Prologue

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations and Transliterations

Transliteration Tables — Armenian and Arabic

Bibliography

I. The “Armenian Ghurans”

A. “Armenian Ghurans”: Newly discovered manuscripts of Armenian translations of the Qur’ān — The first group during the Awakening 17th - 18th centuries . . . . . . xvi

B. “Armenian Ghurans”: The second and third groups of translations — 19th - 21st centuries (in chronological order)

II. General Bibliography

Introduction

Part One

THE MEDIEVAL “ARMENIAN MAHMET” AND HIS “LAWS”

(7th TO 11th CENTURIES)

Chapter I. The Historical Context

Chapter II. The “Armenian Mahmet” through Phases — The First Phase in the Arab Period (7th to 9th centuries)

Mahmet as t‘ankangar, lawmaker, prophet, world-conqueror

A. Sebēos

B. Ghewond

C. T‘ovma Artsruni

Chapter III . T he Second Phase in the Formation of the “Armenian Mahmet” (10th to 11th centuries)

A. The historians of the “Age of Kingdoms”

1. Yovhan V Draskhanatertts‘i

2. Movsēs Kaghankatuats‘i — Movsēs Daskhurants‘i

3. Shapuh Bagratuni the Anonymous Storyteller

4. Step‘anos Taronets‘i Asoghik

B. The last authors of the Arab Period

1. Aristakēs Lastivertts‘i

2. Grigor Pahlawuni Magistros

Part Two

THE THIRD PHASE AND THE COMPLETION OF THE “ARMENIAN MAHMET” THE SELJUK AND EARLY MONGOL PERIODS (12th TO 13th CENTURIES)

Chapter I. The “Armenian Intermezzo” and the Generation of the Armenian East and West (10th to 12th Centuries)

Chapter II. The Third Phase in the Seljuk-Mongol Period in the East

A. New material for the “Armenian Mahmet” — Samuēl Anets‘I and Mkhit‘ar Anets‘i

1. Samuēl Anets‘i

2. Mkhit‘ar Anets‘i

B. Qāḍī Burhān al-Dīn Abū Naṣr Ibn Manṣūr al-Anawī (Anets‘i) a contemporary and adversary — An Anti-Armenian polemics in his Anīs al-Qulūb

C. Sunnī Law as motive for Armenian canon law: Book of Judgment (Datastanagirk‘) by Mkhit‘ar Gōsh 

D. Mahmet at the end of an era in Armenian historiography —Vardan Arewelts‘i, Kirakos Gandzakets‘i

1. Vardan Mets - Arewelts‘i

2. Kirakos Gandzakets‘i

3. Step‘anos Ōrbelyan

Chapter III. T he Third Phase in the Seljuk-Mongol Period in the West and Cilicia (12th to 13th centuries)

A. Mahmet “in the wings”: Matt‘ēos Uṛhayets‘i, Smbat Sparapet, Het‘um Patmich‘

1. Matt‘ēos Uṛhayets‘i

2. Smbat Sparapet Gundstable

3. Het‘um Patmich‘ or Hayton of Corycus

B. Diverging cases

1. Vahram Rabuni: Islam and Mahmet in an epic poem

2. Yovhannēs Erznkats‘i: “Tajik sages” and ‘Abbāsid Caliph al-Nāṣir’s Futuwwa reform literature at Erznka/Erzinjān

Part Three

THE “ARMENIAN PAX ISLAMICA” AS PER THE HISTORICAL AND LITERARY RECORDS OF ALLEGED EDICTS/COVENANTS/OATHS/DECREES/PACTS

(7th TO 20th CENTURIES)

Chapter I. Perceptions of Christianity and the Status of the Dhimmīs

A. Christ and Christianity in the Qur‘ān

B. Dhimmīs and the Qur’ānic bases for social order, rectitude, taxation and food

(Q2:256; Q5:5; Q9:29)

Chapter II. The Pax Islamica and the Process of Canonization (7th to 9th centuries)

