20

they have handed down to us. And some of them say that we, having allegorized the prophets, have added such things, while others say that the Hebrews, hating us, have deceived us, writing as if from the prophets, so that we might be destroyed. Again we say to them: Since you say that the Christ is the word of God and spirit, how do you revile us as associators? For the word and the spirit are inseparable from that in which it naturally is; if therefore it is in God as His word, it is clear that it is also God. But if it is outside of God, according to you God is without a word and without a spirit. Therefore, fleeing from associating a companion with God, you have mutilated him. For it were better for you to say that he has a companion, than to mutilate him and introduce him as a stone or a piece of wood or some other inanimate thing. So you, lying, call us associators; but we address you as mutilators of God. And they slander us as idolaters for venerating the cross, which they also abominate. And we say to them: How then do you rub yourselves against a stone at your Chabar and love the stone, kissing it? And some of them say that upon it Abraham had intercourse with Hagar, while others say that he tied the camel to it when he was about to sacrifice Isaac. And we answer them: Since the scripture says that there was a wooded mountain and wood, from which Abraham, having split it for the burnt offering, laid it upon Isaac, and that he left the donkeys behind with the young men. From where, then, do you get this nonsense? For there are no wooded trees there, nor do donkeys pass through. They are ashamed, yet they say it is the stone of Abraham. Then we say: Let it be Abraham's, as you nonsensically claim; kissing this, then, because Abraham only had intercourse with a woman upon it or because he tied the camel to it, are you not ashamed, but you rebuke us, because we venerate the cross of Christ, through which the power of demons and the deceit of the devil has been destroyed. But this, which they say is a stone, is the head of Aphrodite, which they used to worship, which indeed they called Chabar, on which even to this day a shadow of a carving appears to those who examine it closely. This Mamed, as has been said, having composed many nonsensical tales, gave to each of them a title, for example, the writing "of the woman," and in it he legislates to openly take four wives and concubines, if he can, a thousand, as many as his hand might possess, who are subject to the four wives. And whomsoever he may wish to divorce, whomsoever he should choose, and to take another, having legislated from such a cause. Mamed had a companion named Zeid. This man had a beautiful wife, with whom Mamed fell in love. As they were sitting together, therefore, Mamed said: "So-and-so, God has commanded me to take your wife." But he replied: "You are an apostle; do as God has told you; take my wife." Or rather, to tell it from the beginning, he said to him: "God has commanded me that you should divorce your wife." And he divorced her. And after some days he says: "God has commanded that I too should take her." Then, having taken and committed adultery with her, he established such a law: "Whoever wishes, let him divorce his wife. But if after the divorce he should return to her, let another marry her. For it is not permitted to take her, unless she has been married by another. And if a brother divorces, let his brother who wishes marry her." In the same writing he gives such commands: "Work the land which God has given you, and make it beautiful, and do this and that," so that I do not say all the shameful things as he does. Again, the writing of the camel of God, about which he says that there was a camel from God and it drank the whole river and could not pass between two mountains because it could not fit. There was a people, therefore, he says, in that place, and on one day they themselves drank the water, and on the next day the camel. And drinking the water, she nourished them, providing milk instead of water. Those men, therefore, he says, being wicked, rose up and killed the

