The Arabic Vulgate in Safavid Persia: Arabic Printing of the Gospels, Catholic Missionaries, and the Rise of ShīʿīAnti-Christian Polemics

Abstract

Introduction: Persian Translations of the Bible in Pre-Safavid Iran -- Chapter 1: From Egypt via Rome to Persia: The Arabic Vulgate at Cultural Crossroads -- 1.1 A Manuscript of Coptic Provenance in Late Sixteenth-Century Rome: The First Publication of the Gospels in Arabic Translation -- 1.2 The Vorlage for the Medici Edition of the Arabic Vulgate -- 1.3 Vatican Censorship and the Production of the Roman Arabic Vulgate -- Chapter 2: Carmelite Missionaries at Work: The Dissemination of Printed Copies of the Roman Arabic Vulgate in Seventeenth-Century Persia -- 2.1 Catholic-Shīʿī Encounters in Isfahan -- 2.2 The Library of the Discalced Carmelites -- Chapter 3: Reading the Gospels in Favor of Imāmī Shīʿism: The Muslim Reception of the Roman Arabic Vulgate -- 3.1 Sayyid Aḥmad ʿAlavī (d. between 1054/1644 and 1060/1650): Philosopher and Polemicist against Christianity in Isfahan -- 3.2 ʿAlavī’s Attitude towards Judaism and Christianity -- 3.3 The Anti-Christian Works Lavāmiʿ-i rabbānī and Miṣqal-i ṣafāʾ -- 3.4 ʿAlavī’s Persian Refutations of Christianity in the Vatican -- Chapter 4: Ẓahīr al-Dīn Tafrishī (d. before 1114/1702): Defender of ‘Truth’ against Melkites and Latin Missionaries -- 4.1 The Arabic and Persian Recensions of Tafrishī’s Nuṣrat al-ḥaqq -- 4.2 Tafrishī’s Reception of Ibn al- Faḍl’s Arabic Version of the Septuagint Psalter -- 4.3 Tafrishī’s Attitude towards the Bible -- Chapter 5: Sayyid Mīr Muḥammad Bāqir Khātūnābādī (d. 1127/1715): Translator of the Gospels from Arabic into Persian -- 5.1 The Roman Arabic Vulgate in Persian -- 5.2 The Arrival of Printed Copies of the Biblia Sacra Arabica in Persia -- Conclusion: An Intellectual Network between Egypt, Rome, and Persia -- Appendices: 1 Inventory of Manuscripts of ʿAlavī’s Lavāmiʿ-i rabbānī -- 2 Inventory of Manuscripts of ʿAlavī’s Miṣqal-i ṣafāʾ -- 3 Inventory of Manuscripts of Tafrishī’s Nuṣrat al-ḥaqq -- 4 Inventory of Manuscripts of Khātūnābādī’s Persian Translation of the Gospels -- 5 ʿAlavī’s Citations from the Roman Arabic Vulgate in an Unidentified Persian Translation -- 6 Tafrishī’s Citations from the Roman Arabic Vulgate in Arabic and in His Own Persian Translation -- 7 Tafrishī’s Citations from the Septuagint Psalms in Arabic and in His Own Persian Translation