12 THE APOLOGY OF AL KINDY.
 
THE APOLOGY OF AL KINDY.

 

AN ESSAY ON ITS AGE AND AUTHORSHIP.

[Read before the Royal Asiatic Society.]

AL BÎRÛNI, in his "Vestiges of Ancient Nations," written A.D. 1000 (A.H. 390), while describing the customs of the Sabeans, cites the authority of Ibn Ishâc al Kindy, the Christian, in these words:—

Likewise Abd al Masîh ibn Ishâc al Kindy, the Christian, in his reply to the Epistle of Abdallah ibn Ismaîl the Hâshimite, relates of them (the Sabeans) that they are notorious for Human sacrifice, but that at present they are not able to practise openly the same.1

A work answering the above description has recently been published by the Turkish Mission Aid Society, in Arabic, under the following title : "The Epistle


1  "Chronology of Ancient Nations," p. 187, by Dr. Sachau. London, 1879.

وكذلك حكى عبد المسيح بن اسحاق الكندى النصارى عنهم ( أى الصائبة ) فى جوابه عن كتاب عبد الله بن اسماعيل الهاشمى أنهم يعرفون بذبح الناس ولكن ذلك لا يمكنهم اليوم جهراً.