The monk Georgi (George) and the Saladin.

A Christian-muslim debate of the XII century

Transated by Karim Hakkoum and Fr. Dale A. Johnson 1989

This remarkable document is a part of a larger genre of Christian literature. Although dated 1165, the document which is in the hands of the family of the late Karim Hakkoum of Portland, Oregon, apparently was owned and perhaps copied by his father in 1914 in Aleppo, Syria. We publish the first of three installments of this record of a debate between a Christian Abbot George and Moslem clerics under the protection of Saladin.

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INTRODUCTION

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.

With the help of God, we begin writing a debate that happened between the Catholic monk Georgi and three Moslem theologians, in the presence of the prince.

Al-Khana, Al-Mushar Abul-Mulk, Gazi Al-Zaher Usef Ibn Ayub Al-Salah, the Moslem King of Aleppo and Syria, and during the reign of Leo the Armenian, son of Etienne, King of the Armenian tribe, in October 6615 from our Father Adam and 1165 A.D. God help us! The story says that the Abbot of the convent of "St. Simon the Fisherman" paid a visit to the King of Aleppo and its dependencies. The Abbot was accompanied by some of his monks. The King welcomed them, gave orders to secure all their demands, and allowed them to stay at his father's tent. Among the followers of the Abbot was an old monk who was very versed in knowledge. He spoke very well, too. Everybody liked to listen to him. He entered the convent in his childhood and profited of the books there; he acquired the virtues and the good manners of the monks. He was Abbot for many years until he became old. He was called "the monk Georgi" (George). When he met the Prince, he invoked God for him. The Prince was pleased and asked him to have a seat. When the Abbot had been convocated by the King to fulfill all his requirements, the prince asked the monk (Georgi) to stay and continued talking to him and inquired about the convent and the mode of living of the monks. Let us relate (now) the questions of the Prince:

DEBATE ON NATURE OF MONASTIC LIFE

The Prince: O monk, don't you eat any meat?

The Monk: No! We don't eat any at all.

The Prince: Don't you get married?

The Monk: No, Prince; on the contrary, we avoid women.

The Prince: Why? Is this from God? But he created humankind as a man and a woman. He said also: "...have meat for eating." (You may eat the meat).

The Monk: We do not forbid (eating) the meat. But we intend to have a light life, not material, in order to be nearer to God by lightening our body. The iron is purified from its impurities the closer it is to the fire. And as water becomes clearer, the water allows the sunlight to penetrate (it). Don't you see that the rays let the light pierce through as far as they're thin and transparent? Don't you know that steam rising from the ground outshines the sunlight? The reason, O Prince, that is inside of us from God, becomes dark with luxurious life, and it keeps us away from God at the range of its darkness. And with our distance from God we attach ourselves to the corporal matters and to the love of the actual life. We avoid not only meat and women, but all corporal delights and everything that charms the five faculties. We expect, by using these privations, to obtain the graces of God in His eternal kingdom. He said, "you will not get the joy in the eternal world, if you don't endure the sorrows and difficulties in the perishable world."

The Prince: O monk, you are just right. But, God granted us these and those.

The Monk: Our God permitted to you to do as you like and gave you the liberty to enjoy the corporal felicities when He says: "I'll give you in the heaven a river of milk, a river of honey and beautiful women."

The Prince and the Monk were talking so, when three theologians came to the Prince and saluted him. He ordered them to sit down. And when they saw the monk, they spoke with the Prince in Turkish, saying, "where is this monk from? for what purpose is he in your presence?"

The Prince: This monk is from Simon's convent; he came to us with other monks to resolve some problems with the Sultan (King). How do you like his appearance? One of them called Abu-Zaher, from Baghdad, said, "may I be made your ransom, O Prince, he has a smiling mouth and a handsome face. How regretful that he is Christian."

The Prince: Would you like to have a debate with him in the matter of religion? They answered yes.

DEBATE ON THE SALVIFIC NATURE OF GOD

Then, they looked at each other. Thus, one of them, called Abu-Salamah Ibn Saad, from Mossul said,

Abu-Salamah (The Moslem): "O monk, we revere and honor your Christ and make his rank over all prophets, except Mohammad, Prophet and Apostle of God. But you, Christians, decreased his esteem and you do not honor him, while God honored him and inspired him the Koran, as a light and mercy. You do not agree that he is the Prophet of God; so he shall confute you on the Resurrection.

The Monk: Abu-Salamah, each question has an answer, But we did not come to your place to have a religious debate with you; But as petitioners. We do not need to talk to you, but with what it pleases you; because we know that the fury is yours and that you are boasting about that. A wise man said, "Be cautious with them as long as you live in their house."

The Moslem: Fear God, O Monk, because of what you mentioned. We are a people of law and justice; and nobody here is willing to discuss with you in a bad way.

The Prince glanced at the Monk and said: "O Monk, I had been born  from a Greek (Christian) woman. So, you can answer as you like, without fear. "Then he pulled out his own seal from his finger and put it on the finger of the monk.

The Monk: Abu-Salamah, we do not want to give lies instead of truth. But we fear that you bring lies following the roughness of your nature. Don't you say that we do not revere Mohammed, nor confess that he is Apostle of God? Well, we will give you a clear proof from God (to ascertain our sayings).

The Moslem: You could not succeed, at all, even if you try to do the impossible efforts.

The Monk: The truth will appear. Abu-Salamah, don't you confess that God created all creatures?

The Moslem: Yes, all which are in the heaven and in the earth; everything visible and invisible have been created by God, by His will.

The Monk: Are there any people created by God and some people created by another God?

