Letter from the People of Cyprus
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File:Paris, BNF, Arabe 214, fol. 48r (cropped).png of the Letter in a manuscript from 1538]]
The Letter from the People of Cyprus ({{langx|ar|Risāla min ahl jazīrat Qubruṣ|italics=yes}}) is an anonymous Arabic letter to an unnamed recipient.{{sfn|Ebied|Thomas|2005|p=6}} The author is generally thought to have been a Melkite Christian, although it has been argued that he in fact belonged to the Church of the East.{{sfn|Treiger|2013|p=42}} The letter was composed shortly before 1316, probably on Cyprus, by reworking and expanding Paul of Antioch's Letter to a Muslim Friend. Like Paul, the author claims to have travelled and learned the opinions of Christian experts about the Qurʾān. The result is a defence of Christianity that concedes as much as possible to Islam without accepting it.{{sfn|Thomas|2012}} In 1316 or 1317, a copy was sent to Ibn Taymiyya, whose al-Jawāb al-Ṣaḥīḥ was written in response.{{sfn|Michel|1984|p=vii}}{{sfn|Ebied|Thomas|2005|p=5}} In 1321, another was sent to Ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Dimashqī, who wrote the Jawāb risālat ahl jazīrat Qubruṣ in response.{{sfn|Ebied|Thomas|2005|p=40}}{{sfn|Thomas|2001|p=214}}
Five manuscripts of the letter are known. The earliest was copied on Cyprus by Ṣalībā ibn Yūḥannā in August 1336. The latest is a Garshuni copy from 1856. In addition, the letter is quoted in full by Ibn Taymiyya and al-Dimashqī.{{sfn|Treiger|2013|pp=46–48}} There are two manuscripts of al-Dimashqī's Jawāb, one from 1370 and another from 1665.{{sfn|Ebied|Thomas|2005|p=40}} The Jawāb al-Ṣaḥīḥ is known from three manuscripts, the earliest from 1330 and the latest from 1901.{{sfn|Michel|1984|pp=372–379}}
Notes
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Bibliography
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- {{cite book |editor-last2=Thomas |editor-first2=David |editor-first1=Rifaat |editor-last1=Ebied |title=Muslim–Christian Polemic during the Crusades: The Letter from the People of Cyprus and Ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Dimashqī's Response |year=2005 |publisher=Brill}}
- {{cite book |editor-first=Thomas F. |editor-last=Michel |year=1984 |title=A Muslim Theologian's Response to Christianity: Ibn Taymiyya's al-Jawab al-Sahih |publisher=Caravan Books |url=https://archive.org/details/a-muslim-theologians-response-to-christianity-ibn-taymiyyas-al-jawab-al-sahih-li}}
- {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=David |editor=David Thomas |chapter=Paul of Antioch's Letter to a Muslim Friend and The Letter from Cyprus |title=Syrian Christians under Islam, the First Thousand Years |pages=203–221 |year=2001 |publisher=Brill}}
- {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=David |chapter=The Letter from the People of Cyprus |year=2012 |publisher=Brill |title=Christian–Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History |volume=4 (1200–1350) |editor1=David Thomas |editor2=Alex Mallett |pages=769–772}}
- {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=David |chapter=The Letter from Cyprus or Letters from Cyprus? |title=Cultures in Contact: Transfer of Knowledge in the Mediterranean Context |editor1=Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala |editor2=Sofia Torallas Tovar |pages=263–274 |year=2013 |location=Córdoba and Beirut}}
- {{cite journal |first=Alexander |last=Treiger |title=The Christology of the Letter from the People of Cyprus |journal=Journal of Eastern Christian Studies |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=21–48 |doi=10.2143/JECS.65.1.3011232 |year=2013}}
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Category:14th century in Cyprus