Nizar F.

Hermes

Why You Can/t Believe the Arabian Historian

Cide Hamete Benengeli
Islam and the Arabian Cultural Heritage in Don Quixote1

In Don Quixote: A Touchstone for Literary Criticism (2005), distinguished Cervantine scholar James A. Parr does not seem to go too far when he hails Miguel de
Cervantes Saavedras El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (16051615)
hereafter Don Quixoteas the perfect model of a pivotal text, that is prescient in
its formulation of the strategies of the self-conscious, self-questioning, and other
experimental and historical texts of our time (6). Indeed, in addition to its superlative literary merit and fictional uniqueness, Don Quixote is historically and culturally rich. This is very much true, for example, of the texts distinctively complex
dramatization of the early modern encounter between Europe and Islam. This encounter, of course historically speaking, was primarily embodied in the conflict
between Habsburg Spain and the Ottoman Empire, then Europes and the Islamic
worlds two leading powers.2 Although the Spanish-Ottoman rivalry was performed in different territorial and, mainly, maritime battlegroundsthe Battle of
Lepanto (1571) looms large in this regardthe textual ones were not less significant
and Don Quixote is a compelling textual illustration.3
In growing numbers, scholars are arguing that the contact zone, between
Europe and Islam is textually and contextually very detectable throughout the
works of Cervantes.4 Islam, to quote Frederick Quinns The Sum of All Heresies:
The Image of Islam in Western Thought (2008), was a topic not only in French
and English political, religious, and cultural writings but also was the focus of a
major seventeenth-century Spanish writer, Miguel de Cervantes (83). While a fair
amount of ink has been spilled on the Islamic theme, and that of Algiers in particular, in works such as Los Bagnos de Argel (The Bagnios of Algiers), Los Tratos
de Alger (The Traffic of Algiers), El Galardo Espaol (The Gallant Spaniard) and La
Gran Sultana (The Grand Sultana), there still exits a lacuna when it comes to exploring Cervantes complex representation of Islam and his attitude towards the
Arabo-Islamic cultural heritage in his magnum opus.
Through addressing what I see as Cervantes reference to the medieval propaganda myth of the idol Mahomet, his literary transfiguration of the early modern
subversive phenomenon of the conversion to Islam, and his ambiguous feelings
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towards the Arabian historian Cide Hamete Benengeli, I will re-visit Cervantes
views of Islam and Muslims. I will, further, exploreagain, what I see asthe not
yet duly studied possible Arabic influence on Don Quixote. I will do so by comparing, for the first time in Cervantine scholarship, the Moorish tale (i.e., The Captives Tale) to the Arabian Alf Layla wa- Laylas Frankish tale known alternatively
as Princess Miriam the Girdle-girl, Daughter of the King of France and The Love
Tale of Ali Nur al-Din the Cairene and Princess Mariam, Daughter of the King of
France. I will finally, albeit briefly, draw attention to the Arabic maqma genre
whose features and motifs bear some striking similarities to some of the salient
narratological and structural aspects of Don Quixote. The hope is to stir further
interest and future research on the possible (in)direct influence of the Arabic maqma genre on Don Quixote.5
It is universally acknowledged that Don Quixote is introduced at the beginning of the narrative as an obsessive reader of romances of chivalry and a zealous
admirer of Christian knights. In short, we are told, our gentleman became so
caught up in reading that he spent his nights from dusk till dawn and his days
reading from sunrise to sunset (21). In his seemingly never-ending disputes with
his entourage, specifically the learned curate of the parish and the connoisseur
Master Nicholas, barber of La Mancha, he prides himself on fervently defending
the valor of his favorite knights Amads de Gaula, El Cid Ruy Daz, Bernardo del
Carpio,6 giant Morgante, and Reinaldos de Montalban.7 We need to keep in mind
that most, if not all, of the aforementioned knights are largely celebrated in late
medieval and early modern European romances for their gesta against the Moors.
In many respects, some of them might even be described as matamores (Moor
killers) par excellence, conjuring up Santiago, the patron saint of Spain, who has the
epithet Matamoros (Moor Killer) (Harvey 7). Actually, Don Quixote in a number
of chapters presents himself as a matamoros. At the beginning of book two, after
coming to know that the Turks/Moors are preparing themselves for an assault on
Npoles, Sicilia and Malta, Don Quixote informs his companions of his intention
of leaving La Mancha for the sake of conquering what he describes as the lands
of the Turks. Perhaps more tellingly, in the chapter of The Puppet Show and to
the surprise of Sancho and Master Pedro, Don Quixote draws his sword and attacks what he thinks are Moors after fancying that they are coming after the figurines of Melisendra and Gaiferos, the Christian heroes of the show. Needless to
remind ourselves that giant Morgante, as depicted in numerous late medieval and
early renaissance romances and epics such as Il Morgante Maggiore (1478), Orlando
Innamorato (1495) and Orlando Furioso (1516), is a brave Moor who la Othello
abandons his Islamic faith, converts to Christianity, and fervently fights his own
people.8 Briefly stated, and as we will see with Mariam-Zoraida of The Captives
Tale, it is unquestionably Morgantes conversion that saves him from the presum

