Four Orations Against Mohammed

in the mire of sins. Do not be made like a desert land, one which brings forth thorns and thistles, but be ^A like a fruit-bearing land, which, having received the seed, brings forth its fruit thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. Thus, do you also, having received the word of the Lord, bring forth fruit a hundredfold. Yes, I beseech God the Creator of heaven and earth, that He himself might open your eyes and expand your heart, so that you may do the works of your own salvation, in order that you may inherit both paradise and the good things laid up within it. Amen.

JOANNIS CANTACUZENI CONTRA MAHOMETEM ORATIONS FOUR

CHAPTERS OF THE FIRST ORATION

12. That he enjoins that no one of his sect or order should dispute with any of the Christians. 13. That Noah and Abraham, and indeed the apostles themselves, were of the same doctrine which he himself later promulgated.

CAPITA OF THE SECOND ORATION

sea, however, [is] from a certain mountain called Caph.

17. That he says the sun and moon are equal in light and power. 18. That when he was called by Gabriel to ascend into heaven, and God placed His hand upon him, he felt such a sensation of cold that it penetrated even to the marrow of his spine. ^B 19. That in the chapter of Sad he asserts that the demons were angels, and being ordered by God to adore Adam, they did not wish to do this, as all the other angels adored him, and for this reason they became demons. 20. He provides the reason why [it is] forbidden to them to eat swine’s flesh. 21. That at the end of the world God will kill every kind of human and angel. 22. That he wrote a book containing twelve thousand discourses, of which three thousand are true, but the others false. 23. That in the chapter of Ceramara he asserts that he split the moon into two parts, and one half of these went into his tunic, while the other half fell to the earth; and afterward he restored it whole. 24. That God and the angels pray for Mahomet. 25. That in the chapter of Elmaida, which is interpreted as "table," he affirms that the Hebrews and Christians are not sons of God, nor His friends, because they are afflicted.

CAPITULA OF THE THIRD ORATION.

1. That it is impossible for God to have a son without a woman. 2. That if God had a son, there would be dissension between them. 3. That in the chapter of Elnesa, which is interpreted as "women," he says that Christ is the Word of God, the soul of God, and the spirit of God. 4. That he testifies that Christ was born of a virgin without a man. ^C 5. That he denies that Christ is God and the Son of God, and [denies] even His incarnation. He calls Him, however, merely a naked man, according to Nestorius, though holy and superior to all men. 6. That it was not Christ, but another in his place, who was crucified. 7. That God called Christ to Himself into the heavens. Concerning the end of the world, he says that he is destined to come and kill the Antichrist, after which Christ himself is to die. 8. That Christians make the Theotokos a goddess, and that she is the sister of Moses and Aaron. ^D

e is destined to come and kill the Antichrist, after which Christ himself is to die. 8. That Christians make the Theotokos a goddess, and that she is the sister of Moses and Aaron.

CHAPTERS OF THE FOURTH ORATION

ORATION I AGAINST MAHOMET

^B During the reign of the Roman Emperor Heraclius, there was a man, pernicious and insane, who set his mouth against the heavens and spoke wickedness against the Most High, while his tongue passed over the earth. It would not be an error, I think, for one to call him the firstborn of the devil, the son of perdition, and at once the father and son of falsehood. His name was Mahomet, an Arab by race, perverted in his disposition and even more perverted in his soul. Having conversed with certain heretics and been instructed by them, he received the seeds that the sower of tares had plowed and sown in the hearts of both teacher and student, and he brought forth thorns and thistles a hundredfold. ^C For, gathering together almost every heresy and mixing these with the figments of his own mind, he made of them one mixture, truly a poison for souls. Then, encountering certain men who were men in name but in reality differed nothing from cattle, he vomited upon them the virus of his own impiety. Those men were shepherds, among whom nothing reigned save living indistinguishably from the beasts. For where could there be any true reason in them? Where was there any teaching? Where was there any reading? For even if they possessed any such thing, they could not judge it, but were truly wild and savage, dwelling ^D constantly in the mountains and moving among the herds; so that if anyone were to say that they were animals gifted with speech, not rational, mortal, and completely incapable of wisdom, he would not miss the mark. But why is it worse for a man ^D destitute of reason and education? Yet, notwithstanding…

^A that the most wicked person is not utterly devoid of all good—for if he were, he would have declined into nothingness. Behold, even the miserable Arabs, while seeking good things, encountered evils, and while requesting the way of salvation, they fell into the pit of perdition. For this Mahomet, having led them astray from the path of truth, brought them into mountains and deserts, places which the Lord does not behold; and they might justly have prayed, saying: “Protect us, O Lord, from the snare which they have laid for us, and from the stumbling blocks of those who work iniquity. Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over us.” Yet they will not be considered righteous on this account, as perhaps not knowing the will of God, which is just, holy, and well-pleasing. For the voice of the apostles has gone out into all the earth, and the Gospel has been heralded to the whole world, for a testimony to the Jews and to the nations alike. What, then, is the testimony of the nations? The Gospel itself, the very proclamation, the very teaching of the wise apostles who preached the Gospel to all creation, from whom some, having acknowledged the truth, worshipped and venerated the only true God; others, however, were not attentive to what was said, while others again, being faithful for a time, afterwards returned to the pit of perdition. And although they did not become idolaters as before, they fell into another precipice, differing in no way from the first. Here, therefore, he imitated his first parent, namely the devil, who, having fallen like lightning from heaven after being cast out from his own home, attempts to tempt every human being, and seeks to make all people co-heirs of the fire of Gehenna and of darkness, and to render them strangers and aliens to God. Thus, I say, this ^B unhappy Mahomet did not cease to take care how he might withdraw every man from the family of God. And that every man will render an account of his own transgressions on the day of judgment is surely evident to everyone. But what excuse, pray, will the foolish Mahomet offer, who has alienated such a great multitude of men from God? Although no one is able to snatch from the hand of God him who is worthy of salvation, yet this man appears as an enemy of God, however weak he may be in reality.

1. Concerning Mahomet’s epilepsy and his false claims

1. Suffering from the falling sickness, at the time of the seizure he would roll about foaming. What, then, does the inventor of wickedness devise? He pretends that he is not held by a disease, but rather that he is possessed by God. For he said that because he could not bear the sight of the archangel Gabriel, he would collapse like a dead man; but after the divine vision and the apprehension of the teachings of God, he would return to himself. Having been appointed, therefore, as he says, by God, so that whatever he saw, whatever he heard, and whatever he was taught by God, he might manifest for the benefit of the whole world, he first called himself a prophet and an apostle of God.

2. Concerning the composition of the Quran

2. Then he wrote a book, having gathered the divine...

he gathered a collection of commandments, which in Arabic he named the Koran, and also a law of God for salvation, which in Arabic he called an ^A *elsalem*—I do not know how he so shamelessly called himself a prophet.

3. For some names have a local meaning, as Romans, Greeks, and Macedonians; others a substantial one, as Peter, Paul, and Socrates; others a patronymic one, as the Pelopidae and Cecropidae; others are derived from a science, as philosopher, general, and physician; others from an office, as apostle, teacher, and disciple; and others still are derived from the activity of spiritual gifts, as prophet, healer, and worker of wonders. If, therefore, that shameless one had called himself only an apostle, he might have hidden his lie for a time, as being hard to refute. But how can he be called a prophet, when there is no prophecy in him? For all the prophets prophesied concerning Christ, as well as concerning the Jews and other matters; these matters were partly fulfilled almost before the prophecy was spoken, partly after a certain time, and partly were deferred for a long time, yet all the prophecies were fulfilled. But this man, not fearing the exposure of his lie, so shamelessly lays claim for himself to the title of prophet, being not only very far removed from the prophetic gift, but not even like those false prophets who once on occasion used to deceive the people; rather, he simply and absolutely named himself a prophet and apostle. ^B And perhaps someone might raise a question about the false prophets, saying: If they were liars, how were they able to deceive the people? This question is not without reason, and we hope to resolve the inquiry. God, having led the race of the Hebrews out of Egypt with a high hand, after those many and great gifts which He bestowed upon them, also gave them prophets so that they might proclaim the commandments of God to the people. And sometimes they would say: "Thus says the Lord: If you are willing and obey me, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you are not willing and do not obey me, the sword shall devour you," such a prophecy, of course, containing teaching together with both mercy and threats. Sometimes, however, because of their iniquities and sins, the prophets would announce the manifest wrath of God that was to come upon ^C them through war and captivity. Because, therefore, of the austerity of the truth, they did not pay attention to the things spoken by God through the prophets, but were found to be gaping at the words of the false prophets, those who said, "Thus says the Lord: Peace, peace." And disregarding the true prophets, they clung to lawlessness. For this reason, God allowed this, and a spirit of deception entered into the false prophets, and sometimes those liars spoke the truth, but they lied a thousand times, God governing all these things for their benefit. They, however, neglecting the true ones, clung to the liars, just as, for instance, in the time of the king of the Jews, Ahab, a certain false prophet named Zedekiah came and stood before the king with iron horns, saying: "Thus says ^D

dicit Dominus: Cornibus ^A istis ventilabis Syriam, o rex » (III Reg. xxii, 11). He, however, persuaded by his words, went forth with the people and lost his own life as well. And those men, indeed, by the permission of God, performed what they performed, and the vengeance on the disbelievers served as a warning to others; but all that this vain man did, he did entirely for the ruin and destruction of the men of his time and of those who followed him thereafter. Mahomet therefore composes a book, which he named the saving Law of God and a collection of divine precepts, as has been said previously. This man, I say, established the entire business of the law promulgated through him by three means—I speak of punishment and tyranny, of falsehood and imposture, and of hypocrisy mingled with pleasures—concerning which we have already spoken in the fourth Apology, as much as was permitted at that time; but it will not be tedious to repeat here those things which God has ^B put into our mouth.

That great and blessed Moses, as is known to everyone, was sent by God to lead the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, having been instructed beforehand by miracles, signs, and prodigies. And after the exodus from Egypt, and that sojourn in the desert—or rather, one should say, wandering—God manifested through him miracles no less than those former ones, but without doubt much greater. After such power of miracles, then, the Lord spoke with him, not in a corner or in secret, but before the entire camp and the whole multitude of the Jews (for the works of light are exhibited in the light), and then the law was given by God through Moses His servant, and was indeed confirmed, ratified, and established for all as a law sent down from heaven by God. ^C But after its promulgation, the miracles did not cease even then; rather, both while Moses was living and after he had passed away, they were performed in like manner through Joshua the son of Nun and others. Moreover, the prophets were renowned for great and stupendous miracles performed for the assurance of the true faith. Elijah, truly, having closed the heavens for three years and a little more, worked droughts, raised the dead, and set a sacrifice on fire with water. Likewise also Elisha and the others.

But at the consummation of the ages, Christ descended, not as a servant like them, but as their Master and Lord; and He received testimonies, not as the prophets did, but as was fitting for Him as the Master and Creator of all creation; not because He was in need of ^D testimony, but because of the ignorance and weakness of men (for the work of the incarnation of the Son and Word of God is indeed truly great). Having therefore accepted testimonies, as has been said (as we have shown one by one and clearly in the preceding Apologies), starting from the creation of Adam, and likewise from Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and all the prophets, and even at His birth from the angels themselves, and more so from the star; and what is by far the greatest, at His baptism by the voice of God the Father, « Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased » (Matt. iii, 17)—(for I omit now to mention the great and countless miracles and prodigies performed by Him from the time of His own conversation among men).

^A Then He published the law of the Gospel.

But we have overlooked for a moment the transfiguration of our Savior on Mount Tabor. “Tabor,” says David, “and Hermon shall exult in thy name.” But how, O blessed David, will inanimate matter exult? “Indeed,” he says, “do not look at the Lord’s wonders simply and as they happen, nor superficially, but peer into the depth of the thoughts, and you will find great benefit. Come, therefore, let us consider what is the patriarch’s suggestion: ‘Tabor and Hermon,’ he says, ‘shall exult in thy name.’ For just as at the Lord’s Passion all creation showed signs of sadness—His holy Mother, the apostles, and all the faithful, and indeed the sun was darkened, the earth shaken, the rocks split, the veil rent, and the angels themselves were stunned, beholding the strange mystery of the Word of God—so also on Mount Tabor all creation exulted: from the inanimate, as it were the whole earth and the plants, Tabor and Hermon; ^B from those living by sense, the animals on Thabor; from the dead, Moses; from the living, Peter, James, and John; and from that new and changed life, which is neither human nor angelic, but such as Enoch and Elias lead, Elias himself; and from heaven, a shining cloud and the angels. And behold, Tabor and Hermon with all creation exulted: Hermon in the baptism, and Tabor in the transfiguration. In what matter? In the voice of God the Father concerning His only-begotten Son, by which He said: ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.’ And while in the Passion all creation was altered and all things were in confusion, in the Savior’s transfiguration, all creation exulted at the name spoken of the Son.

But we must return to where we set out from. Moses having first received, as has been said, the testimony from God and the miracles, published the law; and the prophets [were confirmed] by the outcome of their prophecies, and sometimes by miracles as well. And Christ, having the testimonies which we have already mentioned, and the infinite miracles, ^C He Himself also taught by word of mouth. After His assumption, His disciples wrote down this Gospel, and they themselves taught, claiming faith for themselves through miracles; yet it was not by miracles alone, but also because of their excellent administration of affairs that the apostles won belief. For first, when Christ had sharpened them and made them, as it were, of iron and adamant, He sent them out to preach, saying to them: “Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves.” But they, having put on humility, appeared more formidable than lions. For it is not boldness that removes boldness, but equity and humility. “Let your light,” says Christ, “so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” This indeed is the truth of the matter, that a blameless life and ^D

^A He did indeed teach by His own mouth, but after His assumption His disciples, ^B the apostles, wrote down the Gospel, and they also taught, confirming their message with miracles. Yet the apostles possessed credibility not only from miracles, but also from their excellent manner of life. For Christ first hardened them, and having made them, as it were, of iron and adamant, He then sent them out to preach, saying to them: "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves" (Matt. x, 16). And they, having put on humility, were shown to be more fearful than lions. For it is not boldness that destroys boldness, but gentleness and humility. "For let your light," says the Lord, "so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. v, 16). And this is the truth. A righteous life and virtue differ by a great measure from miracles. "For many," says the Lord, "will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have done many wonderful works? and in thy name cast out devils? And I will say to them, I know you not; depart from me, you that work iniquity" (Matt. vii, 22, 23). But if, perhaps, someone should say, "And what need is there of evangelical sayings against the things said by Mahomet?", we shall reply to him that there is great and urgent need. For testimonies accepted from enemies are more worthy of belief—not that the Gospel has any need of the testimony of its adversaries (far be it from being a blasphemy!), but just as if someone were demanding a debt of ten thousand talents from another, and the deceiver, having gone to the court, were to make a formal complaint against himself, and then, upon the debtor being questioned by the judges regarding the circumstances of the case, he were to agree and confess that the state of affairs is indeed so and not otherwise, and that there is no falsehood in what is said—the judge, having heard such statements and having set all things in silence, judges the other man's words to be sufficient for a testimony for the repayment of the debt, so you should understand it for me regarding all of Holy Scripture.

