Ibn Kamm^una, in his _Examination of the Three Faiths_ (a Jewish writer and thinker
in Baghdad c 1280, writing a comparison of the 3 "monotheistic" faiths in Arabic),
makes the argument that:
Furthermore, God is too exalted to be described as having dwelled in the
uncleanness of the menstruating womb and in the confinement of the belly and
darkness; or that bodily eyes looked at Him; or that He was affected by
slumber or sleep; or that He excremented in his clothes and urinated in his
bed; or that He wept or laughed; or that He was helpless against what He did
not want; or that He was lost in thought, imprisoned, overcome with fear and
desirous of human possession; or that He fled. God is too exalted for it to be
said that He ate, drank, and behaved like earthly humans; or that He could not
assert Himself while ruling the world until He descended upon earth to guide
men and save them from Satan; or that He came to purify men of their sins and
to guide them from going astray; or that the Jews maltreated, tortured,
crucified, and humiliated Him; or that He spent three days in His grave.
[trans. M. Perlmann in _Ibn Kammun'as Examination of the Three Faiths: A
Thirteenth-Century Essay in the Comparative Study of Religion_ (Berkeley, 1971).]
Karen Jolly
History
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
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