LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

50 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XV
Bibliander charged, and from it the Turks continued to extend this detestable
faith into the rest of the world. 39
After the printing of the Consultation, Bibliander, in conjunction with his
friend and publisher Johannes Oporinus (from Basel), began to collate a
mass of texts on Islam, which the former had been collecting for over a
decade. Included in the collection was a newly edited Latin translation of the
Qur’ân. 40 When news of this spread, the city council members thought that it
might be a cause for concern. So they tried to put a stop to its publication. 41
When Oporinus ignored their order to put the presses on hold he was
incarcerated, but not to long afterwards he, with the help of Bibliander, was
able to enlist the support of several prominent Protestant reformers, which
included Luther, Martin Bucer, and others. 42 The council of Basel argued
that the Qur’ân only belonged in libraries where learned scholars could refer
to it if necessary. And if the general public was exposed to its false
teachings, they argued that a general apostasy might take place (as was
rumoured to be happening amongst Christians under Ottoman rule). Luther,
Bucer, and others argued that every Christian should be aware of the religion
of the Turks, and that by making the Qur’ân available the “abomination of
Mohammed” would be exposed once and for all. 43 Luther also mentioned
that he would have his publisher in Wittenberg take up the task if Basel
would not permit it to continue. Upon receiving Luther’s letter the council
reversed their decision and the Qur’ân was published by January 1543.
Although its publication was an immensely important contribution to the
understanding of Islam during the Reformation Era, the accompanying
works included in the same volume were equally as important amounting to,
as noted earlier, a sort of “Encyclopédie de l’Islam”. 44
39 Bibliander, Consultatio, 14rff. Cf. with the work of Heinrich Knaust: Von geringem
herkommen schentlichern leben schmehlichem ende des Türkischen abgots Machomets und
seiner verdamlichen und Gotsslesterischen Ler allen fromen Christen zu disen geferlichen
Zeiten zur Sterckung unnd trost im glauben an Jesum Christum (Berlin: Weisen, 1542). This
work is almost entirely a biography of Muhammad (similar to Bibliander’s).
40 See Bobzin, Der Koran, 170-236; also see his “Über Theodor Biblianders Koranausgabe
im Jahr 1543”, Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Alterskunde 85 (1985): 213-319.
41 The events that transpired surrounding the publication of the Qur’ân are adequately
described in Harry Clark, “The Publication of the Koran in Latin: A Reformation Dilemma”,
Sixteenth Century Journal 15.1 (1984): 3-12. For further details see Bobzin, Der Koran, 181-
209.
42 Karl R. Hagenbach has collected the relevant letters as well as the judgements of the
council (see “Luther an der Koran vor dem Rathe zu Basel”, in Beiträge Väterlandische
Geschichte, 293-326). According to Jan Slomp, Calvin was also contacted but apparently did
not respond. This, he thinks, may suggest that Calvin supported the censoring (“Calvin and
the Turks”, in Christian-Muslim Encounters, ed. Haddad [Florida: University of Florida
Press, 1995], 135).
43 “Luther an den Rat zu Basel”, WABr 10:162.
44 See note 1.