4. Mosaic writings, the Psalter, and the prophecies...

^C 4. For Mahomet taught that the Mosaic writings, the Psalter, and the pronouncements of the prophets are holy, just, and true, as we have demonstrated more clearly in our previous apologies. Above all the others, he has very often declared the Gospel to be most excellent, holy, just, upright, true, and perfect, to such an extent that he calls these things "admonitions of God." Just as in the chapter of Jonah, which is contained in the Koran, he speaks thus: that if you doubt the things which we have revealed to you, ask those who have read the Books before me, and you will find the truth. Who, then, are those who read the Books before Mahomet? It is clear that they are the Hebrews, who received the Pentateuch of Moses and the prophetic writings, and the Christians, who together with these also received the Gospel and the writings of the apostles. And behold, as far as the testimony of Mahomet is concerned, it clearly appears that those who come later are in need of those who came before, not that those who came before are in need of those who came later, just as he treats at greater length in the chapter [entitled] "El-Ma'ida," which is interpreted as "The Table." ^D Whence Mahomet was driven to issue his law, or, to speak more truly, his lawlessness, I know not, unless perhaps he was moved by his father, the devil. For it relies upon no testimony sought from elsewhere, neither the Old Testament

of his father the devil. For he had no evidence from elsewhere, neither from the Old Testament and the prophets, nor again from the New and the apostles, but rather they utterly rejected him as an enemy and foe. Blessed Moses says thus to the children of Israel: "The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brethren like me; hear him in all things. But every soul that will not hear that prophet shall be rooted out." ^B And consider carefully what is said. For when Moses says that "The Lord God will raise up a prophet from among your brethren," he taught that they should receive the one foretold by him, that is, Christ (as has been clearly demonstrated in the first apology), but that they should send away and cast far from them the prophet coming to them from a foreign nation. Christ says thus to those who have believed in Him: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits." And: "A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree bear good fruit." Therefore, having considered these things, let us examine the Lord's oracle to see who this teacher is, what his teaching is, what the tree is, and what the fruit is, so that we may judge clearly from the fruit itself the tree, and from the teaching the teacher. In the year twelve hundred and ten from the incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the true God, one of the Order of Preachers, Richard by name, went to Babylon, where the study and mystery of iniquity was practiced, and labored to the utmost to master the Arabic language. Having discussed and most accurately grasped those things that are contained in the law of the Ishmaelites, he translated the same from the Arabic into the Latin tongue.

5. The law of the Ishmaelites, called the Koran, given also by Mahomet, was not promulgated by him alone, but also by certain others, such as his son-in-law Ali, and seven others, whose names are these: Naphe, Eon, Oma, Eresar, Aser, the sons of Cheter, and the sons of Amer. Since, therefore, some received this, and others that, and each wished to establish his own after the death of Ali and Mahomet, factions, contentions, wars, and bloodshed ensued among their successors. But today, while reciprocal wars have ceased, the division and dissent have endured; and some receive one thing, others another.

6. But that law was from the beginning set forth by a demon. For every iniquity and sin has demons as helpers and co-workers. Yet it is not so with this law, but it was dictated by a demon from mouth to ear. Thus, even those in Babylon who are more studious of the truth do not entirely hide the truth, but they tell this ^C to those whom they trust, and confess

^A that the doctrine was not from God, demonstrating this with persuasive arguments. Yet they yield to the fear of death and follow impiety. And it contributes no small amount to their impiety that they are found to be completely ignorant of the things of the Christians.

7. Nevertheless, one of their teachers, a Caliph by title, was found at the time of his death to be carrying a cross with him. When they found the cross on his chest and realized that he was a hidden Christian, they did not bury him in the place where it is customary to bury the Caliphs, but in another place apart from it. For those among them who are wiser and more prudent are not ignorant of their error and imposture, but partly because of the aforementioned fear, and partly because they love the glory of men more than the glory of God, they go about with eyes of the soul closed, wandering in darkness, and by the fear of this bodily death they procure the death of the soul. In the case of Christians, however, the contrary is wont to happen; for through fear of the death of the soul, they despise that bodily and external death with joy. For the faith of the Christians differs far and wide from these men. For the Lord said that the way which leads us to life is narrow and straitened.

8. And although the law was taught, as has been said, by the demon, still, having encountered certain heretics, he took on the rest. He had been instructed in the dogmas of Nestorius by Jacobus of Baenra, whom he later killed; and from certain Jews, namely Phinees and Audios (whom he renamed Audoulas), and Salom (whom he called Selem), he also adopted many things, and thus, encountering certain Nestorians, he collected the impiety of all of them. Therefore, one will find many things written in the Koran from the aforementioned heresies. For if evil conversation knows how to corrupt good habits, how much more so when it encounters evil habits? Having then received the teaching from the demon, what else was it fitting for Mahomet to do and say than the things of his teacher? And just as that one, suffering from pride, fell and immediately began to lie, so too Mahomet began to speak and write out of pride and deceit.

9. For boasting about himself, he says literally this: ^D "If all men were to gather, and all spirits, and all angels, they would not be able to compose such a Koran as I have." Also, in the chapter of Elasar, speaking as if in the person of God, he says thus: "If we had sent this Koran onto one of the mountains, it would have been shattered by fear and reverence for it." And he is found boasting not only in such words, but he is puffed up in many others also, as our discourse will show a little later. For he says that the Koran is understood by God alone, but by no means by men. But let this vain teacher acknowledge that this wisdom is not from above, but is earthly, soulish, and [demon-]

^A that the Lord, as David says, "will guide the meek in judgment, and will teach the meek his ways." But Solomon says, "The Lord resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace to the humble." If, then, everyone who is proud is unclean before God, who is able to cleanse him? And if the Lord resists the proud, who shall help him? And if the Lord guides the meek in judgment and teaches the meek his ways, who will guide the arrogant and puffed-up man into the way of salvation and truth? And what of the lie, which he has placed as the base and foundation of his entire system? There is nothing in their teachings that is free from falsehood; for some are entirely and utterly lies and fabrications, while others—having grasped a trace of truth—he twists into something monstrous and absurd. And just as there is no sense that does not utilize touch as its vehicle, so there is no word uttered by him that is not either a manifest lie and deception, or a mixture of falsehood and truth. For who, possessing even the slightest knowledge, would not judge this to be a pure fabrication and a lie, when he slanders God by speaking about the Quran as if from His own person: "If We had sent this down upon one of the mountains, it would surely have been rent asunder from the fear and reverence of Him," ^B or further, when he introduces the archangel Gabriel, as if he were speaking with him at the time of his illness.

10. Furthermore, regarding his own name, Mahomet, that it is found written from eternity on the right side of the divine throne in the highest heavens, and that Christ, prophesying about him to the children of Israel, said: "I announce to you the apostle of God who will come after me, whose name is Mahomet." Since such a text is found in neither the Old nor the New Testament, and is a most obvious lie, his successors spoke and invented that some, moved by envy, had erased it—the Jews from the Old Testament, and the Christians from the Gospel. We, however, having clearly refuted this in the fourth Apology, have demonstrated how obviously false this is; therefore, I deem it superfluous and wearisome to dispute the same things ^C about the same matters repeatedly.

11. "Moreover," he says, "I have not come by means of miracles, but by means of the sword and punishment; and for those who do not obey our law and teaching, death shall be the punishment, or let them pay tribute." What is this? Surely it is nothing other than a desire to cover his own foolishness and weakness. Since he discovered no faith through the authority of the Scriptures or through miracles, he organizes slaughter so that, through fear, he might escape refutation—which is exactly what has happened. For by fear of death they escaped refutation, or rather they escaped the truth, and embraced falsehood ^D and destruction; so much so that his successors, at the time they expound their doctrine, place a drawn sword in their midst, saying as if from the person of Mahomet: "Thus saith the prophet: As long as the sword remains, lo,

that my law also endures; but when the sword is removed, that ^A law too will be destroyed. And that sinners have drawn their sword against David and have bent their bows to strike the upright in heart, this is clear and manifest. But may their sword enter into their own hearts, and their bows be broken; because the arms of sinners will be broken, the wicked will be driven away, and the seed of the ungodly will be extirpated. For it is given to few, and those easily numbered, to cast themselves into death for the sake of the good. For this reason the martyrs of the truth have become great and holy, and heirs of the kingdom of God.

12. Furthermore, Mahomet enjoins this, that no one of his faction should at all dispute with a Christian, fearing his own infirmity. ^B Yet, on the other hand, the same man in other places commands that one should not dispute with words that are harsh or severe against any man of another sect, but with mild ones. For it is not the work of man, he says, to reconcile, but of God alone; and each shall give an account for himself alone, and not for another. Behold him contradicting himself and being inconsistent! He appears unstable, disordered, and unlike himself not only in this chapter but in his whole law, and in almost all his own writings he is found refuting himself. For just as a man demented and ignorant of what the arguments and doctrines are that he intends to discuss, what the means are, and what the ends, so he acts in his writings. Not only does he destroy ^C and attack in one chapter what he has written in another, but he further confuses and subverts what he asserted at the beginning of the same chapter when he reaches the end. For it is with difficulty and struggle that what he has handed down has been digested into chapters and order, to such a degree that the ratio of contradiction precedes the order. For this same man who commands that one should not contend with disciples of some other doctrine with harsh and severe words, but with mild and gentle ones (as he also says, praising himself in the chapter *Eltenium*: "This is not the way of those who compel," etc.), yet again in the chapter *Elmipacara*, which signifies "the cow," he speaks thus: "In the law of God there is no force, since what is fair has already been defined from the beginning"; this same man, I say, as if forgetting himself, commands, saying: "For those not obeying our law, let the punishment be death, or let them pay tribute." And what is more violent than death, O most vain legislator? And how could it be said to have originated from God, for one wickedness to be compensated by another? For greed mitigates the fury of murder. For human nature, or rather men, and God, the fashioner and creator of that nature, established man in such a way that, together with the other faculties of his soul, he implanted desire, the zeal and fervor of the mind, and reason: so that through the affection of desire he might love and cherish the supreme good, which is God himself, and all justice and virtue, which are like a ladder leading the soul to God himself. But if by chance desire should deviate from true and upright love, and instead of the right it begins to turn to the contrary, this zeal of the mind [should be directed] against the demon

^A that the anger is to be moved, and, having pursued the serpent which destroys the human race, the concupiscence being overcome, he should be a guide on the straight path, free from error. But if even this zeal of the soul remains idle and slothful, or if it is moved not against the serpent, but rises up against a man who is related to it, then reason, that is, the ruling and leading mind, like a strong and impartial judge, should order it to remain within its bounds and each to guard its own order. For this reason, the Creator of all placed the seat of concupiscence in the liver, which lies under the heart; anger, or the zeal of the soul, he placed in the heart, which, as a more principal part, is higher than the liver; and he made the brain the seat of reason, which is above all, like some king and leader and ruler having power over all, honored not only by those things which are about it on account of its free will, but also by all nature endowed with sense, as has been clearly revealed in Adam, ^B and in Noah, and in those in the Old and New Testaments. And for this reason, every man ought to use anger against the passions, and against any thing whatever that separates him from God. But Mahomet, instead of using it against the passions, used it against a man of his own race, as if against some cruel and untamed beast, unless perhaps he mitigated his anger somewhat with the love of money, as has been said. The same man again, in the chapter "Em," as if oblivious of all things, spoke thus: "Of those who receive another god than this one, you are not a teacher nor a curator, since God has reserved this for Himself." And who else could be a more severe accuser of Mahomet than he is of himself? For, wishing to contradict the Scriptures, which he had previously called just and holy, he is caught not only contradicting them, but in almost all things he is contrary to himself. For in the chapter "Elnesa," which is translated "Women," he says thus: ^C "If the Alcoran were not from God, many contradictions would be found in it." Since he himself was unable to look upon the Scriptures with his own eyes, he necessarily took refuge in lies, as if the things spoken were from God. And how could they be from God, you minister and father of lies? For where there is a lie, God has no place; and where God is, there the lie has failed. For darkness cannot endure the presence of light, just as disease cannot subsist when health succeeds it.

13. Furthermore, he was not ashamed to claim that he himself is the leader and teacher of the law, which he set forth for the lawless, and of the Alcoran which he wrote. For he says that Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, but also the apostles of Christ, were followers of the same dogma. ^D And how were the apostles followers of the same dogma, who lived about seven hundred years before you were born, if you are the author of this dogma? How, indeed, were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, born so many centuries before them? How, again, Noah, who lived about four hundred years before them? But if you are indeed the author and inventor of impiety (as you truly are), you say falsely that they were followers of an impure dogma. If, however, as you do, you [claim] them to be the same...

^A that you are refuted by your own lie in that you call yourself the author of the law. For ^B a fountain cannot send forth sweet and bitter water—that is, falsehood and truth—from the same opening. But what you proclaim, being ignorant yourself, this is the truth: that faith is not a matter of force and necessity, but of choice and will. For bodily things admit of force, but the things of the soul do not. But the soul is in a way self-governed and free; what it believes and wills, it loves and embraces. That which happens by force does not have its motion from itself; that which is contrary to its own nature and moved from elsewhere is not firm, and what is not firm will not be stable. But the law of the Gospel is firm and stable, on account of the power of self-governance and the will of the soul. "He who is able," says Christ, "to receive it, let him receive it." ^C But the law of Mohammed is not firm and stable, because it is administered by the sword and with force, even if through the judgments which God knows, this impiety of his has been spread and has increased in strength. But as far as the heaven is from the earth, so far do the counsels of God differ from those of men, and His thoughts from human thoughts, as God Himself clearly declared through the prophet Isaiah. Therefore, with the theologian Paul, we also say, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?" For the Lord knows how to keep the pious, and to reserve the unrighteous for the day of judgment, to be punished with eternal fire. For the light of the wicked is extinguished. ^D Furthermore, Mohammed says this: "I did not come to confirm the law with miracles, but by the sword." And he truly said this; for the power of miracles is a gift and bounty of God. And what communion has good with evil? None at all. But just as evil, as not having been made by God, does not possess its own substance, but is seen to exist incidentally in those things in which it occurs due to the destruction and lack of the good, so it seems to me regarding the doctrines of Mohammed: out of the destruction and lack of the true doctrines of God, a strange and alien law has erupted incidentally, or rather, a law entirely estranged from the truth and from God. For as great as this evil is, so great is its absurdity and the disorderly confusion of things. For just as evil appears due to the lack of good, but in itself lacks substance, and disease arises due to the lack of health, and confusion due to the lack of order, thus also the law of Mohammed is seen to have come into being incidentally due to the lack of the true law, simulating the right, while it is itself per se mere absurdity and confusion, and a disease of the soul, or rather, its death. For the law of Mohammed is a participant in good only insofar as one seems to be doing good to oneself. For no one, seeing evil as it really is, would do the things he has committed. Having perceived, therefore, his own infirmity

