Abstract
http://dx.doi.org/10.12730/13091719.2012.31.50
This
paper introduces the short epistle written by Iskandar ibn Aḥmad as an
anti-Christian polemic. Iskandar identifies himself as "a philosopher
from Trabzon," a city in the north-east of modern Turkey. No information
about him is available other than this detail. The author of the
polemic attempts to confute the basic Christian idea that Jesus Christ
is God using biblical verses. As he refers to biblical verses accurately
and in Greek (transliterated into the Arabic alphabet), one can be sure
that he is very familiar with the New Testament. In addition to the
biblical verses, he also uses logical arguments and Qurʾānic verses to
show that Jesus Christ is only a human being. This paper starts with a
brief history of Muslim anti-Christian apologetics and polemics in the
Ottoman Empire and succinct information about Iskandar ibn Aḥmad's
epistle. Then, the paper provides the English translation and Arabic
text of the epistle. Because the epistle is a unique copy, it is not
possible for us to illustrate the differences among copies of the text.
However, the footnotes provide biblical and Qurʾānic references,
transliteration of the Greek biblical verses, and the author's mistakes
in the usage of Arabic languages.
Keywords: Anti-Christian polemics, Muslim apology, Iskandar ibn Aḥmad, divinity of Jesus, humanity of Jesus
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