Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete

Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete (English: Law of Muhammad the pseudo-prophet/false prophet) is the translation of the Qur'an into Medieval Latin by Robert of Ketton (c. 1110 – 1160 AD). It is the earliest translation of the Qur'an into a Western European language.^[1]

In 1142 French abbot Peter the Venerable persuaded Robert to join a team he was creating to translate Arabic works into Latin in hopes of aiding the religious conversion of Muslims to Christianity. The translation of the Qur'an was the principal work of this collection, the Corpus Cluniacense. The undertaking was huge, taking over a year and filling over 100 folios (180 pages in modern print). This translation of the Qur'an became popular, with over 25 manuscripts still existing, together with two 16th-century prints. It was the standard translation for Europeans from its release until the 18th century.

^ Steven W. Holloway, ed., Orientalism, Assyriology and the Bible, Hebrew Bible Monographs, 10; Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2006; ISBN 978-1-905048-37-3; p. 3. "Scholarly Orientalism can be traced to the twelfth century, a complex product of medieval Western Christendom's growing engagement with Islam, widely misunderstood to be a Christian heresy, and an appetite for the treasures of the Islamic philosophical and mathematical tradition whetted by exposure to primary texts. Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny monastery in France, commissioned the first Latin translation of the Qur'ān, which was finished in 1143 by the Englishman Robert of Ketton."

[Holloway-1] Steven W. Holloway, ed., Orientalism, Assyriology and the Bible, Hebrew Bible Monographs, 10; Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2006; ISBN 978-1-905048-37-3; p. 3. "Scholarly Orientalism can be traced to the twelfth century, a complex product of medieval Western Christendom's growing engagement with Islam, widely misunderstood to be a Christian heresy, and an appetite for the treasures of the Islamic philosophical and mathematical tradition whetted by exposure to primary texts. Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny monastery in France, commissioned the first Latin translation of the Qur'ān, which was finished in 1143 by the Englishman Robert of Ketton."

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