JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, ISTANBUL, MAY 23-25, 2013

Convened by the RESEARCH UNIT INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF THE ISLAMICATE WORLD (Freie Universitt Berlin) in
cooperation with the SWEDISH RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN ISTANBUL
Funded by the European Research Council FP7 Project Rediscovering Theological Rationalism in the Medieval
World of Islam
Scientific committee: Hassan Ansari, Lukas Muehlethaler, Sabine Schmidtke, Gregor Schwarb, Jan Thiele, Zeus
Wellnhofer

Camilla Adang (Tel Aviv University) (camilladang@yahoo.com) [discussant]

Receb Alpyal (Istanbul University) (recepalpyagil@gmail.com) [discussant]
Hassan Ansari (Freie Universitt Berlin) (hf_ansari@yahoo.com): La thologie imamite et le christianisme au
cinquime sicle
Jos Bellver (University of Barcelona) (jbellver@ub.edu): Mirroring the Islamic tradition of the names of God in
Christianity: Ramon Llulls Cent Noms de Du as a Christian Qurn
Ramon Llull (1232 - 1315) was a writer, logician, Neoplatonic philosopher, Christian theologian and mystic born in
Majorca short after it was conquered to the Muslims. He was raised up in a wealthy family and initially lived the
life of troubadours. In his thirties, Ramon Llull went through a religious conversion after experiencing visions of
Jesus crucified. He then committed himself to changing his previous life, writing the best book ever and
converting infidels. In order to fulfill these goals, he produced a vast number of writings fuelled by his ars, a
combinatorial contemplative heuristic method aimed to obtain correct propositions in accordance with his own
Neoplatonic system, which was deeply influenced by the Sufi doctrine of dignities (lat. dignitates, ar. adrt)
intertwined with Trinitarian theology. In this paper, I will deal with his book on the Names of God, his Cent noms de
Du, which Ramon Llull arguably devises as a Christian Qurn. The Cent noms de Du is a long poem covering one
hundred names of God written under the influence of the Islamic tradition of the asm Allh al-usn. The book is
not polemic in regards of its particular contents, but it is aimed at demonstrating the non-divine origin of the
Qurn by providing a book endowed with more eloquence and beauty than the Qurn. Ramon Llull does not list
the very same names as those in the Islamic tradition, as Vidal i Roca (1990) and Mallo (1992) have shown,
although some of them are common. However, he parallels the role of the names of God in Islam by envisaging his
Cent noms de Du to be used by Christians in the same way Muslims approach the Qurn in their daily worship.

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

Therefore, even though Ramon Llull devises his Cent noms de Du as a means of rivaling the Qurn, it also
introduces an Islamic ethos in Christianity. In addition, it raises interesting questions since he embeds Trinitarian
theology within a theology of the Names of God and of dignities what results in, for instance, considering the
Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit or Jesus as names of God.
David Bertaina (University of Illinois, Springfield, History Department) (dbert3@uis.edu): The Use of Islamic
adth in Christian Kalm as a Method of Theological Training
In the late tenth century, the Coptic monk Blus ibn Raj (ca. 950 ca. 1000) wrote a work entitled al-Wi in
which he employed the method of interrogation to critique the Christian-Muslim issues of his day. Among the
matters that Ibn Raj studied was how Muslims critique Christian claims and the utility of the apparatus of Islamic
oral tradition. What makes his work more remarkable is that Ibn Raj was a Muslim convert to the Coptic Church
and his analyses represent an attempt to train others about the epistemological assumptions of his former faith in
its critique of Christians. As one of the first Coptic writers to compose treatises in Arabic along with his colleague
Severus ibn al-Muqaff, Ibn Raj engaged in the rational disputations of his age between Fatimid partisans and
Coptic believers. Born as Ysuf ibn Raj around the middle of the tenth century, he studied the Quran, law, and
adth. After converting to Christianity, the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria claims that Ibn Raj became a
theologian and monk. His biography details his public confession and apostasy, his difficulties with his family, his
service to the Coptic Church, and his apologetic writings about Islam. Although two of his works are now lost, one
work remains extant in two versions, preserved as MS Aleppo Salem Arabic 202 and MS Paris BNF Syriac 203
(Karshn). My research presentation for the conference will include a study of the contents of these manuscripts
and explain the different versions. Second, the paper will address the kalm-style approach of the text and its use
of Islamic sources. Third, the presentation will describe how his work received and reinterpreted the assumptions
of Islamic adth sciences. Finally, my presentation will suggest why Ibn Rajs analysis is a significant example of
cross-pollination between Islamic and Christian theology and offer some new ways to envision the tenor of
Christian-Muslim relations in late tenth-century Egypt.
Bruno Chiesa (LUniversit di Torino) (tu1xx@yahoo.it): The missing chapters of al-Qirqisanis Kitb al-anwr Book
II
First edition of the missing chapters of al-Qirqisanis Kitb al-anwr Book II, dealing with the theory of knowledge,
with introductory remarks and a commentary focused on pointing out the possible Syriac and Arabic sources.
Patricia Crone (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) (pcrone@ias.edu) [discussant]
Phil Dorroll (Emory University) (pdorroll@gmail.com): Debating the nature of the sensual: Theological Uses of
the bodily in early Christian Kalm
Kalm is often considered to be a discipline concerned primarily with abstract philosophical and theological
questions. However, a number of important kalm issues such as tashbh and ta'l implicitly concern questions of
sensuality and attitudes toward the bodily. In fact, issues of the bodily and the sensual take center stage in the
theological exchange between Muslim and Christian mutakallimn. When confronted with a new claimant to the
monotheistic heritage, Arabic-speaking Christian theologians found themselves in a difficult position: on the one

