GIORGIO LEVI DELLA VIDA BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

PUBLICATIONS
Edited by Gustave E. von Grunebaum

Logic in Classical Islamic Culture (1970)

Theology and Law in Islam (1971)
Arabic Poetry: Theory and Development (1973)
GIORGIO LEVI DELLA VIDA CONFERENCES
Speros Vryonis Jr., General Editor

Published under the Auspices of the

Near Eastern Center
University of California
Los Angeles
 FOURTH GIORGIO LEVI DELLA VIDA BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

May 11-13, 1973

Near Eastern Center
University of California, Los Angeles

ISLAM AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Edited by
SPEROS VRYONIS Jr.

The Giorgio Levi Delia Vida Medal of the Near Eastern Center, University
of California, Los Angeles, is awarded biennially to give recognition to an
outstanding scholar whose work has significantly and lastingly advanced the
study of Islamic civilization. The field is understood to include antecedents and
interaction with historically connected centers of civilization. The scholar is
selected by a committee appointed by the chancellor of the University of
California, Los Angeles, meeting under the chairmanship of the director of the
Near Eastern Center. The composition of the committee is intended to reflect
the conviction that Near Eastern studies are most creative and effective if
integrated with other historical and social science research.
The award carries with it a bronze medal and a prize of money together with
the obligation to present in person a formal lecture at the University of Cali
fornia, Los Angeles, as part of a conference the topic of which the recipient
selects. The proceedings of the conferences are published as separate volumes
in a special series, of which this volume is the fourth.
The first award was made on May 12, 1967, to Professor Robert Brunschvig
of the Sorbonne, Paris, by a committee under the chairmanship of Professor
G. E. von Grunebaum composed of Professors G.-C. Anawati, O.P., Franz
Rosenthal, Bertold Spuler, Andreas Tietze, and Giorgio Levi Delia Vida. Subse
quent recipients were Professor Joseph Schacht of Columbia University and
Professor Francesco Gabrieli of the University of Rome.
The committee, under the chairmanship of Professor Speros Vryonis Jr.
and composed of Professor G.-C. Anawati, O.P., Robert Brunschvig, Franz
Rosenthal, Bertold Spuler, and Andreas Tietze, selected Professor Gustave
E. von Grunebaum as posthumous recipient of the fourth award.
Three volumes have been published to date: Logic in Classical Islamic
Culture (1970), Theology and Law in Islam (1971), and Arabic Poetry: Theory
and Development (1973).
ISLAM AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Giorgio L e v i D e l i a V i d a
1880-1967
ISLAM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Edited by

SPEROS VRYONIS Jr.

1975

OTTO HARRASSOWITZ WIESBADEN

 Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975
Alle Rechte vorbehalten
Photographische oder photomechanische Wiedergaben jeder A r t
nur mit ausdrucklicher Genehmigung des Verlages
Gesamtherstellung: Allgauer Zeitungsverlag G m b H , Kempten
Printed in Germany
I S B N 3 447 01608 6
 CONTENTS

Editor's Note viii

Presentation of Award to Fourth Recipient, Gustave E. von Grunebaum 1
Speros Vryonis Jr.
The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam . . . . 3
Muhsin Mahdi
Factors and Effects of Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and
Syria 17
Georges C. Anawati, O.P.
Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture . . . 43
Alessandro Bausani
Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 59
Anwar G. Chejne
Spanish Islam in Transition: Acculturative Survival and Its Price in the
Christian Kingdom of Valencia, 1240-1280 87
Robert I. Burns, S.J.
Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 107
Annemarie Schimmel
Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia from the
Fourteenth through the Sixteenth Century 127
Speros Vryonis Jr.
Index 141
 EDITOR'S NOTE

On occasion the specialist may feel an explanation or paraphrase attached

to an Arabic term or passage could have been dispensed with. The editor has
felt, however, that making this material accessible to people in related fields
would be useful to the advancement of a great variety of studies. He has
therefore tended to defend the presumed interest of the non-Arabist in the
text where the insertion of a definition does not break the flow. Translite
ration has been standardized as much as could be done without excessive ped
antry.
The spellings of well-known place names and commonly used words of Arabic
origin are given according to Webster's International Dictionary, 3d ed.
This volume and its predecessors owe what technical perfection they may
possess very largely to the care bestowed on them by Teresa Joseph, Editor,
Near Eastern Center, University of California, Los Angeles.
PRESENTATION OF A W A R D TO FOURTH RECIPIENT,
GUSTAVE E. VON GRUNEBAUM

SPEROS VRYONIS Jr.

The Fourth Giorgio Levi Delia Vida Conference and this volume, wherein are
published the papers of that conference, constitute a landmark not only in this
relatively young scholarly series but also in the international realm of Islamic
scholarship. They are dedicated to the vast labors and memory of a scholar
who by his brilliance and humanism exercised a transforming effect on Islamic
studies throughout the world wherever such studies are pursued. He is among
the last of those who have dared to master an entire civilization and who have
attempted constantly to interpret this civilization and to push forward the
boundaries of our knowledge of it. As founder of the Giorgio Levi Delia Vida
conferences and editor of these volumes it is fitting that we honor the memory
and labors of Gustave von Grunebaum here. These conferences and the pub
lications ensuing therefrom represent the culmination of Gustave's organizing
talents and efforts to create an important center of Islamic studies in his
adopted home, the United States.
In honoring the scholarship of such a man it seemed appropriate to pick a
subject which would begin to approximate the breadth and daring of his own
scholarship and which would at the same time mesh with the interests of his
research. His first major interpretation of Islamic civilization, in Medieval
Islam, has become a fundamental and classic statement of the common cultural
elements at the basis of the three medieval cultures represented by Islam,
Byzantium, and the Latin West. In preparing the program for the Fourth
Giorgio Levi Delia Vida Conference it was decided to set as the theme "Medieval
Islam and Cultural Change," a theme both sufficiently broad and intimately
related to Gustave's interests, and yet one that has not received the scholarly
attention that its importance merits. The military expansion and conquests
effected by the Islamic peoples in the Middle Ages brought in their train forces
that culturally transformed major regions from the Atlantic to the Indian
Oceans and from the Danube to Central Africa. The program of papers has
attempted to investigate the primary causes, course, and effects of cultural
change via religious, linguistic, and other manifestations in the core areas of
Islam (Egypt, Syria, Iran, Anatolia) and then to contrast this with the border
2 Speros Vryonis Jr.

areas (Spain, Balkans, India) where Islam enjoyed a dominant success followed
either by partial survival or complete expulsion. It was not possible because
of limitations of time and economic resources to organize the conference to
include other areas such as North and Central Africa, Central Asia, or Southeast
Asia, though the inclusion of these areas would have pleased Gustave.
 T H E BOOK AND THE MASTER AS POLES OF
CULTURAL CHANGE IN ISLAM

MUHSIN MAHDI

Harvard University

This is an occasion on which we remember and celebrate the achievement of

Professor Gustave von Grunebaum. The majority of students of Islamic studies
have known him and will come to know him as readers of his books and articles.
Many have known him as a friend, colleague, administrator, organizer of and
participant in conferences, and a kind and helpful man. Only a few were privileged
to know him as a master. Nevertheless, his achievement cannot be appreciated
adequately through his writings alone, despite the effort and care with which he
produced them. To appreciate his achievement and impact on the culture of the
students of Islam and Middle Eastern studies requires equal attention to the
books, the man, and the master. Since the core of his concern was to understand
and express the specific character of Islam and of Islamic civilization, its origin,
and its change through medieval and modem times, it is appropriate that I
open this conference in his memory as a writer and a master by talking some
what informally and tentatively about the book and the master in Islamic
civilization, especially in that aspect of Islamic civilization represented by the
Sufis in which there was a creative tension between the role of the book and the
role of the master.
In the third quarter of the eighth century of the Islamic era, the fourteenth
century of the Christian era, the Sufis of Andalusia were involved in a long-
drawn conflict among themselves in which they used verbal arguments and
occasionally their fists and sandals as well. The question dividing them had to
do with their distinctive lifestyle, their path or way to knowledge, intuitive
experience, and unveiling the spiritual world. Is it sufficient to read what other
Sufi masters had written about their own experiences and depend wholly on
the guidance of books ? Or, is it indispensable to have a living master, a shaykh,
who explains the signs that appear along the disciple's path, warns against the
dangers that may confront the disciple as he pursues his training, and clears
up the uncertainties and confusions that may arise on the way as the disciple
attempts to distinguish good from bad and proper from improper among the
happenings and states he experiencesa master, therefore, who will perform a
function similar to that performed by the physician with respect to the sick
4 Muhsin Mahdi

and the just leader, the imam, with respect to the leaderless and disorderly
community ? Is it enough, in short, for the disciple to read books and follow
written instructions; or is it indispensable that he follow an imam or a sliaykh,
listen to his directions, imitate him, and act on his instructions ?
The Sufis of Andalusiawhich in the third quarter of the fourteenth century
meant the kingdom of Granadawere unable to resolve this question among
themselves. Nor were the local jurists to whom they appealed for a decision
able to resolve it to everyone's satisfaction. Therefore, one of the most prominent
1
jurists of Granada, Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi (d. 790/1388), formulated the question
and the arguments between the opposing camps and addressed a letter to a
number of learned men in Fez, the capital of the Marinids and the active center
of intellectual life at the time, asking for their opinions. The men to whom he
2
addressed this letter included the jurist Abu al-'Abbas al-Qabbab (d. 779/1377)
3
and the Sufi Ibn 'Abbad al-Rundi (d. 792/1390). Both the incident and the
opinions have been well known among the Sufis and jurists of North Africa.
4
The famous shaykh Zarruq (d. 899/1493) of Fez, who is buried in Mesrata east
of Tripoli in Libya, refers to them in a number of his works. And the text of the
legal responsa are reported in the well-known collection of legal opinions, fatam,
of Andalusian and North African jurists compiled by al-Wansharisi (d. 914/1508)
&
and known as al-Mi'yar.
The North African sources speak also of an answer written by the historian
Ibn Khaldun. This answer appears to have been written sometime between 774
and 776 of the Islamic era (between 1372 and 1374 of the Christian era) when
Ibn Khaldun was moving between Andalusia and North Africa, avoiding
political entanglements, and looking for a place to retire and figure out the
meaning of history in general, of Islamic history, and of the contemporary
history of Andalusia and North Africa. This means that it was written immedi
ately before his famous introduction to history, the Muqaddima, either just
before Ibn Khaldun retired to the castle of Ibn Salama or early during his
retirement there, which ended with the completion of the first draft of the
6
Muqaddima in mid 779/November 1377. And the two works are in a sense
twin sisters, the one dealing with the external meaning of the internal experience
of the Sufis, the other with the internal meaning of the external events of
history. Ibn Khaldun was not requested by al-Shatibi to answer the letter.
He volunteered the answer and gave it the curious name Shifd' al-Sa'il li-
Tahdhib al-Masa'il ("The Cure of the Questioner about the Clarification of the

1
Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (5 vols.; Leiden, 1 9 3 7 -
1949), I I , 264 (henceforth cited as GAL).
2
GAL, I I , 247.
3
GAL, I I , 252.
1
GAL, I I , 253.
5
GAL, I I , 248, no. 3.
6
Muhsin Mahdi, Ibn Khaldun's Philosophy of History (Chicago, 1964), p. 5 0 .
 The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam 5
7
Questions"). The author of the "Cure" considers himself the master physician
who combines knowledge of the medical art that is drawn from books (in this
case the Sufi literature), knowledge of the history of the patient's disease,
experience in healing the sick, and the ability to determine the right medicine
for this particular illness at this particular time.
Let me begin with this last point, and start by comparing the opinions of
the Malikite jurist al-Qabbab, the great Sufi al-Rundi, and the historian Ibn
8
Khaldun.
A humble man, al-Qabbab claims that he knows nothing about Sufis and
Sufism, since he has not studied their disciplines or frequented their masters or
learned their true aims. Therefore, he considers the arguments of the litigants
and expresses his preference on the basis of their own presentations. He sides
with the group that argues for the necessity of the master. He takes into
account the fact on which both parties agree, which is that the Sufi path is like
a vast and dangerous desert. His main argument is drawn from the analogy
of the other arts, such as medicine, jurisprudence, and grammar, in which no
student can become a competent practitioner merely by reading books; he
needs, in addition, to be trained by masters in these arts who "possess the keys
9
of the books." As described by both groups, Sufism appears much more obscure
than these other arts. Its technical terms are not as fully explained, but
mentioned in books by way of allusions and symbols only. And it involves
greater danger of going astray, since it is more likely to lead to grave errors and
even unbelief in matters of religion. Therefore, it is all the more necessary that
the student of Sufism should have a master as guide. Finally, jurists have
traditionally disapproved of the writings of the great Sufi masters of the past
so far as they dealt with mystical vision. Al-Qabbab quotes the famous jurist
10
of the region, Abu Muhammad al-Fishtali (d. 777/1376), who used to say,
"Were I to find all the works of al-Qushayii [a Sufi who was considered quite
orthodox], I would collect them and throw them into the ocean" and who rec
ommended that one should accept only those parts of al-Ghazali's writings
that deal with jurisprudence, but be quite careful about the parts in which he
11
talks about the "unseen" world of the Sufis.
This, then, is the purely juridical answer to the question. The jurist looks
at similar cases, the other arts, formulates a general rule, and applies it to the

' E d . Muhammad Ibn Tawlt al-Tanji (Istanbul, 1957-1958). The editor's argu
ments for the years 1372-1374 as the most likely date for the composition of the
work are to be found in his introduction, pp. d-da. For the reader's convenience, I
will refer to al-Qabbab's and al-Rundf s answers as reproduced in the appendices
of al-Tanji's edition (henceforth cited as Ibn Khaldun, Shifa'), even though the text
of these two answers is not edited critically.
8
These are in Ibn Khaldun, Shifa', pp. 127-134, 111-127, and 3 - 1 0 8 , respectively.
9
Ibid., p. 129.
1 0
GAL, I I , 247.
1 1 1
Ibn Khaldun, Shifa , p. 132.
6 Muhsin Mahdi

new case after he makes sure that the new case does not contain features that
may justify its exclusion from the general rule. Al-Qabbab finds that, if any
thing, the master is more necessary in Sufism than in the other arts; it is a
"master intensive" art, as we say nowadays. The objection that a master may
lead the disciple to error and unbelief does not move al-Qabbab, who reports
the answer of those who complained that an equal number of people were led
astray by depending on books alone and suggests that in both cases one is
faced with a vicious circle in which he may need a book to enlighten him on the
correctness of another book and a master to enlighten him as to which master
12
leads to the right path, and so on. The result is a legal decision in favor of the
necessity of the Sufi master which, as we saw, tends to destroy the authority of
Sufi books. Continuity and change, correctness and error, and right and wrong,
are all invested in the living Sufi master and guide. Thus the purely legal
opinion, which one would have expected to favor the book as an instrument of
transmitting an unchanging truth, ends by supporting the master as the trans
mitter of living truth, with no provision for controlling the direction or the
content of the Sufi path.
Ibn 'Abbad al-Rundi's answer, like that of al-Qabbab, begins with a disclaim
er of personal discipleship under or search for true Sufis, and the assertion
that, for the most part, he busied himself with reading some of their books and
13
nothing more. One would therefore expect him to answer that the master is
not indispensable for the Sufi path. Yet, he practically asserts the contrary.
The master is undeniably indispensable. But there are two kinds of Sufi mas
ters. There is on the one hand the "teaching master" (shaylch al-ta'lim), that is,
the master who teaches the books on Sufism. This master is necessary; he is the
14
"guide to the path of God." He is needed, first, to direct the student to authors
who are truly knowledgeable and deserve to be followed and, second, to explain
to the disciple such matters in these books that are not clear or not in agree
ment with the apparent sense of the divine law. And it is with reference to this
kind of master that it has been said: "He who has no master, the Devil is his
15
master." Then there is the "training master" (shaykh al-tarbiya) whose func
tion is to reform the character and improve the minds of those whose moral
character is defective and whose wits are dull. Just as those who are afflicted
with incurable diseases cannot be cured without skillful physicians, these disci
ples cannot pursue the path of Sufism without a training master, who must
take complete charge of them, subject them to a harsh regime, dictate what
they should do and learn, refine their moral qualities, and train their souls with
1 2
Ibid., pp. 133-134.
1 3
This statement is a remarkable expression of humility. Details of al-Rundi's
(and al-Qabbab's) training in Sufism can be found in Paul Nwyia, Ibn 'Abbad de
Ronda {1332-1390) (Beirut, 1961). Al-Rundi's answer has been edited by Paul Nwyia
in Ibn 'Abbad de Ronda, Lea lettres de direction spirituelle (Beirut, 1958).
1 4
Ibn Khaldun, Shij&\ p. 114.
1 5
Ibid.
 The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam 7

such things as solitude, recitations, relative abstention from food, speaking,

sleep, and so forth. Such disciples, however, need a teaching master as well.
Yet it is this kind of master alonethat is, the training master and not the
teaching masterwho, according to al-Rundi, was being proposed as indispens
able by the party of Sufis in Andalusia who upheld the necessity of having a
master. Al-Rundi himself holds that the training master is not necessary for
every disciple and asserts that the disciple who is naturally gifted both morally
and intellectually does not need a training master at all. Thus the warring
factions among the Sufis of Andalusia were not arguing about the really indis
pensable master, the teaching master, but only about a dispensable master,
and they had lost sight of the truly indispensable master, the teaching master.
Furthermore, reliance on a training master is, according to al-Rundi, a late
development in the history of Sufism. The earlier Sufis in the ninth and tenth
16
centuries, as shown by the works of al-Muhasibi (d. 243/837) and al-Makki
17
(d. 386/996), took charge of their own training, relied on what they learned
from teaching masters alone, and improved themselves by frequenting each
other's company as friends and brothers (bi-tariq al-suhba wa'l-mu'akhdt) and
18
by traveling to meet other saints and learned men. So there has been a
change in the kind of master that Sufis rely upon or perhaps need. Either the
times have changed and all those who pursue the Sufi path have become moral
ly and intellectually defective, or else the circle of those choosing the Sufi path
has now extended beyond the small group of select men who possess the moral
and intellectual qualifications preparing them for this calling to encompass a
larger group who do not possess these qualifications and therefore must have
the training master in addition to the teaching master. In al-Rundi's time
the situation seems to have degenerated even further. Large groups of Sufis
seem to have forgotten about the necessity of the teaching master who is truly
indispensable and were quarreling about the necessity of even the training
master, all this at a time when both training masters and genuine disciples
had become extremely rare. "I do not know," al-Rundi says, "which of these
two calamities is the greater one: the fact that one cannot find a training
19
master or the fact that there is not a genuine disciple around."
Al-Rundi's answer is more than an opinion regarding the original question
posed by al-Shatibi. It is a critique of both of the warring Sufi factions, masters
and disciples, their morality and intellectual standards. In particular he criti
cizes the faction that proposes exclusive reliance on books alone for lacking good
intention to begin with, when good intention is the basis of the Sufi path, and
for undertaking to train themselves in such things as prolonged fasting and
other excessive, extralegal practices that should never be attempted except

1 8
GAL, I, 198.
1 7
GAL, I, 200.
1 8
Ibn Khaldun, Shifa, p. 116.
1 9
Ibid.
8 Muhsin Mahdi

under the watchful eye of a training master. And he criticizes the faction that
proposes exclusive reliance on the masterby which they mean the training
master, not the teaching masterfor restricting the Sufi path to reliance on this
kind of master alone and for requiring that the disciple should do nothing until
he had searched for and found such a master.
Al-Rundi, then, is dissatisfied with both opinions. He proposes his own opinion,
which he wishes to be accepted as a third opinion different from the opinions
of the warring factions. This opinion is that Sufism is a calling meant for a very
few who are elected for it and chosen by God who himself aids and supports
these disciples on their way to him. A disciple who is thus called should avoid
worldly entanglements and seek to find out and imitate the moral character,
sincere works, and worship, of earlier Sufis as reported in the early manuals on
Sufism. He should seek the aid of God, depend on him, avoid excesses, perform
good works, and hope for God's help. God may bring him across a divine master
who fits his exact needs. What the disciple needs most is sincerity and humility
in his relation to God, not worrying about what choices to make, pretension to
knowledge, intensive search, strong acquisitiveness, or powerful desire. True
20
Sufis are like "children in God's lap." This is not belief in predestination or in
the virtue of mindlessness, but faith in the efficacy of works combined with hope
and reliance on God, who will in one way or another (through a master, a book,
or directly by inspiring the disciple) lead him to his desired end. In short, it is
the Sufi doctrine that a man cannot reach God except by way of God himself.
It is man's own self that is the only veil between him and God, and man cannot
fight his own self with that very self. He can only fight it with God's aid, and
when he does this, all the difficulties that confront the man who is busy with
himself and his own will and choice and designs will be difficulties no longer.
Books are needed and masters are needed, but neither of these two things is
sufficient. Neither should be made the object of exclusive reliance; only God is
worthy of exclusive reliance. For it is he who gives those whom he elects for his
path the degree of natural makeup and intelligence that prepares them initially
for the degree of effort needed to pursue the path and then determines how far
they can go on this path. The Sufi path is not a wild or dangerous desert but
consists of stations and resting places where one finds joy and helpers to aid
him. The elect should not wait and spend their time looking for books or mas
ters. They must set out on their path. All-tha1< is required of them is sincerity
in worshipping God and reliance on him: "You will not stop short of anything
you seek by way of your Lord, and you will attain nothing that you seek by
21
way of your own self." Books and masters are aids, perhaps, but those who
rely exclusively on either or both, or quarrel about their respective merits, have
lost sight of the aim of the Sufi path, which is fighting one's own self and answer
ing the divine call.

