In this presentation,
I will be discussing the presence and the role of the Prophet Muhammad,
as well as the role of the famous Arab Astrologists
Albumasar in the context of the iconographic
theme of Disputation over
the Immaculate Conception.
One of the most famous
paintings of the theme is located in the Franciscan Church
in Poljud in Split on the eastern Adriatic coast.
It was painted by Michele
Luposignoli in 1727, as a copy of the painting
dating from 1518, whose author was
Nicola Brazzo Giacortino.
In it, we can see the Virgin
Mary as standing upon a huge crescent
and surrounded by 39 doctors of the church
saints, popes, cardinals and bishops
who advocated the doctrine of Mary's Immaculate Conception.
Most of them are holding parchments,
scrolls and books in their hands.
An Arab astrologer, Abū Ma‘shar,
whose name was Latinized as Albumasar is represented in the lower
left corner of the painting, holding a spherical astrolabe
and a scroll with the inscription in Latin.
The quotation seen on Albumasar's scroll derives
from the sixth book of his manuscript
Introductorium in astronomiam.
This Arabic script was translated into Latin
by Hermann Dalmatin in 1140, and the first printed editions
were published in Augsburg in 1489
and then in Venice in 1506.
The citation is therefore
a Latin translation of Albumasar's paraphrase of prophecies
attributed to two pagan astronomers,
Hermes and Astalius from Persia, who had predicted the birth
of the Virgin in the first decade of the constellation of Virgo.
But while translating Albumasar's text
from the original Arabic, Dalmatin intervened with comments in Latin,
the most important intervention
he made in the passage is the phrase Virgo Imaculata,
the Immaculate Virgin, which does not exist in the original text.
Therefore, several medieval and early modern Christian writers
and preachers were led to consider Albumasar himself as a prophet,
which led to him being depicted as a prophet and the advocate
of the doctrine of Mary's sinlessness.
The same can be said of the other
painting of Marian iconography, which features Albumasar.
It is a retable from the Cistercian monastery
near Warburg in Westphalia, which dates back to the second
half of the 14th century.
The central axis of the said
painting depicts the virgin and the child in whom
several iconographic themes are synthesized.
She is the throne of Solomon, Mary in the Sun, and the Immaculate Virgin
Albumasar is shown in the lower
right position next to Mary's throne.
But the only attribute that allows us to identify him
as Albumasar is the ribbon with the inscription in his hand,
which is similar to the one from Split.
The other figure
of our interest here has long been
identified as a Prophet Muhammad, primarily
thanks to the scroll with an inscription in Latin.
This citation,
though, was not, in fact, taken from the Quran,
as it says on the scroll, but rather from the collection of Hadith
and probably from the famous
Sahih Al-Bukhari.
The hadith is narrated
by Abu Huraira, and it says:
"I heard Allah's messenger saying there is none born
among the offspring of Adam, but Satan touches it.
A child therefore
cries loudly at the time of birth because of the touch of Satan,
except Mary and her child".
Of course, the author
of the iconographic concept of the painting in Poljud
did not use the collection of hadith written in Arabic,
but rather their Latin translation.
The first known author to use this hadith
for the purpose of discussion over the Immaculate Conception of Mary
was the Franciscan friar Marquard from Lindau in 14th century,
and after him, many other authors who wanted to defend the concept
of the Immaculate Conception.
In the years
1523-1524, shortly
after the pala in Poljud was painted, Francesco Signorelli
created an altarpiece of Disputation over the Immaculate Conception
for the Church of Santa maria Al Calcinaio, near Cortona in Italy.
The Virgin is flanked by male figures
who are holding books and scrolls with inscriptions.
Our attention was especially drawn
by the male figure sitting in the upper right row.
He is dressed in a blue tunic
and is wearing a sort of a turban.
He is holding the inscription in Latin written on the scroll.
The figure, of course, is Muhammad, whith the previously explained
citation from the hadith, the same one as in Split.
To conclude,
in the long standing theological debate
about the Immaculate Conception of Mary
theologians who advocated the controversial concept
during high middle ages and early modern times
used different arguments in its defense, including the Muslim
written sources, as well as the Muslim figures,
which therefore appear in painted artworks that represent
the iconographic theme of disputation over the Immaculate Conception.