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

hand, they criticized the expansion and domination of Islam by arguing that it possesses an objectionable
connection to sensuality and worldliness, while on the other hand they sought to explain how God could become
in some way incarnate in a human body . This paper will examine the role that conceptions of corporeality and
sensuality played in early theological polemics between Christian and Muslim mutakallimn. By closely analyzing
the works of Christian mutakallimn of the 9th century C.E., especially those of Abu R'iah al-Takrt (d. ca. 851)
and 'Ammr al-Basr (fl. ca. 850), this paper will argue that Christian theologians of this time period reacted to
Muslim theological claims by deploying conflicting evaluations of sensuality. On the one hand, they sought to
define Islam as a sensual and therefore illegitimate religion, while on the other they attempted to prove that the
union of God and man in Jesus Christ did not in any way detract from the utterly unique and unapproachable
essence of the eternal God. This paper will therefore attempt to understand how notions of sensuality influenced
kalm arguments in this period, and will discuss the crucial role they played in the Christian-Muslim theological
encounter of the 9th century C.E.
Ayala Eliyahu (The Hebrew University) (ayala.eliyahu@mail.huji.ac.il): Ab-l-Barakt al-Baghdd's Attitude to
Kalm and Scriptural Exegesis
The various works of the Jewish philosopher (who converted to Islam) Ab-l-Barakt al-Baghdd (12th century)
are mostly studied separately. The examination of these different works together can, however, shed some light
on Ab-l-Barakt's positions. I wish to concentrate here on Ab-l-Barakt's attitude to philosophy, Kalm, and the
scriptures. In Ab-l-Barakt's philosophical work, al-Kitb al-Mutabar, there are almost no references to the
scriptures (Jewish or Muslim), and in the few instances where the mutakallimn are referred to, they are severely
criticized. His Judaeo-Arabic Tafsr Qohelet (Commentary to Qohelet) is constructed as a classical exegetical work,
introducing some of Ab-l-Barakts philosophical ideas. In Kitb a adillat al-naql fi mhiyyat al-aql Ab-lBarakt criticizes the mutakallimn for their method of interpretation of the Muslim scriptures, and offers
alternative scriptural interpretations as well as a philosophical discussion of the intellect. It seems that in addition
to his philosophical activity, Ab-l-Barakt had a deep interest in scriptural exegesis. His exegesis, however, was
channeled to the presentation of his philosophical positions, which were sometimes different from those of the
philosophers and the mutakallimn altogether.
Francesca Gorgoni (INALCO) (gorgoni2@gmail.com): Le Karasme Constantinople : mahshava et dibbur dans la
pense linguistique de Yehuda Ben Elyah Hadassi
Cette contribution veut explorer la pense linguistique de Yehuda Ben Elyah Hadassi, premier raprsentant du
karasme bizantin du XIIme sicle et auteur de lEshkol ha-Kofer, ouvrage en langue hebraque crit
Constantinople en 1148. L Eshkol ha-Kofer, source fondamentale pour reconstruire la formation de la pense karate
en terre dIslam et sa redfinition lpoque byzantine, se montre comme une somme de la pense thologique et
philosphique karate. En assemblant un grand nombre de sources arabes, juives et grecques, Hadassi a runi dans
son ouvrage une grande varit de textes. Le corpus qui constitue lEshkol ha-Kofer est compos des sources
principales de la pense karate en langue arabe auxquelles sajoutent des sources arabes implicites lintrieur
des sources karates. Les ouvrages karates les plus importants que Hadassi a utiliss sont le Kitb al-Anwr wa-lMarqib et le Kitb al-riy wa-l-adiq de Yaqb al-Qirqisni (IXme sicle), le Tamyz de Ysuf al-Bar et le

