The Arabic ChristianLiterature

7/25/2019 The Arabic ChristianLiterature

1/4

6/23/16, 4:39 AM

Page 1 of 4http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#2

The Arabic ChristianLiterature

By Dr. George Khoury

Dr. Khoury Georges speaks about the contribution of the Melkites,the Jacobites, the Nestorians, The

Copts and the Maronites to the ArabChristian Heritage.

The Melkites| The Jacobites| The Nestorians| The Copts| TheMaronites|

1- Introduction

Arabic at the time of the Abbasids had become a language of full maturity,unchallenged mistress in

the school, the mosque, and in the offices ofthe administration. It prevailed in all parts of theMuslim world, notonly as an ornament of great value for the pen, but also as a generousnurse ofthought. The Iranians themselves, who later succeeded in givinglife to their nationalism and inreviving anew a literature in Persianlanguage, were unable to garble the Arabic language as alanguage of scienceand religion. They also had to keep its strong mark on their own vocabularyand

on the alphabet. If Baghdad was an aging city hardly a century afterits founding, it was nonethelessunder the first Abassids the symbol ofa new civilization and the home of the shining Arabiclanguage which hadbecome a language of thought and culture.

The irruption of foreign nations reached its height during the Abassidcaliphate, with their cultural

contributions and their specific gifts tothe social and intellectual life of Arab Islamism. It alsoprovoked a greateffervescence of thought and an intense literary activity which pouredinto theArabic language and brought about a development of prose. Thevocabulary waxed richer thanks tonew terms it borrowed from other cultures;the syntax became suppler, and the style clearer. Literarygenres wereeither recovered or created. Ideas, new doctrines and research requiredmore suitable

expression.

Thanks to some talented witers of prose there was now a neat prose,eloquent in its simplicity,without affectation or mannerism, fluent andclear, without neither rhymes nor embellishment. Fromthis period of Arabhistory we have works in theology, law, ethics, Qu'ranic exegesis,

traditions,philology (i.e., grammar, lexicography, prosody), philosophy, history,geography, the exactsciences, and mystical theology.Topof page

2- The Melkites

Melkites means thoseChristianswho adheredto the Calcidonian faith,451AD,which was supported

and defended by the Bysantine Basileus in ConstantinopleConnecting Greek with Syriac as alanguage of life and as expression ofthought, Arabic became first and little by little the prevailingform andlater the only form of Christian literature in the Melkite community, whereasthe Syriac andCoptic communities kept for a longer time their respectivelanguages. One must distinguish,however, between two literary forms ofArabic in the Melkite literature of this period. This diversity

is to beexplained by the destination of Melkite literature.

One form uses the literary language--a language in no way inferior,from the point of view ofstylistic purity, to that used by the Muslims.This is used in translating the Greek heritage ofphilosophy and science,in the chancellories, in the writing of history, and in the Islamo-

Christiancontroversies. This literary Arabic is addressed to a Christian as wellas a Muslim elite. It isnot contaminated with vernacular dialect nor withforeign terms, except when these are required bytechnical needs or bythe lively evolution of the language, especially in the field of philosophy.
http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#tophttp://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#2http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#3http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#4http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#5http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#6http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#tophttp://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#6http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#5http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#4http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#3http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#2


2/4

6/23/16, 4:39 AM


A second, different Arabic is addressed to the people; this is the languageused in hagiography,ascetic literature, and liturgy. Its users also enjoyeda bilingual education, Greek and Arabic,sometimes trilingual, Greek, Arabic,and Syriac, but its destination was the people and themonasteries. Itsform of expression often deviated from grammatical norms and from syntaxin orderto borrow the suppler and livelier forms of the local dialect.Thus it frequently used foreign terms,mostly from Greek and Syriac. Itwas a language half-way between classical and local dialect. Hereare someof the most famous and representative Christian Arab writers and thinkerswho issued from

the different Christian communities in Syro-Mesopotamiaand Egypt, and who wrote during theAbassid era. This is by no means anexhaustive list.

a) Qusta Ibn Luqa (835-912)

Qusta Ibn Luqa was a Melkite from Baalbeck. He was an eminent translatorand atheoretician of medicine. In addition, he was mathematician, physician,philosopher,apologist, and musician. Of him Ibn an-Nadim says: "Heis an excellent translator; heknew well Greek, Syriac, and Arabic; hetranslated texts and corrected manytranslations. Many are his medicalwritings." (see Ibn an-Nadim, Fihrist, ed. Fugel, p.

