8-31

تبارک من أعطی الإمام محمدا

معانی زانت بالجمال مغانيا

Tabaraka man a`ta al-Imama Muhammadan

Ma`ani zanat bil-jamali maghaniya

Blessed be He who endowed Imam Muhammad

with spiritual truths that adorned his abodes with beauty

وألّا فهذا الروض فيه بدائعٌ

أبی الله أن يُلفی لها الحسن ثانيا

Wa-alla fa-hadha ar-rawdu fihi bada’i`un

Aba allahu an yulfa laha al-husnu thaniya

If not – but this is a garden filled with wonders, and God forbade that beauty should ever find their equal.

ألم تر الماء يجری بصحفها

ولاکنّها أُنبرتْ عليه المجاريا

A-lam tara al-ma’a yajri bi-sahfiha

Wa-lakinnahu umbirat `alayhi al-majariya

Don’t you see that the water overflows its rim, but the channels are flooding back against it?

کمثل محبٍّ فاض بالدمع جفنه

وغيّض ذلک الدمع أذ خاف واشيا

Ka-mithlu muhibbun fada bid-dam`i jafnuhu

Wa-ghayyada dhalika ad-dam`a idh khafa washiya

Just like a lover whose eyelids overflow with tears, but he dams those tears because he fears a slanderer.

Judaism

exile of Jews from Jerusalem after revolt against Romans
Jewish settlements in Egypt
Hellenistic trends among Jews -- Greek translation of scriptures
Jewish monotheism and tension with non-Jews
appeal of Judaism to some Gentiles
Jewish presence in Mesopotamia (Iraq/Iran)
conversion versus universalism
--> Judaism still in process of formation
authority of "Babylonian" (Persian) Jewish community, academies in Iraq under Persian rule
phenomena of religious exchange: Jewish-Christians (still an issue)
textual authority of rabbis
regulation of Judaism by Roman state
anti-Jewish feeling among Christians
privileged position of Jews in Zoroastrian Iran, modified by tension with the state

Christianity

religious debate in the formation of identity
Christian polemics against Judaism ("Christ-killers") and paganism
suppression of paganism by the Christian Roman Empire
controversies over the nature of Christ
Egyptian Christianity, monasticism, doctrine of Mary as "God-Bearer" (theotokos) (similarity to Egyptian iconography of Isis and Horus)
Council of Chalcedon in 451 and doctrine of two natures of Christ
Imperial ("Melkite") Christianity versus other Eastern churches (Egyptian Copts with Monophysite or "single nature" doctrine of Christ)
Syrian and Egyptian Christian resentment against Byzantium may have facilitated Arab victory
ups and downs of Christianity in Iran, rival Nestorian theology

Zoroastrianism and the religion of Mani

religions of Iran included Hindus and Buddhists
difficulty of defining Zoroastrian religion -- loss of texts
"Wise Lord" (Ahura Mazda) the Creator God surrounded by angels
Opposed to the evil spirit Ahriman (dualism)
Zoroaster (Zarathustra) was the prophet
Mani and king Shapur I (ca. 241-273), and the establishment of a new religion (to avoid the mistakes made by Jesus and the Buddha); Mani executed in 276 under the new emperor
Extreme dualism: light versus dark, good versus evil, Spirit versus matter
Conversion of Augustine to Manichaean fate in fourth century
social revolt by Mazdak around 500
Failure of Manichaeans to attach to a major empire

question of the central importance of Arabia for Islam
lack of secure information about pre-Islamic era
tribal society, with urban centers in Yemen, extensive nomadic migrations
multitudes of gods and spirits (jinn)
three principal goddesses of Quraysh tribe
Allah as a supreme God
central temple of Ka`ba (cube)
problem of the role of trade in Mecca
contacts with the Hellenistic and Roman Near East
Arab tribes as allies of Roman and Persian client states
Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity in the Arabian Peninsula: an extension of the Roman and Persian Empire competition

explanations of the Arab success
conflict between the Roman and Persian empires
contest over the relic of the true Cross
resentments and polemics over religious identity
the background of messianic ideas and the religious turmoil of the near East at the end of late antiquity