MOHAMMEDANISM
421
MOHAMMEDANISM
Christian and Mohammedan Polemics. — The contest of Christianity with Islam, so far as it has been a struggle of argument and not of the sword [see Sara- cens], offers few remarkable points. In the first sweep of Mohammedan conquest, when the Christians suc- cumbed not only in the East but even in the West, there was no field for a question of truth. But among nations which were removed from the peril, and yet suf- ficiently in contact to entertain the question of the claims of the Mohammedan religion, a consideration of its nature, regarded as a system of doctrine, naturallj^ enough arose. Accordingly in Constantinople, and in Spain and the other parts of Western Europe which came into connection with the Moors, works of this character appeared. The history may be conveniently arranged in three periods, each of which is marked by works of defence, some called forth by danger, a real demand, but subsiding into or connected with inquiries prompted only by literary tastes. The first is from the 12th to the middle of the 16th century; the second dur- ing the 17th and 18th; the third during the present century.
1. A notice of the Mohammedan religion exists in a work of John of Damascus (q. v.), who flourished in the 8th century; and Euthymius Zigabenus (q. v.), a By- zantine writer of the 12th: but the first important treatise written directly against it was prepared in 1210 — Richardi Confututio, edited in 1543 by Bibliander from a Greek copy. The refutation of Averroes bj' Aquinas, about 1250, can hardly be quoted as an instance of a work against the Mohammedan religion, being rather against its philosophy. The ablest Christian po- lemic who waged war against Islam in the 13th century was, however, the well-known Eaymond Lully (q. v.), whose zeal could not fail to stir up many laborers for the mission-field, especially that branch of it aiming at the conversion of ]\Iohammedans. Thus we read of a monk who penetrated the great mosque at Cairo in 1345 to require the sultan himself to become a follower of Christ crucified ; and so powerful was his appeal that a renegade who had lapsed into Islam returned into the bosom of the Church. Then we find Ethier, the father confessor of the infanta of Aragonia, jjreacliing Christ to the Moslems in 1370 ; and his example followed in 1439 by the papal legate Albert of Larzana and two assist- ants, etc.
But if we return to works aimed to defend Christian- ity against Mohammedanism, we meet with a treatise by John Cantacuzene, written a little after 1350, which is to be explained probably by the circumstance that the danger from Mohammedan powers in the East di- rected the attention of a literary man to the religion and institutions which they professed. Thus far the works were called forth by a real demand. A series of treatises, however, commences about the time of the ex- pulsion of the Moors from Spain, the cause of the exist- ence of which is not so easy of explanation. Such are those in Spain by Alphonso de Spina, 1487, and by Tur- recremata (see Eichhorn, Gesch der Lit. vol. vi) ; by Nicholas de Cuza, published in 1543; in Italy about 1500 by Ludovicus Vives, and Volterranus; one by Philip Melancthon in reference to the reading of the Koran ; and a collection of treatises, including those of Richardus, Cantacuzene, Vives, and Melancthon, pub- lished by Bibliander in 1548. Probably the first two of this list may have been a relic of the crusade of Chris- tianity against the Moorish religion ; the next two pos- sibly were called forth by the interest excited in refer- ence to Mohammedans by reason of their conquests, or, less probably, by the influence of their philosophy at Padua. The last two are hardly to be explained, ex- cept by supposing them to be an offshoot of the Kenais- sancc, and called forth by the largeness of literary taste and inquiry excited by that event.
2. When we pass into the 17th century we find a se- ries of treatises on the same subject, which must be ex- plained by the cause j ust named— the newly acquired
interest in Arabic and other Eastern tongues. We meet, however, with others, called forth by the mission- ary exertions which had brought the Christians into contact with Mohammedans in the East.
The treatise by Bleda {De/ensio Fidei Christiance, 1610) stands alone, unconnected with any cause. It was partly a defence of the conduct of Christians to- wards the Mohammedans. A real interest, however, belongs to the work of Guadagnoli, in 1631. A Cath- olic missionary, Hieronymo Xavier, had composed in 1596 a treatise in Persian against Mohammedanism, in which the general principle of theism was laid down as opposed to the Mohammedan doctrine of absorption ; next, the peculiar doctrines of Christianity was stated ; and, lastly, a contrast was cbrawn between the two relig- ions. (See Lee's Tracts on Christianity and Mohamme- danism, Pref. p. 5 sq.) This work was answered in 1621 by a Persian nobleman named Ahmed ibn-Zain Elebidin. The line adopted by him was— (1) to show that the coming of Mohammed was predicted in the 0. T. (Hab. iii, 3) ; (2) to argue that Mohammed's teaching was not more opposed to Christ's than his was to that of Moses, and that therefore both ought to be admitted, or both rejected; (3) to point out critically the discrepancies in the Gospels ; (4) to attack the doctrines of the Trinity and Christ's deity (Lee, Pref. p. 41 sq.). It was written in golden characters, and sent to pope Urban VIII, with a challenge to refute its contents. A person competent to deal with it was carefully selected, and the work was ably answered (1631) by a treatise in Latin by Philippo Guadagnoli, dedicated to pope Urban VIII. It is divid- ed into four parts : (1) respecting the objections about the Trinity; (2) the Incarnation; (3) the authority of Scripture; (4) the claims of the Koran and of Moham- med (Lee, Pref. p. 108 sq. ; who also gives references [p. 113] to a few other writers, chiefly in the 17th cen- tury).