| When Christians First Met Muslims: A Sourcebook of the Earliest Syriac Writings on Islam Subjects: Islam -- Early works to 1800; Christianity and other religions -- Islam -- History -- To 1500 -- Sources; Islam -- Relations -- Christianity -- History -- To 1500 -- Sources; Syriac Christians -- History -- To 1500 -- Sources; The first Christians to meet Muslims were not Latin-speaking Christians from the western Mediterranean or Greek-speaking Christians from Constantinople but rather Christians from northern Mesopotamia who spoke the Aramaic dialect of Syriac. Living under Muslim rule from the seventh century to the present, Syriac Christians wrote the first and most extensive accounts of Islam, describing a complicated set of religious and cultural exchanges not reducible to the solely antagonistic. Penn Michael Philip : Michael Philip Penn is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Religion at Mount Holyoke College and the author of Envisioning Islam: Syriac Christians in the Early Muslim World and Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church . |