When Christians First Met Muslims: A Sourcebook of the Earliest Syriac Writings on Islam Paperback – March 21, 2015

This is a gem. A very interesting fact was pointed by the author in the introduction: In the first two centuries of the existence of Christianity, if you added up all the non-Christian references (by Greek or Latin historians and commentators) to Jesus Christ and the religious movement that was forming around his legacy, you would have a few pages. In contrast, if you take all the Sryiac writings about Mohammed and the religious movement that was forming around his legacy from the first two centuries after Mohammed's life and career, you would have hundreds of pages. That is incredible, though not surprising. This collection of translations of comments made by Syriac Christians who were witnesses to the birth of Islam is an absolute gem. If you are interested in the origins of Islam and the history of Christian/Islamic relations, this book is a must-read. Michael Philip Penn had a brilliant idea when he decided to do these translations. His work will benefit everyone who wants to broaden their perspective on the earliest era of Islamic history. What Pliny the Younger, and Flavius Josephus, and Cornelius Tacitus, and Suetonius, and Lucian of Samosata are to the historical study of early Christianity, these Syriac writers are to the historical study of early Islam. What a delight, and a treasure, to have a collection of writings from such an early period of a world-changing movement from a perspective outside that movement! This collection of translations is by no means complete, according to the author. He thinks they are the most important and most informative. But they are a fraction of that "hundreds of pages" of comments on the movement started by Mohammed by Syriac Christians. It amazes me that there is such a wealth of information about Islam from outside Islam, and that it survived. Again, it is staggering when compared to the relatively gaunt (yet massively significant) writings about Christianity by non-Christian Greek and Latin writers. Please, by this book and donate it to your local library. This is a treasure chest of rare perspectives on world-changing events. If you only read ONE historical book in the next ten years, please read this one. Wouldn't you love to read a book by Iroquois authors who were writing about the Pilgrims? Wouldn't you love to read a book by Aztec authors who were writing about the Conquistadors? Wouldn't you love to read a book written by Canaanites in Jericho where they talked about the Hebrews and their God Yahweh? History is not always written by the victors. In this case, it is written by the subjugated and the conquered. That dynamic alone, apart from its relevance to early Christian/Islamic relations, makes this the rarest of the rare historical gems. It is amazing that this collection is just now coming out, at this point in history. How are all these things not already translated and compiled and widely distributed as are all the early non-Christian comments on Christianity? Evidently Islam has not been studied and combed over with as fine a comb as its fellow Abrahamic faith. I really do hope you read this book, whether you are Christian or Muslim or not a person of faith. Whatever your beliefs are, history is history; testimony is testimony. It may be true, it may be false. It may be honest, it may skew the facts. It may be impossible to tell whether or not it is a reliable testimony. But that is beside the point. The testimony must be heard. You decide whether they a villains or victims. You decide whether those who spoke are bigots or brothers. But please do listen to what they have to say. I wish some archeologist would dig up a library somewhere where there was this much talk (whether it's gossip or gospel) about the origins of Christianity, or of Buddhism, or of Hinduism, or Ba'al worship. If you have any interest in history or religion, this will be your favorite find of the year. Thank you, Professor Penn, for this wonderful contribution to historical literature.

I bought this book yesterday and read it in one day. Right now I plan to buy copies for several people I believe would benefit from the information contained in this volume. This book provides a translation and a contextualized summary of each of the written references to early Islam by Syriac Christians, in chronological order. This book is suitable for specialists and non-specialists alike, but those familiar with 7th century Middle Eastern History will derive the most benefit from this work. Much of the scholarship on Muslim-Christian interaction is based on Byzantine or Frankish sources and the history of Islam is written using sources written in Arabic. By translating the early Syriac sources, Penn provides an overlooked point of view in early Islamic history and Muslim-Christian interaction, of Christians who lived within the caliphate as Islam developed in the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates.

This was a good book. I agree with A.J. though, on his review points, however I must also admit I read most of A.J.'s papers available on academia so I may be a bit biased. Overall though it was a good read and great for someone getting started in this subject area.

Very valuable collection of early Syriac Christian sources on Islam. Makes clear some of the other interpretations supposedly based on this evidence go well beyond what can be confidently said from the fragmentary data.

More knowledge about the bloody history of Islam approved by historic documents.

Great book for it is for the first time those who can"t read Syriac have one volume that provides them with historical background that has been neglected

A great deal of novel material. I wish it were longer.

Beautiful work!

Exactly what the title says it is. Really a gem although it should be noted that it is very short.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0520284941?redirect=true&ref_=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_26

This book groups all known christian writings in syriac (aramean) for slightly more than 100 years after the death of Muhammad (until the end of the ommeyads).Each manuscript is (i) put in historical context and summarized and (ii) translated (some of them only the sections covering the muslims).Very useful for students or scholars.

Aus zeitlichen Gründen bin ich zwar immer noch am Anfang des Buches, aber man weiß jetzt schon dass es teilweise wertvolle historische Zeugnisse enthält.Für historisch Interessierte - aufgrund der alten historischen Zeugnisse - zu empfehlen.