in all probability written in Palestine within a few years of that date. 152³, Crone and Cook argue F. Nau's date of 640 is too late s2Averil Cameron.
(...)
When the candidatus [i.e., Sergios, commander of the Byzantine army in Palestine] was killed by the Saracens, I was
at Caesarea and I set off by boat to Sykamina. People were
saying the candidatus has been killed,
and we Jews were overjoyed. And they were saying that the prophet had appeared, coming with the Saracens, and that he was
proclaiming the advent of the anointed one, the Christ who was to come. I n4Abraamès, having
arrived at Sykamina, stopped by a certain old man well-versed in scriptures, and I said to him: What can you tell
me about the prophet who has appeared with the Saracens?
He
replied, groaning deeply: He is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword. Truly they are works of
anarchy being committed today and I fear that the first Christ to come, whom the Christians worship, was the one
sent by God and we instead are preparing to receive the Antichrist. Indeed, Isaiah said that the Jews would retain a
perverted and hardened heart until all the earth should be devastated. But you go, master Abraham, and find out
about the prophet who has appeared.
So I, Abraham,
inquired and heard from those who had met him that there was no truth to be found in the so-called prophet, only the shedding of men's blood. He says also that he has the keys
of paradise, which is incredible s3Doctrina Jacobi V.16, 209. [p. 57].
(...)