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

Muhtaw et Yepheth ben Ali al-Basr (X-XI-me sicle), des auteurs de langue arabe qui ont vcu et taient issus
dun milieu culturel arabe fortement imprgn par la philosophie et la thologie islamiques du kalm. En
dveloppant les thories grammaticales issues de la linguistique hbraque classique , labore sur le modle de
la linguistique arabe, fortement lie la thologie islamique, le karasme a runi des notions manant la fois de la
culture mutazilite et de la tradition massortique du judasme ancien. Cest dans cette optique que le dbat sur
ltablissement de la lecture correcte des textes sacrs acquiert une trs grande importance. En cette optique se
tabli la refession linguistique de Hadassi, qui semble suivre une distinction trs proche des argumentations
aristotliciennes en matire de philosophie du langage, mais applique lexgse du texte biblique. Pour
expliquer la nature des voyelles et son usage par lexgte, il tablit une distinction entre la pense (mashavah) et
la langue (dibbur), afin de montrer la particularit du discours quil dfinit comme langue pleine de sens. Ce que
cette communication explorera est cette spcificit de la pense de Hadassi : les traditions karate et rabbinique
nont pas mis en vidence cette diffrence entre langue et langage, que lon retrouve en revanche chez Hadassi qui
permet darticuler la possibilit individuel de faire parler, cest dire expliquer, commenter, le texte sans la
ncessit de la tradition orale rabbinique. En opposition avec les coles juridiques traditionnelles qui donnaient
une place fondamentale la tradition orale, cest proprement llaboration de ses stratgies hermneutiques et par
ses applications que le karasme a t plusieurs fois rapproch aux courants de rsistance au pouvoir califal
lintrieur de lIslam comme le Shiisme, le Kharijisme et le soufisme et sourtout le mutazilisme.
Sidney H. Griffith (Catholic University of America) (griffith@cua.edu): Christians and the Arabic Qur'an:
Prooftexting, Polemics, and Intertwined Scriptures

4
Christian apologists and Bible translators writing in Arabic from early Abbasid times onward were very conscious
of the Qur'an and its formative influence on religious discourse in the Islamic milieu. Within the context of a
quick overview of the several attitudes toward the Islamic scripture on the part of Arab Christian writers up to the
Crusades, this communication focuses its attention on three particular moments: the Qur'an in the early treatise,
On the Triune Nature of God; the Qur'an in the so-called, al-Hashimi/al-Kindi Correspondence; and the Qur'an in
Paul of Antioch's Letter to a Muslim Friend. From this historical perspective, the purpose is to describe the profile
of the Arabic Qur'an in Arab Christian thinking in the Early Islamic Period.
Sandra Toenis Keating (Providence College, Dptm. of Theology) (skeating@providence.edu): The Unity of God and
Divine Attributes Another Look at the Problem of the Createdness of the Qurn
The late eighth and early ninth centuries saw a momentous change in the culture and religion of the Middle East
as the religion of Islam and language of Arabic became inculturated into its new environment. It was also during
this period that many of the questions which would occupy Muslim theologians and philosophers for centuries to
come were formulated. A much-debated question in the study of this period is the extent to which Christian
concepts of Trinity and Incarnation influenced Muslim formulations of doctrines concerning the Divine Attributes
(ift). This is especially true in the discussion surrounding the relationship between the Qurn as the Word of
God and the Divine Being, and how word and speech should be understood as Divine Attributes. Some scholars,
such as Wolfson, have previously noted the striking similarities between this debate among Muslims at the turn of
the 9th century and the early Christological controversies. Yet specific connections between these two theological

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

debates remain generally unidentified. A lesser known and studied work attributed to Amad Ibn anbal
(although probably not written by him), usually called ar-radd cal lahmya w-az-zandiqa, may offer some insights
into this relationship. Ibn anbal (d. 855) is a well-known figure in the drama surrounding the Muslim debate
concerning the createdness of the Qurn, who refused to accept the prevailing view proposed by the Muctazil
school. In the Radd, arguments are made to protect the authority of the Qurn and Gods freedom to communicate
as He sees fit using a carefully constructed method of tafsr. A problem that is very present in the background of
these arguments, I believe, is how to avoid the Trinitarian conclusions reached by Christians, while maintaining
Gods unity (tawhd) and the uncreatedness of the Divine Word. In this paper I will present a general outline of the
text, as well as examine some of the passages in which the author argues for an approach unique to Islam and the
Qurn. The significance of this examination will be in helping to establish both the degree of knowledge Muslim
scholars had of these complex Christian doctrines, and the influence this knowledge had on the formulation of
Islamic doctrines, in this case a clear rejection of the traditional Christian understanding between Gods Word and
Being.
Ehud Krinis (Ben Gurion University) (ksehud@gmail.com): Judah Halevis response to Some Muctazilite and
Ashcarite Notions
The transition of the creative center of Judaeo-Arabic thought from the East to the Andalusian West, in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, was marked by a decline in the status of the Kalm doctrines among Jewish writers
in al-Andalus. Thenceforth, these aimed most of their theoretical interest toward philosophical literature. Judah
Halevis theological polemical treatise, best known as The Kuzari reflects this transition in Judaeo-Arabic thought
in al-Andalus, in the way in which its author, in the opening section of the dialogue, places the Arab-Aristotelian
philosopher, and not the mutakallim, as the declared spokesman of rationalistic theology. Yet, Judah Halevi is far
from being disinterested in the theology of Kalms major streams. The most interesting dimension of Judah
Halevi's reaction to the Kalm is the way he tackles, in a creative manner, the fundamentally Muctazilite
distinction

