al-Radd al-jamīl - A Fitting Refutation of the Divinity of Jesus Attributed to Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī

215 Pages·2016·0.89 MB·English

by  Mark Beaumont

al-Raddal-jamīl—AFittingRefutationoftheDivinityofJesus
History of
Christian-Muslim
Relations
EditorialBoard
DavidThomas(UniversityofBirmingham)
JonHoover(UniversityofNottingham)
SandraToeniesKeating(ProvidenceCollege)
TarifKhalidi(AmericanUniversityofBeirut)
SuleimanMourad(SmithCollege)
GabrielSaidReynolds(UniversityofNotreDame)
MarkSwanson(LutheranSchoolofTheologyatChicago)
volume28
ChristiansandMuslimshavebeeninvolvedinexchangesovermattersoffaithandmorality
sincethefoundingofIslam.Attitudesbetweenthefaithstodayaredeeplycolouredbythe
legacyofpastencounters,andoftenpreservecenturies-oldnegativeviews.
TheHistoryofChristian-MuslimRelations,TextsandStudiespresentsthesurvivingrecord
ofpastencountersinavarietyofforms:authoritative,texteditionsandannotatedtransla-
tions,studiesofauthorsandtheirworksandcollectionsofessaysonparticularthemesand
historicalperiods.Itillustratesthedevelopmentinmutualperceptionsasthesearecontained
insurvivingChristianandMuslimwritings,andmakesavailabletheargumentsandrhetorical
strategiesthat,forgoodorforill,havelefttheirmarkonattitudestoday.Theseriescastslight
onahistorymarkedbyintellectualcreativityandoccasionalbreakthroughsincommunica-
tion,although,onthewholebesetbymisunderstandingandmisrepresentation.Bymaking
thishistorybetterknown,theseriesseekstocontributetoimprovedrecognitionbetween
ChristiansandMuslimsinthefuture.
AnumberofvolumesoftheHistoryofChristian-MuslimRelationsseriesarepublished
withinthesubseriesChristian-MuslimRelations.ABibliographicalHistory.
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hcmr
al-Radd al-jamīl
A Fitting Refutation of the
Divinity of Jesus
AttributedtoAbūḤāmidal-Ghazālī
Editedby
MarkBeaumont
MahaElKaisy-Friemuth
leiden | boston
Coverillustration:OpeningfoliooftheAyaSophiamanuscript2246;withgratefulthankstotheAyaSophia
Libraryforpermissiontousemanuscript2246.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Ghazzālī,1058-1111,supposedauthor.|Beaumont,IvorMark,editor.
|Elkaisy-Friemuth,Maha,editor.
Title:Al-Raddal-jamil:afittingrefutationofthedivinityofJesus/
attributedtoAbuḤamidal-Ghazali;editedbyMarkBeaumontMahaEl
Kaisy-Friemuth.
Othertitles:Raddal-jamīlli-ilāhīyatʻĪsábi-ṣarīḥal-Injīl
Description:Leiden;Boston:Brill,[2016]|Series:Historyof
Christian-Muslimrelations;v.28|EnglishandArabic.|Includes
bibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:lccn2016030039(print)|lccn2016035427(ebook)|isbn
9789004321533(hardback:alk.paper)|isbn9789004322806(E-book)
Subjects:lcsh:JesusChrist–Islamicinterpretations–Earlyworksto1800.|
Bible.NewTestament–Islamicinterpretations–Earlyworksto1800.|
Prophecy–Earlyworksto1800.|Islam–Relations–Christianity–Early
worksto1800.
Classification:lcc bp172 .g49 2016(print)|lcc bp172(ebook)|ddc
297.2/465–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2016030039
TypefacefortheLatin,Greek,andCyrillicscripts:“Brill”.Seeanddownload:brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn1570-7350
isbn978-90-04-32153-3(hardback)
isbn978-90-04-32280-6(e-book)
Copyright2016byKoninklijkeBrillnv,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
KoninklijkeBrillnvincorporatestheimprintsBrill,BrillHes&DeGraaf,BrillNijhoff,BrillRodopiand
HoteiPublishing.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedinaretrievalsystem,
ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise,
withoutpriorwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.
AuthorizationtophotocopyitemsforinternalorpersonaluseisgrantedbyKoninklijkeBrillnvprovided
thattheappropriatefeesarepaiddirectlytoTheCopyrightClearanceCenter,222RosewoodDrive,
Suite910,Danvers,ma01923,usa.Feesaresubjecttochange.
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaperandproducedinasustainablemanner.
Contents
Foreword vii
1 TheContextandAuthorshipofal-Raddal-jamīl 1
TheContextofal-Raddal-jamīl 1
TheAuthorshipofal-Raddal-jamīl 3
ArgumentsSupportingtheAuthorshipofal-Ghazālī 10
al-Raddal-jamīlandtheSufiWritingofal-Ghazālī 14
ArgumentsAgainsttheAuthorshipofal-Ghazālī 18
Whenwasal-Raddal-jamīlWritten? 23
WhoWroteal-Raddal-jamīl? 25
Appendix 28
2 Outlineofal-Raddal-jamīl—AFittingRefutationoftheDivinityofJesus
fromtheEvidenceofthegospel 33
3 al-Raddal-jamīlintheContextofMuslimRefutationsof
Christianity 43
Jesus’MiraclesDoNotConfirmHisDivinity 45
TheGospelsProvideEvidencefortheFactThatJesuswasaMessenger
SentfromGod.PassagesintheFourthGospelThatChristiansPropose
asLiteralProoffortheDivinityofJesusShouldbeInterpreted
Metaphorically 47
TheJacobiteBeliefThattheUnionoftheSoulandBodyisanAnalogy
fortheUnionoftheDivinityandHumanityofJesusis
Inappropriate 57
TheMelkiteSeparationoftheDivineandHumanNaturesinJesusatthe
PointofHisDeathisIrrational 60
TheNestorianConvictionThattheWillofJesuswasUnitedwiththe
WillofGodisNotSupportedbytheChristianGospels 64
ChristianScripturesShowThatTitlesGiventoJesusThatChristians
BelievePointtoHisDivineStatusShouldbeTakenasSymbolsofhis
SpiritualEminenceasaMessengerofGod 69
ChristianAppealtotheQurʾāntoSupporttheDivinityofJesusis
Mistaken 74
Conclusion 77
vi contents
4 TheManuscriptsofal-Raddal-jamīl 79
al-Raddal-jamīl—AFittingRefutationoftheDivinityofJesusfromthe
EvidenceoftheGospel 83
Bibliography 195
QuotationsandReferencesfromtheBible 201
QuotationsandReferencesfromtheQurʾān 203
Index 204
Foreword
We present a new edition of al-Radd al-jamīl based on three extant manu-
scripts, two of which are in the Aya Sophia library in Istanbul and the third
isintheUniversityofLeiden.Wegratefullyacknowledgetheencouragement
andassistanceofthelibrariansinsupplyingphotocopiesofthemanuscripts.
WealsoofferthefirstcompleteEnglishtranslationoftheRadd.
WeareindebtedtotheBritishAcademyforagranttowardstravellingcosts
whichenabledMarkBeaumonttotraveltoDublinandMahaEl-KaisyFriemuth
tovisitBirminghamtoconsultontheArabiceditionandEnglishtranslation.
WewanttothankSamiaSamyforherhelpwithword-processingtheArabic
edition.WealsowanttothankProfessorRifaatEbiedforassistancewiththe
Englishtranslation.
MahawasresponsiblefortheArabictextandsections1and4oftheintro-
duction; the context and authorship of al-Raddal-jamīl and its manuscripts.
MarkwasresponsiblefortheEnglishtranslationandsections2and3ofthe
introduction;theoutlineofal-Raddal-jamīlanditsplaceinthehistoryofMus-
limrefutationsofChristianity.

chapter 1
The Context and Authorship of al-Raddal-jamīl
TheContextofal-Raddal-jamīl
al-Raddal-jamīlli-ilāhiyyatʿĪsābi-ṣarīḥal-Injīl,(Afittingrefutationofthedivin-
ityofJesusfromtheevidenceofthegospel)isalongpolemicalworkrefuting
the Christian concept of the divinity of Jesus Christ and is attributed to the
famous eleventh century scholar Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 1111). Three ver-
sionsofthistextexist:twoareintheAyaSophiaManuscriptLibraryinIstanbul
underthenumbers2246and2247,andthethirdcopyisfoundintheUniver-
sityofLeidenundertheclassificationor828.ThetwoAyaSophiamanuscripts
attributethetexttoal-Ghazālī,whowroteasignificantnumberofworksinphi-
losophy,logic,Islamicjurisprudence,kalāmandSufism.1Inmanyofhisbooks,
al-Ghazālīreferstohisotherwritingsandinhisworkal-Munqidhminal-dalāl
hementionsmanyofhisotherimportantworks.Noneoftheseknownworks
byal-Ghazālīrefertoal-Raddal-jamīl,whichhasledseveralmodernscholars
todoubtthatal-Ghazālīistheauthoroftherefutation.