^A that Mahomet's law partakes of the good only to the extent that it appears to do well. For no one who looks toward evil does what he does. Therefore, having realized his own weakness, he assumes falsehood and pretends that what he has decreed is a divine law. ^B Since he did not have the witness of miracles from God, as has been said—and why do I say the witness of miracles? From among the charisms and gifts which the apostles had from God, the last and least of all was the knowledge of tongues, and they possessed this as teachers of the world, so that wherever they went, they might know the language of the nation with full accuracy. For if they had not known the things being said, they would have had need of various interpreters to explain what was being said by both sides. How then does this man call himself ^C universal and a teacher of the whole world, when he had not been endowed with even the least of all the gifts? For he himself says concerning himself that he knows no other language but the Arabic tongue alone, which is why he promulgated the Koran in that same language, as he himself clearly confessed. For this reason, he resorts to the penalty of the sword—that is, to murder—and rightly so. For his teacher and father was a murderer from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth. ^D For the wickedness of a demon is that which is contrary to a mind of goodness; the vice of the soul is what is contrary to reason; and that of the body is what is contrary to nature. These things are clearly manifest in the teachings of Mahomet. For absurdity and confusion, and finally falsehood and the blinding of the mind, are clearly recognized. But let us see how it is that from such a source that which is contrary to nature is taught, and consider what sort of thing it is. Nature cannot destroy itself; but since it is itself reason, it does everything with reason. But this Mahomet taught that one should kill without any pity a man, who like himself was fashioned by the hand of God—a thing that even brute animals do not do (for who has seen one animal kill another of the same species?)—and he appears fiercer and more cruel than all wild beasts, as will appear more clearly from what is about to be said. For it is reported by them that his paternal uncle was once brought to Mahomet himself, and said to him: "What will happen to me, O nephew, if I do not obey your law?" He replied: "Nothing else, O uncle, but that I shall kill you." The uncle replied: "Is there no other penalty remaining?" "None other," he answered. The uncle said: "I will obey you, then, in whatever you wish; but with my tongue only, not with my heart, compelled by the fear of the sword." Compelled by him, the son of Catemplada also said: "Lord, know that it is only for fear of death that I accept this doctrine." Furthermore, the son of Empiasta also says the same: "It is for fear of death and the sword that I undergo this doctrine." Afterward, he sent letters secretly into the region of Mecca, so that they might not be led astray, but might consider how they could escape the danger of the sword. All these things have been compared from the Koran and [original-script column: see facsimile]

uæ contra naturam ad faciendum nefaria sunt, quæ etiam dicta sunt turpissima. Quoscunque enim apprehendit impietas, in hos ceu morbus omne malum exercet. Dissimilium enim commistio, et naturalium facultatum ad illicita est commotio, quod et ipsa intemperantia efficit. Hujus vero scopus non fuit alius, quam ut naturalium simul et innaturalium voluptatum promissione conciliaret sibi stultam et insanam hominum multitudinem; quod et factum est.

AGAINST MAHOMET ORATION II

^B Truth is one and simple, but falsehood is manifold and varied; and he who walks in truth walks in light and moves in security, whereas he who is devoted to falsehood walks in darkness and knows not whither he goes. For this reason, Mahomet, having despised the truth and embraced falsehood, taught nothing healthy, nor anything consistent with human salvation; but he is found to have been concerned with this alone: how he might draw the multitude to himself. ^C And he was utterly negligent of virtues, such as humility, long-suffering, peace, and charity toward one's neighbor; nor did he write anything useful or beneficial. But lest his lies and vanities be refuted by the Old and New Testament, he sometimes added other dogmas of foreign wisdom, in no way probable, which had been written by others. And he himself, unwilling and reluctant, and as if goaded by a divine power, often showed in his writing that the traditions of Moses and the prophets, nay, even the Psalter and the Gospel itself, are holy and delivered by God; and especially and clearly he calls the Gospel itself holy, perfect, and right, and deems them "admonitions of God" in the Alcoran. And since he could not hide the truth entirely, he says: "For I myself observe and do the things that are written in these." And since he confesses the Old and New Scripture to be just, holy, right, and delivered by God, he binds himself to this even against his will, and he ought to observe them in all things. ^D Yet he makes no mention of the virtues which are contained in the sacred Scriptures, which can deliver man from the earth and make him heavenly; but whatever comes into his mind, that he approves and teaches; and now indeed he approves and admonishes that they receive neither the Old nor the New Scripture; now, however, that they should receive them. As in the chapter *Helmaida*, which is interpreted as "the table," he says thus:

1. That there is no society of the Book unless they fulfill the Gospel and the Law. And the society of the Book, according to him, are called the followers of Mahomet.

2. Moreover, after many prodigious words, he adds this: that the followers of his law are to be divided into seventy-three sects, of which one alone is to be preserved, while the others are to be delivered to the fire. What, against such foolish

and baseless words, is there to dispute? Absolutely nothing. But one who has a sound mind would add only this: that even that one single part will be consumed by eternal fire, unless it embraces the true and irreprehensible faith. ^B

3. Furthermore, just as he is found to be almost always contradicting himself, so too in the chapter *Enessa*—which signifies “women”—he refutes himself. For he says: “If this Koran were not delivered by God, many contradictions would be found in it,” although it is actually full of many contradictions. For in different places he says that God does not guide the one who is led astray. Yet, teaching the same thing again, he says: “Pray that you may be led from darkness into light, and from the paths of error into straight ways.” Furthermore, regarding himself, he says that he was once an orphan in error, for he was an idolater. And God made such a one a prophet, calling him in such a way that he ascended even to the seventh heaven and encountered an angel a thousand times larger than the whole world, who was lamenting his own sins and asking him to obtain forgiveness for him from God. ^C

4. He also says that, after ascending to God with Gabriel, he encountered another angel ten thousand times larger than the whole world, who was also lamenting his own sins and using him as an intercessor before God, and he too obtained forgiveness.

5. Moreover, he says of himself that he is the end, the seal, and the silence of all the prophets, and for this reason it is not permitted for anyone to prophesy after him, wherefore whoever prophesies shall die by death. It is said, however, that after him there arose in Babylon a certain man named Solem (which signifies “ladder”), who called himself a prophet and was accepted by the Babylonians as a prophet, but was killed by the Scythians along with the crowd that followed him. And who could enumerate the lies, myths, and vanities that such a Mahomet wrote? For they are so many and so countless, and so filled with prolixity, that even the highest teachers of their most lost dogmas, whom they call *Helpheca*—that is, "excellent ones"—never agree with one another in the interpretation of the Koran, nor do they seem as if they will ever agree for all eternity. ^D For some adhere to Mahomet, some to Ali, and others to others; but even these themselves dissent from one another. Recognizing, therefore, the weakness of his own argument, the slanderer, wishing to conceal it, says thus in the chapter *Elaram*: “No one except God alone understands the explanation of the Koran.” Recognizing indeed the uselessness of his law, but also its falsity, confusion, and discrepancy, and that he had written many things deserving of the highest reproach, he said this. But the wise and prudent of that nation, who have been instructed in the wisdom of the Greeks (for there are some who read the Gospel and the writings of Moses), condemn those things which were written by Mahomet and reject them as weak. Hence, it is cautioned by law among the Saracens, that if anyone in general doubts, or questions

^Anem de Alcorano moveat, extemplo morte moriatur.

6. Furthermore it says: Do not commit rapine nor murders, nor perjuries, since God takes these things grievously. But if by chance you should do so, God is kind and merciful, and will forgive them.

7. In the chapter *Helmaida*, which signifies "table," it says that God does not count the fraud of perjury against us; but for the transgression of it, the satisfying portion is the feeding of ten poor, and clothing as many, or instead of these things, the redemption of one captive. But whoever is unable to do either of these, let him fast three times. They also have an oath which they do not easily break; although sometimes even this is wont to happen.

8. Furthermore, when Mahomet had sworn that he would not lie with a certain Jacobite woman named Mary, God permitted him not to hold as valid that which he had sworn; but he approached her, as in the chapter *Elmelaare* it most clearly testifies. And the witnesses of such permission and perjury are cited as the angels, Michael ^B to wit, and Gabriel.

9. To these things it reports that God often conversed with him, and said that He created the world for the sake of sport. And let any prudent person weigh what is said here, how He grants every license, so that He may draw as many as possible to Himself; although the Lord says that "strait and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, but broad and wide is that which leadeth to perdition." And in truth this applies to him: "I will not know the way of Thy commandments."

10. Likewise in the chapter *Micapara*, which they interpret as "heifer," he says that Jews and Christians are to be saved. But in the chapter *Amram*, he says again that no one can be saved without those things which are contained in the law of the Ishmaelites.

11. Furthermore he says that no one can enter into paradise before him. But the same person ^C himself a little later says, as if forgetting this prior statement, that the Lord took him up and led him into paradise, and showed to him many men and women there. And he asked Him, "Lord, what is this?" And God answered him: "Do not wonder, for these also are your followers." But that which he reports, that God told him He made man for the sake of sport, Mahomet teaches for two reasons: partly to show that God does not highly esteem the salvation of men, and therefore that each should live without fear according to his own lust; and partly to mock the incarnation of the Savior Christ. In very truth, "their throat is an open sepulcher, and their tongue is deceitful. The poison of asps is under their lips." ^D For being an instrument of perdition, he vomited forth vain and false words. For whatever was most wicked he brought...

presented God Himself as saying it. For some men are vessels of election and mercy, while others are vessels of wrath and perdition. For this reason they are called vessels, because of their capacity; for they receive from without either good or evil. For while the angels possess their knowledge from above, men gather their knowledge from the Holy Scripture and from other external circumstances, and from many differences are led to one true knowledge, and for this reason they are called vessels. ^A Therefore, this wretch, having received the teaching of the devil, mixed everything into his own dogmas, and as has been said, prepared a mixture of impiety, which he administered to those who believed him, and having made their souls weak, he offered them to the devil as if they were a sacrifice. For the weakness of the soul is not like the leanness or fatness of bodies that passes into their substance, but is a weakness towards material and temporary things. For the functions of the soul can entirely be changed. For adulteries, fornications, and all pleasures are attached to the world, and "the friendship of this world is enmity with God." For this reason, he too, having abandoned everything, gave over the multitude to pleasures. ^B And he gave them over to these not only during their lifetime, but he also declared that they would persist after death. So much so that, as a reward for his followers after the resurrection of the dead, he promised to provide sexual pleasures—that a multitude of women would be given to each one—along with beautiful houses, baths, gardens, clothing, luxuries, and other things like these; following the heretic Cerinthus and certain other ancients, he taught that pleasure is, in a certain way, the end of happiness. We have, however, already spoken of this specifically in the fourth Apologia; therefore, it is not our intention to refute all of Mahomet's impious opinions in general. But since it has seemed good to us to refute these more copiously, we speak as follows. The same Mahomet says in the Alcoran that God will kill death, and after this, men will rise again immortal and whole. Consequently, since the matter is thus, what need is there for food? Or even for sexual pleasures, since procreation is not necessary? For food was created because of the constant consumption of the body, so that it might replenish what is lacking, ^D and the union of man with woman was permitted for the procreation of children. Since, however, he himself confesses that all will rise again immortal, then food is surely in vain, and the pursuit of sexual pleasure is also in vain. But even if we were to grant this, of necessity, procreation would follow from it. And for the men thus born, it is natural that they should be born either mortal or immortal. If they are mortal, how does it happen that mortals are born from immortals? But if those who are born are also immortal, lo, he has introduced another mode of generation. And the blessed Moses, explaining the generation of man, says thus: "God took dust from the earth and fashioned Adam," and by breathing into him from Himself, he became a living soul. And from the rib of Adam He made the

^A into a living soul. And from the side of Adam he formed Eve; and from both of them at once, Seth and all men. Being mortal, therefore, they also begat mortals. To this doctrine David assents, the prophets bear witness, and Christ Himself confirms it. But from whence that wicked one learned this new mode of generation he taught, I do not understand, unless perhaps by his own reasoning, and moved by his father, the devil. But consider this absurdity: for if immortal parents begat immortal children, behold a mode of generation has arisen that knows neither death nor resurrection; but if they were immortal yet begat mortal children, how did they beget children of a different nature? For every nature is accustomed to beget that which is similar to itself. But if we were to grant even this: how will death, once slain (as you posited before), exercise its power again after the resurrection? Do you now see how Mahomet’s doctrine, contrary to Holy Scripture, also conflicts with itself? For he himself says there is one and only one day of resurrection. And behold, if mortals are born, they die of necessity; but since there is no other resurrection, those too lie dead for eternity—who, then, would call mortality itself the end of blessedness? Furthermore, because the souls of the saints are now separated from their bodies, they would lack pleasures, and therefore would also be destitute of blessedness according to Mahomet’s opinion—and before them, the angels themselves. But this is by no means the case; it is not so, indeed. For his foolish heart was darkened, and while he thought himself wise, he appeared the most foolish of all. For the end of blessedness is not pleasure, but for man to become, as far as possible, like God, and to know God, and to be united to Him. This, I say, is the supreme good for both angel and man, and the highest happiness. But Mahomet, when he says things ^B of which he is ignorant, openly opposes himself to the justice of God. For divine justice is that which distributes all things worthily, and preserves what is immortal for eternity, while these temporary things remain for a time, and the rest in their due order. And first, indeed, those things which are fitting are given to the supreme orders; then to souls and bodies, and after these even to nature, for the things that concern it. Behold, therefore, the proportion, the beauty, the order, and the just administration which is applied to each. Nor should you follow certain ancient philosophers, who are themselves also stupid; nevertheless, they say in a certain cold discourse that happiness is the knowledge of the mind, since they themselves, in my opinion, lack substance. For since they believe that there is no difference between the mind and the understanding, they are ignorant that between these is God, who is the supreme good, and the head of blessedness and happiness. For as much as anyone approaches God, by so much is he blessed, glorious, and happy. But it occurs to me to wonder why he did not also say that after the resurrection there would be murders and robberies. For since all wars arise for the sake of ^C pleasures and the love of money, he ought by all means to have said there too that he who brings more pleasures to himself is more blessed than others.

^B 12. Furthermore, the same man says in the chapter "Sad" that angels were created from fire, but man from dust. And just as the body is fashioned from earth, so he deems that angels are composed of fire as their material. He derives this error, I suppose, from the prophetic word which says: "Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire" (Ps. CIV, 4), not understanding, poor wretch, that the divine intellects are called spirits on account of their speed, velocity, and slight, incorporeal substance, and are called a flame of fire on account of their brightness, activity, sudden motion, and purgative force, and perhaps also on account of a power to consume. Just as the supreme orders, who immediately support the splendor of the divine majesty, are named Seraphim by the Hebrews—that is, burning or heating—on account of their eternal and incessant motion around divine things, and on account of the heat, velocity, and fervor of their continuous, restless, and indefatigable motion. For if this material fire possesses an illuminative and purgative property, as in gold, and a consuming power for all adulterated matter, how much more shall those heavenly principalities, that is, the holy angels, possess a power and operation of illuminating and purifying those worthy of illumination and purgation, as is the case regarding certain saints and prophets, and a consuming and destroying power, as in the case of Sennacherib, King of the Assyrians? Having failed to understand these things, the foolish man supposed the nature of angels to consist of fire. As for the stories and prodigies he strangely recounts—which are no different from the ravings of drunken old women—what need is there to say more?

