Al-radd Al-jamil- a Fitting Refutation of the Divinity of Jesus: Attributed to Abu ?amid Al-ghazali

al-Radd al-jamīl attributed to al-Ghazālī (d. 1111) is the most extensive and detailed refutation of the divinity of Jesus by a Muslim author in the classical period of Islam. Since the discovery of the manuscript in the 1930’s scholars have debated whether the great Muslim theologian al-Ghazālī was really the author.

This is a new critical edition of the Arabic text and the first complete English translation. The introduction situates this work in the history of Muslim anti-Christian polemical writing. Mark Beaumont and Maha El Kaisy-Friemuth argue that this refutation comes from an admirer of al-Ghazālī who sought to advance some of his key ideas for an Egyptian audience.

Mark Beaumont, Ph.D. (2003), Open University UK, is Research Associate at London School of Theology. He has published articles on Christian-Muslim relations, especially on theological concerns, and a monograph, Christology in Dialogue with Muslims (Regnum: 2005).
Maha El Kaisy-Friemuth, Ph.D. (2002), Birmingham University UK, is Professor in Islamic Studies at Erlangen-Nürnberg University, Germany. Her most recent monograph is The Afterlife of the Platonic Soul: Reflection on Platonic Psychology in the Monotheistic Religions (Brill:2009).