Jews and Muslims in Christian Syriac and arabic texts of the ninth century

Cf. Thomas R. Hurst, “Letter 40 of the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy I (727–823): an Edition and Translation,” (unpublished M.A. thesis; The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 1981); the letter is published in Hanna Cheikho,Dialectique du langage sur Dieu de Timothée I (728–823) à Serge (Rome, 1983). This hitherto unpublished and unnoticed letter should not be confused with the well-known letter reporting Patriarch Timothy's debate with the caliph al-Mahdī. For the latter, cf. A. Mingana, “Timothy's Apology for Christianity,”Woodbrooke Studies 2 (1928):1–162. Cf. the shorter Syriac rendition in A. Van Roey, “Une apologie syriaque attribuée à Elie de Nisibe,”Le Muséon 59 (1946):381–397. For the Arabic versions, cf. Hans Putman,L'église et l'islam sous Timothée I (Beyrouth, 1975); Robert Caspar, “Les versions arabes du dialogue entre le Catholicos Timothée I et le calife al-Mahdī,”Islamochristiana 3 (1977):107–175. See also Thomas R. Hurst,The Syriac Letters of Timothy I (727–823): a Study in Christian-Muslim Controversy (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The Catholic University of America; Washington, D.C. 1986).Google Scholar

Hurst, “Letter 40,” 48.Google Scholar

Addai Scher,Theodorus Bar Kōnī Liber Scholiorum (CSCO), vols. 55 and 69; Paris, 1910 and 1912), 69:235. Cf. S. H. Griffith, “Chapter Ten of theScholion: Theodore Bar Kônî's Apology for Christianity,”Orientalia Christiana Periodica 47 (1981):158–188.Google Scholar

Such characterizations originally focused on what some early Christian writers regarded as an overly literal interpretation of the scriptures. Origen, for example, called it a Jewish sense (sensus iudaicus) of the text. Cf., e.g., H. Crouzel & M. Simonetti,Origène: traité des principes (SC, vols. 252 and 253; Paris, 1978), 252:398. Then, what the writers viewed as heretical opinions, particularly in Christology, were often described as Jewish. In hisDe ecclesiastica theologica, Eusebius of Caesarea (d. ca. 340) uses the verb “to practice Judaism (ioudaízein)” to describe someone who denies the divinity of Christ. Cf. E. Klostermann,Eusebius Werke (GCS, 4 vols.; Leipzig, 1906), 4:117. In the same vein, Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 389), in hisDiscourse 20, says that those who reserve divinity only to the Ungenerated, have allowed themselves to be shut up in Jewish small-mindedness (ioudaik\(\mathop {\bar e}\limits^` \)). Cf. J. Mossay,Grégoire de Nazianze: Discours 20–23 (SC, 270; Paris, 1980), 70. And after Nestorius (d. ca. 451) came onto the scene, the later Chalcedonian opponents of the Christological formulae that carried his name did not hesitate to describe the former patriarch of Constantinople as Jewish-minded (ioudaióphrón). Cyril of Schythopolis (6th cent.) was apparently the first writer to apply this particular sobriquet to him, in theVita Euthymii; cf. E. Schwartz,Kyrillos von Skythopolis (TU, vol. 49, 2; Leipzig, 1939), 40. He was followed by Anastasius of Sinai (d. ca. 700); cf. K. H. Uthemann,Anastasii Sinaitae: Viae Dux (CC, ser. Graec., 8; Leuven, 1981), 88. He was followed by John Damascene (d. ca. 759), in hisDe fide orthodoxa; cf. B. Kotter,Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos: Expositio Fidei (Berlin & New York, 1973), 135. Finally, as a result of the Iconoclastic controversy, it was not an uncommon ploy on the part of the defenders of the images to ascribe the policies of their opponents to Jewish influences. Cf. some of the sources cited in Andrew Sharf,Byzantine Jewry, from Justinian to the Fourth Crusade (New York, 1971), 61–81. For a general survey of the early patristic period and Christian anti-Jewishness, cf. R. Wilde,The Treatment of the Jews in the Greek Christian Writers of the First Three Centuries (CUA Patristic Studies 81; Washington, D.C., 1949); Marcel Simon,Verus Israel, étude sur les relations entre chrétiens et juifs dans l'empire romain (135–425) (Paris, 1948); and, for the later period, in addition to Sharf, Joshua Starr,The Jews in the Byzantine Empire (641–1204) (Athens, 1939). A useful general survey is provided in A. L. Williams,Adversus Judaeos: a Bird's-Eye View of Christian Apologiae Until the Renaissance (Cambridge, 1935). For the Syriac, anti-Jewish writers, cf. A. P. Hayman,The Disputation of Sergius the Stylite Against a Jew (CSCO, vols. 338 and 339; Louvain, 1973).Google Scholar