2 0
Ibid., p. 119.
2 1
Ibid., p. 125.
 The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam 9

It is clear that al-Rundi's answer is not a legal opinion. His disclaimer of

personal discipleship under or search for true Sufis is meant to underline the
primacy of reliance on God rather than on books and masters. The question
that seems to concern him most is the historical change in the character of
Sufism which had led to excessive dependence on books or masters, which is
essentially a social change. Sufism had changed from a calling reserved for a
few chosen men, chosen by God and for God, to popular movements whose
members no longer possessed the moral and intellectual qualifications to study
or be taught by teaching masters, or to train themselves or be trained by train
ing masters. This was, in a way, an inevitable consequence of the rise of popular
Sufism, of large groups who could claim only the vaguest relation to a founder
and who thought that the mere reading of some popular manual of Sufism was
sufficient. For the rest, they developed their own practices and went their own
ways. Like al-Qabbab, al-Rundi is opposed to the spread of popular Sufism.
Al-Qabbab expressed his opposition by insisting on the necessity of a master,
knowing full well that there were not enough masters around to look after the
very large number of Sufi disciples in these popular movements. Al-Rundi
underlined this point by insisting that the training master, who is the master
these factions were quarreling about, must take exclusive charge of the disciple,
which meant that such a master would not have been able to train his disciples
en masse or conduct large classes for them, but must have paid very close and
individual attention to them. One would therefore have needed a very large
number of training masters, and al-Rundi complains that one could not find
even a single training master around. The other side of the coin, of course, is
the fact that these were not genuine disciples, for according to al-Rundi it is in
the nature of Sufism that there cannot be such large crowds of genuine Sufi
disciples. One is justified, therefore, in detecting a common ground between the
learned jurist al-Qabbab and the learned Sufi al-Rundi, which is that popular
Sufism is harmful from the juridical as well as the Sufi view of Islam and that it
would be better if the vast majority of these so-called Sufi disciples were to
abandon Sufism and follow the precepts of the divine law.
It is precisely the relation between the Sufi and the juridical views of Islam,
or rather the place of the Sufi path among the "paths of the divine law (Sha-
22
ri'a)," that is the point of departure of Ibn Khaldun's answer, which follows
the major stages in the development of Sufism, analyzes the kind or kinds of
battles of the soul (mujaliadat) involved at each stage, and then explains whether
and what kind of master is useful or necessary for each one of these battles.
Initiallythat is, during the first two centuries of the Islamic era, the seventh
and eighth centuries of the Christian eraSufism meant the effort to follow
all the demands of the divine law as fully as possible. This is the first or primary
battle of the soul, the battle for piety (taqwd or wara'). As understood by the
Lawgiver, his companions, and the generation that followed them, these de-
2 2
Ibid., p. 5.
10 Muhsin Mahdi

mands consisted of external acts of worship, customary practices, and ways of

life, and internal acts promoting the good attributes or virtues of the heart.
These internal acts were considered more important than the external acts and
the source that feeds and controls them and determines their efficacy. For early
Muslims, "faith" (imari) meant primarily these internal acts of the heart; good
intention (niyya) was the principle, the "soul," of all actions; and the discord
ance between external and internal acts was "hypocrisy" (nifdq) and tanta
mount to a return to shirk, to associating someone other than God with him as
the object of one's worship and devotion. The battle for piety, then, consists of
obeying the full range of the demands of the divine law, but with emphasis
on the internal acts, the acts of the heart, which are the source of uprightness
or righteousness. And the aim or purpose of this struggle for piety is salvation in
the world to come.
With the spread of Islam and the establishment of Islamic kingdoms, how
ever, Islam became the religion of a vast multitude of men, with different levels
of attainment, diverse intentions, and conflicting theological, sectarian, and
political opinions. This led to a progressive decline in the emphasis on, and
gradual forgetfulness and neglect of, the internal acts among the majority of
Muslims, who concentrated instead on the external acts. The few who continued
to engage in the battle for piety and salvation in the world to come and who
preserved the original emphasis on the acts of the heart stood out as a distinct
group and were given such names as "ascetics," "worshipers," and finally
"Sufis." Thus arose the apparent division in understanding the knowledge
(fiqh) of the divine law. The multitude and their rulers, on the one hand, paid
excessive attention to external acts and were eager to learn the demands of the
divine law regarding such acts. The learned responded by developing what
became known as "knowledge of the divine law" simply, which in fact is no
more than knowledge of the external demands of the divine law (fiqh al-zahir).
Out of fear of the loss and complete forgetfulness of the more important part of
the divine law, the early Sufis elaborated on the other hand the demands of the
divine law regarding the acts of the heart into the knowledge of the internal
demands of the divine law (fiqh al-batin), which is contained in al-Muhasibi's
23 21
"Devotion," the writings of Ibn 'Ata' al-Adami (d. 311/928), and al-Ghazali's
25
"Revival."
The separation of the jurist's inquiry jnto the divine law from that of the Sufi
is, nevertheless, accidental as far as the true Muslim is concerned; for the two
inquiries deal with two complementary aspects of his religious life and two
complementary aspects of the divine law. Ibn Khaldun takes issue with al-
Ghazali's attempt to codify and in a way justify this separation. Al-Ghazali

2 3
Al-Ri'aya; GAL, I , 198, no. 1.
2 4
See the notice in al-Sulaml, Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, ed. Shurayba (Cairo, 1953),
pp. 2 6 5 - 2 7 2 .
2 5
Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din; GAL, I, 422, no. 2 5 : Ibn Khaldun, Shifd\ p. 11.
 The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam 11

says that the jurist inquires into the divine law insofar as it pertains to the good
of this world, while the Sufi inquires into the divine law insofar as it pertains to
the good of the world to come. Ibn Khaldun goes into the historical, social, and
psychological reasons for the emergence of the division between the juridical
and early Sufi views of Islam; yet it is his very historical sense that leads him
to conclude that this division was not intended by the divine law, by the Koran
and the Prophet, or by any prophet for that matter. The primary function of
prophets is to guide men to God and salvation in the world to come. In this
connection, they try also to restrain men and turn them away from the misery
of hellflre in the world to come. It is with a view to this negative good only
that prophets legislate the kinds of punishment that are the jurist's concern.
This negative good, however, must be seen in the perspective of the comprehen
sive teaching of the prophets regarding what leads to full or complete salvation
(kamdl al-najat). Full salvation requires the performance of all the demands of
the divine law, the external and the internal, with the additional provision that
the internal states of the heart remain constant, without interruption or slack
ening. This is the state oiihsan ("spiritual beauty," which a later Sufi defined
as "serving God as though you see him" or were in his presence). When the
internal states of the heart are not constant but subject to interruption or
slackening, this is a lower state of religious life, not as fully conducive to salva
tion as the preceding one. It is the state of iman ("faith"). Even below this is
the state of the man who performs the external demands only, completely
devoid of the internal states of the heart. This is the state of islam ("profession
of obedience"). Finally, there are those who neglect even the external demands;,
and it is for them only that punishments were legislated. Punishments come
into play only when a professing Muslim disturbs this lower flooring below which
he is not allowed to sink. Neglect of the internal states, on the other hand, is not
subject to legal punishment at all; for it cannot be known from outside; it is a.
malady that is known only to the person who is afflicted with it. In this sense
one can speak of the divine law as dealing with external and internal things,
and there is some justification for subjecting the external acts to specialized
statutes that do not apply to the internal acts. But this has nothing to do with
the distinction between the things of this world and the tilings of the world to
come, and it does not mean that the demands of the divine law regarding the
internal acts are any less important for Muslims or that those who set themselves,
up as the learned students of the divine law should be dealing only with the less,
26
important part of the divine law.
It is clear, I think, that Ibn Khaldun sees the change that led to the separa
tion of jurisprudence from Sufism as a change that went contrary to the charac
ter and intention of the original revelation. He understands the historical,,
social, and psychological reasons that led to the emergence of the so-called
juridical view of the divine law, but condemns it as partial and dealing with the
2 8
Ibn Khaldun, Shifa', pp. 1 3 - 1 5 .
 12 Muhsin Mahdi

less important part of the divine law. He understands the motives of the Sufis
in concentrating on the internal acts and even rebelling against the excessive
concern with external acts; yet he sees early Sufism as nothing more than the
continuation of the view of the "pious ancestors" and, more generally, as the
aim that should be pursued by every Muslim who aspires to salvation in the
world to come: the battle for piety, he says in fact, is an obligation incumbent
27
on every single Muslim.
Prophets guide men to God. They demand of every one of their followers to
engage in the battle for piety, whose aim is salvation in the world to come. There
is, however, an even higher degree of happiness in the world to come, which is
the beatific vision, the vision of God. Finally, some men seek to know, see, or
taste God in this world so as to be better and more fully prepared for the beatific
vision in the world to come. The struggle for these two higher kinds of perfection
is the point of departure of the next, the classical, stage of Sufism, which Ibn
Khaldun expounds through the analysis of two new kinds of battles of the soul,
the battle for uprightness or the mean (istiqdma, i'tidal), which prepares man
for the vision of God in the world to come, and the battle for unveiling or gazing
or beholding (kashf, ittila', mushahada), which leads to the mystical vision in
this world.
There is inside man's heart a subtle divine substance (latifa ruhaniyya) which
can be purified and nourished through certain activities and through knowledge.
The two new kinds of battles of the soul are meant to purify and perfect the
subtle divine substance through actions. The Prophet, the giver of the divine
law and the teacher of the battle for piety which every Muslim is called on to
engage in, also serves as the model and guide for the few who battle for beholding
God in the next world and those who battle for beholding him in this world,
just as the Prophet himself had done. Ibn Khaldun explains that the purifica
tion and the battle that prophets engage in are, of course, radically different
from those of other men. Prophets are chosen by God; they possess innate
purity ('isma); and their knowledge of the higher world is brought to them
through angels. Theirs is the highest kind of knowledge; it is revelation in the
strict sense. Other human beings are able to nourish and perfect the subtle
divine substance within their hearts and wait to see God after death, or seek to
know more or less everything in this world, by way of an art or by acquisition.
If they choose the latter method, two paths are open to them. There is, on the
one hand, the path of the later Sufis through the highest battle of the soul,
which results or can result in private inspiration, unveiling, or gazing. For the
man who achieves this end, his knowledge is certain. Others can only ascertain
its validity through an intuition of their own or else through the more common
phenomenon of dreams. Ibn Khaldun admits that the pleasure of this unveiling
may indeed be attained in this world, but he is reluctant about recommending
its pursuit, expounds on its many dangers, and is opposed to expressing or
2 7
Ibid., p. 49.
 The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam 13

communicating its results in any form. He advises those who seek the beatific
vision to confine themselves to the battle for uprightness and to wait to gather its
fruits in the next world. The other path is the knowledge that man can acquire
in the more usual way, through sense perception and thinking. It takes longer
and involves just as much hard work, and its results are not perhaps as certain
certain, that is, to the scientist. But it involves fewer dangers, can be commu
nicated to others, and can be supported by arguments. Ibn Khaldun is no
doubt thinking here of the so-called rational or philosophic sciences among
28
which he will include his new science of culture.
But let us return to the battles of the soul. The battle for piety, which is
encumbent on every Muslim, consists of learning the demands of the divine
law. It does not require a Sufi master, either of the teaching or the training type.
It can be acquired through books with the aid of teachers or learned men who
transmit the teachings of the Koran and the prophetic traditions. At most,
one may wish to pursue the battle for piety in a more perfect way by becoming
the disciple of a teaching master who would show him by practical example how
to perform the demands of the divine law. The battle for uprightness, on the
other hand, which consists of acquiring the Koranic and prophetic moral virtues,
requires a teaching master. This battle is not encumbent on every Muslim, but
on only those Muslims who are able and choose to pursue it. It is preferable
that they find and follow a master acquainted with the grounds of the moral
virtues and the subtle changes in man's inner life. But even here, it is not
absolutely necessary to attach oneself to a teaching master; for it is possible
to train oneself with the aid of the divine law, and by considering the statements
of learned men on the subject and discussing the various stages and moods of
one's experience with friends and brothers who are engaged in the same kind of
battle.
In the case of the battle for unveiling, finally, it is absolutely necessary to
have a training master. For, even though the basis of this battle can be found
in the Koran and the prophetic traditions, it is, nevertheless, a novel path, not
elaborated in the divine law, but founded or legislated by later men. It is, as it
were, a new law meant for the very few. To pursue it properly and avoid its
numerous and grave dangers, one must accept the conditions set by its founders
and legislators, all of whom are agreed that one must have a training master,
warn against pursuing it on one's own, and require that the disciple place him
self in the hands of a master who has actually pursued this path and won the
battle, as "the dead is placed in the hands of the mortician" or "the blind man
29
walking on the shoreline follows his guide."
For, this path is an artificial death, an imitation of natural death. And as in
every other art, one needs to learn it from a master practitioner, in this case the
training master. It is something that one cannot learn from books, either from

2 8
Mahdi, Ibn Khaldion's Philosophy of History, pp. 73ff., 159ff.
2 9
Ibn Khaldun, Shifa', p. 74.
14 Muhsin Mahdi

the Koran and the sayings of the Prophet, or from the writings of Sufi masters.
Unlike al-Rundi, Ibn Khaldun insists that the path of the battle for unveiling
is full of dangers; it was the Sufi masters who established it; they are the only
ones who know it, the only authorities as to what it consists of and where it
leads. It would be foolhardy, therefore, not to meet what they consider an
indispensable condition for it, the training master, on whose necessity they
insist. Al-Rundi's argument in favor of the necessity of the teaching master and
against the necessity of the trairiing master can mean one of two things. Al-
Rundi may be proposing a return to the first stage of Sufism, the struggle for
piety, or the struggle for piety together with the struggle for uprightness and
waiting for the vision of God till after one's natural death. Ibn Khaldun would
accept this course because it is both more prudent and the one recommended by
the divine law, which disapproves of the battle for unveiling in this world,
although it does not condemn it outright. But al-Rundi does not, in fact, mean
to abandon hope for the vision of God in this world. Instead, he speaks of
attaining it through divine election and divine aid. But this, according to Ibn
Khaldun, would occur in very rare cases and "by way of divine favor, the
counterpart of miracle" that upsets the course of nature. A disciple should not
dispense with the training master and say that God will guide him through an
intervention that violates the natural course of events. For this, says Ibn
Khaldun apparently in direct reference to al-Rundi's suggestion, "is to act
foolishly and talk nonsense; just like the man who throws himself into fire on
30
the ground that God (on one occasion) had made it cool and safe for Abraham."
Like the jurist al-Qabbab, Ibn Khaldun recognizes the Sufi pursuit of the
vision of God in this world as a specialized, highly dangerous, yet legitimate
art for those who are qualified to pursue it and willing to submit to its specific
demands as formulated by its own recognized masters. As a historian, he
recognizes further that it is a new art that had not existed in early Islam and is
not recommended, in fact is strongly disapproved, by the divine law. It would
have been relatively easy to throw the book, so to speak, at those who practice
it and say that, being new, it is forbidden; that as Muslims we should confine
ourselves to the explicit demands of the divine law; that our only books are the
Koran and the Prophet's traditions and our only masters are those who transmit
their teachings. But this is not historical Islam as Ibn Khaldun knew it or as we
know it. The book and the teachers who taught the book were one pole that
formed a common framework and provided for the unity, continuity, and inte
gration of Islamic civilization. The other pole was man's nature and what man
can achieve by his own effort in this world; his capacity to learn, invent, and
teach the human arts, even the highest and most dangerous of arts; and his
willingness to submit to the rigorous training imposed by the master and in
turn act as a training master for the benefit of others. Such masters were able to
produce fundamental changes within Islamic civilization and generate new
3 0
Ibid., p. 101.
 The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam 15

forms in the arts and in social and political life. Classical Sufism is perhaps the
most extreme case, where the tension between the two poles must have been at
its highest point. Yet even here the deep bond that united the two poles is
apparent: the quarreling Sufis of Andalusia who refer their case to the jurist
al-Shatibi, who in turns refers it to a Sufi master and a jurist; the Sufi master al-
Rundi who advises the Sufis to turn to the book and not emphasize reliance on
the master; the jurist al-Qabbab who decides that a Sufi disciple must place
himself in the hands of a master; and finally the historian Ibn Khaldun who
straddles the fence and prefers the surer course of pursuing the sciences of
the philosophers and their proofs in this world and the safer pursuit of salva
tion, hopefully even the vision of God, in the world to come.
 FACTORS AND EFFECTS OF ARABIZATION AND
ISLAMIZATION IN MEDIEVAL EGYPT AND SYRIA

GEORGES C. ANAWATI, O.P.

Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales, Cairo

At the beginning of his Summa contra Oentes, Thomas Aquinas recalled the
1
words of Aristotle: Sapientis est ordinare, it is for the wise man to make order.
If the historian is not merely a gatherer of texts but someone who tries to relate
effects to their causes, he must sometimes rise to the level of wisdom and pru
dently attempt a synthesis.
A synthesis, I believe, is what the organizers of this conference ask of us.
In choosing the topic "Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages," they
seek to shed new light on facts more or less known. This topic follows the line
of thought that was dear to Gustave von Grunebaum who was always interested
in discovering the divergences and convergences of culture.
The topic I treat is essentially a problem of change. He who says change says
movement and, since Aristotle, we know that every movement entails three
elements: a terminus a quo, which is its point of departure; the movement itself;
and lastly a terminus ad quern, which is the termination of the movement or its
point of arrival.
I shall outline first the condition of Syria and Egypt on the eve of the Arab
conquest, primarily from the angles of religion and language; this is our terminus
a quo. I shall study next the factors at work in the Islamization and Arabization
of the two countries; that is the change itself. Finally I shall examine the effects
of Arabization and Islamization on the autochthonous populations as well as on
the language and religion of the conquerors; this is the terminus ad quern.

2
I. EGYPT AND SYRIA ON THE EVE OF THE ARAB CONQUEST

At the beginning of the seventh century, two great powers occupied the politi
cal stage: Byzantium and Persia. For decades, even for centuries, they fought
1
"Unde inter alia quae homines de sapiente concipiunt, a Philosophitur quod
sapientis est ordinare," ed. Leonina Manualis (Rome, 1934), p. 1.
2
For geographical and general history cf.: C. Diehl, L'Afrique byzantine (Paris,
1896); R . E . Briinnow and A . von Domaszewski, Die Provincia Arabia (3 vols.;
StraBburg, 1 9 0 4 - 1 9 0 9 ) ; Alois Musil, Arabia Petrae (3 vols.; Vienna, 1 9 0 7 - 1 9 0 8 ) ;
18 Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

fiercely over possession of the two oriental provinces of the empire, Syria and
Egypt. Eventually Byzantium won; its troops maintained order on the banks
of the Nile and on the Syro-Persian borders; its prefects watched over their
administration; Christianity had overcome the last strongholds of paganism;
a language of rich culture, the Greek language, held sway among the intelligent
sia and in the administration; the Greek empire of the Orient, the heir of
ancient Greece and of the Roman order, seemed destined to maintain, in the
service of the Church and for centuries to come, the precious legacy of antiquity.
Suddenly, with lightning speed, there came the forward march of the Arab
armies. Emerging from their desert, those "lizard and jerboa eaters," as they
were called, captured Palestine, Syria and soon afterward Egypt. A mere decade
sufficed to shake the Colossus and tear away two of its best provinces. Soon
these would become almost entirely Arab and Muslim. How did this happen %
Before attempting to explain this extraordinary upheaval, let us look at the
3
situation in the provinces. First, Syria.

A . SYEIA

1. In 395, Syria had become a Byzantine Province. It was divided into three
districts: (1) Syria prima, whose principal cities were Seleucia and Laodicea;
Theodor Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire, trans. W . Dickson, Vol. I I
(London, 1909), chap, x, Syria; chap, xii, E g y p t ; M . Rostovtzeff, The Social and
Economic History of the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1926); R . Aigrain, "Arabie,"
Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Qiographie EccUsiastique, vol. 3 (1924), cols. 1158-1339;
Henri Charles, Le Christianisme des Arabes nomades sur le Limes aux alentours de
VH&gire (Paris: Leroux, 1936); P. Goubert, Byzance avant VIslam, I , Byzance et
I'Orient sous les successeurs de Justinien: L'empereur Maurice (Paris, 1951); G.
Ostrogorsky, "The Byzantine Empire in the World of the Seventh Century,"
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, X I I I (1955) 1 - 2 1 ; P. Birot and J. Dresch, La M4diterran-
nie et le Moyen-Orient, Vol. 2. Les Balkans, VAsie-Mineure, le Moyen-Orient (Paris,
1956); G. Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, trans. Joan Hussey (rev. ed.;
N e w Brunswick, N . J.: Rutgers University Press, 1969).
3 1
Giorgio Levi Delia Vida, "Umaiyads (Banu Umaiya)," EI ; J. M . de Goeje,
Mimoire sur la conquete de la Syrie (Leiden, 1900); Georges Samne, La Syrie (Paris,
1920); L . Jalabert, "Damas" in Dictionnaire d'archdologie chritienne, Vol. I V (Paris,
1920), cols. 119-145; H . Lammens, La Syrie: Precis historique (2 vols.; Beirut, 1921);
A . Baumstark, Oeschichte der syrischen Literatur (Bonn, 1922); M . Gaudefroy-
Demombynes, La Syrie d I'epoque des Mameloulcs (Paris, 1923); F . E . Bustani, "Le
role des Chretiens dans l'etablissement de la dynastie omayyade," Machriq 36 (1938),
7 1 - 9 2 ; Henri Charles, Tribus moutonnieres du Moyen-Euphrate (Beirut, 1939); R .
Dussaud, Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et midiivale (Paris: Geuthner,
1927); P. K . Hitti, History of Syria (London: Macmillan, 1951), includes Lebanon
and Palestine; CI. Cahen, La Syrie du Nord a Vipoque des Croisades (Paris: Geuthner,
1940); CI. Cahen, "Crusades," EP; Rene Dussaud, La pinltration des Arabes en
Syrie avant VIslam (Paris, 1955); G. Downey, A History of Antioch in Syria: From
Seleucus to the Arab Conquest (Princeton, 1961); Robert M . Haddad, Syrian Chris
tians in Muslim Society: An Interpretation (Princeton, 1970); A . J. Festugiere,
Antioche paienne et chrUienne (Paris: de Bocoard, 1959).
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 19

(2) Syria secunda, with Apamea as administrative center, and (3) Syria tertia,
or Phoenicia, which was divided into Maritime Phoenicia, with Tyre as capital,
and Lebanese Phoenicia, which included such towns as Heliopolis, Damascus,
Emesa, and Palmyra.
A century earlier, Diocletian had established a limes (the Strata Diocletiana)
against the invasions of Huns, Persians, and Arabs. But preoccupied with con
quests in Africa and Europe, the Byzantines had come to neglect SjTia. Per
haps they mistrusted the native population and feared the troops commanded
by native generals. Only Byzantine police forces were kept and these were poorly
trained and incapable of resisting seasoned warriors.
2. But around 490, Byzantium had placed an Arab tribe of al-Azd, the Ghas-
4
sanids, as a buffer state on the Roman limes. They became allies (symmachoi) of
the Byzantines in 502-503, with a treaty (foedus) that defined their relation to
the Empire. In return for annual subsidies they supplied cavalry troops to the
Byzantines. Their leaders bore the title phylarch, and the chief who resided
at Jabia, in the Province of Arabia, held the high rank of patrician (batriq).
As political and military allies of Byzantium, they were expected, first, to
furnish to the Army of the Orient troops capable of holding their own against
the Persians; second, to make war on the Lakhmids, the Arab tribes allied with
the Persians; third, to repel the incursions of the Arab nomads of the Hejaz.
Furthermore, they watched over the Byzantine interests along the spice route.
The populations of Syria were predominantly Semitic and spoke Aramaic;
the Christian Ghassanids spoke Arabic; lastly there was an elite of officials
and scholars who were Greek or Hellenized. For, despite the efforts of the
Seleucids and of Byzantium, Hellenization had affected only a thin layer of
the populationthe elite and a small part of the middle class. Here is how one
of the best historians of Syria, Father H. Lammens, describes the situation.
After pointing out that as a reaction to Byzantine rule the Aramaic language had
gained in popularity, he writes:

Parmi les Syriens, par temperament polyglottes et hommes d'affaire,

places au carrefour des routes de l'Orient, les commercants, les intellectuels
enfin continuent a parler la langue, a cultiver les lettres grecques. Ceux qui
aspirent aux fonctions publiques, les hommes de loi, tous les anciens eleves
de Beryte, connaissent le latin. En dehors des centres cosmopolites on ne
rencontre que des Arameens, des Anbdt, comme les appellent les Arabes. A
Antioche, la capitale syrienne, S. Jean Chrysostome se plaint de n'etre pas
toujours compris de ses auditeurs. Les fonctionnaires, envoyes de Byzance,
doivent s'entourer d'interpretes. Des homeiies de Chrysostome nous appren-

4
For the role of the Arab auxiliaries of Byzantium see: Irfan (Kawar) Shahid,
"The Last Days of Salih," Arabica, 5 (1958), 1 4 5 - 1 5 8 ; "The Patriciate of Arethas,"
Byzantinische Zeitschriften, 52 (1959), 3 2 1 - 3 4 3 ; "Procopius and Kinda," ibid., 53
(1960), 7 4 - 7 6 ; "Byzantium and Kinda," ibid., 53 (I960), 5 7 - 7 3 .
20 Georges C. Anawati, O.P.

nent que les pretres n'entendaient que le syriaque. Dans le rang du haut
clerge lui-Maeme, on rencontrait des prelats qui ne possedaient que la
langue "vulgaire" et signaient de cette langue les Actes des Conciles. Dans
6
certaines localites, il fallait interpreter en syriaque l'evangile lu en grec.

