St. John of Damascus’s Critique of Islam
7 September 2014
A.D. Remembering John of Damascus’s Critique of
Islam
John of
Damascus. “Critique of Islam.” The
Fathers of the Church, Vol.
37 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1958), pp.
153-160. Posted 26 March, 2006. http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/stjohn_islam.aspx. Accessed 5 Sept 2014.
St. John of Damascus’s Critique of Islam
Webmaster note: The following passage is
from Saint John’s monumental work, the Fount
of Knowledge, part two entitled Heresies
in Epitome: How They Began and Whence They Drew Their Origin. It is
usually just cited as Heresies.
The translator’s introduction points out that Fount of Knowledge is one of the most “important
single works produced in the Greek patristic period,…offering as it does an
extensive and lucid synthesis of the Greek theological science of the whole
period. It is the first great Summa of theology to appear in either the East or
the West.” Saint John (+ 749) is considered one of the great Fathers of the
Church, and his writings hold a place of high honor in the Church. His critique
of Islam, or “the heresy of the Ishmaelites,” is especially relevant for our
times.
There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which
to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the
Antichrist. They are descended from Ishmael, [who] was born to Abraham of Agar,
and for this reason they are called both Agarenes and Ishmaelites. They are
also called Saracens, which is derived from Sarras kenoi, or destitute of Sara,
because of what Agar said to the angel: ‘Sara hath sent me away destitute.’
[99] These used to be idolaters and worshiped the morning star and Aphrodite,
whom in their own language they called Khabár, which means great. [100] And so
down to the time of Heraclius they were very great idolaters. From that time to
the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This
man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it
seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, [101] devised his own heresy. Then,
having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of
seeming piety, he gave out that a certain book had been sent down to him from
heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he
gave it to them as an object of veneration.
He says that there is one God, creator of all things, who
has neither been begotten nor has begotten. [102] He says that the Christ is
the Word of God and His Spirit, but a creature and a servant, and that He was
begotten, without seed, of Mary the sister of Moses and Aaron. [103] For, he
says, the Word and God and the Spirit entered into Mary and she brought forth
Jesus, who was a prophet and servant of God. And he says that the Jews wanted
to crucify Him in violation of the law, and that they seized His shadow and
crucified this. But the Christ Himself was not crucified, he says, nor did He
die, for God out of His love for Him took Him to Himself into heaven. [104] And
he says this, that when the Christ had ascended into heaven God asked Him: ‘O
Jesus, didst thou say: “I am the Son of God and God”?’ And Jesus, he says,
answered: ‘Be merciful to me, Lord. Thou knowest that I did not say this and
that I did not scorn to be thy servant. But sinful men have written that I made
this statement, and they have lied about me and have fallen into error.’ And
God answered and said to Him: ‘I know that thou didst not say this word.” [105]
There are many other extraordinary and quite ridiculous things in this book
which he boasts was sent down to him from God. But when we ask: ‘And who is
there to testify that God gave him the book? And which of the prophets foretold
that such a prophet would rise up?’—they are at a loss. And we remark that
Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai, with God appearing in the sight of all
the people in cloud, and fire, and darkness, and storm. And we say that all the
Prophets from Moses on down foretold the coming of Christ and how Christ God
(and incarnate Son of God) was to come and to be crucified and die and rise
again, and how He was to be the judge of the living and dead. Then, when we
say: ‘How is it that this prophet of yours did not come in the same way, with
others bearing witness to him? And how is it that God did not in your presence
present this man with the book to which you refer, even as He gave the Law to
Moses, with the people looking on and the mountain smoking, so that you, too,
might have certainty?’—they answer that God does as He pleases. ‘This,’ we say,
‘We know, but we are asking how the book came down to your prophet.’ Then they
reply that the book came down to him while he was asleep. Then we jokingly say
to them that, as long as he received the book in his sleep and did not actually
sense the operation, then the popular adage applies to him (which runs: You’re
spinning me dreams.) [106]
When we ask again: ‘How is it that when he enjoined us in
this book of yours not to do anything or receive anything without witnesses,
you did not ask him: “First do you show us by witnesses that you are a prophet
and that you have come from God, and show us just what Scriptures there are
that testify about you”’—they are ashamed and remain silent. [Then we
continue:] ‘Although you may not marry a wife without witnesses, or buy, or
acquire property; although you neither receive an ass nor possess a beast of
burden unwitnessed; and although you do possess both wives and property and asses
and so on through witnesses, yet it is only your faith and your scriptures that
you hold unsubstantiated by witnesses. For he who handed this down to you has
no warranty from any source, nor is there anyone known who testified about him
before he came. On the contrary, he received it while he was asleep.’