Qur'ān commentators of the ninth century quoted traditions that designated these friendly Christians as the Ethiopians among whom the first Muslim refugees from Mecca found asylum. Cf. Abū Ğa'far Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad b. Ğarīr a\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\smile}$}}{\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} } \)-\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{T} \)abarī,Tafsīr al-Qur'ān (30 vols. in 13; Cairo, 1321), 7:2–4. Cf. also the remarks of al-Ğā\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{z} \) (d. 868/69) in J. Finkel, ed., Three Essays of Abu 'Othman 'Amr Ibn Ba\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)r al-Jā\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{z} \) (Cairo, 1926), 15. See Finkel's English translation of the anti-Christian essay, in theJournal of the American Oriental Society 47 (1927):311–354.Google Scholar

Finkel, op. cit., n. 5 above, 14. Ba\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)īrā is the name of the Christian monk whom Islamic tradition credits with recognizing Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad's future prophethood when the prophet was still a boy. Cf.The Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed. (hereafter cited asEI ²), s.v. “Ba\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)īrā.” Salmān is Salmān al-Fārīsī, a companion of the prophet. He was originally a Zoroastrian convert to Christianity who lived among monks, and eventually went to Arabia in search of a prophet, where he became the slave of some Jews, and afterwards met and recognized Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad, bought his freedom, and became a Muslim. Cf.The Encyclopedia of Islam (hereafter cited asEI), s.v. “Salman al-Fārīsī.”Google Scholar

For this reason Christians sometimes named their tractsKitāb al-burhān. Cf., e.g., Michel Hayek, 'Ammār al-Ba\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)rī, apologie et controverses (Beyrouth, 1977), 19–90; and Sidney H. Griffith, “'Ammār al-Ba\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)rī'sKitāb al-burhān: ChristianKalām in the First Abbasid Century,”Le Muséon 96 (1983):145–181.Google Scholar

Quoted, with no reference, in “Anti-Semitism,”Encyclopedia Judaica (16 vols.; Jerusalem, 1972), vol. III, col. 100.Google Scholar

Finkel,Three Essays, 18. The passage quoted here is according to the version in Charles Pellat, The Life and Works of Jā\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{z} \), trans. D. M. Hawke (Berkeley, 1969), 88.Google Scholar

Cf. Sidney H. Griffith, “The Prophet Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad, His Scripture and His Message, According to the Christian Apologies in Arabic and Syriac From the First Abbasid Century,” in T. Fahd, ed.,La vie du prophète Mahomet, un colloque organisé par le Centre de Recherche d'Histoire des Religions, Université des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg, 23–24 Octobre 1980 (Paris, 1983), 99–146; Rachid Haddad,La Trinité divine chez les theologiens arabes (750–1050) (Paris, 1985). Cf. also Robert Caspar et al., “Bibliographie du dialogue islamo-chrétien; auteurs et oeuvres du VIIe au Xe siecle,”Islamochristiana 1 (1975):131–181; 2 (1976):188–195; and J. Nasrallah, “Dialogue islamo-chrétien à propos de publications récentes,”Revue des Études Islamiques 46 (1978):121–151.Google Scholar

Cf. Ign. Goldziher, “Ueber muhammedanische Polemik gegenAhl al-kitâb,”Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 32 (1878):341–387; Ign. Di Matteo, “Il ta\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \) rīf od alterazione della Bibbia secondo i Musulmani,”Bessarione 38 (1922):64–111, 223–260;EI, s.v. “Ta\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)rīf”; W. Montgomery Watt, “The Early Development of the Muslim Attitude to the Bible,”Glasgow University Oriental Society Transactions 16 (1955–56):50–62; J. M. Gaudeul and R. Caspar, “Textes de la tradition musulmane concernant le ta\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \) rīf (falsification) des écritures,”Islamochristiana 6 (1980):61–104.Google Scholar

