Christianity and Islam The Mutual Understanding and the Development of their Early Relations till the End of the Umayyad Islamic Rule in the Middle East, with Special Focus on the Identity Formation of Both Communities Rev. George Jabra Al-Kopti A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the degree of Masters of Theology at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. July 2018 1 Abstract Abstract In this thesis I will explore how the religious identities of Christian churches and Muslim communities were formed in the socio-political and cultural context of the Middle East during the early period of Islamic rule. This formation was the product of a long process grounded in struggles over power and primacy, the hindrances of language, and limits in communication among Christians. Islam was born into a socio-political and cultural context heavily influenced by the Melkite, Monophysite and Nestorian churches, which, caught in their own processes of identity formation, had flourished in Arabia for 2 centuries at least, though Judaism was also a religious context that affected the formation of Islamic identity in Arabia. The development of the identity of both Christian and Muslim communities was a result of direct interaction between them after Islam expanded into the previously Christian region to the north of Arabia. This thesis explores this process and argues for an evident influence of main orthodox Christianity, but also non- orthodox Jewish-Christianity (Ebionite), on Islam using modern Muslim scholarship that has started to accept this, as well as Arab Christian scholarship not yet familiar in the West. 2 Contents Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 2 Contents ................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 Identity and influence ....................................................................................................... 6 Structuring the thesis......................................................................................................... 7 Chapter One: Eastern Christianity on the Eve of Islam: A Historical and Theological Overview. .............................................................................................................................. 9 Early Christianity in Mesopotamia ................................................................................. 11 Early Christianity in Egypt ............................................................................................. 15 Early Christianity in West Syria ..................................................................................... 19 The Christian Struggle from Nicaea to Chalcedon ......................................................... 21 Attempts at Unity ............................................................................................................ 30 The Formation of three different Christian Identities and their Geographical Locations33 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter Two: Christianity in Arabia in Pre-Islamic Times and its influence on Islam ...... 49 The sources of Islamic Theology and History ................................................................ 49 Christianity in Arabia before Islam................................................................................. 55 Christians in the Qur'an ................................................................................................... 60 The Influence of Christianity on Islam ........................................................................... 73 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 86 Chapter Three: Early Christian Interpretation of the Islamic Conquests and the Developments of Christian-Muslim Relations and Dialogue under the Umayyad Caliphate (A.D 660-750) ..................................................................................................................... 88 The situation in the Middle East before the Arab/Muslim conquest .............................. 91 3 Contents Surviving early Muslim historical books ........................................................................ 99 Christian historians of the period of the conquests ....................................................... 101 Why Arab Muslims started the conquests .................................................................... 102 Interpretation by Muslim historians of the Arab/Muslim conquests, their circumstances and the motivations behind them .................................................................................. 105 Interpretation by early Christian writers of the Arab/Muslim Conquest ...................... 112 The Arab/Muslim Administration and the Status of Christians.................................... 122 The Umayyad Rule (AD 660-750) ............................................................................... 126 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 144 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 146 Appendix I: The Historians of the Formative Period........................................................ 149 Appendix II: The East: Syria and Mesopotamia ............................................................... 150 Appendix III: Northern Christian Arab Tribes ................................................................. 151 Appendix IV: The History of al-Tabarī ............................................................................ 152 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 155 4 Introduction Introduction As a Christian living in the Middle East, I always face questions about my faith, my religious practices, worship and ethics. These questions come usually from my Muslim friends, school-mates, neighbors and even foreigners. They raised in my mind, since early adolescent life, a passion and motivation to study my Bible more, and to study Islam as a religion. I started observing Muslim practices and listening to their teachings, while at the same time trying to find appropriate answers to their questions. This process led me to discover myself and my faith more deeply, and at the same time I was able to understand how my fellow citizens think of me and of themselves. The questions Muslims were asking were weird sometimes and had nothing to do with my faith. Some had a form of accusation such as 'Christians worship three gods, father, mother (Mary) and son.’ It was good to know how they were thinking, but I was more interested to know how Muslims came up with these questions/accusations. How and when did they develop their concepts of Christianity? What was the context of this development? Was there any Christian response or explanation? Muslims seemed to understand Christian faith from their own resources without listening to Christian explanation of Christian faith. This led me to write this thesis in order to explore deeply the Christian and Muslim religious identities in the Arab context that were developed in the early centuries of their relations. What were the Christian reactions and responses to the challenge of Islam? How was Christian identity formed before the coming of Islam? Was there any Christian (or Jewish) influence on Islam from the beginning and did it continue after the spread of Muslims in the Middle East? Was Islam a product of a hidden struggle between orthodox and non-orthodox Christianities? 5 Introduction Identity and influence Questions of identity and its definition had existed for Christians before the coming of Islam to the region, which included Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt. For seven centuries, they were divided into three different "orthodoxies" namely the Nestorian, Monophysite and Chalcedonian churches. Several socio-political, cultural, linguistic and dogmatic factors played a role in these divisions that led the followers, as much as the leaders, of these churches to seek to form their own distinct identity along dogmatic, as well as organizational lines. The three main factors were: language; the different historical and socio-cultural background (context) of the churches; and the two different ecclesiastical systems that governed them, namely collegial hierarchy in the Eastern churches and papal hierarchy in the West. Under Muslim rule starting mid seventh century AD, the Christian struggle for identity continued. Meanwhile Muslims themselves were looking to form and establish their own identity, especially as they invaded and began to rule new lands and peoples. Social, religious and cultural interaction with Christian (and Jewish) peoples in Arabia and then the new lands north of Arabia helped Muhammad and his followers to develop their own religious thought, especially the presence of Christianity in the form of Ebionite/ Jewish- Christianity. Islam was born in an Arab context for Arabs, with religious identity that could not absorb the complicated Greek