between

the

intellectual\rational
c

commandments
c

(al-sharic

al-caqliya)

and

the

traditional/revelational commandments (al-shari al-sam iyya), and the typical Ash arite stand of the denial of
natural causality.
Reimund Leicht (The Hebrew University) (leichtreimund@googlemail.com, leichtreimund@gmail.com): Whoever
studies the wonders of the sciences will not deem remote from the power of God what has been related of the
miracles of the prophets: Astrology, Miracles and the Refutation of the Concept of Natural Causality in Muslim
and Jewish Thought
The scientific and religious status of astrology in Muslim and Jewish cultures was a precarious and ambivalent
one. Astrological texts were among the first ones to be translated into Arabic, and it has been argued that Muslim
culture was generally less suspicious towards astrology than Christianity (Nallino, Ullmann). Some have even gone
so far as to argue that astrology might even have been one of the motives for the appropriation of Greek sciences
in general (Gutas). On the other hand, apart from the astrologers themselves, unambiguous support for that part
of the sciences of the stars was surprisingly rare. From the very outset, Muslim philosophers and theologians
were surprisingly unanimous in their rejection of astrology, and that for epistemological (empiricism), physical

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

(astral causality) and ethico-religious (divine omnipotence, determinism) reasons. This, however, is only one side
of the coin. Side by side with judicial astrology, the magical usage of the influence of the stars became more and
more popular in Muslim culture as well. This provided a fertile ground for a specific curiosity for some kinds of
miracles (aib) and occult phenomena (arib), which in turn influenced religious concepts of miracles. Whereas
astral magic was generally rejected by the adherents of Aristotelian natural philosophy as a scientifically
inexplicable form of natural causality, its obvious reality and efficiency served anti-Aristotelians as an argument
to confute the position of their opponents. As al-azl explains in chapter 17 of the Incoherence of the Philosophers,
the apparent inexplicability of divine miracles is analogous to the inexplicability of the influence astral powers,
and thus the denial of both would be human hubris rather than scientific understanding and wisdom. Quite
surprisingly, no longer considered to be an offspring of the (objectionable) Aristotelian science, a specific brand of
astrology could thus become an ally in the religious battle against the philosophical concept of natural causality.
The paper will try to trace back development of this idea in Muslim sources and show its repercussions in
Medieval Jewish thought.
Wilferd Madelung (Oxford University) (wilferd.madelung@orinst.ox.ac.uk): tba
Wadi Abullif Malik Awad (The Franciscan Center of Christian Oriental Studies, Cairo) (wadiawad@gmail.com): The
apologetic works of al-af ibn al-Assl (13th Century)
Al-af is well known as a canonist, but to a much lesser extent as an apologist. He wrote three major apologies and
a shorter one. He made also different epitomes of apologetic works. First, I introduce briefly the life of al-af. I will
then study the different apologies, I will give information about the persons to whom he responds, the oldest
manuscripts and the editions, and the content of every apology. A survey of the Arabic sources (Christian, Islamic
and Jewish) of the apologies and of their influence on the later writers will follow.
Richard C. Martin (Emory University) (rcmartin@emory.edu) [discussant]
Lukas Muehlethaler (Freie Universitt Berlin) (lukas.muehlethaler@gmail.com): tba
Emilio Platti (IDEO, Cairo) (Emilio.Platti@theo.kuleuven.be): Yahy Ibn Ad response to al-Ashars theory on
iktisb
When presenting Islamic Philosophy, it is common to jump from al-Frb (d. 950) to Avicenna (d. 1037), and to
forget about what is called the School of Baghdad, the Baghdad Peripatetics, including Yahy Ibn Ad (d. 974),
his Muslim and also Christian masters and disciples. In fact, interaction between Muslim scholars, Christians and
Jews was very common in philosophical and indeed also in theological questioning. There is the well known
treatise by Ab Qurra (d. 820) about freedom, clearly written in a context of Islamic discussions about
predetermination of human acts. There is also the discussion about the miracle of the Qurn by Ibn al-Munajjim
and Hunayn Ibn Ishq (d. 873). But the best example is perhaps the transmission of al-Ashars theory on iktisb
by a Muslim scholar, and the contemporary detailed response written by Yahy Ibn Ad.
Barbara Roggema (John Cabot University, Rome) (broggema@yahoo.com): The responses of Ibn al-Ibr and Ibn
Kammna to Fakhr al-Dn al-Rzs proofs of Muammads prophethood

