then he asked me, ‘Thus the Father said to

you?’ I replied to him, ‘Yes.’ He raised his hand and said to me, ‘We will do as the Father

says.’ [813] Then he said to those birds that were in the frying pan, ‘Shoo!’ They all flew

away and he took the frying pan away.” They believed him, recorded this and wrote it

down.

False accounts of miracles by Christian holy men (4. The Jewish convert)

[814] A monk, whom they did not know, came suddenly upon the [Christians] of Iraq and

the regions adjoining Iraq. [815] They asked him, when he entered into the church, “O

holy one, who are you and where are you from?” He said, “Let me be and spare me

[from speaking].” [816] They asked him again and he said, “My sin is great and my

embarrassment is excessive, so do not ask me about anything.” [817] But they implored

him with their questions until he conceded, “On the condition that you keep my [account]

concealed.”

[818] He recounted:

I was a Jewish man who severely detested the Christians and Christ. I heard that

they say in the gospel that Christ said, “If a pure Christian says to a tree, ‘Stand

upon the waves of the sea and do not move,’ it will stand [there].”127 [819] I did

not believe this, so I came to the king and said to him, “I am a Jewish man. You

have said that Christ said to you such and such. If this is valid and I see it with my

eyes, then I will immediately become a Christian.” [820] The king directed

himself to the black servants and they brought him an old feeble man wearing

monastic garb. [The king] said to him, “This man is Jewish and has said such and

such, so let us see what answer you have.”

[821] The old man came to me and said, “O man, fear God! If you are obstinate,

then go away in peace and do not bother us. If what you say is true, and from a

genuine intention, then let me know.” [822] I swore to him that my intention was

genuine. He said to me, “Go to the desert and look at any tree that you wish and

mark it. Then come back to me and let me know what the mark is.” [823] I went

and marked a great tree. I returned to him and let him know [what the mark

was]. [824] He told me, “Come to me tomorrow so that I might show you your

tree on the wave of the sea as you proposed.” [825] I came to him the next day.

He took me by the hand and brought me to the sea. He showed me the tree

which I marked standing upright upon a wave of the sea. Therefore I became a

Christian. [826] Now I journey through the land, crying about my sins and the

days I lost.

[827] They believed him and wrote down what he said. This is one of the books studied

in the church, to which both men and women listen.

False accounts of miracles by Christian holy men (5. Father George)128

[828] Another monk came to them, crying. They asked him, “Who are you and what

made you cry?” [829] He replied, “Let me be because my misfortune is great.” It was

127 Cf. Lk 17:6.128 A similar story is told in the supplementary tales to John Moschus’ The Spiritual Meadow, in which a young Jewish boy who converts to Christianity is miraculously spared death in a furnace, despite the repeated efforts of his father and a ruler to roast him alive (cf. Daniel 13). The Spiritual Meadow, 205ff.

said to him, “Mention it, my son.” [830] He said, “I do not comprehend my affair and I do

not know what to say.” They said to him, “In any case, tell us your misfortune. Inform us

of your situation.” [831] He asked, “Did Father George not die?” It was asked of him,

“Who is George?” [832] He replied, “The one of such and such a monastery and such

and such a hermitage.”129 They said, “We do not know him,” (although there might have

been one of them who said, “I have heard of him”). [833] [The visiting monk] said, “Has

[news of] his signs and miracles reached you?” They said, “Speak to us of them. [834]

Tell us about them.” He replied, “I cannot tell them to you. Clearly you are not

Christians but against the Christians. If you really were Christians you would know about

him and about his signs and miracles.” [835] They asked him [again] to mention them

but he declined and refrained. Yet they continued to ask him until he informed them:

Such and such a king sent for and summoned [Father George]. [836] He said to

him, “Leave this religion and I will give you gifts, honor you and make you a

partner in my reign,” yet he declined. [837] The king imprisoned him in a secure,

constricted prison. Then [the king] asked the prison guard to bring him, but he

did not find him in the prison. For this the guard took every kind of abuse from

the king, [838] who said to him, “You let him go!” He dispatched messengers to

pursue him. They found him in his hermitage and brought him to the king.

[839] [The king] asked [Father George], “Inform me about the prison guard, is it

he who let you go?” [840] He replied, “No, Christ brought me out. He opened the

doors for me, and blocked [the guards] from seeing me.” [841] The king said to

him, “Now I will imprison you. Go ahead and tell Christ to let you go.” [842] Then

he imprisoned him in a secure prison, behind locked doors of iron. Yet when [the

king] sought him he did not find him. He sent [men] to his hermitage, and there

he was inside it.

129 Ṣawma‘a. Cf. (in the plural form ṣawāmi‘) Q 22:40.