Cf., e.g., the attention 'Ammār al-Ba\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)rī gave to defending the Christians against the charge of tampering with the text of the Gospel, in Hayek, 'Ammār al-Ba\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)rī, 41–46, 128–147. For an example of the Muslim argument, dating from the eleventh century, but including charges that earlier Christians rebutted, cf. Michel Allard,Textes apologétiques de Ğuwainī (m. 478/1085) (Beyrouth, 1968), 39–83. Cf. also Sidney H. Griffith, “The Gospel in Arabic: an Inquiry into its Appearance in the First Abbasid Century,”Oriens Christianus 69 (1985):126–167.Google Scholar

Cf., e.g., Justin'sDialogue with Trypho, PG, vol. VI, cols. 641–644.Google Scholar

Cf., e.g., his remarks in hisContra Celsum, in M. Borret,Origène Contre Celse (SC, 132, vol. I; Paris, 1967), 225–229.Google Scholar

Cf., e.g., his remarks in his preface to his version of the Book of Joshua,PL, vol. 28, col. 464.Google Scholar

K. Vollers, “Das Religionsgespräch von Jerusalem,”Zeitschrift für kirchengeschichte 29 (1908):37.Google Scholar

Ibid., 50–51.Google Scholar

Ibid., 56 and 61.Google Scholar

Ibid., 202.Google Scholar

Anton Tien, ed., Risālat 'Abd Allāh b. Isma'īl al-Hāšimī ilā 'Abd al-Masī\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \) ibn Is\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)āq al-Kindī yad'ūhu bihā ilā islām wa risālat 'Abd al-Masī\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \) ilā al-Hāšimī yaruddu bihā 'alayhi wa yad'ūhu ilā n-Na\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)raniyyah (London, 1885), 106.Google Scholar

Putman,L'église et l'islam [48], 273. See also Hurst,The Syriac Letters, 85–99.Google Scholar

Constantin Bacha,Les oeuvres arabes de Théodore Aboucara, évêque d'Haran (Beyrouth, 1904), 27.Google Scholar

Ioannes Arendzen,Theodori Abu Kurra de Cultu Imaginum Libellus e Codice Arabico nunc primum Editus Latine Versis Illustratus (Bonnae, 1897) [8].Google Scholar

Scher,Theodorus Bar Kōnī, 69:235.Google Scholar

Ibid.Google Scholar

Constantin Bacha,Un traité des oeuvres arabes de Théodore Abou-kurra, évêque de Harran; publié et traduit en français pour la première fois (Tripoli de Syrie and Rome, 1905), 14.Google Scholar

Louis Cheikho, “Mīmar li Tādurus Abī Qurrah fī Wuğūd al Hāliq wa d-Dīn al-Qawīm,”al-Machriq 15 (1912):837; Ignace Dick,Theodore Abuqurra, Traité de l'existence du créateur et de la vraie religion (Patrimoine Arabe Chrétien 3; Jounieh and Rome, 1982), 257.Google Scholar

Bacha,Un traité des oeuvres arabes, 10. For the significance of the evidentiary miracle in the Christian apologetics of the period as an endorsement of the divine origin of a religion, cf. Sidney H. Griffith, “Comparative Religion in the Apologetics of the First Christian Arabic Theologians,”Proceedings of the PMR Conference — 1979 4 (1979):63–87.Google Scholar

Cf. Arendzen,Theodori Abu Kurra de Cultu Imaginum Libellus, [31], [34], [35].Google Scholar

Ibid. [8]Google Scholar

Cheikho, “Mīmar li Tādurus Abī Qurrah,” 768; Dick,Traité de l'existence, 203–204.Google Scholar