234.) Qusta waswith Hunain Ibn Ishaq the author who best served Greek culture in theArabcivilization.

b) Al-Bitriq (8th century)

Al-Bitriq lived during the caliphate of al-Mansur (754-775), who commissionedhim totranslate numerous ancient medical works. He translated Galian'sSimplicia under thename of al-adwiat al-mufrada; the De Prohibenda Sepulturaand the De Cura Icteri ofthe pseudo-Galian under the name of Maqala fil-yaraqan. He also works attributed toHippocrates: De Alimento, Kitabal-gida': De Septimanis, Kitab al-asabi, and hetranslated the Quadripartusof Ptolemeus, Kitab al-arabi'a. There was also Sa'id ibn al-

Bitriq, Patriarchof Alexandria from 933 to 940 and whose works put him on equalfootingwith Qusta ibn Luqa. In the field of medicine he wrote Kitab fi t-tibb(lost),in

history, Kitab at-tarih al-magmu' ala t-tahqiq wa t-tasdiq, more commonlyknown underthe name, Nazam al-gawahar. As apologist, he wrote in defenseof Christianity, Kitabal-gadal baina l-muhalef wa n-nasrani.Topof page

3- The Jacobites

Habib Abu Ra'itah Al-Takriti (early 9th century) is a contemporary anda theological opponent ofTheodore Abu Qurrah, Bishop of Harran. He isthe author of four important theological treatise. 1. Aletter on the Trinityaddressed to a Muslim and in which he attempts to explain the mystery oftheTrinity with the help of philosophical concepts of substance, hypostasisand essential attributes, suchas life, knowledge, and wisdom, and withnatural analogies, such as light, sun, man. He also quotes

the Bible andthe Qur'an. 2. A letter on the Incarnation in which he tries to explainthe mystery of theIncarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 3. Demonstrationof the truth of the Christian religion and ofthe doctrine of the Trinity.4. Proof of the truth of the Christian religion (however, this treatisemaybe inauthentic). There were also Musa al-Hagari (known as Moses BarKepha, died 903), and Al-Harith ibn Sinbat from Harran who were great biblicaltranslators. But the most prestigious amongthem was Yahya ibn Adi (d.974): philosopher, polemist, and theolgian. His literary corpuscomprises40 philosophical treatises, several treatises of apologetics, and his refutationof al-Kindi'srefutation of the Christians. He was also a skilled translatorof Plato and Aristotle. Issa ibn Zurah

(Baghad, 1008), in addition to beingan apologist and theologian, was also physician, philosopher,and scientist.Yahya ibn Garir from Takrit was physician, astronomer, philosopher, andtheologian.
http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#top


3/4

6/23/16, 4:39 AM


His compendium in theology is call Kitab al-murshid.Topof page

4- The Nestorians

Because of their number and importance in Mesopotamia, the Nestorianscontributed more than anyother Christian community to the Christian Arabliterary heritage. Their activity comprises all theliterary genres. Inthe first place stands out the Catholicos Timothy 1 (728-823). He was

theprotagonist and author of an interesting Muhawarah (debate) with the caliphal-Mahdi (775-785).Next to him stands Abu Nuh Ibn Al-Salt Al-Ambari, translatorof Greek works and author of Tafnidal Qur'an (Refutation of the Qur'an),Maqalat fi al-tawhid and Maqalat fi al-tatlit (Essaya on God's

