Title:

Fabulae Muhammedicae sive Nugae Alcorani, quae in eijusdem systemate integro (quod 114. capitibus constat) reperiundae commemorantur, & tam a Turcis, Mauris, Persis, Arabibus, quam aliis Orientalibus populis ut dia veritas leguntur, accipiuntur, creduntur, a Christianis vero pijs pipulo differuntur, exploduntur, reijciuntur ex manuscripto arabico fideliter versae & carminice prostitutae, ac recitatae in promotionis schalosticae actu: dominis scholarchis, ecclesiae ministris, consulibus, totoque senatu, & alijs Dd. ac Viris doctißimis praesentibus a M. Johan: Zechendorff Lesnicensi, Scholae Cygneae Rectore, 13. Augusti, Anno 1627

Short title

Fabulae Muhammedicae

Title variations

Title in English

The Mohammedan Fables or the Trifles of the Qur’an, which are to be found related in its entire system (which consists of 144 chapters), and are read, accepted and believed by the Turks, Moors, Persians as well as by the Arabs and other oriental peoples yet are upbraided, hissed off and rejected by pious Christians, faithfully translated from an Arabic manuscript and set forth poetically and recited at a graduation ceremony in the presence of schoolteachers, gentlemen of the cloth, consuls, the entire senate and other most learned men, by Master Johann Zechendorff of Lößnitz, headmaster of the Zwickau school on 13 August 1627.

Section

Language

Latin

Creation date

1627

Genre

Content

Other

Content table

Formal Expression

Verses

Qur'an quotations

No

Original

Source

Use (macro-category)

Poetic / Creative

Use (micro-category)

Bibliographical references

Asaph Ben-Tov, “Johann Zechendorff (1580-1662) and Arabic Studies at Zwickau’s Latin School”, in: Jan Loop, Alastair Hamilton, and Charles Burnett (eds.), The Teaching and Learning of Arabic in Early Modern Europe (Leiden, 2017), pp. 57-92., Ben-Tov, "Johann Zechendirff", in Christian Muslim Relations. vol. 9 Western and Southern Europa (1600-1700), ed. David Thomas and John Chesworth (Leiden, 2017), pp. 850-5.)

Descriptive card

This is Zechendorff’s first published work concerning the Qur’an. Presented at a graduation ceremony on 13 August 1627, the Fabulae Muhammedicae (Mohammedan Fables) is a playful retelling of ten episodes in the Qur'an which also appear, though in different fashion, in the Old Testament. The entire work is composed in Latin hexameter. It is ostensibly a damning "exposure" of discrepancies between the Qur'an and the Bible, yet both the playful tone and vivid retelling of the Qur'anic episodes betray an attentive reading of the Qur'an and more fascination that polemics.

Entry author

Asaph Ben Tov