The Jewish Theme in Theophanes the Confessor’s Testimony on the Prophet Muḥammad
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.13.02Keywords:
Theophanes the Confessor, Byzantine historiography, Christian-Muslim relations, Muhhamad, Islam’s ProphetAbstract
Theophanes’ account regarding the rise of Islam and the history of the Prophet Muḥammad appears to be the most detailed and precise one that can be found in Byzantine historiography. The Confessor’s aim was to reproduce as many details about Muḥammad’s life as possible. Since his focus was not on religious ideas, but on key events surrounding the rise of the new religion, his account is not predominantly concerned with discussing Islam’s ideology. However, this does not allow us to regard it as in any way objective. Some of the views it contains were included with the clear goal of discrediting Islam as a religion that rivalled Christianity. This, for example, can be said of Theophanes’ remarks about the relationship between Muḥammad and the Jews. In this article, I focus on this aspect of Theophanes’ account, discussing it in the context of the long-running (the last several decades) scholarly debates regarding Jewish-Muslim relations.
Downloads
References
Al-Kindi, Apologia del cristianesimo, trans. L. Bottini, Milano 1998.
Google Scholar
Apology of Al Kindy Written at the Court of Al Mamun in Defence of Christianity against Islam, trans. et ed. W. Muir, London 1882.
Google Scholar
The Early Christian-Muslim Dialogue. A Collection of Documents from the First Three Islamic Centuries (632–900 A.D.), trans. N.A. Newman, Hatfield 1993.
Google Scholar
Hackenburg C., An Arabic-to-English Translation of the Religious Debate between the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy I and the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi (MA Thesis, The Ohio State University 2009).
Google Scholar
Hoyland R., Seeing Islam as Other Saw It. A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam, Princeton–New Jersey 1997.
Google Scholar
Die Schriften des Jacobiten Habib Ibn Hidma Abu Ra’ita, ed. G. Graf, Louvain 1951.
Google Scholar
Sozomenus, Kirchengeschichte, ed. J. Bidez, G.Ch. Hansen, Berlin 1995 [= Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte. Neue Folge, 4].
Google Scholar
Theodorus Bar Koni Liber Scholiorum, ed. A. Scher, Paris 1910.
Google Scholar
Theophanis Chronographia, еd. C.G. de Boor, Lipsiae 1883.
Google Scholar
Adang C., Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible. From Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm, Leiden 1996 [= Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies, 22], https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004451216
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004451216
Anthony S.W., The Caliph and the Heretic. Ibn Saba’ and the Origins of Shīʿism, Leiden–Boston 2012 [= Islamic History and Civilization, 91], https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004216068
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004216068
Arafat W.N., New Light on the Story of Banū Qurayẓa and the Jews of Medina, “Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society” 108.2, 1976, p. 100–107, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00133349
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00133349
Bakhou A., The Christian Legend of Monk Bahîrâ. The Syriac Manuscript of Mardain 259/2: Study and English Translation, June 2006, http://www.baylorisr.org/wp-content/uploads/bahkou_monk.pdf [10 IV 2023].
Google Scholar
Bakhou A., The Monk Encounters the Prophet – the Story of the Encounter between Monk Bahîrâ and Muhammad as it is Recorded in the Syriac Manuscript of Mardin 259/2, “Cultural and Religious Studies” 3, 2015, p. 349–357, https://doi.org/10.17265/2328-2177/2015.06.006
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17265/2328-2177/2015.06.006
Baum W., Winkler D.W., The Church of the East. A Concise History, London–New York 2003, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203423097
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203423097
Boras L., A Prophet has appeared coming with the Saracens. The Non-Islamic Testimonies on the Prophet and the Islamic Conquest of Egypt in the 7th–8th centuries (MA Thesis, Radboud University, Nijmegen 2017).
Google Scholar
Brzozowska Z.A., Jeden z herezjarchów? Przedstawienia ikonograficzne Mahometa w rękopisie РНБ, F.IV.151 w kontekście staroruskich narracji na jego temat, “Vox Patrum” 38, 2018, p. 449–469, https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.3216
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.3216
Bundy D.D., Timotheos I, [in:] Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition, ed. S.P. Brock, A.M. Butts, G.A. Kiraz, L. Van Rompay, https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Timotheos-I [10 IV 2023].