The Moslem: No! The Creator created them and He is the One God I worship, and there is not another God.

The Monk: Do you think that God willed the salvation of the whole world or He wants to save only a specified people among His creatures and destroy the rest? Don't you confess that God is rich, generous, and magnanimous? If you don't, then you attribute avarice to God; like a man who prepared food for a hundred persons, but when they came, he drove them out and said, "Go away, I have no food for you!" By this way, he showed his avarice.

The Moslem-- I confess that God is rich, generous, magnanimous and the Creator of all creatures, and that He desires their salvation.

The Monk: If God wants the salvation of the whole world, His messengers should be sent to the whole world, too. And anyone who pretends to be a Messenger of God needs a sign to corroborate his assertions; he needs also a power from God to confirm his message.

The Moslem: What is the power and the sign?

The Monk: Those that were with the Apostles of Christ.

The Moslem: What is the power?

The Monk: They are three: to make miracles, to speak various languages and avoid worldly things. While you have three opposite traits.

The Moslem: Like what?

The Monk: The menace with sword, tribute, and conviction. Those traits have been found in Mohammed. 

EVIDENCE OF GOD'S AUTHORITY IN THE APOSTLES

Then, the Monk turned out to the Prince and said, "by God, O Prince if someone comes now to you and pretends to be a messenger of the King to you for so and so purposes, and you did not find in his possession a letter or a seal from the King, will you believe that he is the messenger of the King? 

The Prince: By God, no! On the contrary, I'll consider him like a liar and traitor.

The Moslem: What are the signs and the proof of the Apostles of Christ attesting their acquisition of the power to make miracles, to speak various languages and to preach in the whole world?

The Monk: The sign is in your presence and the proof is evident: at any direction you look, east, west, south or north, you find the devotion to Christ at the farthest regions of the world. No one region is empty of it (this devotion). This is an evident proof that the Apostles of Christ traveled through the whole earth and spoke all languages. You cannot find a people, a language or a tongue without knowledge of Christ. The prophet David predicted that when he said, "They went to whole earth and their speeches have grown in the regions of the world." This is also an evident proof that the Apostles spoke all languages. Do you have, Abu-Salamah, any doubt on those two things?

Abu-Salamah: This is evident, without any doubt. 

SERMON ON THE POWER AND THE SIGN

The Monk: I'll prove, now, that they made miracles, not by the force of their words, but by the power of their Sender, from the submission of the barbarian peoples to them. Their preachings were not dependent on their tolerance, neither menace, nor by the sword. They didn't take money. They were, in majority, illiterate fishermen and tent tailors. But the power received from Christ helped them to govern this world. When the Christ had sent them to preach in the world, He entered the room where they were gathered after His resurrection, while the doors were closed. He gave them peace, first because they were fearing the Jews. Then He blew on them and said, "receive the Holy Spirit. This Spirit will be your voice. By this voice, you will raise the dead, heal the sick, and vanquish the Kings. If you remit the sins of people they will be pardoned; but if you retain them, they will be so. Give free of charge, as you received so." He told them also, "Don't bear a staff, neither haversack not food; don't have two clothes, nor two shoes. Don't bear copper in your girdle." Now tell me, what's stronger of that sign? If you tell me that their orders were too soft, I'll answer you that those were not theirs, but of the Christ, their Master. Here they are, "To whom who slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the left one"; and, "if someone wants your cloth, give him your coat also"; and, "if someone uses you for one mile, go two miles with him. Love your enemies. Bless those who persecute you. Do good to those who afflict you." Tell me, who could listen to these ordinances and accept them, if the miracles did not astonish the whole world? Then, they believed them (the Apostles) and trusted their preaching. Look, O Moslem, at the preachings of the Apostles, as they preached to the speakers, scientists and the Kings, saying, "believe in God. He has been born from a woman; he ate food and drank water; has been beaten and whipped; people mocked him and spit on His face; they slapped him and put on his head a crown of thorns; he has been crucified and buried; (but) he rose from the dead." No one believed them. But people mocked them; denied their sayings, beat and chased them away. The Apostles said, "People, if you deny our preachings, we shall prove the truth. In fact: bring to us the crippled, blind and leper people, along with crazy, dislocated and dead people." They said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up, you dead person." That person rose from the dead. As well as from other sicknesses, which were healed also. Then, people believed them and worshipped their God; for their acts testified for them. Some people closed their eyes and their ears, like the snake that closed her ears to avoid hearing the magician's voice. But those who worshipped Satan, through adultery, voluptuousnesses, viciousness, and avidity and the target of which was to satisfy the desires of their bodies: all of those became as a flume (of smoke) and their idolatric adoration is over. The heavens, the earth, God and his angels testify that the Apostles are the messengers of the Christ and that their religion is the right one. And your prophet, Mohammed also testified for them, saying in the Koran, "We inspired the Koran as a light and guidance and confirming what is in their hands (Christian) from the Bible and the Gospels." So, if your prophet and your Book confirmed the Gospel, you have to do so, otherwise you treat your prophet and your books as liars. 

DEBATE ON THE INTEGRITY OF THE GOSPELS

The Moslem: I trust the Gospel and all its contents. But you altered it to be as you wanted.

The Monk: Do not say something you can't prove, because, in the end, you will be ashamed, like that one who prefers to cover the sunlight. Tell me,  Abu-Salamah, how many years had passed from the Christ until Mohammed?

The Moslem: I don't know.

The Monk: I give the answer: from the Christ to Mohammed, six hundred and some more years passed.

The Prince: You're right, Monk. That is what we found in the history.

The Monk: Were the Christians, then, in the whole world?

