Comparative Theology (Mar 2015)
A look at Refutations of Christianity in Azarbayjan Region
Abstract
The phenomenon of writing refutation against the two religions of Islam and Christianity has a history as long as the time when they first fought against each other. In recent years, the companionship of Christian missioners with colonialism and their increasing preaching activities, have caused the Muslim scholars to reflect strongly against them. This phenomenon has had a special manifest in Iran since Qajar dynasty (150 years ago) and led to the creation of many works written by Muslim theologians against missionary activities of Christianity. From among different Iranian regions where such works were emerged, Azarbayjan can be specifically named as an active area in which the writing of refuting works was more common than other areas in Iran. Azarbayjan in its current situation is an area including a vast region of north-western part of Iran and the countries of Azerbaijan and Armenia. In this article the biography and the works of some Muslim scholars who were active against Christianity such as Muḥammd Ṣādiq Fakhr al-Islām, Ḥāj MῙrzā Najaf'alῙ Dānish TabrῙzῙ, Yūsuf Mujtahid TabrῙzῙ, Ghulāmḥuseyn TūtūnchῙ Ṣarāf TabrῙzῙ, Ḥuseyn ḤuseinῙ famous as RūmῙ MiyānduābῙ, IsmāῙl QaribāghῙ, Sayyed Ḥuseyn 'Arab BāghῙ and 'AlῙ Isḥāq KhūῙ, have been introduced. A total of 14 works written by these 8 scholars have been introduced in this article. It should be noticed that the creation of such works in this region did not occur in a vacuum, rather various elements and factors were involved to reach such status which will be mentioned in the following: - Christian Missioners from the Safavid Dynasty extensively had an offensive approach toward Islam due to the strategy of the Safavid-West :::::::::union::::::::: against Ottoman Government. This was highlighted during the time of Qajar because of great importance of Iran in international politics at that time. This led to the activity of the Preaching Association of Church, Mission Basel and American Missionaries in Azarbayjan area. - The geographical location of this area which is located in the northwest of Iranian western border has always been the confluence of different religions and culture. From the perspective of religion, because of its closeness to European and Christian countries and due to the arrival of the first missioners at this area, the first Muslim resistance occurred here. - The presence of the prominent figure like Muḥammd Ṣādiq Fakhr al-Islām in the area has had its own influence. He as a new convert to Islam and after leaving Christianity as his previous religion wrote a book in refuting of Christianity and had several debates with Christian priests. Other Muslim scholars who had close relation with him and were familiar with his woks started writing other refuting works. Therefore, it can be said that Muḥammd Ṣādiq Fakhr al-Islām had a great function in stimulating Muslim scholars to do this movement. - The support of the Iranian government at the time for the creation of such works was another reason for the emergence of this movement. For instance, Nāṣir al-DῙn Shāh was the one who gave the title of Fakhr al-Islām (The Pride of Islam) to him and he wrote the book "AnῙs al-Islām" with his order. The Iranian city of Tabriz can be counted as a pioneer city in many issues. The publication industry was first introduced in this city which was another cause for the thriving of writing and publishing books against Christianity in this area. - The writing of the book "MῙzān al-Ḥaq" by Carl Funder (1803-1865) the Protestant Missioner and his missionary activities in this area, led to the emergence of a wave of refuting works against Christianity in Azarbayjan and other Islamic countries. Some books were directly aimed at refuting this book. As a result, the scholars of Azarbayjan, were influential in writing against Christianity and the missionary activities and a lot of works were created by them. Such activities indicate how intellectual and insightful the scholars of this origin were, and how bravely they resisted against the Christian missioners and made the Muslims of the area informed against the dangers of such activities. The peak of this movement in writing the refuting works was during the first decades of this period. As the Christian missioners increased their activities and wrote books against Islam, Muslim scholars reacted and created the verbal and written works in return. And when the activities of the Christian decreased the Muslim reaction was to limit their activities as well. This clearly indicates the offensive and defensive nature of Islam.
