Minhat al-Qarib al-Mujib fi al-Radd ala Ubbad al-Salib
- Author died
- 1244 AH
- Editions
- Minhat al-Qarib al-Mujib fi al-Radd ala Ubbad al-Salib
Minhat al-Qarib al-Mujib fi al-Radd ala Ubbad al-Salib (The Gift of the Near, Answering God in Refutation of the Worshippers of the Cross) is an Islamic polemical work authored by the Najdi Hanbali scholar Abd al-Aziz bin Hamad Al Muammar (1203–1244 AH / 1788–1828 CE) to defend Islam and the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ against Christian theological criticisms .
Background and Context of Composition
Al Muammar composed the book after fleeing from Diriyah to Bahrain following the military campaign of Ibrahim Pasha . During that period, an English priest acting as an envoy arrived in Bahrain carrying a Christian polemical tract entitled Miftah al-Khaza'in wa-Misbah al-Dafa'in (The Key of Treasuries and the Lamp of Hidden Relics), which sought to substantiate Christian doctrine and cast doubts on Islam . The priest presented the text to the ruler of Bahrain, Shaykh Abdullah ibn Khalifah, requesting that local Muslim scholars either refute it or acknowledge its validity .
When the local scholars were approached, the text was referred to Al Muammar, who undertook to deliver a rebuttal within a month and composed the refutation in Bahrain . Upon receiving the completed work, the priest expressed astonishment at its caliber, remarking that such a response could only have originated from the "Najdi Sea" (al-bahr al-Najdi) .
Structure and Content
The adversary tract, Miftah al-Khaza'in, was divided into two main treatises (maqalatayn) :
- The first treatise consisted of two sections: one affirming the validity of Christian law, and the other asserting the authenticity of the New Testament books .
- The second treatise contained two sections: a refutation of the Jews, and a refutation of Muslims comprising five chapters .
Al Muammar focused his refutation primarily on the second section of the second treatise, which directly targeted Islam and the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ . He organized his work into five distinct counter-discourses (khamsat maqamat), matching and dismantling each of the five chapters in the Christian polemic step by step using scriptural, rational, and historical arguments .
Publication History
The work was first published in print in Cairo in 1358 AH (1939 CE) by Sharikat Fann al-Tiba'a, spanning over 320 pages . It was later reissued in a second edition by Dar Thaqif in Ta'if in 1398 AH (1978 CE), followed by a third edition featuring an introductory biographical and contextual study by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Latif Al al-Shaykh .
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