Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī and his transmission of biblical materials from Kitāb al-dīn wa-al-dawla by Ibn Rabban al-Ṭabarī: The evidence from Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s Mafātīḥ al-ghayb

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.