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ably inherent barbarity and vanity attributed to his entire race. He spoke highly of
the giant Morgante, Cervantes writes, because although he belonged to the race
of giants, all of them haughty and lacking in courtesy, he alone was amiable and
well-behaved (21). This statement is interesting in several important respects, not
the least because it makes it nearly axiomatic that for a Moor, as we will see in more
detail with The Captives Tale, conversion to Christianity is the sine qua non for
adherence to normalcy. In other words, the Moors are both morally and physically
abnormal. Here, at any rate, it seems clear that a Moors physical monstrosity is in
tandem with his presumed religious deviance and moral atrocity. But, who is the
single most venerated knight for Don Quixote and what made him so? The answer
is straightforward: Reinaldos de Montalban.9 But more than any of the others, we
are told, He admired Reinaldos de Montalban, above all when he saw him emerge
from his castle and rob anyone he met, and when he crossed the sea and stole the
idol of Mohammed made all of gold, as recounted in his history (21).
That Cervantes is referring to a legend he did not invent and to a romance he did
not write is self-evident. However, one may question the reasons behind his perpetuation of the medieval absurd myth of the idol Mahomet when he [Cervantes]
stood out with an-above average understanding of the Islamic world if compared
to other premodern European writers (Hegyi 8). As John Rodenbeck puts it, no
other major European writer has had as close or as thorough an acquaintance with
Islam as Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (55). Horace Jeffery Hodges in turn notes
that Cervantes was intimately acquainted with the Islamic world (179). Hodges
goes on to explain:
The name of his hometown, Alcal de Henares, derives from the Arabic al-
qalat (the castle, Phillips 420b), and the town itself retained an Arab quarter
until the end of the Reconquista. Born there some fifty years later, Cervantes
would likely have obtained cultural knowledge of Islam. But he also had firsthand knowledge of it, for he was captured by Muslims at 27 and sold into five
years slavery in Algiers, where he gained close knowledge of Muslims and their
prophet. (17980)
Cervantes was familiar with such an idiosyncratic physical trait as Mohameds back
shmah (mark/mole) (Hodges 17479). Conceivably, he must have been aware that
the so-called idol of Muhammad was but the invention of both learned and
popular medieval western accounts of Islam.10 Such presumption and assumption
can be textually adduced from the culturally poignant Puppet Show of the Second
Book wherein Don Quixote interrupts Master Pedro for incorporating in his show
what he describes as an unforgivable cultural absurdity concerning Muslims.
For the learned Don Quixote, the mere thought that Moors ring bells in
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mosques is culturally absurd and bespeaks an utter ignorance from the part of the
show director. There you are out, boy, Don Quixote mockingly says, The Moors
have no bells, they only use kettle drums, and a kind of shwams like our waits or
hautboys (168). If Cervantes has proved this accurate with so minute a cultural
detail about the Moors, how could he miss the fact that making idols, let alone worshiping them, is strictly abhorable to them?11
In this same vein, as much as Cervantes was cognizant of many idiosyncratic
theological concepts of Islam such as al-law al-maf (The Well-preserved
Tablet) and al-qalam al-al (The Supreme Pen), one would be hesitant to presume
that he was unfamiliar with Islams most fundamental doctrine. As demonstrated
by Luce Lpez-Baralt in her intriguing article The Supreme Pen (Al-Qalam al-
Ala) of Cide Hamete Benengeli, Cervantes, at the end of his book, has opted to
borrow the peculiar Islamic doctrine of Gods perfection of what is written (destiny) through the two aforementioned concepts in an endeavor to both maintain
and publicize the perfection and inimitability of his work (506).12 Therefore, it is
unlikely, to say the least, that Cervantes did not know about the Moors avowed abhorrence and repudiation of idols.
By not questioning, if not embracing, the propaganda myth of the idol
Mahomet, Cervantes has impugned on his learned account of Islam and laced
its perception with one of the most absurd medieval legends about Muhammad
which, as shown by several scholars, was part and parcel of a crusading medieval
Europe. In fact, it is now commonplace to argue that medieval Western literature
had played a significant propagandist anti-Islamic role during the centuries of the
Crusades. This is particularly true with regard to the indispensable role of fashioning, consolidating, and perpetuating a predominately pagan image of Islam and
its Prophet.13
In connection with the above, it seems that even for the chaotically quixotic
Don Quixote, the mere theoretical dramatization of Moors who ring bells is mimetically absurd, whereasthat is the ironyfor the worldly Cervantes, the idol
of Muhammad is a truth. Hence, Cervantes can be said to be holding up his own
mirror to medieval myths of Muhammad which he internalized through reading
medieval Spanish romances. Hodges is again on the mark when he reaches the
conclusion:
Although his personal experience as a slave to Muslims may have offered him
opportunity to form a more complex view of that religion, and though he may
have felt empathy toward particular Muslims, Cervantes would appear unlikely
to have had any great sympathy for Islam itself . . . Given the strong Catholic
views that Cervantes held, therefore, one might also suspect him of harboring a
less-than-entirely-positive view of Muhammad as putative prophet and thus