Thetextofal-Raddal-jamīl isarefutationofthedivinityofJesusinthree
sections:thefirstisanexegeticalstudyofsixBiblicaltexts.Themainargument
of the author here is that the criterion for accepting a certain concept is its
agreementwiththeclarityoftheintellect,bi-ṣarīḥal-ʿaql,asentencerepeated
veryfrequentlythroughoutthetreatise.Ifatextinitselfiscleartotheintellect
thenitshouldnotbeinterpreted,butifitcontradictsothertextsoritcannot
berationallyacceptedthenthesepassagesmustbeclarifiedandconsideredas
metaphorswithasymbolicmeaning.Followingthisprinciple,theauthorinter-
pretsthesixBiblicaltextsinordertorefutetheconceptofthedivinityofJesus.
ThesecondsectionisarefutationofthedivinityofJesusasbelievedbythree
Christiansects:theMelkites,theJacobitesandtheNestorians.Thethirdsec-
tiondiscussesthetitlesthatChristiansattributetoJesustosupporthisdivine
status.Theauthorarguesthatsuchtitlesmustbeunderstoodmetaphorically,
andshowsthatsimilartitleswerealsogiventootherBiblicalprophets.
Concerningthecontextinwhichtherefutationwaswritten,itisgenerally
agreedthatal-Raddal-jamīlcomesfromanEgyptianCopticmilieu,basedon
1 Themanuscriptisboundwithothermanuscriptsofal-Ghazālī,al-Munqidhminal-dalāl,
Fayṣalal-tafriqaandShifāʾal-ghalīlbyImamal-Haramaynal-Juwaynī.
© koninklijkebrillnv,leiden,2016 | doi:10.1163/9789004322806_002
2 chapter 1
externalandinternalevidence.Theexternalevidenceisthefactthatal-Radd
al-jamīl was first mentioned by the thirteenth century Coptic priest Abū al-
Khayr Ibn al-Ṭayyib (d. circa 1270).2 He quoted parts of al-Radd al-jamīl in
hiswork,Maqālafī-l-raddʿalāal-Muslimīnalladhīnayuttahimūnal-Naṣārābi-
l-iʿtiqād bi-thalāthat āliha (Treatise containing a refutation of Muslims who
accuseChristiansofbelievinginthreegods).Buthedidnotprovideanydetails
aboutal-Raddal-jamīlthatmighthavehelpedhisreaderunderstandthenature
ofal-Raddal-jamīlasapolemicalwork.
Theinternalevidenceis,firstly,thattheauthorquotestheCoptictranslation
ofJohn1:14todefendhisinterpretationofthetext,thusappearingtobelieve
that the Gospel was originally written in this language rather than in Greek.
Secondly,theauthorseekstorefutethedivinityofJesusthroughadiscussionof
theconceptoftheunionofthedivinityandhumanityinJesus,asinterpreted
bythethreemainChristiansects.AsGabrielReynoldsrightlymaintains,his
argumentisbasedonasoundknowledgeoftheJacobitesandtheirrefutations
oftheothertwosects.3Thirdly,hiscomparisonoftherelationshipbetweenthe
FatherandtheSonwiththerelationshipofthesoultothebodyistakenfrom
the Jacobite explanation of the incarnation and union.4 Since the Egyptian
CoptswerefollowersofJacobiteratherthanMelkiteorNestorianChristology,
this is further support for the view that the author was highly familiar with
Jacobite/Copticwriting.
To estimate when al-Radd al-jamīl was written is a difficult task, since it
depends on the identity of the author. Those who accept al-Ghazālī as the
authoragreethatitmusthavebeenwrittenduringhissupposedtriptoAlexan-
driaafterhisvisittoJerusalem,whichismentionedbysomehistorians.Other
scholarsdateal-Raddal-jamīltoamuchlaterperiod,uptothelifetimeofIbn
al-Ṭayyib.Thelatterrelyonthefollowingarguments:thestyleofwritingisnot
that of al-Ghazālī, the work is not mentioned in any of his authentic works,
whichdonotshowthesamedepthofinterestintheBiblicaltextasal-Raddal-
jamīl,thediscussionofChristiansandJewsintheauthenticGhazalianworks
differsfromthatinal-Raddal-jamīl,andtheBiblicalquotationsappeartobe
from a thirteenth century Arabic translation of the Bible. Those who accept
al-Ghazālī as the author of al-Radd al-jamīl argue that although the writing
2 Abū al-Khayr Ibn al-Ṭayyib, ‘Maqāla fī-l-radd ʿalā al-Muslimīn alladhīna yuttahimūn al-
Naṣārābi-l-iʿtiqādbi-thalāthatāliha’,inP.Sbath,Vingttraitésphilosophiquesetapologétiques
d’auteursarabeschrétiensduixauxivsiècle,Cairo,1929,pp.176–178.
3 G.S.Reynolds,‘TheendsofAl-Raddal-JamīlanditsportrayalofChristianSects’,Islamochris-
tiana25,1999,pp.45–65.
4 F.E.Wilms,Al-GhazalisSchriftwiderdieGottheitJesu,Leiden,1966,pp.41–42.