Christian influences on the Islamic world

For comparative studies, see Christianity and Islam.
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Christian influences in Islam can be traced back to Eastern Christianity, which surrounded the origins of Islam.[1] Islam, emerging in the context of the Middle East that was largely Christian, was first seen as a Christological heresy known as the "heresy of the Ishmaelites", described as such in Concerning Heresy by Saint John of Damascus, a Syriac scholar.[2]

Christians introduced the Muslims to Greek learning.[1][3] Eastern Christian scientists and scholars of the medieval Islamic world (particularly Nestorian Christians) contributed to the Arab Islamic civilization during the Umayyad and the Abbasid periods by translating works of Greek philosophers to Syriac and afterwards to Arabic.[4][3][5] They also excelled in philosophy, science, theology and medicine.[6][7]

Scholars and intellectuals agree Eastern Christians have made significant contributions to Arab and Islamic civilization since the introduction of Islam,[8][3] and they have had a significant impact contributing to the culture of the Middle East and North Africa and other areas.[9][10][11]

Christian communities have played a vital role in the Muslim World. Pew Research Center estimates indicate that in 2010, more than 64 million Christians lived in countries with Muslim majorities (excluding Nigeria). The Pew Forum study finds that Indonesia (21.1 million) has the largest Christian population in the Muslim world, followed by Egypt, Chad and Kazakhstan.[12] The majority of Muslim countries also use a Gregorian calendar and some countries observe Sunday as a non-working day (cf. Sunday Sabbatarianism).

  1. ^ a b Michael Nazir-Ali. Islam, a Christian perspective, Westminster John Knox Press, 1983, p. 66
  2. ^ Griffith, Sidney H. (April 4, 2010). The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam. Princeton University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-691-14628-7.
  3. ^ a b c Brague, Rémi (2009). The Legend of the Middle Ages: Philosophical Explorations of Medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. University of Chicago Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-226-07080-3.
  4. ^ Hill, Donald. Islamic Science and Engineering. 1993. Edinburgh Univ. Press. ISBN 0-7486-0455-3, p.4
  5. ^ Ferguson, Kitty Pythagoras: His Lives and the Legacy of a Rational Universe Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2008, (page number not available – occurs toward end of Chapter 13, "The Wrap-up of Antiquity"). "It was in the Near and Middle East and North Africa that the old traditions of teaching and learning continued, and where Christian scholars were carefully preserving ancient texts and knowledge of the ancient Greek language."
  6. ^ Rémi Brague, Assyrians contributions to the Islamic civilization Archived 2013-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Britannica, Nestorian
  8. ^ Hill, Donald. Islamic Science and Engineering. 1993. Edinburgh Univ. Press. ISBN 0-7486-0455-3, p. 4
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pacini1998 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ C. Ellis, Kail (2017). Jews, Antisemitism, and the Middle East. Routledge. p. 173. ISBN 9781351510721.
  11. ^ Curtis, Michael (2018). Secular Nationalism and Citizenship in Muslim Countries: Arab Christians in the Levant. Springer. p. 11. ISBN 9781351510721. Christian contributions to art, culture, and literature in the Arab-Islamic world; Christian contributions education and social advancement in the region.
  12. ^ "Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population" (PDF). Pew Research Center.