When Christians First Met Muslims: A Sourcebook of the Earliest Syriac Writings on Islam

The first Christians to meet Muslims were not Latin-speaking Christians from the western Mediterranean or Greek-speaking Christians from Constantinople but rather Christians from northern Mesopotamia who spoke the Aramaic dialect of Syriac. Living under Muslim rule from the seventh century to the present, Syriac Christians wrote the first and most extensive accounts of Islam, describing a complicated set of religious and cultural exchanges not reducible to the solely antagonistic.

Through its critical introductions and new translations of this invaluable historical material, When Christians First Met Muslims allows scholars, students, and the general public to explore the earliest interactions between what eventually became the world’s two largest religions, shedding new light on Islamic history and Christian-Muslim relations.

• Envisioning Islam: Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion)
• The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam
• Muslims in America: A Short History (Religion in American Life)
• Corrections in Early Qurʾān Manuscripts: Twenty Examples (Quran Manuscript Change Studies)
• Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages
• The Medieval Church: A Brief History
• The Qur'an and the Bible: Text and Commentary
• Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires
• Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
• The Middle Ages: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)