Testimony #5: A Monk of Beth Hale and an Arab Notable

Date post-717.)

“This Arab man then, O my lord, was one of the chief men before the emir Maslama and by reason of a malady which he had, he came to us and remained with us for ten days. He spoke freely with us and debated much about our scriptures and their Quran (quran). When he saw our rites performed at the appropriate seven times, in accordance with what the blessed David said: “Seven times a day I praise you for your judgments, O righteous one,” he called me to him. And because he had acted as steward in the government for a long time and because of his exaltedness and our lowliness, he would speak with us via an interpreter. He began by reproving us for our faith, saying: “You make prayers much, night and day you are not silent, and you outdo us in prayer and fasting and in your petitions to God. However, in my own opinion, your faith rules out that your prayers will be accepted.” (Monk of Beth Hale, Disputation, fol. 1a [p. 466])

[From the book (pp. 470-472):]

“…. In his account of Muhammad’s initiation of the Arabs into monotheism the monk says that “he {Muhammad} first brought you {the Arabs} to know the one true God, a doctrine which he had received from Sargis {Sergius} Bahira.”

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