Diatessaron

Friday, July 15, 2011

The Diatessaron is an important early reference for the formative years of Syriac Christianity, and there's some very interesting material available on it. The original Syriac only exists in portions as quotes in other authors like St Ephrem, and the Arabic version is apparently an 11th century translation. But what does it have to say about struggle/agona/jihad? Watch this space...

Some resources:
1. Diatessaron Wiki
2. The complete Latin and Arabic translations are available here, plus links to English translation etc.
3. English Translation
4. This is a key book by William Petersen, with very comprehensive and extensive research, although ridiculously expensive!

Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry

Monday, July 11, 2011

There's lots of very significant material in pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry related to Allah (and His identity), struggle (jihad), inter-tribal contests etc. Some great sites are: Al-Moallaqat in Arabic and an excellent book and the Muallaqat in English.
Also, an excellent thesis "The concept of Allah as the highest God in Pre-Islamic Arabia (A study in Pre-Islamic Arabic Religious Poetry)".