Alphonse Mingana
British academic (1878-1937)
Alphonse Mingana (born as Hurmiz Mingana; Syriac: ܗܪܡܙ ܡܢܓܢܐ, in 1878 at Sharanesh, a village near Zakho (present day Kurdistan, Iraq) - died 5 December 1937 Birmingham, England) was an Assyrian theologian, historian, Syriacist, orientalist and a former priest who is best known for collecting and preserving the Mingana Collection of ancient Middle Eastern manuscripts at Birmingham. Like the majority of Assyrians in the Zakho region, his family belonged to the Chaldean Catholic Church. Alphonse was born to Paolus and Maryam Nano, and had seven siblings.
Quotes
edit- Almost all the religious terms in the Qur’an are derived from Syriac.
- quoted from Robert Spencer, Did Muhammad Exist? (2021)
- There is no other language besides Syriac in which the word ‘Christians’ is expressed by the word nasara or anything near it….There is no doubt whatever that in the Persian Empire, and to some extent also in the Roman Empire, the Christians were called by non-Christians nasraye (theNasara of the Qur’an), and that the Prophet took the word from the Syrians.
- quoted from Robert Spencer, Did Muhammad Exist? (2021)