3. In six successive campaigns (622-627) the emperor Heraclius had driven

the Persians out of the Asiatic provinces of the empire. In their invasion of
Syria, the Persians had occupied Aleppo, Damascus, and Antioch, oppressed
their populations, plundered the countryside, devastated Jerusalem, massacred
its inhabitants, and removed the True Cross. Now, six years of war had exhaust
ed the imperial treasure. To refill it, Heraclius crushed the populations with
new taxes, thereby aggravating the anti-Byzantine feeling and accelerating the
de-Byzantinization of the Syrian masses and their religious leaders.
4. The religious question had contributed most to nourishing an aversion
against Byzantium. Only the Melkite minority, drawn mostly from Greek or
Hellenized circles, rallied to Byzantine orthodoxy, the creed upheld by the secu
6
lar power. The Nestorians, condemned at Ephesus in 431, had gone underground
7
or taken refuge in Persia. The Monophysites, condemned at Chalcedon in 451,
viewed Constantinople and the Greeks who sided with her as enemies of their
faith. At the end of the fifth century and at the beginning of the sixth, owing to
the energy of Barsauma, bishop of Nisibis, of Severus, patriarch of Antioch, and
of Jacob Baradaeus, bishop of Edessa, the Monophysites were in the majority
in northern Syria, and the Monophysite church became to some extent the
national Church of Syria. Why should they not welcome as ally an invader of
their own race who appeared to promise them their religious freedom 1

5
Lammens, Pricis, p. 14. C. Karalevskij, "Antioche," Dictionnaire d'Histoire
et de Giographie Ecclesiastique, vol. 3 (1924), cols. 5 6 3 - 7 0 3 ; S. Vailhe and V . Ermoni,
"Antioche," Dictionnaire de ThMogie Catholique (DTC), vol. 1, part 2 (1903), cols.
1399-1439; R . Devresse, Le patriarcat d'Antioche depuis la paix de VEglise jusqu'a
la conquete arabe (Paris: Gabalda, 1945).
For a further bibliography, cf. G. Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen
Literatur (5 vols.: Vatican City, 1944-1953'), Studi e Testi, 118, 133, 146, 147, 172;
Jean Sauvaget, Introduction to the History of the Muslim East: A Bibliographical
Guide, based on the second edition as recast by Claude Cahen (Berkeley and Los
Angeles, 1965); Aziz S. Atiya, A History of Eastern Christianity (London, 1968).
6
B . Spuler, "Die nestorianische Kirche," in Handbuch der Orientalistik, Vol. 8,
Religion, 2 d Abschnitt, Religionsgeschichte des Orients in der Zeit der Weltreli-
gion (Leiden: Brill, 1961), pp. 1 2 0 - 1 6 7 ; E . Tisserant, "L'Eglise Nestorienne,"
DTC, vol. 11, part 1 (1931), cols. 157-323.
7
B . Spuler, "Die westsyrische (monophysitische/jakobitische) Kirche," ibid.,
pp. 1 7 0 - 2 1 5 ; M . Jugie, "Monophysisme," DTC, vol. 10, part 2 (1929), cols. 2 2 1 6 -
2 2 5 1 ; "Monophysite (Eglise copte)," ibid., cols. 2251-2306.
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 21

8
B. EGYPT

1. The situation in Egypt was not auspicious for Byzantium either. There,
too, Hellenization had reached only a small elite living in the towns, especially
at Alexandria. Greek remained the language of government, but the language of

8
Byzantine E g y p t : M . Gelzer, Studien zur byzantinischen Verwaltung Agyptens
(Leipzig, 1909); Jean Maspero, Organisation militaire de VEgypte byzantine (Paris,
1912); G. Bouillard, L''administration civile de VEgypte byzantine (2d ed.; Paris,
1928); Edward Rochie Hardy, The Large Estate of Byzantine Egypt (New York,
1931); C. Diehl, VEgypte chretienne et byzantine, Vol. I l l , Histoire de la Nation
Egyptienne, G. Hanotaux, ed. (Paris, 1933); Idris Bell, Egypt from Alexander to the
Arab Conquest (Oxford, 1956).
1 1
Arab E g y p t : G. Wiet, " K i b t , " EI ; C. H . Becker, "Egypt," EI , and "Agypten
im Mittelalter" in Islamstudien, vol. 1 (Hildesheim, 1967), pp. 146-200; "Grund-
linien der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung Agyptens in den ersten Jahrhunderten des
Islam," ibid., pp. 2 0 1 - 2 1 7 ; "Historische Studien iiber das Londoner Aphroditowerk,"
ibid., pp. 2 4 8 - 2 6 2 ; S. Lane-Poole, A History of Egypt in the Middle Ages (London,
1936); G. Wiet, "L'Egypte arabe," Vol. I V , Histoire de la Nation Egyptienne, G.
Hanotaux, ed. (Paris, 1937).
Coptic bibliography: J. Simon, "Bibliographic copte," Orientalia, vols. 18-26
(1941-1956); W . Kammerer, A Coptic Bibliography, compiled with the collaboration
of Elinor M . Husselman and Louise A . Shier, University of Michigan General
Library Publications (Ann Arbor, 1950).
Coptic Church: A . J. Butler, The Coptic Churches of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 1884);
J. Faivre, "Alexandrie," Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Olographic EccUsiastique, vol. 2
(1914), ools. 2 8 9 - 3 6 9 ; J. Pargoire and A . de la Barre, "Alexandrie," DTC, vol. 1,
part 1 (1903), cols. 7 8 6 - 8 2 4 ; M . Roncaglia, Histoire de VEglise copte, vol. 1, Les
origines du christianisme en Egypte (1966); vol. 2, Le Didascalie, les hommes, les
e
doctrines: La formation d'une culture chr&tienne igyptienne (III siecle) (1969); vol. 3,
6
La christianisation de VEgypte {III siecle) (1971) (Beirut: Dar al-Kalima). Very
abundant bibliography. Four other volumes are in preparation.
History of the Copts: Macrizi, Qeschichte der Copten von Ferd, Wustenfeld mit
Ubersetzungen und Anmerkungen (Gdttingen, 1845); Renaudot, Historia Patri-
archarum Alexandrinorum Jacobitarum (4 vols.; Paris, 1713): "a work of profound
scholarship and research, and its importance is undiminished, as far as it goes"
(Butler); M . Lequien, "Patriarchate of Alexandria," in Oriens Christianus, I I ,
3 2 9 - 6 6 6 ; E . Quatremere, Mimoires g&ographiques et historiques sur VEgypte, recueils
et extraits des manuscrits coptes, arabes etc. de la Bibliotheque Imperiale (Paris,
1811), 2 vols.; Eutychius, Patriarcha Alexandrina, Annates, Patrologia Graeca
C X I ; Chronique de Denys de Tell-MahrA, trans. J. B . Chabot (Paris ,1895); Chronique
de Michel le Syrien, ed J. B . Chabot (4 vols.; Paris, 1899); Jean Maspero, Histoire
des patriarches d'Alexandrie depuis la mort de Vempereur Anastase jusqu'd la reconcili
ation des iglises Jacobites (518-616) (Paris, 1923); The Legacy of Egypt, S. R . Glan-
ville, ed. (Oxford Press, 1942): "The Egyptian Contribution to Christianity: 1.
Egypt and the Christian Church" b y M. Creed; 2. "The Coptic Church and Egyptian
Monasticism" b y D e Lacy O'Leary; William Worrell, A Short Account of the Copts
(Ann Arbor, 1945); B . Spuler, "Die koptische Kirche," in Handbuch der Orientali-
stik, vol. 8, Religion, 2 d Abschnitt, Religionsgeschichte des Orients in der Zeit der
Weltreligion (Leiden: Brill, 1961), pp. 2 6 9 - 3 0 8 ; from the Coptic point of view, in
Arabic: list in Aziz S. Atiya, A History of Eastern Christianity (London: Methuen,
1968), p. 14 n. 2.
22 Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

the people was Coptic, the descendant of ancient Egyptian, which in the
second or third century had adopted the Greek alphabet as its script.
9
Monasticism, the authentic creation of Egypt, begun in the third century,
had filled Upper Egypt and the deserts of Nitria and Scete with numerous
monasteries. Its monks were intransigeant defenders of Monophysitism; at the
same time, they promoted an original Coptic literary activity.
10
In a richly documented article written with lucid sympathy, Miriam Licht-
heim has shown how little the Western world knew of the intellectual life of the
early Coptic monks. They were viewed as "rude and illiterate peasants of the
Nile"the phrase is Gibbon'san impression stemming largely from the
accounts of travelers who visited the shrunken and decadent Coptic monasteries
of modem times. That a substantial Coptic literature had existed went unno
ticed.
True, the towns and especially Alexandria had been nourished by Greek
culture. But since the beginning of Christianity Egypt had displayed a marked
linguistic dichotomy. It was not in its Greek voice that the message of the
Gospel reached the masses. Even Saint Athanasius is now thought to have
11
written some of his works in Coptic. Saint Anthony knew only Coptic; Saint
Pachomius addressed his monks in Coptic. The oldest Coptic translations of
biblical texts date from the third century and are written in Sahidic, the
principal Coptic dialect of Upper Egypt. The numerous Coptic texts discovered
in Upper Egypt show that the language had attained a certain literary level;
and by the fourth century it had become mature enough for the creation of
original works. Its principal impetus had come from the monasteries of Upper
Egypt founded by Saint Pachomius in the fourth century. The patriarch of
Egyptian monasticism and his successors wrote works that, translated into
Latin, transmitted to the western Christian world the spiritual doctrine of the
Desert Fathers. The powerful personality of Shenute of Atripe, abbot of the
White Monastery near Sohag, fostered the spread of monasticism, and his
numerous writings created a homiletic literature which became normative.
A parallel evolution took place in Lower Egypt. Bohairic, the Coptic dialect
of Lower Egypt, served in the fourth century for the translation of the Bible, a
century after the Sahidic translations and independent of them. At this time
the hermits of Nitria and Scete gave to those following the religious life the
jewel of Coptic literature, the Apophthegmata Patrum, which came to serve as
vademecum to all those who desired to live the precepts and virtues of the
gospels.

9
Cf. A . J. Butler, The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt (Oxford, 1884); Farag
Rofail Farag, Sociological and Moral Studies in the Field of Coptic Monasticism
(Leiden: Brill, 1964).
1 0
Miriam Lichtheim, "Autonomy versus Unity in the Christian East," in The
Transformation of the Roman World, ed. L . White, jr. (Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1966), pp. 119-146.
1 1
Cf. New Catholic Encyclopedia, I , 594.
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 23

The monks translated the Greek Fathers of the Church: Athanasius, Basil,
Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom. From this time
also dates the beginning of Coptic ecclesiastical history, both in translation
(the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius), and in original works that have not
survived but which were utilized by Severus, bishop of Eshmunein, in his
History of the Patriarchs written in Arabic in the tenth century.
This literary activity was not limited to religious subjects. In her article,
Miss Lichtheim points out that in the seventh and eighth centuries a degree of
seculararization made itself felt in the literary productivity of the Coptic mon
asteries.
2. The affirmation of national character was enhanced by the theological
dispute with Byzantium. The Copts viewed the Chalcedonians (later called
Melkites), the partisans of the emperor, as heretics. One must read the invectives
12
which a John of Nikiu, a Coptic bishop of the seventh century, hurls at them
to obtain an impression of the rancor that the Copts felt toward the Byzantines.
They had been deprived of some of their churches and had been subjected ro
pressure of all kinds to embrace the Chalcedonian faith. The Monothelite for
mula, designed to conciliate, had been put forward in vain. The Coptic Church
was convinced that it alone was the true church; the other churches were con
sidered heretic and alien.
3. Lastly, the Byzantine government made heavy financial demands on
Egypt in order to replenish its shrunken treasury. Furthermore, in 631, it com
mitted the grave error of entrusting to one and the same person, the patriarch
Cyrus, the civil and religious administration of the country. That meant pushing
the Copts into accepting anyone who seemed able to deliver them from their
religious and political persecutors. In December 639, 'Amr ibn al-'As appeared
13
with his troops at the border of Egypt. The fruit was ripe and ready to be
picked.

1 2
Cf. n. 14, below.
1 3
For the conquest of E g y p t cf.: E . Amelineau, "La conquete de l'Egypte par
les Arabes," Revue historique, 119 (1915), 2 7 5 - 3 0 1 ; A . Butler, The Arab Conquest
of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of the Roman Dominion (Oxford, 1902). Arabic
translation by A b u Hadid: Fath al-'Arab li-Misr (Cairo, 1933); R . Aigrain and L .
Brehier, Les Etats barbares et la conquete arabe, vol. 5, History of the Church, ed. A .
Fliche and V . Martin (Paris, 1938); P. K . Hitti, The Origins of the Islamic State,
a translation from the Arabic accompanied with annotations, geographic and histor
ic notes of Kitab Futuh al-Buldan of al-Baladhuri (New Y o r k : Columbia Univer
sity Press, 1916) reprinted, Beirut: Khayat, 1966; al-Baladhuri Kitab al-buldan, ed.
S. al-Munajjid (Cairo, 1956). In the Preface, the editor of the 1956 edition mentions
the other editions. Three volumes with unique pagination. The conquest of Syria
and Palestine is described in nos. 2 2 - 2 3 .
For other Arabic sources cf. Butler, The Arab Conquest, pp. vi-xxi.
The conquest as presented by Muslim contemporary historians: Mahmud Shit
Khattab, Qadat fath al-Sham wa Misr (Beirut, 1965); Gamal al-Din al-Shayyal,
Ta'rikh Misr al-Islamiyya (Alexandria, 1967); 'Abdallah 'Inan, Misr al-islamiyya
24 Georges C. Anawati, O.P.

I I . FACTORS AND STAGES OF ISLAMIZATION AND ARABIZATION OF THE TWO

COUNTRIES

A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

1. The first factor, chronologically, in the Islamization and Arabization was

the occupation of Syria and Egypt by the Muslim Arab troops. Before they
could act, they had to be on the scene. This statement may appear to be of
chsarming banality. But on reflection, one realizes that it poses an unavoidable
question: How could it happen? How can one explain the startlingly rapid
victory of the Arabs over the Byzantines in Egypt and Syria ?
2. If I were a "fundamentalist" Muslim of strict observance, I would not
hesitate to say: "It was God who strengthened the arms of his soldiers and
gave them the victory." But such a statement would entail an error in method.
A sound theology will maintain that Divine Providence does not suppress
human freedom. Far from denying free will, God grants it to man. And it is
through observable secondary causes that He orients history and leads the
world. We may therefore, as believers, search for the causes of the spectacular
Arab triumph, and of what we may call, mutatis mutandi, the "praeparatio
islamica."
3. One may discern, it seems to me, three principal causes.
a. The state of exhaustion of the Byzantine empire after its struggle against
the Sassanian state has already been mentioned above.
b. The military prowess of the Arabs. I cite one small fact that seems to me
14
characteristic. In the Tabaqat of Ibn Sa'd the following curious passage occurs.
Speaking of the mission of Thaqif, he says: "Neither 'Orwa ibn Mas'ud nor
Ghilan ibn Salama assisted in the siege of Ta'if. They were in Jerash studying
the construction of siege engines: mangonels and movable towers (dabbabat).
They arrived when the Prophet of God left for Ta'if. They set up those war
engines and prepared the battle." Western historians have acknowledged this
military superiority. A contemporary scholar whom one cannot accuse of
partiality, Henry Daniel-Rops, wrote in his History of the Church speaking of
the Arab army: "Composed primarily of a magnificent cavalry and a light
infantry of archers, knowing how to borrow weapons of war from Byzantium
and Persia, commanded by excellent leaders who insisted upon blind obedience,
the Arab army rapidly emerged as the most terrible instrument of war the
15
world knew at that time."

wa ta'rikh al-khitat al-misriyya (2d ed.; Cairo, 1969); 'Abd al-Rahman al-Rafi'i
and 'Abd al-Fattah 'Ashur, Misr fl l-'usur al-wusta (Cairo, 1970); Sayyida Isma'Il
al-Kashif, Misr fl fajr al-Islam (2d ed.; Cairo, 1971).
1 4
Tabaqat 'ibn Sa'd, ed. E . Sachau (Leiden, 1905-1940), V, 369.
1 5
Henri Daniel-Rops, The Church in the Dark Ages, vol. 1 (New York, 1959),
translation of VEglise des temps barbares (Paris: Fayard, 1950). Here is the original
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 25

What gave to this army its bite and its power of attack was, on one hand,
the unshakable religious faith that moves mountains, and on the other-for
they were, after all, humanthe expectation of finding lands that flowed milk
and honey.
c. Lastly, the situation of the Christians of Egypt and Syria which we have
sketched, explains, in part, their nonresistance to, or their welcome of, the
newcomers who were considered as liberators from an odious yoke. Christian
testimonies on this point are not lacking; I cite just one. John, bishop of Nikiu,
always precise in what he reports, wrote: "When the Muslims saw the weakness
of the Romans and the hostility of the people to the emperor Heraclius, because
of the persecution wherewith he had visited all the land of Egypt in regard to
the orthodox faith at the instigation of Cyrus, the Chalcedonian patriarch, they
16
became bolder and stronger in the war." And Michael the Syrian cites the
following in his Chronicle: "The God of vengeance, seeing the wickedness of the
Romans who, wherever they ruled, cruelly plundered our churches and monas-
steries and condemned us without mercy, brought from the south the Sons of
Ishmael to deliver us from them. . . . It was no mean gain for us to be delivered
of the cruelty of the Romans, their wickedness, violence, and jealousy, and to
17
find ourselves at peace."

4. Here, then, are the Arabs, occupying Palestine after the battle of Yarmuk,
entering Syria almost without striking a blow, capturing the fortresses of Baby
lon and Alexandria in Egypt. An Army of occupation, soon reinforced by a
constant influx of fresh troops from Arabia, settles down in the two provinces.
How will the process of Islamization and Arabization come about ?
5. Islam, to digress a moment, is a phenomenon sui generis, an indivisible
organic complex, simultaneously religious, political, social, and linguistic. The
message of the Gospel, on the other hand, may be said, and this without any
judgment of value, to have presented itself in the first three centuries in the
form of a purely spiritual faith, free of all racial, linguistic, political, or social

text: "Composee surtout d'une merveilleuse cavalerie et d'une infanterie legere

d'archers, sachant emprunter a Byzance et a la Perse leurs machines de guerre,
commandee par des chefs qui se revelerent excellents, et qui se faisaient obeir
aveuglement, l'armee arabe apparut, tres vite, comme le plus terrible instrument de
guerre du monde d'alors" (p. 397).
Concerning warfare cf.: J. Wellhausen, "Die Kampfe der Araber mit den Romaern
in der Zeit der Umaijaden," Nachrichten von dem Konig, Oesellschaft der Wissen-
schaft zu Gottingen, Phil.-hist. Klasss (1901), pp. 4 1 4 - 4 4 7 ; Charles Oman, A History
of the Art of War in the Middle Ages (2d ed.; London, 1924), I , 208ff.; Archibald
Lewis, Naval Power and Trade in the Mediterranean 600-1100 (Princeton, 1951);
V. J. Parry, "Warfare," The Cambridge History of Islam (Cambridge, 1970), I I ,
824-850.
1 6
The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu, translated from H . Zotenberg, Ehtiopic
Text b y R . H . Charles (London, 1916), p. 184.
1 7
Chronique de Michel le Syrien Patriarche jacobite d'Antioche, ed. and trans.
J.-B. Chabot (Paris, 1905), X I , 4.
 26 Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

18
implications. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's." "My kingdom is not of this
19 20
world." "There is no longer Jewnor Greek." The initial crisis between Peter
and Paul, which could have made of the nascent Christianity a purely Judeo-
Christian sect, was resolved in the direction of universality, of the transcend-
ance of the message in relation to all human limitations. Moreover, the mes
sage was propagated only by the word, and, obeying Christ's injunction to
21
Peter, "Put your sword into its sheath," all the apostles died as martyrs
testifying to their faith.
6. The newcomers who conquered Egypt and Syria combined three elements:
(1) They presented themselves as Muslims, messengers of a Revelation trans
mitted through an inspired book, the Koran. (2) They were Arabs belonging to
the Semitic group of peoples and, as Arabs, spoke the same language as that
of the Holy Book. (3) They were soldiers who believed they were serving God
by the force of arms; they were the "horsemen of Allah."
I do not mean to say that Islam employed force to spread its doctrine and
convert people; it did not apply the famous principle: cujus regis ejus religio.
22
Its own tenets expressly forbade it: La ikraha fi l-din, "no compulsion in
23
religion." In his classic work, The Preaching of Islam, Sir Thomas Arnold
demonstrated with abundant documentation that, apart from a few exception
al cases due to explosions of popular fanaticism or to certain political measures,
there was never physical compulsion or real persecution. But the mere fact
that Islam and the Arabic language were concretely incarnated in the same
victorious conquerors was of the deepest significance for the process of Islam
ization and Arabization.
7. A number of special factors explain, in a way, this Islamization and Arab
ization of the Syrian and Coptic populations of the conquered provinces.

B. ISLAMIZATION

Regarding islamization, we must ask three questions: First, how did it come
about ? Second, why was it progressive ? Third, why was it not as complete as
Arabization ?
The answer to the first question is a combination of several causes acting
together or separately.

1 8
Mark, 12:17.
1 9
John, 18:36.
2 0
Galatians, 3 : 2 8 .
2 1
John, 18:11.
2 2
Koran, 2:257/256.
2 3
T. W . Arnold, The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the
Muslim Faith, Introduction by R . A . Nicholson ( 3 d ed.; London, 1935), 1st ed.,
1896; 2 d ed., 1913. Arabic trans., Cairo, 1947.
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 27

a. Conversion to Islam had material and social advantages, first of all,

material ones. To declare oneself a Muslim meant, at least in the beginning, to
be exempt ipso facto from the payment of tribute (tributum capitis, jizya, poll
tax). I know that here I touch on a controversial topic which has engaged the
24 25 28
ingenuity of generations of historians: Wellhausen. Caetani, Grohmann,
27 28 29 30 31
Becker, Wiet, and more recently, Tritton, L0kkegaard, Aghnides,
32 33
Fattal, and above all Daniel Dennett. The last named appears to have
succeeded, perhaps owing to his experience in the precise and complex adrninis-
tration of the American diplomatic service, to reconcile the seemingly contra-

2 4
J. Wellhausen, Das Arabische Reich (Berlin, 1902), pp. 172 ff. (Engl, trans.,
pp. 276ff.).
2 5
L . Caetani, Annali delVIslam, Vol. V (Milan, 1905-1926), pp. 2 8 0 - 5 3 2 .
2 8
A . Grohmann, "Problem der arabischen Papyrusforschung," Archiv Orientalny,
V (1933), 276ff. and V I (1934), 125ff.; I , Arabische Chronologie; I I , Arabische
Papyruskunde (Leiden: Brill, 1966).
2 7
C. Becker, Beitrdge zur Oeschichte Agyptens (Strafiburg, 1902-3), pp. 81 in the
2 d f a s c ; "Die Entstehung von 'Ushr und Khargland in Agypten," Islamstudien
(1924-1932), I , 2 1 8 - 2 3 3 .
2 8
G. W i e t , " K i b t : in ED.
2 9
A . S. Tritton, The Caliphs and Their Non-Muslim Subjects (Oxford, 1930);
"Islam and the Protected Religions," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, n. v.
(1931), 3 1 1 - 3 3 8 .
3 0
Frede L0kkegaard, Islamic Taxation in the Classic Period with Special Refer
ence to Circumstances in Iraq (Copenhagen, 1950).
3 1
N . P. Aghnides, Mohammedan Theories of Finance (New Y o r k , 1916).
3 2
A . Fattal, Le statut Ugal des non-musulmans en pays d'Islam (Beirut: Impr.
Catholique, 1958).
3 3
D . C. Dennett, Conversion and Poll Tax in Early Islam (Cambridge, 1950).
1
Further bibliography: CI. Cahen, "djizya," "darlba," and "dhimma," in ET ; M .
V a n Berchem, La propriiU, territoriale et Vimp6t fonder sous les premiers khalifes
(Geneva, 1886); S. de Sacy, Mimoire sur le droit de propriiti territoriale en Egypte
(Cairo: Institut franeais d'Areh^ologie orientale, 1923); A . Andreades, "Les Juifs
et le Fisc dans l'empire byzantin," Melanges Charles Diehl, vol. 2 (Paris, 1930);
Bernard Lewis, "The Islamic Guilds," in Economic History Review, 8 (1937), 2 0 -
2
37, deals mainly with the akhi of Anatolia. For akhi, cf. EI (Taeschner); M . Lom
e
bard, "Les bases monfrtaires d'une suprematie e^onomique: L'or musulman du V I I
siecle au X I " siecle," Annates: Economic, soci&t&s, civilisations, I I (1947, 1 4 6 - 1 6 0 ;
CI. Cahen, "Fiscalite," Arabica, 1 (1954), 146ff.; "Impots du Fayyum," Arabica, 3
(1956), 2 1 - 2 2 ; R . S. Lopez, "The Dollar of the Middle Ages," Journal of Economic
History, X I , 3 (1951), 2 0 9 - 2 3 4 . A . H . Gibb, "The Fiscal Rescript," Arabica, 2
(1955), 1 - 1 6 ; CI. Cahen, "Contribution a l'^tude des impots dans l'Egypte medie-
vale," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, V (1962), 2 4 4 - 2 7 8 ;
"Douanes et commerce dans les ports mediterraneans de l'Egypte medievale d'apres
le Minhadj d'al-Makkhzuml," ibid., V I I (1964), 2 1 7 - 3 1 4 ; "Un traite financier
inedit d'(5poque Fatimide-Ayyubide," ibid., V (1962), 1 3 9 - 1 5 9 ; Taxation in Islam,
Vol. I. Y a h y a ben Adam's Kitab al-kharaj, ed., trans., introduction, and notes by A .
Ben Shemesh, with a foreword b y S. D . Goitein (Leiden: Brill, 1958); Vol. I I ,
Qudama b. Ja'far's Kitab al-Khardj, Part Seven and excerpts from A b u Yusuf's
Kitab al-Kharaj (1965), Vol. I l l , A b u Yusuf's Kitab al-Kharaj (1969); B . Lewis,
"Government, Society and Economic Life under the Abbasids and Fatimids," in
 28 Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

dictory texts of the Arab historians and to shed some light on this complicated
problem.
Here in brief are his conclusions that concern Egypt:
(1) Every male Copt (except monks) was subject to five taxes among which
were the jizya and the khardj.
(2) There was no fixed quota, but the tax was based on the individual and
varied according to the size of the population and the yield of the soil.
(3) In Egypt there was very little conversion to Islam during the Umayyad
period.
(4) The Arabs discouraged conversion and, in many instances refused to
34
exempt the convert from his poll tax. 'Umar II (717-720) ordered all con
verts to be exempt from the poll tax, though they continued to pay the land tax.
It may therefore be said with certainty that since the decree of 'Umar there
existed for a Christian whose faith was shaky a strong temptation to embrace
Islam; and many did not fail to take this step.
The social advantages of conversion are evident. By converting to Islam one
became fully integrated in Muslim society, the restrictions concerning the dhim
mis fell away, and one could henceforth aspire to the highest offices of the state.
With Islam the religion of the occupier and of the government, becoming a
35
Muslim allowed one to escape from the ghetto in which the dhimmis lived.
Lastly, for some dhimmis turning Muslim could mean freeing oneself of
family obligations, in particular leaving his Christian or Jewish wife in order to
marry one or several Muslim women.
b. A second cause of Islamization may be ascribed to mixed marriages
marriages between Christian or Jewish women and Muslim men. Islam permit
ted women to retain their original religion, and that tolerance was a temptation.
The children of such mixed marriages were automatically Muslim. These inroads
into the non-Muslim communities were slow but inexorable.