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

The two fascinating and prolific non-Muslim intellectuals who were active in Iraq in the thirteenth century, the
Syrian Orthodox Christian Ab l-Faraj ibn al-Ibr, better known as Gregorius Barhebraeus, (d. 1286) and the Jew
Sad ibn Manr ibn Kammna (d. 1285), were almost exact contemporaries. They enjoyed the most active decades
of their careers in the period when the Mongols had not yet converted to Islam and it is not impossible that they
met in the entourage of the Mongol court or the scholarly world of Baghdad. Both men wrote an apologetic work
which is partly devoted to disproving the Muslim claim that Muhammad came to surpass all earlier religions. In
the case of Ibn al-Ibr, the refutation is found in his massive work The Lamp of the Sanctuary, while Ibn Kammna
refuted Islam in his Examination of the Inquiries into the Three Faiths. In their refutations of the Islamic proofs of
Muhammads prophethood, they focused on the work of Fakhr al-Dn al-Rz in particular, notably on his Muaal
afkr al-mutaqaddimn wa l-mutaakhkhirn, and there are clear similarities in the argumentation of the two thinkers
against Fakhr al-Dn al-Rz. This article will explore the precise reasoning against the Proofs of Prophethood and
the similarities of the anti-Islamic passages in the two works, together with the question of a possible dependency
of the one work on the other.
Sabine Schmidtke (Freie Universitt Berlin) (sabineschmidtke@gmail.com): Introductory Remarks: Brief
presentation of our previous and current research projects related to the topic of the conference
Gregor Schwarb (Freie Universitt Berlin) (g.schwarb@gmail.com): Fakhr al-Dn al-Rz and the Copto-Arabic
Renaissance of the 13th and 14th Centuries: The Example of al-Rashd Ab l-Khayr Ibn al-ayyibs Ris lat al-Bay n
al-ahar f l-radd al man yaqlu bi-l-qa wa-l-qadar
The large-scale adoption of texts by non-Christian (Muslim, Jewish and other) authors from various disciplines of
knowledge and their integration into the established canon of authoritative texts is one of the salient features of
the so-called Syriac Renaissance of the 12th and 13th and of the Renaissance of Copto-Arabic Literature of the
13th and 14th centuries. These were periods of profound cultural flowering which had a significant impact on both
form and content of systematic religious thought in Eastern Christianity. Taking Ab l-Khayr Ibn al-ayyibs (d.
after 1270) Rislat al-Bayn as example, this paper will elucidate the historical context of the Christian reception of
Fakhr al-Dn al-Rz (d. 606/1210) and emphasise the importance of the Coptic community in Damascus in this and
other regards. Even though Rislat al-Bayn was edited in 1938 in Majallat al-al, the organ of the Coptic Catholic
Church in Cairo, based on Ms. Vat. ar. 119, ff. 109v126v and an abridged version is included in chapter 56 (al-qawl f
l-qa wa-l-qadar) of Mutaman al-Dawla Ab Isq Ibrhm Ibn al-Assls (d. after 1270) Majm ul al-dn wamasm mal al-yaqn (ed. Wad, vol. 2, pp. 338347, 3672), the text has never been studied so far. In my paper
I will show that Rislat al-Bayn is nothing but a summary and critique of the first masala of the third part (al-Kal
m f l-afl) of K. al-Muaal where Rz discusses the human capacity to act and factors affecting the freedom and
autonomy of human agency, scathingly criticising the position of his Mutazil foes. I will explore to what extent
al-Rashds critique of Rz's Asharite stance may be compared to contemporaneous Mutazil reactions to Rz or
even have drawn from them.
David Sklare (Ben Zvi Institute) (dsklare@gmail.com, sklare@mscc.huji.ac.il): The Impact of Mutazilism among
Jews who were not Professional Theologians