13. For he says in the chapter "Nemel," which is translated "The Ant," that Solomon gathered a great army of angels, men, and brute animals, and that when they went out on an expedition, they found something like a river of ants, and the ant said: "O ants, enter into your dwellings, lest Solomon and his army destroy you." And the ant smiled.

14. Moreover, in the chapter "Rubesa," he says that a worm signaled the death of Solomon to the demons. The narrative of this matter is as follows: while Solomon was leaning upon his staff, he was suddenly seized by such pain that he immediately expired, yet by a certain divine miracle he did not fall. The demons serving him, when they saw him standing thus, thought he was still alive. But a worm crept out of the earth and gnawed at his staff; when it was eaten through, Solomon collapsed. The demons, running up and realizing he was dead, from that time onward began to harm the human race with all their might.

15. Furthermore, in his book of narrations, Muhammad himself provides the reason why wine is forbidden to them. He says that God sent two angels to the earth so that they might rule well and judge justly. These angels were named Arot and Marot. A certain woman, having a legal dispute, approached them and invited them to lunch, and served them wine (which the Lord had ordered them not to drink). Once they were inebriated, they attempted to violate her. She did not consent to their lust, but ascended into heaven and explained her situation. God, having seen these things and having heard the case she had, made her a morning star (Lucifer), so that she might be as beautiful in heaven among the stars as she had been on earth among women. And since He offered the angels who had sinned the choice of whether they wished to be punished in this age or in the future, and they elected to be punished in this present age, He suspended them by their feet in a pit in Babylon by an iron chain, until the day of judgment. ^B

16. He further says that this heaven was created from smoke; from which it appears that this new lawgiver thought there was another, uncreated heaven, which no man has ever known. And by way of contrast, he calls this present heaven "created," as if such smoke were produced from the exhalation of the sea. And he teaches that the sea emerged from a certain mountain called Qaf, which mountain encircles the whole world and sustains the heaven.

17. Next, he says that the sun and the moon were equal in light and power, and that there was no difference between night and day; but that when Gabriel was once flying by, his wing chanced to move closer to the moon, and because of this, its body was obscured.

18. He also says that when Muhammad was called into heaven, God placed His hand upon him; and he felt such a force of cold that it penetrated through to his very spinal marrow. That this is his own fabrication is clearly evident. Nevertheless, he follows the opinion of the Anthropomorphites, who imagine God to be corporeal, the wretched man being unaware of this: "You thought I was like yourself." ^C

19. That in the chapter known as Sad, the same Muhammad says that the angels were appointed by God to worship Adam, but they did not wish to do this, as all the other angels had worshipped him, and for this reason they became demons. But this is the peculiar and private opinion of this impious man. ^D

20. Furthermore, the same man says that the pig was born from the dung of the elephant, and the mouse from the dung of the pig, and the cat from the forehead of the lion. The cause for this is reported as follows: When Noah was in the ark with his sons and the animals, whenever they went to attend to the needs of nature, the ark would tilt, especially when the elephant went to do so. Overcome by extreme fear, Noah consulted God, who said: "Go and worship his posterior," and toward

the opening through which the dung comes out. ^A Upon this being done, at the same time as the dung came out, a huge pig emerged with it, which, rooting and scouring the dung with its snout, produced a mouse, which began to gnaw the planks of the ark. They were terrified most of all at this. When Noah asked the Lord about this again, the lion was struck on the forehead, and a cat leaped out from its nostrils. He gives this as the reason why swine's flesh is considered unclean by them.

21. He says further that at the end of the world God will kill the entire race of both angels and men, and that no one will be left alive except for God alone and Death (whom he calls a certain angel by the name of Hadriel). And then the Lord will command Hadriel to kill himself. Following this, the Lord will cry out with a loud voice and say, "Where are the satraps of the world and the princes?" And after this, He will resurrect everyone. What, then, could anyone who is in his right mind possibly say about so many such trifles? ^B

22. In my view, it appears to be nothing other than Mahomet himself bearing witness, who claims to have written a book containing twelve thousand wondrous sayings. Being asked by his disciples to explain this to them, he said to them that of these, three thousand are true, but the rest are false. Hence it happens that if any of the Ishmaelites argue with anyone, and what they bring forward is proven to be false, they fearlessly say that it is taken from the false sayings of Mahomet, and not from the true ones. And perhaps if he had imitated Lucian the Greek, he might even have said about himself that this is the one and only truth: that everything written in the Koran is false—in which case the things written in it might perhaps have deserved some pardon, just as that man jokingly calls "true" the narratives which he himself tells as lies. For at the beginning of his book he says this first: "I am going to speak one truth, namely, that everything written here is false." And then he records whatever is ridiculous for the sake of amusement. But since this man teaches falsehood with such impudence, fearing neither God nor man, what pardon could the miserable wretch deserve? ^C

23. Furthermore, in the chapter called *Keramar*, which is translated "moon," it is said that when those who were Mahomet’s followers saw the moon approaching its conjunction, they said to him, "Show us some prodigy." And then he signaled to the moon with his two fingers. Upon this being done, it was divided into two parts. And one of the fragments fell onto Mount Helikain, which lies on one side of the city of Mecca, and the other fragment fell onto the other mountain, called *Erythron*, which is situated on the other side of the same city. Thus, the moon, having been cut in two, entered into the tunic of Mahomet, and he restored it whole again. What refutation is needed for such myths and fictions? Nevertheless, let everyone who seeks the truth understand that miracles are not meant to be mere displays; rather, some come to pass for the sake of some spiritual utility, as in the case of Christ and Nathanael—for Nathanael... ^D

^A Nathaniel we read. For Nathaniel, having heard of the miracles performed by Christ and of the secrets of his own heart, acknowledged his own Master and confessed Christ to be the Son of God and the teacher of Israel, that is to say, God and man. Other miracles occur for the benefit of the body, such as the infinite multitude of the sick healed by Christ, and the eating of the bread; others, in turn, happen for the sake of both, namely, the soul and the body, as occurred in the case of the paralytic, to whom first sins were forgiven, and for the confirmation of the forgiveness of sins there followed also the healing of the paralyzed body. And so it was also with the man born blind; for after he had gained his sight, he also recognized his own Maker and Creator, and worshipped him. Yet other miracles were performed for some practical use, as those by Moses in Egypt and the desert; likewise by Joshua, son of Nun, who made the sun stand still in battle, and those of the priests in Jericho. But for what reason did this prodigy of the moon occur? Certainly for no benefit or use, but only so that the disciples of Mahomet might blurt out everything that came into their minds, along with other things spoken by them that are vain and false. However, they seem to do one thing well: they have made it their goal to lie, and they lie perpetually. For this is the same man who said: "I have not come to give a law through miracles, but through the sword." And if this is true, by what reasoning did he produce this ^B astonishing miracle of the moon? To such an extent are all things that are said by them vain and false. For, living in malice, they serve ignorance. For knowledge cannot beget ignorance, just as light cannot beget darkness. But malice is accustomed to beget ignorance.

24. Furthermore, in the chapter of Elezap it is said thus: that God and his angels perpetually pray for Mahomet and his followers. What are you saying, man? Does God pray for the salvation of others? And if he prays, he either prays to himself or to another. If to himself, what is said is altogether absurd. And what is the use of prayer in this way? And in this manner, he does not even fulfill his own will. But if he prays to another, it is entirely evident, as it seems, that he has a God greater than himself. For without any controversy, that which is greater is prayed to by that which is lesser. And behold, according to your opinion, Mahomet, there are two gods: the one greater, and the other lesser. And the one appears to be praying, and the other ^C receiving his prayer. Yet you yourself confess the God who made heaven and earth to be God, and you worship him, the very one whom you claim prays for you. Whom else do you make into a God, who receives the prayers of the Creator of heaven and earth? I do not understand what kind of God this is. But I, agreeing with the great Moses, say: "Let the gods who did not make heaven and earth perish." But perhaps the followers of Mahomet will say: "By what reasoning, then, do you Christians say that Christ, whom you similarly worship as God, prayed for those who were crucifying him?" You are certainly guilty of the same ^D crime of which you accuse us.

^A Christ, whom you worship as God, because he prayed for those who were crucifying him? For in the very accusation with which you charge us, you are found to be caught yourselves, even against your will. For if Christ is God, as you say, how does he not forgive the sins of those crucifying him by his own authority? But if he is not God, how do you worship him as God? If, however, he is God and yet is found praying—as it appears—he himself also, then, stands in need of another God greater than himself. Behold, therefore, even according to your own view, there is a greater God and a lesser one. Let those, then, who bring this absurdity into the middle, listen with understanding. The Lord is found speaking in the Gospel to the apostles thus: "The scribes and the Pharisees have sat on the seat of Moses; all therefore whatever they tell you to keep, keep and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not." What do these words signify? Nothing other than that the scribes and the Pharisees are teachers in name only, but in reality, they are not. But Christ taught virtues by his works as well; and sometimes Christ is seen doing something first, then teaching, and sometimes doing and keeping silent—to such an extent that even silence itself takes the place of another teaching. At one time he said: "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in the heavens." At another time, however, he said: "Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing." For after teaching and saying, "If anyone compels you to go one mile, go with him two; and to him who wishes to take your tunic, let him have your cloak also; and to him who strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other," and all the other things—which I omit due to their abundance—he then said to them: "If you love those who love you, what reward is yours? And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what reward is yours? But rather lend to those from whom you do not hope to receive back, and love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." Since, therefore, he was teaching all the other things while also doing them, and his actions proclaimed the truth—but the command to love one's enemies he had only taught in word, while the action remained hidden and was not yet ^D manifest—in the time of his passion he prayed for those who were crucifying him, and the love toward his enemies hidden within him finally came into the light. And the blessed Luke says thus to King Theophilus: "The first account I made, that is the Gospel, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach." By these words he signifies nothing other than separating Christ from the likeness of the foolish teachers, the scribes and the Pharisees, and showing him to be the true teacher, who both says and does, and does and teaches. Christ did indeed pray for those who were crucifying him, but as a man. For he did not dwell on the earth as God without a body, nor yet as a mere man, as Nestorius and you are accustomed to say, but as God and man. And now, indeed, he was working as God, as when he says, "I will; be thou cleansed," and, "Thy sins are forgiven thee,"

^A Him He acted as God, as when He said, "I will; be thou clean," and "Thy sins are forgiven thee"; [at other times] He acted as God and man, as when He touched the blind man and he was healed, and the daughter of the centurion. By the touch He showed that He is man; but by saying, "I say to thee, arise," He showed His divinity. At other times He demonstrated only His humanity, as when He hungered, and labored, and wept over Lazarus. For He was perfect God and perfect man; and as God He acted according to authority, as He willed and desired, but as man [He took upon Himself] all things human. For without sin, which His holy soul did not know, and without infirmity, which did not touch that holy body, He took on all human characteristics. And just as there was no trace of sin in the holy soul of the Lord, so there was no infirmity in that holy body. For sin is a disturbance of order and a defect of good; and infirmity is an unordered confusion of humors and a defect of health. But how could a form of disorder and infirmity be seen in the body of the Creator of order, who healed all sickness and all infirmity? Since, therefore, as has been said, He was God and man, He prayed in a human way, because the time had come for the manifestation of the love within. For He is the one who says: "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his soul for his friends," that is, his life. ^B But He exposed His life to death not only for His friends, but no less for His enemies, those, I mean, who crucified Him, and for all the Jews; indeed, even for the whole world, as the prophets proclaimed, and the event itself taught, and the truth shone forth more brightly than the sun. For just as a stone thrown [against something] finds its contrary, and for this reason turns back upon the one who threw it, so also the prayer of the Savior, having found the souls of those impious and godless men harder than iron, turned back upon Him who offered it. For this reason also David, prophesying, said: "Unjust witnesses rose up, they asked me things I knew not. They rendered me evil for good, and bereavement to my soul. But as for me, when they troubled me, I put on sackcloth, and humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer shall return into my bosom" (Ps. XXXIV, 11-13). ^C See, the prayer of Christ has again returned to Him. Why? Because it found no place of repentance in the souls of those who crucified Him. For if repentance had been found in them, their sin would have been dissolved, as if it had not happened. Moreover, Christ also, when sending the disciples to preach, says thus: "Entering into the house, salute it. And if indeed the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, going out of that house or city, shake off ^D

the dust of your feet for a testimony against them. ^A Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. And behold, they were not only deprived of peace, as they were also of prayer, but they were also ranked with the Sodomites. Do you see how the things concerning Christ are from on high, and written by all the prophets, which we omit here due to the great quantity of scripture? For if there is anyone seeking the truth, he will find it. I speak by way of example; for it is not absurd to ascend from obscure images to the Author of all. For just as among the Greeks there were some who called their statues Mercuries, and in those, I say, as far as what appears on the outside, they were altogether unadorned and misshapen; but when the statues were opened, their images appeared very beautiful—so it seems to me that it is with Christ. For the things that are said and appear on the outside sometimes seem small and trivial, but the things understood within are great and supernatural. But even this example is not sufficient. For the seeker of truth, as has been said, finds not only that the works of Christ understood within are great and supernatural and miraculous, and worthy of God, but also that His humanity surpasses all the knowledge and understanding of angels and men. And just as from the visible creatures of heaven and earth and the rest, God the Creator appears—for it is proper to God that He himself is not seen, but is understood from His works—so also in the miracles of Christ, He who performs these by His own authority appears as God. For this reason the Savior Himself said: "If you do not believe Me, believe the works." ^C

25. Furthermore, in the chapter called *Al-Ma'idah*, which is interpreted as "Table," he says that Christians and Jews are not the sons and friends of God, because they are punished on account of their sins. I, however, say the opposite: that a father who cares for his child punishes him, provided that love dwells within. For whom does one punish more genuinely than one's own son? And concerning the Hebrews he spoke truthfully, even if he spoke the truth without knowing it. For he did not know how to distinguish between the profane and the holy. For the Hebrews once felt the wrath of God, but they did not experience one that was implacable (for they continually had prophets, purifications, and the priesthood), with God punishing them bodily, but as for the soul, He did not abandon them; rather, He showed them that the gift of adoption had not yet departed from them. But after the Lord's cross and passion, there occurred a total abandonment of them, both of soul and body; and as ingrates for the greatest sin, and as parricides for the greatest crime, and as deicides for the ultimate impiety, God disowned them and drove them far away from Himself, leaving them in complete abandonment, and delivering all the Hebrews into the hand and into servitude to almost every nation. And this is the abandonment of their bodies; but an indication of the perdition of their souls ^D

the priesthood, and the sanctification, and the sacrifice, and the temple have failed them, and they have been cast away like a useless and polluted vessel. ^A For this reason, then, David also, prophesying, has said thus: "Before thee, O Lord, are all who afflict me. My soul has awaited reproach and misery; and I waited for one to sympathize with me, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table before them be a snare, and for a retribution, and an offense. Let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and bow their back always. Pour out upon them thy wrath, and let the fury of thy wrath take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate, and in their tents let there be no one to inhabit." What does this prophecy signify? We shall say. In another ^B psalm, the blessed David, wishing to show God’s correction toward sinners, has said thus: "God is judge; he humbles this one, and exalts that one. For a cup is in the hand of the Lord of pure wine, full of a mixture, and he has inclined from this to that. But the dregs of it are not emptied; all the sinners of the earth shall drink." ^C Or again, in another psalm he says thus: "God is a righteous judge, and strong and long-suffering, and not bringing wrath daily. If you shall not have been converted, he will whet his sword." Now, therefore, attend carefully to what remains. The Prophet said that God is a judge, but he also noted that he is righteous. But since some men are judges, and some are indeed righteous while others are unjust, by calling him righteous he showed that God is without any injustice. But when he calls him strong, he shows that he can carry out his justice; and when he calls him long-suffering, he shows that God does not carry out his judgments abruptly, but gently and mercifully; wherefore he does not bring his wrath upon sinners daily. Why? Because he awaits the repentance of those who are sinning. ^D But now he whets his sword, that is, he will bring forth his power for punishment against those who are unwilling to be converted from their sins to repentance. Again, when he says that God is a judge, he soon adds: "This one he humbles, this one he exalts." After these things, he says: "A cup in the hand of the Lord, of pure wine, full of a mixture, and he has inclined from this to that. But the dregs of it are not emptied. All the sinners of the earth shall drink." What does such a prophecy signify? Nothing other than what was said above: "If you shall not have been converted, he will whet his sword." So also here it says that "A cup in the hand of the Lord, of pure wine, full of a mixture"—that is, full of fury, but also of mercy (for this is what "mixture" signifies)—signifies precisely this: the inclination from abruptness to long-suffering or remission; or, because it is full of fury on account of the works of sinners, but is mixed with his mercy on account of God’s love for mankind, awaiting the repentance of sinners, just as in Nineveh, mercy itself surpassed the sin on account of repentance. Although, however...