20

παρέδωκαν ἡμῖν. Καί τινες μὲν αὐτῶν φασιν, ὅτι ἡμεῖς τοὺς προφήτας ἀλληγορήσαντες τοιαῦτα προστεθείκαμεν, ἄλλοι δέ φασιν, ὅτι οἱ Ἑβραῖοι μισοῦντες ἡμᾶς ἐπλάνησαν ὡς ἀπὸ τῶν προφητῶν γράψαντες, ἵνα ἡμεῖς ἀπολώμεθα. Πάλιν δέ φαμεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Ὑμῶν λεγόντων, ὅτι ὁ Χριστὸς λόγος ἐστὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πνεῦμα, πῶς λοιδορεῖτε ἡμᾶς ὡς ἑταιριαστάς; Ὁ γὰρ λόγος καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ἀχώριστόν ἐστι τοῦ ἐν ᾧ πέφυκεν· εἰ οὖν ἐν τῷ θεῷ ἐστιν ὡς λόγος αὐτοῦ, δῆλον, ὅτι καὶ θεός ἐστιν. Εἰ δὲ ἐκτός ἐστι τοῦ θεοῦ, ἄλογός ἐστι καθ' ὑμᾶς ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἄπνους. Οὐκοῦν φεύγοντες ἑταιριάζειν τὸν θεὸν ἐκόψατε αὐτόν. Κρεῖσσον γὰρ ἦν λέγειν ὑμᾶς, ὅτι ἑταῖρον ἔχει, ἢ κόπτειν αὐτὸν καὶ ὡς λίθον ἢ ξύλον ἤ τι τῶν ἀναισθήτων παρεισ άγειν. Ὥστε ὑμεῖς μὲν ἡμᾶς ψευδηγοροῦντες ἑταιριαστὰς καλεῖτε· ἡμεῖς δὲ κόπτας ὑμᾶς προσαγορεύομεν τοῦ θεοῦ. ∆ιαβάλλουσι δὲ ἡμᾶς ὡς εἰδωλολάτρας προσκυνοῦντας τὸν σταυρόν, ὃν καὶ βδελύττονται. Καί φαμεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Πῶς οὖν ὑμεῖς λίθῳ προστρίβεσθε κατὰ τὸν Χαβαθὰν ὑμῶν καὶ φιλεῖτε τὸν λίθον ἀσπαζόμενοι; Καί τινες αὐτῶν φασιν, ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ συνουσιάσαι τῇ Ἄγαρ, ἄλλοι δέ, ὅτι ἐπ' αὐτὸν προσέδησε τὴν κάμηλον μέλλων θύειν τὸν Ἰσαάκ. Καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀποκρινόμεθα· Τῆς γραφῆς λεγούσης, ὅτι ὄρος ἦν ἀλσῶδες καὶ ξύλα, ἀφ' ὧν καὶ εἰς τὴν ὁλοκάρπωσιν σχίσας ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπέθηκε τῷ Ἰσαάκ, καὶ ὅτι μετὰ τῶν παίδων τὰς ὄνους κατέλιπεν. Πόθεν οὖν ὑμῖν τὸ ληρεῖν; Οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖσε ξύλα δρυμώδη κεῖται οὔτε ὄνοι διοδεύουσιν. Αἰδοῦνται μέν, ὅμως φασὶν εἶναι τὸν λίθον τοῦ Ἀβραάμ. Εἶτά φαμεν· Ἔστω τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, ὡς ὑμεῖς ληρεῖτε· τοῦτον οὖν ἀσπαζόμενοι, ὅτι μόνον ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπ' αὐτὸν συνουσίασε γυναικὶ ἢ ὅτι τὴν κάμηλον προσέδησεν, οὐκ αἰδεῖσθε, ἀλλ' ἡμᾶς εὐθύνετε, ὅτι τὸν σταυρὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσκυνοῦμεν, δι' οὗ δαιμόνων ἰσχὺς καὶ διαβόλου καταλέλυται πλάνη. Οὗτος δέ, ὅν φασι λίθον, κεφαλὴ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἐστίν, ᾗ προσεκύνουν, ἣν δὴ καὶ Χαβὰρ προσηγόρευον, ἐφ' ὃν καὶ μέχρι νῦν ἐγγλυφίδος ἀποσκίασμα τοῖς ἀκριβῶς κατανοοῦσι φαίνεται. Οὗτος ὁ Μάμεδ πολλάς, ὡς εἴρηται, ληρωδίας συντάξας ἑκάστῃ τούτων προσηγορίαν ἐπέθηκεν, οἷον ἡ γραφὴ «τῆς γυναικὸς» καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τέσσαρας γυναῖκας προφανῶς λαμβάνειν νομοθετεῖ καὶ παλλακάς, ἐὰν δύνηται, χιλίας, ὅσας ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ κατάσχῃ ὑποκειμένας ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων γυναικῶν. Ἣν δ' ἂν βουληθῇ ἀπολύειν, ἣν ἐθελήσειε, καὶ κομίζεσθαι ἄλλην, ἐκ τοιαύτης αἰτίας νομοθετήσας. Σύμπονον ἔσχεν ὁ Μάμεδ Ζεῒδ προσαγορευόμενον. Οὗτος γυναῖκα ὡραίαν ἔσχεν, ἧς ἠράσθη ὁ Μάμεδ. Καθημένων οὖν αὐτῶν φησιν ὁ Μάμεδ· Ὁ δεῖνα, ὁ θεὸς ἐνετείλατό μοι τὴν γυναῖκά σου λαβεῖν. Ὁ δὲ ἀπεκρίθη· Ἀπόστολος εἶ· ποίησον, ὥς σοι ὁ θεὸς εἶπε· λάβε τὴν γυναῖκά μου. Μᾶλλον δέ, ἵνα ἄνωθεν εἴπωμεν, ἔφη πρὸς αὐτόν· Ὁ θεὸς ἐνετείλατό μοι, ἵνα ἀπολύσῃς τὴν γυναῖκά σου. Ὁ δὲ ἀπέλυσε. Καὶ μεθ' ἡμέρας ἄλλας φησίν· Ἵνα κἀγὼ αὐτὴν λάβω, ἐνετείλατο ὁ θεός. Εἶτα λαβὼν καὶ μοιχεύσας αὐτὴν τοιοῦτον ἔθηκε νόμον· Ὁ βουλόμενος ἀπολυέτω τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ. Ἐὰν δὲ μετὰ τὸ ἀπολῦσαι ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἀναστρέψῃ, γαμείτω αὐτὴν ἄλλος. Οὐ γὰρ ἔξεστι λαβεῖν αὐτήν, εἰ μὴ γαμηθῇ ὑφ' ἑτέρου. Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ἀδελφὸς ἀπολύσῃ, γαμείτω αὐτὴν ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ βουλόμενος. Ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ γραφῇ τοιαῦτα παραγγέλλει· Ἔργασαι τὴν γῆν, ἣν ἔδωκέ σοι ὁ θεός, καὶ φιλοκάλησον αὐτήν, καὶ τόδε ποίησον καὶ τοιῶσδε, ἵνα μὴ πάντα λέγω ὡς ἐκεῖνος αἰσχρά. Πάλιν γραφὴ τῆς καμήλου τοῦ θεοῦ, περὶ ἧς λέγει, ὅτι ἦν κάμηλος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἔπινεν ὅλον τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ οὐ διήρχετο μεταξὺ δύο ὀρέων διὰ τὸ μὴ χωρεῖσθαι. Λαὸς οὖν, φησίν, ἦν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, καὶ τὴν μὲν μίαν ἡμέραν αὐτὸς ἔπινε τὸ ὕδωρ, ἡ δὲ κάμηλος τῇ ἑξῆς. Πίνουσα δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ ἔτρεφεν αὐτοὺς τὸ γάλα παρεχομένη ἀντὶ τοῦ ὕδατος. Ἀνέστησαν οὖν οἱ ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι, φησί, πονηροὶ ὄντες καὶ ἀπέκτειναν τὴν