Glossary
Arabic, Greek and theological terms you will meet in this discussion.
Ahl al-Kitab أهل الكتاب
People of the Book — in the Quran, chiefly Jews and Christians, who received earlier scripture and are addressed in Surah 5:68 and elsewhere.
Codex
A bound book with pages, as opposed to a scroll. Christians adopted it strikingly early, which is one reason so much second- and third-century Christian material survives.
Dawah دعوة
The invitation to Islam. A da'i is someone who does it; "dawah worker" describes the trained, organised form of it.
Hadith حديث
A report of what Muhammad said, did or approved. Collected, graded for reliability and compiled in the ninth century; Sunnah.com hosts the major collections in English.
Harakat حركات
The short vowel marks written above and below Arabic letters. Absent from the earliest Quranic manuscripts, which is why one skeleton can support several readings.
Hen ἕν
Greek for "one" in the neuter — one thing, not one person. The word Jesus uses in John 10:30, which is why the charge that follows is blasphemy.
I'jam إعجام
The dots that distinguish Arabic letters sharing a shape (ب ت ث ن ي). Often omitted in early manuscripts.
Injil إنجيل
The Gospel, as named in the Quran. Whether it refers to a book given to Jesus or to what Christians possessed is the central dispute of this site.
Isa عيسى
The Quranic name for Jesus. Its relationship to the Syriac Yeshu' and Hebrew Yeshua has been much discussed; the Arabic-speaking Christian name is Yasu'.
Isnad إسناد
The chain of transmitters attached to a hadith or a Quranic reading, used to assess its reliability.
Kalimat Allah كلمة الله
The word or words of God. Used of Jesus in Surah 4:171, and of God's unchangeable speech in Surah 6:115. Which sense applies where is disputed.
Logos λόγος
Word, reason, principle. In John 1:1 the Logos is with God, is God, and becomes flesh — the passage that anchors the Christian claim about Jesus' identity.
Majuscule
The formal capital-letter Greek script of the earliest codices, written without spaces or punctuation. Also called uncial.
Muhaymin مهيمن
Guardian or criterion. Surah 5:48 calls the Quran muhaymin over what came before, a term used in several Muslim responses to the argument.
Nomina sacra nomina sacra
The abbreviation of sacred names in Greek Christian manuscripts — ΘΣ for God, ΙΣ for Jesus, ΚΣ for Lord — written with a line above. Universal from the second century, and evidence of a shared scribal convention across the churches.
Palimpsest
A manuscript whose original writing was scraped off and overwritten. The erased lower text can often be recovered — as with the Sana'a Quran manuscript.
Papyrology
The study of texts written on papyrus, including the dating of fragments by letter forms and physical evidence.
Peshitta
The standard Syriac Bible, in use across the Aramaic-speaking churches of the East from the fifth century and therefore in circulation near Arabia long before Islam.
Qira'at قراءات
The canonical recitations of the Quran. Ten readers, each with two transmitters, giving twenty transmissions in use. See the Qira'at page.
Rasm رسم
The bare consonantal skeleton of the Arabic text, without vowels or letter-distinguishing dots.
Riwaya رواية
A transmission of a reading, named for the student who passed it on: Hafs from 'Asim, Warsh from Nafi', and so forth.
Ruhullah روح الله
A spirit from God — a title given to Jesus in Surah 4:171.
Shirk شرك
Associating a partner with God: in Islam the gravest sin, and the one Surah 4:48 says will not be forgiven. It is why the claim of Jesus' deity carries so much weight in this conversation.
Tahrif تحريف
Alteration or distortion of scripture. Divided into tahrif al-lafz (of the wording) and tahrif al-ma'na (of the meaning) — a distinction that does much of the work in the Muslim responses.
Tawhid توحيد
The absolute oneness and indivisibility of God, the central doctrine of Islam and the ground of its objection to the Trinity.
Tawrat توراة
The Torah, as named in the Quran and affirmed as revelation given to Moses.
Textual criticism
The discipline of reconstructing an original text from surviving copies by comparing their differences. Applied to the New Testament, to the Quran, and to Homer alike.
Trilemma
Lewis's argument in Mere Christianity that a man saying what Jesus said is a lunatic, a liar or Lord — and that "great moral teacher" is not among the available options.
Trinity
The Christian doctrine that God is one being in three persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not three gods, and not one person in three costumes; both of those are ancient heresies with names.
Uthmanic recension
The standardised codex prepared under the third caliph Uthman, after which competing regional codices were ordered destroyed. Reported in Sahih al-Bukhari.
Zabur زبور
The Psalms, named in the Quran as revelation given to David.