The Moslem: Yes, they were.

The Monk: Like in the present time?

The Moslem: Yes and more (then they are now).

The Monk: Could you count (the number of ) the Gospels which existed (in that time) on the earth (in the world) in various languages?

The Moslem: We couldn't.

The Monk: Let us suppose that some people in the West had altered their Gospels. So, how did they reach those who are at the end of the earth in the East? Same thing for those who are in the North towards the South. It's impossible. If that was possible you were, then, founding the apocryphal Gospels with a part of Christians. While if you pay for a trip over the whole world, you will find the Gospels in various languages analogous to those received from the Apostles of our Lord the Christ. No difference between any of them, even in one letter, except the particular traits of each language. I, hereby, give you an example which lets you believe me: If someone comes and shows a Koran different from that known to you now, and says, "this is the Koran inspired by the Prophet," while it is not, will you accept it?

The Prince: No, on the contrary we shall kill him and burn his book.

The Monk: How could you equalize the Master and the servant, the Creator and the created or God and the man?

DEBATE ON THE INTEGRITY OF MOHAMMED

The Moslem: Don't you know, Monk, that Mohammed governed the Arabs, and that he is God's Prophet and Messenger, because he guided Ishmail's descendants and passed them from the idolatry to the worship of the Living God, like what did Christ and his Apostles?

The Monk: I know that Mohammed ruled the Arabs and passed them from the idolatry to the acquaintance of God, but not to the true acquaintance, because he intended to rule them in order to have them under his jurisdiction, much more than to give them information about the Creator. If you can be patient a little and calm yourself, I'll give you a testimony on behalf of me and all Christians concerning your prophet Mohammed, to let you know why we do not honor him, neither call him Prophet or Messenger.

The Moslem: As the Prince allowed you to speak as you like and gave you security, and the permission to speak about Islam, you can say anything you want.

The Prince: Abu-Salamah, the Monk spoke as it is suitable to the truth and as accepted by reason.

Abu-Salamah: Give us what you gave about Mohammed.

The Monk: You should know, Abu-Salamah, that Mohammed was from the tribe of Koreish, and descendant of Ishmail, son of Hagar the Egyptian, slave of Sarah, spouse of Abraham. He was an Arab nomad and camel driver. In his trips, he came to Jerusalem where he had been welcomed by a Christian Nestorian, called Buheira. When he asked Mohammed about his religion, he found him to be one of the pagans. Those were the sons of Ishmail. They worshipped an idol called AL-AKBAR (the greatest). They used to put around him poems containing desire and love written on tablets which they suspended over that idol. They served for prayers and had been called the seven "usudallakat" (suspended). When he (Buheira) knew that he (Mohammed) was from that tribe, he got sympathy for him, due to the similarity of languages, the friendship, and the desire of knowledge. Then he read to him some chapters from the Gospels, the Bible and the Psalms. When he returned home, he said to his friends, "Woe unto you! You are in flagrant error and your worship is null and unprofitable". They told him, "What is your problem, Mohammed?" He answered, "I found the true God." They asked, "What is his name?" He replied, "His name is ALLAH. He created the heaven and the earth and all creatures in it. He sent me to you as a light and a sign of his compassion." They said, "Could you show him to us to know where he is?" He said, "He resides in the heaven and sees all, but he is invisible." They told him, "We have a deity which we worship and honor. We inherited this worship from our ancestors who gave us the liberty to satisfy our desires with everything we own." Then Mohammed told them, "That one who sent me to you told me that he grants you what is better and greater than what you say." They asked, "What is it?" He said, "It is a paradise where he transfers you after your death. It contains food, drinks, and women." They asked, "What is the form of the food, drink, and women?" He replied, "Rivers of honey, milk and wine, with beautiful women; there you will be not thirsty nor full of tears." They said, "Are you the Messenger of God?" He replied, "Yes." They said, "We fear our god AL-AKBAR." He said, "worship God and honor AL-AKBAR." Some of them said, "We believe in God, you said the truth." Then he passed through another group from koreish, Muhammed's tribe. He, later met another group. Those people allowed their members to marry their daughters and sisters. Those were their customs, before they knew God. Mohammed wrote to Buheira all what happened to him. Buheira prohibited those customs and with big efforts, he succeeded to draw them to the first cousins. When he got enough adherents from Arabs and their aristocracy, some remained reticent. Then he desired the monarchy (sovereignty) for himself and formed an armed detachment to fight his contradictors and said, "Those who enter the Islam, will be safe;" and said, "The inhabitants of the heaven and the earth entered the Islam by their will and (some) by force." Then, he attacked a group (and) convinced another group with adorned words and arguments. His target was to rule them and rush them in order to reach the rest of women, because he was very avid of them. He desired them at a high degree. In confirmation of that, he was not satisfied with his numerous women, but desired Zeid's wife when he saw her and took her from him by force, pretending that God gave her to him as a wife, instead of Zeid. He spoke to his followers in this concern saying, "After Zeid had accomplished his desires from her, We (God) gave her to you as a wife, Mohammed." He pretended that God inspired him to do so. But his followers said, "Messenger of God, what God granted you is not permitted to anyone else."

The Moslem: Woe unto you, uncircumcised! Zeid had asked him to take her and sworn that she will be unlawful for him.

The Monk: He had to, otherwise he would have the same destiny as others.

The Moslem: What happened to them?

The Monk: Didn't you hear about the bedouin killed by your prophet, on his bed, while God forbids killing even the birds in their beds. When asked by his followers, "Who killed the slave?" "My sword," replied Mohammed. 

