cin - arab christian literature of the 8th-9th centuries by dr. george khoury

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Arab Christian Literature of the 8th-9th Centuries

by Dr. George Khoury

1-Introduction

Since we surveyed in the last issue of Al-Bushra the larger sociopolitical environment in which thedifferent Christian groups lived and worked and described the nature of the relations they entertained withthe Muslims, it becomes important to examine now the immediate Christian cultural milieu in which ArabChristian authors lived and describe briey the literary contributions of the several Christian communities,Melkite, Nestorian, Jacobite, Copt, and Maronite, and nally some notable writers from each communityin order to display some of their literary works in the various academic domains in which theydistinguished themselves.

After this preliminary survey of the Christian Arabic literature, special attention will be accorded toChristian-Muslim controversial literature.

2-Syriac, Greek, ArabicAs has been noted, three religious confessions shared SyriaPalestine in the 7th-8th centuries:Chalcedonianism, Monophysitism, and Monothelitism.

Chalcedonianis- the doctrine that asserted two natures in Christ, i.e. that Jesus was truly a man and trulyGod- constituted the ofcial church of Syria, the CaesaroPapist church which had its seat in Antioch forSyria and Jerusalem for Palestine.

The Monophysite church -the doctrine of those Christians who preferred to speak of the one nature of theincarnate word of God also constituted an important Christian element in Syria and was much spreadamong the Arab Christian tribes of the Syrian desert, namely, among the Ghassanides, Kalbites, andTaglibites. Monotheism (one will in Christ) had been popular for some time in the Antiochian hierarchyuntil it was condemned in 681 in the Antiochian council meeting at Constantinople. Monothelite weresubsequently persecuted by both Jacobites (those Christians who accentuated the divinity of Christ to thedetriment of his humanity) and Melkites (who upheld Chalcedonian Orthodoxy) and many were forced toemigrate to Lebanon. Further east, the Nestorian Church (which downplayed the divinity of Christ infavor of his humanity) remained conned to Persia and Mesopotamia and retained very few adherents inSyria. The classical languages of Middle Eastern Christianity for the rst six centuries were Aramic(Syriac), Greek, and Coptic.

When Islam appeared in the seventh century a great movement of Islamization took place and was thenfollowed by gradual Arabization. Arabic was the language of the new rulers, and it was inevitable andnatural that it soon became the common and ofcial language of the Arab empire. Furthermore, both thecaliphs and the Arab thinkers and writers encouraged and promoted a great movement of translation fromPersian and Greek into Arabic.

Arabized Christians were pioneers in this endeavor and distinguished themselves earlier than their Muslimcounterparts. Their reason for abandoning their ancient languages and using the language of the conquerorwas that the Christians, challenged in their faith, needed Arabic in the defense of their religion and inafrming the faith of wavering believers. It is this apologetic and polemical motive which lay at the originof many Islamo/Christian treatises, and triggered interreligious dialogues and sessions as well as a sizablephilosophical and theological correspondence between Christians and Muslims.





3-Translations & Arab Christian Contributions

One fact stands out: Syriacspeaking Christians contributed more than any other people to this generalcultural awakening and intellectual renaissance in Abbasid Baghdad. Syrian Christians had already beentranslating Greek works into Syriac. While Arabians did not know Greek thought, Syrians had been incontact with the Greek world for over a millennium. As Philip Hitti expresses it:

Between 750 and 850 A.D. the Arab world was the scene of one of the most spectacular and momentousmovements in the history of thought. The movement was marked by translations into Arabic from Persian,Greek, and Syriac. The Arabian Muslim brought with him no art, science, or philosophy and hardly anyliterature; but he did bring along from the desert a keen intellectual curiosity, a voracious appetite forlearning and a number of latent talents. In the Fertile Crescent he fell heir to Hellenistic science and lore,which was unquestionably the most precious intellectual treasure at hand. In a few decades after thefoundation of Baghdad (762 A.D.) the Arabic-reading public found at its disposal the major philosophicalworks of Aristotle and the Neo-Platonic commentators, the chief medical writings of Hippocrates andGalen, the main mathematical compositions of Euclid and the geographical masterpiece of Ptolemy. In allthis the Syrians were the mediators.... For two centuries before the appearance of Islam Syrian scholars

had been translating Greek works into Syriac.Long before Umar II transferred the philosophical school of Alexandria to Antioch an intense wave of translation had swept the monasteries of the Syrian Church. The people who had opened the treasures of Greek science and philosophy to the Persians were now doing the same to the Arabs. The same peoplewho before Islam were instrumental in cultivating the main elements of Greek culture, spreading themeastward and propagating them in the schools of Edessa and Nisibis, Harran and Jundi-Shapur were nowbusily engaged in passing those elements on to the Arab-reading world. (See Philip Hitti, History of Syria,pp. 548-550)

It is therefore during the last decades of the Ummayyads and in the rst century of the Abbasid dynasty

that this great movement of translation from the classical ancient languages into Arabic began, and in thisenterprise the Christians had the lion's share. The Barmakids, the powerful supporters and viziers of theAbbasid caliphs, appreciated Indo-Iranian literature and encouraged the translation and adaptation of many Persian works into Arabic.

The Caliph al-Ma'mun (813-833) founded Bait al-Hikma (house of wisdom) and made it a center of practical and speculative studies and encouraged not only the translation, but also the diffusion of translated works.

Jundi-Shapur, Harran, & Edessa: Major Intellectual Centers

In addition, the great intellectual centers of the 8th century began to shine with greater glory; JundiShapurfor medicine, Harran and Edessa for philosophy. The material translated came mostly from Greek texts,some from Persia, and a little from Hindu sources. Most of the philosophical works were translated, notdirectly from Greek, but from Syriac. Scientic works, on the other hand, were translated from Greektexts.

Not all translators were Christian. There were Jews and some Persians from the Mazdean religion.Christian translators tended to know three languages: Syriac, Greek, and Arabic. The most importantChristian translators were members of the Bahtisu family, Hunain ibn Ishaq, and his son Ishaq and hisdisciples. Qusta ibn I uqa, al-Bitriq and his son Yahya al-Elitriq who lived at the time of the caliph al-

Mansur (754-775) translated a great number of works on medicine, the books of Hippocrates and Galen.

In the next issue of Al-Bushra we will discuss the works of specic individuals and the literary





contributions of the different Christian communities, such as the Melkites, the Jacobites, the Nestorians,and the Maronites.

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cin - arab christian literature of the 8th-9th centuries by dr. george khoury

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