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wonder if any passage in Don Quijote perhaps expresses a negative view of that
sort. (173)
Parallel to Cervantess perpetuation of the myth of Muslim idolatry is his adoption
of the literary leitmotif of the converted Saracen/Moor. It is to be stressed here that
although, relatively speaking, there is no dearth of scholars who have explored the
complex phenomenon of cross-conversion between Christians and Muslims during
the early modern period, to my knowledge, very few have shed light on the points
that would seem culturally nave from the perspective of the Moorish Other in Don
Quixote, and there is perhaps no more egregious example of this than Zoraidas conversion in The Captives Tale, which we will discuss in more detail soon.14
Indeed, notwithstanding the culturally symbolic destruction of the Moors in
The Puppet Show, Cervantes, it seems to me, adopted the same cultural discourse
that had characterized medieval Western literature and culture. As Metlitzki once
eloquently phrased it, a Saracen, in the literary imagination of medieval Europe is
inherently an evil creature, and can only be turned into an acceptable figure with
the fanfare of conversion (178). The conversion of the Moor amounts to a wish-
fulfillment theme bequeathed to the literature of the early modern period by medieval Saracen romances in the first place and the Arthurian tradition in the second.
With Cervantes, in my view, it could amount to a literary attempt to contain the
early modern subversive issue of the Christians of Allah.
This theme has intrigued Mara Antonia Garcs in Cervantes in Algiers: A Captives Tale. Garcs points out that conversion to Islam was common among European captives in Algiers and other North African cities (35). Between romance and
history, the reality of conversion was so different that Cervantes close Portuguese
friend Antonio De Sosaa cleric from the Order of Malta known for his Topographia, e historia general de Argel (Valodalid 1612) which he reportedly wrote in
an Algerian prisondeplored the fact that the majority of Turks living in Algiers
during his captivity were Turks by profession, who deserted their faith because
they were either tempted by the pleasures of the flesh, or because they were afraid
of slavery (Garcs 35).15 Dissatisfied with what she has described as De Sosas apologeticism, Garcs has maintained that although De Sosas statement was truthful
for some renegades, it could not be so for the vast majority of Europeans who converted to Islam in the early modern period. De Sosas apologeticism, according to
Garcs, translates the seriousness of the religious threat Islam presented for early
modern Christendom. Evidently, the captives, soldiers, or mercenaries who converted to Islam, Garcs observes, were thorns in the sides of the Christians, particularly the Spaniards, who saw them as the most blatant representatives of accommodating and pliable morals (35).16
Garcs goes on to argue that it is unacceptable not to mention the attraction that
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Islam held for many Christians as a possible reason behind the phenomenon. The
confessions of many renegades, and the depositions of the witnesses who testified in their cases, Garcs observes, clearly express the attraction exerted by Islam
on numerous Christians in early modern times, even if they did not apostatize
(35). She corroborates her view by referring to what she regards as two influential
studies: The first is Los cristianos de Al: La fascinante aventura de los renegados
by Bartolome and Lucile Benassar, and the second is Los espaoles y el Norte de
frica, siglos XVXVIII by Mercedes Garca-Arenal and Miguel ngel de Bunes
Ibarra. Garcs makes the astute observation that the phenomenon of early modern
conversion to Islam is very complex and subsumes different theosophical, socio-
cultural and economic reasons (35).17
Read against the previously mentioned complex socio-historical and cultural
backgrounds of the European Christian conversion to Islam and the subversive
phenomenon of straggling runagates, to quote Marlowes Tamburlaine (100), one
may say that by foregrounding the relatively less phenomenal Moorish conversion,
Cervantes is not only transfiguring history, but also perpetuating dominant discourses of western medieval literature, notably that of the converted Saracen/Moor.
Cervantes, one may similarly postulate, while fully conscious of the subversive phenomenon of the Christians of Allah, as he witnessed it historically in Algiers, is
much more interested in The Moors of Mary. As shown by Rodenbeck and others,
it was the Albanian Deli Memi who captured the ship El Sol on which Cervantes
was a passenger before taking him to Algiers (62). There he was, like all other Christian captives, under the ultimate supervision of beglerbegs (governors) Ramadan
the Sardinian and Hasan the Venetian, who governed Algiers during Cervantes
captivity (63).18
Tellingly enough, the same discursive treatment of the theme of conversion and
the same romantic transfiguration of history are quite dominant in Post-Classical
Arabic literature of the counter-Crusades. The medieval encounter between Islam
and the West, one must not forget, did not only influence western literature but also,
although to a lesser degree, Islamic literature (i.e., Arabic, Persian, and Turkish) and
it, thereby, provided them with a rich terrain for religious and cultural propaganda.
What is intriguing in a comparative sense, however, is the fact that one of the most
famous conversion tales in the Arabic tradition, known as Princess Miriam the
Girdle-girl, daughter of the King of France and The Love Tale of Ali Nur al-Din
the Cairene and the Princess Mariam, Daughter of the King of France of the very
popular Alf Layla wa- Layla (The Thousand and One Nights), more commonly
known in the West as The Arabian Nights, bears an unusual structural and thematic
similarity to Cervantes tale. This, as I hope to argue, does legitimize, at least theoretically, our call for a more serious, and certainly less ideological, re-investigation
of a possible Arabic influence on Don Quixote.