Ibid.Google Scholar

Bacha,Les oeuvres arabes, 72.Google Scholar

Putman,L'église et l'islam [50], 275.Google Scholar

As a typical instance of the role of thissūrah in Islamic apologetic tracts of the first Abbasid century, cf., e.g., Ignazio Di Matteo, “Confutazione contro i Cristiani dello Zaydita al-Qāsim b. Ibrāhīm,”Rivista degli Studi Orientali 9 (1921–1923):310. Christians also took note of thesūrah; cf., e.g., Abū Qurrah's quotation of it in his Greekopusculum 20,PG, vol. 97, col. 1545C. The terms of thesūrah have long been the subject of discussion, especially the term a\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)-\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)amad Cf. E. E. Calverly, “The Grammar ofsūratu 'l-ikhlāş,” Studia Islamica 8 (1957):5–14; G. D. Newby, “Sūrat al-'ikhlāş, a Reconsideration,” in H. A. Hoffer, ed.,Orient and Occident, Essays Presented to Cyrus H. Gordon; Alter Orient und altes Testament 22 (1973):125–130; R. Paret, “Der Ausdruck\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)amad in Sure 112, 2,”Der Islam 56 (1979):294–295; Cl. Schedl, “Probleme der Koran-exegese, nochmals\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)amad in Sure 112, 2,”Der Islam 58 (1981):1–14; Uri Rubin, “Al-Samad and the High God, an Interpretation ofsūra CXII,”Der Islam 61 (1984):197–217; Arne A. Ambros, “Die Analyse von Sure 112,”Der Islam 63 (1986):219–247.Google Scholar

A. Van Roey,Nonnus de Nisibe, traité apologétique (Louvain, 1948), 12.Google Scholar

Ibid.Google Scholar

For a fuller discussion of the term, cf. Sidney H. Griffith, “The Prophet Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad, his Scripture and his Message,” n. 10 above.Google Scholar

The story of the clay bird, as told inĀl'Imrān 3:49, comes not from the canonical Gospels, but from the Gospel of Thomas 2:2–4. Cf. W. Rudolph,Die Abhängigkeit des Qorans von Judentum und Christentum (Stuttgart, 1922), 81.Google Scholar

F. Nau, “Lettre de Jacques d'Edesse sur la généalogie de la sainte vièrge,”Revue de l'Orient Chrétien (1901):518, 523f. quoted from P. Crone & M. Cook,Hagarism, the Making of the Islamic World (Cambridge, 1977), 11. For a discussion of the termMahgrāyê as a Syriac designation of Muslims, cf. Griffith, “The Prophet Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad, his Scripture and his Message,” n. 10 above.Google Scholar

Georg Graf, Die Schriften des jacobiten\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{H} \)abīb ibn\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{H} \)idma Abū Rā'i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)a (CSCO, vols., 130 and 131; Louvain, 1951), 130:76; 131:95. “People of the South” was Abū Rā'i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)ah's special name for Muslims. It refers to the direction the Muslims in the area of Tagrīt, Iraq, faced when praying. Cf. Sidney H. Griffith, “\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{H} \)abīb ibn\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{H} \)idmah Abū Rā'i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)ah, a Christianmutakallim of the First Abbasid Century,”Oriens Christianus 64 (1980):168–169.Google Scholar

Graf, Die Schriften des Abū Rā'i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)a, 130:83; 131:10.Google Scholar

Cf., e.g., the apology of Aristides (first half of the 2nd century), J. Rendel Harris, “The Apology of Aristides on behalf of the Christians,”Texts and Studies 1 (1891):110 (Greek) and [4] (Syriac); but cf. especially the Armenian version, rendered into Latin (p. 29) and English (p. 33).Google Scholar

Pierre Nautin,Origène, homélies sur Jérémie (2 vols., SC, nos. 232 and 238; Paris, 1976 and 1977), 1:398.Google Scholar

Cf. Wilde,The Treatment of the Jews, 95.Google Scholar

Cf.christoktónos in the so-called Apostolic Constitutions, in F. X. Funk,Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum (Paderborn, 1905), 1:175, 367. Forchristóphonos, cf., e.g., St. Basil's remark in connection with the stoning of St. Stephen (Acts 7:54–60) in B. Pruche,Basile de Césarée, traité du Saint-Ésprit (Paris, 1945), 150.Google Scholar

Cf., e.g., Gregory of Nazianzus in one of his poems,PG, vol. 37, col. 963A. For Abū Rā'i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)ah's statement, cf. Graf,Die Schriften des Abū Rā'ita, 130:90; 131:112.Google Scholar

