Description

Dionysius bar Salibi's apologetic treatise, A Response to the Arabs, is the longest and most comprehensive dispute text with Muslims that exists in Syriac. Its main purpose is to acquaint the reader with the essential facts pertaining to Islam and to provide apologetic arguments intended to refute the challenges of Islam to the Christian faith. What sets Bar Salibi's treatise apart from other Syriac dispute texts is the information it contains concerning the history and doctrinal development of Islam. The first two discourses deal with the prophet Muhammad, the emergence of Islam, the Qurian, and the origins and characteristics of the main Islamic schools of thought. The central beliefs of the Christian faith are explained and defended. The third discourse (chapters 25-30) is made up of the most extensive collection of quotations from the Qurian translated into Syriac that exists in any known Syriac dispute text. A parallel column contains Bar Salibi's observations and refutations.