Muslim-Christian Polemics Across the Mediterranean: The Splendid Replies of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī (d. 684/1285)

378 Pages·2015·0.38 MB·English

by  Diego R. Sarrió Cucarella

Muslim-Christian Polemics across the Mediterranean
History of Christian-Muslim Relations
Editorial Board
David Thomas (University of Birmingham)
Sandra Toenies Keating (Providence College)
Tarif Khalidi (American University of Beirut)
Suleiman Mourad (Smith College)
Gabriel Said Reynolds (University of Notre Dame)
Mark Swanson (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago)
volume 23
Christians and Muslims have been involved in exchanges over matters of faith and morality
since the founding of Islam. Attitudes between the faiths today are deeply coloured by the legacy
of past encounters, and often preserve centuries-old negative views.
 The History of Christian-Muslim Relations, Texts and Studies presents the surviving record of
past encounters in authoritative, fully introduced text editions and annotated translations, and
also monograph and collected studies. It illustrates the development in mutual perceptions as
these are contained in surviving Christian and Muslim writings, and makes available the argu-
ments and rhetorical strategies that, for good or for ill, have left their mark on attitudes today.
The series casts light on a history marked by intellectual creativity and occasional breakthroughs
in communication, although, on the whole beset by misunderstanding and misrepresentation.
By making this history better known, the series seeks to contribute to improved recognition
between Christians and Muslims in the future.
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hcmr
Muslim-Christian Polemics across
the Mediterranean
The Splendid Replies of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī
(d. 684/1285)
By
Diego R. Sarrió Cucarella
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Reference to the Liber responsorum & quæsitorum de Religione by Ibn Edrisi Sanhagÿ
(Aḥmad ibn Idrīs al-Ṣanhājī al-Qarāfī) in: Johann Heinrich Hottinger, Promtuarium, sive Bibliotheca
orientalis (Heidelberg: Adrian Wyngaerden, 1658), p. 203.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sarrió Cucarella, Diego R.
 Muslim-Christian polemics across the Mediterranean : the Splendid Replies of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī
(d. 684/1285) / by Diego R. Sarrió Cucarella.
  pages cm. — (History of Christian-Muslim relations, ISSN 1570-7350 ; volume 23)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-28551-4 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-28560-6 (e-book) 1. Islam—
Apologetic works—History and criticism. 2. Islam—Relations—Christianity. 3. Christianity and other
religions—Islam. 4. Qarafi, Ahmad ibn Idris, –1285. Ajwibah al-fakhirah ‘an al-as’ilah al-fajirah. 
I. Title.
 BP170.S385 2014
 297.2’93—dc23
2014042383
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
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issn 1570-7350
isbn 978-90-04-28551-4 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-28560-6 (e-book)
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff and Hotei Publishing.
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In memoriam
Joseph (Sjef) Donders, MAfr
(1929–2013)
∵

