Juan of Segovia’s Translation of the Qur’ān

Abstract

John of Segovia (1393-1458) is together with Nicolaus Cusanus one of the most important theologians of the 15 th century. His struggle for peace and consensus during the council of Basel culminated in his engagement for interreligious communication in the last years of his life. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, he prepared a new approach towards the Islam. Not crusade, but interreligious communication based on thorough knowledge of the religion of the other should result in peace, either through converting the other or at least convincing him to stop warfare. Therefore John of Segovia initiated a new translation of the Qur’ān into Spanish, which he himself translated into Latin. This article outlines the history of this famous project and illustrates its main characteristics with examples taken from fragments of this first polyglot translation of the Qur’ān.