Van Roey,Nonnus de Nisibe, 12.Google Scholar

Cf. Scher,Theodorus Bar Kōnī, 69:268–272.Google Scholar

Cf. Graf, Die Schriften des Abū Rā'i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)a, 130:58–60; 131:74–76.Google Scholar

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Arthur J. Arberry,The Koran Interpreted (2 vols.; London and New York, 1955), 1:123.Google Scholar

Cf. the remarks and the bibliography inEI ², s.v. “ 'Isā.”Google Scholar

Perhaps in response to the pressure of Christian scholars, Muslim commentators often devised fairly elaborate ways to explain how someone other than Jesus was crucified in his stead, even citing traditions according to which Jesus himself refers to someone who has taken on his image (a\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)-\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \) \(\bar u\)rah). Cf., e.g., from the ninth century, the stories collected by a\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)-\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{T} \)abarī,Tafsīr al-Qur'ām, n. 5 above, 6:8–10. For a short English version of Bay\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{d} \)āwī's commentary on these passages, cf. H. Gätje,The Qur'ān and its Exegesis; Selected Texts with Classical and Modern Muslim Interpretations, trans., A. T. Welch (London, 1976), 127–129. Some modern scholars have attempted to trace theQur'ān's teaching to the presumed influence of Docetic ideas of Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad. Cf., e.g., the discussions in G. Parrinder,Jesus in the Qur'ān (New York, 1977), 108–121.Google Scholar

Pellat, “Al-Ğā\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{z} \), les nations civilisées et les croyances religieuses,”Journal Asiatique 255 (1967):86, 100. Cf. also C. Pellat, “Christologie Ğā\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{z} \)ienne,”Studia Islamica 31 (1970):219–232.Google Scholar

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Cf. Griffith, “\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{H} \)abīb ibn\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{H} \)idmah Abū Rā'i\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)ah,” 198–199, and “Some Unpublished Arabic Sayings Attributed to Theodore Abū Qurrah,”Le Muséon 92 (1979):29–35.Google Scholar

C. De Boor,Theophanis Chronographia (2 vols.; Leipzig, 1883–1885), 1:342. The Alexandrian year of the world 6135 corresponds to the Christian year 643, while the same Byzantine year of the world corresponds to A.D. 626. Cf. V. Grumel,La Chronologie (Paris, 1958), 246–247. The papal librarian, Anastasius, who translated Theophanes' work into Latin in 873–875, dates 'Umar's building activity to the reign of Constans II (641–668), making the Alexandrian date likely. Cf. De Boor, op. cit., 2:214. The Byzantine date is impossible; Theophanes himself would correlate 6135 with A.D. 635. Cf. De Boor, 1:342. By all accounts, Theophanes' is the earliest record in any language of a Mosque of 'Umar in Jerusalem. For a selection of later Islamic texts in English translation which mention 'Umar's mosque, cf. G. Le Strange,Palestine under the Moslems (Boston, 1890), 90ff.Google Scholar

Cf. De Boor, op. cit., n. 59 above, 401–402. Cf. A. A. Vasiliev, “The Iconoclastic Edict of the Caliph Yazid II, A.D. 721,”Dumbarton Oaks Papers 9 and 10 (1956):25–47; S. Gero,Byzantine Iconoclasm During the Reign of Leo III; With Particular Reference to the Oriental Sources (CSCO, vol. 346; Louvain, 1973); L. W. Barnard,The Graeco-Roman and Oriental Background of the Iconoclastic Controversy (Leiden, 1974); idem, “Byzantium and Islam, the Interaction of Two Worlds in the Iconoclastic Era,”Byzantinoslavica 36 (1975):25–37; P. Crone, “Islam, Judeo-Christianity and Byzantine Iconoclasm,”Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 2 (1980):59–95.Google Scholar

Sharf,Byzantine Jewry, 68. Cf. also the discussion of Jewish and Muslim influences on the Iconoclasts in the works cited in n. 60 above.Google Scholar

Cf. the survey in Leslie Barnard, “The Theology of Images,” in A. Bryer & J. Herrin, eds.,Iconoclasm (Birmingham, 1977), 7–13; and H. von Campenhausen, “Die Bilderfrage als theologisches Problem der alten Kirche,” in the author'sTradition und Leben, Kräfte der Kirchengeschichte, Aufsätze und Vorträge (Tübingen, 1960), 241–242.Google Scholar