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

Mutazilite Kalam found an early reception among Jews. The earliest Jewish works of Kalam may have been written
already in the early ninth century. The impact of Kalam thought was not, however, limited to those individuals
who pursued intensive and systematic theological studies. Kalam ideas and terminology can be found in a variety
of non-theological writings, such as halakhic works. Even further, we find that Kalam notions were assimilated
into Jewish culture so early and deeply that by the tenth century they were considered to be natural and integral
aspects of Jewish thought. We find authorities such as Sherira ben Hanina Gaon, who had little contact with Arabic
culture and no systematic theological training, making use of Kalam ideas to explain passages in the Talmudic
passages. There was even an author (writing in Hebrew) who explicitly critiqued Abu Hashim al-Jubbai and the
Mutazilites while making use of Kalam ideas and terminology. This cultural dynamic needs to be explored and
explained to the extent that the surviving sources allow us
Sarah Stroumsa (The Hebrew University) (sarah.stroumsa@mail.huji.ac.il) [discussant]
Mark N. Swanson (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago) (mswanson@lstc.edu): Christian engagement with
Islamic kalm in late 14th-century Egypt: The case of al-w by al-Makn Jirjis Ibn al-Amd the younger
In spite of the fact that a partial edition was published in Cairo as early as 1906, the theological and exegetical
compilation known alternatively as Mukhtaar al-bayn f taqq al-mn or as al-w al-mustafd min badhat alijtihd (regularly abbreviated to al-w) has suffered nearly complete scholarly neglect. This may be due in part to
its massive size (more than 1600 pages in the new four-volume edition by a monk of Dayr al-Muarraq, al-Mawsa
al-lhtiyya al-shahra bi-l-w, Cairo, 1999-2001) and its numbing lack of order. However, forays into the work
reveal a number of essays of considerable sophisticationincluding on a variety of topics of the Christian-Muslim
controversy. This sophistication comes as something of a surprise when the date of the author is taken into
account. Al-Makn Jirjis al-mutaabbib, known as Ibn al-Amd, is not to be confused with his better-known 13thcentury relative and namesake, the historian al-Makn. Rather, the author of al-w was a Copt of the scribal class
who retired to become a hermit near the Monastery of St. Arsenius, south of Old Cairo. He was active in the last
decade of the 14th century, a period best known to scholars of the medieval Coptic Orthodox Church for the
activity of great saints (Patriarch Matthew I, Anb Ruways, al-Qummu Ibrhm al-Fn; Marqus al-Ann had
recently died) and for a movement of voluntary martyrdom (which began in 1380 and resulted in a list of 49
martyrs from the time of Patriarch Matthew), against the background of difficult times for the Copts in Mamlk
Egypt and the numerical decline of their community. The period is a rich one for the study of hagiography and the
sociology of minority communitiesbut has often been seen as theologically barren. But now al-w, when
properly dated, provides a very different lens into the life of the community. The present communication will
introduce the work and will take as a particular case study its lengthy chapter on al-qa wa-l-qadar, which
immediately takes its bearings from what it presents as Islamic views. In the course of the presentation, the author
quotes from al-Ashar and al-Bqilln (among others) as he describes a variety of understandings of human acts
and locates his own understanding with reference to the debate between Mutazilite and Asharite mutakallimn.
This may go beyond earlier Arabic Christian discussions of the matterbut this will be tested in the course of
preparing the paper.

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

Hidemi Takahashi (The University of Tokyo) (takahashi@ask.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp): Reception of Islamic Theology
among Syriac Christians in the Thirteenth Century: Bar Shakko and Bar Hebraeus
Syriac-speaking Christians living in Mesopotamia and the surrounding areas made a major contribution to the
development of the sciences among the Muslims who came to occupy the lands in which they lived, and it is
generally believed that their methods of theological debate had a major influence on the development of Islamic
theology. In later times, however, the direction was reversed. The Syriac Christians were fully aware of the
developments in scholarship among the Muslims with and under whose rule they lived, and towards the end of the
first Christian millennium we begin to note instances where authors writing in Syriac are borrowing materials
from their Muslim neighbours. The trend becomes much more prominent in the period of the so-called Syriac
Renaissance in the early centuries of the second millennium. This paper will investigate the influence of Islamic
theology on two Syriac authors from the thirteenth century, the Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite) bishop Severus Jacob
Bar Shakko (ob. 1241), who is known to have studied under Muslim scholars in Mosul, and his younger and more
famous near-contemporary, the Syrian Orthodox maphrian Gregory Barhebraeus (1225/6-1286), who is known to
have used the works of a number of Muslim theologians such as al-Ghazl and Fakhr al-Dn al-Rz in composing
his works. An attempt will be made in this paper to examine the extent of the influence of such Muslim
theologians on these two authors, both in terms of the actual borrowing of material and in the way in which they
formulated their arguments, using as the main object of analysis the two major theological works of Barhebraeus,
the Candelabrum of the Sanctuary and the Book of Rays, along with Bar Shakkos Book of Treasures.
Jan Thiele (School of Oriental and African Studies, London) (ja7th@yahoo.de): On reconstructing Abd al-Jabbrs
K. al-Jumal wa-l-uqd from the Jewish and the Muslim reception
Had it not been for the Karaite and the Zayd reception of Mutazilite works, most of the schools literary tradition
had been lost. Over the past years, ground-breaking progress has been achieved thanks to interdisciplinary studies
of Mutazilism. This approach proved to be particularly fruitful since the literature preserved by the Yemeni
Zayds and in Genizah documents often supplement each other. This paper intends to discuss the possibility of
reconstructing Abd al-Jabbrs K. al-Jumal wa-l-uqd from both Jewish and Muslim sources. The text is considered
one of the authors lost works and was first known through a reference made in a biography written by al-kim
al-Jishum. As we know from medieval library book lists and further references, the K. al -Jumal wa-l-uqd also
circulated among Karaite scholars. In addition, Abd al-Jabbr wrote an autocommentary (shar) that is quoted by
later sources. Recently, a Talq al-Jumal wa-l-uqd was discovered in the Russian National Library in St.
Petersburg (Ms Firkovitch arab. 112) and tentatively identified as authored by the prolific Karaite copyist Al b.
Sulaymn (d. after 1100). Although the treatise clearly comments upon a text entitled al-Jumal wa-l-uqd, it
appeared it could not possibly be related to Abd al-Jabbrs eponymous work since the author of the commented
text was still alive when the commentary was composed. Abd al-Jabbr died, however, only five years after Al b.
Sulaymn was born. A key to the puzzle of the manuscripts identity seems to be found in a 12th century
theological treatise by the Zayd theologian al-asan al-Ra. He is the only source so far known quoting from a
Talq al-Jumal wa-l-uqd by the eleventh century Bahsham scholar Ibn Mattawayh who was one of Abd alJabbrs students. It is therefore more than likely that Ibn Mattawayhs Talq al-jumal wa-l-uqd was an
annotated recension of his teachers text. Furthermore, the evidence for Ibn Mattawayhs Talq provides a