Google Scholar
Butts A.M., Theodoros bar Koni, [in:] The Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, ed. S.P. Brock, A.M. Butts, G.A. Kiraz, L. Van Rompay, Piscataway, New Jersey 2011, p. 405–406.
Google Scholar
Cameron A., Byzantines and Jews: Some Recent Work on Early Byzantium, “Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies” 20, 1996, p. 249–274, https://doi.org/10.1179/byz.1996.20.1.249
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/byz.1996.20.1.249
Cecota B., Islam, Arabowie i wizerunek kalifów w przekazach Chronografii Teofanesa Wyznawcy, Łódź 2022 [= Byzantina Lodziensia, 43].
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/8220-903-7
Cecota B., Islam, the Arabs and Umayyad Rulers according to Theophanes the Confessor’s Chronography, “Studia Ceranea” 2, 2012, p. 97–111, https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.02.09
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.02.09
Chabot J.-B., Littérature syriaque, Paris 1934.
Google Scholar
Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History, vol. I, (600–900), ed. D. Thomas, B. Roggema, Leiden–Boston 2009.
Google Scholar
Cook M., Mahomet, trans. B.R. Zagórski, Warszawa 1999.
Google Scholar
Crone P., Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, Princeton 1987.
Google Scholar
Crone P., Slaves on Horses. The Evolution of the Islamic Polity, Cambridge 1980, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563508
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563508
Crone P., Cook M., Hagarism. The Making of the Islamic World, Cambridge 1977.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-1978-4-434
Crone P., Hinds M., God’s Caliph. Religious Authority in the First Centuries of Islam, Cambridge 1986.
Google Scholar
Cucarella D.S., Schadler, Peter, John of Damascus and Islam: Christian Heresiology and the Intellectual Background to Earliest Christian-Muslim Relations [review], “MIDÉO. Mélanges de l’Institut dominicain d’études orientales” 34, 2019, p. 390–394.
Google Scholar
Dagron G., Déroche V., Juifs et chrétiens dans l’Orient du VIIe siècle, “Travaux et mémoires du Centre de recherches d’histoire et civilisation byzantines” 11, 1991, p. 17–273.
Google Scholar
Déroche V., Polémique anti-judaïque et émergence de l’Islam (7e–8e siècles), “Revue des études byzantines” 57, 1999, p. 141–161, https://doi.org/10.3406/rebyz.1999.1969
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/rebyz.1999.1969
Donner F.M., La question du messianisme dans l’islam primitif, “Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée” 91/94, 2000, p. 17–28, https://doi.org/10.4000/remmm.246
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/remmm.246
Donner F.M., Muhammad and the Believers. At the Origins of Islam, Cambridge, Massachusetts 2010.
Google Scholar
Fiğlali E.R., The “Problem” of Abd-Allah Ibn-Saba, “İslam İlimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi” 5, 1982, p. 379–390.
Google Scholar
Fisher G., Between Empires. Arabs, Romans and Sasanians in Late Antiquity, Oxford 2011 [= Oxford Classical Monographs].
Google Scholar
Flori J., L’islam et la fin des Temps. L’interprétation prophétique des invasions musulmanes dans la chrétienté médiévale, Paris 2007.
Google Scholar
Griffith S.H., Chapter Ten of the Scholion: Theodore Bar Koni’s Apology for Christianity, “Orientalia Christiana Periodica” 47, 1981, p. 158–188.
Google Scholar
Griffith S.H., Habib ibn Hidmah Abu Ra’itah, a Christian mutakallim of the First Abbasid Century, “Oriens Christianus. Hefte für die Kunde des christlichen Orients” 64, 1980, p. 161–201.
Google Scholar
Griffith S.H., Jews and Muslims in Christian Syriac and Arabic Texts of the Ninth century, “Jewish History” 3, 1988, p. 65–94, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01667349
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01667349
Griffith S.H., Muhammad and the Monk Bahîrâ: Reflections on a Syriac and Arabic Text from Early Abbasid Times, “Oriens Christianus. Hefte für die Kunde des christlichen Orients” 79, 1995, p. 146–174.