The Moslem: If you find some faults in the life of Mohammed to blame him for, you must confess that he had the biggest and most important honor and the greatest credit with God for what he did to Ishmail's descendants.

The Monk: He guided you following his will, not as would like God. And Mohammed did not ignore that he and you are far from the truth and the right way, saying, "I don't know what happens to me and to you. Are we in the clarity or in the dark?" He said also, "Fear God as hard as you could, maybe you will succeed." And he assigned that in each prayer you request to be guided to the right way by saying, "Guide us (O God) to the right way." So, if you are right, then you don't need to ask for the righteousness. Bur he asks God for help. But let us forget what we said. Have an example about this. Suppose, O Prince, that I left your presence in search of without leaving the way guiding to the Fatherland . I'll not need guidance but the help to reach the Fatherland. .

The Prince: Quite right.

The Monk: If Mohammed knew that you were on the right way, he would not order you to request from God the guidance and the maturity. Besides, knowing that his prayer is not accepted by God, he ordered you to pray for him, and told you, "You, believers, pray for him and grant him salvation."

The Moslem: Don't you know God and his angels pray for Mohammed? Don't we have to pray for him, too?

The Monk: You should, preferably, pray for yourself and ask the pardon for yourself; not to be like that one who is hungry and asks food for others; or like that one who suffers from an injury and asks medicine for somebody else. So, if you, with God and his angels pray for Mohammed, who will accept your prayers? If this is your opinion, you equalize God and angels with the mankind.

The Moslem: The prayer of God is a grace accorded to his worshippers.

The Monk: Who has benefited from the grace of God and his angels doesn't need your prayers. You should better pray for yourself.

The Moslem: Don't you pray, you Christians, on your Christ?

The Monk: Absolutely not! On the contrary we pray to him, because he is our God and Creator and he accepts the prayer of his servants if they do, and forgives their faults.

The Moslem: What an evident blasphemy and bad idea! You worship a created man, born from a woman, who suffered ignominy. That is what you confess, and you, Monk, do not deny that. You mock with insolence our Prophet Mohammed, the Chosen.

The Monk: Upon my life, we do not bring anything from ourselves but from your Book and your Koran. Don't you confess that Mohammed was Bedouin and from Koreish?

The Moslem: Yes.

The Monk: Don't you know that he had many women, some against and some concubines. Don't you agree that he was so passionate towards women that he used the sword to kill those who did not obey him, and that he took Zeid's wife?

The Moslem: Yes, that was God's order, for God inspired him to do so.

The Monk: Don't you confess that he died and had been buried with thirty members with him under the soil? We mentioned only a few of the attributes of your Prophet, those which you admitted. So why do you contest it?

The Moslem: Woe unto you! We contest what you make God a child, and that the Christ is God's son, and that he is Eternal God and Creator of the creatures while he is human and was born from a woman and God considers him like Adam to whom he said, "Be!" and he has been (created).

The Monk: So, Abu-Salamah, you believe in all what your Prophet mentioned in your Book and that (this book) was inspired by God?

The Moslem: Yes, everything mentioned in the Koran was inspired to Mohammed.

The Monk: The Koran doesn't mention that the Christ is the Spirit of God and his Word given by God to Mary?

The Moslem: Not eternal (word) but created.

The Monk: Was God, at any time, dumb, deaf, or empty from any word or spirit?

The Moslem: God forbid! God, his Word and Spirit are always (present).

The Monk: Is God's Word Creator or created?

The Moslem: Creator.

The Monk: You worship God along with his Spirit and Word, isn't it?

The Moslem: I adore God, His Word and His Spirit.

The Monk: Say now, then, "I believe in God, in His Spirit and in His Word."

The Moslem: I believe in God and in His Spirit and in His Word. But I do not make them three, but one God.

The Monk: This is my opinion, too; and my beliefs and those of all Christians of orthodox faith. I like now to explain the meanings of the Holy Eternity: the Father is God; the Son is His Word; and the third (person is) the Holy Spirit. The Prince was laying down. He then stood up, glanced to the Moslem, laughed and told him: "Abu-Salamah, the Monk Christianized you and introduced you to the Christian's religion; you are then Christian."

Abu-Salamah was furious. Then, a jurisprudent called Abul-Fadl Al-Halabi, told his friends: If you had permitted me from the beginning, I had a dialogue with the Monk and I showed you his defeat. Afterwards, he looked at the Prince and said: "Be informed, O Prince, that the non-believers are in the fire (in the hell) and whoever approaches them burns himself, and Satan who is the spirit of the tyranny speaks through their mouths."

The Monk: Why do you insult us? Why do you attribute to us what is related to you and to your prophet? Didn't we talk and prove that the Christ is the Spirit of God and His Word from your Koran and your Prophet? If you are sure that what we cited is satanic, it should be from your Prophet and your Book.

The Prince-- Shame of you, Abul-Fadl! Your silence was better and more fruitful than your speech. I wish God had furnished you with silence and dumbness; then we would have been quite at ease.

Then Abdul-Fadl, ashamed, went away.

The Monk: What is your opinion, Abu-Salamah, about what was said by your Prophet, "Jesus (Issa) is considered by God like Adam. He told him, “Be” and he became." Your Prophet said the truth because the eternal Word of God and his creative Spirit is not created and cannot be understood. A creation having from Mary's body a cover where He inhabited and concealed into the divinity of God following his policy and regulation. Because the light and flammable substance is a delicate substance that can see while it is invisible. You must know also that Moses requested to see God in his divine face. But God told him, "Enter into the rock to see what I will show you." Doing so, Moses saw an intense light. One could not look at it for a long time. Afterwards, everybody who saw Moses died. So he wore a veil over his face so when he spoke to the people he could save them from dying.

