"I Trust the Gospel and All Its Contents": The Disputation of Jirji the Monk and Medieval Islamic Knowledge of the Bible

Abstract

At the end of the thirteenth century, a Melchite monk engaged in a religious disputation with a Muslim scholar and holy man in the presence of al-Zafir, the son of the sultan Saladin.  Despite occurring in an era of Crusades, the Christian and the Muslim show remarkable respect for each other, and, intriguingly, a depth of knowledge for the opposite religion, particularly holy scripture, the Bible and the Qur'an.  The purpose of this paper is to look at this disputation, and, using other scholarship, understand what level of knowledge medieval Muslims had regarding the Christian scriptures.