The Armenian ‘History’ by Łewond, composed in the late 700s, includes what purport to be letters between ‘Umar II and Leo III.
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
I’m reading them now (tr. Jeffery, “Ghevond’s text”, 1944; they’re also in ‘History of Lewond’, tr. Arzoumanian, which I’ve ordered).
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
A handy survey of the Leo-‘Umar correspondence and modern debates: Hoyland, ‘Seeing Islam as Others Saw It’, pp. 490-501. @usmanehmad
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Interesting that ‘Umar II describes Muhammad as the Paraclete; so does Ibn Ishaq! Maybe it’s an 8th-c. theological topos.
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
‘Umar II: Why do Christians change all the laws? “circumcision into baptism… sacrifice into the eucharist… Saturday into Sunday”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
‘Umar II: Isaiah predicts Muhammad when he speaks of “two riders, mounted, the one on an ass [i.e. Jesus] and the other on a camel”.
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: You pretend your “Furqān” was written by God; “we know that it was ‘Umar, Abū Turāb [‘Alī] and Salmān the Persian, who composed that”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo gets philological: “Paraclete thus signifies ‘consoler,’ while Muḥammad means ‘to give thanks,’ …which has no connection whatever”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: Christianity may have schisms, but Islam is only a hundred years old, and confined to one nation, and look how schismatic you are!
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: “have you no thought that by exterminating those who differ a little from your opinions, you commit a crime against God?” #takfir
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: Those you count as Christian sects are actually “the voluptuous, impure, filthy, impious… like pagans… whose faith is only a blasphemy”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: “Ḥajjāj… had men gather up your ancient books, which he replaced by others composed by himself… propagated everywhere in your nation”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
(That al-Ḥajjāj, governor of Iraq, did sponsor an edition of the Qur’ān is attested also in the Arabic tradition.)
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: Despite Ḥajjāj’s machinations, “there escaped a few of the works of Abū Turāb”; might this reflect traditions of a proto-Shī‘ī Qur’ān?
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: “Cease then to multiply such inanities, lest you nullify the little truth there is in what you advance.” (My new motto.)
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo accuses ‘Umar’s uncle, a successful general, of sacrificing a camel, then decapitating Christian prisoners and mingling the blood.
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: Menses are part of reproduction; “It is you alone who consider them impure, whereas in the eyes of God, it is pillage, assassination”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo mocks the Ka‘bah, which is interesting in itself: if genuine, this is a very early mention (717-20) of the Ka‘bah.
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: The Ka‘bah is in the desert, whither Jesus drove demons in the form of serpents. Curiously, here’s Ibn Ishaq… pic.twitter.com/Ddd0UWnoIn
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
(Jeffery, the translator, made that mental leap, without building on it. It’s probably just a coincidence, but I hope it’s more than that.)
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo describes the pilgrimage! “a stone that is called rukn… carnage of demons… the stones cast, the flight, the having your head shaven…”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: “your Prophet and the manner full of artifice whereby he succeeded in seducing the woman Zeda”—The earliest reference to Zaynab?
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo condemns (and thereby testifies to the practice of) Muslim divorce: “When you are tired of your wives… you abandon them at your fancy.”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Aaand as for ‘Umar’s invocation of Isaiah: Leo says the ass represents the Jews; the donkey, the Babylonians/Midianites – i.e., the Arabs –
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
and both have been misled by the same rider, Satan.
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: “You call the ‘Way of God’ [= Arabic ‘Sabīl Allāh’!] these devastating raids which bring death and captivity to all peoples.”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo: “We do not expect to enjoy [in heaven] commerce with women who remain for ever virgin” (Surely ‘grapes’? – ed.)
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Leo’s parting shot: “you attribute [your success] to your religion…You forget that the Persians also prolonged their tyranny for 400 years.”
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Łewond: Having read Leo III’s letter, ‘Umar II became nicer to Christians, freed captives, gave lots of gifts to soldiers, and then died.
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
THE END
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
Tweet-reading a medieval source is more fun than I’d expected. Doing it cross-legged between the library stacks, for 2.5 hours, was unwise.
— Ian D. Morris (@iandavidmorris) November 10, 2015