^A the chastisement of the Hebrews was austere by reason of the captivity that befell them, once and twice; nevertheless, the dregs—that is, the sediment, or the final extremity of wrath (for it is the dregs that belong to him)—were not emptied out. For even if they were taken captive on account of their idolatries and their lawlessness, nevertheless, by the love of God for mankind, they returned again to their former state and condition. And they drank, like sinners, the wine from the cup; yet it was not unmixed, but tempered with mercy and love for mankind. From the time, however, ^B that they dared that great deed of daring, and did to Christ as much as they did, and became God-killers, God also bent his bow against them, awaiting the repentance of those vain men for forty years, from the time of the Savior’s passion, in fact, until the times of Vespasian and Titus. But since that sin of theirs was unrepentant, they suffered incurable evils, and at that time the prophecy of David was fulfilled, which describes the things done by them against Christ. For after having tragically and at length recounted the things that happened, saying, “Against thee, O Lord, all who harass me,” and, “My soul has awaited reproach and misery,” and, “I waited for one to sympathize, and there was none, and for comforters, and I found none,” and, ^C “They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink,” then he mentions the evils that were to come upon them: “Let their table before them be a snare, and a retribution, and an offense.” For a table carries food set upon it for the replenishment of the bodily lack; it also has enjoyment, delights, and mirth. The Prophet, therefore, gathering all the delights of the Hebrews, and all mirth and enjoyment, used the term “table,” wishing to show by this that all things would turn to the contrary. And just as some animals, having been caught in snares, as the hunter comes and begins to slaughter them, each of them seeing the death of the other, is able to help neither himself nor the rest of the animals sharing his captivity; so too will it be for the Jews. For before their eyes their friends and brothers, their parents and children will be slaughtered, because there is no one who can rescue or help them. But demonstrating also the cause of the calamity, he said, “for a retribution,” that is, on account of the death brought about by them against the Lord. “Let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and bow their back down always”—that is, those who have darkened eyes, and who do not understand or behold the intelligible sun of righteousness, that is to say

^A Christ, that their back might be bowed always, that is, that the perpetual yoke of servitude might not depart from them. And what is grievous is that, likewise, the consummation of all things, “Pour out upon them thy wrath, and let the fury of thy wrath take hold of them.” ^B Wrath is a movement of the heart against some thing, which movement something else extinguishes—just as on the Ninevites, repentance (as it is said), but fury is the consummation of wrath, which also is as dregs, as it was for the Sodomites. Observe, therefore, the prophetic utterance. He did not say, “Pour out thy fury,” but, “Pour out thy fury and thy wrath.” Here, the article used for the ^C extreme wrath of God signifies both the fury and the utter destruction and abandonment of soul and body, both for those found at that time and those who followed thereafter in their tenets. “Let their habitation be deserted, and in their tents let there not be one who dwells”—which has indeed come to pass. But these words spoken by the Prophet are not a formula of cursing, but a pronouncement of prophecy. For where ^D is Jerusalem? Where is the temple? Where is the sacrifice and oblation? All these things have been emptied out, as if they had never existed. And if they had not attempted to rebuild the temple, they might indeed say: “If we had wanted to attempt it, we surely could have completed it”; but now, they are seen to have attempted it not once, or twice, but even a third time, and never once were they made masters of their wish. For the wretches thought they would repair the temple during the reign of Hadrian, the Roman king, then under Constantine the Great; but by both they were punished as reckless and stubborn. Indeed, that enemy of Christ and defector, Julian, along with the Jews, set himself to this with the greatest zeal; he deposited money, summoned craftsmen from everywhere, and did, made, and managed everything, like a madman and one bereft of his senses, so as to destroy the judgment of Christ, which did not permit that temple to be repaired. But He who catches the wise in their craftiness immediately showed him by the very reality that the judgments of God are by far stronger than all else. For as soon as they set upon that foolish and mad pursuit, and their hands were about to move to the building upon the foundations, fire leaping from the foundations immediately consumed very many, and repelled their attempt and madness. The mad king, wherever his feet carried him, fled as a deserter, terrified by the judgment of God. But not even thus did that ^A wretched man yield. Dwelling a little longer on this passage, let us examine also the oracles of other prophets to the Hebrews. For Isaiah says: “I know that thou art hard, and thy neck is an iron sinew,” that is, inflexible, “and thy brow is brass,” that is, impudent. And Daniel: “Evils have come upon us, such as have not happened under heaven according to those that happened in Jerusalem.” What are these? Those which Moses had foretold and Jeremiah had interpreted. And he indeed says thus: “The tender and very delicate woman, whose foot has not experienced ascending upon the seat, because of rashness and softness, shall touch a table that is unlawful, and shall devour her own children.” Which also happened in Jerusalem, in the destruction brought upon it by the Romans. For mothers devoured their own children, and Jeremiah, explaining this oracle, said: “The hands of merciful mothers have attacked their own children.” But also the prophet Malachi says thus: “If I shall receive a face from you—

says the Lord Almighty, because from the rising of the sun even unto its setting my name is glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice, but you profane it.” ^B When, therefore, did these things come to pass? Entirely after the cross and resurrection of the Lord. For not in Jerusalem, in which place Moses directed the worship of God to take place and nowhere else, but to all the land that the sun looks upon, the glory of God was spread wide. For this is what is indicated by the saying: “From the rising of the sun even unto its setting,” that is, in the whole world. And the prophecy was not content to have said: “From the rising of the sun even to the setting,” lest the Jews, slandering, might say that they were dwelling in the whole world and the prophet was speaking about them; but it added: “My name is glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense and a pure sacrifice is offered to my name, but you profane it.” God spoke thus through the prophet not because the sacrifice of the Hebrews was defiled and profane, but because of the manner of those who offered it. ^C And if perhaps one were to say this, he would not be wrong, as it seems to me. For when the old sacrifice is compared to the new, a great difference and distinction will be found; and just as we reckon angels, being incorporeal, to be corporeal when compared to the incorporeal nature of God, so also it happens in the comparison of the old and new sacrifice. For there, there were the blood of bulls and goats, and gore, and the ashes of a heifer; here, however, the Son of God and the blood of Christ. And consider the difference. For this reason also David, prophesying, said: “I will not accept calves from your house, nor goats from your flocks, for all the beasts of the field are mine, the cattle on the mountains, and the oxen. I know all the birds of the sky, and the beauty ^D of the field is with me. If I am hungry, I will not tell you. For the world and its fullness are mine. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay to the Most High your vows, and call upon me in the day of your tribulation, and I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.” Do you see how he did not accept the sacrifice that consists of bulls and goats, but accepted the one that contains praise? But also Zephaniah says thus: “The Lord will appear over all the nations, and will destroy all the gods of the nations, and each from his own place will worship him.” In any case, he too rejected Jerusalem, but he brought forward every place of the Gentiles into the midst for the worship of God. But even though these things have happened in this way, the tower of repentance has not fallen.

the tower of repentance, nor has its door been closed, neither to the Jews, nor to the Ishmaelites, nor even to anyone at all who wishes it. And indeed, regarding the Jews, Mahomet has spoken the truth, even if he did not know he was saying what he said, as has been stated.

But with regard to the Christians, it is not so, nor as he supposed, that they are being disciplined on account of ^B their sins; and for this reason, they are neither children of God nor His friends. For he missed the mark and shot wide of the target, imagining that because some Christians are maltreated by the Ishmaelites, the latter are therefore worthy of acceptance and, as it were, friends and children of God, while the Christians have been rejected by God. But this is not so, it is not so. For the masses of the Christians pass their time in complete peace, whom God, by His own judgment known to Him alone, does not allow to be troubled by the impious; for even if they were to launch an expedition against them, the threads and webs of spiders would appear stronger and more stable than the armies and power of the impious. I confess, however, that on account of our sins, some of the Christians have been delivered into the hands of the impious for their own correction, and as an example and for the repentance of others. And let the Christians who are in their hands by no means think that they have been delivered up because of the virtue of those men. Rather, they have been judged and sent by God as a scourge and a lash for correction; for they punish those who are worthy of chastisement, yet in the meantime, they are hated by God and abominable. For what are the locust, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm? The power of God is indeed great. What, then, are the lightnings and the hail, and the chastenings that occur from time to time through the elements? Are they, therefore, to be considered friends of God and children of God? Or are they hostile human beings? And who is so foolish as to think such things? ^C It is the same, therefore, with regard to the Christians. They too were delivered up, but as sons and friends. But perhaps someone having a glib and predatory tongue will say that even those who have renounced the Christian faith and pledged themselves to the ways of Mahomet will be considered children and friends of God, and he will say to them that the true Word says that God knows all things before their birth. For just as He said regarding Esau and Jacob, before they were born: "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated," so too, with regard to those who have renounced the true and blameless faith of the Christians and pledged themselves to the contrary, He judged them to be instruments of perdition and of Satan before their birth. And whether they be found there or here, they are nonetheless found to be worthy of punishment: a fact that can be seen in those who are born or will be born in captivity. Nevertheless, from those who have denied Christ, holy and good men are sometimes born: just as from Esau came that just Job, and martyrs from among the idolaters. But let these things suffice concerning them. But what need is there to speak of those who keep their own religion and piety among the impious? Are they not to be admired and worthy of praise? And must one not judge in the same way those who act in the freedom of their religion? For these have not yet been proven, and therefore it is unknown what sort they are; but they are known ^D to God, and to Him alone. The former, however, are shown to be pure like gold in a furnace, just as those youths were in Babylon. And indeed, the faith of doctrines in itself is not sufficiently efficacious for salvation, unless it be tempered by works. For show me, says the oracle, thy faith by thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

^A Let us see, therefore, which of these works are acceptable before God, and who they are that remember God: those who find themselves in abundance and luxury, or those who live in misery and hardship? It is clear to everyone that it is the latter. "For, Lord," he says, "in distress we remembered thee." And, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." And, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the death of sinners is evil," even if in the present life they appear to be fortunate. And just as if someone were praised for being wise and brave, temperate and just, while another, who values these things as nothing, were to boast, calling himself fleshy and having a corpulent body; so do these wretches think for themselves, and overlooking the true and inexhaustible riches, they embrace those which they dream up; and having abandoned the precious pearl, that is, Christ, they gather pebbles. Where, then, will they place the prophetic oracle which says, "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth"? Are the Christians, therefore, handed over as if cast away and abandoned, as Mahomet clearly asserted, but rather as sons for the purpose of discipline, as has been brilliantly demonstrated above, and for the sake of ^B instruction and benefit? For the Christians who live among the nations have patriarchs, priests, and chief priests, by whom they are sanctified, and who administer all that is holy for the Christians, for their benefit, and as a sign that they have neither fallen from the adoption as sons of God, nor from His friendship. Wherefore, let them understand precisely that the righteous are often handed over into the hands of the impious, not that the impious might be glorified, but that the righteous might be tested and become purer than gold. What, then, shall we say about the righteous Job? For I omit speaking of the patriarch Abraham, since he also was for a time delivered among the impious; and for the moment I ask about that iron and adamantine Job. Was he handed over to the devil as if he were abandoned and rejected by God, and was he scourged by the loss of his possessions—both movable and immovable—by the loss of his children, and by the affliction of his own body? But did the devil who scourged the righteous man afflict him as a friend of God—he who was known to God before his birth and judged holy by Him, yet unknown to men? And was it for this reason that God brought him into the midst, as a living pillar and a breathing statue, as an example and for the benefit of those who would come after? I wonder if they would not dare to speak thus of him also. Nevertheless, one must investigate, and the matter itself indicates, what sort of opinions Mahomet holds ^C concerning God and the devil. For he contends with the greatest freedom of speech that even the demons will be saved, following Origen, of course. Moreover, in the law given by himself, the Alcoran that is, he says this: "A great multitude of demons, when they heard this law, wondered, and because of this rejoiced, and those who believed in it also attained salvation." But how can anyone be saved unless he first repents?

[651] the works that might rightly unite him with God? For then is he received into God’s friendship, when he has been united to Him: and being united to God, he is an heir of salvation, of the kingdom of heaven, and of life eternal. Such, I say, are the opinions that the son of that man, Mahomet, entertained regarding the devil, so that although he fears to say openly that the devil is a friend of God, in reality he affirms it. ^A

THIRD ORATION AGAINST MAHOMET

1. Since we have already spoken of certain absurd opinions of Mahomet, let us now examine what that wretch thinks and teaches regarding our Savior Christ and our true God. In truth, this holds firm: ^B “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God” (Ps. XIII, 1). For he denies the Trinity, yet confesses that God is the creator of heaven and earth, of angels and men, and of all creation, and that He has no Son, because, as he thinks, it is not possible for Him to have begotten one without a woman; following the heretic Carpocrates, he imagined that the generation of God was carnal. And for this reason he also supposed that there could be dissensions between God the Father and the Son. But if it is impossible for God to have a Son without a woman, they should also say that He is not the creator and maker and builder [of the universe] without pre-existing matter, as the foolish Greeks devised. ^C

2. And if God did have a Son, he said that divisions would arise between them, as he asserts in the chapter *Helmoniim*, following the Jews and Carpocrates himself. We have already spoken of these matters individually in our Apology; therefore, as we said above, we do not intend to contend about them at greater length. But since we are here clearly contradicting him, let the followers of Mahomet listen, I pray. This Mahomet does not think that Christ is God, nor the Son of God, but a mere man like all others, yet holy, and incomparably superior to all men, as Nestorius also thought. ^D

3. In the chapter *Elnesa*, which is interpreted as "women," he says that Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, is the Word of God, and the Soul of God, and the Breath of God. Let us begin, therefore, with this confession of Mahomet himself. If, then, just as the word of God came to the prophets, and the prophets announced this to men, so also Christ, having received the word from God, taught men, and for this reason is called a prophet, as Mahomet calls him, and the greatest of all, and on this account is called the Word of God: why was none of the prophets ever called the Word of God, but each of them retained the significance of his own proper name? But if on the other hand...

