al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Nasara min al-Fasad wa al-Awham

Al-Iʿlām bi-mā fī Dīn al-Naṣārā min al-Fasād wa-l-Awhām (Informing of the Corruption and Delusions in the Religion of the Christians) is an Andalusian polemical and theological work written to refute Christian doctrine, defend Islamic tenets, and establish the proofs of the prophethood of Muḥammad ﷺ al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…+1.

Context and Authorship

The book was written in response to a polemical treatise titled Tathlīth al-waḥdāniyya fī maʿrifat Allāh (The Trinity of Unity in the Knowledge of God), which was sent by a Christian writer from Toledo to Cordoba Ara al-Qurtubi wal-Mazari…+1. In that text, the author attacked Islam, disparaged its beliefs, and threatened to disseminate criticisms of Islamic law across Muslim cities, prompting the Andalusian scholar to compose a comprehensive refutation Ara al-Qurtubi wal-Mazari…+1.

The work has traditionally been attributed to the Quranic exegete Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Qurtubi (d. 671 AH / 1273 CE) Takhjil man Harrafa al-Ta…+1. However, several modern researchers attribute it instead to the Hadith scholar Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Qurṭubī (d. 656 AH / 1258 CE), author of al-Mufhim, who repeatedly cited the work in al-Mufhim under abbreviated variants of its title as well as its full title Ara al-Qurtubi wal-Mazari…+1.

Structure and Contents

The author arranged the book into an introductory section (ṣadr) followed by four major thematic parts (abwāb) al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…:

• Introduction (Ṣadr al-Kitāb): Examines the preamble of the opponent's treatise and dissects its title, arguing that combining "trinity" with "unity" is a contradiction in terms, as unity denotes the negation of multiplicity while trinity affirms it al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…+1.
• First Part (al-Bāb al-Awwal): Discusses the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and the divine hypostases (al-aqānīm), analyzing their theological formulations and the differences among various denominations al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…+1.
• Second Part (al-Bāb al-Thānī): Critiques the concepts of union (ittiḥād) and indwelling (ḥulūl) regarding the divine and human natures of Jesus, addressing the stances of groups such as the Melkites, Jacobites, and Nestorians al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…+1.
• Third Part (al-Bāb al-Thālith): Covers prophethood in general and substantiates the prophethood of Muḥammad ﷺ using four main categories of proof: biblical prophecies and descriptions given by earlier prophets, examination of his character and conduct, the Quran, and his sensory miracles (khawāriq al-ʿādāt) al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…+1.
• Fourth Part (al-Bāb al-Rābiʿ): Divided into two subsections (fannān); the first critiques Christian rites, canon laws, and practices as lacking scriptural authority from the Torah or Gospels, while the second answers Christian objections against Islamic law and demonstrates the wisdom of Islamic legal rulings al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…+1.

Method and Sources

The author relies on both rational deduction (al-maʿqūl) and textual evidence (al-manqūl) al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…+1. Rather than drawing exclusively on second-hand summaries of Christian doctrine by earlier Muslim theologians, he quotes Christian texts and theological definitions directly in their own phrasing al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…. In defending Islamic legal rulings, he maintains that revealed law may bring matters that human reason cannot independently discover, but it does not mandate impossibilities that sound reason decisively refutes al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na….

Editions

The work was edited and published in Cairo by Aḥmad Ḥijāzī al-Saqqā (Dār al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1398 AH / 1978 CE) al-Ilam bima fi Din al-Na…+1. It was also edited as a doctoral dissertation by Fāyiz Saʿīd Ṣāliḥ ʿAzzām at Umm al-Qura University in Makkah during the 1405 AH academic year Takhjil man Harrafa al-Ta….