Contents
Some Matters of Usage  xi
Acknowledgements  xii
Introduction  1
1 Islam, Irrelevant for Christianity?  2
2 The Church Has Also a High Regard for the
Muslims  6
3 The Exclusionary Dimension of Religious Identity  10
4 Carl Schmitt and the Inescapability of the Political  12
5 Freeing Religion from Social Antagonism  14
6 The New Comparative Theology and Christian-Muslim
Polemics  15
7 The Mirror of the Other  19
8 Outline  25
1 A Scholarly Life in Defense of Islam  27
1 The Political Context: A World in Convulsion  28
2 Muslim-Christian Interaction in Egypt during the Thirteenth
Century  30
3 A Scholarly Life  36
3.1 Primary and Secondary Sources  36
3.2 Biographical Data, Education, and Teaching Posts  37
3.3 In Defense of Islam  41
4 Al-Qarāfī’s Contacts with the People of the Book  45
5 Al-Qarāfī in Previous Scholarship  47
5.1 The Jurist and the Theologian  47
5.2 The Polemicist  51
6 Concluding Remarks  57
2 A Handbook for Polemics  60
1 Date of Composition  60
2 A Christian Argumentation from the Qurʾān  62
3 Structure and Contents: A General Overview  65
4 A Handbook for Polemics  67
viii contents
5 Written Sources  69
5.1 Paul of Antioch’s Risāla ilā baʿḍ aṣdiqāʾihi alladhīna bi-Ṣaydā min
al-muslimīn  69
5.2 Al-Jaʿfarī’s Takhjīl man ḥarrafa al-Tawrāh wa-l-Injīl  74
5.3 Al-Qurṭubī’s al-Iʿlām bi-mā fī dīn al-Naṣārā min al-fasād
wa-l-awhām  82
5.4 Al-Khazrajī’s Maqāmiʿ al-ṣulbān  90
5.5 Al-Samawʾal al-Maghribī’s Ifḥām al-Yahūd  94
6 Concluding Remarks  96
3 Al-Qarāfī’s Reply to the Letter to a Muslim Friend  100
1 A Blind Nation and an Ignorant Sect  101
2 Theology of Religions: Faith among Faiths  106
2.1 Muḥammad: A Prophet for the Pagan Arabs  108
2.2 The Law of Justice and the Law of Grace  114
3 Theology of the Word of God: The Qurʾānic Proof for
Christianity  121
3.1 Jesus the Messiah: A Spirit of God and His Word  124
3.2 The Qurʾān and Christian Liturgy  126
3.3 That Is The Book, Wherein There Is No Doubt  127
3.4 Christians Should Not Be Considered Polytheists  128
4 Theology of Divinity: Philosophizing about God  131
4.1 If Muslims Knew What We Mean  131
4.2 Human Language and God  135
4.3 A Substance Not Like Created Substances  136
5 Concluding Remarks  137
4 Apologia Pro Religione Islamica  141
1 Jesus the Messiah, the Prophet Who Did Not Die  142
1.1 Crucifixion: Reality or Delusion?  142
1.2 The Probative Value of the Miracles of Jesus  147
1.3 The Incarnation: An Ontological Impossibility  151
2 The Qurʾān under Fire  155
2.1 Errors in the Qurʾān  155
2.2 Muslim Disputes about the Qurʾān  157
3 The Abrogation and Falsification of the Torah  161
3.1 Can God Change His Mind?  162
3.2 The Falsification of the Torah  166
contents ix
4 Miscellanea  169
4.1 The Ḥadīth of the Pen and Paper  169
4.2 The Physical Pleasures of Paradise  170
4.3 Fighting for God’s Cause: Virtue or Vice?  173
5 Concluding Remarks  176
5 Christianity and the Innovation of A Wretched God  178
1 The Christian Creed: Viler than Treachery  180
2 Christian Innovated Practice and Behavior  184
2.1 Christians and Circumcision  186
2.2 Consumption of Pork  189
2.3 The Offering of Bread and Wine  189
3 An Islamic Theologoumenon: The Corruption of Early
Christianity  192
3.1 Paul’s Self-Immolation and the Ploy to Divide
the Christians  193
3.2 The Cunning Jewish King  195
3.3 State-Manufactured Christianity  200
4 Christian Liturgical Prayers  201
5 Sin, Repentance, and Salvation  205
5.1 Repentance and the Obliteration of Sins  207
5.2 The Individual Nature of Sin  208
5.3 Purification by Good Deeds  209
5.4 What Salvation?  210
6 The Christian God: A Philosophical and Theological
Non-starter  211
7 Concluding Remarks 213
6 The Prophet Foretold  217
1 The Proofs of Prophecy  219
2 Muslims and the Bible: An Abiding Tension  221
3 The Arabicization of Biblical History  223
4 The Falsification of Previous Scriptures  223
5 Whose Name Will Be Aḥmad  225
6 Solutions to a Paradox  229
7 Imagine a Pagan Arriving in Our Land  231
8 Structure and Sources of Chapter Four  234
9 Exegetical Themes  237
9.1 Prediction of the Islamic umma  237
9.2 Prediction of Muḥammad  239
x contents
9.3 The Promised Paraclete  242
9.4 Muḥammad’s Name and Description  244
9.5 Abrahamic Descent through Ishmael and Hagar  246
9.6 Universality of Muḥammad’s Mission  248
9.7 Subjugation of the Nations  249
9.8 Muḥammad’s Fight against Error and Unbelief  250
9.9 The Finality of Islam and the Abrogation of Prior Religion  251
9.10 Mecca’s Role and Elevated Status  252
9.11 Biblical References to Islamic Rituals  253
9.12 The Original Arab Character of Islam and the Desert
Motif  253
10 Concluding Remarks  254
Conclusion: The Prospects of Christian-Muslim Theological
Dialogue  258
Appendix A: Al-Qarāfī’s Literary Production  273
Appendix B: The Arguments from The Letter to a Muslim Friend  281
Appendix C: The Corruption of Early Christianity  286
Appendix D: Biblical Predictions  291
Bibliography  303
1 Main Primary Sources: Editions and Translations  303
2 Other Primary Sources: Editions and Translations  305
3 Secondary Sources  316
Biblical References  347
Qurʾānic References  350
General Index  353