^A this were not so, but rather because the archangel, having come, as is said, announced ^B the glad tidings to the grace-filled Virgin Mary, Christ is called the Word of God on this account, then it would have been necessary for the son of Manoah, Samson, also to be called the Word of God, since he too was born from the promise of God. For an angel had come and made known his birth. Nay, John, the son of Zacharias, who was likewise born from a promise, ought also to be called the Word of God, because his birth was announced to Zacharias by an angel. Since, therefore, no prophet was ever called the Word of God, nor was anyone who was born from a promise, it follows that Christ was not called the Word of God because the angel spoke the salutation to the virgin Mary, or because he announced the kingdom of God to Christ, but for another reason of which Mahomet was ignorant. For if he had known it, he would not have uttered blasphemies. Having heard from the Scriptures that Christ is the Word of God, he admitted the fact that was stated, but did not accept the power of this, nor did he confess him to be God, lest he be found worshiping two Gods. And behold, he feared a fear where there was no fear. For he did not understand the distinction of subsistences, nor the essence itself. For Christ is called and praised as the Word, not only because he is the dispenser ^C of mind and reason and wisdom, but because he also grasped within himself, in a simple way, the causes of all things, that is to say, those paradigms which they also call ideas, or rather the eternal notions; because both angels and men have, from this very Word, their being rational; and because he passes through all things, pervading them, as the oracles say, even to the end of all things; and before these, because the divine Word is raised above all simplicity, and is released above all things according to his transcendent essence. Since, then, as has been said, he is not called Word as a prophet, nor as one born from a promise, it now clearly appears that Christ is called and is the natural Word of God, and for this reason he is also called and is the Son of God. For just as the word is a product of the mind, so too is Christ called the Son of God, having been begotten of God without time, without passion, and before the ages. For it is not even lawful to say that the pre-eternal generation reached the ages. If, then, there were a time when God was found to be wordless, and unwise, and powerless, and a dry fountain without water! But since, just as Christ is called the Word of God, so also is he called Wisdom and Power. For either God was previously found to be wordless and unwise and powerless, and afterwards took upon himself wisdom and word and power, as do men, and thus became perfect; or else, being perfect from eternity and before all the ages, he begat his own Word. And if, after a period and span of time, he brought forth the Word, how was he God who was previously wordless? For if one takes away even a little from bodies, that which remains is a body. But if one takes away even the smallest part from the nature of incorporeal beings, one has destroyed the whole. And if the truth is thus concerning the incorporeal angels, how much more is this so in the case of God ^D...

who is removed by a supernatural excellence from all incorporeality and simplicity and from every nature beyond all substance? ^A For if He did not have the Word, but subsequently acquired it, it is possible for Him to lose it, just as He acquired it; for it is clear that things which are added to something can also be taken away. But if from eternity and before all ages, as perfect God, He begat His own perfect Word, and the Father, being eternal, eternally shone forth His own Son and Word, and the Savior is the natural image and radiance of the Father, and in this image the Father, always beholding Himself, always beholds Himself; then Mahomet is foolish, saying that God cannot in any way have a son without a woman. For he repeats this many times as if it were a strong argument. He fell into this error, as I suppose, because he considered God to be corporeal, and therefore he imagined that that higher generation ^B was also corporeal. And it is possible that, just as he said concerning God that there is no accident in Him, and necessarily neither substance nor life, on the grounds that He neither eats nor breathes, he also denied that God has a Son. But since that same Mahomet clearly calls and names Christ the soul of God and the Spirit of God, let us allow that the matter is as he says. And if the Spirit of God and the soul of God can be and is a creature, then behold, it follows that God, according to Mahomet, was once without breath and without a soul, and became perfect through creatures. And either He created Himself, and while found to be imperfect He made Himself perfect, or another is His creator. ^C Consider the absurdity of this. But if there was never a time when God was found to be breathless and soulless, but He was always ensouled and inspirited, then Christ also, not as man, but as He who came into existence out of God, always existed with God. Whether you call Him Word, or Wisdom, or Power, He is always from God and is with Him. For the wise man is never without his own wisdom, nor the strong man without his own strength, nor the mind without its own reason, just as the sun is never without its own ray. If, therefore, you speak of the soul or Spirit of God, you may also say the same regarding the Word. For if God had a soul, His most precious part would be found to be His soul. And behold, from the truth itself, and even from the confession of Mahomet, ^D Christ is demonstrated to be of the same and one nature with God. And He is revealed to have the same God and Father as His begetter from eternity before the ages, and to be the genuine Son of God, and God, just as He Himself says in the Gospels, “I and the Father are one” (John x, 30); that is, one God, not according to the persons, as Sabellius says, but according to one and the same divinity. And the God-seer Moses says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”; and the prophet David says, “In wisdom You have made all things,” and, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established.” And his son, the wonderful Solomon, says that “God by wisdom founded the earth.”

^A And that most eloquent of all, Isaiah: “The eternal God who prepared the ends of the earth.” The blessed John, son of Zebedee, whom the Lord also called the Son of Thunder, because he proclaimed that supernal generation to the world more clearly than thunder, says thus in the Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.” Do you see how, on account of the untimeliness of the moment, the prophets spoke in shadows, but John cried out loudly and with uncovered head? For of the ancient prophets, one called Him Word, another Wisdom, another Prudence, another Creator; and another called Him God, not having revealed the hidden mystery because of the untimeliness, as has been said, of the moment. But when the veil was removed, it was neither holy nor right ^B that the Son of God, and God, should be found being preached only in enigmas; and for this reason, the Son of Thunder proclaimed clearly: “In the beginning was the Word,” and what follows. And just as the sun, hidden by a very deep cloud and storm, is invisible to men, yet its light is found contained as it were within itself, but when the storm is resolved and the air has returned to clarity, it pours its rays abundantly upon all; so also understand for me in regard to the Son and Word of God. Being true God before the ages, Son of God and creator of all creation—as has also been demonstrated in the preceding apologies and in the present one—He was nevertheless hidden ^C under the cloud of ignorance and the storm of the worship of idols, together with the Father and the Spirit. But when the spring appeared—that is, His incarnation in the flesh, and He was born according to the flesh from the woman, the holy Virgin and Theotokos Mary—then the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to all men. And creation worshipped the One who had created it, and they glorified the only true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Him, the Son and Word of the Father, and the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, the one holy, consubstantial, indivisible, and unconfused Trinity, the one God. And then the glory of Christ was seen as the glory of the Only-begotten from the Father. And then He released His divine rays and illuminated the darkness of ignorance, and revived cold and dead souls with the heat of faith.

4. Furthermore, Mahomet confesses that Christ was born of a virgin without a man, following the heretic Carpocrates, but he denies in every way that He is God and the Son of God, using two proofs: that Christ never said this about Himself, and that He said to the Jews, ^D “Worship my God and your God, and my Lord and your Lord.”

^A His one goal is always this: to persuade all men with all his might that Christ is neither God nor the Son of God, but indeed a holy man and a prophet greater than all prophets, and a man more excellent than all men, but by no means God. This fool, however, imitating the devil, attempts to persuade men against Christ. For just as the latter strives in every way to seduce every man, and to separate him from God either by faith or by works, so too does Mahomet appear to strive with all his labor, so that he may lead every man as far away as possible from the true God, partly by faith, and partly by works; he teaches them, however, to worship a god whom his own reason has fashioned. And the demons, for their part, when they saw the Lord, confessed Him to be the Son of God and Judge, even against their will—not indeed because they were true worshipers, but because they were unable to hide the truth, and thus they said: “What have we to do with thee, Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” Now Mahomet appears worse than the demons, since he affirms that Christ is neither the Son of God nor Judge. But Isaiah might well say to him: “Thy science is corrupted with the devil, along with thy beauty.” And thereafter one might justly say concerning Mahomet and those who followed him, that it is a nation that has lost its counsel, and there is no science in it. ^B We, however, say thus: if faith (as Scripture teaches) is dead without works, much more are works dead if there is no faith. But where neither faith nor works are present, what must be judged to be the case there? For just as the body is dead without the soul, so is the soul without faith and works. For if faith is present, even if the soul is wounded, it yet possesses paths of healing, namely through repentance and works. But if faith is absent, every action or virtue, which in appearance seems to be such, is vain and empty. For when faith is present, virtue is also present, even if sometimes a defect of virtue, that is to say sin, arises. But where faith is not, neither is virtue. And where there is no virtue, there is no defect of it either. Where, therefore, there is no virtue, there is no faith, nor sin, but naked and mere impiety. Wherefore also Isaiah says: “Unless you believe, you shall not understand.” Faith, therefore, is of things not seen, not of those that are demonstrated; but that faith of Christians in the Holy Trinity is, above all, a gift of God. ^C For what a man sees, why does he hope for it? And what a man sees, why does he believe it? Nevertheless, just as the sun in our world illuminates all things that it is able to reach, and possesses light for the entire visible world, scattering the splendor of its own rays up and down; and if to someone it is not present, this does not happen owing to the weakness of this illuminating power, but owing to the infirmity of the observer’s sight—for the solar ray, while passing through, does not illuminate many things of such a kind, while it does illuminate others—so too the intelligible sun of JUSTICE, that is to say Christ, fills those who believe in Him with intelligible light...

^A And it drives out all ignorance and error from all souls in which it may arise, and purges their intellectual eyes. For just as ignorance is a source of division for those who are led astray, so the presence of the intelligible light is a gatherer and unifier of those who are being illuminated. For this reason, Christ also said, "I am the light of the world, and he who believes in me shall not walk in darkness"—that is, in error—"but will have the light of life," and whatever other things the discourse will soon make clear.

Since, therefore, as has been said in the chapter *Helmaida*, Mahomet is found bringing forward two proofs against Christ, showing that He is not God, because Christ never called Himself God, and that He said to the Jews, "Worship my God and your God, my Lord and your Lord"—come now, let us consider the first, and then, God willing, the second as well. Let us begin, therefore, from the confession of Mahomet himself. He says that Christ is the Word of God, and the soul of God, and the breath of God, as has been said, and he confessed the things written by Christ and the apostles and performed in the Gospel to be just and holy and perfect and true. And rightly so; for the truth of the Lord remains forever. For from the Word of God lies cannot proceed. For it would be the same thing to say that God is not God, that truth is a lie, and light is darkness. ^B Mahomet, therefore, having grasped the absurdity of the matter, took refuge in the fact that Christ never said concerning Himself that He is God. We, however, in the first, second, and third *Apology* have copiously and clearly demonstrated, from Adam down to the generation of Christ, that all the prophets prophesied, that the Fathers saw [Him], that God and Father Himself spoke concerning Christ, and [that] He was clearly and indubitably demonstrated and revealed as God, and Son of God, and Son of Man.

After the baptism of John and his death, Christ Himself began to preach the kingdom of God. And that while preaching He did not frequently shout, "I am the God who speaks with you," is true—just as a king walking about does not shout, "I am the king," but from his magnificence and the glory of his authority and power everyone can distinguish him ^C from his servants; so too is it with Christ. For even if He did not frequently say with His mouth, "I am God," yet He showed this very thing by His works. But nevertheless, He did not hide His divinity, nor His Father and God, nor did He hinder those who confessed Him to be God and Son of God. For when Nathanael said, "You are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel," he was not rebuked, as those in Lycaonia who wished to proclaim Paul and Barnabas as gods, and to sacrifice to them as gods, were rebuked by them, [those] saying, "Stop from such an absurd thing, for we are indeed human beings... ^D

subject to the same sufferings as you," before they tore their garments apart. But the confession of Nathanael was received and praised. Moreover, when the Lord asked His own disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of Man is?"—not as though He had need to ask such a question, He who knew all things even before they were born, but because He wished to lead them into a more sublime knowledge—and when the disciples were relating to Christ the opinions of the many concerning Him, and Peter also added, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," he did not hear from Christ, "You are mistaken, O Peter; do not err, for I am your teacher; listen and know the truth, both you and all: I am not the Son of God, for it is impossible that God should have a son." But what? Christ says to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father who is in heaven," thereby confirming his statement entirely. Indeed, as a grace and reward for [his] upright and unambiguous confession, He gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Furthermore, on the eighth day after Christ’s resurrection, when Thomas had touched the hands and side of Christ and recognized that He was without any controversy the Christ, he cried out loudly, "My Lord and my God." But what did Christ say to Thomas? "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." So much for those accounts. Let us also look at what Christ Himself uttered concerning Himself. "Amen, amen, I say to you," He says, "the hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself, and He has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. ^B Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and will come forth—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." And again, "Amen, amen, I say to you, he who believes in Me has eternal life." What, then, does it seem to you? Does Christ call Himself God and the Son of God, or not? Certainly, in the statement that "The hour is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God," He showed that God has a Son, who is Christ Himself. And the phrase, "The dead will hear His voice and will live," showed Him to be Lord, and to have power over life and death, both now and evermore. For just as the Father has life in Himself, so also the Son. But when He says, "to execute judgment," He signified His second coming and the judgment which He is to perform, as has been clearly demonstrated in the second Apology. As for the part where He says, "Because He is the Son of Man: do not marvel at this. For the hour is coming in which those who are in the graves will hear His voice, and will come forth into a resurrection of judgment ^{C D}

^A and retribution, ^B He showed Himself to be God, but also man. For all these things are clearly the works of God. And for this reason, the old Scripture receives the name of theology, as it contains the words of God; the new [Scripture] also has the same name, since it likewise contains them, but it is especially called *Theourgia* [Divine Working], because Christ Himself performed and fulfilled those things which the prophets had foretold of old; and with the greatest goodness He administered the things that were lowly among us, uniting them to His divine things in the highest degree, by the good pleasure of the Father and the cooperation of the Spirit. And henceforth we might justly say: "Magnified are thy works, O Lord; in wisdom hast thou made them all." Since, therefore, Christ is God, as has been demonstrated, and the Son of God, He is also man and the Son of Man according to the flesh; and He was heralded from the foundation of the world, and appeared through the words and visions of the prophets, and indeed the Father God Himself bore witness of Him. When the time demanded it, Christ clearly declared this very thing by both words and works, and summarizing all things, He said: "He who believes in Me has eternal life." By this, I say, He distinguished the life of the soul from this bodily life. For the bodily life, having appeared for a short time, passes away; but the life of the soul is eternal, just as its death is. Nevertheless, the Creator of this body, God Himself, will not abandon this corruptible and mortal body in death and corruption; but when He has clothed it with incorruption and immortality, and we have risen incorrupt and immortal, then, according to the oracle, we shall be with the Lord. ^C Therefore, by these very words, and by those which He often spoke before—and nothing less by those which we have not written—Christ clearly manifested Himself to be both God and man. But when He had restored the man blind from birth, [making him] sound and seeing, after he had received his sight, He spoke to him thus: "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He said, "And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and it is He who speaks with you." And he said, "I believe, Lord." And he worshipped Him. ^D Yet the same Mahomet, accusing certain people, says that they rejected things which they neither understand nor can explain; a thing which he himself has suffered all the more, having rejected Christ as not being the Son of God, nor incarnate, and on account of the greatness of the incomprehensibility, he denied these things; and he did not even accept the mystery of the Trinity. For he was not able to understand the distinction of the Persons without the distinction of the substances, as it is said: "For thy knowledge," he says, "is wonderful from me; it is strongly established, I cannot attain to it." And what else is this but the incomprehensible and inconceivable knowledge of God, which is likened to ignorance because of its surpassing all created knowledge? For the ignorance of God is not spoken of by way of privation, but by way of excellence. For men have called the light of God, because of its surpassing and inaccessible nature, darkness. For that which cannot be seen is darkness outright; for, He says, "He made darkness his hiding..."