Cf. the Greek text inPG, vol. 93, cols. 1597–1612. For a sketch of Leontius's arguments, which were repeated by many after him, cf. Norman H. Baynes, “The Icons Before Iconoclasm,”Harvard Theological Review 44 (1951):93–106. Cf. also Hayman,The Disputation of Sergius, 339:57.Google Scholar

Cf. S. Gero, “Notes on Byzantine Iconoclasm in the Eighth Century,”Byzantion 44 (1974):34–35.Google Scholar

Cf. the classic study of E. Kitzinger, “The Cult of Images in the Age Before Iconoclasm,”Dumbarton Oaks Papers 8 (1954):83–150.Google Scholar

Cf. Hayman,The Disputation of Sergius, 6.Google Scholar

Cf. A. S. Tritton,The Caliphs and their Non-Muslim Subjects; a Critical Study of the Covenant of 'Umar (London, 1930); A. Fattal,Le statut légal des non-musulmans en pays d'islam (Beyrouth, 1958).Google Scholar

Cf. references in L. W. Barnard, “Byzantium and Islam, the Interaction of Two Worlds in the Iconoclastic Era,”Byzantinoslavica 36 (1975):25–37.Google Scholar

Cf., e.g., the story told from the reign of Uthmān, in a late Syriac chronicle, about an event in Damascus, in which Jews allegedly joined in tearing down Christian crosses. J. B. Chabot,Anonymi Auctoris Chronicon ad Annum Christi 1234 Pertinens (CSCO, vols. 81 and 109; Paris and Louvain, 1920 and 1937), 81:262–263; 109:205. Cf. the English summary in Tritton,The Caliphs and their Non-Muslim Subjects, 105–106.Google Scholar

In Egypt the son of 'Abd al-'Azīz ibn Marwān (d. 754), al-A\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)bagh, reportedly spat in the face of an image of theVirgo lactans, saying, “Who is Christ that you should worship him as God.” B. Evetts, “History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria,”Patrologia Orientalis 5 (1910):52.Google Scholar

Cf. Ignace Dick, “La passion arabe de S. Antoine Ruwa\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \), néo-martyr de Damas (25 dec. 799),”Le Muséon 74 (1961):109–133.Google Scholar

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Cf. the edition and Latin version of the treatise, published by Arendzen,Theodori Abū Kurra de Cultu Imaginum Libellus. An English translation and extensive commentary by the present writer is in preparation. See S. H. Griffith, “Theodore Abū Qurrah's Arabic Tract on the Christian Practice of Venerating Images,”Journal of the American Oriental Society 105 (1985):53–73.Google Scholar

Arendzen,Theodori Abū Kurra de Cultu Imaginum Libellus, 1.Google Scholar

Ibid. [17]–[19].Google Scholar

Cf. texts cited in n. 63 above.Google Scholar

Arendzen,Theodori Abū Kurra de Cultu Imaginum Libellus [39].Google Scholar

Cf. “The History of the Likeness of Christ, and of How the Accursed Jews in the City of Tiberias Made a Mock Thereof in the Days of the God-Loving Emperor Zeno,” in E. A. Wallis Budge,The History of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the History of the Likeness of Christ 2 vols., (London, 1899), 2:171ff.Google Scholar

No fewer than six versions of this story are included inPG, vol. 28, cols. 797–824.Google Scholar

Cf. Sidney H. Griffith, “Eutychius of Alexandria on the Emperor Theophilus and Iconoclasm in Byzantium: a Tenth-Century Moment in Christian Apologetics in Arabic,”Byzantion 52 (1982):154–190.Google Scholar

Cf. Sidney H. Griffith, “Comparative Religion in the Apologetics of the First Christian Arabic Theologians,”Proceedings of the PMR Conference 4 (1979):63–87.Google Scholar

