BOOK REVIEW: In Defense of the Bible. A Critical Edition and an Introduction to al-Biqā‘īs Bible Treatise

There is a general perception in Western and indeed in mainstream Islamic circles that Muslims hardly exhibit any positive attitude towards the Bible and that their view of it is one of measured opprobrium that verges on outright rejection. The Mamluk savant, Ibrāhim b. „Umar b. Hasan al-Biqā„ī (809-885AH/1406-1480CE) wrote Al-aqwāl al-qawwāmah fī hukm al-naql min al-kutub al-qadīma (The Straightforward Statements concerning Quoting from Ancient Scriptures), henceforth Aqwāl, in order to confirm authoritatively the permissibility to the Muslims of using Biblical materials for religious and epistemic reasons. It is a critical edition of this work as introduced by Walid A. Saleh that is being reviewed here.