The Cambridge Medieval History, 2 d ed. (1966), vol. I V , part 1, pp. 6 3 8 - 6 6 1 ; Hasa-
neinRabie, The Financial System of Egypt, A. H. 564-741/A. D. 1169-1341 (London:
Oxford Press, 1972), London Oriental Series, volume 25, contains an analysis of
sources and abundant bibliography.
3 4
His famous words come to mind: "Inna AUah bp'atha Muhammadan da'iyan
wa lam yab'athhu jdbiyan," "God sent Mohammad as preacher, he did not send him
as a collector of taxes" (Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat [Leiden], V , 283.)
3 5
That the restrictions imposed on dhimmis b y the government were often a
cause for their conversion is recognized b y Muslim authors themselves. For instance,
Professor al-Kashif, of the University of Cairo, says: "It is possible that these social
and moral privileges for Moslems . . . were for the Dhimmis, as we said before,
the cause that m a n y Christians converted to Islam. W e cannot however say that the
Islamic faith of these people who wanted to get rid of these difficulties was a true
one but their progeny grew up in a Moslem milieu; they were proud of their Islamic
religion and were entirely integrated in the Islamic society" (Sayyida Isma'il al-
Kashif, Misr fi fajr al-Islam [ 2 d ed.; Cairo, 1970], p. 191).
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval E g y p t and Syria 29

c. A third cause may be found in the apparent simplicity of Islam. It present

ed itself as a religion without mysteries: no Trinity, no Incarnation, no Redemp
tion; also no sacraments and no ecclesiastical institution. The only cultic obli
gations were the ritual prayer and the fasting at Ramadan.
At the same time Islam insisted on its attachment to the Judeo-Christian
Revelation: it recognized Abraham as the father of believers, and it recognized
the prophets. It respected Jesus, whom the Koran called the Word and the
36
Spirit of God; it respected the Virgin Mary, "the chosen one among all wo
3 7
men, " and defended her virginity and purity against the attacks of Jews. For
simple people, Islam could appear a purified Cristianity, freed of its theological
and philosophical burdens. To be sure, Christian theologians versed in doctrine
understood very well the essential difference between the two religions, and a
38
John of Nikiu did not hesitate to call the Muslims "the enemies of God".
Nevertheless, Saint John of Damascus thought of Islam as a Christian heresy
which, if exposed, would be recognized as erroneous. But the people were not
theologians; and after a number of years of daily contacts and exchange of
views in religious and human matters, in the eyes of some people the differences
must have become blurred.

d. The more so, and this is a last possible cause, since Islam must have im
pressed the Christians by the manner in which it imbued the lives of its adherents.
The solidarity of the Muslims, their mutual aid, their piety, their complete trust
in God, the spontaneity of their faith, their patience in misfortune, and their
calm in the face of deathall these must have struck the Christians. We have
testimony to this which is somewat late but none the less significant. It is that
of the Italian Dominican Ricoldo da Montecroce who, in the thirteenth century,
traveled in the Muslim countries and lived several years in Baghdad. He wrote
as follows:
"We are stupefied [to see] how it is possible to find in so perfidious a law
works of such perfection. Let us mention briefly the works of perfection of the
Saracens.. . . We would not be stupefied, after considering things with diligence,
[to see] how much there is, in these Saracens, of solicitude for study, devotion
in prayer, mercifulness toward the poor, reverence toward the Name of God,
the prophets, and the holy places; their graveness of mores, their affability
39
toward foreigners, their concord and love for relatives."

3 6
Cf. G.-C. Anawati, " T s a , " EP.
3 7
Koran, 3:37/42.
3 8
For instance: "Or beaucoup d'Egyptiens qui ^taient des faux Chretiens,
renierent la sainte religion orthodoxe et le bapteme qui donne la vie, embrasserent
la religion des musulmans, les ennemis de Dieu, et accepterent la detestable doctrine
de ce monstre, c'est-a-dire de Mahomet; ils partagerent l'egarement de ces idolatres
" (Chronique de Jean, iveque de Nikiou, Texte ethiopienpublie et traduit par H .
Zotenberg [Paris, 1883], p. 465.)
8 9
"Obstupuimus, quomodo in lege tante perfidie poterant opera tante perfec-
tionis inveniri. Referemus igitur hie breviter opera perfectionis Sarracenorum. . . .
30 Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

Now, concerning the second question, why was Islamization progressive and
i0
rather slow ? I think the principal reason lies in the very status of dhimmi
which Islam offered to the people who believed in Holy Scripture. So long as
taxes were not exorbitant and vexations transitory, Christians and Jews could
41
accommodate themselves to a regime that was by and large tolerable.

Quis enim non obstupescat, si diligenter consideret, quanta in ipsis Sarracenis

sollieitudo ad studium, devotio in oratione, misericordia ad pauperes, reverentia ad
nomen Dei et prophetas et loca sancta, gravitas in moribus, affabiliitas ad extra-
neos, concordia et amor ad suos?" Laurent, Peregrinatores medii aevi quatuor
(Lipsiae, 1864), p. 131, quoted b y Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, p. 425.
On Ricoldo, cf. P. Mandonnet, "Era Ricoldo de Monte-Croce: Pelerin en Terre
Sainte et missionnaire en Orient," in Revue Biblique, 2 (1893), 4 4 - 6 1 , 182-202, 5 8 4 -
607; Norman Daniel, Islam and the West (Edinburgh, 1962) (see Index for numerous
references). For Mr. Daniel, Ricoldo's method of praising Muslims is done with
satiric intention: "He is the best example of realistic satire, since what he praised
are really Muslim virtues" (p. 196). Ricoldo himself declares that he is referring to
the works of perfection of the Muslims "rather to shame the Christians than to
commend the Muslims." W h a t is certain is that he w-as never tempted to become
Muslim; on the contrary, he wrote a "Disputatio contra Saracenos et Alchoranum."
But we must not forget that he was a Western scholar whereas, for some Oriental
Christians, the virtues of the Muslims, nearer to them in mentality, m a y have
played a decisive role in their conversion. For the travels of Ricoldo, cf. Monneret
de Villard, II Libro della Peregrinazione nelle parti d'Oriente di frate Ricoldo da
Montecroce (Rome, 1948).
4 0
O n dhimmis and their situation in the Middle Ages cf. G . Vajda, "Ahl al-
K i t a b , " EP; CI. Cahen, "Dhimnia," EP; R . J. H . Gottheil, "Dhimmis and Mos
lems in Egypt," Old Testament and Semitic Studies in Memory of William Rainey
(Chicago, 1908), I I , 3 5 9 ; W . J. Fischel, Jews in the Economic and Political Life of
Medieval Islam (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1937; repr. 1968); M . Perlmann,
"Notes on Anti-Christian Propaganda in the Mamluk Empire," Bulletin of the
School of Oriental and African Studies, X (1940-1942), 8 4 3 - 8 6 1 ; Jacques Tagher,
Copies et musulmans (Cairo, 1952); S. Goifcein, Jews and Arabs (1955; French trans.,
Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1957); A . Fattal, Le statut Ugal des non-musulmans en
Pays d'Islam (Beirut, 1958), a classic in its field, well documented, based mainly
on Arabic sources; A . Abel, "L'etranger dans ITslam classique," Recueils de la
Soci&te Jean Bodin, 9 (1958), 3 3 1 - 3 5 1 ; M . Perlmann, "Asnawi's Tract against
Christian Officials," Ooldziher Memorial Volume, Vol. I I (Jerusalem, 1958), pp.
1 7 2 - 2 0 8 ; G.-C. Anawati, "Polemique, apologie et dialogue islamo-chretiens: Posi
tions classiques medievales et positions contemporaines," in Euntes Docete (Rome),
X X I I (1969), 3 7 5 - 4 5 2 ; Daniel J. Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam: The "Heresy
of the Ismaelites" (Leiden: Brill, 1972); I . M. Lapidus, "The Conversion of Egypt to
Islam," Israel Oriental Studies, Vol. I I (Tel-Aviv University, 1972), pp. 2 4 8 - 2 6 2 .
4 1
Jahiz in his al-Radd 'ala l-nasdra, describes the Christian's way of life in the
Muslim society of his day; he notes the luxurious life they led wearing the most
fashionable robes, riding beautiful horses, playing polo, having many servants,
bearing names like al-Hasan, al-Husayn, al-'Abbas, al-Fadl, 'Ali. Many did not
wear the distinctive belt imposed by law, did not pay the poll-tax, and looked
down on the Muslims; cf. Three Essays of Abu 'Othman 'Amr ibn Bahr al-Jahiz, ed.
J. Finkel (Cairo, 1926), pp. 18-21.
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 31

Finally, concerning the third question, why was Islamization in Egypt and
Syria not total ? I think this must be attributed to the religious authenticity of
a core of convinced Christians and Jews, who despite the material and social
advantages of apostasy preferred to remain true to the faith of their ancestors.
The vitality of the Christian churches to this day is evident testimony to the
solidity of that faith. Through its leaders, its teaching, and its liturgy the Church
maintained the unity of the communities; similarly the Jewish community was
preserved by its faith and ancestral customs.
Moreover the dhimmis were able to pursue a variety of trades and professions.
In the first century of the Hijra the schoolteachers were frequently dhimmis. In
tenth-century Syria "most clerks and physicians were Christians, while tax
42
farmers, bankers, dyers, and tanners were Jews." In the time of Ghazali
i3
(d. 1111) the sole physician in most of the cities was a dhimmi. In twelfth-
44
century Palestine the Jews held a monopoly in the dyer's trade.

C. ARABIZATION

Now we must try to state precisely how the Arabization of Syria and Egypt
came about.
1. What has been said in the first part will help us to understand why the
rhythm of Arabization was not the same in the two countries. Syria, a Semitic
land inhabited by a Syriac-speaking majority and by Arabic-speaking Arabs,
was itself on a linguistic level with the conquering troops. The Arab armies
even contained Christian Arabs fighting along with them. It was fraternization
by means of language and race.
In Coptic Egypt Arabization required three or four centuries. In both
countries the Arabs began by founding military camps, Fostat in Egypt,
Jabalah in Syria, which became towns and from which Arabization was diffused.
2. The causes of Arabization seem to me to be the following:
a. First and most obvious is Islamization itself. One can argue that neither
Iran nor Turkey nor Pakistan has been Arabized in consequence of its Islamiza
tion. The answer is easy: even in those lands there was an elite who knew very
well the religious sciences taught in Arabic. But in Egypt and Syria there were
other conditions that contributed to the complete elimination of Greek, Syriac,
and Coptic.
b. It is known that 'Amr ibn al-'As came to Egypt with four thousand men
in 640. Then, at his urgent request, Caliph 'Umar sent him reinforcements
consisting of 12,000 men. After the capture of the fortress of Babylon, the

4 2
Muqaddasi, p. 183, quoted by Fattal, Le statut Ugal, p. 157.
4 3
Fattal, Le statut legal, p. 158.
4 4
Ibid.
32 Georges C. Anawati, O. P.

45
ancient Memphis, the military camp was set up at Fostat on the east bank
of the Nile, alongside the city of Babylon. It gradually became a town, and the
proximity of Babylon made it possible to employ Coptic officials and to control
them at the same time.
The Arab army of the conquest was essentially recruited from Arab tribes,
particularly the Yamanis. A special zone, called khitta (pi. khitat), was reserved
for each tribe at Fostat. There were also Christians and Jews who had been
affiliated politically with the Muslims and had joined the conquering troops.
They settled in three quarters close to the Nile.
Other dhimmis settled down with them, and Copts gradually mingled with
Muslims. In the eighth century Coptic was already spoken at Fostat, and the
chroniclers mention that some churches were built. Even after the foundation
of Cairo under the Fatimites, Fostat remained the city of commerce and industry
for all of Egypt.
Thus, there was local contact among the populations at Fostat. But this
was not all. Arab historians report still other facts that illustrate vividly the
interpenetration of the two populations and the progressive and, ultimately,
final elimination of Coptic. They report the following four facts:
1. The custom that the Arab authors call irtiba' which we can translate as
'transhumance': in the spring, the soldiers of Fostat went into certain regions
of the country in order to relax by hunting, drinking milk offered by the
peasants, and to give to their horses and herds the opportunity to find suitable
pasture. This lasted three or four months and was regulated by the military
authorities who assigned each tribe its area and controlled the results of the
irtiba'.
A recent doctoral dissertation submitted to Cairo University by 'Abdallah
46
Khorshid al-Birri, has attempted to determine the number of tribes and their
butun which came to Egypt during the three first centuries after the conquest,
and to trace the distribution of these tribes during the irtiba' and after their
definitive settlement. The author supplies maps containing these details. One
can see that the irtiba' was distributed around Fostat.
2. The custom of al-ribat, that is, the dispatch of troops, especially to Alex
andria and to the coastal towns such as al-'Arish, Rashid, Dimyat, Ekhna,
al-BorolIos, in order to relieve the troops stationed there. When 'Amr assured
the conquest of Egypt, he divided his troops into four parts: a quarter resided

4 5
Cf. J. Jomier, "Fostat," EP.
4 5
'Abdallah Khorshid al-Birri, al-Qaba'il al-'arabiyya fi Misr fi l-qurun al-
thalatha al-ula (Cairo, 1967); see also Muh. 'Ezzat Darwaza, 'Vrubat Misr qabl al-
Islam wa ba'dah (Saida and Beirut, 1963). Unless one considers the Copts as Arabs,
which would be rather paradoxical, Darwaya's opinion contradicts radically the
general opinion of Western scholars. Here is the conclusion of G. W i e t : "To sum
up, agreeing with Massignon and all the Orientalists, we estimate that 9 2 % of the
1
Egyptian population is of Coptic origin" (art. "Kibt," EI , p. 998).
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 33

in Alexandria, a quarter in the coastal towns, and the other two parts at
Fostat. Every year he arranged for a contingent (ghdziya) from Medina to
stay in Alexandria. The troops were changed every six months. They had no
special camps, like Fostat, but lived, during their ribdt, in civilian houses. In
A. H. 44/664, the number of soldiers in Alexandria registered in the diwan was
12,000.
3. Al-diyafa, that is, the hospitality that had to be accorded to Muslims.
According to the edict of 'Umar, the inhabitants had to feed and lodge the
Arab soldiers or officers for three days.
4. Migration within Egypt and immigration from Arabia. The country's
wealth attracted people. Gradually the nomadic tribes became settled and
spread throughout Egyt.

ILT. THE EFFECTS OF ISLAMIZATION AND AEABIZATION

When two religions or two languages that are bearers of culture come into
contact, phenomena result which historians of culture designate by various
terms; they speak of acculturation, fertilization, hybridization, infiltration,
47
assimilation, and so on. The field of study is infinite but, I shall limit myself
to a few brief remarks.

A . EFFECTS OF THE CHANGE UPON THE RELIGION AND LANGUAGE OF THE

CONQUERORS

1. The effects of the Arab conquest of Syria and Egypt upon Islam and the
Arabic language have been studied in a number of important works, particularly
in studies dealing with the relationship of Byzantium to Muslim civilization.
To cite just two fairly recent articles, there is that of Gustave von Grunebaum,
"Parallelism, Convergence and Influence in the Relations of Arab and Byzantine
48
Philosophy, Literature and Piety" and more recently, that of Speros Vryonis
49
Jr.'s, "Byzantium and Islam, Seventh-Seventeenth Century." These two scho
lars have pointed out, with abundant bibliography, the varied borrowings in the
4 7
CI. Cahen, "Histoire economico-sociale et islamologie: La question prejudi-
cielle de l'adaptation entre les indigenes et ITslam," Colloque sur la sociologie
musulmane (Brussels, 1962); A . Abel, "Preambule a un colloque sur 1'accultuTation,"
Correspondance d'Orient, Etudes, 5 - 6 (1964), 9.
4 8
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, X V I I I (1964), 9 1 - 1 1 1 .
4 9
In Byzantium: Its Internal History and Relations with the Muslim World
(London, 1971), Part I X .
Further bibliography: V . Christides, "Pre-Islamic Arabs in Byzantine Illumina
tions," Le Musion, 83 (1920), 167-181 (communicated by Professor F . E . Peters);
M . Meyerhof, "Von Alexandrien nach Bagdad: Ein Beitrag zu den antiken Wissen-
34 Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

economic, social, legislative, administrative, artistic, and intellectual domains.

We must not forget, as a matter of fact, that in the first century of the Arab
occupation, it was the presence of Byzantine cadres which enabled the Arabs
to maintain themselves as a functioning government in Egypt and Syria.
Here I mention only the contact, in Damascus, between the rising intellectual
thought of the Arabs and Christian theological thought such as that of Saint
John of Damascus and his disciple Theodore Abu Qurra; and, in Egypt and
Syria the influence of monasticism on Sufism.
50
2. In a study written in Arabic and published in Cairo in 1947, a Muslim
scholar M. Jarullah compared the theology of Saint John of Damascus with the
emerging Muslim theology and cited as final proof of the influence of Christian
theology on the Mu'tazilites the great similarity which we observe between
many of their beliefs and those of Saint John. It is unthinkable that such a
similarity should be accidental or result from simple concidence of ideas, for it
is not limited to a single affirmation or a single idea but appears in many
propositions. M. Jarullah lists five such propositions: (1) The affirmation that

schaften," Sitzungsberichte der Preus. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist.

Klasse (1930), X X I I I , 3 8 7 - 4 2 9 ; Arabic translation by A . Badawi in al-Turath al-
yunani fl l-hadara al-islamiyya: Dirdsat li-kibar al-mustashriqln (Cairo, 1946), pp. 3 7 -
100; G. E . von Grunebaum, "Greek Elements in the Arabian Nights," Journal of the
American Oriental Society, 62 (1942), 2 8 6 - 2 9 2 ; De Lacy O'Leary, How Greek Passed
to the Arabs (London, 1948); P. Peeters, Le trifonds oriental de Vhagiographie byzan-
tine (Brussels, 1950); G. E . von Grunebaum, Medieval Islam (2d ed.; Chicago, 1953;
rev. German ed. Zurich and Stuttgart: Artemis, 1963); G. Wiet, "L'empire neo-
byzantin des Omeyyades et l'empire neo-sassanide des Abbassides," Journal of
World History, 1 (1953-1954), 6 3 - 7 1 ; G . E . von Grunebaum, "Islam and Hellenism,"
in Islam: Essays in the Nature and Growth of a Cultural Tradition (Menasha, W i s e ,
1955), pp. 1 5 9 - 1 6 7 ; Unity and Variety in Muslim Civilization (Chicago, 1955);
"Die Islamische Stadt," Saeculum, 6 (1955); G. Miles, A Catalogue of the Arab-Byzan
tine and Post-Reform, Umaiyad Coins (London, 1956); H . A . R . Gibb, "Arab-Byzan
tine Relations under the U m a y y a d Caliphate," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, X I I (1958),
2 2 3 - 2 3 3 ; O. Grabar, "Islamic Art and Byzantium," ibid., X V I I I (1964), 8 8 ; F .
Rosenthal, Das Fortleben der Antike im Islam (Zurich, 1965); V . Christides, "Arabs
as 'Barbaroi' before the Rise of Islam," Balkan Studies, 10 (1969), 315-324 (com
municated b y Professor F. E . Peters); G. E . von Grunebaum, Classical Islam:
A History, 600 A. D.-1258 A. D., trans. Katherine W a t s o n (Chicago, 1970); S.
Vryonis, Jr., The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of
Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century (Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 1971).
The references to Greek sources of Islamic philosophy are too abundant to be
cited here; see m y article "Bibliographie de la philosophie medievale en Terre
d'lslam pour les annees 1959-1969," in Bulletin de philosophie midievale iditi par la
Sociiti Internationale pour I'Etude de la Philosophie midiivale (Louvain), 1 0 - 1 2
(1968-1970), 3 2 9 - 3 3 5 (94 titles). See also the comprehensive study b y A . Abel, "Le
Probleme des relations entre l'Orient musulman et l'Occident Chretien," in Annuaire
de VInstitut de Philologie et d'Histoire orientates et slaves (Brussels), X I V (1954-57),
229-261.
5 Z . Jarullah, al-Mo'tazila (Cairo, 1947).
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 35