Unity andTrinity). Ammar al-Basri (1st half of the 9th century) was a contemporaryof the MelkiteAbu Qurrah and the Jacobite Abu Ra'itah al-Takriti, andof the Nestorian Timothy 1. Al-Basri wrotetwo apologetics: Book of theDemonstration and the Book of Questions and Answers. Hunayn IbnIshaq (808-837)was a famous physician, philosopher, and translator of Greek works underseveralcaliphs. He is the author of a Letter to Yahya ibn al-Munaggim.Yahya ibn al-Munaggim was aMuslim who invited Hunayn to convert to Islam.He also wrote a Letter on how to attain to the TrueReligion in which heshows that Christianity corresponds to the criteria of the true religion.His son

Ishaq continued in his father's footsteps as translator and writer.From him we have Maqalah fi al-tawhid (Essay on Unity). There was alsoAbd al-Masih al-Kindi(end of 9th or 10th century) known

for his Letterof Abd al-Masih to Abdallah al-Hashimi which became a classic in the annalsof theIslamo-Christian polemics. There were also the members of the Bahtishu'family who, in addition totheir medical profession, produced during threecenturies an abundant philosophical and theologicalliterature. Elias ofNisibis (Metropolitan of Nisibis (d. ca. 1049), known also as Elias barSenaya,wrote as a dogmatic theologian two significant theological treatises:Letter on the Unity of theCreator and the Trinity of Persons and Letteron the Creation of the World. As apologist he wroteThe Justification ofFaith and Treatise on the Happiness of the Other World. He also bequeathedthereport of Seven Sessions with the vizir al-Magribi. In the field ofexegesis he wrote a Letter on the

Difficulties of the Gospel. Another importantfigure in the first half of the 11th century is Abdallah

ibn al-Tayyib,physician, commentator of the Greek classics, philosopher and a prolificChristianwriter. He wrote several treatises in systematic theology, oneon moral theology and one on law. Asbiblical commentator he wrote morecommentaries than any other Christian writer.Top of page

5- The Copts

The Copts, who were of the Monophysite faith, adhered to their own languagelonger, and werealmost one century later than the other Christian communitiesin expressing themselves in Arabic.Their contribution to the Arab Christianliterature began with a great figure: Bishop of Asmunayn(Upper Egypt)Severus Ibn Al-Muqaffa (d. ca. 987). In theology, he wrote three importantworks:

Book of the Exposition, Order of the Priesthood, and Precious Pearl.In apologetics he wrote: Bookof the Councils and Brief Explanation ofthe Faith. He is best known though for his monumentalHistory of the PatriarchsfAlexandria which was continued and completed in the 11th century byMichael,bishop of Tinnis and by Mawhub Ibn Mansur, deacon of Alexandria. In the12th centiry thePatriarch Christodule (d. 1077), Cyril Second (d. 1092),and Yunus Ibn Abdalah wrote abundantly inthe field of legal and liturgicalliterature. In the 13th century there was Simon Ibn Kalil (d. 1206),authorof a treatise On the Unity of the Creator and of the Trinity. He also wrotea Commentary onthe Gospel of St. Mathew and an Introduction to the Psalms.In ascetic theology he left us abeautifully written work, Garden of theHermit and the Consolation of the Solitary. The 13th century

was also calledthe century of "Awlad Al-Assal", Al-Safi, Al-Assad, and Al-Mu'taman,whodistinguished themselves in this golden century witha rich literaryproduction. Al-Safi was a greattreanslator and author of many works, amongthem: Al-Sahahih fi gawab al-nassa'ih (The CorrectAnswers), and Al-Kitabal-awsat (The Middle Book). Al Mu'taman was a philosopher,
http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#tophttp://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#top


4/4

6/23/16, 4:39 AM


theologian,exegete, a homeltic and liturgical writer.Top of page

6- The Maronites

The Maronite community kept longer than the other Christian communitiesto the Syriac languageand literature. However, two Maronite names standout during the classical period of Arab patrology.The first is Thomas,bishop of Kafartab, who composed in the 11th century a theological workThe

Book of Treatises. The other name is Bishop David who in the 11th centurytranslated from Syriac toArabic Kitab al-Huda (The Book of Guidance).It is a collection of canons and laws, of liturgicalrules and short theologicaltreatise dealing with trinitarian and christological problems. Topof page
http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#tophttp://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm#top

Documents

The Arabic ChristianLiterature