From the eighth century onwards, Christians living under Islam have produced numerous apologetic and polemical works, aimed at proving the continuing validity of Christianity. Among these is the Legend of Sergius Baḥīrā, which survives in two Syriac and two Arabic versions, and appears here in edition and translation. Being a counterhistory of Islam, it reshapes early Muslim traditions about a monk recognizing Muḥammad as the final Prophet by turning this monk into Muhammad’s tutor and co-author of the Qur’an. In response to Muslim triumphalist propaganda, it portrays Islam’s political power as predestined but finite and unrelated to its religious message. This feature sets the legend apart from similar Christian accounts of the origin of Islam, East and West, which are reviewed in this study as well.

Readership
All those interested in the history of Muslim-Christian interaction, apocalypticism, Christian apologetics, Eastern Christianity, Christian Arabic and Syriac literature, history of Islam , Medieval Europe, Byzantium.

About the author(s)
Barbara Roggema has a Ph.D. in Languages and Cultures of the Middle East (University of Groningen, 2007) and is lecturer in the History of the Islamic World at John Cabot University (Rome).

The Legend of Sergius Baḥīrā
Eastern Christian Apologetics and Apocalyptic in Response to Islam
Barbara Roggema
Publication year: 2009
Series: The History of Christian-Muslim Relations, 9
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007: 978 90 04 16730 8
ISSN: 1570-7350
Cover: Hardback
Number of pages: xii, 579 pp.
List price: € 169.00 / US$ 249.00