Routledge Islamic Culture in Spain to 1614: Essays and Studies

In this volume of essays, the fruit of over fifty years of sustained research, L. P. Harvey sets out to see what may be discovered about the reactions of the Spanish Muslims themselves to the crisis created by their forcible conversion. An aljamiado manuscript in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, proved to contain a passage which went to the heart of the subject. A Morisco pilgrim, travelling round Spain and seeking out places of significance to his faith, visits the venerable Ali Sarmiento. Ali took the pilgrim out deep into the vega of Granada, and there addressed him as follows: 'My son, I do not weep for what is past, for we can never return to it, but I do weep for what you will see if you remain here in this land of Spain. May it please God that what I am saying proves to be empty words, but our religion will suffer such a decline that people will say: What has become of our public sermons, where is the religion of our forebears?' 'If the king of the Conquest [Ferdinand the Catholic] does not keep his word, what are we to expect from his successors?' When even a few such revealing sources come to light, the effort of scouring through the scanty Morisco sources proves justified. Islamic Culture in Spain to 1614 has been edited for press by Trevor Dadson and Nuria Martinez de Castilla Munoz.