place" [Ps. XVII, 12]. Verily, the theologians even called the wisdom and knowledge of God, which exceeds every intellect of angels and men—and which cannot be explained by reason or speech—folly. For this reason, those same theologians also call the incarnation of the Word of God a "kenosis" (emptying), even though it is full—or, rather, overflowing—with wisdom, power, and salvation. If, therefore, the knowledge of God is considered marvelous among theologians because of its incomprehensibility, and if they, acknowledging their own weakness, confessed that they could not attain to it, how could even a trace of the knowledge of God possibly be found in the inventor of impiety and falsehood? For he who does not even know the food he eats, or how it is divided ^B into humors, attempts to investigate God. Having therefore closed the eyes of his soul and mind, he did not recognize the Sun of righteousness, and for this reason he rejected that very Sun of righteousness, the Son and Word of God, and together with Him, the Father and the Spirit. "For he who does not have the Son," says the Savior, "does not have the Father either" [cf. John XV, 23]. And he who does not have the Father and the Son, of necessity also lacks the Holy Spirit. Since these things are thus settled, Mahomet spoke impiously when he claimed that the Savior did not say anything at all about Himself to the effect that He is God or the Son of God. But enough on these matters. Now let us consider the second demonstration of Mahomet, which says that Christ, while disputing with the Jews, spoke thus: "Worship my God and your God, and my Lord and your Lord." We indeed previously spoke concerning Mahomet, showing how he sometimes shamelessly tells a lie, and at other times mixes falsehood with the truth, as he does in this present argument. For he set this goal for himself: that, so far as he is able, he might persuade the whole world not to confess Christ as either God or the Son of God; and for this reason ^C he says whatever comes into his mind in this instance as well. But it is especially false that Christ said this to the Jews; furthermore, the saying of Christ is not even such as he claims. For after the resurrection, because of his future ascension, He said to His disciples: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God" [John XX, 17]. And just as in many other instances Christ is declared to be both God and man, so it is in this very saying. For when Christ says this, "I am ascending to my Father and your Father," He showed that God is His true Father and that Christ is of the same nature and substance. For this reason He said distinctly: "I am ascending to my Father." For if He were merely like others, He would have delivered this saying in the first person in a general way, saying: "I am ascending to our Father." But to speak in such a way, separating ^D

^A the first person, "to My Father," then also, "to your Father," as if in the second, He has by no means said anything else, nor signified anything other than that Christ Himself is by nature the Son of God, but all others are so by grace; as it is written: "I said, Ye are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High" (Ps. LXXXI, 6). In the same and similar manner, He also indicated the words: "My God and your God." And that He said, "My God," as man, is clear to everyone; but not even this is said in the same way as for all people. For with regard to all holy men, God is called their God by grace; as when it is said, "God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob," and of those like them. For having been first purified and washed of their own sins, and having become vessels of mercy, they receive from that point forward the grace of God and become sons of God, and God is called ^B their God. But in the case of Christ, it is not so; but God is called His Father, because He is the offspring of the hypostasis of the Father, and there is one nature, one essence, one divinity, and one power of the Father and of the Son. But He is called the God of Christ on account of the hypostatic union of the Son with the assumed nature, and not according to the manner of the saints. And for this reason He also said, separately regarding this: "I am ascending to my God and your God." Do you see how even those things that seem humble in Christ possess a great, supernatural, and extraordinary meaning? Therefore, from these things, which Christ spoke rightly but Mahomet cited wickedly, it is evident that Christ is both God and man.

5.

6.

^A by many arguments and proofs how Christ is shown to be God, and Son of God, and perfect man. Yet, even at the present time, we say it thus: that man, being an image of God by grace, through the envy of the devil transgressed the command of God, received a curse from God, was cast out of paradise, and acquired death. The Son of God, however, existing as His image by nature, put on that image which was by grace—that is, human nature—saved it, and brought it back again to its ancient blessedness. Furthermore, just as speech ^B expresses the movements of the mind through the instrument of the tongue, so too the Word of God and the Father revealed through the flesh the plans of His own Father, as well as His own divinity. Furthermore, just as when a king dwells in one house of a most populous city, the whole city then becomes fearful to its enemies, so too, with Christ dwelling in one body, the whole of human nature became fearful to the devil. And it is clearly gathered from the martyrs and from the saints that they considered death as nothing and as sleep, but gave commands to the demons as to their servants. Just as, therefore, he [the devil] tries to hide the fact that Christ is God and the Son of God, so too he strives to obscure His incarnate economy, and indeed His death and resurrection. And for this reason he says that He was not crucified; but this is a manifest falsehood. And first, if He was not crucified, for what reason did Christians fabricate against Christ a matter so insulting? For they considered, and the wretched Jews for this reason condemned ^C Christ the Lord of glory to such a death, that the death of the cross was dishonorable and shameful. But let them know that through the trophy of the cross and through the saving death, which are even wont to be called the weakness of God, all evil and opposing powers were dissolved; through the cross He drove away the darkness of the world and brought back the light of knowledge; through the cross and His death, death itself was destroyed, and death and the tyranny of the devil no longer exist. And the body of Christ indeed died, and was buried, and rose again, but His divinity remained impassible. For just as a king’s word written on paper remains incorrupt and inviolate even if the paper be destroyed ^D, so too it happened in the case of Christ: His body indeed accepted corruption and died, yet it did not undergo absolute corruption; but His divinity was entirely devoid of passion. For God does not suffer. Second, the Jews themselves all testify to the death of Christ; for they say that they killed Him as a malefactor. Third, He did not die in an obscure and hidden place so that His death might be concealed, and along with His death His resurrection as well; but according to the divine economy, the death of the Lord occurred at the time of the Passover, so that, according to custom, the multitude of the Jews—that is, the twelve tribes—might be gathered together, and the death of Christ might be known to all, and those who wish to conceal the death of the Savior might find no place, as at present he attempts

^A Mahomet. Fourth, that he did not die a natural death, but yielded to the Jews the judgment of his death: just as a noble athlete does not himself choose his contender and opponent, but engages with whoever comes his way, so also Christ, who by a word alone had cast to the ground those seeking him, resigned all power to the Jews; and they themselves chose the death by the cross, the wretches not knowing that this death itself fulfilled a certain prophecy. For David says: “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner” (Ps. CXVII, 22). What does this prophecy signify? Surely nothing else but this: that just as a corner joins and binds two walls and makes them one, so also Christ, who was called a rock by Scripture—the stone which the Jews, as builders, rejected and cast aside as useless and of no value, though they had been entrusted with the oracles of God for the edification and salvation of their own people—this same Christ, I say, became the head of the corner, that is, he joined the Old Testament and the Gentiles, and by uniting the two, made one house as a dwelling-place for God. And by extending his hands upon the cross, he brought together those that were distant, and restored them into one new man and one faith. But he also sanctified the air, which the devil, the prince of the air, had defiled, by his own ascent to the height of the cross. One might also say this: that Christ did not die the death that John or Isaiah died (of whom the former was beheaded, and the latter was sawn in two with a wooden saw), but by keeping his body safe and intact, he taught us by this act that because the Church is the body of Christ, it is not right for the ill-disposed to tear it into different parts.

^C 7. Furthermore, he says that God called Christ to himself, that is, into the heavens, but that afterwards he will die; herein agreeing with the heretical Donatists, a heresy which destroys the confession of God regarding Christ. For while he testifies that Christ was taken up into the heavens, and does not deny that he will come again, he denies that he will come as God and Judge of the whole earth; but he declares that Christ will come like Elijah or Enoch. Moreover, as to his death, whereas he previously denied it, he now says that Christ will also die when he has killed the Antichrist. But since we have already spoken often and in many ways about Christ in our preceding remarks, what has been said suffices for the refutation and dissolution of this impiety as well. And these, indeed, are the things that have been handed down by Mahomet concerning Christ.

8. Regarding the holy Virgin and Theotokos Mary, he says this, that Christians make her into a god. But since we have already spoken sufficiently about such an absurdity in the third Apology, we shall say no more, for the things that have been said suffice for this place. Likewise, in the chapter

Amram, concerning the holy Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, saying that she is the daughter of this same Amram, who is the father of the prophet Moses and Aaron. Just as he also clearly says in the chapter on Mary, that Christ’s mother, Mary, was the sister of Aaron and Moses. And while it is true that Amram was the parent of Moses and Aaron, it is manifest to all ^B whose daughter the Theotokos Virgin is, and when she was born. For Moses' sister, Mary, died in the desert. But fifteen hundred years have passed since that time until the birth of the Theotokos Virgin. Behold how skillfully this fool observes the truth in his entire work.

AN ORATION AGAINST MAHOMET IV

^C "The impious man, when he falls into the depth of evils, holds them in contempt," as the admirable Solomon testifies. And who is more impious than Mahomet himself? And what depth of sins, or rather what darkness, is there into which this wretched man has not fallen? For among other fabrications and false prodigies, he also invented this impious vision, which is read in his chapter of the Children of Israel word for word as follows:

1. "Praise be to Him who caused His servant to travel in one night from the oratory of Elara, which is the temple of the city of Mecca, as far as the most distant oratory, which is the holy house of Jerusalem, which we have blessed." ^D One day, when Mahomet had chanted his morning hour at the appointed time, he said to the people: "O you men, understand! Yesterday, after I had parted from you, Gabriel came to me after the final evening psalmody and said to me: 'O Mahomet, God commands you to visit Him.' I said to him, 'And where shall I visit Him?' And Gabriel said, 'In the place where He dwells.' And he brought me a beast larger than an ass, but smaller than a mule, and its name was Emparak. And he said to me, 'Mount this, and proceed to the holy house.' But the beast fled from me when I was about to mount. The angel said to it, 'Stand still, for Mahomet is the one who wishes to mount you.' And the beast answered, 'Was I sent for his sake?' Gabriel answered, 'Yes.' And the beast said, 'I will not allow him to mount unless he first prays to God on my behalf.' I then prayed to God on behalf of the beast, and I mounted it, and it walked with me seated upon it with a smooth stride, fixing the hoof of its foot on the horizon of its vision. And thus we arrived at the holy house in a shorter interval of time than a stone’s throw could cover. And Gabriel was also with me, and he led me to a certain rock which was in the house of God in Jerusalem. And Gabriel said to me, 'Descend, for from this rock you shall seek heaven.' And I descended. But the angel Gabriel tied the beast Emparak with a certain circle to the rock, and having taken me upon his shoulders, he carried me up to heaven. When we had arrived there, Gabriel knocked at the doors. It was said to him, 'Who are you?' He replied, 'I am Gabriel.' And it was said to him again, 'And who is…

with you?' He replied, 'Mahomet.' The gatekeeper said, 'Was the mission not on his behalf?' And Gabriel said, 'Yes.' And he opened the gate for us, and I saw a multitude of angels, and having bent my knees twice before them, I offered prayer: and after this Gabriel took me and led me ^A to the second heaven. The distance between the two heavens was a journey of five hundred years. And just as he knocked at the first heaven and a response came to him, so it occurred in every way even up to the seventh heaven. In this seventh heaven he describes seeing a host of angels, the size of each one of whom was a thousand times greater than the world; each of these had seven hundred thousand heads, and on each head seven hundred myriads of mouths, and in each mouth a thousand and seven hundred tongues praising God in seven hundred myriads of dialects. And he looked upon one of the angels mourning, and he asked the cause of his mourning; and he replied that it was sin. He himself, however, interceded for him. And thus, he says, Gabriel handed me over to another angel, and he to another, and so on in turn, until I stood before God and His throne ^B. And God touched me with His hand between the shoulders, until the coldness of His hand penetrated to the marrow of my spine. And God said to me, 'I have laid vows upon you and your people.' But as I was descending to the fourth heaven, Moses advised me to return to God to relieve the people, who could in no way suffice for these vows. Wherefore, in the first return I obtained a remission of ten vows; indeed, in the third and fifth returns the number of vows was reduced until very few remained. But when Moses said that the people would not be able to bear even these, and since I felt ashamed having ascended so many times, I did not go up again, but having boarded the beast Emparak, I returned in haste to the house in Mecca. The time for all these things was less than a tenth portion of the night. But when Mahomet recounted this vision, many thousands of men fell away from him, saying to him: 'Ascend today into heaven with us watching, so that we may see the angels you encountered. Do you not recognize your own lie?' And Mahomet said: 'Praise be to my God. Am I anything other than one of men and an apostle? Your ancestors did not believe in miracles, nor do you believe in them; nor will you ever believe, except by the sword.' And what could anyone say about such a false and ignominious vision? ^C For it is refuted by the very words of Mahomet himself. For he is the one who said that when he was rolling about foaming from the passion, because he could not bear the sight of the angel Gabriel coming to him—ostensibly sent by God—he would fall down like one dead, yet he would hear the words of the angel like a resounding bronze bell. If, therefore, he could not bear the sight of one angel, how could he have looked upon the splendor of so many angels? Or even to inquire more curiously about these things, to count so many heads, and so many tongues within their lips, and then also such various alterations of hymns to God and dial-

