Against the law of the Saracens
By Fr. Riccoldo da monte di Croce, O.P.
Florence; c. 1243-1320
chapter one :
What
are the main errors of the Quran,
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First, therefore, it is necessary to know what are the principal errors which the law of the Saracens posits, in which it is most contrary to the law of God. |
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(4) And it should be known that the feces of all the ancient heretics, which the devil had sown in others, he vomited up at once in Mohammed. For Mohammed himself, with Sabellius, denies the Trinity [2] ; yet he posits in the divine a certain binary, which is the number of infamy and the principle of otherness. For he posits the divine essence itself and its soul; hence he introduces God speaking in the plural in the Quran [3] . And thus the soul itself and Christ himself appear to be of another essence from God, and less than God and subject to him. |
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(12) And in this | 186v | he agreed with Arius and Eunomius, who posited Christ as a pure creature, albeit a most excellent one. And this position seems to have arisen from the sayings of the Platonists, who posited the supreme God, the father and creator of all things; from whom they said that first a certain mind had emanated, in which all things were in the form, superior to all other things, which they called the "fatherly intellect," and after this the soul of the world, and then other creatures. Therefore, what is said in the sacred scriptures about the Son of God, they understood about the mind; and especially because the sacred scriptures called the Son of God "the wisdom of God" and "the word of God." The opinion of Avicenna also agrees with this opinion, who places above the soul of the first heaven the first intelligence moving the first heaven; above which he further placed God at the top. Thus, therefore, the Arians suspected of the Son of God that there was a certain creature superior to all other creatures, by means of which God had created all things [4] . |
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(26) Mohammed therefore places Christ as the most holy and virtuous man above all other men [5] . And it seems expressly in this that he places something beyond man. For he calls him the Word of God and the Spirit of God and the Soul of God. But that which is in truth called God, he completely mocks; to confirm which he brings forward two things in particular: one, because Christ himself never asserted or said this of himself, the other because he himself seems to have said the contrary. Hence Mohammed says, “Christians say that Christ is God,” and Christ himself said to the Jews, “Worship my God and your God, my Lord and your Lord.” |
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(35) I have therefore explained this at length so that it may be clearly known that what the devil began in the world through Arius, but was unable to complete, he later completed through Mohammed, as the fervor in the church grew lukewarm and malice increased; finally, however, he will fully consummate malice through the antichrist, who will persuade the world that Christ was neither true God nor the Son of God nor a good man [6] . |
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(41) But the main idea of Mohammed is that Christ is neither God nor the Son of God, but a wise and holy man and a great prophet, born without a father and of a virgin. And in this he agrees with the heretic Carpocrates. Mohammed also asserts that God cannot have a son because he has no wife. And in this he agrees with the heretic Carpocrates [7] . |
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(47) He also adds that if God had a son, the whole world would be in danger, because there would be a schism among them . And in this he agreed with the heretic Cerdonius and with the Jews [8] . (50) He also asserts that the Jews did not kill Christ nor crucify him, but rather someone similar to him. And in this he agrees | 187r | with Manichaeus [9] . |
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(52) He also adds that God has transferred Christ to himself, but he will appear near the end of the world and kill the antichrist, and afterwards God will cause him to die. (55) And because he denies the passion of Christ, he denies all the sacraments of the church which have their efficacy from the passion of Christ. And in this he agrees with the Donatist heretics [10] . |
[1] Ce titre, écrit en rouge, est de la main de Riccoldo et on recannait son orthographe du mot alcorano ; le scriptor [= il copyist] écrit alchorano. Touts les titres des chapîtres sont de la main de Riccoldo.
Formulazione nella titolazione, restored al modello originale
[2] Cf. Cor . 4, 73, 116. Pietro il Venerabile († 1156), Summa totius haeresis Saracenorum : « Omnes pene antiquarum heresum feces, quas diabolo imbuente sorbuerat, reuomens, cum Sabellio trinitatem abnegat» (ed. J. Kritzeck , Peter the Venerable and Islam , Princeton 1964,p. 207). S. THOMAS, De art. fidei I, 68-69 (EL 42, p. 246 ).
[3] Cf. Pietro il Venerabile , Summa... , ed. Kritzeck ,p. 204: «First and foremost is their error to be execrable, that they deny the Trinity in the unity of the Godhead [...] the principle of variety and alterity of the worlds, and indeed confess only the binary in unity, namely the divine essence and soul. Hence, speaking of God in the plural, he introduces the super Alchoran, [...] Christ, although conceived from the divine Spirit, is not believed to be the son of God, nor is he also God, but a good and most true prophet». On «speaking in the plural», plural of majesty, cf. CLS 2,33-36 [= rinvii per capitolo e numero di righi ]; 9,195-97; 15,7-8. On Christ «lesser God», cf. CLS 3,83-85.
[4] L'intero capoverso (righi 12-25) is borrowed literally from S. THOMAS, Contra Gentiles IV, 6 (EL 15 p. 16; EM nn° 3400-3401). Cf. AVICENNE, Metaph. tract 9, 4, f. 104va-105rb, ed. VAN RIET, Avicenna Latinus (VX), Paris 1980, pp. 476-488.
[5] another hand adds Marg. s.: Note that where it is marked below with a red stem is the text of Alchorani , and underline. Cetre note n'est pas de la main de notre scriptor et les soirreinments quelle annonce ne correspond pas toujours à des textes du Coran, plusieurs passages soirreinents express une "muslim position" et non un texte précis du Coran. Nous n'avons pas signale ces underlinements dans notre apparat. Certains passages soni souilleurs à l'encre noire mais on ne peut être sûr que ce soit là la main de Riccoldo, bien qu'il écrive dans le CLS avec une encre noire du type de celle des souillements.
[6] Cf.Pietro il Venerabile,Summa..., ed.Kritzeck,p. 208: «What was once conceived by the devil's machinations, first sown by Arius, then projected by that Satan, namely Muhammad, will, in fact, be completed entirely according to the diabolical intention by Antichrist».
[7] Cf. Pietro il Venerabile, Summa... , ed. Kritzeck ,p. 208: «The main intention of this heresy is that Christ the Lord is not believed to be God or the Son of God, but although great and beloved of God, he is still a pure man, a wise man, and a great prophet». Cf. Cor. 3,47; 19,20; S. THOMAS, De art. fidei , I, 392-396 (EL 42, p. 250).
[8] Cf. Heart 6,101; 72.3; 23.91; 17,42; 21; 22. S. THOMAS, De ration. of faith 1, 28 (EL 40, p. B 57); Against the Gentiles 11, 41 (EL 13, p. 362 b, 45-47).
[9] Cf. Heart 4,157. S. THOMAS, De art. of faith I, 489-492 (EL 42, p. 251); M. TARDIEU, Le Manichéisme , Paris, 1981, p. 27.
[10] Cf. St. Thomas, Summa theol. III, 62, 5, cor. (EL 12, p. 27). Les Donatistes thought that the validity of the sacraments depended on the sainthood of their ministers.