Description
Book SynopsisThe Cross of Christ: Foundational Islamic Perspectives takes an in-depth look at all of the medieval Muslim scholars considered to have affirmed Jesus' crucifixion. Each chapter provides the important historical and intellectual context for the commentators. As well, critical new translations of key texts are provided, offering important access to vital documents and schools of thought. The author argues that, rather than affirming the historicity of the crucifixion, the Isma'ilis tend to assume its historicity, in order to advance important Isma'ili doctrines. The author also contends that the commentators who explored ways to affirm the crucifixion, nonetheless made extensive use of traditional substitution legends that deny the crucifixion. In order to orient the reader, the book starts by introducing the reader to the Jesus of the Qur'an. It then compares him to the Jesus of the New Testament and the Jesus of extra canonical literature. Upon this Qur'anic skeleton, the author layers a myriad of details found in seventeen works of classic Islamic literature, so that a truly unique, authentic and authoritative Jesus of Islam emerges.
Table of ContentsList of Figures
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
Conventions
Introduction
Part I Introduction to the Jesus of Islam
1 The Jesus of the Qur’an
2 The Jesus of the Qur’an in the New Testament
3 The Jesus of the Qur’an in Para-Biblical Literature
4 The Jesus of Classical Islamic Literature
Part I Observation about the Jesus of Islam
Part II Introduction to the Ismā‘īlī Case for the Crucifixion
5 Mu’ayyad fi’l-Dīn al-Shīrāzī
6 Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī Argues against al-Nasafī and against Rhazes
7 The Book of Highest Initiation
8 Abū Ya‘qūb al-Sijistānī
9 Ja‘far b. Manṣūr al-Yaman
10 Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’
Part II Observations about the Ismā‘īlī Case for the Crucifixion
Part III Introduction to the Tafāsīr Case for the Crucifixion
11 The Substitution Legends of the Jāmi‘ al-bayān ‘an ta’wīl al-Qur’ān of al-Ṭabarī
12 The Four Grammarians of the Crucifixion
13 Four Rationalists Discuss Whether Allah Can Cast the Likeness of One Man upon Another
14 The Mysticism of Rūzbihān al-Baqlī
15 Two Anti-Christian Polemical Works
Part III Observations about the Tafāsīr Case for the Crucifixion
Conclusion
Overview of Related Literature
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
About the Author
