Monday Majlis: The Definitive Zoroastrian Critique of Islam
This lecture will explore early relations between Zoroastrians and Muslims by examining the most important polemical treatise in the Zoroastrian tradition, the Å kand GumÄnÄ«g-WizÄr (“The Doubt-Dispelling Disquisitionâ€), written by the ninth/tenth century theologian and philosopher MardÄnfarrox son of OhrmazddÄd. A sophisticated work of rationalist theology, the treatise systematically critiques several rival religions of the late antique and medieval Middle East, including Islam. The critique of Islam in chapters 11 and 12 is the only sustained, systematic polemic against Islam in premodern Zoroastrian literature, one that attacks monotheism by focusing on the problem of evil. This lecture will consider Zoroastrians’ relationship with Muslims, the influence of Islamic theology on Zoroastrian thought, and the place of the Å kand GumÄnÄ«g-WizÄr in Middle Persian literature.
| A Centre for the Study of Islam seminar | |
|---|---|
| Speaker(s) | Christian C. Sahner |
| Date | 20 May 2024 |
| Time | 17:00 to 18:30 |
| Place | Online |
| Registration information | https://universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMude6urjooGN0CQOy5AXHdP5ucq6RcGx3Z |
Event details
Abstract
Christian C. Sahner (Ph.D., Princeton, 2015) is an associate professor of Islamic history and a fellow of New College at the University of Oxford. His work explores the history of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia during the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. He is especially interested in relations between Muslims and non-Muslims (principally Christians and Zoroastrians), religious conversion, Islamic sectarianism, and the intertwined histories of the Umayyad, Ê¿Abbasid, and Byzantine empires. His most recent book is The Definitive Zoroastrian Critique of Islam (Liverpool University Press, 2023; Translated Texts for Historians).
