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Document Details : Title: Inter-Religious Attitudes Subtitle: Al-Dimashqi's (d. 727/1327) Letter to the People of Cyprus Author(s): EBIED, Rifaat Journal: ARAM Periodical Volume: 9 Issue: 1-2 Date: 1997 Pages: 19-24 DOI: 10.2143/ARAM.9.1.2002163 Abstract : The aim of this paper is to draw the attention of scholars to the existence of an early work of great interest and significance to the historical development of Muslim polemic against Christianity and which also throws light on Muslim-Christian relations in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a period of intense religious animosity throughout the Middle East. As the title indicates, the main emphasis will be upon a brief preliminary consideration of the Response of the Muslim theologian and jurist, al-Dimashqī, to Christianity as contained in his Letter to the People of Cyprus, its place in Muslim polemical literature as well as the purpose and circumstances which prompted our author to produce it. Thus, the following remarks are intended as a preliminary notice of this extremely interesting work of which my colleague, Dr. David Thomas, of the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations (University of Birmingham, England) and I are currently working on the production of a full critical edition, with an English translation and annotated notes. They are also intended as a preliminary investigation of this polemical work which forms part of the corpus of theological literature written during the period of the Mamluks in Bilad al-Sham (the theme of this Conference), its value and contribution to a better understanding and an enrichment of our knowledge of how the early Muslims viewed Christian theology and doctrine. |
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