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Briefly speaking, the core Moorish theme of the tale is the conversion and escape of the young Muslim woman Zoraida after she falls in love with the Christian
captive Rui Perez. Zoraida encounters and contacts Rui Perez while he is living in
the Algerian bagnio (prison-house) of her father, Hajji Moratto. Zoraida connives
with her Christian lover to escape from Algiers. They finally make it to Spain after
experiencing a concatenation of mishaps and dangers, most notably their kidnapping and robbery by French pirates. Like the Frankish father in the forthcoming
Arabic tale, Hajji Moratto is completely infuriated by his daughters action and does
all he could to regain her. Zoraida, who changes her name to Maria, refuses to return home and opts instead to marry her lover and live in Spain. By doing this,
Zoraida-Maria exemplifies a female figure who is half Moor (the body) and half
Christian (the soul) enters into self-imposed exile from her home culture in order
to actualize a hidden and purportedly European self, to quote Erin Webster Garrett (251; see de Castro; Guarino; and Garca).
Now, it may be worth our while to pause for a brief synopsis of The Love Tale of
Ali Nur al-Din the Cairene and Princess Mariam, Daughter of the King of France.
Mariam (Mary in English and Maria in Spanish) is the beautiful daughter of
the king of France. In addition to her beauty, she is highly educated and known for
her chastity and piety. After recovering from a deadly malady, the pious princess
decides to take a sea voyage to a monastery located on an island in order to fulfill
her religious vows. The tale mentions that Muslim warriors of the sea captured her
and took her to the city of Qayrawan, the medieval capital of Ifriqiyya (modern
Tunisia). The narrative goes on to recount that in the city of Qayrawan, a rich and
pious Muslim merchant of Persian origin bought her and treated her extremely
well. This encourages her to enquire about his faith and ultimately leads to her
willing conversion to Islam. After her conversion, the Frankish princess changes
her name to Mariam (the same name that Zoraida chose after her baptism in The
Captives Tale). Mariam, we are told, becomes an avid learner of the Quran and the
Sunna (Prophetic tradition) and is depicted as fully enjoying her new life. One day,
she travels with her master to Alexandria in Egypt. There, Mariam meets a young
Egyptian gentleman named Ali Nur al-Din the Cairene (from Cairo) and falls in
love with him. Expectedly, Ali Nur al-Din buys her from her old master, frees and
marries her. In the meantime, the Frankish king misses his daughter and exhausts
all the means at his disposal to rescue and bring her home. Ultimately, he decides
to send his cunning one-eyed and one-legged wazr (advisor) in disguise to search
for her through all the Muslim lands. After a hectic journey, the Frankish officer
receives reports that the princess is living in Alexandria. There, and after many attempts, he succeeds in gaining the friendship of her gullible husband Ali Nur al-
Din, whom he easily manipulates and nearly convinces him to sell him his Frankish
wife to pay back a big debt. In the meantime, Mariam discovers the real identity
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of the disguised man and warned Ali Nur al-Din of his intention, but in vain. The
French spy succeeds in kidnapping Mariam and in taking her back to France. Ali
Nur al-Din finds himself in an unbearable state because of the loss of his beloved
wife, and takes it upon himself to make the sea voyage to France and regain his beloved wife by any possible means. His journey is certainly not safe. Indeed, we are
informed that he and his companions are soon captured by a squadron of Frankish
pirates (note again the discursive differentiation between mujhidn of the sea and
French pirates), who take them to the king of France. The king orders the killing
of all the Muslim captives with the miraculous exception of Ali Nur al-Din, who is
presented to an old nun to be her slave and help her in taking care of the church
where the king and his family used to attend mass. The two lovers finally reunite
and quickly plot their escape. After a number of dramatic events, which are too
many to be mentioned here, Mariam goes so far as to kill her three brothers in
order to escape with her Muslim lover and flee back to Muslim land (The Arabian
Nights 264348). This action is taken without giving any consideration for her supplicating father, who, evocative, if not predictive, of Hajji Moratto of Cervantes, is
particularly sickened by her choice of an infidel and his religion over her family
and religion of birth.19
The startling parallels between the Arabian tale of the Frankish Mariam and that
of Cervantes Zoraida-Maria, especially if read in conjunction with the history of
the author as captive in then one of the then cultural centers of the Moorish world,
would theoretically call for and comparatively legitimize a more serious investigation of a possible forgotten Arabic influence on Cervantes Don Quixote. Such
an investigation would make sense if one considers the biographical work done
throughout the years by scholars such as Fitzmaurice-Kelly, Emilio Sola, Jose F. de
la Pena, and Garcs. Through his daily walks in the medina, Cervantes must have
had not only some chances to listen to the then extremely popular tales of Alf Layla
wa-Layla which were told daily in the suqs of Algiers, but also, as Lopez-Barlat
contends he could have familiarized himself with expert Arabic raconteurs (516).
Fitzmaurice-Kellys referential statement is worth quoting in this regard:
While his captors found their pleasure in watching two tattooed Moors oiled
from head to foot wrestle amid the clash of cymbals and of drums, he [Cervantes] may have stolen down to the market-place with his brother Rodrigo,
and with Luis de Pedrosa native of Osuna, whose father had been a friend of
Cervantes grandfather, the old-time Corregidor of Osunato hear the rw, the
Arab trouvre. (50)
This said, one cannot forget to hypothesize that Don Quixote, especially in its picaresque orientation, bears a striking resemblance to the Arabic genre of maqma,
a resemblance that so far has remained largely unremarked in western Cervan

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tine scholarship. Indeed, and briefly stated, I strongly see in Don Quixote a generic resemblance to the Arabic genre of the maqma (Pl: maqmt). This genre is
commonly translated in western scholarship as assemblies, and it consists of an
adventure/picaresque that incorporates realistic and fantastic elements.20 While a
systematic analysis of the Arabic maqma goes beyond the scope of this essay, it
is quite significant to mention that the adventures of the popular maqmt of the
two genre masters al-Hamadani (d. 1008) and al-Hariri (d. 1122) are not only picaresque, but indeed quixotic in many respects. The titles of some do serendipitously
conjure up some of Don Quixotes adventures. One can think here, for example, of
al-maqma al-Armniyya (The Armenian Tale) and al-maqma al-Qirdiyya (The
Ape Tale) while citing the thieves of Armenia and the Ape show of Don Quixote!
Whether Cervantes was familiar with this Arabic genre is definitely unknown.
Nevertheless, and as mentioned earlier, one can speculate that he could have been
introduced to this Arabic genre during his captivity in Algiers. This, of course at
least theoretically speaking. It is a fact that during the sixteenth-century the tales of
al-Hamadani and al-Hariri, of course in addition to Alf Layla wa- Layla and other
folk tales such as Sirat Antar, were highly popular among the market-place ruwt
(sing. rw) of North Africa and the Middle East, and one cannot imagine the ruwt
of Algiers to be a possible exception. I would go so far as to suggest that the maqmt could lead us to more comparative fruition than Sirat Antar, which Antonio
Medina has quite recently proposed as a possible comparative trail to be followed
for a more serious investigation of a possible relation between Don Quixote and
the medieval Arabic literary heritage. In fact, it is not conclusively impossible that
Cervantes could have familiarized himself with the Arabic maqma while in captivity in Algiers. It is also possible that he had already done so earlier in Spain itself.
It is accepted that the maqma was so very popular in al-Andalus prior to the
Reconquista not only among Andalusian Muslims after al-Saraqusti (d. 1143) popularized the genre by authoring the first Andalusian maqma, but equally among
Andalusian Jews (Elinson 477).21 As shown by several scholars, notably J. Abu
Haidar, Rina Drory and Jaakko Hmeen-Anttila, as early as the beginning of thirteenth century, Yehuda al-Harizi (d. 1225) translated al-Hariris maqmt into Hebrew before composing his own maqmt. This ushered in the rise of Andalusian
Hebrew maqma just before its development at the hands of Joseph ibn Zabara
(b. 1140). Now, it is widely believed that the maqmt of al-Harizi and Ibn Zabara
influenced the rise and development of the Spanish picaresque tradition, especially
through foundational texts such as Libro de buen amor (1330) and El Spill, Llibre de
les dones (1460), as well as later sixteenth century examples, notably Lazarillo de
Tormes (1535) and Guzmn de Alfarache (1599).22
Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo, the celebrated historian and literary critic of
Spain, is among the earliest (western) scholars to detect the resemblance of early
214 The Comparatist 38 : 2014