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

plausible working hypothesis to ask the question of the identity of Ms Firk. arab. 112 again. As almost all texts by
Al b. Sulaymn consist of excerpts, abridgements and compilations of Jewish and Muslim works in various
disciplines rather than of original works, the extant Talq could likely be his excerpts from Ibn Mattawayhs
treatise.
David Thomas (University of Birmingham) (D.R.THOMAS.1@bham.ac.uk): Christian borrowings from Islamic
theology in the classical period: the witness of al-Juwayn and Ab l-Qsim al-Anr
It is generally recognised that in the early ninth century Christian theologians who were active in the Islamic
world and writing in Arabic adopted strategies to express key doctrines that involved employing concepts and
logical structures from Islamic theological thought. They did this in order to explain their beliefs to Muslim
audiences and to defend them. In particular, a number of Christian theologians made use of versions of Islamic
doctrines of the divine attributes in order to explain their own doctrine of the Trinity. Muslim theologians appear
not to have been persuaded, and the earliest extant responses show they developed rejoinders that in their own
minds successfully exposed the shortcomings of this Christian enterprise. Despite this, the arguments developed
in the ninth century continued to be repeated in Christian texts for hundreds of years. The core of this borrowing
relied on the principle that the qualities by which God is predicated according to both reason and revelation (that
he his living, wise, powerful and so on) derive from attributes of his being that have discrete ontological reality (he
has life, wisdom, power and so on). While Mutazil theologians rejected this connection, Ashars (continuing from
early ninth-century precursors) upheld it, and were, in fact, sometimes accused of holding the same position as
Christians. It is therefore not surprising that from an early stage Ashar theologians made strenuous attempts to
explain the difference between their own doctrine of the divine attributes and the Christian doctrine of the divine
Persons. This paper will explore arguments in works of two later Ashar theologians, the great Ab l-Mal alJuwayns (d. 1085) al-Shmil f ul al-dn, and the lesser known Ab l-Qsim al-Anrs (d. 1117) al-Ghunya f lkalm. Its purpose will be ascertain whether they contain evidence of any fresh Christian thinking about their key
doctrines, whether there are signs of accommodation to earlier Muslim rejoinders, and whether there is any are
sensitivity to Ashar thinking in particular as a vehicle for explaining trinitarian beliefs. In the sections of their
works that are devoted to refuting Christian doctrines these two Muslims make frequent references to what
Christians say. It is here that evidence of continuing Christian adaptation of concepts from Islam is to be found, if
at all.
Alexander Treiger (Dalhousie University) (atreiger@dal.ca): Paul of Antiochs Polemic against Muslim Falsafa and
Kalm
Paul of Antioch (fl. ca. 1200) is well known as the author of the polemical treatise A Letter to a Muslim Friend, in
which he attempts to prove that the Quranic message was meant only for Pagan Arabs and did not apply to
Christians and that, moreover, the Quran urged Christians to remain loyal to Christianity and resist conversion to
Islam. (This letter was later adapted by an unknown fourteenth-century Cypriot author as The Letter from Cyprus,
which became one of the most celebratedand controversialdocuments of medieval Christian-Muslim polemic.)
At the same time, Paul of Antiochs other theological treatises (though edited and translated) received relatively
little analytical attention. This is particularly the case with Pauls Concise Intellectual Treatise [CIT], a risla in 22