[843] [The king] brought him back and asked him, “Who let you out?” [Father

George] replied to him, “Christ.” [844] [The king] returned him to the prison,

bound him and weighed him down with iron, binding him more securely. [845]

Then he sought [Father George] but did not find him in the prison, yet the doors

and the locks were as they were, and he found the bonds.

[846] He sent out [men] seeking [Father George]. They found him in the

hermitage and brought him back. The king was furious with what had taken place

with him and how he had embarrassed him time and time again. He ordered that

[Father George] be beheaded and buried. [847] On the following day, the day of

his burial, they found him at his hermitage.

[848] This was told to the king, who sent and had [Father George] brought before

him. He cut him into pieces. He was carried out and buried. [849] But when it

was the next day, they found [Father George] in his hermitage.

[850] This was told to the king, who sent and had him brought back and cut into

pieces. [851] He asked for fire and had him burned and ordered that his ashes be

thrown into the sea. [852] On the next day, they found him in his hermitage.

[853] The king sent and had him brought back to him. He apologized to [Father

George] and became a Christian.

[854] The [visiting] monk explained, “All of this occurred to [Father George] while I was

with him. I witnessed what the king did to him. [855] Yet for something like this I do not

cry, so do not emphasize my misfortune. [856] More severe than this is your ignorance

and negligence. It is as though you are not Christians and have not heard of

Christianity.” [857] He cried and they believed him and apologized to him for their

negligence and ignorance about this man and what happened to him.

How these false accounts are behind Christian holidays

[858] Their men, women, and boys meet together and ask him to tell them the story. He

repeats it to crowd after crowd. [859] They go away from him having believed him.

They spread out, speaking of it with joy, so this [account] became immortalized. [860]

They make holidays for [accounts] such as this one. They designate certain days on

which they celebrate these holidays. [861] They re-tell their accounts, in order to renew

the memory of it so that whoever wishes from their descendants may listen to it. They

call that a Memorial. [862] They explain, this is the Memorial of George, this is the

Memorial of Father Mark, and this is the Memorial of So-and-So.

False accounts of miracles by Christian holy men (6. The miracle of

tongues)

[863] Another one responded to them and asked, “Do you know, O Christians, how there

came to be Christians among the Arabs, Egyptians, Ethiopians and others?” [864] They

replied, “No.” He said, “But I know, and if you were Christians you would know.” So they

asked him and he informed them. [865] He recounted, “The first fathers spent a night,

all having [the same] one language. When they woke up the next day each one of them

spoke in the language of one of the nations. [866] Each one of them proceeded to the

nation that spoke this language. They preached to them in their languages and brought

forth signs and miracles for them. [867] If not, then tell us how the Armenians, Arabs,

Egyptians and Ethiopians became Christians.”130 [868] They say to him, “You are correct.

This is a brilliant, logical demonstration.” They write this, record it and make it into a

holiday and a Memorial.

How these false accounts are behind Christian holidays (2)

[869] This is the basis of the [miracle], its cause and its origin. [870] When it becomes

immortalized and disseminated, and ages pass by and epochs come and go, then they

130 Notice the parallel between this narrative and that of Pentecost as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, 2:6ff. Notice especially verse 2:15, which makes it clear that the miracle at Pentecost took place in the morning. The specific narrative recorded by ‘Abd al-Jabbār is also recorded by Abū Ja‘far al-Ṭabarī (Ta’rīkh, 1:1560) on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq. Cf. also the version of Pentecost reported in Risālat al-Kindī: Risālatānī fī l-ḥiwār wa-l-jadal, 206-7.

claim that it is something to which nations bear witness, since it is more possible to lie

about something that transpired long ago. [871] They only make it into a Memorial,

holiday, and a specific day in order to complete the deception, [872] in order that those

who hear that a holiday was made for it, a known day, a calculated, definite date, will

suppose that it is true and has a basis in fact. [873] Thus the lie is entrenched and the

distortion is perfected. This is also [done] so that the monks receive pious gifts and alms

on these holidays.

3N. Christians leaders seek to control Christians through

deception

Monks are lazy, greedy and deceitful

[874] Yet the clever Christians say, “These signs and miracles are only deceptions of the

Katholikos and monks, who detest work and flee from labor.” [875] They call them, in

the Syriac language, “‘āriq ma‘nāthā,”131 which means one who becomes a monk and

persists in religion in order to devour others’ property and to have repose from labor.

[876] Now the monks, whenever they are quarreling about what they take, say to one

another, “The Christians prefer you to us, giving you more than they give us. [877] But

you have no merit over us; all of us have fled from work and simply pray for the

Christians.” [878] [The clever Christians] relate disclosures about them that would take

too long to explain. [879] Yet this [explanation] would not increase contemplation, a

burning desire, or inspection of Islam.