Spanish picaro to the Arabic maqma. Although very briefly, Pelayo in his classic
Origines de la novela (1907), declared that the rogues of the early picaro, a central
genre in the later rise and development of European novel including Don Quixote,
were modeled on the (anti)heroes of the Arabic maqma. Pelayos comparative
view was later espoused by ngel Gonzlez Palencia, perhaps Spains most influential Arabist, who in his seminal Historia de la literatura arbigo-espaola (1928)
expressed his amazement at the striking similarities between the maqma and the
picaro. Palencia reiterated his view in the introduction to his 1965 edition of Lazarillo de Tormes wherein he stressed also his unease at accepting the possibility of
an abrupt emergence of the picaro without previous models (Abu Haidar 1). Both
Spanish scholars, as quite recently remarked by al-Dabbagh in his much welcome
essay The Oriental Roots of the Picaresque, called for more serious investigations
on the influences of the Arabic maqma on the picaro and indirectly on the European novel in general (21).23 Their call, at least in my view, was not heard by many.
Related to the above, the question that imposes itself here is the following:
Who would doubt Cervantes familiarity with, say, Libro de buen amor, Lazarillo
de Tormes, and Guzmn de Alfarache? As much as I am distancing myself from
any conclusive statement regarding the possibility that Cervantes could have come
across the maqma in original Arabic, I give myself the freedom of positing that
he could have been indirectly influenced by the maqma through the picaro. I may
even go as far as fancying that he [Cervantes] could have read translations, adaptations, and imitations of the Arabic genre, namely through the huge corpus of
Hebrew (Andalusian) maqma. In other words, the fact that there is no proof Cervantes knew Arabic or that the Arabic maqma was available in European languages during his lifetime tempts one to suggest that Cervantes could have been
influenced indirectly by the maqma through the Hebrew maqmas impact on the
Spanish picaresque tradition.
Perhaps most pertinently, Jaakko Hmeen-Anttila in his Maqma: A History of
a Genre (2002) has astutely maintained that the universe of the Arabic picaresque
maqma hovers around three main figures: the narrator, the hero, and the author.
While the latter is, of course, well known, the identities of the first two, and especially the narrator, are always intriguing. The medieval scholars, Hmeen-Anttila
comments, were fond of speculating on their true identities (41).
Fascinatingly, scholars past and present have been equally fond of speculating
on the true identities of Don Quixote and the Arabian narrator of his adventures.
This is in addition to the fact that through observing the isnd (chain of narration), the maqma in its emphasis on their truthfulness does everything to relate
or chain the adventures of the main character to a presumably and, many times
mockingly, reliable narrator. Here I must stop to posit that this is largely suggestive of the narratological relationship between Cervantes and his Arabic isnd (i.e.

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Cide Hamete Benengeli). The erudite Raymond S. Willis, in spite of the continuous
opposition of many, including Parr himself, was among the pioneers to suggest in
his classic The Phantom Chapters of the Quijote (1953) that the recurrence of the
use of the phrase the history relates could very well be a vestigial form of the
Arabic-Islamic tradition of isnd (101).24 This seems to be of no small comparative
account, in my view, not least because this narratological relationship does not only
display a strong trait that may set Don Quixote comparable to the medieval Arabic
maqma but it makes my comparative reading akin to J. Abu Haidar and Victorio
Ageras strong belief in the influence of the Arabic maqma on the rise and development of the Spanish picaro tradition and the European picaresque novel in general, a view which was once met with a fierce resistance, to say the least.
Relevant in this context is the fact that Don Quixote is presented, regardless
of the veracity (or even the absurdity) of this, by Cervantes as a translation of an
Arabic history book called the Ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha.25 In
part II of the book, the narrator reveals that he discovered the original Arabic
manuscript of the history of Don Quixote in a parcel of old written papers he
bought from a young boy in Alcala at Toledo. The original writer, we are told, is the
Arabian Historian, also described as filsofo mahomtico, Cide Hamete Benengeli. These are the opening words of chapter XXII:
It is recounted by Cide Hamete Benegeli, the Arabic and Manchegan author,
in this most serious, high sounding, detailed, sweet, and inventive history, that
following the conversation between the famous Don Quixote and his squire . . .
DQ looked up and saw coming toward him on the same road he was traveling
approximately twelve men on foot, strung together by their necks, like beads on
a great iron chain, and all of them wearing manacles. (163)
This Arabic manuscript was translated by an unnamed morisco (a Muslim who
was forced to convert to Christianity) at the demand of the narrator. It is the narrators depiction of Cide Hamete Benengeli throughout the book that seems to
be the most ambiguous example of Cervantes ultimately complex views of Islam.
Although at many times, as I will try to show, Cervantes projects many of his cultural prejudices onto this character, at many other times, however, he seems to be
so (un)consciously captivated by Cide Hametes Arabian tales that it can never be
a theoretical absurdity, as many want us to believe, to discern Cervantes positive
interaction with the Arabic culture to which he was exposed during his five-year
captivity in Algiers, as well as during his early years in his own hometown Alcal
de Henares.26
As mentioned earlier, it is evident that Cervantes was aware of the lingering
prejudice against Islam and Muslims in early modern Spain. As Melveena McKendrick has shown, not only does he seem to demonize Islam and Muslims to yield
216 The Comparatist 38 : 2014

