Research Catalog

Title

• The proofs of prophecy = اعلام النبوة : a parallel English-Arabic text / Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī ; translated, introduced and annotated by Tarif Khalidi.
• The proofs of prophecy = Aʻlām al-nubūwah : a parallel English-Arabic text / Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī ; translated, introduced and annotated by Tarif Khalidi.

Author

• أبو حاتم الرازي، أحمد بن حمدان، ت 934؟
• Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī, Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdān, -934?

Publication

Provo, Utah : Brigham Young University Press, 2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Khalidi, Tarif, 1938-
• Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī, Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdān, -934?
• Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
• Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (Brigham Young University)

Description

xxiii, 266 pages; 24 cm.

Summary

"This text is the record of a debate that took place in the early tenth century between the famous Ismaʿili missionary Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzi (d. ca. 933) and the even more celebrated Abū Bakr al-Rāzi (d. 925), the physician and philosopher known to medieval Europe as "Rhazes." These two were towering figures of pre-modern Islamic thought, and this account of the debate between them brings us into immediate contact with some of the most intellectually exciting topics of medieval Islamic culture. Abū Ḥātim marshals evidence for his position from the Qurʼan, the hadith, and pre-Islamic Arabic poetry as well as from the Jewish and Christian scriptures. The freshness and vividness of the debate are preserved in the expert, first-ever English translation by Tarif Khalidi. Abū Ḥātim's account holds excitement for modern readers interested not only in medieval Islamic thought, but Christian thought as well'--Jacket flap.

Series Statement

Islamic translation series

Uniform Title

Islamic translation series

Alternative Title

• اعلام النبوة
• Aʻlām al-nubūwah
• Aʻlām al-nubūwah

Subject

• Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā, 865?-925?
• Muḥammad, Prophet, -632 > Prophetic office > Early works to 1800
• Prophets, Pre-Islamic > Early works to 1800
• Islam > Doctrines > Early works to 1800
• Prophecy > Islam > Early works to 1800

Genre/Form

Early works

Note

• This publication was funded through the support of the U.S. Congress and the Library of Congress.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-250) and indexes.

Language (note)

• Arabic text and English translation on facing pages.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Part one -- An account of what transpired between me and the heretic -- Concerning the five eternals and the debate over imitation and independent investigation -- Concerning his argument that the five are eternal, with no other eternal except them, and the debate about time and space -- That the world is created -- Part two -- [On reason, religion, and imitation] -- Returning to the subject of rational investigation and inquiry -- A discussion of the phrase "profound reflection" -- A discussion of contradiction -- That when believers in religious law are asked for proof, they become abusive -- His saying, "They are deceived by the imposing beards of these jackasses" -- His statement that the truth is buried very deep and falls totally silent -- His statement concerning feeble-minded men and women -- Regarding his statement, "We shall now examine the speech of these people and its contradictory nature" -- The prophet's demeanor and virtues --
• Concerning the speech of prophets and their laws -- Concerning parable and meaning -- Concerning what the heretic stated that is in the Torah -- Part four -- A brief discussion of the differences among so-called philosophers and the contradictions in their speech -- Conflict among philosophers and regarding principles -- A summary of divergences among views of philosophers -- Which of the tow groups is more deceitful? -- There is no divergence among prophets regarding principles -- All religious laws are true, but falsehood has been mixed with them -- Part five -- Further views of the heretic -- On oppression and victory -- The difference between miracles and signs -- The mention of the signs of Muh̥ammad in revealed books -- The signs of Muh̥ammad in Islam -- Part six -- On the matter of the Qurʼān -- Part seven -- Prophets as originators of the sciences and testators of philosophers -- The origin of the stars and of astronomical observations --
• The origin of the science of pharmacology -- Every knowledge stems from the first sage.

ISBN

• 9780842527873
• 0842527877

OCLC

• 711050832
• SCSB-11926066

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library