[Andalusi Studies] Islamic sources describing Christians as mushrikin?

[Yadgar, Liran]

Dear David,


Commenting on an early nineteenth-century poem, David Cook writes that "[o]riginally, the epithet of mushrikun [i.e. "associators," idolators] was applied only to polytheists, but by the eight century also to Christians" (Martyrdom in Islam, Cambridge; New York, 2007, p. 124 n33). I would argue, however, that the accusation of Christians with shirk (idolatry) has already started in the Qur'an (e.g. Q 4:166; Q 5:17, 82, 116; Q 9:30; Q 112), and thus, in some occurrences in this book, mushrikun may refer to Christians, and that this usage was common since the earliest times of Islam. See on this point: Jacques Waardenburg, "The Early Period: 610-650," in Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions: A Historical Survey, ed. idem (New York; Oxford, 1999), p. 6; Hugh Goddard, A History of Christian-Muslim Relations (Edinburgh, 2000), pp. 27-28; G.R. Hawting, The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History (Cambridge; New York, 1999), pp. 82-84; idem, "Qur'anic Exegesis and History," in With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, eds. Jane Dammen McAuliffe et al. (Oxford; New York, 2003), p. 410; Yohanan Friedmann, Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition (New York, 2003), pp. 71-72; Jere L. Bacharach, "Signs of Sovereignty: The Shahada, Qur'anic Verses, and the Coinage of ?Abd al-Malik," Muqarnas, 27 (2010): 18.


For examples from the Islamic West, see Camilla Adang, Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible: From Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm (New York, 1996), p. 101 (on Ibn Hazm comparing Jewish and Christian polytheism); Mikel de Epalza, "Mozarabs: An Emblematic Christian Minority in Islamic Al-Andalus," in The Legacy of Muslim Spain, ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi (Leiden; Brill, 1994), p. 150; Nicola Clarke, The Muslim Conquest of Iberia: Medieval Arabic Narratives (New York, 2013), p. 133. The texts provided in Christians and Moors in Spain, vol. 3, eds. Charles Melville and Ahmad 'Ubaydli (Warminster, 1988), may provide more references.


Regards,


Liran


...
Liran Yadgar
Postdoctoral Associate
Judaic Studies, Yale University
liran.yadgar at yale.edu
Website: https://yale.academia.edu/LiranYadgar

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From: andalusi_studies-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <andalusi_studies-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> on behalf of David Wacks <wacks at uoregon.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 5, 2016 4:01:02 AM
To: andalusi_studies at lists.uoregon.edu
Subject: [Andalusi Studies] Islamic sources describing Christians as mushrikin?

Dear colleagues,

Does anyone know of any Muslim authors who write of Christianity in terms of shirk, or of Christians as mushrikin?

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Best regards,
David

David Wacks
Professor of Spanish
davidwacks.uoregon.edu<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__davidwacks.uoregon.edu&d=CwMFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=IeV81pX71ya-3sMi9QvlgZHyRFQzX0WcRnFvt4lRhAc&m=EV-ZiN3oRooUWn9usx2f6RBeF6HVO2pfZUziBiuG0Gk&s=G_8Ay3g0I7hc3snWas1wocdKzEboWdbXkFOfYCGrfSI&e=>
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