to the prevailing stereotypes of his time, but as amply evinced in his later works, he
appears to eventually endorse and perpetuate such stereotypes (140). Cervantes
representation of the Muslims, McKendrick remarks, seems paradoxically to have
hardened with the passage of time, succumbing perhaps to the stereotype . . . and
perhaps the build-up of animosity toward the moriscos that led to their expulsion (140). Nowhere is this more evident than in Cervantes introductory statement about Cide Hamete Benengeli. The fact, or let us assume the fictional fact, that
Don Quixote is nothing but the work of an Arabian historian can easily provide the
reader with the mock truthfulness of the quixotic adventures: I must only acquaint
the reader that if any objection can be raised regarding the truth of this one [Don
Quixote], it can only be that its author was Arabic, since the people of that nation
are very prone to telling falsehoods (68, italics mine).27 With such a manifest cultural statement, Cervantes is deliberately pandering, to use McKendricks phrase,
to the stereotypes of his readers (140).28 Rules and generalizations, however, do not
always exclude some exceptions, especially when an Arab swears as a Catholic.29
This is, for instance, the case in The Puppet Show, in order to convince the readers
that Master Pedro (Peter) is no one else but Gines de Passamonte:
Cide Hamete, the chronicler of this great history, begins this chapter with the
words I swear as a Catholic Christian . . . , to which his translator says that Cide
Hamete swearing as a Catholic Christian when he was a Moor, which he undoubtedly was, meant only that just the Catholic Christian, when he swears,
swears or should swear the truth, and tell the truth in everything he says, so too
he was telling the truth, as if he were swearing as a Catholic Christian, when he
wrote about Quixote, especially when he wrote who Master Pedro was, as well
as the soothing monkey who had amazed all those towns and villages with his
divinations. (63637)
As the book unfolds, however, Cide Hamete Benengeli becomes the wise arbitrator
between the reader and Don Quixote. In many instances Cervantes the author
proves direct in his endorsement of his narrator Cide Hamete Benengelis judgment of the veracity of a particular quixotic adventure. Whether this endorsement
is to enlighten us or add to our confusion is another controversial issue. Yet, what
is quite clear is the fact that we find ourselves consciously or unconsciously influenced by Cide Hamete Benengelis comments on many of Don Quixotes controversial adventuresand the Montesinio Cave adventure is the most compelling evidence. Likewise, Cervantes choice of leaving the last word to the Arabian
Cide Hamete Benengeli and his Arabian pen does not only suggest the sealing of
Don Quixote and the refutation of the spurious part published by Avellaneda, as
Lopez-Baralt has emphasized (506). It can also suggest the authors fascination
with this character, to quote Antonio Medina, who has quite daringly, seen in him

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217

nothing but Cervantes own alter ego. For Medina, one can even speculate that
Cervantes resorted to la taquiyya musulmana in hiding his fascination with the
Arabian Cide Hamete Benengeli, through whom, he has postulated, Cervantes had
shielded himself from all inquisitorial repercussions and all possible charges of Islamophilism (45).30
Expectedly enough, Medinas view is not shared by some. Terry Castle, for example, has argued that Cervantes ultimate position with regard to his Arabian author is more of a mock homage than anything else. In Castles own words:
One wants both to laugh and to marvel at the purportedly Muslim origins of
Don Quixote itself. One of Cervantess most ingratiating (and postmodern)
gambits is to pretend that he is not in fact the real author of the novel but, rather,
has simply had it translated from the recovered manuscripts of a mysterious
and noble Arab named Cide Hamete Benengeli (which translates roughly as Sir
Ahmed Eggplant).31 Though he has never met Benengeli, or anyone who has, he
pays the Arab the most exquisite and elaborate mock homage throughout, a gesture that at this point in history undoubtedly has new and startling pathos. (190)
While Castles view is still somewhat more dominant than that of Medina, there is
nothing that can prevent one from inclining to Medinas conjecture. Perhaps Frederick A. De Armas take on the issue in his much welcome Don Quixote Among the
Saracens: A Clash of Civilizations and Literary Genres (2011) prepares us to think
anew about this issue. While gracefully acknowledging that Don Quixote points
to Christian zeal, the yearning for universal empire, and the riches of other civilizations that no longer coexist in Spain (60), De Armas, and contrary to what one
expects from the title, has not given his utmost attention to the Islamic theme and
has rather focused on the generic tension in the work, which one has to admit
is fascinating. Indeed, failing to mention and discuss several of the textual references that I explored earlier, De Armas somewhat leans to Medinas view and calls
for more studies exploring what he describes as a possible secret in the relationship between the Arabian narrator and Don Quixote, the character, and of course
Cervantes, the author of the book (60). Interestingly enough, and at the end of his
book, De Armas surprises us with his assertion that he has discovered an important truth, which, as he puts it, can be revealed only to discerning readers: the
Christian knight is at home with the Saracens (158).32 This important truth encourages De Armas to come to the conclusion that Cervantes is at peace with
the fact that Spains culture cannot be embraced without accepting the moriscos
and the Saracens. The magical power of the Iberian lands calls for their objects of
culture: the ingredients for a new heterodox Balsam, the Moorish helmet of invincibility, the eagle of the Habsburg. Only when together can power return to the
land (161).33
218 The Comparatist 38 : 2014

One may say that there is not much to be added to De Armas fascinating conclusion, however controversial it may appear for some. Whether one believes Cide
Hamete Benengeli or notespecially when swearing as a Muslimand whether
one likes him or not, an ultimate recognition of his Arabian genius is first and foremost, an acknowledgment of the genius of Miguel de Cervantes, not the least because of the comparative dexterity of his pen and the multicultural inimitability of
his Don Quixote (Walter 69).
It would be unfair to ascribe to mere coincidence the authors veiled fascination with Cide Hamete and his Arabic manuscript, a fascination which could imply
Cervantes recognition of the richness of the cultural heritage of his Arabian ancestors and (why not?) his familiarity of and admiration for The Arabian Nights or
the Arabian maqma. Sharing the concern of a growing number of Arabists and
comparatists, I strongly believe that it is time to reconsider the essentialist view still
strongly espoused by some that literary influence is predestined to be a one-way
traffic. In several respects, al-Dabbagh, who has, almost single-handedly, revived
the scholarly interest in Arabic influences on medieval and early modern western
literatures, has not gone too far when he insists that [th]ere is no shame, and certainly no fallacy from the viewpoint of literary criticism or comparative literature,
in making clear-cut statements about the actual origin of a particular genre or literary movement (26).
And let us conclude by mentioning in passinghopefully for the universal
entertainment of most readersthese two fascinating quotations from Don
Quixote:
What are albogues? asked Sancho, for Ive never heard of them or seen
them in my life. Albogues, responded Don Quixote, are something like brass
candlesticks, and when you hit one with the other along the empty or hollow
side, it makes a sound that is not unpleasant, though it may not be very beautiful
or harmonious, and goes well with the rustic nature of pipes and timbrels; this
word albogues is Moorish, as are all those in our Castilian tongue that begin with
al, for example, almohaza, almorzar, alhombra, alguacil, alhucema, almacen, alcancia, and other similar words; our language has only three that are Moorish and
end in the letter i, and they are borcegui, zaquizami, and maravedi. Alheli and alfaqui, as much for their initial al as for the final i, are known to be Arabic. I have
told you this in passing because it came to mind when I happened to mention albogues. (90001, italics mine)
And:
Blessings on Cide Hamete Benengeli, who wrote the history of your great deeds,
and double blessings on the inquisitive man who had it translated from Arabic