The Moslem: If you believe that the Spirit and the Word of God occupied Mary's womb, then God remained without Spirit nor Word, because they inhabited Mary's womb.

The Monk: You are in error, Abu-Salamah. You should stay with children or countrymen, for you consider God the light substance, the Creator of sensitive things, who is neither omniscient, omnipotent, nor omnipresent, who cannot be included in time. You make him limited and mutable. Take this imagination out of your mouth and do not make the Spirit and the Word of God limited and mutable.

The Moslem: But how could I ascertain your idea when you say that the Word and the Spirit of God were completely in Mary's womb and at the same time outside? Following your beliefs, they do not leave God.
The Monk: Your imagination is suitable to your luxurious and high mode of life. So are your legislation and your religion. You look at the reasonable things, which is affected by comparison between them and the fallible matters, due to your dark minds. This is caused by your use of corporal delights. Be sure that I will prove what I said and ascertain the truth. Now what about the sun that is in the sky? Does it not send it's light, warmth, and rays to the earth? Are they separate?

The Moslem: No, they come together.

The Monk: The same thing happens when the Word and the Spirit of God came into Mary. They were not empty of God the Father. Let me give you another parable. Suppose that our Lord, the Prince, said a word which went out of his mind and his mouth. The word is incomplete without a spirit going out with it. This word has been written on a paper and made the circuit of the world where everybody has heard it. Did the Prince's word leave his mind and emptied it so he remained without a word? Isn't the word full in the mind of the Prince and at the same time on the paper? What do you think?

The Moslem: Yes!

They continued talking until the evening. They requested permission to leave and go back home. They obtained permission with great effort after promising to the Prince to return the next day in the morning. The Sheiks left them but they were ashamed because of the Monk. They thought about their answers for the next day.

The Prince: Would you like to leave also and go to your place?

The Monk: To God the earth is his fullness and we are only guests in it. We have not a residence nor a resting-place.
The Prince: How excellent you are, O Monk! How sweet are you words! I invite you to stay in my house if you like.

The Monk accepted the invitation and stayed with the Prince along with his companions.

In the morning, Abu-Salamah came with Abdul-Mahdi. That one was known to his entourage for his eloquence and for his good management in debate. The Prince admitted them into his presence. The Monk had come earlier. When they sat down, Abu-Salamah said, "With your permission, O Prince, yesterday we interrogated the Monk about Christ and about the Spirit and the Word of God and about his taking residence into Mary's womb. But he answered with parables. Let him answer now in the presence of Al-Murshad."

The Monk: Don't mention what happened yesterday. It went with yesterday. We should not do as the poor and avaricious man who offers his guest the remainders of his last dinner so if you have already cooked something, offer it right now. But if you have nothing we will accept your apology.
The Prince: The Monk is right and pointing to Al-Murshed, "O Murshed, this Monk astonished us citing from our Koran and our Book.

Al-Murshed: You will watch his defeat today, O Prince. O Monk, do you not confess that Christ is a God and a man at the same time?

The Monk: Yes I do.

The Moslem: Whom of them do you worship, the God or the man, or both together?

The Monk: Be informed, O Murshed, that the speech requires a listener, a convincer, and a convinced one.
The Moslem: I am one of those who hear, convince, and is able to be convinced.

The Monk: If you were as you said, there is need to questions and answers because your Book, and your Prophet are witnesses on the righteousness of my religion. But you rose today as adversary. The problem is the fact of being witness and adversary at the same time.

The Moslem: Who is your witness? Who can ascertain the righteousness of your religion?

The Monk: You, your Prophet, and your Book.

The Moslem: How?

The Monk: Your Prophet says in the chapter of Al-Quran, "Among the people of the Book, there are righteous people who stand up reciting the words of God, day and night, and believe in God and in the Day of Judgement. They practice fairness and forbid bad manners. Those are the just people and their light is above all lights." He says also, "We inspired the Koran as a light and a guidance, confirming what they have in hand from the Bible and the Gospel." He said also, "Our God and yours is the same one." And he said, "You will find that the people closest to you are those who call themselves Christians. For there is among them priests and Monks and they are not disdainful. They are good people who recite the verses of God and are guided in right and certitude." In Al-Quran's chapter he says, "Christ is the Word of God and his Spirit. He gave it to Mary." And, "Jesus, son of Mary, I will let you die, then I will lift you up to me and make those who believe you higher than those who denied you and you are the judge of both worlds."
Aren't your Book and your Prophet who testifies for us and much more that Christ in heaven is over all prophets and messengers? If you do not believe your Prophet and your Book, who are you then? Neither Moslem nor Christian.

The Moslem: I believe all the contents of the Koran for God inspired it. Believe also all what you have mentioned about Jesus.

The Monk: If you believe the Koran you should believe the Gospel.

The Moslem: I questioned you, O Monk, about your worship of Christ. Did you not answer differently?
The Monk: I know that, Murshed. I preferred to explain, first, how your Prophet and your Book testify and ascertain that my faith is right and confirms the Gospel of my faith. I gave the testimony from the Koran.
The Moslem: Do not deceive with your sayings and do not delay in answering. Answer now about your Christ and about your assertion that he is God and man.

The Monk: You asked Murshed about a nice thing, suitable from whom you heard it with reason and a pure heart. But I fear that your dark mind does not allow you to attain the will of the divine wisdom in the management and planning for the salvation of mankind.

The Moslem: He considers us like illiterate who are ignorant and do not understand.

