Contents

Some Matters of Usage

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Islam, Irrelevant for Christianity?

2 The Church Has Also a High Regard for the Muslims

3 The Exclusionary Dimension of Religious Identity

4 Carl Schmitt and the Inescapability of the Political

5 Freeing Religion from Social Antagonism

6 The New Comparative Theology and Christian-Muslim Polemics

7 The Mirror of the Other

8 Outline

Chapter 1 A Scholarly Life in Defense of Islam

1 The Political Context: A World in Convulsion

2 Muslim-Christian Interaction in Egypt during the Thirteenth Century

3 A Scholarly Life

3.1 Primary and Secondary Sources

3.2 Biographical Data, Education, and Teaching Posts

3.3 In Defense of Islam

4 Al-Qarāfī’s Contacts with the People of the Book

5 Al-Qarāfī in Previous Scholarship

5.1 The Jurist and the Theologian

5.2 The Polemicist

6 Concluding Remarks

Chapter 2 A Handbook for Polemics

1 Date of Composition

2 A Christian Argumentation from the Qurʾān

3 Structure and Contents: A General Overview

4 A Handbook for Polemics

5 Written Sources

5.1 Paul of Antioch’s Risāla ilā baʿḍ aṣdiqāʾihi alladhīna bi-Ṣaydā min al-muslimīn

5.2 Al-Jaʿfarī’s Takhjīl man ḥarrafa al-Tawrāh wa-l-Injīl

5.3 Al-Qurṭubī’s al-Iʿlām bi-mā fī dīn al-Naṣārā min al-fasād wa-l-awhām

5.4 Al-Khazrajī’s Maqāmiʿ al-ṣulbān

5.5 Al-Samawʾal al-Maghribī’s Ifḥām al-Yahūd

6 Concluding Remarks

Chapter 3 Al-Qarāfī’s Reply to the Letter to a Muslim Friend

1 A Blind Nation and an Ignorant Sect

2 Theology of Religions: Faith among Faiths

2.1 Muḥammad: A Prophet for the Pagan Arabs

2.2 The Law of Justice and the Law of Grace

3 Theology of the Word of God: The Qurʾānic Proof for Christianity

3.1 Jesus the Messiah: A Spirit of God and His Word

3.2 The Qurʾān and Christian Liturgy

3.3 That Is The Book, Wherein There Is No Doubt

3.4 Christians Should Not Be Considered Polytheists

4 Theology of Divinity: Philosophizing about God

4.1 If Muslims Knew What We Mean

4.2 Human Language and God

4.3 A Substance Not Like Created Substances

5 Concluding Remarks

Chapter 4 Apologia Pro Religione Islamica

1 Jesus the Messiah, the Prophet Who Did Not Die

1.1 Crucifixion: Reality or Delusion?

1.2 The Probative Value of the Miracles of Jesus

1.3 The Incarnation: An Ontological Impossibility

2 The Qurʾān under Fire

2.1 Errors in the Qurʾān

2.2 Muslim Disputes about the Qurʾān

3 The Abrogation and Falsification of the Torah

3.1 Can God Change His Mind?

3.2 The Falsification of the Torah

4 Miscellanea

4.1 The Ḥadīth of the Pen and Paper

4.2 The Physical Pleasures of Paradise

4.3 Fighting for God’s Cause: Virtue or Vice?

5 Concluding Remarks

Chapter 5 Christianity and the Innovation of A Wretched God

1 The Christian Creed: Viler than Treachery

2 Christian Innovated Practice and Behavior

2.1 Christians and Circumcision

2.2 Consumption of Pork

2.3 The Offering of Bread and Wine

3 An Islamic Theologoumenon: The Corruption of Early Christianity

3.1 Paul’s Self-Immolation and the Ploy to Divide the Christians

3.2 The Cunning Jewish King

3.3 State-Manufactured Christianity

4 Christian Liturgical Prayers

5 Sin, Repentance, and Salvation

5.1 Repentance and the Obliteration of Sins

5.2 The Individual Nature of Sin

5.3 Purification by Good Deeds

5.4 What Salvation?

6 The Christian God: A Philosophical and Theological Non-starter

7 Concluding Remarks

Chapter 6 The Prophet Foretold

1 The Proofs of Prophecy

2 Muslims and the Bible: An Abiding Tension

3 The Arabicization of Biblical History

4 The Falsification of Previous Scriptures

5 Whose Name Will Be Aḥmad

6 Solutions to a Paradox

7 Imagine a Pagan Arriving in Our Land

8 Structure and Sources of Chapter Four

9 Exegetical Themes

9.1 Prediction of the Islamic umma

9.2 Prediction of Muḥammad

9.3 The Promised Paraclete

9.4 Muḥammad’s Name and Description

9.5 Abrahamic Descent through Ishmael and Hagar

9.6 Universality of Muḥammad’s Mission

9.7 Subjugation of the Nations

9.8 Muḥammad’s Fight against Error and Unbelief

9.9 The Finality of Islam and the Abrogation of Prior Religion

9.10 Mecca’s Role and Elevated Status

9.11 Biblical References to Islamic Rituals

9.12 The Original Arab Character of Islam and the Desert Motif

10 Concluding Remarks

Conclusion: The Prospects of Christian-Muslim Theological Dialogue

Appendix A Al-Qarāfī’s Literary Production

Appendix B The Arguments from The Letter to a Muslim Friend

Appendix C The Corruption of Early Christianity

Appendix D Biblical Predictions

Bibliography

1 Main Primary Sources: Editions and Translations

2 Other Primary Sources: Editions and Translations

3 Secondary Sources

Biblical References

Qurʾānic References

General Index