[880] Often a monk will bring forth for the Christians something like what we have

presented. Then the monks address one another, saying among themselves: [881]

“Consider this man’s escape from work and how he attempts to deceive the Christians.

Look, will he get lucky?”132

131 Syr. ʽāriq means “one who flees.” Ma‘nīthā, meanwhile, the plural of which is ma‘nyāthā, means “familiar intercourse” or, secondarily, “chant, antiphon.” The phrase therefore seems to refer to a monk who flees from labor and chants prayers.132 Bakht, a Persian term for “fortune, luck.”

[882] Often a monk will come to the Katholikos with this sort of thing in order to become

popular with him. The Katholikos will say to him, [883] “You are determined to flee from

work, you are an ‘āriq ma‘nāthā.’” [884] [The monk] often cries and says to him,

“Father, how can you say this to me?” [885] The Katholikos will say to him, “My brother,

you should not try this with me, for I know the craft. [886] Concede that we have

deceived others. We know each other and our craft is the same. I am an ʻāriq ma‘nāthā’

just like you, so don’t cry.”

[887] You will find, may God have mercy on you, many priests and monks who are like

this. [888] If they see a monk, Katholikos, priest, or Metropolitan for whom miracles are

claimed and who becomes popular with the Christians, they will say to one another, [889]

“Look at how this one is popular among the ignorant Christians. His deception has fooled

them and he is established as their leader.”

Christian claims of miracles are baseless and irreligious

[890] Now the priest Matta [Abū Bishr] b. Yūnus,133 the logician, says regarding this sort

of thing, “This is rotten luck.” [891] Yet the Christian scholars rush towards apostasy, as

it has been presented to you above. [892] Now what convinces [the Christians] of

Christianity is that there are signs and miracles in their worship, which are not cut off in

any age. [893] The Melkites claim this for their worshipers, as the rest of their sects

claim. They claim to witness [these] in every era and time, although they declare each

other unbelievers. [894] Yet there is no one among them who has seen any of this.

These are simply the claims that have been mentioned above, that is the Memorial and

holidays. [895] In fact, they commit apostasy by thinking that what is claimed for Moses,

Aaron and Jesus -- peace be upon them -- is similar to that which is claimed for monks.

Christians themselves see the illogic in the miracle claimed for George

[896] Now one of things that is related is how the Christians sit for the Memorial of

George, [hearing] what happened to him: how he was killed time and again but came

133 In fact Matta b. Yūnus was not a priest.

back, rising from the grave, to his hermitage. [897] One of them said, “If we were

sincere with ourselves we would know that story is a lie and has no basis. [898] For

Christ, the master of George, was chained up once. He did not return and was not

subjected to something similar. [899] Now how could George accomplish this, when he

does not measure up to [Christ] in patience and insight?” He made them laugh.

Christians claim that their religion does not need proof

[900] Now the best argument the clear-sighted among them have is to say, [901] “Our

way is that we are submissive to the leaders and we make do with our religion by

following their authority. We do not demand a logical demonstration for it. For matters

of [religious] law and the church are not at all similar to natural matters.” [902] This is

what those leaders, who seek to devour their possessions and mock them, have dictated

to them. Yet most of [the leaders] are apostates, as we have presented above.

[903] By “natural” they mean what Aristotle and other apostates say, [904] that it is not

possible for the sun, the moon and other heavenly bodies to be broken or separated,

[905] or to be hot or cold, humid or parched, sweet or acidic, heavy or light, [906] and

other similarly ignorant things, which are even more numerous than the ignorant

statements of the Christians, many times over. [907] The [Christians] claim that the

[philosophers] said this with a logical demonstration, while divinity, prophecies, and

[religious] laws are not established with a logical demonstration. [908] The elite of the

Christians and their leaders are more ignorant than the commoners by many degrees.

Egyptians and Arabs had ulterior motives in accepting Christianity

[909] Now the Egyptians detest the Israelites for what occurred to them and to Pharaoh

on account of Moses. [910] When the Byzantines overcame the Israelites and

established rule over Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia, they imposed this religion on people

through desire and terror, as we have demonstrated, and as you see and witness. The

Egyptians hastened to it. [911] The Byzantines mixed with the Arab tribes of Ghassān134 134 A largely Christianized Arab tribe in northwest Arabia and Syria which served as clients (foederati) of Byzantium until the reign of the emperor Maurice (r. 582-602).

and others in Syria and called them to Christianity. They offered sovereignty to them,

[912] while telling them of the religion of Christ and the miracles in which they believed,

as we have mentioned. [913] This was easy for them [to accept] since they were idol-

worshippers. It was not foreign to them.