God is the supreme being; (2) the affirmation of the better; (3) the denial of
divine attributes and names; (4) the metaphorical interpretation of Scripture;
(5) free will.
Jarullah also examined the work of a disciple of John of Damascus, Theodore
Abu Qurra, who wrote in Arabic and pointed out resemblances to Mu'tazilite
ideas: the diffusive character of divine goodness; its infinite magnificence; the
importance accorded to reason as capable of knowing good and evil objectively;
and the fact that his apologetics is based on purely rational arguments. All
are points that for Jarullah were borrowed by the Mu'tazilites from Christian
theologians. Orientalists such as de Boer, Macdonald, von Kremer, Goldziher,
and especially Becker have also mentioned the influence of Christian theology
on the Mu'tazilites in Syria at the formative stage of their doctrine.
3. In a study presented to the Accademia dei Lincei on the occasion of a
51
Colloqium on the Christian Orient in the History of Civilization, 1 concluded
that, on this topic, two extremes should be avoided: on the one hand, to deny a
priori all Christian influence on the Mu'tazilite theses, and on the other hand,
to see the Mu'tazilites as "disciples of the Church Fathers."
What one can say without forcing the historical evidence is that it is probable
that, at Damascus, the discussion between Christian and Muslim theologians
led the latter to sustain some of their own theses particularly that of the
creation of Koran and that of free will. To go beyond that requires new docu
mentation informing us more precisely on the intellectual life of Christians and
Muslims in Damascus and in Basra during the formative stage of the Mu'tazilite
movement. It is not impossible that such documentation might some day come
to light.
4. On Muslim law and the possibility of its having been influenced by Byzantine
law encountered in Beirut and in Damascus, I point to the studies of Professor
Chafik Chehata, long-time professor of Muslim Law in Cairo and currently
teaching at the Faculty of Law in Paris. He wrote: "Si les docteurs de lTslam
ont tenu compte des injonctions de la foi musulmane, notamment dans les
matieres ou les sources scripturaires sont plus abondantes, il n'en reste pas
moins vrai que la construction du corpus juris ne doit presque rien a ces sources
scripturaires. Le droit musulman est un droit positif puise dans le fond contumier
52
oriental ou vecurent les premiers jurisconsultes musulmans."
5 1
"Theologie chretienne et Theologie mu'tazilite d'apres des Travaux recents,"
in L'Oriente cristiano nella storia della civilitd (Rome, March 31-April 3, 1963),
Accademia dei Lincei (Rome, 1964), Quaderno N . 62, pp. 5 2 5 - 5 4 6 .
5 2
Encyclopaedia Universalis (Paris, 1971), I X , 155.
On the relation between Islamic Law and Byzantine Law cf.: L . Mitteis, Beichs-
recht und Volksrecht in den bstlichen Provinzen des romischen Kaiserreiches, mit
Beitragen zur Kenntnis des griechischen Rechts und der spatromischen Rechts-
entwicklung (Leipzig, 1891), pp. 3 0 - 3 2 , 2 0 2 - 2 0 3 , 387ff. (mentioned by S. Vryonis
2
Jr.); I . Ooldziher and J. Schacht, "Fikh," in EI ; E . Sachau, Syrische Rechtbiicher,
I (Berlin, 1907), vii-xix; J. Hatschek, Der Musta'min: Ein Beit/rag zum internatio-
36 Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

5. Another point of possible Christian influence on Muslim religious feeling

63
concerns Sufism. Christian monasteries were numerous in Syria, Palestine,
and especially in Egypt. The Muslim historians of Sufism, especially Abu Nu'aim,
relate anecdotes in which pious Muslims come to ask spiritual advice of Chris
tian anchorites. M. Munajjid has proposed these anecdotes be called Masihiyydt,
&i
on the analogy of the Isra'iliyydt which designated the maxims, tales, and
anecdotes coming from the Jews and illustrating their popular traditions,
customs, and books.
6. Concerning language, Syriac has been the intermediary for a certain
number of philosophical terms that entered into Arabic. They were studied
especially by Massignon in his Lexique de la mystique musulmane. In addition,
Syriac has furnished a number of terms to the cultural vocabulary of Arabic.
It is known that certain key words of the Islamic vocabulary are of Syriac
origin: furqdn (salvation), ayah (sign), kahin (soothsayer, priest), sujud (prostra
tion), sifr (book), qissis (monk), saldh (ritual prayer), zakdh (alms etc.). Some
Syriac words used by Christians were Arabized, for example: ishbin (godfather),
burshdn (wafer), tilmidh (disciple), shammds (deacon), 'imdd (baptism), kanisa
(church), karuz (preacher). Examples of Greek words that passed into Arabic

nalen Privat- und Volksrecht des islamischen Gesetzes (Berlin, 1910); F . F . Schmidt,
"Die Occupatio im Islamischen Recht," Der Islam, I (1930), 3 0 0 - 3 5 3 ; E . Bussi,
Ricerche intorno alia relazioni jra retratto bizantino e musulmano (Publicazioni della
Universitario catolico del Sacro Cuore, ser. s e c , scienze giur. X L I (Milan, 1933);
M. F . Kopriilu, "L'institution du vakouf: Sa nature juridique et son evolution
historique," Vakiflar Dergisi, I I (1942), French text, pp. 3 - 4 8 ; J. Schacht, "Pre-
Islamic Background and Early Development of Jurisprudence," in Law in the
Middle East, Vol. I , Origin and Development of Islamic Law, ed. M . Khadduri and H .
Liebesny (Washington, 1955), pp. 2 8 - 5 6 ; E . Graf, Jagdbeute und Schlachttier im
Islamischen Recht: Eine Untersuchung zur Entwicklung des islamischen Jurisprudence
(Bonn, 1955); M . J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law (Edinburgh, 1964), pp. 28ff.;
E . T y a n , Histoire de Vorganisation judiciaire en pays d'Islam (2 vols.; Paris, 1 9 3 8 -
1943; vol. 1 of 2 d ed., Leiden: Brill, 1960); C. A . Nallino, "Considerazioni sui
rapporti fra diritto romano e diritto musulmano," Raccolta di Scritti editi e inediti,
I V (1942), 8 5 - 9 4 , not edited; reproduces and develops papers presented in 1933
and 1934; "Libri giuridici byzantini in versioni arabe cristiane dei secoli X I I - X I I I , "
Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, ser 6, I (1925), 101-165, and Raccolta,
I V (1942), 3 2 4 - 3 8 2 ; "II diritto musulmano nel Nomocanone siriaco cristiano di
Barhebreo," Rivista degli studi orientali, I X (19211923) 5 1 2 - 5 8 0 ; Hassan Abdel-
Rahman, "Le Droit musulman et le droit romain," Archives d'histoire du droit
oriental, 4 (1949), 3 0 1 - 3 2 1 ; C. A . Nallino, " A proposito di alcuni studi sui diritti
orientali," Raccolta, I V (1942), 9 5 - 2 1 3 .
5 3
G.-C. Anawati and Louis Gardet, Mystique musulmane: Aspects et tendances.
Experiences et techniques (2d ed.; Paris and Vrin, 1968).
5 4
Salahuddin al-Munajjed, al-Muntaga min Kitab al-ruhban in "Morceaux
choisis du livre des moines," manuscript dating from A.D. ninth century in Melan
ges de Vlnstitut dominicaine d'Etudes orientates du Caire, 3 (1956), 3 4 9 - 3 5 8 .
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 37

by way of Syriac are: khuri (priest), batriyark (patriarch), iskaim (monks's

55
hood), hartuqi (heretic).
7. In Egypt, the influence of the Coptic language on Arabic has been very
weak. A Coptic scholar, Wilson B. Bishai, who devoted his doctoral dissertation
56
to this topic, summed up his conclusions in the following words:
Phonologically speaking, Coptic exerted no phonemic changes; Bohairic,
however, might be said to have left a few traces of allophonic variations
only in the dialect of Upper Egypt. In morphology and syntax, Coptic
left only four valid grammatical instances of influences, three of which are
subsidiary, that is, variants of regular forms. Lexically speaking, only one
hundred and nine vocabulary items may be considered as valid loan
words from Coptic into Egyptian Arabic. This limited influence of Coptic
on Egyptian Arabic can be explained only by lack of widespread bilin-
57
gualism in Egypt during the transition from Coptic to Arabic.

5 5
Cf. A . Jeffrey, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur'an (Baroda, 1938); R . P. J.
Hobeika, Etymologie arabo-syriaque; Mots et locutions syriaques dans Vidiome vulgaire
du Liban et de la Syrie (Junya [Liban], 1902), in Arabic; M. Eeghali, Fltude sur les
emprints syriaques dans le parler arabe du Liban (Paris, 1928).
5 9
"The Coptic Influence on Egyptian Arabic," Ph. D . dissertation, Johns
Hopkins University, 1959.
5 7
Quoted in "The Transition from Coptic to Arabic," Muslim World, 53 (1963),
149n.
On the Coptic language cf.: F . Praetorius, "Koptische Spuren in der agyptisch-
arabischen Grammatik," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, 55
(1901), 1 4 5 - 1 4 7 ; P. Casanova, "Notes sur un texte copte du X I I I * siecle: Les noms
coptes du Caire et localites voisines," Bulletin de Vlnstitut francais d'archCologie
orientate, 1 (1901), 1-110; E . Galtier, "De Finfluence du copte sur l'arabe d'Egypte,"
ibid., I I (1902), 2 1 2 - 2 1 6 , who concludes: "apres une etude approfondie de l'arabe
egyptien, j 'avoue n'avoir trouve aucune trace de l'influence de la grammairo copte
et considerer cette pretendue influence comme une hypothese qui est encore loin
d'etre prouvee"; E . Littman, "Koptischen EinfiuB in Agyptisch-Arabischen,"
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, 56 (1902), 6 8 1 - 6 8 4 ; D .
Prince, "The Modern Pronunciation of Coptic in the Mass," Journal of the American
Oriental Society, 23 (1902), 3 0 4 - 3 0 6 ; E . Galtier, "Contribution a l'etude de la l i
terature arabe-copte," BIFAO, 4 (1905), 1-117; "Coptica-Arabica," BIFAO, 5
(1906), 8 7 - 1 6 4 , contains, among others, a reproduction of a Coptic manuscript
written in Arabic letters, which is very rare; H . Munier, La Scale copte 44 de la
Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, transcription et vocabulaire, IF AO, Bibliotheque
d'Etudes coptes, Vol. I I (1930); D e Lacy O'Leary, "Notes on the Coptic Language,"
Orientalia, 3 (1934), 2 4 3 - 2 5 8 ; G. Sobhy, Common Words in the Spoken Arabic of
Egypt (Cairo, 1950); E . Chassinat, Le manuscrit magique No. 42573 du Musie Egyp
tien du Caire, Bibliotheque d'Etudes coptes, Vol. I V (Cairo, 1955); Wilson B. Bishai,
"The Transition from Coptic to Arabic," Muslim World, 53 (1963), 1 4 5 - 1 5 0 ; Wilson
Bishai, "Notes on the Coptic Substratum in Egyptian Arabic," Journal of the
American Oriental Society, 80 (1960), 2 2 5 - 2 2 9 ; S- Kussaim, "Contribution a l'etude
du moyen arabe des Coptes: L'adverbe khassatan chez Ibn Sabba'," Le Museon, 80
(1967), 153-209.
38 Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

B. EFFECTS OF THE CHANGE OK THE RELIGION AND LANGUAGE OF THE NATIVES

1. The political integration of Syria and Egypt in the Muslim world cut the
inhabitants off from Christian Europe. Without necessarily adhering to the
theory of Pirenne, who saw the Mediterranean after the conquest as an Arab
lake, it must be recognized that, henceforth, the fate of the two provinces was
linked to the Muslim world and to Arabism.
From the religious point of view this means that Oriental Christianity, with
the exception perhaps of the Maronites, was severed from the Church of the
West and remained outside the intellectual movements, heresies, and schisms
that rent it. The Eastern Church, especially the Copts, stayed closely attached
to their traditions, oblivious to the evolution of the world. Egyptian monasticism
remained what it had been when it was founded in the fourth century. The
Muslim presence contributed to what we can call an encapsulation which was
desired as a protection against encroachment.
2. Islamization also meant the total impregnation with Muslim values of the
social, intellectual, and economical life of the two provinces. If, in the first
centuries after the conquest, it looks as if there had been no substantial change,
except at the head of the government, gradually as Islam took root and
conversions multiplied, the whole style of daily life became that of a Muslim
community. The dhimmis lived in their own quarters and were distinguished
58
by differences in clothing, which the law imposed on them but which were
not generally enforced except in moment of crisis, when the Byzantine enemy
had gained some military success at the borders; then, the fanatic populace
would invade the Christian quarters, burn the churches, and demand the
59
government enforce the regulations concerning the dhimmis.
3. The Arab occupation of Egypt freed the Copts of the Greek tutelage and
allowed their literature to develop, but it was only a temporary victory. The
liturgical readings in the churches were held only in Coptic, but soon it was
necessary to use also Arabic.
The administration at first continued to use Greek, but in 706 the governor
'Abdallah Ibn 'Abd al-Malik decreed that administrative documents were to
be written in Arabic. The first bilingual Greek and Arabic papyrus dates from
643, the last from 719. The last administrative, papyrus written entirely in
Greek dates from 709. The earliest Arabic inscription found in Egypt is one
painted on a house in Antinoe and dated 735.
The patriarch Michael (728-752) sent a petition to the governor 'Abd al-
Malik ibn Marwan written in Coptic and Arabic, but he himself did not under
stand a word of Arabic and had to employ an interpreter to talk to the Caliph
Marwan II. We have already noted that Coptic was generally understood at
Fostat.
5 8 1
Cf. Wiet, "Kibt," EI , p. 9 9 1 ; Fattal, Le statut legal, pp. 9 6 - 1 1 2 .
5 9
Cf. W i e t , op. cit., p. 991.
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 39

By the ninth century the clergy had learned Arabic: a Muslim who wished
to convert was sent to a priest who explained to him in Arabic the Coptic text
of the Scriptures. There is a famous passage in the work of Severus, bishop of
Eshmunein: "I have begged the assistance of Christians who have translated
for me the facts, which they have read in Coptic and Greek, into Arabic, which
is now spread to such an extent throughout Egypt that the greater part of the
60
inhabitants do not know Greek and Coptic."
61
4. As Islamization progressed, Arabization followed automatically, to the
point where, in Egypt, during the first three centuries after the conquest, we
may distinguish three categories of people: (1) the genuine Arab people attached
to their language who felt no need to learn Coptic; (2) the Copts converted to
Islam who hastened to learn Arabic, if they did not already know it, and thus
became bilingual; (3) the Copts who remained true to their faith and their
language. But after the persecutions of al-Afshin in 813 and of the insane
Caliph al-Hakim (996-1020), the third category became less and less numerous.
They could no longer maintain a community that spoke only Coptic; they had
to learn Arabic, the language of the majority. Thus by the fourteenth century,
Coptic was spoken only in the monasteries.

5. The Christian Arabic literature of Egypt has, in the tenth century, two
62
great names: the Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria, Sa'id Ibn al-Batriq, and
63
his Coptic contemporary Sawirus Ibn al-Muqaffa. It had its golden age in the
64 65
thirteenth century, with the three brothers al-'Assal, Makin the historian,
66
and Abu 1-Barakat ibn Kabar. After that there is a decline. Not until the

0 0
Ibid., p. 992.
6 1
On the evolution of the Arabic language see: S. Fraenkel, Die aramischen
Fremdwdrter im Arabischen (Leiden, 1866); G. Graf, Der Sprachgebrauch der altesten
christlich-arabischen Literatur: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Vulgar-Arabisch
(Leipzig, 1905); A . Poliak, "L'arabisation de l'Orient semitique," Revue des Etudes
islamiques, 12 (1938); A . Grohmann, Einfuhrung und Chrestomathie zur arabischen
Papyrus Kunde (Prague, 1954); G. Graf, Verzeichnis arabischer kirchlicher Termini,
2d ed., rev., Corpus Scriptorum Araborum Christianorum 147 (Louvain, 1954);
Johann Fuck, Arabiyya: Recherches sur Vhistoire de la langue et du style arabe, trans.
CI. Denizeau (Paris, 1955), trans, into Arabic by 'Abd al-Halim al-Najjar (Cairo,
1370/1951); Anwar G. Chejne, The Arabic Language: Its Role in History (University
of Minnesota Press, 1969). In his Biographies of Physicians ('Uyun al-anba' fi
tabaqat al-atibba), Ibn Abi Usaibi'a gives us a sample of the language of conversation
of the cultivated milieu of Cairo. Cf. August Muller, "Uber Text- und Sprachge
brauch von Ibn Abi Usaibi'as Geschichte," Sitzungsberichte der (Koniglich) bayri-
schen Akademie der Wissenschaften (8MA) (Munich, 1884), pp. 853-971, Comptes-
rendus de l'Academie des sciences de Baviere, Section de philologie et d'histoire.
6 2
Also called Eutychius, cf. Graf, Geschichte, I , 32-38.
6 3
Severus ibn al-Muqaffa', cf. ibid., I I , 300-317.
6 4
Ibid., I I , 2 9 5 - 2 9 9 ; 3 8 7 - 4 1 4 .
6 5
al-Makin Girgis ibn al-'Amid, ibid., I I , 3 4 8 - 3 5 1 ; 4 5 0 - 4 5 3 .
6 6
A b u 1-Barakat ibn Kabar, ibid., I , 4 3 8 - 4 4 4 .
40 Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

nineteenth century, the period of the Nahda, or Arab Renaissance, did Egypt's
Arabic-speaking Christians develop an interest in literature.
6. In Syria, Arabization was easier, owing to the presence of Arab tribes even
before Islam. Immediately after the conquest, these tribes had to learn the
dialect of Quraish which had become the classical language. We know that one
of the great court poets under the Umayyads was the Christian Taghlibi al-
6
Akhtal. '
Since the time of the Marwanids (seventh-eighth century), and following the
abolition of the military quarters, Damascus, Horns, and other great cities of
eastern Syria became Islamized, and the Syrians learned Arabic without,
however, abandoning Syriac.
The educated Christians continued to cultivate Syriac along with Arabic:
68
the Syro-Mesopotamian Bar-Hebraeus (d. 1286) wrote his voluminous Chron
icle in Syriac, other works in Arabic.
At the beginning of the thirteenth century, near the end of the Abbassid
period, the victory of the Arabic language was almost total. Only among
Jacobites, Nestorians, and Maronites did islands of Syriac speakers survive.
In the Lebanon, Syriac struggled on until the seventeenth century and,
69
thereafter, survived in only three villages: Ma'lula, Bakh'ah, and Jubba'din,
and in the liturgy of these Christian groups. In their books the Maronites
employed Karshuni, that is, Arabic written in Syriac characters.
Syriac hasleft considerable traces in Syro-Lebanese Arabicinits morphology,
phonetics, and vocabulary. The domestic and agricultural vocabulary is rich
in Syriac loanwords. The month names come directly from Syriac which in
turn derived most of them from Akkadian.

CONCLUSION

In this study I have dealt only with the essential points that give rise to some
general questions for the reader's consideration. To what degree are the two
elements of "assimilation," the Arabic language and the Islamic religion, which
were operating in medieval Egypt and Syria, bound ? Does Islamization always
require previous Arabization, at least among the elite ? And, conversely, to
what degree is Arabization a factor in Islamization, not only in the far past but
also today ? We know for instance the role played in the Reformist movement
of Ibn Badis in Algeria by the intensive teaching of Arabic as an efficacious

6 7
Cf. H . Lammens, "Le chantre des Omiades," Journal Asiatique, ser. 4, I V
(1894): no. 1, pp. 9 4 - 1 7 6 , no. 2, pp. 1 9 3 - 2 4 1 , no. 3, pp. 3 8 1 - 4 5 9 ; R . Blachere,
"Akhtal," EP.
6 8
Cf. Graf, Geschichte, I I , 2 7 2 - 2 8 1 .
6 9
A monograph on these three villages has been written b y S. Reich, Etudes sur
les villages aramiens de VAnti-Liban (Beirut, 1937).
 Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria 41

means to resist "colonialism" and to reinforce Islamic faith but we also know
that the first partisans of the "Arab Nation" were the Christian Arabs of Syria
who did not hesitate to make of the Arabic language the most powerful factor
in uniting Arabs, both Muslim and Christian, in their struggle for liberation from
the Turks who were themselves Muslim.
If we try to compare Islamization with evangelization, we also face some
interesting problems. The Greek Gospel spread throughout the whole Mediter
ranean basin andthanks to the Oriental Christiansreached as far as India
and China without imposing the native language of the evangelists. The Koran,
which the Muslims resisted translating, did not spread to the same extent.
Did the content of Koran and Gospel, Islamic morality and Christian morality,
and military victories constitute the factors that have played essential roles
in the processes of Islamization and evangelization ?
These and many more questions can be evoked. I can but hope that my
attempt at a solution for a determined period and geographical era suggests
ideas to other scholars for extending this kind of research to other similar
fields.
 MUHAMMAD OR DARIUS? THE ELEMENTS AND
BASIS OF IRANIAN CULTURE

ALESSANDRO BAUSANI

University of Rome

Iranowing to its peculiar geographical positionfrom antiquity has been

1
submitted to the most varied cultural influences. They radiated especially
from two centers: (a) Mesopotamia and (b) Central Asia. Professor Widengren,
2
in his mise a point of the recent researches on Iranian l'eligious history,
emphasized in a graphic way the difference between these two types of culture.
He set in confrontation two literary passages. One is the famous sentence of
3
Herodotus, who writes that the Persians "taught their sons from the age of
five years up to twenty only three things: to ride, to shoot arrows, and to tell
4
the truth." The other passage is from the Annals of Assurbanipal from which
we know that the Assyrian king also learned three things, that is, to ride (but
also to drive the war chariot), to shoot arrows, and "the wisdom of Nabu and
the whole art of writing following the tradition of the masters."
On one side we have the "Central Asian," "Aryan" heritage that ignores or
minimizes "writing" as symbolized by the passage by Herodotus, on the other
side the Mesopotamian "scribe culture."
1
This paper is based chiefly upon the last chapter of m y book I Persiani (Flo
rence, 1962), of course with numerous changes and additions. The book has been
translated into German (Die Perser [Stuttgart, 1965]) and into English (The Persians
[London, 1971)] butfor various reasonsthe last chapter is not included in the
English edition, so that a repetition, in this language, of the basic ideas contained in
it m a y bo useful.
A further explanation is prompted b y the fact that I include in this study on the
real basis of post-Islamic Iranian culture a criticism of certain contemporary ideas,
rather widespread in Iran, on the same subject, thus exceeding the limits of this
conference: "Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages." B u t I thought it
relevant, when speaking of the cultural basis of a nation like Iran, to take into
account what modern Iranians themselves think of their cultural heritage. I t would
be "colonialistic" to do otherwise, even ifas we shall seethe contemporary
opinion of Iranians of their cultural heritage, paradoxically, seems to betray a sort
of "self-colonialistic" attitude.
2
G. Widengren, "Stand und Aufgaben der iranischen Religionsgeschichte,"
Numen, 1 (1954), 1 6 - 8 3 .
3
Herodotus, Persia. Wars I . 136.
4
H . C. Rawlinsons, The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, Vol. V (London,
1880), I , 30.
44 Alessandro Bausani

The position of Iran is particularly interesting because throughout its whole

history it seems to occupy a middle ground. For instance, limiting my remarks
for the moment to this detail, that is, the evaluation of the art of writing, we
see in the ancient Iranian tradition a sort of hesitation between a positive and a
negative value attributed to writing. There is a persistent motif that reached
as far as Firdausi's Shahnama, according to which the art of writing is an
invention of demonic powers. According to a Sasanian tradition also preserved
in the Shahnama, one of the first mythical kings of mankind, Tahmuras,
succeeds, after a hard struggle, to enchain the demons (dev) and is therefore
called devband, "demon binder." The devs ask for pardon and promise, if
spared, to teach him a new art, the art of writing, and not only one kind of
script but thirty (according to a variant, seven). But in the same Sasanian
culture, the Avesta, the Holy Book, has taken on a particularly sacred character
just like a written text, almost biblical in character. Its written paragraphs,
passages, chapters (hdti) have a strong sacral value: the priest offers sacrifices
to this and that holy verse of A vesta, and, according to a tradition, some chapters
of the holy book will become the garment of the righteous souls in heaven, and
so on.
This is but an ancient examplefocused on a detailof a process of mutual
cultural influence which seems to be a constant in Iranian cultural history. But
this process shows also a direction. If, conventionally, we call the cultural
centers of the Mesopotamian scribe culture "western," and the centers of
Central Asian/Indo-Aryan culture "eastern," we may distinguish a slow process
of westernization during the entire course of Iranian cultural history. Here are
the most striking instances: This list is, of course, merely an outline, it being
impossible here to give full details of each phase of the process:
1. The Zarathustrian reformation. If we compare the religious Iranian world
following the reformation of Zarathustra with the pre-Zarathustrian Indo-
Iranian religious Weltanschauung we shall certainly notice, in the new religious
culture, something "familiar," familiar in the sense that, even if the thesis
of a Zoroastrian "monotheism" is not, strictly speaking, exact, there is no doubt
that the ethical aspect of the Zoroastrian religion and the strong simplification
of the Indo-Aryan pantheon is reminiscent of the "biblical" religion. This
impression has been so strong that some scholars have even gone so far as to
accept the notion of Jewish influences on Zoroastrianism. This thesis is obviously
5
one to be rejected but is nevertheless a psychological proof of that impression.
2. The ever increasing cultural contacts with the Mesopotamian world
(whichone should never forgetformed an integral part of the Iranian
Empire from the sixth century B. C ) . The examples are numerous: it is sufficient
to think of the stiong Mesopotamian elements in the sculptures of Persepolis,