Moreover, they call us Hetaeriasts, or Associators,
because, they say, we introduce an associate with God by declaring Christ to
the Son of God and God. We say to them in rejoinder: ‘The Prophets and the
Scriptures have delivered this to us, and you, as you persistently maintain,
accept the Prophets. So, if we wrongly declare Christ to be the Son of God, it
is they who taught this and handed it on to us.’ But some of them say that it
is by misinterpretation that we have represented the Prophets as saying such
things, while others say that the Hebrews hated us and deceived us by writing
in the name of the Prophets so that we might be lost. And again we say to them:
‘As long as you say that Christ is the Word of God and Spirit, why do you
accuse us of being Hetaeriasts? For the word, and the spirit, is inseparable
from that in which it naturally has existence. Therefore, if the Word of God is
in God, then it is obvious that He is God. If, however, He is outside of God,
then, according to you, God is without word and without spirit. Consequently,
by avoiding the introduction of an associate with God you have mutilated Him.
It would be far better for you to say that He has an associate than to mutilate
Him, as if you were dealing with a stone or a piece of wood or some other
inanimate object. Thus, you speak untruly when you call us Hetaeriasts; we
retort by calling you Mutilators of God.’
They furthermore accuse us of being idolaters, because we
venerate the cross, which they abominate. And we answer them: ‘How is it, then,
that you rub yourselves against a stone in your Ka’ba [107] and kiss and
embrace it?’ Then some of them say that Abraham had relations with Agar upon
it, but others say that he tied the camel to it, when he was going to sacrifice
Isaac. And we answer them: ‘Since Scripture says that the mountain was wooded
and had trees from which Abraham cut wood for the holocaust and laid it upon
Isaac, [108] and then he left the asses behind with the two young men, why talk
nonsense? For in that place neither is it thick with trees nor is there passage
for asses.’ And they are embarrassed, but they still assert that the stone is
Abraham’s. Then we say: ‘Let it be Abraham’s, as you so foolishly say. Then, just
because Abraham had relations with a woman on it or tied a camel to it, you are
not ashamed to kiss it, yet you blame us for venerating the cross of Christ by
which the power of the demons and the deceit of the Devil was destroyed.’ This
stone that they talk about is a head of that Aphrodite whom they used to
worship and whom they called Khabár. Even to the present day, traces of the
carving are visible on it to careful observers.
As has been related, this Mohammed wrote many ridiculous
books, to each one of which he set a title. For example, there is the book On Woman, [109] in which he
plainly makes legal provision for taking four wives and, if it be possible, a
thousand concubines—as many as one can maintain, besides the four wives. He
also made it legal to put away whichever wife one might wish, and, should one
so wish, to take to oneself another in the same way. Mohammed had a friend
named Zeid. This man had a beautiful wife with whom Mohammed fell in love.
Once, when they were sitting together, Mohammed said: ‘Oh, by the way, God has
commanded me to take your wife.’ The other answered: ‘You are an apostle. Do as
God has told you and take my wife.’ Rather—to tell the story over from the
beginning—he said to him: ‘God has given me the command that you put away your
wife.’ And he put her away. Then several days later: ‘Now,’ he said, ‘God has
commanded me to take her.’ Then, after he had taken her and committed adultery
with her, he made this law: ‘Let him who will put away his wife. And if, after
having put her away, he should return to her, let another marry her. For it is
not lawful to take her unless she have been married by another. Furthermore, if
a brother puts away his wife, let his brother marry her, should he so wish.’
[110] In the same book he gives such precepts as this: ‘Work the land which God
hath given thee and beautify it. And do this, and do it in such a manner”
[111]—not to repeat all the obscene things that he did.