Why You Can/t Believe

219

into our vernacular Castilian, for the universal entertainment of all people. (474,
italics mine)
University of Oklahoma

Notes
1 Many thanks to John Fleming, Stephen Rupp, Bruce R. Burningham, William Blair,
Tarek F. Elsayed, David Lennington and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful
comments and feedback.
2 After the Reconquista, the discovery of the New World, the expulsions of Muslims, and
the ensuing ramifications of the Inquisition, Spain came to the international stage as
Christendoms most powerful actor. It had superseded Protestant Englanddespite
the misfortune of the Armadaand Catholic France. However, it had still to compete
fiercely with the Ottoman Empire, the worlds leading power of the day. For more on
Spanish-Ottoman relations, see Braudel; Muzaffer Arkan and Paulino Toledo.
3 As it is well known, Cervantes fought and lost his left arm in the Battle of Lepanto
(1571). While trying to sail back to Spain with his brother Rodrigo, he was captured by
Muslim pirates in 1575 led by the European renegade Deli Memi. After a short time in
Istanbul, he spent five years as a captive in Algiers. He was ransomed in 1580. Alongside numerous references in his fiction and plays, Cervantes had recorded his captivity
experience in a number of poems, namely Si el bajo son de la zampoa ma (If the
Lowly Sound of My Flute) (Mancing 573).
4 I am using Mary Louise Pratts phrase which she defines as, among other things, the
space in which peoples geographically and historically separated come into contact (6).
5 For more on similar debates on possible influences of Arabic on European literature,
see classics such as Lasater; Menocal; Ranelagh; and, more recently, al-Dabbagh.
6 Bernardo del Caprio is often described in Spanish romances as an ally of convenience
of the Saracen King Marsil of Zaragosa in his struggle against the Carolingians and
their leader Charlemagne.
7 Eric Clifford Graff has argued in Cervantes and Modernity: Four Essays on Don Quixote
(2008), while briefly commenting on this particular passage, that Don Quixote was
called to action by the expansionist ideology of Spanish chauvinism (25). Earlier, in
his article When the Arab Laughs, he more convincingly spoke of Cervantes as an
example of an early modern Orientalist.
8 This is in addition to the references, namely in chapters X and XVII, to Fierabras/Ferumbras of the chanson de geste, the equally giant Saracen/Moor who, as did Morgante,
converted to Christianity and sided with Charlemagne in his battles against the Saracens/Moors.
9 The same holds true of his most favorite book of chivalry: Tirant lo Blanch, which is
dubbed the best book in the world in the passage on the burning of books of chivalry. In short, this fifteenth-century Catalan Christian epic narrated the gesta of Tiran
against the Ottoman Turks. Historians argue that it was largely inspired by the real life
of Roger de Flor, a Templar Knight celebrated for his chivalric deeds against Muslims.
220 The Comparatist 38 : 2014

Of course, this notwithstanding the no less celebratory references to the overtly anti-
Muslim Italian epic Orlando Furioso.
10 Here I am referring to Daniel J. Vitkuss succinct differentiation between the learned
and popular accounts of Islam. Referring to the works of Norman Daniel and Montgomery Watt, Vitkus has argued that since the Middle Ages, Islam has been the target
of two different, but ideologically complementary patterns of Orientalism: popular
and learned. As he explains it, the former is found mainly in the epics and romances
that recount the heroic deeds of Christian knights and crusaders in their encounters
with Muslims. The latter exists in the accounts of Islam by European scholars and travelers, who, despite their learning and direct encounter with the religion, have established an entire tradition of polemical misrepresentation that distorted Islam and
depicted it as heresy or fraud, and Muhammad as an impostor (208).
11 Another pertinent passage is the following: [T]he Moors can never be brought to
see the error of their creed by quotations from the Holy Scriptures, but must have examples that are palpable, easy, intelligible, capable of proof, not admitting of doubt,
with mathematical demonstrations that cannot be denied (Cervantes 80).
12 Against the spurious second part of Francisco Marquez Villanueva.
13 Although an exploration of the representation of medieval Western views of Islam
and Muslims goes beyond the scope of the present article, it should be mentioned that
since the appearance of the influential works of Norman Daniel, Islam and the West:
The Making of an Image (1960), and Richard Southern, Western Views of Islam in the
Middle Ages (1962), numerous scholars from different backgrounds and interests have
shown that medieval Europe was in many ways haunted by the spectre of the Saracens
(Muslims). The Saracens, as Dorothee Metlitzki once phrased it, became a crucial
public theme that permeated the religious, political, military and social life of Christian Europe (116). It is to be noted here that an astoundingly similar anti-Christian
rhetoric played a similar role in medieval Arabic literature. For more on this topic,
see Nizar F. Hermes, The [European] Other in Medieval Arabic Literature and Culture,
NinthTwelfth Century AD (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2012).
14 I was alerted by Bruce R. Burningham to the fact that many would rather see this as
essentially a generic dictation of the novela morisca where Moorish protagonists, especially females, are conventionally presented as crypto-Christians. After encountering
and falling in love with Christians, they announce their conversion in order to ensure the comic ending of the novela. As such, The Captives Tale should be read in a
similar way as El Abencerraje and Ozmn y Daraja.
15 For more on this book, see An Early Modern Dialogue with Islam Antonio de Sosas
Topography of Algiers (1612). Ed. Mara Antonia Garcs (Notre Dame: University of
Notre Dame Press, 2011).
16 It is to be noted here that there were numerous English Renaissance plays that tackled
this issue, more commonly known as turning Turk. An example is Robert Dabornes
play A Christian Turnd Turk (1612), which was largely based on the real conversion to
Islam of the once celebrated English pirate and Turk/Moor fighter John Ward (Yusuf
Reis) after his stay in Tunis. For more on this play and others, see Matar; Potter.
17 As Garcs explains it, these two interesting books investigate hundreds of cases of
renegades tried by the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition between 1550 and 1770 (35).

