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The ''Masāʾil ʿAbdallāh ibn Salām'' ('Questions of ʿAbdallāh ibn Salām'), also known as the ''Book of One Thousand Questions'' among other titles, is an
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
treatise on
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
in the form of
Muḥammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
's answers to questions posed by the
Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish inquirer ʿAbdallāh ibn Salām. The work is considered
apocrypha Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...
l, with neither the questions nor the answers attributable to the named protagonists. Originally composed in the tenth century and widely translated, the ''Masāʾil'' is today regarded as a piece of
world literature World literature is used to refer to the world's total national literature and the circulation of works into the wider world beyond their country of origin. In the past, it primarily referred to the masterpieces of Western European literature. ...
. A
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
version appeared in the twelfth century and a
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
one by the sixteenth. From Latin it was translated into
Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...
,
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,
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
,
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
and Portuguese; from Persian into
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
, Malay and
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
. From the Arabic, translations were also made into Buginese, Javanese, Sundanese and
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
.


Synopsis

The ''Masāʾil'' consists of a series of questions and answers within a fictional
frame story A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...
. Muḥammad has sent a letter to the Jews of the oasis of
Khaybar KhaybarOther Arabic transliteration, standardized Arabic transliterations: / . Anglicized pronunciation: , . (, ) is an oasis in Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province, Saudi Arabia, situated some north of the city of Medina. Prior to ...
requesting their conversion to
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. The Jews therefore send ʿAbdallāh ibn Salām to ascertain if Muḥammad is indeed a prophet. In
Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...
, Muḥammad receives advanced warning of the approach of ʿAbdallāh and his three companions from the angel
Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...
. He therefore sends
ʿAlī Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib an ...
to meet them and greet them by name. His foreknowledge impresses them. ʿAbdallāh announces his purpose to Muḥammad, "to enquire of you the explanation of matters which are not clear to us from our own law." Convinced of their sincerity, Muḥammad permits the Jews to ask as many questions as they like, whereupon ʿAbdallāh produces "one hundred principal questions which had been carefully chosen." The exact number of questions asked is unclear, since some are clearly intended only as followups. The ''Masāʾil'' is a rambling work. The questions posed by ʿAbdallāh range across various fields well beyond theology. The first question is, "Are you a prophet 'nabiyy''or a messenger 'rasūl''">rasūl.html" ;"title="'rasūl">'rasūl''" Muḥammad answers that he is both. Asked about prior prophets, Muḥammad claims that they all proclaimed the same "law and faith". True faith is required for admission into Jannah">Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
. He refers to the written revelation he received from God, the Qurʾān, as ''al-Furqān'' ('separation') because it came to him in parts, unlike the Torah in Islam, Torah, the Zabur, Psalms and the Injil, Gospels, which were revealed, respectively, to Moses in Islam, Moses, David in Islam, David and
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
all at once. Subsequent theological questions concern the Torah, the creation of Adam and Eve, the nature of Heaven and
Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
(including their respective levels),
angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
and
Judgement Day The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the ''Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus, Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God in Abrahamic religions, God of a ...
. There is an exchange on the significance of the numbers 1–100. Other topics include
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
,
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
and
geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
. Muḥammad quotes the Qurʾān seventeen times in support of his answers. ʿAbdallāh tests him with
riddles A riddle is a :wikt:statement, statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or Allegory, alleg ...
. These are often scriptural, e.g., "What land did the sun see once, but will never again see to the end of time?" The answer is "the bottom of the Red Sea". The ''Masāʾil'' has Muḥammad claim that
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
is the centre of the world. In Heaven, the blessed will not consume pork, but will have
wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...
and engage in sexual intercourse, since "if any kind of pleasure were missing, beatitude would not be complete.". The final question posed by ʿAbdallāh is, "What will become of death?" Muḥammad answers that "death will be changed into a ram", that "the people of heaven, for fear of death, will plot its destruction; the people of hell, in the hope of dying, will desire it to survive" and that in the ensuing battle the ram (death) will be killed between heaven and hell. After this, ʿAbdallāh announces his conversion and recites the ''
shahāda The ''Shahada'' ( ; , 'the testimony'), also transliterated as ''Shahadah'', is an Islamic oath and creed, and one of the Five Pillars of Islam and part of the Adhan. It reads: "I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witnes ...
''.


Textual history


Arabic text

The ''Masāʾil'' was probably written in the tenth century. Although ʿAbdallāh was a historical Jewish convert to Islam from the time of Muḥammad, the ''Masāʾil'' is an apocryphal work, a late development of the ʿAbdallāh legend, "amplified dramatically" and not an authentic record of actual discussions. It ultimately derives from Jewish sources and was probably composed by a "Jewish renegade". The earliest reference to the ''Masāʾil'' dates to 963 and is found in al-Balʿamī's Persian translation of
al-Ṭabarī Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present-day ...
's Arabic ''Annals of Apostles and Kings''. The Arabic ''Masāʾil'' circulated as a standalone work, but was also incorporated into the ''Pearl of Wonders'' of
Ibn al-Wardī Abū Ḥafs Zayn al-Dīn ʻUmar ibn al-Muẓaffar Ibn al-Wardī (), known as Ibn al-Wardi, was an Arab geographer (died circa 1446BH, sometimes listed as late as 1457BH). He was the author of ''Kharīdat al-ʿAjā'ib wa farīdat al-gha'rāib'' ('' ...
. The earliest manuscript of the former type dates to the fifteenth century, while the earliest copy of the ''Pearl'' is from the sixteenth. The first printed edition of the ''Masāʾil'' appeared in
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
in 1867. An English translation from the Arabic by Nathan Davis was printed in 1847 under the title ''The Errors of Mohammedanism Exposed: or, A Dialogue Between the Arabian Prophet and a Jew''.


