ABSTRACT
In the early period of Islamic rule, the borderlines between Middle Eastern Christian and Muslim communities remained porous, and ideas were 'smuggled' quite freely across them. Influences and borrowings were happening both spontaneously – as Christians converting to Islam were inadvertently importing aspects of their heritage – and deliberately, through collaboration and discussion between Muslim and Christian scholars. This chapter discusses the Islamic influences on Christianity both inside and outside the Middle East. The Qur'an indicates that the coming of a new prophet was foretold in earlier scriptures – the Torah and the Gospel – and proclaimed by Jesus. Ibn Ishaq may have been the first to add specifics and argue that Muhammad was the Paraclete predicted by Jesus in the Gospel of John. Among the Christian authors of Late Antiquity, John Philoponus was the only one to influence Arabic/Islamic philosophy significantly.