A. The “Edict of the Prophet”

B. Canonization: from ‘Umar Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb to al-Mutawakkil

1. Caliph ‘Umar I — The symbolic-historical beginnings

2. Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik — The initiator

3. Umayyad Caliph ‘Umar II Ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz — The first “canonizer”

4. Canonization: Shurūṭ ‘Umar in early 9th century

5. The “Edict of al-Mutawakkil” (850)

Chapter III . The “Armenian Pax Islamica” — The Literary Record

A. The formation of the “Armenian Edict of the Mahmet”

1. The first reference in the Chronicle of Samuēl Anets‘i

2. A direct citation by Kirakos Gandzakets‘i

3. Grigor Tat‘ewats‘i — Completion of the “Edict of Mahmet to the Armenians”

B. Other Versions of the “Edict of Mahmet”

1. “The vasiat’ (will) of p‘eghambar Mahmat, by the hand of Maviē to the Christians”, M6984

2. “The Decree of the Prophet Mohammad” (626)

3. “The Great Manshur — Treaty of Mehemmet written for the Christians by the hand of ‘Alī” — 626

C. The alleged “Decree of ‘Alī” (660/61)

Chapter IV. The “Armenian Pax Islamica” — The Historical Record

A. Pacts and relations under Sunnī Law — Eight recorded pacts

1. The Pre-Umayyad Period, during the incumbency of Caliph‘Uthmān

a. The pact between Mu‘āwiyah and T‘ēodoros Ṛshtuni in 652 during the incumbency of Caliph ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān

b. The Pact of Ḥabīb Ibn Maslamah at Duin (654)

2. The Umayyads

a. A third pact by Caliph Mu‘āwiyah concerning taxes (661)

b. The Oath of Muḥammad Ibn Marwān, Ostikan/Commissioner of Armīnyah, to [deceased] Catholicos Sahak III(703)

c. The oath of Caliph ‘Umar II to Catholicos Yovhan II Ōdznets‘i (719)

3. Consolidation of Classical Sunnī Law in the ‘Abbāsid Period

4. Seljuk Sultan Malik Shāh — A pact with Bishop Barsegh of Ani (1090)

5. Ayyūbid Ṣalāḥ ed-Dīn’s Oath to the Christians-Armenians of Jerusalem in 1187 — The seventh pact under Sunnī Law

B. Turkmen and Shī‘ī times and polemical literature

1. The circumstances

2. Shī‘ī Law and Armenian Polemical literature

C. Polemics in response to accusations of Blasphemy and Impurity

1. The martyrdom of Catholicos Zak‘aria II Nahatak (martyr, r. 1369-1393) of Aght‘amar as immediate cause

2. Matt‘ēos Jughayets‘i and the “seven questions” of the Tajiks

3. Against the Tajiks of Grigor Tat‘ewats‘i — The “sixteen fallacies”

D. Safavid politics: Prophet’s Oath renewed by Shāh ‘Abbās I (1605-6) — New Julfa-Isfahan 226

E. Ottoman times — Contradictory Perspectives

1. Avedis Bērbērian — Sultan Mahmud II (1811) — “Oath of Ēōmer” to Jerusalem Armenians (in 636)

2. E. T‘op‘chyan — “Oath of Ēōmer” and Ottoman politics

Part Four

THE “ARMENIAN GHURANS” IN THE OTTOMAN AND SAFAVID WORLDS

(17th TO 18th CENTURIES)

Chapter I. The Armenian Awakening in New Worlds of Islam 233

A. The making of new Armenian worlds — New Julfa and Aleppo

B. The Armenian condition in the 17th century and the historiography

1. Grigor Vardapet Kamakhets‘i-Daranaghts‘i Buk‘

2. Aṛak‘el Dawrizhets‘i

3. Zak‘aria Sarkawag K‘anakeṛts‘i

4. Eremia Ch‘ēlēbi K‘ēōmiwrchian

C. “Confession” of a New Julfan convert Abgar ‘Alī Akbar Armanī

Chapter II. The “Armenian Ghurans” — Polemical Side-Scripts and Appendices — Circumstances and Objectives

A. Qur’ān translations in the West

B. The first Armenian translation of the Qur’ān from Latin by Step‘anos Lehats‘i in 1680

C. The first copy of Lehats‘i’s Ghuran — Occasion and platform for a Sequel of four texts (M3019, dated 1681)

Chapter III. The 18th century — Circumstances and Historiography Armenian Ghurans from Arabic and copies