5
More detailed discussion on these subjects in m y book Persia Religiosa (Milan,
1959), esp. pp. 1 9 - 9 9 .
 Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture 45

8
of the idea of kingship in the Aehaemenian Empire, of the number and order
of the planets and the names of some of them (Kevan, for instance).
3. The conquest of Alexander the Great (fourth century B.C.) and the
Hellenistic influences that survived the end of the Macedonian Empire until
the end of the Arsacid (Parthian) period. We should not forget that during all
this period the international and diplomatic language of Iran was Aramaic,
a Semitic language, and the injection of ideas of Near Eastern-Hellenistic
culture into Iranian culture has been so deep that (again an exaggeration, but a
psychological symptom and proof of what I am saying) a scholar like Darmesteter
went so far as to maintain that the entire Avesta, including the Qaihas (for
him a pseudoarchaic production) was influenced by Neoplatonic and Hellenistic
7
ideas.
In Sasanian time, the heresies of Mani and Mazdak are a witness to the
enormous influence of "western" Gnosis on Iranian thought. It is true that
Gnosis itself includes some Iranian elements, but they function in an organic
whole which is not Iranian and was formed in areas situated to the west of
8
Iran.
Perhaps the most radical stage in the process of Westernization of Iranian
culture was the Muslim conquest in the seventh century. Absolute monotheism
is introduced into Iran and Iran experiences a strong purification of residual
elements of archaic culture.
The last stage is, of course, that of the impact of European culture.
During all these periods the contacts of Iran with the Indian world were
much less marked. We witness instead a rapidly growing distance between Iran
and India. After the initial period of prehistoric common life of Iranians and
Indians, the influences of Indian culture on Iran are episodic (fables and tales,
chess, and so on).
But this historical process of Westernization is far from being a continuous
linear one. We could say that after each period of Western impact, a period of
more or less artificial re-archaization followed. And this is true up to the present.
The process is so typical of Iranian history that it deserves to be examined
further.
After a primitive stage of syncretistic fusion of elements of the ancient Indo-
8
T h e Mesopotamian influences in the Achaemenid conception of kingship have
recently been discussed and confirmed by G. Gnoli, in his study "Note su xsaya9iya-e
Xsaca-" in Ex orbe religionum: Studia Ceo Widengren Oblata (Leiden: Brill, 1972), I I ,
88-97.
7
See the Introduction of J. Darmesteter's French translation of the Avesta,
Le Zend Avesta, Annales du Mus^e Guimet, Vols. X X I , X X I I , X X I V (Paris, 1 8 9 2 -
1893). A s is well known, Darmesteter himself later repudiated the most exaggerat
ed parts of his hypothesis.
8
These problems were discussed also in a symposium with the title "Unity and
Variety in Muslim Civilization," especially by V . Minorsky, "Iran: Opposition,
Martyrdom and Revolt" in Unity and Variety in Muslim Civilization, ed. G. E . von
Grunebaum (Chicago, 1955) pp. 1 8 3 - 2 0 6 .
46 Alessandro Bausani

Aryan culture of the invaders of the Iranian plateau with the local cultures
(Elamite and other, less known civilizations) and with various elements of the
Mesopotamian world (origins, sixth century B.C.) follows the Achaemenian
national rearchaization (sixth-fourth centuries B.C.). After the renewed
westernizing syncretism of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods (fourth century
B.c.-third century A.D.) another period of national archaic restoration follows,
that of the Sasanian Empire (third-seventh centuries A. D.). The restoration,
or re-archaization, period following the Muslim conquest is more difficult to
define and recognize for two chief reasons. One is the extreme radicalness of the
Muslim impact; the second is the destructive invasions from Central Asia
(Chingiz Khan in the thirteenth and Tamerlane in the fourteenth century)
which suffocated every germ of Renaissance and reincluded Iran in vast but
unproductive supernational Empires. Only in the sixteenth-seventeenth cen
turies with the Safavids does Iran attempt again, in different forms, to act its
old "re-archaization role," and succeed in recreating a "sacred sovereign,"
this time under the aegis of the Shi'i form of Islam. The (wrong) connection of
Shi'ism with an ancestral, racial trend of Iran (Aryans versus Semites) isthough
inexact scientificallypart of this play. Shi'ism served Iran in a political sense,
contributing to isolate it from the dangerous surrounding (Sunnite) nations
(Ottoman Empire, Shaibanids of Central Asia) and to reshape a sort of "national
consciousness." Then follows a new period of syncretic Westernization; the
colonialistic attack by Europe, perhaps even stronger and deeper than the
Muslim invasion. But, even after this tremendous impact, Iran tries re-
archaization. It is the contemporary Aryan and Neo-Achaemenid nationalism.
Some cultural aspects of this latest re-archaization are given in the following
pages.
It is very interesting to notice that the periods that I term "national or
nationalistic re-archaizations," although in some cases brilliant in the military
and political fields, are rather poor culturally. Splendid works were produced
by Iranian genius, for instance, in the ancient age, in the Parthian/Hellenistic
age, in the Islamic pre-Safavid age, and even in the so-called decadent, European-
influenced nineteenth century. I think of the poetical genius of a Qa'ani, for
instance, whereas great literary masterpieces are comparatively rare in the
Achaemenian, Sasanian, and Safavid ages, and, alas, also in our contemporary
nationalistic period.
But let us now go back to the study of the Islamic impact on Iran, seen as an
episode, perhaps the most important episode, of a history of Iran envisaged
under the perspective sketched above. First of all, what do I mean by the
sentence: Iran experiences again a strong purification from residual elements
of archaic culture ? By "archaic" culture I mean something very similar to
what Mircea Eliade means by the same adjective, especially in his book
9
Le mythe de Veternel retour. In that book archaic culture, whose "grand master"
9
M. Eliade, Le Mythe de VEternel Retour (Paris, 1949), esp. pp. 152 ff.
 Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture 47

according to Eliade is Plato, is contrasted with the proto-historicist "mono

theistic" culture, one of the grand masters of which I could consider Muhammad.
On one side the flight from Time into the Eternal, on the other side linear Time,
originating in one point, scanned by other points (certain historical events
initiating the prophetic Dispensations are religiously important although being
inside Time) and ending with the Resurrection of the Body, not Immortality
of the Soul.
Now an important point to consider is that Iranian culture, at the moment
when Islam penetrated it (or conquered it, if you prefer) was not a purely
archaic culture of the Indo-Iranian type. Peculiar elements, which rendered
Sasanian Zoroastrianism a type of culture "half way" between archaism and
monotheism, already existed in Iran, owing to its preceding process of west
ernization : for instance, the strong eschatological motifs of Zoroastrian culture,
the positive value attributed by Zoroastrianism to World and Elesh (a Pahlavi
text goes as far as to declare that what is visible and material, getik, is better
than the invisible/immaterial/transcendent, menok, because only in the material
10
world is the struggle against Evil possible), the emphasis laid upon ethical
rather than upon purely sacral values. On the other side, Islam, historically
considered, is not a quid totally and purely "monotheistic." Christian, Gnostic,
11
and even Manichaean elements are already present in the Qur'an and, more
over, it could be affirmed that Islam at the time of its first great expansion was
simply "potential Islam." What afterward became "Islam" was the original
Islamic energetic potentiality integrated with something else. A substantial part
of this "something else" was just Iranian culture. "Iran" and "Islam" are
therefore not to be thought of as two antithetical elements. One could even say
that Islam assumed its familiar aspect only after the integration brought about
by the great conquests of the seventh century. If Zarathustraas I said
before-had given to Iranian culture a push toward "monotheism," "integrated
Islam" showed very early a trend toward Gnosis and Symbolism. At a certain
moment the distance between both extreme points of these two trends is very
short. Speaking metaphysically one could say that Iran was predestined to
Islam, and "primitive" Islam was predestined to Iran. In other words, both
concepts "Islam" and "Iran," if contemplated outside their historical con-
creteness, are pure words. At the end of the Sasanian Empire both Islam and
Iranism were nourished, in different ways, by the syncretic soil formed by the
dissolution of the great archaic civilizations during Hellenistic time, so that late
Sasanian Iran is not an essentially "pure" Iranism (which perhaps never existed
as such) and Islam, too, was not that "monolithic" pure monotheism of which
Professor Corbin so often seems to speak in a rather deprecating way.

1 0
The text is in The Complete Text of the Pahlavi Dinkart, ed. D . M . Madan
(Bombay, 1911), p. 271.
1 1
See m y Persia Beligiosa, pp. 1 3 5 - 1 4 7 .
48. Alessandro Bausani

From this mutual fecundation is born Iranian Islam. It is a universal culture,

whose dynamic extremes are the purity of the monolithic faith of Abraham on
one side, and the ever present archaic-mythical symbolism on the other.
Between these two poles Irano-Islamic culture at its best created expressions
of perfect balance. After the Muslim conquest one of the basic features of Iranian
thought and culture seems to be an inclination to reconsider the archaic world
with eyes purified of any mythical residues (a result of Islamic monotheism).
A typical instance of this attitude is Firdausi, that same Firdausi whom
manyin contemporary Iraneven consider as an enemy of Arabism, a pure
representative of national traditions. I am not afraid to statealthough it may
seem paradoxical to manythat Firdausi is one of the "most Muslim" among
12
the great geniuses of Iran. In the Shahnama the ancient Iranian myth is
transformedin a typically Muslim wayinto history. The half-transcendent
beings, acting in the symbolic Mud tempus of the ancient Avestan legends,
become kings and men described in historical chronicles; legendary wars and
miracles are instruments of a substantially realistic narration whose chief
protagonist is Time/Destiny, History. The ancient instrument of Iranian
symbol, Cyclical Time, uniting the primordial beginnings with the eschatological
end, is here broken, and Time becomes linear Time.
It is the Persian poetry after Firdausi, and especially lyrical poetry, which,
departing ever further from the ancient and austere Islamic realism, anti-
mythical and anticyclical, transforms itself into Neoplatonic poetry. But, even
in this case, symbolism is not an archaic symbolism, inasmuch as it is totally
free from myth. This is perhaps the most interesting feature of classical Persian
lyrics. And this is also one of the fruits of Muslim monotheism. As H. Bitter
13
rightly wrote in these Neoplatonic but demythologized lyrics "things do not
change their natural forms; we do not see fairies coming out of flowers, nor
kobolds dancing in the grass or meadows: the poetical scene is vivified preserving
the forms of the real objects; only their mutual relations change fantastically."
In this world of symbols, which do not live an autonomous life (as in ancient
myths) but are always moved by the Mind of the Poet, there are also many
fragments of ancient pre-Islamic imagery as, for example, the Wine of the
Magians, the Fire, the Feast of Sade, and so on, but they do not function as
14
they did in a pre-Islamic context. Thoselike the late Professor Mo'in who
insisted on demonstrating a direct continuity between pre-Islamic and post-
Islamic cultures in Iran are, I believe, victims of a sort of optical illusion,

1 2
See m y Storia della Letteratura Persiana (Milan, 1960), p. 595.
1 3
H . Bitter, Uber die Bildersprache Nizamia (Berlin and Leipzig, 1927).
1 4
M . Mo'in, Mazdayosnd va ta'sir-e an dar adabiyat-e farsi (Mazdaism and Its
Influence on Persian Literature) (Tehran, 1326/1948). T o m y knowledge only the
first volume of the second edition has been published, due to the long illness and
death of Professor Mo'in. Prof. Mo'in offers a very rich documentation and proves
the abundance of lexical pro-Islamic materials in neo-Persian literature, though his
interpretation of those materials can be questioned.
 Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture 49

created by an undue emphasis laid upon names and fragments rather than upon
their functioning as a whole. The Magians' Wine, the Young Magian (mugh-
bache), the Cup of Jamshid, are, in Hafiz, the same thing as the ancient heroes
of pre-Islamic Iran in Eirdausl: that is, elements for a new construction that,
in its organic functioning, has nothing to do any more with the realities of
ancient Iran, although, we must also add, this new construction is also different
from an hypothetically "pure Muslim" lyrical art. As an example here, in
16
A. J. Arberry's translation, is the Saqi-nama of Hafiz, written in the same
meter as the Shahndma, and full of hints of elements of the ancient pre-Islamic
world. The less real those elements, the stronger its symbolistic Stimmung:

I
Come, saki, come, your wine ecstatic bring,
augmenting grace, the soul's perfectioning;
fill up my glass, for I am desperate
lo, bankrupt of both parts is my estate.

Bring, saki, bring your wine, and Jamshid's bowl

shall therewith bear to view the vast void whole;
pour on, that with this bowl to fortify
I may, like Jamshid, every secret spy.

Bring, saki, bring your alchemy divine

where Korah's wealth and Noah's year combine;
pour on and there shall open forth to thee
the gates of fame and immortality.

Bring wine, o saki, and its image there

to Jamshid and Chosroes shall greeting bear;
pour on, and to the pipe's note I shall say
how Jamshid fared, and Ka'us, in their day.

Sing of this old world's ways, and with your strings

make proclamation to those ancient kings.
Still spreads the same far desert to be crossed
where Salm and Tur their mighty armies lost;
still stands the selfsame crumbling hostelry

Afrasiyab took his palace for to be.

Where now the captains that his armies led,
and where the sword-swift champion at their head ?
High was his palace; ruin is its doom;
lost now to memory his very tomb.

1 5
A . J. Arberry, Fifty Poems of Hafiz (Cambridge, 1947), pp. 129-130.
50 Alessandro Bausani

II
Bring, saki, bring your virgin chastely veiled,
your tavern-dweller drunkenly regaled;
fill up, for I am avid of ill fame,
and seek in wine and bowl my utmost shame.

Bring saki, bring such brain-enflaming juice

as lions drink, and let wide havoc loose;
pour on, and lion-like I'll break the snare
of this old world, and rise to rule the air.

Bring wine, o saki, that the houris spice

with angel fragrance out of Paradise;
pour on, and putting incense to the fire
the mind's eternal pleasure I'll acquire.

Bring, saki, bring your throne-bestowing wine;

my heart bears witness it is pure and fine;
pour on, that, shriven in the tide of it,
I may arise triumphant from the pit.

Why must I yet the body's captive be,

when spiritual gardens call to me ?
Give me to drink, till I am full of wine,
then mark what wisdom and what power are mine;
into my keeping let your goblet pass,
and I will view the world within that glass;
intoxicate of saintliness I'll sing,
and in my beggar's rags I'll play the king.
When Hafiz lifts his voice in drunken cheer,
Venus applauds his anthem from her sphere.

The times of Chosroes, Jamshid and Ka'iis, which in Firdausi were reduced to
history, here become pure symbol. And pure symbol (not, of course, allegory,
which is quite different!) is here also the Angelical Wine and the miraculous
cup of Jamshid. In both cases (Firdausi and Hafiz) the post-Islamic reaction
to ancient Iran is not a nationalistic/racial reaction: in the case of Firdausi
it is an Islamo-ethical reaction, in the case of Hafiz an Islamo-Neoplatonic one.
Another very interesting instance of post-Islamic response to pre-Islamic
Iranian past in Persian literature is the famous Mada'in-gaswfo by Khaqani
(twelfth century), one of the greatest masterpieces of that literature. It is too
long to quote here in full. I shall limit myself to say that ethical and symbolic
motifs intertwine, with strong emphasis on the ethical-sapiential aspects. Also
here the atmosphere is totally demythologized and the national element is
 Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture 51

totally absent. The poet does not lament the end of the national power of the
ancient Sasanian empire, rather he laments in a more universal way the end of
so many values and of so much beauty, swallowed up by Time. The apex of the
qasida is the powerful verse:

gufti ke kujd raftand an tajvaran inak

z'lshan shikam-i khdk-ast dbestan javidan
Where did they go those famous crowned kings ?
Lo, the womb of earth is pregnant of them, eternally.
But the end of the poem contains moral warnings on the inconstancy of Pate.
The fact that Mada'in was the capital of ancient Iran is purely casual: Khaqani
would have said quite similar things in front of the ruins of a Greek or Roman
palace.
It is very instructive to compare this poem by the ancient Khaqani with
16
one of a contemporary poet, 'Ishqi (d. 1924) on the same subject. Those same
ruins of Mada'in inspire in 'Ishqi a sense of shame: "This was once the cradle
of the ancient Sasanians, the ancestral center of Iranian glory. Power, Science
and Art rendered it prosperous once, Weakness, Ignorance, Abjection have now
destroyed all that glory. . . . " Apart from the literary values of the two poems,
Khaqani seems to me to have had, perhaps, a deeper historical sense: not
abjection or cowardice destroyed Mada'in; its destruction is a logical conse
quence of history, even if, for the Muslim, history is called Destiny or Divine
Will.
The nationalistic attitude became stronger with the decay of Islamic Iranian
culture. It is quite curious that whereas in certain cases the Aufstieg zum
17
Nationalstaat (to use Hinz's characterization of Safavid Iran) produced a
renaissance in culture (Elizabethan England, French Monarchy, "siglo de oro"
in Spain, and so on) in other cases (Iran, Germany, Italy) a similar Aufstieg
meant a weakening of culture. Iran has been a source of a powerful universal
culture, impregnating the whole of the Islamic world just when it was not a
Nationalstaat. Modern Iranian nationalism, if it wants to be logical (something
nationalists rarely are) should ignore the entire arch of Muslim Iranian history
and jump from the Sasanian "re-archaization" to the Safavid age, and then
to the modern Pahlavi regime. Strange as it may seem, this sometimes happens:
in some pamphlets of a popular character distributed by Iranian Embassies a-
broad I have seen a similar treatment of the history of Iran. Unfortunately this
trend seems shared even by some very intelligent and learned representatives of
the modern Iranian elite. Let us analyze, for instance, this sentence from the
remarkable book by Professor Mo'in on the influence of Mazdaism on post-

1 6
A n anthology of his verse is included in D . J. Irani, Poets of the Pahlavi Regime
(Bombay, 1933). The poem mentioned by me is also reproduced there.
1 7
W . Hinz, Irans Aufstieg zum Nationalstaat (Berlin, 1936).
52 Alessandro Bausani

Islamic Persian literature (the passage concerns the arguments on the relative
18
excellence of the four elements in the Islamic Middle Ages) :
After the diffusion of Islam in Iran and the destruction of Fire-temples,
slowly Fire came to lose the respect and veneration enjoyed by it amongst
the Persians, though the enlightened minds of Iran and the partisans of
ancient culture, especially the shu'ubiyya and the initiators of national
renaissances, always struggled in various ways to relight the flame of national
feeling and to preserve the veneration for Fire. Bashshar ibn Burd, in one
of his qasidas prefers Fire (an element sacred to the Persians) to Earth
(an element that is considered venerable by the Muslims) because the
Islamic Ka'ba is made of earth and God molded Adam, the Father of
mankind, from earth) and he declares Iblis (created from Fire) nobler than
Adam (created from earth).

What is interesting here is that "Persians" are contrasted not with Arabs
but with Muslims. We could, however, remark that that qasida by Bashshar
ibn Burd was written in Arabic and a reasonable doubt is open regarding a
conscious "national" will of that poet to attribute a special value to the "Aryan"
Persians. FireI thinkis reevaluated by Bashshar not so much because it is
"Persian," but rather because it is an element of that typical rindi/rusva'i
aspect that developed both in Arabic and Persian Abbasid poetry, becoming
a sort of topos in Persian lyrics. It is the same trend that brought Daqiqi to
declare, at the end of one famous poem (whose authenticity, however, has been
questioned) that he preferred four things from among all good:
the ruby-coloured lip, the harp's lament
19
the blood-red wine, and Zoroaster's creed,
where the mention of Zoroaster's creed can in no way be a proof of the allegiance
of Daqiqi to Zoroastrianism, as Professor H. H. Schaeder has convincingly
20
shown.
One of the best proofs of the purely symbolic nature of the frequent mentions
of alleged "Mazdaic" concepts in post-Islamic medieval Iranian literature is a
21
passage from Sa'di's Bustan. Sa'di refers to a personal experience, a visit to
the Hindu temple of Somnath. There he saw an idol adorned with precious
gems, "like Manat in the time of jahiliyyat (old Arabic heathendom)." He
asks "a Magian" who was his friend: "O brahmanl What you are doing here
seems strange to me. . . . " The Magian was not too pleased at this impertinent
question and informed "the Magians and the Superiors of that convent [deir,
1 8
Mo'in, op. cit., pp. 4 0 8 - 4 0 9 , italics mine.
1 9
E . G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia, Vol. I (Cambridge, repr. 1951),
p. 459.
2 0
H . H . Schaeder, " W a r Daqiqi Zoroastrier ?" in Festschrift Jacob (Leipzig, 1932),
pp. 288ff.
2 1
Discussed in m y Letteratura Persiana, pp. 2 6 3 - 2 6 5 .
 Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture 53

generally a Christian convent!]" and "those gabr [Zoroastrians!] who recited

Pdzand assaulted me like dogs throwing themselves on a bone. . . . " To avoid
being killed by them Sa'di pretends admiration for their customs and says:
"I praised the great Brahman: O wise interpreter of Avesta and Zand, I too
like this idol. . . ."In order to witness the miracle that the people attributed to
that holy image he remains the entire night in the temple, surrounded "by
Magians prostrated in a prayer not preceded by ablution, priests [kashishdn,
Christian priests:] who had never touched a drop of water. . . . " I tooSa'di
sayspretended to pray and "imitated those atheists (Mfir); for some days I
became a brahman and started reciting Zand.'' But at last the fraud is discovered:
"behind the curtain there was a . . . Bishop [mutrdn, a Christian bishop!], a
flreworshiper that moved the idol by means of a cord. . . . "
In all of Persian literature it would be difficult to find a more striking example
of ignorance of what Mazdaism really was. Here Magians, Brahmans, Bishops,
Kafirs, Priests, Convent, Hindu temple, Fire-temple are all bundled together
under the common denominator oikufr (idolatry). But is this really attributable
to ignorance ? Sa'di had traveled far and wide and certainly knew the difference
at least between Christians and Magians. All those names, put by me in italics
in the preceding passages, are simply symbols of something contrasted with
official Islam and, in lyrics, also a symbol of a mystical reality deeper than
esoteric religion. Any non-Islamic religion can serve this purpose: true, historical
Zoroastrianism has nothing to do with it and it is not necessary to suppose a
direct continuation. The constellation of concepts that could be called the kufr-
motif also included Iranian elements, but it is present also in Arabic literature
of that time and is strongly connected with the Malamati school of Sufism.
The optical illusion of continuity is created only by the use of verbal elements
reminiscent of pre-Islamic Iran, but the functioning whole is, not only Iranian,
but also Gnostic-Neoplatonic-Syncretic.
Another instance of the contemporary attempt at re-archaization, less
simplistic than the preceding one, is that based, consciously or unconsciously,
on reasoning of this kind: Iranian genius never fully accepted the foreign
22
religion, Islam, and tried to modify it according to its own "style." Thence,
Shi'ism. Shi'ism finally succeeded in overcoming its adversaries in Safavid
time, date of the formation of the "national" state of Iran after a long eclipse.
Therefore all that is good in the intermediary period (eighth to sixteenth
centuries) must have some Shi'a (therefore national-Iranian) features. Inter
twined with this is another trend that can be summarized in simple fashion as
follows: parallel to Shi'ism, Sufism, too, tried to oppose the "monolithic"