The Monk: No, but I know that you are an adherent of a revealed religion, and that you know and understand.
The Moslem: Tell me, O Monk, what you intend to say. I prepared an answer to each question and I admit the right and confess the truth of it as made apparent.

The Monk: With his great confirmation, generosity, and righteousness, he created all Creatures by his Word and Spirit as said by the prophet David, "With the Word of the Lord the heavens have been built and with his Spirit all his forces." God does not need any of his creatures but they share his numerous graces." When mankind had grown in numbers over the years they left the worship of God and worshiped their desires and adored the creatures instead of the creator. They came under the authority of Satan and worshipped other idols that destroyed their lives. But the compassion of God and his righteousness did not tolerate to see His creatures under the hand of their enemy, as some attributed the incidents to the bad spirit. The others asked the lucky star (star of destiny) and other stars and studied the moving of the stars. Some others believed in various things. Then God found that he had with his divine policy, to speak to them personally because of his prodigious compassion. But as they are corporal, His wisdom found it inevitable to speak to them with a corporal body, as the divinity is not corporal. And like the substance of the fire is invisible and is unfruitful to people except if it appears in matter, God had sent His beloved Son, who is His Word and Spirit, to the Virgin Mary, as mentioned in your Koran, your Book and your Prophet who said, "We animated with our spirit Mary, daughter of Qumran, who was a virgin. He also said, "God has chosen his Word and Spirit and called him His Son." So the eternal Creator Word of God entered into Mary's womb where he created for himself a body like Adam's nature but free of sins. When He wanted the Word and Spirit concealed in that thick body and united with it. He did not take a body before his entrance of the Word and Spirit. The body has been formed with the entrance of God's Word and Spirit. Like the coexistence of the light with the spark and the appearance and presence of the light with the fire. The deity united the humanity taken from the nature of Adam. He then did with his divinity by the union of the humanity with it that is by the means of his sacred body. Christ raised the dead, healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, and healed the leprous, putting his hands on them by means of that sacred body. That is the reason why we kneel to him. Suppose that you took a small amount of musk, put it in a napkin and put them in a location. The musk's perfume will not spread in the place and into the napkin?

The Prince: Yes.

The Monk: If the musk, that is the created material, has this kind of fragrance, how much more explicitly God and his divine Wisdom and his creative Spirit if he chose a domicile and inhabited it in view of management and planning.

The Moslem: You are right, O Monk, but you didn't give us a clear answer. We asked you about your worship to the Christ and your kneeling to God and the human.

The Monk: Christ our Lord said to his disciple, "It has been given to you to know the secrets of God's Kingdom. But the others should understand these parables" He means Jews and Gentiles. Because the parable helps the dark minds to understand. I say that one person was highly appreciated by the King who gave him the highest rank. Later, the King got irritated against him due to his transgression of the King's orders. The King cast him faraway at first, then sentenced him to death and put him in jail for a while. The servant remained in prison as an object of anger. Then the King remembered him and knew how much patience and distress he endured. He took pity in him and wrote a letter concerning him, in which he said, “We forgive so-and-so and pardoned his transgressions. Send him back to us in order to give him the highest rank with us. He signed, sealed and sent the letter to the servant. After knowing the contents of that letter, how much did that servant love that letter? What do you think about the love paid by the servant to the letter and the seal?

The Moslem: The letter should be considered very highly and the servant must put it on his eyes and head.
The Monk: Why, O Moslem? If that paper has the power to save the servant with the word of the King written on it, why do you order the servant to give honor and tribute to that letter?

The Moslem: Due to the word and grace of the King.

The Monk: Did that letter save the servants and release him from his distress?

The Moslem: Yes, following the King's words……

The Monk: When the servant will meet the King, what do you suggest him to do as an act of deference towards his Lord who favored him?

The Moslem: To kneel twice and kiss his hands and legs.

The Monk: Look how you ordered the man to kiss the ground, the hands, and the legs. But you have to know that neither the hands, nor the legs, are what graced the servant, but the word and mouth of the King.
The Moslem: Don't you know, O Monk, that kneeling to him and honoring him is reaching his body, his Spirit, and his Word altogether?

The Monk: You are right Rasheed. As we kneel to the silk brocade when the king wears it. But when it is away from him no one kneels to it. So are our beliefs, we Christians, that there are two natures and two wills in Christ: a divine nature and a human nature. We kneel to them together with preponderance of one for another without mixture nor separation. If you choose to be convinced , do so according to the evidences and demonstrations given from your Book and your Prophets, as God put in each human a speaking spirit to distinguish between the lie and the truth. If you have another question, I am ready to answer for I prepared an answer to every question.

The Moslem: We disapprove, O Monk, what you say that Christ is the Son of the God. We mentioned, among what has been inspired by our Prophet, Mohammed. His word says, "God is unique. He is everlasting. He has not given birth to a child nor has been born one equal to him."

The Monk: God said in your Koran, "If God would like to have a child, He would choose him among Adam's children." Then why do you disapprove that God has chosen his Word and Spirit and called them Son? But Mohammed your Prophet, knowing the weakness of your mind and your misunderstanding, to not imagine a human creation in God, as we mentioned, told you, "Say God is unique, God is everlasting. He has not given birth to a child nor has been born." Tell me, O Moslem, the word going out of the human mouth isn't it born from his mind?

The Moslem: Yes it is.

The Monk: Are not the ray and the light born from the sun? The fire also gives birth to the light. If I tell you that the word is from the mind, the light from the sun, and the wine from grapes, could you deny that?
The Moslem: Of course not.

