Apology of al-Kindy (book)
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Apology of al-Kindy is the title of William Muir's nineteenth-century translation of a medieval theological polemic attributed to an Arab Christian known as Al Kindi. The work is also known as the Apology of al-Kindi.
[edit] Introduction
In 1880, Sir William Muir published the Apology of al-Kindy, his translation of some medieval Arabic epistles. The Apology (or Risāla) purports to be a record of a dialogue between a Muslim and a Christian in the reign of the Caliph al-Ma'mun (813-833 ), and there are in fact two "apologies" - that of the Muslim and that of the Christian. Muir was the first to make this material available in English. However, the Apology of al-Kindi, was not unknown to European scholars, as it had been translated into Latin as early as the twelfth century[1]. The Latin translation was by a certain Peter of Toledo, working on behalf of Peter the Venerable who was interested in converting Muslims to Christianity. Peter the Venerable also commissioned translations of other Arabic texts including the Qur'an, and, after circulating in manuscript, the collection was published in the sixteenth century with a preface by Martin Luther.
The Apology relates that a Caliph had a cousin, given the alias "Abd-Allah ibn Ismail al-Hashimy" (English: Obadiah (or Amadeus), son of Ishmael, from the Hashim clan). Al-Hashimy is described as living in the Caliph's castle and being well versed in Christian theology. He is also described as having a close and trusted Christian friend, given the alias Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (English: servant of Messiah, son of Isaac, from the Kind clan).
In his preface, William Muir identifies the Caliph in question as Al-Ma'mun, however, the name occurs nowhere in the epistles themselves [2].
Al-Hashimy invites al-Kindī to embrace Islam, al-Kindī declines the invitation and in turn invites his Muslim friend to embrace Christianity. The Christian's answer comprises some six sevenths of the text.
[edit] Controversy
The book makes clear that the Christian Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi is not the Muslim philosopher Abu Yûsuf ibn Ishâc al-Kindī who also flourished at the Court of Ma'mûn and his successor [3].
According to the book, both persons' names are kept secret to secure their safety [4]. Muir defends the Epistles against allegations of being a pious fraud with the view to gaining for them greater celebrity and weight. Muir says in his preface:
- It is difficult to conceive how such plain-speaking was tolerated even at the court of Al Ma'mûn; at any other, the Apology would have had small chance of seeing the light, or the writer of escaping with his head upon his shoulders. That the work did (as we know) gain currency can only have been due to its appearance at this particular era. [5]
Georg Graf and other recent European scholars believe the exchange of letters are fraudulent, written a century or more after the proposed date. It has been pointed out that Al-Hashimy's letter only briefly mentions the Qur'anic criticisms of the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation, as well as the "worship" of the cross, and it contains a virtually complete list of the books of the Bible. Since it is unlikely that any Muslim in the early ninth century would have had such a list, critics argue that it may well be that this letter also was written by a Christian author.
