The Miʿrāǧ of Muḥammad According to Baldassarre Loyola Mandes S.J. (1631-1667). Sources, Controversy and Christianization of an Islamic Tradition (original) (raw)

The article deals with an unknown Latin version of the miʿrāǧ the author has discovered in the Archive of the Pontifical Gregorian University within a booklet written by Baldassarre Loyola Mandes S.J. (1631-1667), a Moroccan Muslim prince converted to Christianity who then joined the Society of Jesus. The aim of the article will be to demonstrate how this Latin miʿrāǧ relied on an Arabic source related to the ḥadīṯ literature. As a method for reaching our aim, we will make a comparative study of the sources of which Baldassare may have had knowledge. We will further show the way Baldassarre tried not only to polemicize with the Islamic tradition, but also the strategies he used for Christianizing it.