reynolds-the-quran-in-its-historical-context-2

306 Sidney GriffithIt is precisely this matter of the hermeneutical presuppositions assumed inprocess oflooking for earlier Jewish, Jewish Christian or Christian influencesthe formulation oflslam and on the language and vocabulary of the Qur'anthe concern of the present chapter, particularly in connection with theuse of the term al-na~iirii generally to designate Christians. But there is onepiece of lexical information to consider before we get to the heart of theand this time it comes from an Arabic text, composed well after the rise ofIn his work on the History of the Councils, the Coptic writer, Sawirusal-Muqaffa', who flourished in Egypt in the second half of the tenthwrote of the traditional reports available to him of the conversion of theConstantine I (d.337) to Christianity. Sawirus reports of Constantine:One night as he was standing by, he saw a cross in the heavens, andwere hovering about it. He became wary and alarmed. His att