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Historical Attestation of Muhammad: Difference between revisions
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Historical Attestation of Muhammad (view source)
Revision as of 16:00, 19 December 2013
, 19 December 2013→Non-Muslim Writings
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==Non-Muslim Writings== | ==Non-Muslim Writings== | ||
While there are no early Arab texts about the life of the prophet of Islam, we do have copies of non-Muslim (mainly Christian) writings that reference the Arab conquest of the Middle East. These include eye witness testimony to the events that take place in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the 7th century. While the authors provide limited details on the Arabs that conquered Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, they do provide some interesting insights into how the conquered people of those areas viewed their new rulers. In particular, a few references to a "Muhammad" can be found which dates to the first few decades of the Arab conquests. | |||
===Doctrina Jacobi=== | ===Doctrina Jacobi=== | ||
[Jacob, himself a convert, wrote to encourage Christian faith in Jews of Carthage, forcibly converted in 632, in a tract that was completed before "the thirteenth of July in the seventh indiction," i.e. 634, when Jacob left Carthage. In it his cousin Justus appears telling how he heard of the killing of a member of the imperial guard, or candidatus, in a letter from his brother Abraham in Caesarea, in which the following appears.] | |||
{{Quote|Doctrina Jacobi V.16, 209. [p. 57]| | |||
When the Candidatus was killed by the Saracens, I was at Caesarea and I set off by boat to Sykamina. People were saying "the candidatus has been killed," and we Jews were overjoyed. And they were saying that the prophet had appeared, coming with the Saracens, and that he was proclaiming the advent of the anointed one, the Christ who was to come. I, having arrived at Sykamina, stopped by a certain old man well-versed in scriptures, and I said to him: "What can you tell me about the prophet who has appeared with the Saracens?" He replied, groaning deeply: "He is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword. Truly they are works of anarchy being committed today and I fear that the first Christ to come, whom the Christians worship, was the one sent by God and we instead are preparing to receive the Antichrist. Indeed, Isaiah said that the Jews would retain a perverted and hardened heart until all the earth should be devastated. But you go, master Abraham, and find out about the prophet who has appeared." So I, Abraham, inquired and heard from those who had met him that there was no truth to be found in the so-called prophet, only the shedding of men's blood. He says also that he has the keys of paradise, which is incredible. <ref>Hoyland , Robert [http://books.google.com/books/about/Seeing_Islam_As_Others_Saw_It.html?id=ocv-SQAACAAJ|"Seeing Islam as Others Saw It"], google books. Darwin Press, Incorporated, Jan 1, 1997. [http://www.christianorigins.com/islamrefs.html|exerpts], christianorigins.com. </ref> }} | |||
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===John, Bishop of Nikiu=== | ===John, Bishop of Nikiu=== | ||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||