Petra. The Rock. The word upon which Christ built his Church - and the word from which, according to this book, Islam too was born.

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In this thorough and audacious study, Hüseyin Dogan reads the Qur?an with christological eyes, tracing two ancient symbols through both traditions.

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First, the rock. From Peter - the petra on which the Church was founded - to the cleft stone of revelation; from the Ka?ba to the face of God; from the streams that burst forth from the rock in the desert to the name Christ gave to a Galilean fisherman. The rock is that which stands firm: the unshakable foundation that can name, sanctify, and govern power.

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Then the fish and the letter Nun (?). The oldest and most hidden sign of early Christianity was not the cross, but the fish - ??T?S, the Greek acrostic for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." Dogan traces this current through the prophet Jonah in the belly of the great fish, through the "fishers of men" who win hearts for faith, and on into the Qur?anic imagery of flowing water. Where the rock is the firm foundation, the Nun is the living, flowing, hidden faith that cannot be pinned down.

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Between these two poles - stone and water, Petra and Nun - a surprising reading unfolds. Dogan shows how Qur?anic concepts, images, and narratives are rooted in a shared Jewish-Christian world, and how an attentive, comparative reading uncovers layers of meaning that the tradition overlooked for centuries: the symbolism of God's right hand, the sleepers in the cave, the parable of the two vineyards, the meaning of taw?id, and the proclaimed word - karim and kerygma.

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This is not a history of opposition between Islam and Christianity, but of a hidden kinship - a deep, shared grammar of faith that runs beneath them both.

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An invitation to read anew what seemed familiar - for those who dare to look beneath the surface, to break the stone and see what the texts truly say.

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ISLAM BORN OF THE ROCK

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