The Monk: So why do you disapprove of our saying that the Word and Spirit of God is born from Him and that we call Him the Son of God. If your Prophet and your Book testify that Christ is the Spirit and the Word of God, why do you disapprove of us when we say that He is God's Son? If you remain on your position you treat your Prophet and your Book as liars.

Rasheed became silent. He could not answer the Monk.

The Prince: Why are you silent, Rasheed ?

Rasheed: Because he hunted me with his words. He debates with me using my Koran, as a hunter who stalks gazelles and crosses their ways. I have no doubt he is possessed by a Genie.

The Monk: That is what I intend to do. I wanted to give a long explanation in order to conquer you and approach me so you may know what is correct and true and be obedient. Because, concerning my religion, you only believe what has been inspired by God to your Prophet. But that mind of yours, O Moslem, is wrong when it said (in the Koran) "God proves the right with His Word and Spirit." Sometimes our Prophet attests that you are right. He said that you are quite wrong saying, "And I do not know my position and yours. God guide us to the right way." So if you were in the right he would not order you to ask for guidance.

Then another theologian called Abu-Dhaher from Bagdad said, "Hail, O Monk!"

The Monk: Hail, O Moslem.

The Moslem: Do you confess that Christ is God?

The Monk: Yes I do.

The Moslem: Is it possible that God takes flesh from a woman, eats, drinks, and sleeps, gets crucified, beaten, crowned with thorns, given aloe and vinegar, and that he dies and is buried as you suggest, you Christians.
The Monk: Why were you invisible Abu-Dhaher and appear only now.

The Moslem: Here I am now.

The Monk: Why did you mention the human facts of Christ, those suitable to his humanity and with which He suffered, and did not mention those suitable to His Divinity, like miracles during his stay in this world, and the events which happened on his crucifixion, like the eclipse of the sun, earthquakes, splitting of the temple curtain, the breaking of rocks, opening of the tombs, resurrection of the dead, His Resurrection and Ascension to heaven? Why didn't you mention those events.

The Moslem: If Christ is so powerful God as you assert, why did he suffer those mentioned miseries?

The Monk: Christ has two natures: divine and human. So he did by two different ways: one suitable to the deity and the other suitable to the humanity which He created from the nature of Adam. Those events were endured with his will, not by force. He intended to give us through them a lot of advantages to correct our characters, showing us an example of patience (endurance) on what we face in our lives to be able to inherit the eternal life. He intended also to deliver the creatures from idolatry and the worship of Satan who mislead them and took away adoration of God, their God and Creator.

The Moslem: Wasn't he able to save the world without enduring these things and humiliate Satan, His enemy?
The Monk: Yes, he was. But His Justice didn't allow Him to do so. Don't you think that there is wisdom in His concealment in our nature and in his enduring agonies?

The Moslem: Did his justice restrain him to do his will or his power?

The Monk: Yes.

The Moslem: Give us a clear answer to know and understand that.

The Monk: It is difficult to you and to those who are like you among the followers of your religion for the religion and faith of the Christians have been established by God. They are suitable to the divine nature, the nice substance and to the intangible specifications. But you, Moslems, who sue corporal delights, your religion and your faith are wrongly called faith of guidance, because it is a faith of blood and flesh, not suitable to the divine nature and to the essential substance. Besides, after your death and transfer to the other world, you imagine obtaining palpable and irrational things and thinking you are moving to a heaven where there is food and drink and sex. To approach you and be closer to your small mind and your lack of understanding, I will give you a parable in which I will explain the meaning of your question. Do not be upset because I have to. If you talk to a deaf person with your tongue you cannot expect him to understand your words. So you must be deaf like him or talk to him with your hands and fingers and to blink and agitate your head and to raise the eyebrows. This way is used by parent to talk to their children with a language suitable to their age.

The Moslem: Stop your mockery and do not insult us anymore but answer our questions.

The Prince: Tell us what you want to say, O Monk.

The Monk: The justice requirements should be applied on whom puts his conditions.

The Moslem: You are right Monk.

The Prince: I am anxious, O Monk, about the meaning of your words. We understood some and would like you to explain the rest.

The Monk: God give you more power, O Prince.

Abu-Salamah: O Monk, are you a Bishop?

The Monk: No.

Abu-Salamah: Are you a priest or deacon?

The Monk: I am not a bishop, or priest, or deacon, or abbot, nor even a monk.

The Moslem: How do you say not even a monk?

The Monk: Because a monk is one who fears God in his heaven and relinquishes his arrogance, who remembers his promise and does his will.

Abu-Dhaher: Abu-Salamah these are the manners of Christians. They are not presumptuous. The Prophet mentioned that in his Book.

The Monk: A lot of testimonies taken from your Prophet and your Book confirm our religion and our Book.
The Moslem: I trust my Book and my Prophet for what has been inspired. But we deny some of your practices.
The Monk: Like what?

The Moslem: Like your adoration and kneeling to the Cross-, which is a piece of wood that does not damage or benefit.

The Monk: So you think that we adore the Cross?

The Moslem: Yes.

The Monk: You are wrong. God protect us from worshipping other than God, His Word, and Spirit. If we adored the Cross as you say and kneel to it, that is the wooden substance as you call it, you are intelligent and can compare and understand the wood material which forms the Cross. We honor only the picture and allegory.
The Moslem: You are right but what do you mean by honoring the picture and allegory?