Google Scholar
Griffith S.H., The Prophet Muhammad, his Scripture and his Message, according to the Christian Apologies in Arabic and Syriac from the first Abbasid Century, [in:] S.H. Griffith, Arabic Christianity in the Monsteries of Ninth-Century Palestine, Aldershot 2003, p. 99–146.
Google Scholar
Grodzki M., Panteon sceptyków. Przegląd współczesnych teorii naukowych poświęconych genezie islamu, Warszawa 2017.
Google Scholar
Grodzki M., Yehuda D. Nevo – A Comprehensive Skeptical Theory on the Genesis of Islam, “Rocznik Orientalistyczny” 71, 2018, p. 55–95.
Google Scholar
Harmakaputra H.A., Muslim-Christian Debates in the Early ‘Abbasid Period. The Cases of Timothy I and Theodore Abu Qurra, “MIQOT. Jurnal Ilmu-ilmu Keislaman” 38, 2014, p. 435–445, https://doi.org/10.30821/miqot.v38i2.102
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30821/miqot.v38i2.102
Hurst T.R., Letter 40 of the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy I (727–823). A Edition and Translation (MA Thesis, The Catholic University of America, Washington 1981).
Google Scholar
Jeffreys E., The Image of the Arabs in Byzantine Literature, [in:] The 17th International Byzantine Congress at Dumbarton Oaks, Major Papers, New York 1986, p. 305–323.
Google Scholar
Keating S.T., Defending the ‘People of Truth’ in the Early Islamic Period. The Christian Apologies of Abū Rā’itah, Leiden–Boston 2006 [= History of Christian-Muslim Relations, 4], https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004148017.i-378
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004148017.i-378
Keating S.T., Revisting the Charge of Tahrif. The Question of Supersessionism in Early Islam and the Qur’an, [in:] Nicholas of Cusa and Islam. Polemic and Dialogue in the Late Middle Ages, ed. I.Ch. Levy, R. George-Tvrtković, D. Duclow, Leiden–Boston 2014 [= Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions, 183], p. 202–217.
Google Scholar
Kister M.J., The Massacre of the Banū Qurayẓa: A Re-Examination of a Tradition, “Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam” 8, 1986, p. 61–96.
Google Scholar
Koningsveld Van P.S., The Apology of Al-Kindi, [in:] Religious Polemics in Context. Papers presented to the Second International Conference of the Leiden Institute for the Study of Religions (LISOR) Held at Leiden, 27–28 April 2000, ed. T. Hettema, Ch. Kooi, R. Van Gorcum, Assen 2004, p. 69–92, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004495302_009
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004495302_009
Lewis B., Jews of Islam, Westport, Connecticut 2002.
Google Scholar
Ljamai A., Ibn Hazm et la polémique islamo-chrétienne dans l’histoire de l’Islam, Leiden 2003 [= Medieval and Early Modern Iberian World, 17], https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004453579
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004453579
Lowin Sh.L., “A Prophet Like Moses”? What Can We Know about the Early Jewish Responses to Muḥammad’s Claims of Mosesness?, “Hebrew Union College Annual” 90, 2019, p. 227–255, https://doi.org/10.15650/hebruniocollannu.90.2019.0227
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15650/hebruniocollannu.90.2019.0227
Maksimov Ju., Prp. Feofan Ispovednik Sigrianskij ob islame, “Богословский Вестник” / “Bogoslovskij Vestnik” 4, 2004, p. 312–335.
Google Scholar
Marshall D., Muhammad in Contemporary Christian Theological Reflection, “Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations” 24, 2013, p. 161–172, https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2012.761405
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2012.761405
Montgomery Watt W., The Condemnation of the Jews of Banū Qurayẓa. A Study of the Sources of the Sīra, [in:] W. Montgomery Watt, Early Islam. Collected Articles, Edinburgh 1990, p. 1–12.
Google Scholar
O’Sullivan Sh., Anti-Jewish Polemic and Early Islam, [in:] The Bible in Arab Christianity, ed. D. Thomas, Leiden–Boston 2007 [= History of Christian-Muslim Relations, 6], p. 49–68, https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004155589.i-421.14
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004155589.i-421.14
Pasteur Tartar G., Dialogue islamo-chrétien sous le calife al-Mamun (813–834). Les épitres d’al-Hashimi et d’al-Kindi, Paris 1985.
