DEFINING A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE IN THE ISLAMIC CONTEXT: THE CONCEPT OF GRATITUDE IN ELIAS OF NISIBIS' KITAB DAF AL-HAMM

Abstract

The eleventh-century Nestorian cleric Elias of Nisibis' (d. 1046) Kitab daf al-hamm (The Book of Elimination of Grief) provides a strategy for readers to deal with unwanted sorrow and help them to attain moral perfection. This article focuses on an unstudied part of Daf al-hamm, the virtue of gratitude, which constitutes the second chapter of the book. Analyzing the content, structure, and language, this article intends to determine how gratitude is defined and promoted in the text and the ways in which the author engaged with the surrounding Islamic culture. Throughout the chapter, Elias employs traditional Islamic material, from Sufi sources to hadith quotations, to encourage his Christian audience to attain gratitude. This implies a high level of integration of the author and his Christian readers in the surrounding Islamic culture.