Abstract Christians living in the Islamicate world developed a wide variety of strategies to respond to Muslim criticisms of Christianity. One such strategy was based on a qualified appropriation of the Muslim sacred scripture. From at least the late eighth century onwards, Syriac- and Arabic-speaking Christians have engaged with the Qurʾān, sometimes to expose its perceived flaws, but most typically to reference or quote passages from it that could be harmonized with Christian doctrine. This tradition of Qurʾān-based Christian apologetics is considered to have reached its climax around the thirteenth century. Yet many relevant texts remain to be examined, particularly those produced in subsequent centuries or of uncertain date. This article presents, edits, and translates one such sample written in Karshūnī (i.e., Arabic in Syriac script): a running commentary on al-Fātiḥa, the well-known opening sūra of the Qurʾān.
Abstract This article attempts to reconstruct the economic and geographical mechanisms that explain the concentration of Christians in the settlement of Qanqa in the Tashkent Oasis. The author combines source-critical work on Arabic geographical texts with a linguistic analysis of Iranian and Turkic place-names and archaeological and ethnographic data. The study draws on data from excavations of a craftsmen’s quarter, linked by the main road to the market on one side and deposits of raw materials in the mountains on the other. It also reassesses a large building within the quarter and reconstructs an original church plan from documented phases of remodelling. The author argues that local wine production was stimulated by the celebration of the Eucharist, reflected in Christian symbolism on ceramics found during the excavations. The paper also investigates the ancient name of the site, Kharshkath, linking it to a river crossing which necessitated a particular kind of ferry for heavily laden camel caravans. The later designation Qanqa is explained with reference to the Chinese Kangju (“peaceful place”), supported by historical phonology. Finally, the author suggests that a mission of the Metropolitan of Merv, Elijah, which led to the conversion of a Turkic ruler in the seventh century, explains the beginnings of Christianity in this settlement.