2 2
This, of course, was an ancient idea in certain Islamic circles and perhaps one
of the first to express it very clearly was Ibn H a z m (Milal, ed. Muhammad Amin
al-Khanji [Cairo, 1964], I , 3 5 - 3 6 ) . Of course in those circles the idea was used
against the Persians and was originated by another equally silly attitude: Arabic
national pride and anti-Shi'a prejudice.
64 Alessandro Bausani

Semitic religion of the Arabs from inside. Therefore Sufism must be, in a way,
a companion and helper of Shi'ism, and both must contain important "Iranian"
elements, especially in their more "gnostic" aspects.
23
There is, of course, a grain of truth in all this, but the final results of these
lines of reasoning are rather strange. I mention only two instances: one is based
on personal experience, the other is taken from literary sources. Speaking with
Persian students I was astonished to learn that they automatically assumed all
the great personalities of Iranian Muslim culture to be Shi'as, and they showed
the utmost amazement when I told them that Hafiz, Jami, Sa'di, Firdausi,
Nizami, Maulana Rumi (practically all the great representatives of classical
Muslim Iran) had been Sunnis! The second instance is the remarkable work of a
24
scientist and a philosopher like Professor S. H. Nasr, from which I personally
have learned much, but which seems to reduce all Islamic philosophy to the
common denominator of a Gnosticism of Sufi-Shi'a character, which in turn
25
(and following in the footsteps of Professor H. Corbin) is considered as almost
identical with the deep ancient Iranian tradition.
In other words I seem to notice in modern Iranian circles two types of re-
archaization. One type is composed of those who all but deny any importance
to the Muslim parenthesis (of 1,000 years) in the history of Iran and consider
modern "renaissance" as a continuation of Sasanian and Achaemenid Iran;
the second type is composed of those who equate Iranism and Islam, making
of the Spanish Muslim philosopher Ibn 'Arabi an "honorary Persian," but
expelling Ibn Rushd (Averroes) from the field of "true" Islam because he does
26
not enter their preconceived frame of Islam-Gnosis.
I compare an old and modern text on the subject of the ancient Iranian feast
of Sade, which some Iranians would like to reestablish, at least as a folkloric-
2 3
Though Shi'ism at its beginnings was somewhat anti-Sufi, eventuallyit is
truerelations became better. See on this problem especially M . Mole, "Les K u -
brawiya entre sunnisme et shiisme aux huitieme et neuvieme siecles de l'hegire,"
Revue des itudes islamiques, n. v. (1961), 6 1 - 1 4 2 .
2 4
Especially remarkable are his studies on Muslim cosmology and sciences, for
instance, S. H . Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (Cambridge,
Mass., 1964); Science and Civilization in Islam (Cambridge, Mass., 1968).
2 5
Prof. Corbin's booklet, Les motifs zoroastriens dans la philosophic de Sohrawardi
(Tehran, 1946), is typical in this sense.
2 S
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) is not included in Prof. Nasr's book on Islamic cosmo
logical doctrines, and Prof. Corbin, in his Histoire de la philosophic islamique, V o l . I
(Paris, 1964), which has the great merit of having at last broken the spell "philoso
phy = falsafa = Aristotelian philosophy = Arab philosophy," introducing the philo
sophical aspects of mystical, theosophieal, ishraqi, shi'a, and isma'ili thought
into the "history of philosophy," tries to minimize the importance of Averroes as a
Muslim thinker. A contrary opinion was expressed b y M . Cruz Hernandez in a
recent Colloquium held b y the Academy of Lincei in R o m e . I n agreement with E .
Rosenthal he declared I b n Rushd 'the deepest and truest Muslim believer amongst
the falasifa (see: M . C. Hernandez, "El Averroismo en el occidente medieval," in
Convegno Internazionale; Oriente e Occidente nel medioevo: fdosofia e scienze," [Rome,
1971] pp. 19-20).
 Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture 55

national element of modern culture. The ancient text is a passage of Aiharu

'l-Bdqlya (Chronology of Ancient Nations) by the great Muslim Iranian scientist
27
Abu Raihan al-Blrunl, the millenary of whose birth is just falling this year:
10th of Bahman: the night of as-Sadhak. They [the "Persians"] fumigate
their houses to keep off mishap, so that finally it has become one of the
customs of the kings to light fires on this night and to make them blaze,
to drive wild beasts into them, and to send the birds flying through the
flames, and to drink and amuse themselves round the fires. May God take
vengeance on all who enjoy causing pain to another being, gifted with
sensation and doing no harm!"

The second passage is a commentary on the above, contained in a good

little book on the feast of Sade published in 1946 by the "Society of Iranology"
28
in Teheran. The author, commenting on the passage of Biruni quoted
above and evidently shocked, like Biruni, by the rather inhumane features
of the feast described there, declares [in my opinion without sufficient proof]
that "to burn useful animals and birds, in spite of the fact that Mazdaism
highly respected animals (especially the useful ones) must bethere is no
doubttypical of Sade celebrations of post-Islamic Iran!"
Here we catch an important aspect of modern re-archaizing nationalism.
I meanparadoxicallyits Muslim-ethical aspect. The type of reasoning that
lies behind the affirmations of our author is as follows: the custom described
by Biruni is an inhumane custom; but nothing inhumane can be ancient
Iranian; therefore that custom is not ancient Iranian. Actually ancient Iran,
Mazdeism et similia have become for modern Iranian nationalists something
purely symbolic contemplated by an ethically Islamized eye. They admire
ancient Iran just for its alleged ethico-Islamic qualities: there reigns Nushirwan
the Just, the Achaemenid Empire is a sort of madina fadila in al-Farabi's
sense; and, if history refutes some of their ideals, they prefer to reject history
rather than renounce their ideals. And these ideals, although bearing local
Iranian names (Achaemenids, Sasanians, theosophical Gnosis), are actually the
ideals of romantic nationalistic Europe. The contribution of some Western
orientalists and archaeologists to this modern trend of the Iranian mind has
been, I believe, a determining factor.
It is evident that I consider Muhammad rather than Darius one of the chief
roots of post-Islamic Iranian culture. This year being the thousandth anni
versary of the birth of one of the greatest Muslim Iranian scientists, al-Biruni,
I should like to close this paper with a double quotation, from al-Blruni's
28
famous preface to his "Book on Drugs" commented upon, in turn, by one of

2 7
Trans. E . Sachau (London, 1879), p. 213.
2 8
Jashn-i Sade, ed. Pur-i Da'ud (Tehran, 1946/1325).
2 9
Das Vorwort zur Drogenkunde des Beruni, trans, and with preface b y M a x
Meyerhof (Berlin, 1932).
56 Alessandro Bausani

the few western orientalists who did not contribute to strengthening modern
Persian nationalism, the "shaikh admirable" Louis Massignon. I refer to the
very short but significant contribution of the late French orientalist to the
30
Al-Birurii Commemoration Volume published in India in 1951.

In a celebrated preface to the Book of Drugs, he [Biruni] says: It is

through the Arabic language that the sciences have been transmitted by
means of translations from all parts of the world. They have been enhanced
by translation into the Arabic language and have as a result insinuated
themselves into men's hearts, and the beauty of this language has commin
gled with these sciences in our veins and arteries. And if it is true that in
all nations one likes to adorn oneself by using the language to which one
has remained loyal, having become accustomed to using it with friends
and companions according to need, I must judge for myself that in my
native tongue Khwarazmian, science has as much chance of becoming perpe
tuated as a camel has of facing Ka'ba or a giraffe of finding himself among
purebreds. And if I compare Arabic with Persian, two languages with
which I consider myself extremely familiar, I must confess I would prefer
invective in Arabic to praise in Persian. And one will recognize the cogency
of my remark if one examines a scientific text once it has been translated
into Persian. It loses all clarity, its horizon is foreshortened, the delineation
is blurred, its practical application disappears. The purpose of the Persian
language is to perpetuate historical epics dealing with the kings of yester
31
year and to provide stories for evening social gatherings." (Let us not
forget that Biruni was a contemporary of Firdausi.)
And Massignon adds: I anticipate an objection at this point: an inter
national scientific language denationalizes. You show us a Biruni who,
taking sides, opts for the technical superiority of Arabic, denounces the
Iranian race from which his Khwarazmian stemmed. At this point in time
of renaissance of eastern nations, is Biruni to be considered a traitor or a
hostage ? Neither. He has glimpsed the supranational ideal of a universal
language . . . striving moreover, like many other medieval Iranians for
perfection of the lexical technique of the Arabic language. . . . Biruni has
made a discovery in this area which only his Aryan origin enabled him to
make in this domain. Arabic, like all Semitic languages, contains many
ambivalent roots (it is not only the language of dad but also the language
3 0
L . Massignon, "Al-Beruni et la valeur internationale de la science arabe," in
Al-Biruni Commemoration Volume (Calcutta, 1951), pp. 2 1 7 - 2 1 9 .
3 1
This judgment of Biruni on Persian is, of course, rather unfair. But it shows
the remarkable insight of the scientist who, in m y opinion, foresees here the future
development of Persian literature, in his time still at its beginnings. One line of this
development is the epical one, the other line is the lyrical and symbolic trend. I t is
especially along these lines that Persian literature produced its greatest master
pieces (Firdausi, Nizami, Hafiz, to quote only the most well-known and significant
names.
 Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture 57

of addad) and it fell to the writers of Aryan background to endow in this

manner the Arab conscience with its destiny . . . Arabic words thus became
inductors, generators of a positive and focused philosophical structure.
Biruni emerges as the most illustrious link in a long line of writers like
himself, from the ancient caste of Sughdian Iranian scribes (who organized
the administration of the Achamenids and of the Sasanians before pro
viding the Turkic languages of Central Asia with then lexical technique)
to the famous Hindu caste of the Kayasthas (who, commissioned by the
sultan of Delhi to maintain the records of land taxes, translated into
Persian, among others, the classical masterpiece of Sanskrit [India], the
Upanishad, brought to the West by Anquetil Duperron). Because of the
Arabic language, Arabic science of Muslim scholars, like the Islamic Empire,
32
united the Greek heritage with that of India (and that of Iran) in a
synthesis that represents not merely an accumulation but a step forward
in world progress.

3 2
Massignon wrote only "heritage of India," but m y addition "Iran" isI be
lievetotally in agreement with his thought!
 ISLAMIZATION AND ARABIZATION IN AL-ANDALUS:
A GENERAL V I E W

ANWAR G. CHEJNE

University of Minnesota

Literary documentation enables us to survey and illustrate the process of

cultural change, but it does not allow us to determine with precision its extent
and full implications. The situation is the more acute in the absence of reliable
statistics, of archival documents that would help to determine linguistic distribu
tions and numerical strength of religious affiliations, of taxation figures, and in
the absence of other data. Under the circumstances, any evaluation tends to be
subjective and prone to different interpretation, even to heated controversy.
This appears to be the case for al-Andalus. The question may be posed: "Were
the Muslims successful in imposing their religion, language, and customs on the
Spaniards so as to effect a radical change on the traditional culture of Spain ?"
1
For instance, in his Historia de los mozdrabes, the Spanish scholar F. Simonet
takes issue with the Dutch savant R. Dozy for having maintained that the
Arabs imposed their language and to some measure their religion on the Span
2
iards, and he goes on to say that some modern scholars suffer from as much
3
fanaticism as do the Muhammadans. Simonet pursues his presentation through
an endless series of admissions and denials and arrives at contradictory conclu
sions that cannot be justified by his own data. On one hand he maintains that
those Spaniards who converted to Islam were cowards, selfish, and impious
and, on the other he says that the beliefs and superstitions of the Muslims never
succeeded in penetrating Christianity. On the contrary, there were wise and
pious men who counteracted the pernicious influence of the literature and cus
4
toms of the Muslims. They had perseverance and fought for the purity of
6
the faith. But Simonet had to admit, as Menendez y Pelayo showed, that there

1
(Madrid, 1903)hereafter cited as Simonet, Historia.
2
Ibid., p. xxxviii; cf. R . Dozy, Recherches sur Vhistoire et la literature de VEspagne
pendant le moyen age (2d ed.; 2 vols.; Leiden, 1860), I , 93.
3
Simonet, Historia, p. xli. In this connection one m a y call attention to the work
of J. Monroe, Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship (Loiden, 1970), which
points to the attitude of some Spanish Arabists in this and other respects.
4
Simonet, Historia, p. xxxviii.
5
M . Menendez y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos espafioles, 2 vols. (Madrid,.
1880-1882).
60 Anwar G. Chejne

6
were deviations and "contaminations" leading to heterodoxies. For Simonet,
the vanquished Christians preserved not only their civilization, but contributed
enormously to arrest the barbarism of the victors' more so in Spain than in the
eastern part of the Islamic empire. In his opinion the Arabs showed great
inability to learn the language of the conquered people; therefore the latter
learned Arabic. He refutes, perhaps rightly, the supposition of some scholars
that the Spanish Christians were totally Arabized and forgot their own lan
8
guage. He cites a number of Latin authors mainly from the ninth century,
notably Alvaro, Eulogius, Samuel, and Samson, who composed religious tracts
9
and hymns and concludes that such people who were familiar with the various
scientific and literary models of the Christians, and even those of Romans and
Greeks, could not possibly learn anything from the rude, ignorant, and uncouth
10
Arabs and Berbers.
In sum, Simonet's assertions would lead us to believe that the Muslims of
Spain were merely intruders whose presence in the peninsula for eight centuries
was transitory in nature, and that the change effected by them never took
deep root. The question of whether the Muslim conqueror succumbed totally
to the vanquished Spaniards should be contrasted with other available sources,
for example, Ibn Khaldun. This Tunisian thinker who formulated his sociologi
cal theories on the Islamic experience, says that for psychological reasons the
vanquished, always wants to imitate the victor in distinctive marksdress,
11
occupation, and all other conditions and customs and that a nation that has

6
Simonet, Hiatoria, pp. xl-xli; cf. Menendez y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos
espanoles, I , 308.
7
Simonet, Historia, p. xliv.
8
Ibid., p. xlix; here he takes issue with the Portuguese scholar Alexandra Hercu-
lano, Do estado das closes servas na peninsula desdo o VII ate o XII seclo (Lisbon,
1858), p. 22, who maintains that the Mozarabs were Saracens in every respect in
that they served in the Muslim army, held jobs in the government, adopted Muslim
customs, Arabic names, the civilization and language of the conqueror to the point
of forgetting Latin. See also F . Simonet, Glosario de voces ibiricas y latinos usadas
entre los mozdrabes (Madrid, 1888). Some of the underlying views of Simonet are to
be found in the writings of L . Eguilaz and C. Sanchez Albornoz. Both authors
grudgingly accept Muslim presence in the peninsula. I n his Glosario etimologico
de las palabras espanolas de origen oriental (Granada, 1886) Eguilaz attempts to
attach more importance to the influence of Romance on Arabic and refutes R . D o z y
and W . Engelmann's Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais derives de I'arabe (2d
ed.; Leiden, 1869) in which they maintain the superiority of Arabic civilization over
that of the Spaniards. Sanchez Albornoz attempts in his Espana y el islam (Buenos
Aires, 1943) and Espana; Un enigma historico (Buenos Aires, 1956) to deprecate the
Islamic past of Spain. H e contends that the conquest of Spain by the Muslims was a
holocaust that had an enormous adverse effect on the country for centuries, mainly,
halting its pursuit of the progressive path of the rest of Europe.
9
Simonet, Historia, pp. 320ff.
1 0
Ibid., p. 349.
1 1
I b n Khaldun, al-Muqaddimah, English trans. F. Rosenthal (3 vols.; N e w Y o r k ,
1958), I , 299.
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 61

been defeated and comes under the rule of another nation will perish because
12
of apathy. Ibn Khaldun's statement applied to al-Andalus would imply that a
complete cultural transformation had taken place leaving no room for the process
of interaction of two disparate civilizations.
We thus have two extreme positions: that of Simonet, a nineteenth-century
scholar, and that of Ibn Khaldun, a medieval thinker. Neither stand is totally
sound, and the answer is more likely to lie between the two, that is, both con
queror and conquered came to learn from each other in time of war and peace
via a process of osmosisof giving and receivingin which the Arabo-Islamic
elements contributed eventually to the creation of a new cultural environment
and gave shape and content to a new culture which bore an Arabo-Islamic
stamp.
The process of change from a Latin-Christian to an Arabo-Islamic base is
complex because of the nature and composition of Iberian society, which consist
ed of Iberian, Roman, Visigothic, and other elements, and because of the
remoteness of the Iberian peninsula from the mainstream of Islam and Arab-
dom. In an interesting essay, H. Terrasse maintains that the Visigoths must
have left their imprint on the peninsula during some three hundred years and
that the Muslims fell hen to their legacy both in its positive features, that is,
religiolegal unity, pievalence of a national language, and a Spanish conscious
ness, and in its negative features, that is, individualism, revolts, standing army,
13
interference with the church, and social inequality. While one can perceive
some of these features under Muslim rule, one cannot fail to recognize the
process of interaction and cultural change, a phenomenon that is illuminated by
11
Americo Castro in The Structure of Spanish History. Castro makes ample
provisions for Roman, Christian, and Visigothic legacies, but gives due recogni
tion to the process of interaction of Muslims with the native population. The
interaction, heavily weighted on the Arabo-Islamic side, became an integral
part of the development of a new perspective, of an Andalusian personality,
and of an Andalusian set of values that became part and parcel of a Spanish
personality. In other words, this final outcome was the result of partial adapta
tion or modification of old values and customs and, at the same time, of the
introduction and integration of new ones. This point is made eloquently by
Steiger who, in describing Spain in the 1950s, says:

a subtle Arabism bathes the atmosphere of many big and small cities
whose anatomy has been, more often than not, preserved unchanged from
the Muslim period. The remnants of this prolonged Arabization are seen
in the popular arts, in industrial techniques, in the manner of cultivating

1 2
Ibid., I , 300.
1 3
H . Terrasse, "L'Espagne musulmane et l'heritage Wisigothiquc," Etudes
d'Orientalisme d&di&es a la memoire de L6vi-Provencal (2 vols.; Paris, 1962), I I , 7 5 7 -
766.
1 1
Trans. E . L . King (Princeton, 1954).
62 Anwar G. Chejne

the land and in the method of irrigation. Al-Andalus influenced the folk
lore, the popular music, and even the way of life, thinking, and behaving
of important nuclei of the population. The Arabic language of al-Andalus
with its peculiar vocabulary and dialectical expressions may serve as a good
illustration of its extraordinary power of expansion into the hispano-
portuguese vocabulary. This admirable survival is acknowledged more
decisively still in the regional speech of Portugal, Valencia, Murcia, and
Granada. Direct borrowings which pertain to a lexicon of various facets
technical and agricultural terms, names of plants, trees, fruits, fabric and
weaving, furniture and names for some social institutionswith all their
puzzling problems add more to the precious remains of Arabic vocabulary
in al-Andalus. [Thus] it will not be too bold to conclude from all this that
the nouns and things designated by them immigrated at the same time
and that from the ninth century the Muslim fashions of Seville, Cordova,
Toledo, and Saragossa began to penetrate the small courts of the northern
15
peninsula where they represent grafts in the Christian organism.

This seemingly imposing influence of Arabic culture on Spain is recognized to

a small or great degree by other Westerners including many Spanish scholars.
R. Menendez Pidal recognized the phenomenon of cultural symbiosis, accepts
Arabic influences on Spain and Europe, and admits that in the process Spanish
16
Muslims hispanized Iberian Islam. In his Poesia, he gives a history of the
development of the zajal, the popular poetry that flourished in al-Andalus, but
stresses that its origin must have been derived from the folklore of Spain which
may go back to Latin lyrics. After establishing the "Spanish" character of the
zajal, he then admits its influence on the songs of Spanish Christians as well as
on the poetry of the troubadours. He reiterates the same argument in his
Spain as a Bridge, but concludes by saying that when Christianity had the upper
hand with no danger from the Muslims, the Reconquest subsided during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Castilians, far from having a sense of
repulsion toward the Muslim refugees, felt attracted to that exotic civilization
of the Muslims: to the luxury of clothes, splendid ornamentation of buildings,
the manner of horseback riding, armaments and fighting; many Castilians
emigrated to Granada and many Moors were in the employ of Castilians. "La
1
maurofilia (a la mauresque) was made fashionable." '
Perhaps the man most responsible for giving Arabism its rightful place in
Spanish history was Codera y Zaidin who inaugurated a scholarly perspec-

1 5
A . Steiger, "Funcion espiritual del islam en Bspafia medieval," Revista del
Institute- de Estudios Isldmicos (RIEI), V I (1958), 54.
1 6
R . Menendez Pidal, Poesia drabe y poesia europea (Buenos Aires, 1943).
1 7
R . Menendez Pidal, "Espana como eslabon entre el cristianismo y el islam,"
Revista del Instituto Egipcio de Estudios Isldmicos (RIEEI), I (1953), 1 6 - 1 7 . I t
should be indicated, however, that the process of imitation had been going on long
before the fourteenth century.
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 63
18
tive with respect to the role of Arabic culture in Spanish life. In an address
before the Spanish Royal Academy, Codera acknowledges the role of Arabic
in the process of linguistic borrowing. But the greatest legacy of Codera lies in
his enthusiastic and brilliant pupils often referred to as Banu Codera; the most
outstanding among them are J. Ribera y Tarrago and M. Asin Palacios. In his
19
numerous publications, Ribera explored the gamut of Arabic culture and the
extent of its influence on Spain in particular and on Europe in general.
Ribera had a worthy successor in Asin Palacios who brought to light an
impressive list of publications dealing mainly with philosophy and mysticism
20
and the interaction of Christianity and Islam. In spite of the fact that Asin
Palacios was an ordained priest, his sympathy for and detachment from his
subject were indeed remarkable and could be matched by those of A. Gonzalez
21
Palencia who in his numerous works delved into the intimate relationship
between Islamic and Christian cultures.
22 23
One can hardly omit the names of J. Sanchez Perez, J. M. Millas Vallicrosa,
24
and J. Vernet Gines who made invaluable contributions in the field of the
natural sciences and who showed the unmistakable indebtedness of Spain and
25
Europe to the Arabic sciences; E. Garcia Gomez has been concerned with

1 8
Fr. Codera y Zaidin, Importancia de las fuentes drabes para eonocer el estado del
voeabulario en las lenguas o dialectos espanoles desde el siglo V11 alXII (Madrid, 1910).
1 9
J. Ribera y Tarrago wrote his Cancionero de Abencuzmdn (Madrid, 1928) which
led him to the discovery of the strophic system in the zajal and its relation to
troubadour poetry. His study of Arabic music (La musica de las Cantigas [Madrid,
1922]) shows its relations to the Cantigas of Alfonso X as well as to the songs of the
troubadours and minnesingers. His Origenes de la Justicia Mayor de Aragon (Sara-
gossa, 1897) shows the interesting phenomenon of legal borrowing from Islam.
2 0
In his Islam cristianizado (Madrid, 1931), M . Asin Palacios points to the influ
ence of Christianity on Islam, while his Huellas del Islam (Madrid, 1941) shows the
impact of Islam on Christianity. H i s Glosario de voces romances registradas por un
botdnico hispano-musulmdn (Madrid and Granada, 1943) shows the presence of
preliterary romance expressions used b y an hispano-Arabic writer; El averroismo
teologico de Santo Tomas de Aquino (Madrid, 1901) shows the influence of the phi
losopher Averroes on St. Thomas; La escatologia musulmana en la divina comedia
(3d ed.; Madrid, 1961) points to the link between the mi'raj (ascension of Muham
mad to the seven heavens) and the theme in Dante's Divina Commedia.
2 1
A . Gonzalez Palencia's main works are: Islam y occidente (Madrid, 1931);
Moras y Cristianos en Espana medieval (Madrid, 1945); and Historia de la literalura
arabigo-espanola (3d ed.; Barcelona, 1932).
2 2
J. Sanchez Perez, Biografias de matemdticos drabes que florecieron en Espana
(Madrid, 1921); La Ciencia arabe en la edad media (Madrid, 1954).
2 3
J. M . Millas Vallicrosa, Estudios sobre Azarquiel (Madrid and Granada, 1 9 4 3 -
1950); Estudios sobre la historia de la ciencia espanola (Barcelona, 1949).
2 4
J. Vernet Gines, "Una bibliografia de la historia de las ciencias matematicas
y astronomicas entre los arabes," al-Andalus, X X I (1956), 4 3 1 - 4 4 0 ; X X I I I (1958),
2 1 5 - 2 3 6 . See also his two popular works: Los musulmanes espanoles (Barcelona,
1961) and Literatura arabe (Barcelona, 1968).
2 5
E . Garcia Gomez, Poemas ardbigoandaluces (Madrid, 1940), Cinco poetas
musulmanes (Madrid, 1945), and numerous articles in al-Andalus.
 Anwar G. Chejne

26 27
poetry; Isidoro de las Cagigas with minority groups; M. Gomez Moreno and
28 29
L. Torres Balbas with arts and architecture; and A. Galmes de Fuentes
with Aljamiado literature and its impact on early Spanish literature.
30 31
Nor can one delete the distinct contribution of Dozy or E. Levi-Provencal
32
to the history and institutions of Muslim Spain; nor the works of G. Marcais,
33 34 35
A. R. Nykl, H. Peres, and Terrasse, all of which show the preponderance
for centuries of Arabo-Islamic elements in the life of Spain.
The works of these scholars were based for the most part on literary sources,
written by Hispano-Arabic authors, which encompass poetical collections,
lexicons, grammars, commentaries of all sorts, belles lettres, history and geo
graphy, religious writings, philosophy-astronomy, mathematics, and other
disciplines. In addition to the enormous literary legacy there are architectural
remains, coins, textiles, and funeral and commemorative inscriptions. Moreover,
in the realm of toponymy there exist many Arabic names for rivers, fortresses,
cities, not to mention the hundreds of Arabic words that entered into the
Spanish language. Latin works written in the ninth century such as the Docu-
36
mentum martyriale by Eulogius and the Indiculus luminosus by Alvaro help
to point to a seemingly overwhelming Islamic cultural impact on al-Andalus.
All this data show that the process of Arabization and Islamization came to
supersede both Latin and Christianity as early as the ninth century. Latin,
once the language of liturgy and literature, was relegated to a minor position,
while Arabic rose in prominence as the language of learning and society. Islam
also appears to be the religion of a majority of the inhabitants of areas up to
Toledo and even beyond, including Saragossa and the Ebro valley. It would
thus seem that the religious, cultural, and linguistic impact was as intense and
wide in al-Andalus as in Syria and Egypt.