Then there is the book of The Camel of God. [112] About this camel he says that
there was a camel from God and that she drank the whole river and could not
pass through two mountains, because there was not room enough. There were
people in that place, he says, and they used to drink the water on one day,
while the camel would drink it on the next. Moreover, by drinking the water she
furnished them with nourishment, because she supplied them with milk instead of
water. Then, because these men were evil, they rose up, he says, and killed the
camel. However, she had an offspring, a little camel, which, he says, when the
mother had been done away with, called upon God and God took it to Himself.
Then we say to them: ‘Where did that camel come from?’ And they say that it was
from God. Then we say: ‘Was there another camel coupled with this one?’ And
they say: ‘No.’ ‘Then how,’ we say, ‘was it begotten? For we see that your
camel is without father and without mother and without genealogy, and that the
one that begot it suffered evil. Neither is it evident who bred her. And also,
this little camel was taken up. So why did not your prophet, with whom,
according to what you say, God spoke, find out about the camel—where it grazed,
and who got milk by milking it? Or did she possibly, like her mother, meet with
evil people and get destroyed? Or did she enter into paradise before you, so
that you might have the river of milk that you so foolishly talk about? For you
say that you have three rivers flowing in paradise—one of water, one of wine,
and one of milk. If your forerunner the camel is outside of paradise, it is
obvious that she has dried up from hunger and thirst, or that others have the
benefit of her milk—and so your prophet is boasting idly of having conversed
with God, because God did not reveal to him the mystery of the camel. But if she
is in paradise, she is drinking water still, and you for lack of water will dry
up in the midst of the paradise of delight. And if, there being no water,
because the camel will have drunk it all up, you thirst for wine from the river
of wine that is flowing by, you will become intoxicated from drinking pure wine
and collapse under the influence of the strong drink and fall asleep. Then,
suffering from a heavy head after sleeping and being sick from the wine, you
will miss the pleasures of paradise. How, then, did it not enter into the mind
of your prophet that this might happen to you in the paradise of delight? He
never had any idea of what the camel is leading to now, yet you did not even
ask him, when he held forth to you with his dreams on the subject of the three
rivers. We plainly assure you that this wonderful camel of yours has preceded
you into the souls of asses, where you, too, like beasts are destined to go.
And there is the exterior darkness and everlasting punishment, roaring fire,
sleepless worms, and hellish demons.’
Again, in the book of The
Table, Mohammed says that the Christ asked God for a table and that
it was given Him. For God, he says, said to Him: ‘I have given to thee and
thine an incorruptible table.’ [113]
And again, in the book of The Heifer, [114] he says some other stupid and
ridiculous things, which, because of their great number, I think must be passed
over. He made it a law that they be circumcised and the women, too, and he
ordered them not to keep the Sabbath and not to be baptized.
And, while he ordered them to eat some of the things
forbidden by the Law, he ordered them to abstain from others. He furthermore
absolutely forbade the drinking of wine.
Endnotes
99. Cf. Gen. 16.8. Sozomen also says that they were
descended from Agar, but called themselves descendants of Sara to hide their
servile origin (Ecclesiastical History 6.38, PG 67.1412AB).
100. The Arabic kabirun means ‘great,’ whether in size or
in dignity. Herodotus mentions the Arabian cult of the ‘Heavenly Aphrodite’ but
says that the Arabs called her Alilat (Herodotus 1.131)
101. This may be the Nestorian monk Bahira (George or
Sergius) who met the boy Mohammed at Bostra in Syria and claimed to recognize
in him the sign of a prophet.
102. Koran, Sura 112.
103. Sura 19; 4.169.
104. Sura 4.156.
105. Sura 5.Il6tf.
106. The manuscripts do not have the adage, but Lequien
suggests this one from Plato.
107. The Ka’ba, called ‘The House of God,’ is supposed to
have been built by Abraham with the help of Ismael. It occupies the most sacred
spot in the Mosque of Mecca. Incorporated in its wall is the stone here
referred to, the famous Black Stone, which is obviously a relic of the idolatry
of the pre-Islam Arabs.
108. Gen. 22.6.
109. Koran, Sura 4.
110. Cf. Sura 2225ff.
111. Sura 2.223.
112. Not in the Koran.
113. Sura 5.114,115.
114. Sura 2.
From Writings,
by St John of Damascus, The
Fathers of the Church, vol. 37 (Washington, DC: Catholic University
of America Press, 1958), pp. 153-160. Posted 26 March, 2006.
Comments
Post a Comment