Western tradition

Earlier than the surviving Arabic texts is a Latin translation by
Hermann of Carinthia Herman of Carinthia (1105/1110 – after 1154), also called Hermanus Dalmata or Sclavus Dalmata, Secundus, by his own words born in the "heart of Istria", was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and translator of Arabic works int ...
from 1143. This survives in one manuscript of the twelfth century and in many of the thirteen and fourteenth. It provides indirect testimony of an early Arabic version. The Latin translation, entitled ''Liber de doctrina Mahumet'', was commissioned by Abbot
Peter the Venerable Peter the Venerable ( – 25 December 1156), also known as Peter of Montboissier, was the abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny. He has been honored as a saint though he was never canonized in the Middle Ages. Since in 1862 Pope Pius IX co ...
as part of a body of Islamic translations for Christian scholars, the
Corpus Cluniacense The ''Corpus Cluniacense'' or ''Corpus Islamolatinum'', sometimes erroneously the ''Corpus Toledanum'', is a collection of Latin writings about Islam compiled in 1142–1143. At its centre are translations from Arabic of five Islamic literature, ...
, which also includes a Latin translation of the Qurʾān. The Latin version was first printed as part of the Corpus in 1543. It was later translated into
Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...
(printed 1658),
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
(printed 1625),
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
(printed 1540),
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
and Portuguese. In a description of the
Moluccas The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...
based on the 1598 expedition of
Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck (often anglicized to Jacob Cornelius van Neck) (1564 – March 8, 1638) was a Dutch naval officer and explorer who led the Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia (1598-1600), second Dutch expedition to Indonesia from ...
and , the ''Liber de doctrina Mahumet'' is quoted to help make sense of Islamic customs. Thus, because of the Latin edition, Christians from the North Sea and Muslims from the Banda Sea could make use of the same text for a basic understanding of Islam in the early modern period.


Eastern tradition

In South India, the Arabic ''Masāʾil'' was translated into Persian by the sixteenth century. There are several additions found in the Persian text. It was in Persian that it first became known as the ''Book of One Thousand Questions'' and also as the ''Book of Twenty-Eight Questions''. It was translated into
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
under the titles ''Hazār Masʾala'' (One Thousand Questions) and ''ʿAqāʾida Nāma'' and was popular in the nineteenth century. There is also a
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
version, ''Āyira Macalā'', that was translated by Vaṇṇapparimaḷappulavar and published in a ceremony at the court of the
Madurai Nayaks The Madurai Nayakas were a Telugu dynasty * * * * * who ruled most of modern-day Tamil Nadu, India, with Madurai as their capital. The Madurai Nayaks had their origins in the Balija warrior clans of present-day Andhra Pradesh. * * * * * * ...
in 1572. It was based on a Persian version and is the earliest Muslim work in Tamil that survives complete. In the Indonesian archipelago, the ''Masāʾil'' was translated into Buginese, Javanese, Malay and Sundanese. The Arabic ''Masāʾil'' seems to have reached
Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
by 1711. It was translated into Javanese by the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, probably from Arabic. Its Javanese title is ''Samud''. Like some later Arabic versions, it gives the number of questions as 1,404. The Malay version, on the other hand, was translated from Persian. It is known from over thirty manuscripts and goes by variations of the title ''Seribu Masala'' ('thousand questions').
François Valentyn François Valentyn or Valentijn (17 April 1666 – 6 August 1727) was a Dutch Calvinist minister, naturalist and author whose ''Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën'' ("Old and New East-India") describes the history of the Dutch East India Company while als ...
saw a copy on Ambon in 1726.


Reception

In western Europe, it was seen "as a supplement to, or commentary on, the Qurʾān". It was commonly regarded as an authoritative text second only to the Qurʾān. Although the work was widely copied and quoted in Arabic, it was never a highly regarded text among Islamic theologians. In twentieth-century India, the reformer
Ashraf Ali Thanwi Ashraf Ali Thanwi (often referred as Hakimul Ummat and Mujaddidul Millat; 19 August 1863 – 20 July 1943) was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar, jurist, thinker, reformist and a revivor of classical Sufi in the Indian subcontinent during the Briti ...
advised against reading it. Nevertheless, it "came to be regarded as a catechism of Islamic belief" among Muslims in insular southeast Asia. Steven Wasserstrom labelled it "a popular mini-encyclopedia of Islamic cosmology and doxology". The Latin translation was influential in Europe. It was used as a source on Islam by Alfonso de Espina,
Nicolas of Cusa Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic bishop and polymath active as a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first Germ ...
, Dionysius the Carthusian,
Ludovico Marracci Ludovico Marracci (6 October 1612 – 5 February 1700), also known by Luigi Marracci, was an Italian Oriental scholar and professor of Arabic in the College of Wisdom at Rome. He is chiefly known as the publisher and editor of Quran of Muhammad ...
and the author of the '' Theophrastus redivivus''. Today, the ''Masāʾil'' is sometimes treated as an example of
world literature World literature is used to refer to the world's total national literature and the circulation of works into the wider world beyond their country of origin. In the past, it primarily referred to the masterpieces of Western European literature. ...
., citing .


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend 10th-century Arabic-language books Islamic texts