A. Circumstances in the Safavid and Ottoman worlds

B. Literature and historiography

1. Yovhannēs Jughayets‘i Mrk‘uz

2. An unusual contemporary apologist-polemicist of Mrk‘uz in Aleppo — Makirdīj al- Kassīḥ Ibn ‘Abdallāh al-Mukhalla‘ al-Armanī

3. Abraham Kretats‘i

4. Abraham Erewants‘i

5. Mik‘ayēl Ch‘amch‘iants‘

C. The First Armenian Translation of the Qur’ān from Arabic (lost) in the 18th century — Three copies with the Will/Edict of Mahmet as appendix

1. Ghōran Mahmetin — First translation from Arabic “by the hand of” Aristakes Erēts‘ Hamadants‘i, 1706 (M 6984, date 1706) — The “Will of the Prophet” as Appendix

2. Book called Ghuran (Girk‘ or Koch‘i Ghuran, M8056) —The first known copy of Ghōran Mahmetin from Arabic 

3. Book Called Ghuran (M2826) — A second copy of M6094 and a comprehensive polemical side-script

Part Five

ISLAM, THE PROPHET AND THE QUR’ĀN IN LATE MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

Chapter I. Dawn of “Islamological” Scholarship — Philology, Biography, Critique, Polemics and Apology

A. K‘erovbē Patkanyan’s publication of six accounts of Mahmet and Islam, as appendices in the History of Mkhit‘ar Anets‘I (St. Petersburg, 1879)

B. P‘ilibbos Vardanyan—Translation of Washington Irving’s Life of Mahomet (Tbilisi, 1894)

C. A pioneering study of Islam — Polemics revisited by Erwand (T‘op‘ch‘yan, Tbilisi, 1899)

D. A critical analysis of the Sharī‘ah by Atrpet (Tbilisi?, 1899)

E. A genuine apology for and praise of Islam by Dawit‘ Ṛostomyants‘ (Baku? c.1880s)

Chapter II. Three Armenian Ghurans and Biographies of Mahmet — 1909-1912

A. Abraham Amirkhanyants‘ and an Islamic “trilogy”: A biography of Muḥammad, the Ghuran and a Polemical treatise (Tbilisi, Varna, 1904-1910)

B. K‘uran — Translation from French, and biography by Lewon Larents‘ (Istanbul, 1911)  

C. Muhammēt, Guran — Translation from Arabic, and biography, by Hagop Kurbēt‘ian (Varna, 1912)

Chapter III. “Implied Islamology” in the 20th century Philology, Arabology, Politics

A. Philological — K‘. Patkanyan and P. Gulēsērian

B. “Arabology” (arabagitut‘iwn) — Islam in the context of Arab-Armenian histories — B. Khalat‘yan (1919), Lēō (1920-1930s), Y. Nalpantyan (1965), A. Tēr Ghewondyan (1980s)

1. Bagrat Khalat‘yants‘

2. Lēō (Aṛak‘el Babakhanyan)

3. Yakob Nalpantyan

4. Aram Tēr Ghewondyan

C. Pax Islamica revisited — Mahmet as oath-giver and guarantor— Leon Arpee (1946), L. Minassyants‘ (1972), Y. Anassyan (1980)

Chapter IV. The Third Phase of Translations 1991-2014 —Contemporary Themes and Concerns

A. Partial translation (from Russian), G. Guyumchyan (Moscow, 1991)

B. Partial translation (from Russian), V. Dawt‘yan (Yerevan, 1995)

C. Full translation (from Arabic), N. K‘ilislian (Toronto, 2003) 

D. Full translation (from Persian), E. Hakhverdyan (Yerevan, 2006)

E. Full translation (from Turkish), Y. Aydin (Ankara, 2014)

F. First studies on Qur‘ān translations, A. Kozmoyan (Yerevan, 2003, 2006)

Chapter V. Religious and missionary themes and concerns

A. Christian preaching among Muslims

B. Biblical Persons in the Qur’ān — Christ and Mariam

C. General, informative, comparative studies — Islam-Christianity, Islam at present, Shī‘ism, communities

In Lieu of a Conclusion

A CRITICAL, HOLISTIC, AND INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECT FOR

ISLAMIC-ARMENIAN STUDIES

Appendix: Al-Shāfi῾ī’s Version of Shurūṭ ‘Umar

Indexes

Personal Names

General Index

Table of Content