The Bible in early Muslim anti‐Christian polemic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12264384 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Thomas (0000-0003-4993-7294, Selly Oak Hospital, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1996 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 29-38 |
| Publication date | 1996-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-6410 • E-ISSN: 1469-9311 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09596419608721065 |
| OpenAlex | W1994013736 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 8 |
During the early centuries of Islam, the Bible did not usually receive specific attention from Muslim polemicists. Among those who did refer to it, some rejected the text on the grounds that it was corrupt, and developed accounts of how the original injil had been lost and replaced by the canonical Gospels. The majority, however, have left no expressed view, but do not appear to have experienced difficulty in employing suitable verses in their arguments as illustrations and proofs. A few scholars were in a position to use the Biblical texts to good effect in their arguments. The Christian convert cAli b. Rabban al‐Tabari employed a distinctively Muslim method of exegesis, and demonstrated how predictions of the coming of Muhammad and Islam are scattered throughout the biblical books. The Zaydi theologian al‐Qasim ibn Ibrahim al‐Rassi followed a more radical method in translating parts of Matthew's Gospel into Arabic, and altering words and phrases and omitting sections in order to make the original conform to Islamic beliefs. This Islamicization of the Gospel is symptomatic of the confident early third/ninth‐century belief that Islam provided the criteria for true teachings
Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Philosophy · Religious studies · Religious Studies
| Citations per year | 0.18 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1998 - 2013 (16) |
| Highly cited | No |