Apology of al-Kindy is a book written by the Arab Christian Al Kindi and translated in the nineteenth Century by Sir William Muir.
Introduction
In 1880, some Arabic Epistles were published in London, depicting an alleged conversation between a Muslim and a Christian in the reign of the caliph al-Ma'mun (813-833 ). Sir William Muir edited it into a book and gave it a preface. The book was named Apology of al-Kindy.
According to the Arabic Epistles, a Caliph is said to have had a cousin, given the alias "Abd-Allah ibn Ismail al-Hashimy" (English: Obadiah (or Amadeus), son of Ishmael, from the Hashim clan)
Al-Hashimy is described as living in Caliphs castle and been well versed in Christian theology. He is also described as having a close and trusted Christian friend, given the alias Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (English: servant of Messiah, son of Isaac, from the Kinda clan).
In his preface, William Muir identifies the caliph as Al-Ma'mun, however, the name occurs nowhere in the Epistles themselves [1].
Abd-Allah is described to have invited al-Kindī to Islam, al-Kindī in turn turned down the invitation and invited his Muslim friend to Christianity. About six-sevenths of the volume of the Arabic Epistles occupies the Christian's answer.
Controversy
The book makes clear that the Christian Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi is not the Muslim philosopher Abu Yûsuf ibn Ishâc al-Kindī who also flourished at the Court of Ma'mûn and his successor [2].
According to the book, both persons names are keept secret to secure their safety [3]. William Muir defends the Epistles against allegations of being a pious fraud with the view of gaining for it greater celebrity and weight. William Muir says in th preface:
- It is difficult to conceive how such plain-speaking was tolerated even at the court of Al Ma'mûn; at any other, the Apology would have had small chance of seeing the light, or the writer of escaping with his head upon his shoulders. That the work did (as we know) gain currency can only have been due to its appearance at this particular era. [4]
Georg Graf and other recent European scholars believe the exchange of letters are fraudulent, written a century or more after the proposed date.
Non-Muslim critiques argue that the Al-Hashimy's letter only briefly mentions the Qur'anic criticisms of the doctrines of the Trinity and incarnation, as well as the worship of the cross, and it contains a virtually complete list of the books of the Bible. Since it is unlikely that any Muslim in the early ninth century would have had such a list, they argue that it may well be that this letter also was written by the Christian author.