10

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

chapters (ed. and French tr. Khoury, pp. 12589), which responds to some Muslim philosophical and theological
claims; the Treatise to the Nations and the Jews [TNJ] (ed. and French tr. Khoury, pp. 190239; partial English tr. Teule,
Paul of Antiochs Attitude); and three Philosophical Opuscula [PO], directed against an unnamed contemporary
Muslim opponent (Sheikh) and dealing with the nature of evil, the miracles of Christ, and predestination (ed.
Cheikho, Vingt traits, pp. 406; German tr. Horten, pp. 15866; German tr. Graf, pp. 16272; contrary to Khourys
view, I consider PO to be authentic). The present contribution will attempt to contextualize the arguments of
Pauls opponents in contemporary Muslim philosophy and kalm, and Muslim religious literature as a whole. The
Muslim opponents arguments to be discussed in the paper are the following:
1. God and the world exist inseparably together (maan), as the act of knocking and the accompanying sound, and
hence the world is eternal (CIT, ch. 8);
2. the world could not have come into existence because this would entail change in God from being a non-agent
to being an agent (CIT, chs. 910);
3. God cannot have attributes (ift), because if He did, the category of quality would be applicable to Him (CIT, ch.
12);
4. God is the cause of causes (illat al-ilal) (CIT, ch. 21; cf. TNJ, 245);
5. good and evil are inseparable, because they are always relative (i.e. what is good for some is evil for others, and
vice versa) (PO 1);
6. Christs miracles must be interpreted figuratively, i.e. in the sense that Christ restored sight to those blind in
their hearts, resurrected those dead in their souls, etc. (PO 2);
7. God has pre-determined human actions and their final destiny in hell or paradise (PO 3).
This analysis will help illustrate Sidney Griffiths recent observation that Pauls writing ... reveals a predilection ...
for an Arabic idiom that is distinctly Islamic in much of its vocabulary and turns of phrase, reflecting the broader
intellectual and cultural milieu in which he lived (in S. Noble and A. Treiger, eds., The Orthodox Church in the Arab
World, ch. 10, forthcoming). It will also make possible a more precise delineation of this intellectual milieu.
Ronny Vollandt (Freie Universitt Berlin) (ronnyvollandt@gmail.com) [discussant]
Gerhard Wedel (Freie Universitt Berlin) (gwedel@zedat.fu-berlin.de): Reception of Muslim Theology by
Samaritan Scholars
In recent years I could show in my research that Samaritan scholars adopted Mutazilite theology utilizing it for
defence of their religion. With the Arabic language these scholars entered the discourse of Muslim theology with
all disputes about the essence of god, the problems of substance and attributes, the credibility of prophets and
their scriptures. The Samaritans cannot be classified as Jews, because they reject all books of the Jewish Tanach
except the five books of Moses. They never see themselves as a sect of Judaism but as authentic Samaritan
Israelites, meaning direct descendants of the pre-exilic tribes of Israel. Although they encountered the same fate
as Christians and Jews being subjugated to Muslim rule, their situation was different insofar as they were not
mentioned as ahl al-kitb in the Koran. But being true adherents of Mosaic laws therefore they call themselves
amerm eventually they were accepted as equal to Jews by Muslim authorities. Like many subjugated people in
the Muslim realm the Samaritans adopted the Arabic language especially in case of theological disputations and
writings although the Samaritans kept their Aramaic as a language for liturgies and they kept their special form of

11

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN RECEPTION(S) OF MUSLIM THEOLOGY

old Hebrew script for copying the Pentateuch in Hebrew, Aramaic and even Arabic. Samaritans began using Arabic
in two ways. They first started in the tenth centuryCE with grammatical compositions concerning the reading of
the Samaritan Hebrew version of the Torah. The aim of these treatises obviously was to maintain their traditional
reading in times when Hebrew was not in use any more and when Aramaic was replaced by Arabic. In a second
step theological and halachic literature was composed. Since the eleventh century CE Ab l-asan a-rs Kitb
a-abb stands as a landmark in the Arabic theological literature of the Samaritans. This collection of treatises,
fatws and exegetical samples reached the most advanced level of Samaritan theology chiefly because he was
follower of the rational theology of the Mutazila. His rational perspective comprised the debate of arguments not
only with competing religions but also with factions inside the Samaritan community. Significant for the
sophisticated level of his arguments was his philosophical-theological approach by discussing definitions (udd)
of philosophical, theological and psychological concepts. Generally by using rational theology of the Mutazila, his
writings aimed at the stabilization of the Samaritan faith to survive in an environment of the overwhelmingly
successful Islamic culture. My contribution will give specimens of the literary formats Ab l-asan used, of the
topics he chose and the way of his argumentation.
Zeus Wellnhofer (Freie Universitt Berlin) (zeusw@zedat.fu-berlin.de): On the Reception of the theory of
attributes of Fakhraddn ar-Rz by Ibn ar-Rhib in the Kitb al-Burhn
The writings of Fakhraddn ar-Rz constitute a major source in the Copto-Arabic literature from 13th/14th
century Egypt. The Kitb al-Burhn by Ibn ar-Rhib, one of the major Copto-Arabic theological works from that
time, contains several chapters on the attributes of God. Especially Fakhraddn ar-Rz's Kitb al-Arban is quoted
in these chapters. On the one hand, Fakhraddn ar-Rz is used as a source for the refutation of Muslim theology
and philosophy, on the other hand Fakhraddn ar-Rz's works constitute a source of additional arguments and
prooves that were adopted. Thus, there are quotations with comment by Ibn ar-Rhib, when there is
disagreement, as well as without any comment. The objective of the presentation is to elucidate and shed some
light on this bifold strategy and position of Ibn ar-Rhib towards Fakhraddn ar-Rz's position, mainly concerning
the attributes of knowledge and power. More generally, Ibn ar-Rhib's attitude towards Aarite and Mutazilite
kalm as it is presented by Fakhraddn ar-Rz might possibly be considered.

12