The authenticity of the Kitāb al-dīn wa-al-dawla by the Nestorian convert to Islam, Abū al-asan ʿAlī b. Sahl Rabban al-abarī (d. ca. 251/865), has been discussed since the publication of the text by A. Mingana in 1922 Mingana, A. (1922) The Book of Religion and Empire. A Semi-Official Defence and Exposition of Islam Written by Order at the Court and with the Assistance of the Caliph Mutawakkil (A.D. 847–861) by ʿAlī abarī. Translated with a critical apparatus from an apparently unique MS. in the John Rylands Library (Manchester/New York). [Google Scholar]/23. A comparison between the chapter of the Twelver Shīʿī Sadīd al-Dīn Mamūd b. ʿAlī al-immaī al-Rāzī's (d. after 600/1204) Munqidh min al-taqlīd discussing the biblical predictions of the Prophet Muammad and the corresponding sections of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī's (d. 606/1209) Mafāti al-ghayb reveals a substantial degree of verbal and structural agreement. It becomes evident that Fakhr al-Dīn, like al-immaī, are using material from Ibn Rabban's Al-dīn wa-al-dawla, although they were both relying on an intermediate source, Abū al-usayn al-Barī's (d. 436/1045) Kitāb ghurar al-adilla.

The article explores early and proto-Renaissance art, which followed the Black Death (1347 to 1353), an event that disrupted and transformed the political and artistic development of Italy. Several artists and their works are discussed including Lorenzo Ghiberti, Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti. The author suggests this artistic renaissance may be a way of uplifting the narrative of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the 2020 artwork "After the Plague Came the Renaissance," by Corie Mattie.