When an Arabic speaking Muslim friend saw Mel Gibson’s movie
Passion of the Christ with most of the dialogue in Aramaic, he
was very surprised that he did not need most of the subtitles in
English to understand the movie! This connection is a critical
bridge builder: sister languages, Arabic, and Aramaic, the
written language which was once the global language, stretching
from the Near East to Malabar in India and East China. Dr.
Sidney Griffith, a Catholic priest and noted Syriac scholar,
states that, “neither Qur’anic nor Aramaic scholars have seen
fit to make the linguistic connection and it is about time that
connection was made.” Western academia has been primarily
concentrated on Biblical Greek. What we need to now consider is
the Aramaic/Syriac New Testament, written in the language Jesus
actually spoke, as an additional tool for comparative analysis.
I have found this an invaluable tool working with the Islamic
world in seeking bridges to the common ground. Muslims respect
the similarity of words, mea