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 18 Rodenbeck cites also the Italian Uluj AliUchiali, the King of Algiers of The Captives Tale, who governed Algiers from 15681572, Jafar the Hungarian (15801586),
and Cervantes above-mentioned captor Deli Memi the Albanian, who ended up governing Algiers from 1583 to 1586 (61).
19 In light of Garretts previous comment about Zoraida-Maria of Don Quixote, I feel the
temptation to posit that the Frankish Mariam of The Arabian Nights can be conversely
said to be dressed like an Ifranja (Frank), but her soul is that of a very genuine Muslim,
for she is depicted as having an immense desire to be one.
20 I personally prefer to translate it as tales told in assemblies.
21 The fact that Don Quixote, as Cervantes himself could well have been, is a converso (a
Christian convert from Judaism) could speculatively represent another trace that may
legitimize further our speculation that Cervantes could have been exposed to the maqma genre in Spain.
22 For more on this, see Wacks.
23 While saluting the effort of al-Dabbaghs excellent essay which is, at least in my view,
more assertive that Abu Haidars, he errs when he suggests that Palencia was the first
to refer to possible influence of the maqma on the picaro. Al-Dabbaghs misjudgment
is the result of his belief that Pelayo published his book in 1962. Indeed, Pelayos book
was first published in Madrid in 1907. Needless to add that Pelayo died in 1912. As mentioned by Abu Haidar, in the Anglo-Saxon world, it was the erudite Gibb who detected,
albeit in passing, the resemblance of the Spanish picaro to the maqma (1).
24 Cervantes probable familiarity with the Islamic isnd was once strongly postulated by
Hutchinson in Counterfeit Chains of Discourse.
25 It is particularly important to mention here even in passing that some scholars have
proposed that Cervantes had actually modeled Cide Hamete Benengeli on a real
Arab scholar he could have met, most likely in his native town of Alcala de Henares.
Rodenbeck, to cite an example, suggested the name of Ibrahim al-Taybilia morisco
who was expelled in 1609 and took refuge in Tunisia. Strikingly enough, in one of al-
Taybilis works discovered by scholar Jaime Oliver Asn, this Arab scholar refers to
his encounter in a bookshop at Alcala de Henares with a young Christian who was
interested solely in books of chivalry (Rodenbeck 7071). In the same connection,
Carroll B. Johnson has quite recently, and quite controversially, suggested that Cide
Hamete Benengelis text could have actually been written in Aljamiado, that is to say,
Spanish using Arabic characters. For other similar theories, see el-Outmani; and Gold.
26 Some would argue also that by simply being an avid reader and a highly cultured author
in Golden Age Spain, Cervantes could have easily read about many Islamic themes.
27 While representing Arabs as liars is culturally stereotypical, some could argue, of
course from a literary perspective, that lying is ultimately a positive thing. As a writer
of fiction, Cervantes is nothing short of a liar. At least from a purely artistic point of
view, the stereotype of the Arab-as-liar should not be seen as genuinely negative, and
especially if we take into consideration the relatively dominant scholarly view that the
text is ultimately questioning all normative values.
28 This is aptly summarized by Garret when she writes: The notion of unreliable narrators is immediately presented in Don Quixote by Cervantes use of Cide Hamete, an
Arab historian, as the texts most important fictional author. On an objective, intel222 The Comparatist 38 : 2014

lectual level, Cide Hamete is an author and is therefore deserving of the trust of his
readers. However, on a cultural level he is also an Arabthe racial and religious Other
in a fiercely Catholic Spain. By virtue of his cultural and racial difference, Cide Hamete
is synonymous with potentially-lying-author, and is evocative of the assumption that
the authority of a tale (i.e., its truthfulness) is predetermined by the tellers position inside or outside of his societys prescribed bounds (140).
29 Manning, among others, can see only a comic aspect in this. Indeed, arguing that most
of his comments are erroneous and absurd, he goes on to conclude that the main role
of Cide Hamete Benengeli, especially in Part II is to replaceor at least rivalDon
Quijote as an object of laughter (Cide Hamete Benengeli 81). For more on this issue,
see Maestro; Parr, The Role Of Cide Hamete Benengeli; and Lathrop.
30 In broader terms, La taquiyya musulmana refers to the Islamic notion of covering
ones religious convictions in times of imminent danger.
31 It is erroneous to translate Cide Hamete Benengeli as Sir Ahmed Eggplant. At the
very least, Hamete corresponds to Hamid not Ahmed, and there is more to be said regarding Benengeli as eggplant. Personally, I have always believed that Benengeli is a
distortion of the Arab family name Ben Ghali (Arabic for the Precious One), still very
common in North Africa.
32 Of course, one can always question this statement since De Armas builds it on the
premise that Don Quixote s most venerated hero is Bernardo del Carpio, which is not
true since, as I quoted earlier, it was Reinaldos de Montalban, who is by and large his
most venerated knight.
33 This might also be inferred from the references to yet another Moorish dexterous and
invincible artifact: Mambrinos Helmet. While rich in orientalist subtexts, this helmet
is mentioned in several late medieval and early modern romances. In short, it describes the Moorish kings enchanted pure gold helmet which makes the person who
wears it invulnerable.

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