For the text of the al-Hāšimī—al-Kindī correspondence, cf. Tien,Risālat Abd Allāh, n. 20 above. A new edition of the text, with a French version, is now available from Pasteur G. Tartar, Union des Croyants Monothéistes, Combs-La-Ville, France. An English summary is William Muir,The Apology of Al-Kindy; Written at the Court of al-Mamun (c. A.H. 215; A.D. 830), In Defense of Christianity Against Islam (London, 1887). For the Ba\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)īrā legend, cf. the Syriac and Arabic texts published in R. Gottheil, “A Christian Bahira Legend,”Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 13 (1898):189–242; 14 (1899):203–268; 15 (1900):56–102; 17 (1903):125–166. For more bibliography and a general discussion of both of these works, cf. Griffith, “The Prophet Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad, his Scripture and his Message,” n. 10 above.Google Scholar

F. Wüstenfeld, Das Leben Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammads nach Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad, 2 vols. (Göttingen, 1858), I, 1:116–117. For an English translation, cf. A. Guillaume, The Life of Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad, a Translation of Is\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)āq's (Oxford, 1955), 81.Google Scholar

For what follows cf. Tien,Risālat 'Abd Allāh, 128–129.Google Scholar

Cf. Wüstenfeld, Das Leben Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammads, 353–354; Guillaume, The Life of Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad, 240–241.Google Scholar

Cf.EI ², s.v. “Ka'b al-A\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)bār.” M. Perlmann, “A Legendary Story of Ka'b al-A\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)bār's Conversion to Islam,”Joshua Starr Memorial Volume (New York, 1953), 85–99; “Another Ka'b al-A\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)bār Story,”Jewish Quarterly Review 14 (1954):48–58. Since Ka'b al-A\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)bār became a Muslim only after the death of Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad, one is tempted here to think of 'Ubay b. Ka'b, one of the an\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \)ār, who was the prophet's secretary in Medina. Cf. Arthur Jeffery,Materials for the History of the Qur'ān; the Old Codices (Leiden, 1937), 114.Google Scholar

Cf.EI ², s.v. “Ka'b al-A\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)bār,” p. 317.Google Scholar

Gottheil, op. cit., 13 (1898):212; 12 (1899):214.Google Scholar

Ibid., 240, 250.Google Scholar

Ibid., 13 (1898), pp. 241–242; 14 (1899), p. 251.Google Scholar

De Boor,Theophanis Chronographia, 1:333. Cf. also M. Schwabe, “Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad's Ten Jewish Companions [Hebrew],” Tarbî\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \) 2 (1931):74–89.Google Scholar

Cf., e.g., Arendzen,Theodori Abū Kurra de Cultu Imaginum Libellus [31], and Bacha,Les oeuvres arabes, 10.Google Scholar

It is interesting to note that Hayman thinks that the material in the eighth-centurySyriac Disputation of Sergius the Stylite with a Jew reflects a real discussion, as opposed simply to the collection of biblical testimonies and their interpretations, only in the arguments to do with the Christian practice of venerating images and crosses. Cf. Hayman,Disputation of Sergius, 339:57.Google Scholar

Arendzen,Theodori Abū Kurra de Cultu Imaginum Libellus, 14–15.Google Scholar

For example, he complained that Arius, Nestorius, and even Macedonius simply “turned Christianity into Judaism.” Bacha,Les oeuvres arabes, 29.Google Scholar

Cf. J. W. Fück, “Some Hitherto Unpublished Texts on the Mu'tazilite Movement from Ibn al-Nadīm's Kitāb al-Fihrist,” in S. M. Abdullah, ed., Professor Mu\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \)ammad Shafi'Presentation Volume (Lahore, 1955), 62. For an English version, cf. B. Dodge,The Fihrist of al-Nadīm, a Tenth-Century Survey of Muslim Culture, 2 vols. (New York, 1970). 1:394.Google Scholar

Scher,Theodorus Bar Kōnī, 69:235.Google Scholar

Paul J. Alexander,The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople; Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire (Oxford, 1958), 34.Google Scholar

A. L. Williams,Adversus Judaeos, 154.Google Scholar

N. Bonwetsch,Doctrina Iacobi nuper baptizati (Berlin, 1910), 86–87.Google Scholar

Cf. Williams,Adversus Judaeos, 152, n. 3.Google Scholar

Cf. F. Macler,Histoire d'Héraclius par l'évêque Sebeos, traduite de l'arménien et annotée (Paris, 1904), 94–102.Google Scholar

Cf. ibid., 102–103.Google Scholar