Who was Paul? Extracanonical Accounts RelSt 436 "Jewish Christian" (Arabic) Materials (S. Pines) R.Kraft `Abd al-Jabbar, Proofs, folia 73-74, summarized by Pines (pp. 26ff) [from The Jewish Christians of the Early Centuries of Christianity According to a New Source, ed. Shlomo Pines. Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 2.13 (Jerusalem: 1966)]: Paul = power-seeking Jew who attacked Christianity, then switched sides. Tells his followers to separate from Jews, associate with Jews' enemies. Vision on road to Damascus, Paul enveloped by darkness, addressed by God "the Lord" who asks why Paul persecutes disciples of God's son. Eyesight restored by the Jew Hayyim the Kohen. Paul tells Jews that he spent 14 days with God in heaven, received many injunctions and was told many shameful things about the Jews, which he refuses to relate. Jews take him as prisoner to the Romans, who learn he is a Roman and send him off to Constantinople [i.e. Rome, east!] where Paul stirs up animosity to Jews and becomes acquainted with the Queen. Paul opposes circumcision, permits eating pork, etc., prohibits polygamy and divorce. Preaches message of asceticism, practices magic and medicine. Jesus as miracle worker. Romans are spurred on to Titus' war against Jews, which increases Paul's popularity. Nero questions Paul, discovers that Jesus, the apostles, and Paul himself were circumcised; thus Paul preaches contrary to Jesus' religion. Paul is crucified horizontally, by request, rather than vertically as was Jesus. Ibn `Awn, Refutation (citing an earlier "Jewish" source), fol. 87aff [from Judaeo-Christian Materials in an Arabic Jewish Treatise, in the Proceedings of the Amer. Acad. for Jewish Research (1968?) 187-217]: "He claims that, because of their love of dominion and of their being complaisant with people and taking their property, Simon, James, Paul and the other apostles abrogated the Torah and selected the provision with regard to which they agreed that there should be change, thus circumcision, ablutions after an emission of semen and after menstruation, and praying when facing the east. ... For in their lust they agreed to abrogate that which was revealed by God to Moses and confirmed by Jesus in the Gospel. ... They directed themselves to the idolatrous nations who did not know either God's book or his commandments, and they inclined to make concessions and to make things easy for them." ... (fol. 100b-, summarized by Pines: Paul is described as a Jew who, after having persecuted the Christians after the death of Jesus, lusted for dominion and, having simulated blindness for several days, claimed that Jesus had appeared to him and through the instrumentality of Hananiya, and ordered that the commandments of the Torah be abrogated. The Christians believed that he was right, followed him, and in their opinion he is superior to the disciples of Jesus.) /end/