THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA The Arabic Letters of the Byzantine Emperor Leo III to the Caliph ‘Umar Ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz: An Edition, Translation and Commentary A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures School of Arts and Sciences Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy By Seonyoung Kim Washington DC 2017 The Arabic Letters of the Byzantine Emperor Leo III to the Caliph ‘Umar Ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz: An Edition, Translation and Commentary Seonyoung Kim, Ph.D. Director: Sidney Griffith, Ph.D This study explores the tradition of the epistolary exchange between the two famous figures, the Byzantine emperor Leo III and the ‘Umayyad caliph, ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz. Several Christian and Muslim authors have over the centuries provided accounts of the tradition that ‘Umar sent a letter to Leo to inquire about Christian doctrines and practices and that Leo replied to him. In addition to these accounts, copies of letter purporting to have been written by Leo and ‘Umar have come down to us in the manuscript tradition in Arabic, Armenian, Latin and Aljamiado. There have been studies concerning the authorship and provenance of these letters. This study continues the scholarly discussion on this tradition based on the newly available manuscript, which contains two letters in Arabic attributed to Leo. The manuscript is among so-called ‘new finds’ in the library of St. Catherine Monastery at Mt. Sinai. This study presents the first edition of these Arabic texts, with English translation and commentary. Based on the examination of the new source, this study sheds new light on the correspondence between Leo and ‘Umar. The content and style of the Arabic letters of Leo show that they were written by an anonymous Christian author living in the second half of the eighth century. These texts seem to have been composed by a Melkite author, probably living either in the monastery of Mar Sabas or Mar Chariton in Judean desert. They show how the Christian author wrote the defense of Christian doctrines and practices such as divinity of Christ, the Eucharist and the veneration of the cross. Arabic was a new language for Christian writers in this era; the author used many expressions found in the Qur’ān. The purpose of the composition of these texts is to provide Christian audiences with ready replies to objections to their faith coming from Muslim polemicists, in order to encourage them to keep their Christian faith. Additionally, a close analysis of the first Arabic letter of Leo in comparison with the Latin version of the letter ascribed to Leo shows that both letters are from the same earlier text, written in Arabic. This anti-Muslim polemical text was not only read by Christians in the East, but also known to the Christian in the West through Latin translation. This dissertation by Seonyoung Kim fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in the department of Semitic Languages and Literatures approved by Sidney Griffith, Ph.D., as Director, and by Shawqi Talia, Ph.D., and Aaron Butts, Ph.D. as Readers. _______________________________ Sidney H. Griffith, Ph.D. Director _______________________________ Shawqi N. Talia, Ph.D. Reader _______________________________ Aaron M. Butts, Ph.D. Reader ii Table of Contents Introduction to the Study 1 Chapter I: Sources 8 Introduction 8 Historical Reports 10 Texts 47 Chapter II: The New Arabic Source of the Letters of Leo 69 Introduction 69 Arabic edition of the first letter of Leo 81 Arabic edition of the second letter of Leo 132 English translation of the first letter of Leo 138 English translation of the second letter of Leo 174 Chapter III: The Content of the letters of Leo 179 The first letter of Leo 179 The second letter of Leo 289 Chapter IV: The letters of Leo and ‘Umar: their origin and relationship 294 Chapter V: The Questions yet to be answered and some preliminary remarks 318 Appendix I: English translation of the Latin letter of Leo 324 Appendix II: The use of the Bible in the letters of Leo in Arabic 345 Appendix III: Leo’s use of the Quran in the letters of Leo in Arabic 348 Bibliography 349 The photographs of the letters of Leo in Arabic in NF 14 iii Abbreviation AJT American Journal of Theology ASCH American Society of Church History BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies CAJ Catholic Apologetics Journal CCR Coptic Church Review CE Coptic Encyclopedia CMR Christian Muslim Relations CSCO Corpus Scriptorium Christianorum Orientalium DOP Dumbarton Oak Papers EAL Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature EI Encyclopedia of Islam EMC Encyclopedia of Medieval Chronicles GCAL Geschichte der Christlichen Arabischen Literatur GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies HTR Harvard Theological Review ICMR Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations IJCT International