ABSTRACT
In the early eighth century a high Arab functionary belonging to the notables in the entourage of the emir Maslama stayed for ten days in the monastery of Bet Hale in Iraq to recover from an illness. During his stay there the Arab notable came to be on familiar terms with a monk of the same monastery, and both men fell into a lively conversation on the Christian Scriptures and the Qur'an. One of the topics which came up for discussion was the biblical narrative Gen 22: the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. The form and function of this story in the discussion between the Arab and the monk are the subject of the present paper; but first of all a few introductory remarks need to be made on the author, date, milieu and the genre of the work which preserves the account of this discussion.
