Référence :

Islamochristiana N°43 (2017), 149-171, PISAI

English

2017

Corresponding across Religious Borders: The Letter of al-Qūṭī

Summary :

This article provides an introduction to the Letter of al-Qūṭī, a short anti-Islamic polemic in Arabic purportedly written by an unknown priest active in Toledo in the mid-1140s, as well as the complete English translation of the Letter together with an emended edition of the Arabic text first published by Abdelmajid Charfi in 1975.

Résumé :

Le présent article est une introduction à la Lettre d’al-Qūṭī, brève polémique anti-islamique en arabe prétendument écrite par un prêtre anonyme à Tolède au 12ème siècle dans les années 40 ; il fournit aussi la traduction intégrale de la Lettre en anglais avec une édition amendée du texte arabe, publié pour la première fois par Abdelmajid Charfi en 1975.

إنّ هذا المقال بمثابة مقدّمة لرسالة القوطي، وهي موجز مثير للجدل ضدّ الإسلام باللّغة العربيّة يُزعم انّ أحد الكهنة المجهولين قد كتبها في أربعينات القرن الثاني عشر؛ ويقدّم أيضًا ترجمة كاملة للرسالة إلى اللغة الإنكليزية، ويوفّر نسخة معدّلة للنصّ العربي، الذي نشره للمرة الأولى عبد المجيد شرفي في العام 1975.

Resources of this researcher

videos

Online Symposium: Islamic Origins & Christian Theological Engagement with Islam

Panelists David Marshall, University of Bern (Moderator), Guest Editor of Islamochristiana Martin Accad, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary Daniel Brown, ISRME Diego Sarrio Cucarella, PISAI Sa...

publication

The document on human fraternity: an interdisciplinary reflection

The volume, published in the series “Interreligious and Intercultural Investigations” (No. 14), brings together contributions from ten international scholars on the Document on Human Fr...

article

Lavigerie and Islam, an ambiguous legacy

In a recent article on the contribution of the White Fathers to the renewal of Catholic attitudes towards Islam, Rémi Caucanas rightly notes that their founder’s legacy “was not without ambiguity”...

article

Corresponding across Religious Borders: The Letter of al-Qūṭī

Summary : This article provides an introduction to the Letter of al-Qūṭī, a short anti-Islamic polemic in Arabic purportedly written by an unknown priest active in Toledo in the mid-1...

publication

Blessed Ramon Llull: the character and his relationship with Islam

The PISAI is pleased to announce the publication of the book Il beato Raimondo Lullo: il personaggio e il suo rapporto con l’Islam (Roma 2021), edited by Professor Diego Sarrió Cucarella, MAf...

article

‘On how to discern the truth of religion’, by Hunayn b. Isḥāq. The impersonal recension

Abstract This article contributes to the study of Christian Arabic literature by providing an introduction and English translation of the treatise entitled Kayfiyyat idrāk ḥaqīqat al-diyāna, ‘On...

publication

Islam and Belonging. Proceedings of the PLURIEL 2nd International Congress

After its first international congress in Lyon from 6 to 9 September 2016 on the theme “Islam in the Plural: Faith, Thought, Society”[1], the current study brings together the proceedin...

article

Medieval Muslim Polemics against the Christian Creed : The Critique of ṢĀLIḤ B. AL-ḤUSAYN AL-ǦA‘FARĪ (D. 668/1270)

Abstract After introducing Ṣāliḥ b. al-Ḥusayn al-Ǧa‘farī (d. 668/1270), the Egyptian Muslim author of an important work of anti-Christian polemic entitled Taḫǧīl man ḥarrafa al-Tawrāh wa-l-Inǧīl...

article

Corresponding across Religious Borders. The Letter of Ibn Taymiyya to a Crusader in Cyprus

SUMMARY: Presentation of Taqī al–dīn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyya‘s Al–risāla al–qubruṣiyya, a letter written to a crusader baron in Cyprus, probably John II of Giblet, sometime between early 1303 and mid–13...

Resources related toHistory

publication

The Recognition of a Hummingbird. Essays on Interreligious Dialogue and Missionary Work (2007-2025)

  • Rémi Caucanas

Published in May 2026 by PISAI (Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome), this collection brings together the essays of Rémi Caucanas on interreligious dialogue and missionary wor...

videos

From Lavigerie to PISAI: The Institutional History of the Missionaries of Africa’s Engagement with Islam

Delivered on 21 May 2026 at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, this lecture opens the series of conferences marking the institute's centenary (1926-2026). Fr. ...

publication

Maurice Borrmans and the Crisis of Christian-Muslim Dialogue. Islamic studies in Question?

  • Florence Javel

In 2025-2026, we mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and of the declaration Nostra aetate (28 October 1965). One century earlier, in October 1925, Maurice Borrmans was born ...

publication

Islam and Muslims. Doctrines, Schools of Thought, and Current Trends

  • Michel Younès

Publication date: April 16, 2026. Islam, as a historical, religious, and civilizational reality, is difficult to define. It can be perceived as a form of political governance, an expression of fait...

publication

Canon and Censorship in Islamic Intellectual History

  • Amir Dziri

Published in De Gruyter’s series “Islam: Thought, Culture, and Society” (vol. 16, 2026), this collective volume is edited by Mohammad Gharaibeh and Bacem Dziri (Humboldt University of Berlin)...

videos

Maurice Borrmans (1925-2017), an Islamologist Defending Christian-Muslim Dialogue

  • Florence Javel

On 19 February 2026, in the Maurice Borrmans Library of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, Florence Javel, who holds a PhD in theology from the Catholic Univer...

videos

Landscape and architecture as occasions of contemplation and of interreligious dialogue in the travel narratives of the Sufi ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī

Paper presented at the fifth international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Is...

videos

Aesthetics of living together: visualising an Islamic ethics of the other in al-Andalus

Paper presented at the fifth international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Is...