Islam in the Byzantine Perception in the Eighth Century A.D.: John of Damascus as a Paradigm

Accordingly, this research aims to identify points of difference and points of attraction between the Byzantines and the Muslim Arabs in the light of the religious beliefs of both groups. This paper also seeks to shed light on the Islamic philosophical currents that appeared in the Umayyad Caliphate until the era of John of Damascus and left clear echoes in the folds of his theological works. Finally, the importance of this study lies on the fact that it is the first one in the Arabic bibliography to provide an honest translation of the attached Byzantine text as written by John of Damascus based on the last verified edition and its philological commentaries that help in understanding and deconstructing the text.

That will help the researchers to explore the theological problems that John considered the basis of the polemic conflict between Orthodoxy and Islam in his time. These are the “same problematic issues” that were transmitted after him by all the Christian writers in the East and the West, who touched on Islam and wrote about it.