- ^A ogues? For he not only says that he is greater than Gabriel, but also than all those into whom Gabriel himself had no access. But he was so far inferior to them, that he committed Mahomet himself to one angel, and he to another, and thus in succession to another, and so he ascended to the multitude of the angels, and then surpassed even them, and thus entered into God, and held mutual conversation with Him. Furthermore, he shows himself not only greater than all of them, but also praying on their behalf. I say nothing of that great man and spectator of God, Moses, whom, as he says, he saw in the fourth heaven, while he himself ascended up to the seventh, and reached even to God, and spoke with Him. And after these things he went out and descended into the fourth heaven, as has been said, and met with Moses, and was counseled by him that, having returned, he should beseech God on behalf of the people, and make the vow lighter, inasmuch as the people were too weak for it. Pursuant to which counsel he returned to God, and prayed for this: which was also granted to him, and the weight of the vow was lightened. But when Moses compelled him, he returned ^B again, and thus five times returned to God, and the vow was diminished again. But Moses, being not even then content, but persuading him to return yet again, and obtain a greater remission of the vow, he did not agree, but having mounted his beast, Emparak, returned to his original place. Consider, I beseech you, a falsehood full of every ignorance. God, whom Mahomet himself confesses to be the Creator of heaven and earth, he makes corporeal, and not incorporeal. For the Divine is incorporeal, and lacks quantity and magnitude, nor is it circumscribed in any form. And since it is such by its very nature, how can it consist of members? For if anyone should concede this, how will it be understood as incorporeal? For that which has a figure is altogether subject to quantity: but that which has quantity must have a place; and that which is in a place is necessarily circumscribed. How, then, can anyone attribute these things, which are corporeal and properties of a body, to that holy and incorporeal nature of God, provided he be not lack- ^C ing in reason? And the patriarch Abraham, in that ancient apparition of God, accounted and called himself earth and ashes. But Daniel, who was such and so great, upon seeing an angel, his glory was turned into corruption, that is, for a short time he cast off his own life; and David says: "Who looks upon the earth, and makes it tremble." But Mahomet, having become superior to all the angelic powers, conversed immediately with God, and offered prayers for the angels and for the whole world, and obtained his prayers. But I marvel, how it happens that that rash and arrogant man did not dare to say these things as well, that he had apprehended the nature of God, such as even God Himself knows it: "But He who dwells in the heavens shall laugh at them, and He and those with Him, and the Lord shall deride ^D them." Furthermore, does God of the people

^A not know their strength, but imposed upon their necks a law which they were unable to bear? And how is He God, who does not know His own creation, nor the strength of His own creation? But if He is the true God, and knows all things before they come into being, He gave the law of Moses as imperfect on account of the weakness of men, but the perfect law through the Gospel. How, then, did He bring back the perfect one—as if ignorant or repentant—into the imperfect again? For that which is perfect is perfect in this way, if it is neither deficient, nor superfluous, nor redundant, as the truth of the Gospel testifies. But Mahomet himself also calls it perfect and true and holy, and salvation and guidance. But the followers of such a Mahomet, justifying the impious man, say that Christ taught things great and impossible. For who is able to love his neighbor as himself, and God with all his heart? Who is able to pray for those who persecute and slander him? Who is able to love his enemies? And the other things. And for this reason, they say, God sent Mahomet and the Koran for the sake of condescension, so that men might more easily fulfill the law unto their own salvation. If, then, Christ were not clearly revealed as God and Son of God, but were merely a man like Moses, we would indeed have need of some proofs for the manifestation of the truth. But since He is clearly revealed as the true God, I have deemed it superfluous to give an apology concerning this at all. For as God and Creator, He knows the strength of His creation. But nevertheless, let us see the absurdity even from the words of Mahomet. He is the one who testifies and says that Christ is the Word of God, and the spirit of God, and the soul of God. And if He is the Word of God, how did He who knows all things do this irrationally? For the Word of God would not appear to be ignorant of anything at all; for He is neither less than God and the Father as He is the Son of God, nor as He is His Word. And if He is the soul of God and the spirit of God, why did He impose a weight upon the souls and spirits of men that they were unable to bear? Furthermore, the same man says to those who follow him that they are nothing, if they do not fulfill the Mosaic law, the Gospel, and the ^B Koran. And if the Gospel teaches things that are heavy and hard to bear, how does your teacher command you, saying that unless you fulfill the ancient law and the Gospel you are nothing, that is, that there is no profit in you? But if the Gospel is perfect, as it indeed is, then the Koran is wrongly justified, on the ground that it was issued for the sake of ^C condescension, and in truth you are slandering the Gospel and Christ; for how could the Gospel be perfect if it required correction? Item, if Gabriel carried this man upon his shoulders, what need was there for beasts of burden to carry him from Mecca as far as Jerusalem? Item, who measured the interval of the journey, which is between the first and second heaven, and discovered that it consists of a space of five hundred years, and reported that to Mahomet? Item, if ^D

^A this distance were measured by the steps of feet, how did a body having thickness walk above the heavens, as he himself fabulously claims? But if this is impossible, and it is angels or the souls of men that ascend, how do those which are incorporeal measure with a corporeal step those things which are above the heaven, things which are able in the shortest space of time to traverse those things which are under the heaven—I mean the air, and the ether, and things similar to these? Item, how is it that in the ascent he required the help of angels, so that they might raise him up into the heavens, but in the descent he did not at all, but only the beast Emparak, so that he might bring him back safely to Mecca? And who is so foolish that he would not condemn such things? For this reason, his followers absolutely forbid anyone to dispute with any persons, fearing refutation, since they are not ignorant of the vanity of their teacher. ^B However, even these differ among themselves; for some follow through fear of death, even against their will, and if they were perchance free and of their own right, they would immediately be enrolled as Christians. Others, seduced by error, hold Mahomet's lies and prodigious fictions as firm, true, and acknowledged things; others again, out of reverence for their ancestors, are unwilling to depart from their paternal law, but they impose upon them the burden of having to undergo the defense for themselves before God; others also, on account of the license and liberty of living and the indulgence of pleasures, are unwilling to renounce their error, of course valuing impurity and folly more highly, while not being ignorant in the meantime that what is said is not from God; nevertheless, they declare openly, as was said before, "I do not want to know the ways of your commandments." For which reason, neither is it permitted among them to read the sacred Scripture, lest by it the folly of their teacher should appear and be exposed. ^C For in the chapter of Jonah he says this: "Whoever is caught contradicting the Koran, let the punishment be death, and let them believe nothing other than it." But in the chapter of Amram he says: "Do not believe anyone except one who follows our law," even though he says the Gospel is salvation and guidance, and that there is nothing for the Saracens unless they have fulfilled the Gospel and the Law. Again, the same person, as if forgetful of his own words, says in the same discourse: "To me my law, and to you yours. You are immune from the things I do, and I from those which you do." This, therefore, is the property of a perverse and wandering mind, not only to disagree with what is honest and good, but also never to be able to agree with itself, as this Mahomet here is found to be in his whole work. The writings of the Christians, however, are not so; but every sacred Scripture, both the Old and the New, ^D agree with one another most exactly, and in turn both are found to think and speak the same thing; and rightly so. For God himself is the author and legislator of the Old and New Testaments. But I myself perhaps will say with Isaiah and David: "Wherefore, O Lord, does the way of the wicked prosper? My feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped. For I was envious at the wicked, when I saw the peace of sinners. For there is no regard in their death"

and firmness in their scourging. They are not in the labors of men, and they shall not be scourged with men. Therefore pride hath held them fast unto the end. Their iniquity and ungodliness shall go forth, as it were out of fatness; their iniquity hath passed into the disposition of the heart, they have thought and spoken in wickedness; they have spoken iniquity on high, they have set their mouth against Heaven, and their tongue hath passed through the earth. ^B But with the man of God, David, I too shall cry out, saying, "Because of their deceits, Thou hast set evils for them, O Lord; Thou hast cast them down when they were lifted up. How are they come to desolation? They have suddenly ceased, they have perished by reason of their iniquity, as the dream of one who awaketh. O Lord, in Thy city Thou shalt bring their image to nothing."

2. Furthermore, in the chapter... Mahomet says that the demons are set to be saved, following the heretic Origen. And although in another place he says that many of the demons, when they had heard the Alcorran of Mahomet read aloud, praised and admired it, and having believed in him, obtained salvation; yet now he does not say so, but affirms universally that the demons are to be saved. ^C For if one and that one alone of their number can be saved, then all can also be saved. But just as he is everywhere contradictory to himself, so he is also in this instance. For he, and all his followers, assert that the Gospel is in all things perfect, holy, and saving, as being the words of Christ; yet now, as also at other times, they contradict it in every way. For Christ spoke as follows to those worthy of hell: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." ^D Having said this, therefore, He excepted no demon from punishment, and rightly so. For whoever is saved with repentance, he himself also, according to his strength, observes the way of salvation through his works. For in the body a man cannot, according to his soul's will, avoid falling into sickness, or if he has fallen into it, return by his own power to his former health; but the matter of the soul is far otherwise. For every man has it in his power not to fall into sin—which is the sickness of the soul—but when he has sinned, it is of his own free will that he should recall himself, and that he should not only return to the former health of his soul, but also surpass it by many measures, and either—as it is said—by repentance produce works worthy of faith, or, as they say, be found doing repentance as a second navigation. And the supremely good God, who for the salvation of men inclined the heavens, and descending, man

became, pours forth His mercy, which is greater than every deed of angels and men alike—which He indeed prefers to all virtues—and He calls all to Himself, and appoints them His friends. But in the devil, where is repentance? Where is humility? For repentance arises from humility. A man first condemns himself as having acted badly, then repents of the things in which he sinned. But the devil does the contrary. He cherishes the sin which he committed, and as far as his power allows, he is found to be the agent and collaborator in the destruction of men. What fellowship, then, is there between God and the devil? Thus, Mahomet spoke in vain, saying that demons ^A can be saved.

3. Furthermore, the same Mahomet says regarding the Corran ^B that no mortal, not even Mahomet himself, knows its interpretation and meaning, except God alone. But if this is true, what is the utility of the Corran? For perhaps it might have been useful in this way, if those things spoken by God were understood. But since Mahomet himself is found testifying that no mortal knows the things spoken in the Corran, of what use is it? Absolutely none. And what proof could be more evident that the law given by Mahomet does not have God as its author? For God does not decree laws in vain. Lo, therefore, it is manifest that the Corran is not from God, but is a fiction of his own ill-fated mind. ^C And it is evident from the Corran itself that it agrees neither with the Old Testament nor the New, although Mahomet himself confesses that the Scriptures are holy and good, and that his own followers are of no value unless they fulfill both the Law and the Gospel. Furthermore, he contradicts himself in almost every point. Furthermore, he performed no miracle for the confirmation of his words. Furthermore, it contains manifest lies, which is utterly alien to God. Furthermore, it is violent, and destroys free will, which God Himself never overthrew. Furthermore, it is altogether confused in order. That which lacks order departs far and wide from God. For God is by no means the God of confusion. Further, it appears to be manifestly evil. How could it derive its origin from God, who surpasses all goodness and simplicity? Furthermore, it contains fabricated and monstrous visions. And how could this be from God, the creator and giver of truth? But the ultimate and primary point of all evils is that they themselves claim the Corran was handed down by God, heaping calumny upon God. Indeed, I wonder and am astonished at what wretches they are who, neglecting Christ and His teaching, have followed Mahomet. For his law, which they call the Corran, delivers this very thing: that this was announced by an angel to the mother of Jesus, and that she was sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and conceived by the power of God—not by ^D the efficacy of nature—and that Christ was born from the most holy Virgin, who was chaste above all other women. For in the chapter of Enersan it says: "O associates of the Book," that is, you believers, "say nothing of God except the truth," for Christ the

^A Jesus is the Son of Mary, and the apostle of God, and the Word of God, whom He placed in her through the Holy Spirit. Lo, therefore, though he has named God, and the Word of God, and the Spirit of God (the Trinity, indeed, which consists of three persons), the wretched man did not open the eyes of his soul to see the light of the Trinity. And with good reason. For just as those who are in the mother's womb before their birth possess life, but it is useless and irrational, and their soul is unable to distinguish the better from the worse, and those born before the proper time are not human beings but miscarriages and abortions; so too, every impious person who has not been born of water and the Spirit, that is, through holy baptism, is unable to see the heavenly light and the knowledge of the truth. And for this reason, having closed the eyes of his soul, the wretch was left behind in darkness, like his father the devil. For he mentions the Holy Spirit incessantly in the Coran. He says, in fact, in the chapter "Empia," speaking as if from the person of God: "For in Mary we breathed into her from the Holy Spirit." And he can by no means say that God said this about any angel. And such things he says of Christ, but of Mahomet he says nothing of the sort, but only that he was an orphan and a wanderer, gathered up by God. Further, he calls Christ the Word of God, as has been said, and the soul of God, and the greatest of all the prophets, while calling Mahomet only a ^B prophet simply. Furthermore, they admit that Christ was born of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who held the promises. But Mahomet is from Ishmael, who was cast out from the house of Abraham together with his mother, the handmaid Hagar. Moreover, Christ never committed a sin; for the Word of God and the Spirit of God cannot be led astray. But Mahomet became an idolater, and a murderer, and a robber, and a lecher, and became subject to many other sins, for which God, as they say, felt compassion for him. Furthermore, Christ performed terrible and extraordinary miracles, as is also testified to in the chapter "Helmaida," that Christ gave sight to the blind, cleansed lepers, raised the dead, and performed other infinite works. ^C But Mahomet performed no miracle according to the Coran, except only that of the moon, which is a patent falsehood, and certain other shameful things, which were passed over in silence and consigned to oblivion because of their infamy. Furthermore, according to the Gospel and the truth itself, Christ was crucified, died, was buried, rose again, was taken up, and sits at the right hand of the Father; but according to the Coran, as if to honor him, they say that he did not die, yet that he was taken up. And behold how, by the evangelical truth and the fallacies of Mahomet himself, it is demonstrated that Christ lives, but Mahomet—as even all his followers confess—is dead and has not risen again. Therefore, because of all these things, one must adore Christ, and not cleave to Mahomet. For how could the oracles of God be entrusted to a man who is in every way like the devil? And if you wish, by comparing both, let us recognize their characteristics. The devil ^D

is puffed up and arrogant, and Mahomet is puffed up and arrogant; for he was the one who died and did not rise again. For this reason, then, ^A who is greater than Mahomet, who ascended above the heavens, as he himself claimed on his own behalf, and spoke with God before all the angelic powers themselves, and became an intercessor for the fallen angels, and also a protector of the whole world? The devil is a murderer, and Mahomet condemned to death those who did not obey his dogmas. The devil is a deceiver, and Mahomet, by granting pleasures and placing them ^B like bait on a hook, drew the foolish towards himself. The devil is a liar, but not to the same extent as Mahomet, as is clearly shown throughout the whole Koran. The devil is treacherous, and who else is like Mahomet, who feigned humility while embracing pride? The devil is a counselor of forbidden things, and Mahomet is [a counselor] above all others. For he taught nothing sound, nothing useful, nothing acceptable to God, but taught all things against God and the divine law. ^C The devil is godless, and the son of perdition, Mahomet, is in all respects like him. For he worships and proclaims a God who is spherical and very cold, a God, I say, he worships who is neither begotten nor begets, not understanding, the wretch, that he is worshipping a body and not God. For a sphere is a form of a body, and coldness is a quality of a body. And as for calling a God—who neither begets nor is begotten—neither a body nor a true incorporeal God, he instead worships a God whom the dreams of the impious fabricate. For ^D it is utterly ridiculous to celebrate some sun lacking light, and a fountain devoid of water, and a mind possessing no reason; may such a god perish! But the God of us Christians is one, who is before all things, and over all things, and in all things, and above all things, believed in and honored in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, a Unity in Trinity and a Trinity in Unity, confusedly united and inseparably distinguished; the same, I say, Unity and Trinity is omnipotent; the Father, lacking a beginning, not only uncircumscribed in time, but in every way lacking a cause; He alone is the cause, root, and fountain of the Divinity which is perceived in the Son and the Holy Spirit: may He, I pray, be merciful to us and to all Christians on the day of judgment, through the intercession of our blessed Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, and of all the saints. Amen.