The Monk: There are many meanings: first it is the sign of the Christians with what they are distinguished from unfaithful people. Second, we use it as a perfect sacred and dear sign against the bad spirits. Third, Christ gave Himself to us on it as an acceptable sacrifice. With the Cross also, our God showed us his compassion, power, and wisdom which he has used for the salvation of his people from Satan and his deceiving power. Fourth, we remember the goodness of God and his grace. We found in the Bible a divine sign guiding to honor the Cross: when Moses split the sea with his staff vertically and then horizontally. When Moses was in the desert snakes came and bit the people to death. God said to Moses, "Make a copper snake and raise it on a long staff. Then everyone looking at it will not die from snake bite." Moses did and put the snake on the lance vertically. But the people were not helped. God told Moses to put it horizontally. When he did, the death stopped. If my words convince you, I will give you a parable, which helps you to understand what I mean.

The Moslem: Give us the details.

The Monk: There was a very honorable man who had a servant. He loved him and gave him a high rank among his servants and chose him for his personal servant. But that servant transgressed the will of his master and frequented with bad people who pretended to love him while they really hated him. They devised an evil plan and put him into trouble intentionally. Then he found himself in chains and was sentenced to death. He was anxious in himself. When his master knew his distress he was not afflicted. He decided to sacrifice himself for him by changing his clothes into those of vile people. He entered the jail and found his servant in the worst condition. He had pity on him and wore the servant's clothes and ordered him to go out of the prison and said, "I offer my life for you." The servant went out astonished by this event: how his master sacrificed himself for him and wore the fault of his servant until he was sentenced to death. He told his master, "How can I make a memorial for you?" His master told him, "Let the whole world know my compassion for you." Has this servant put this sign on him or not?

The Moslem: Of course, and he must do his best for his whole life.

The Monk: Have you the force of the servant and his salvation? Do you understand what we mean by this parable?
The Moslem: We understand a part. Explain the rest.

The Monk: The nobleman is God and His Word. The servant is I and all those of my condition among Adam's descendants, because we transgressed his commands by our will and adored idols, following our desires. The bad people are the demons who tempt us to use the delights. The prison and the death is this world which leads to hell. The compassion of the Lord is a sign of the grace of God on his creatures. The command of the Lord: "Bear the sign of my death and proclaim in the whole world what I did for you. Every time you see the sign and the picture, remember my grace. As long as you execute my testament and remember my grace, hat sign an picture will help you to overcome all difficulties and preserve you from the humans as well as from the genies (evil spirits).” So we bear on us the sign and the picture and praise the grace of our Lord and say about the sign and the picture: "God sacrificed his unique son on behalf of us (His Son who is the Christ, the Word and His Spirit) for our salvation, and secured us from death and from our enemy." We make this sign on our breasts and faces into our houses, on our doors and on all our possessions and on the doors of each city as well. Having remembrance of the grace and compassion of the Lord. We intend by that not to worship the corporal matter and to kneel to it, but to honor and revere the sign and the picture and to kneel to them (to the origin of matter). When we see the name of God's Son, Christ. Because we write (on the Cross) this phrase, "The name of Christ, Son of God, His Word and Spirit." So we kneel to the matter's origin. We hereby gave full explanation about veneration to he Cross.

The Moslem: We see, anyway, that you honor your religion and pretend that it is the true religion, furnishing testimonies and proofs, as if you were a worshipper and imitating Al-Rasheed. Anyway, you think that your faith is the true one.

The Monk: I can furnish proofs to attest my religion from your Book. Now furnish anything which supports your religion.

The Moslem: The heaven, the earth, and peoples testify to my faith and my Book proving their prevalence and that God inspired Mohammed light and guidance.

The Monk: Our Lord Christ said, "If I testify for myself, my testimony will not be accepted. But another will testify for me." And I see that you testify about yourself. So your testimony is rejected. Regarding what your pretended that the heaven, earth, the angels, and the peoples testify for you. Could you ascertain that with proofs from heaven's Book, or earth's Book, or angels' Book, or people's Book? I know that you are unable to do so.

The Moslem: Do not be proud of your religion, O Monk. Be aware that you are not a unique person who is proud of his religion. Everybody pretends that his religion is the truth.

The Monk: You are right, O Moslem, when you say that each religion is confirmed by that one who confirms it and defends it. But the main religions are four: Sabianism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Which of them in your opinion is the true one established by God?

The Moslem: I don't know.

The Monk: If you do not know then let us leave all religions and revert to our reason, fulfilling a norm as do judges and governors. Let the norm and the reason he judges to decide.

The Prince: By the tomb of my father the monk is right.

The Monk: Don't you know that in the beginning, God said, "Let us create a man like our image." Saying: like our image means the capacity, the power, and the control, with the same willingness and choice, to give a parable and explanation, as does the man when he approaches his image which is the picture on the wall. You identify him as identical the closer he is to the picture. If the man is similar to God in image and if God created the man and gave him a norm and imagination, those norms and legislation should be suitable to his nature, his original and his hypothesis, as a means of approachment. For example: if you have a child or a servant and your nature is compassionate, will you order him to be cruel? And if your are a just man will you order him to be a tyrant? If your are generous do you want him to be avaricious? If you are chaste do you want him to be adulterous? If you are a right man will you want him to be bad and an irritant? Don't you want him to follow your qualities?

All present people: Quite right.

Notes:
This is none other than the famous Muslim king who defeated the Crusaders of the Third Crusade whom we know in the west as Saladin the Great. In his name we have recorded here we see Ayyub who was the governor of Balbek under Zang then under Nor-ud-din of Damascus. It seems that Saladin is about 27 years old at this time. Leo II (1185-1219) Repelled sultans against attacks on Allepo. He was called "Magnificent" and applied European law and made alliances with crusaders. The monastery was probably one which was built by one of the disciples of Marcion in the late 4th century in the region of northern Syria.