Google Scholar
Pearson J.D., The Islamic World and the Latin East. William of Tripoli and his Syrian Context (PhD Thesis, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville 2018).
Google Scholar
Perlmann M., A Legendary Story of Kalb al-Ahbar’s Conversion to Islam, [in:] Joshua Starr Memorial Volume, New York 1953, p. 85–99.
Google Scholar
Perlmann M., Another Ka’b al-Ahbar Story, “The Jewish Quarterly Review” 45, 1954, p. 48–58, https://doi.org/10.2307/1453146
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1453146
Pierzyński A.P., Christians and Jews: Historical and Theological Perspectives of their Relationship, “Studia Oecumenica” 19, 2019, p. 329–348, https://doi.org/10.25167/so.1087
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25167/so.1087
Pliszka D., Wypełnienie bez zastępstwa: Matthew Levering o relacji Kościół–Izrael, “Bielańskie Studia Teologiczne” 3, 2017, p. 42–54.
Google Scholar
Pytlik M., Jews and Muslims in Cooperation – Lunch and Learn (paper presented to the “Jews and Muslims. A Forgotten History of Coexistence” forum, Oakland University, 12 March 2015), https://www.oakland.edu/Assets/Oakland/religiousstudies/files-and-documents/faculty-research/Pytlik,%20Michael%20-%20Jews%20&%20Muslims,%20A%20Forgotten%20History%20of%20Coexistence.pdf [10 IV 2023].
Google Scholar
Roggema B., The Legend of Sergius Bahira. Eastern Christian Apologetics and Apocalyptic in Response to Islam, Leiden 2009 [= History of Christian-Muslim Relations, 9], https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004167308.i-580
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004167308.i-580
Schandler P., John of Damascus and Islam. Christian Heresiology and the Intellectual Background to Earliest Christian-Muslim Relations, Leiden 2018 [= History of Christian-Muslim Relations, 34], https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004356054
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004356054
Szilágyi K., Muhammad and the Monk: The Making of the Christian Baḥīrā Legend, “Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam” 34, 2008, p. 169–214.
Google Scholar
Teipen A., Jews in Early Biographies of Muhammad. A Case Study in Shifting Muslim Understandings of Judaism, “Journal of the American Academy of Religion” 88, 2020, p. 543–568, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfaa019
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfaa019
Thomson R.W., Armenian Variations on the Bahira Legend, “Harvard Ukrainian Studies” 3/4, 1979/1980, p. 884–895.
Google Scholar
Tolan J.V., Réactions chrétiennes aux conquêtes musulmanes. Etude comparée des auteurs chrétiens de Syrie et d’Espagne, “Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, Xe–XIIe siècles” 44, 2001, p. 349–367, https://doi.org/10.3406/ccmed.2001.2810
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ccmed.2001.2810
Turner D., The Trouble with the Trinity: The Context of a Slogan during the Reign of Constantine IV (668–685), “Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies” 27, 2003, p. 68–119, https://doi.org/10.1179/byz.2003.27.1.68
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/byz.2003.27.1.68
Vries de B., On the Way to Bosra. Arab Settlement in South Syria before Islam – the Evidence from Written Sources, [in:] Hereux qui comme Ulisses a fait un beau voyage. Movements of People in Time and Space, ed. B. de Vries, N. Naguib, Bergen 2010, p. 69–92.
Google Scholar
Ward S., Muḥammad Said: “You Are Only a Jew from the Jews of Sepphoris”: Allegations of the Jewish Ancestry of Some Umayyads, “Journal of Near Eastern Studies” 60, 2001, p. 31–42, https://doi.org/10.1086/468884
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/468884
Wasserstrom S.M., Between Muslim and Jew. The Problem of Symbiosis under Early Islam, Princeton 1995, https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400864133
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400864133
Wolińska T., Elity chrześcijańskie wobec islamu (VII–X wiek), “Vox Patrum” 35, 2015, p. 530–567, https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.3730
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.3730
Wright W.A., A Short History of Syriac Literature, London 1894.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
