Islamic And Jewish Cultural Influence On Dante Alighieri

Via Pejmanesque- I came across this neat article on the Islamic and Jewish cultural influence on Dante Alighieri's works.

In the above mentioned article Giorgio Battistoni said that he "became aware of the Islamic book `Kitab al mira' (`The Book of the Ladder'), which was translated into Latin in 1246 as `Il Libro Della Scala.' This book, which relates Mohammed's journey to heaven, was according to Spanish scholar Miguel Asin Palacios, a source of inspiration for Dante in the writing of `The Divine Comedy,'". My understanding is that Battistoni refers here to "Kitab al-Mi'raj" ("The Book of Ascent") and not "Al-Mira", which relates the story of the journey of the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) to Heaven. However and contrary to the claims of Battistoni, some scholars assert that "Resalat El-Ghofran" or (Treatise on Forgiveness, written by the blind Arab poet Abu-al-Alaa AI-Maari) influenced Dante in his composition of the Divine Comedy.

On a sidenote, my friend at Dappled Things was smart enough to notice that Battistoni said in the article that "The Book of the Ladder" was translated into Latin as "Il Libro Della Scala", when that's italian of course.