Mapping the Semantics of dīn (‘Religion’) in 9th Century Arabic Christian Controversy

The term dīn has always played a fundamental role in the Christian–Muslim controversy, which, especially in its first phase (8–12th centuries), was revolving around the “true religion” and the belief in the Trinity.  The etymology of the term and the contents of its notion in a pre-Islamic and Islamic sense have been elaborated on by several scholars, however, the Arabic-Christian counterpart is understudied. This paper seeks to examine in what contexts and with what meaning the term is used, identify similarities and differences between Christian and Islamic usage; and reflect on the shaping of the notion of “religion” in the Islamo-Christian religious milieu. The following Arabic Christian sources are analysed from this point of view: the Melkite Theodore Abū Qurra’s (d. probably after 816) Maymar fī wuǧūd al-ḫāliq wa-d-dīn al-qawīm, the Jacobite Ḥabīb ibn Ḫidma Abū Rāʾiṭa’s (d. ca. 830) Risāla fī iṯbāt dīn an-naṣrāniyya wa-iṯbāt aṯ-ṯālūṯ al-muqaddas, and the Nestorian ʿAmmār al-Baṣrī’s (d. ca. 840 AD) Kitāb al-Masāʾil wa-l-aǧwiba.