Thabit ibn Qurra on paganism (1)

Text
Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Syriacum 168-169:
Whereas many submitted to the false doctrine under torture, our ancestors held out with the help of God and came through by a heroic effort; and this blessed city has never been sullied by the false doctrine of Nazareth. Paganism (hanputa), which used to be the object of public celebration in this world, is our heritage, and we shall pass it on to our children. Lucky the man who endures hardship with a well-founded hope for the sake of paganism! Who was it that settled the inhabited world and propagated cities, if not the outstanding men and kings of paganism? Who applied engineering to the harbors and the rivers? Who revealed the arcane sciences? Who was vouchsafed the epiphany of that godhead who gives oracles and makes known future events, if not the most famous of the pagans? It is they who blazed all these trails. The dawn of medical science was their achievement: they showed both how souls can be saved and how bodies can be healed. They filled the world with upright conduct and with wisdom, which is the chief part of virtue. Without the gifts of paganism, the earth would have been empty and impoverished, enveloped in a great shroud of destitution.

(Thabit ibn Qurra was a Sabian scholar)

Source (list of abbreviations)
Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Syriacum 168-169

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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