The Book of Disputation - a Mudejar Religious-philosophical Treatise Against Christians and Jews: A Study and an Accompanying Text Edition (Medieval and Early Modern Iberian World, 84)

This is the first critical edition and study of a unique and important Muslim polemic against Christians and Jews. The Book of Disputation was written in Arabic by a Mudejar (subject Muslim living under Christian rule in late medieval Iberia) and offers new insight into the cultural and intellectual life of this Muslim minority. The text advances arguments drawn from natural philosophy--largely from Aristotle and Averroes--along with more traditional revealed sources such as the Qurʾān and the Bible. Mudejar communities suffered a diminution of religious and political intelligentsia over time. This text, however, highlights the author's particular conception of the world as the creation of God in his defense of Islam, demonstrates the vitality of intellectual life among Muslims in medieval Christian Iberia, and documents the continued cultivation of natural philosophy within these Muslim communities. Front Cover 1 ‎Half-Title Page 2 ‎Series Title Page 3 ‎Title Page 4 ‎Copyright Page 5 ‎Contents 8 ‎Acknowledgements 10 ‎Note on Transliteration, Conventions and Abbreviations 11 ‎Figures 12 ‎Introduction 14 ‎1. The KM in the Production of Religious Polemics of Iberian Muslims 23 ‎2. Characteristics of Mudejar Polemics 27 ‎3. The Contents and Intellectual Milieu of the KM 31 ‎4. The Author’s Defence of Philosophy 38 ‎5. Chapter Overview 40 ‎Part 1. A Mudejar Microcosmos 46 ‎Chapter 1. A Scholarly Defence of Religious Excellence 48 ‎1. Contested Claims to Noble Descent in Christian Iberia 55 ‎2. “Generational Discontinuation” in the KM 65 ‎Chapter 2. A Fourteenth-Century Mudejar Cosmology 75 ‎1. Natural Philosophy in the KM 81 ‎2. Sections and Distribution of Sources on Philosophy in the KM 110 ‎Chapter 3. Harmony between Revelation and Philosophy: Towards an Identification of the Author of the KM 125 ‎Part 2. The Book of Disputation: A Diplomatic Text Edition 132 ‎General Remarks 134 ‎Language and Its Use in the Copy by ar-Raqilī 135 ‎Diplomatic Text Edition 145 ‎Appendix 1. Contents of The Book of Disputation 242 ‎Appendix 2. Source Overview 245 ‎Appendix 3. Qurʾān Verses 247 ‎Appendix 4. Bible Verses 250 ‎Appendix 5. Words in Aljamiado 259 ‎Bibliographical References 263 ‎Index of Names and Places 281 Back Cover 286 "This is the first critical edition and study of a unique and important Muslim polemic against Christians and Jews. The Book of Disputation was written in Arabic by a Mudejar (subject Muslim living under Christian rule in late medieval Iberia) and offers new insight into the cultural and intellectual life of this Muslim minority. The text advances arguments drawn from natural philosophy-largely from Aristotle and Averroes-along with more traditional revealed sources such as the Qur'an and the Bible. Mudejar communities suffered a diminution of religious and political intelligentsia over time. This text, however, highlights the author's particular conception of the world as the creation of God in his defense of Islam, demonstrates the vitality of intellectual life among Muslims in medieval Christian Iberia, and documents the continued cultivation of natural philosophy within these Muslim communities"-- Provided by publisher