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And I believe that whoever holds this opinion and is of this confession is a monotheist and that the only divergence between them and Muslims is the prophecy of Muhammad, son of ‘Abd Allah. Elias of Nisibis- The Vizier and the Bishop Face to Face about the Trinity A quick reading of the document fromContinue reading “A Hierarchy of Heresy”

It is a rule that the principles which make something are also the principles for repairing it. If a house falls down, it is restored according to the plan by which it was first made. Aquinas, De Rationibus ch. 5 Aquinas notes at the beginning of De Rationibus that his aim is not to attemptContinue reading “Aquinas: Reasoning through Common Revelation”

Abd al-Jabbar’s polemic against Christians was remarkable in its ability to elicit a visceral reaction from the reader, whether it be horror at the depravity of Christians and their unscrupulous adulteration of divine law, or shock and defensiveness at the gross misrepresentation of the Christian tradition and the shameless interpolation of falsehoods that were insertedContinue reading “Use of Scripture in Muslim-Christian Polemics”

It is intriguing to me that the earliest Christian encounters with Islam were not viewed with an eye towards figuring out who these invaders were or understanding why they were invading, but rather saw them as an instrument of God’s judgment against Christians. It also seems strange that the immediate reaction of the Christians wasContinue reading “Early Christian-Muslim Encounters after Bahira”

Islam grew up in an independent country owing allegiance to no empire and to no king, in a form of society never again achieved. it had to embody this society in itself, had to order, encourage, and promote it… So Islam chose to unite earth and Heaven in one spiritual organization, and one that recognizedContinue reading “Social Organization and Moral Theology in Islam”

“[F]rom its inception Shi’ism functioned as an opposition party, challenging the performance of the government.” Abuldaziz Sachedina, p. 70 It is, in my humble opinion, impossible to understand Shi’ite Islam without understanding the symbiotic relationship between Shi’ite jurisprudence and its revolutionary origins. It seems as though the Shi’ite position is indefensible from a historical perspectiveContinue reading “Shi’ism: Origins and Jurisprudence”

“It was concerning him and Abdullah ibn Ubayy that this passage from the Sura of the Table came down: ‘O you who believe, take not Jews and Christians as friends.They are friends one of another. Who of you takes them as friends is oneof them. God will not guide the unjust people. You can seeContinue reading “Qur’anic Interpretation in Light of Progressive Revelation”

“In the absence of authentic evidence it would indeed be rash to attempt to express the most tentative opinion as to which parts of the hadith are the oldest original material, or even as to which of them date back to the generations immediately following the Prophet’s death.” Ignaz Golziher, p. 2 Goldziher speaks inContinue reading “Historical-Critical Study of Hadith?”