Journal of the Classical Tradition IQ Islamic Quarterly JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JMBRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JSAI Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam MW Muslim World OLA Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta OS Oriens Christianus iv PBR Patristic and Byzantine Review PG Patrologia Graeca PO Patrologia Orientalis REI Revue des Études Islamiques SI Studia Islamica SM Scripta Mediterranea VC Vigiliae Christianae ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie v Acknowledgments I was privileged to study this very special manuscript for the first time by courtesy of St. Catherine’s monastery at Mt. Sinai. I am deeply grateful to the monastery of St. Catherine’s and especially to Father Justin, the librarian, for giving me this great opportunity to study their manuscript for my dissertation topic. This work is the fruit of many years of scholarly support and advice. First of all, I wish to express gratitude to Father Sidney Griffith, the director of my dissertation. Father Sidney was always willing to listen to the difficulties I encountered while I was working on my dissertation, and giving me appropriate advice concerning various problems in all aspects of my work. Special thanks are due to Dr. Shawqi Talia. Without Dr. Talia, I wouldn’t have been able to prepare the edition and translation of the Arabic texts. He taught me everything I need to know in manuscript editing, and spent countless hours, closely looking at the manuscript with me and exploring various primary sources in this study. I am also grateful to Dr. Aaron Butts, who read the dissertation and gave me insightful questions and comments during the exam. Thanks should be given to other faculty of the Semitics department at CUA. I am grateful to Dr. Janet Timbie for her insightful advice and comments on my work. Dr. Monica Blanchard, the curator of the ICOR library, always located all the materials I needed. I also thank Dr. Timbie and Dr. Blanchard for their encouragement that kept me moving forward. I also wish to thank Dr. Edward Cook and Dr. Andrew Gross for their support during my study in the Semitics vi department. Also I wish to thank Ryann Craig, the English editor of my dissertation and to all my colleagues in the Semitics department with whom I grew up as a scholar. I am also grateful to all those who support me in Korea and in all other parts of the world. I thank Father Tae Hyun Jung, the head of the Hannim Biblical Institute where I first began my study, for his encouragement and support. He taught me basic Latin during one summer about fifteen years ago. No one knew at that time, but the knowledge of Latin played an important role in this study. Also, I am grateful to Dr. Andreas Su-min Ri and his wife Dr. Suh for their warm welcome every time I visited Paris for research and refreshment, and for their encouragement and insightful advice on my work. I thank all my friends and colleagues from abroad for their insightful questions, comments, and encouragement in various conferences and programs. I would like to express gratitude to my friend, Ms. Eun Jung Kim, who supported me like my own big sister for ten years since I arrived in Washington D.C. The Sisters of Centro Maria Residence took care of me during my stay with them for several years, which I greatly appreciate. Special thanks are due to my family: my father Jae Soo Kim, and my mother Mun Hee Jung, and my brothers and sisters, and my extended family. Even though I have been away from home for a long time, everyone in my family has been always with me. With their loving support and encouragement, I could finally finish my work. vii Introduction to the study The legend that two famous historical figures, Iconoclast Leo III (717-740) and ‘Umar Ibn Abd al-‘Aziz (717-720), have exchanged letters concerning their respective faiths has been known to Christians and Muslims in the East from the early Islamic period, through the accounts given by Christian and Muslim historians. The details of the reports vary from writer to writer, but the main outline of the story is as follows: During the reign of ‘Umar, the caliph sent a letter to Leo in order to discuss Christianity and Islam, and to persuade the emperor to accept Islam. In response to ‘Umar, Leo wrote a reply to him, answering ‘Umar’s theological questions concerning the doctrine of Christianity. In addition to the historical reports, we also have some texts purporting to be the letters exchanged between Leo and ‘Umar which are preserved in various languages of the East to the Latin West. Unlike modern scholars who may show skepticism about the historicity of the correspondence between the Emperor Leo and the Caliph ‘Umar and the authenticity of the letters attributed to them, Christians and Muslims living in the medieval period might have had some good reasons to believe the event to be historical and the letters of Leo and ‘Umar authentic. 1