Abstract

Peter Bruns:
Dionysius bar Salîbî († 2.XI.1171) on Islam
(FKTh 2018-1, p. 1–15)

The purpose of this small paper is to present a short survey of Dionysius‘ Treatise against the Arabs, i.e. the Muslims. Special emphasis has been laid on the controversial subjects, e.g. the Holy Trinity, the Divinity of Christ and the Incarnation of the Divine Word. Dionysius bar Salibi‹ s apologetic treatise, called »A Response to the Arabs«, is the longest and most comprehensive dispute text with Muslims that exists in Syriac. Its main purpose is to acquaint the reader with the essential facts pertaining to Islam and to provide apologetic arguments intended to refute the challenges of Islam as an evil heresy opposed to true Christian faith. What sets Bar Salibi‹s treatise apart from other Syriac dispute texts is the information it contains concerning the history and doctrinal development of Islam (e.g. the life of the false prophet Muhammad, the emergence of Islam, and the origins and characteristics of an entirely corrupted text, called »Qur‹ân« or »Qûryân« (Reading) in Syriac