2 6
Isidoro de las Cagigas, Los mozarabes (2 vols.; Madrid, 1 9 4 7 - 1 9 4 8 ) ; Los
mudijares (2 vols.; Madrid, 1948-1949).
2 7
M . Gomez Moreno, Ars Hispania (Madrid, 1951); Iglesias mozarabes (Madrid,
1919).
2 8
L . Torres Balbas, Ars Hispania, I V (Madrid, 1949); Artes almordvide y almohade
(Madrid, 1955); La mezquita de Cordova y las ruinas de Madinat az-Zahra' (Madrid,
1952).
2 9
A . Galmes de Fuentes, Influencias sintdcticas y estilisticas del drabe en la prosa
medieval castellana (Madrid, 1956).
3 0
R . Dozy, Spanish Islam, trans. Francis Griffin Stokes (New Y o r k , 1913);
Supplement aux dictionnaires arabes (2 vols.; Leiden, 1881).
3 1
E . Levi-Provencal, La civilization arabe en Espagne (Cairo, 1938); L'Espagne
musulmane au X& siecle (Paris, 1932).
3 2
G. Marcais, Manuel d'art musulman (2 vols; Paris, 1 9 2 6 - 2 7 ) .
3 3
A . R . Nykl, A Compendium of Aljamiado Literature (New Y o r k , 1929); El
cancionero de AbinCuzmdn (Madrid, 1933); Hispano-Arabic Poetry (Baltimore, 1946).
3 4
H . Peres, La poisie andaluse en arabe classiquc au XP siecle (Paris, 1937).
3 5
H . Terrasse, Islam d'Espagne (Paris, 1958) and L'art hispano-mauresque des
origines au XIII" siecle (Paris, 1932).
3 6
Simonet, Historia, pp. 399ff. and 457ff.
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 65

The process of cultural change in al-Andalus spanned almost eight centuries

from 711 until 1492 and beyond. This long period was witness to many vicissi
tudes in the religion, language, literature, social mannerisms, arts, and crafts
of the Iberian Peninsula. Three major stages of the process are discernible:
(1) the formative stage (711-929) of penetration and incubation in which Arab
ization and Islamization gained preponderance at the expense of Latin and
Christianity -with all the attendant cultural changes; (2) the stage of ascendancy
(929-1085) in which Islamic culture in general reached its zenith; and (3) the
stage of decline (1085-1492) in which Muslim cultural ascendancy began to give
way to re-Christianization and Hispanization.

THE FORMATIVE STAGE ( 7 1 1 - 9 2 9 )

At the coming of the Arabs in 711, Latin, Roman institutions, Roman and
Visigothic laws, and Christianity constituted the most enduring legacy of the
37
Iberian Peninsula. The Visigoths ( 4 1 4 - 7 1 1 ) had remained a minority ruling
a large Romanized majority. They espoused Arianism, a Christian heresy, which
denied the Trinity and the divinity of Christ; they constituted a noble and
military caste, lived in military settlements (camjri or villa), held large tracts
of land (latifundia), and discouraged marriage with natives. They eventually
succumbed to the customs of the majority, adopting the Latin language and
Catholicism after the Third Council of Toledo in 589. This notwithstanding, a
wide cleavage separated Visigothic nobility from the rest of the population with
respect to social equality, distribution of wealth, and privileges. In fact, they
had forged an alliance with the remnants of the Roman aristocracy and the
clergy thus constituting a class by themselves which exploited the rank and
file of the population. The political situation was quite fluid in the Iberian
peninsula. Bishops were an influential element but were frequently subservient
38
to the king and his advisers. In the absence of a fixed formula for the succession
to the rule, the maneuvering among pretenders to the throne resulted in revolts
and civil wars. Thus during most of the seventh century, the Iberian Peninsula
was torn by dissension, social unrest, and political and economic instability.
The situation was accentuated further during the first decade of the eighth
century by the problem of succession to the throne which coincided with a
39
serious famine in 7 1 0 - 7 1 1 . In fact King Witiza (700-710) was faced with
numerous revolts. Upon his death in 710, his son Achila, who had been appoin
ted dux of Tarraconsis in the northeast of the country, assumed the throne in the

3 7
On the Visigoths see A. K . Ziegler, Church and State in Visigothic Spain
(Washington, 1930); E . A . Thompson, The Goths of Spain (Oxford, 1969), and
particularly volume III of the Historia de Espana directed b y R. Menendez Pidal
(Madrid, 1940).
3 8
Ziegler, Church and State in Visigothic Spain, pp. 126ff.
3 9
Akhbar majmu'a, ed. E . Lafuente y Alcantara (Madrid, 1967), p. 8.
66 Anwar G. Chejne

midst of strong opposition, particularly when Roderick established himself as

40
king in the South. All this coincided with the emergence of the Muslims in
North Africa who had Spain within reach. When the Muslims invaded the
country in 711, the Visigothic factions closed rank behind Roderick and met
the invaders at Guadalete in the Jerez de la Frontera. But the partisans of
Achila including a large number of Visigothic magnates deserted the battle
field and made common cause with the Muslims. Henceforth, the country was
conquered with relative ease and with ample support, no doubt, from disconten
ted groups, mainly Jews and Visigothic legitimists. A new chapter in the
history of the country had begun.
There is no indication that the country was ravaged by destruction, wholesale
killings, or forced mass conversion of the populace at the hands of the conqueror.
To the contrary, the majority of the population proved submissive and cooper
ative. The administration of the conquered territories was left by and large,
in the hands of natives and Jews, who were often supervised by small contin
41
gents of Muslims. In fact, towns that surrendered peacefully were given a
large measure of autonomy and their leaders were allowed to preserve most of
their large latifundia in return for an amount of taxes agreed upon at the time
42
of surrender. The historian Ibn al-Qutiyya reports that the heirs of the Visi
gothic king Witiza entered into contract with the conqueror Tariq and were
assured of the possession of some 3,000 estates (day'a) of which Artobas owned
1,000. Christians and Jews were permitted to continue practicing their religions,
to have their special courts, and to participate in the economic and political
life of the country. Visigothic nobility and their Church supporters maintained
close contact with the conquerors and held important jobs in the government.
Moreover, the treatment of the populace was by far more benign than that
received at the hands of the Visigoths. Thus, resistance or opposition to the
newcomers appears to have been minimal. From the outset there were many
wars and revolts, to be sure, but they were instigated and fought among the
conquerors themselves, mainly cases of northern Arabs versus southern Arabs,
or Arabs versus Berbers.
Moreover, the enormous distance separating the new territory from the
mainstream of Islam, coupled with the increasing instability facing the caliph
ate at Damascus, pointed to the likelihood that al-Andalus would secede
completely from the empire and would pursue an independent existence in the
cultural, political, and even the religious spheres. There was no doubt that a
conquering minority was facing a large majority on a distant soil, and that this

4 0
Thompson, pp. 216ff.
4 1
Akhbar majmu'a, pp. 12, 14; for the early administration, see H . Mu'nis,
Fajr al-Andalus (Cairo, 1959), pp. 459ff. and 530ff. Also his "Division politico-
administrativa," RIEEI, V (1957), 7 9 - 1 3 6 ; and Levi-Provencal, Histoire, I I I , Iff.
4 2
Iftitah al-Andalus, ed. J. Ribera (Madrid, 1926), p. 3.
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 67

minority was further diffused by intermarriage with the natives, and was
debilitated by perpetual internal wars. All these factors would have led the
conqueror to succumb to the culture and values of the vanquished. An early
manifestation of this trend can be seen in the conduct of the first emir, 'Abd
al-'Aziz ibn Musa (714-716) who married the widow of Roderick, the defeated
general of the Visigoths. It was charged that he had turned Christian (tanassa-
ra) under the influence of his wife who also prevailed on him to wear a crown in
43
the manner of Christian kings, and he was executed. This tendency toward
assimilation would have continued had it not been for the appearance of 'Abd
al-Rahman I, a prince of the Umayyad house and a fugitive from the 'Abbasid,
who established the Umayyad dynasty in Spain in 756. It was to the credit of
'Abd al-Rahman that two societies with different ethnic, linguistic, religious,
and cultural backgrounds came together and succeeded in forging a new civili
zation with Arabic and Islam as its main pillars. As a result, we can say that
'Abd al-Rahman altered the course of Spanish history in that he was instru
mental in giving direction and substance to the process of Arabization and
Islamization, a process that continued uninterruptedly under his successors.
The conquest had been achieved by about twenty thousand Muslims, both
Berbers and Arabs. Subsequently there were many waves of emigrants from
Syria-Palestine, Egypt, and the rest of North Africa. One of these was the ten
thousand man army of Balj which imposed itself on the country in 741. That
army was soon given huge tracts of land in fiefs for its various components :
the Egyptians were settled in Beja and Murcia, the Humsis in Niebla and Se
ville, the Palestinians in Sidonia and Algeciras, the Jordanians in Malaga, the
Damascenes in Elvira, and the Qinnasrinis in Jaen. They became colonizers in
these areas in the manner of the early conquerors and in the process they
contributed enormously to its Islamization and eventual Arabization. Con
querors and emigrants occupied privileged positions and relied on the services of
a large number of natives for all sorts of menial and domestic help including
the cultivation of the land. More often than not, those people became clients
(mawali) adopting the religion, the language, and the customs of their masters.
In addition, a substantial number of Christians embraced the new religion,
either out of conviction or mere self-interest, as a means of avoiding the burden
of taxation or of acquiring eligibility for government employment. Significant
still is the conversion through marriage and concubinage and that of large
numbers of captives, slaves, and mercenary soldiers. These processes went on
for many decades, inflating the rank and file of Muslims, particularly in areas

4 3
Akhbar majmu'a, p. 2 0 ; cf. J. Ribera y Tarrago, in Disertaciones y Opusculos
(2 vols.; Madrid, 1928), I , 15ff.
68 Anwar G. Chejne

south of Toledo. It should be added that Andalusian rulers had wives and chil
44 is
dren by the dozens, many of them by slave concubines (umm al-walad).
46
Islamization went hand in hand with Arabization, which, however, was at
first rather complex. Its success depended on various factors. First, intellectual
life among eastern Muslims was in its infancy during the eighth century. The
Arabic language was still in a state of flux and it faced numerous problems at
4 4
Besides the four wives allowed b y law, Muslims had numerous concubines,
originally slaves, of European stockSpanish, French, German, and others, who
more often than not continued the use of their native tongues and even the practice
of their former religion. Moreover, their offspring betrayed much of their physiog
nomy : fair skin, blue eyes, and blond hair.
Ibn 'Idharf, Kitab al-baydn al-Mughrib, ed. G. S. Colin and E . Levi-Provencal,
Vol. I I (reprint; Beirut, n.d.) gives the following statistics concerning the offspring
of some of the U m a y y a d rulers:
Male Female
'Abd al-Rahman I (756-788) 11 9 (p. 48)
Hisham I (788-796) 6 5 (p. 61)
al-Hakam I (796-822) 9 21 (p. 68)
'Abd al-Rahman I I (822-852) 45 42 (p. 81)
Muhammad I (852-886) 33 21(P- 94)
al-Mundhir (886-888) 5 8(p. 113)
'Abdalla (888-912) 11 13(p. 121)
On the land distributed to the Balj army, see ibid., p. 33.
4 5
A slave concubine who bears a child becomes free in the eye of the law, hence
is called umm al-walad. Al-Humaidi, Judhwat al-muqtabis (Cairo, 1966) gives the
names of U m a y y a d rulers who were the children of "freed" concubines (umm al-
walad): A l - H a k a m I (p. 10); ' A b d al-Rahman I I (p. 10); Muhammad I (p. 11);
al-Mundhir (p. 11); 'Abdalla (p. 12); ' A b d al-Rahman I I I (p. 13); al-Hakam I I
(p. 13); Hisham I I (p. 17); Muhammad I I (p. 19).
4 6
Arabization often transcended Islamization: for the role of Arabic in history,
see A . Chejne, The Arabic Language: Its Role in History (Minneapolis, 1969); for
al-Andalus proper, see A . Mutlaq, al-Haraka al-Lughawiya fi-l-Andalus (Sidon and
Beirut, 1967); also Chejne, Muslim Spain, (Minneapolis, 1974), Chapter X . One m a y
add for comparison the articles of W . Marcais, "Comment l'Afrique du Nord a 6t6
-
arabizee," Annates de VInstitut d'Uudes orientates (Faculte de lettres de FUniversite
d'Alger), I V (1938), 1 - 2 1 ; and A . N . Poliak, "L'arabization de l'Orient semitiquo,"
Revue des etudes islamiques n.v. (1938), 3 5 - 6 3 . Poliak is inclined to think that
Arabization in countries with Semitic traditions was much easier than in others,
"et que dans les autres contrees (comme lTran et l'Espagne musulmane) l'emploi
prolonge de l'arabe comme seule langue litteraire par la classe dominante ne reussit
point a arabiser le gros de la population" (p. 35). This m a y not be the actual
situation for al-Andalus. I t would seem that Islamization made great strides
immediately after the Conquest. See Ibn al-Qutiyya, Tdrikh ijtitah Al-Andalus,
ed. P. Gayangos (Madrid, 1926), p. 12; cf. E . Levi-Provencal, La civilisation arabe
en Espagne (Paris, 1948), p. 18; also his Histoire de l'Espagne musulmane (3 vols.;
Paris, 1950-1953), I, 76, 88, and 9 0 ; I I I , 169, 184-187. H . Terrasse, Histoire du
Maroc (2 vols.; Casablanca, 1949-1950), I , 91. Also, Charles-Emmanuel Dufourcq,
L'Espagne Catalans et le Maghrib (Paris, 1966), pp. 19ff. See also S. Vryonis, "The
Byzantine Legacy and Ottoman Forms," Dumbarton Oaks Papers (Washington,
(1969-1970), pp. 2 5 3 - 3 0 8 .
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 69

the source, among them multiplicity of dialects, need for codification, and
underdevelopment with respect to expressing abstractions. These problems
were expected to be more pressing on the periphery of the Empire. There the
Arabic-speaking people were a minority that spoke various, at best untutored
dialects, and more often than not this minority was torn internally by wars.
Even more this was the case in an independent al-Andalus where Arabic was
faced not only with Latin and dialects derived therefrom, but also with Berber
dialects and traces of Hebrew used by the Jewish minority. The solution to
these complex problems depended largely on a set of attitudes and orientation.
Under the Umayyad dynasty (756-1031) which endeavored to disseminate
Islam and Arabism at all levels, al-Andalus looked to the East. This orientation
was given form and substance through an intensive system of education, im
port of books and teachers and scholars, and exchange of students who kept
themselves up to date on all the literary and intellectual activities of the East.
They became great emulators of and commentators on Eastern lore in all
47
its multifold aspects. Thus, by the ninth century, the process of Islamization
and Arabization appears to have made great strides in the peninsula. Arabic
apparently was used widely among the masses and the elite, including a large
number of Christians and Jews. Contemporary Latin testimonies point to a
seemingly sweeping Arabization coupled with an equally strong hold of Islam
on a large number of the population. The cleric Eulogius and his friend and
biographer Alvaro were deeply alarmed by these processes and reacted violently
against the Muslim "infidels" as well as against their Christian collaborators,
who, in their opinion, had forsaken the true faith and espoused the language
48
and customs of the infidels at the expense of Latindom. In his Indiculus
Luminosus written in 854, Alvaro reveals his alarm, perhaps with some exagger
ation, concerning the danger facing Christianity, Latin and Latin letters, and
he reproaches his co-religionists for having allowed themselves to be contaminat
49
ed by the abominations of Muslims. Ironically, Alvaro himself appears to
50
have known Arabic and to have written in that language.
The seemingly sweeping Islamization and Arabization created a socioreli-
gious convulsion that was inflamed by Christian zealots under the leadership
of the cleric Eulogius. Knowing that such conduct would surely carry the death
penalty, these Christians would insult the Prophet Muhammad in public. Al
though these aberrations were suppressed swiftly, they created a cleavage among
the Christians themselves. The Arabized Christians known as Mozarabs objected

4 7
For more details, see Mutlaq, Haraka, pp. 313ff. See also Muhammad al-Daya,
Tarikh al-naqd al-adabi fi-l-Andalus (Beirut, 1968), pp. 69ff.
4 8
In his Memoriale sanctorum, Eulogius launches a vituperous attack on Islam;
cf. Simonet, Historia, pp. 405 ff.
4 9
Simonet, Historia, p. 465. Alvaro, Indiculus luminosus in Espana Sagrada,
ed. P. H . Florex (Madrid, 1753), X I , 2 7 4 - 2 7 5 .
5 0
Simonet, Historia, p. 465.
70 Anwar G. Chejne

to these suicidal methods, alleging that there was little provocation for such
extremes.
It is significant that the apparently pejorative term "Mozarab" was applied
to those who identified with Arabs or were influenced by Arabs and the Arab
51
way of life, and that it occurs in the Latin-Spanish sources. The Mozarabs
were important intermediaries between Muslims and other northern Christians
in the ninth century and continued to be so for centuries. They spoke and used
Arabic with ease and appear to have adopted Arabic dress and Arabic surnames
in addition to their baptismal Latin names. It appears that Arabic was used
even by Christians who openly resented and opposed Islam. The first two
"martyrs" Perfectus and John serve as examples. The priest Perfectus spoke
Arabic well and was able to argue religious questions with Muslims. One day
when he was hard pressed to give his opinion about Muhammad, with the
understanding that he would not be reported, he said that according to the
Gospels Muhammad was one of the false prophets. Later he was accused of
blasphemy and put to death. This event created a religious crisis that sparked
52
the movement of martyrdom. Similarly, the merchant John swore by Muham
mad in Arabic about the excellence of his goods and prices. For this he was
accused of blasphemy and put to death. There is evidence that other zealots
seeking martyrdom and the coveted honor of sainthood reviled Muhammad and
53
Islam in Arabic.
While a segment of Christians reacted violently to the apparently sweeping
Islamization and Arabization, the same cannot be said about the motivation
behind the numerous revolts of the Muwalladun (Spanish Muladies). The Muwal-
ladiin were born Muslims of non-Arabic ancestry who had a strong attachment
to Islam and the Arabic language, the counterpart of the Mawali of the East.
According to the dictum of Dozy, they stood for order and urbanity and the
54
character of their civilization was entirely Arabic. By the ninth century the
Muwalladun outnumbered both Arabs and Berbers. They were city dwellers as
5 1
The term occurred with different spellings: Muztarabes, muzarabes, Mozarabes,
Mosarabes, Mozarabia, almozarabes and was used from the eleventh century on;
cf. Simonet, Historia, p. ix; also J. B . Trend, The Language and History of Spain
(London, 1953), p. 54. In Arabic sources, they were known as 'ajam al-nasara,
al-mu'ahidiln, or ahl al-dhimma, terms that were applied to all Christians living
under Muslim rule.
For further information on the Mozarabs, see de las Cagigas, Los Mozarabes;
F . Codera, Mozarabes, su condicion social y politico, Ph. D . dissertation (Lerida,
1866); A . Gonzalez Palencia, Los Mozarabes de Toledo en los siglos XII y XIII
(4 vols.; Madrid, 1926-1930) and his Moros y Christianas en Espana Medieval
(Madrid, 1945); F . Pons Boigues, Apuntes sobre las escrituras mozarabes toledanas
existentes en el archivo historico nacional (Madrid, 1897).
5 2
R . Dozy, Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne (3 vols.; Leiden, 1932), I, 3 2 8 - 3 3 1 ;
cf. Simonet, Historia, pp. 385ff.
5 3
Dozy, Histoire, I, 3 3 3 ; Simonet, Historia, pp. 358ff.
5 4
Ibid., I I , 5 6 - 5 7 . It should be noted that the early converts or ancestors of the
Muwalladun were known as al-Musalima, and the term Muwalladun fell into disuse
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 71

well as inhabitants of rural areas and practiced most of the crafts. A testament
to their numerical strength is the effectiveness of their prolonged revolts,
basically against the injustices of the government and its discriminatory prac
tices toward non-Arabs, which began in the middle of the ninth century and
continued into the third decade of the tenth century. These uprisings almost
brought down the central government. The revolts did not constitute a reac
tion to the religious and linguistic ascendancy of the Arabs as Menendez Pidal
55
would like to suggest. In fact, when the leading rebel, Ibn Hafsun, converted
from Islam to Christianity, he lost most of his following. The rebellion ultimately
died out when 'Abd al-Rahman H I succeeded in achieving a wide measure of
social integration.
In sum, the process of cultural transformation in al-Andalus becomes the
more interesting because of certain conditions peculiar to the country. Whereas
the Arabs may be said to have contributed Islam and their language wherever
they went and, in turn, borrowed extensively from the host countries, the
borrowing was only partly true of al-Andalus. When the Muslims confronted
Christian-Spanish society in the early part of the eighth century, both elements
of that society seemed to be underdeveloped culturally. Moreover, the Chris
tians were in a state of convulsion and division with a breakdown of institu-

b y the tenth century and was replaced b y the term "Andalusians." For more
details on the Muwalladun, see E . Levi-Provencal, Histoire de L'Espagne musulmane
(3 vols.; Paris, 1950), I I I , 180-185.
5 5
R . Menendez Pidal, Origenes del espanol (Madrid, 1953), p. 416. In the light
of the data, it should be emphasized that the numerous revolts during the ninth
century were not instigated solely b y Muwalladun, but also b y Arabs and Berbers
who aided the neo-Muslims for no other reasons, perhaps, than to avoid the payment
of taxes or to render military help to the central government (see Ibn 'Idhari,
Kitab al-bayan al-Mughrib, I I , 123ff.; 134ff. and 137). I t is significant that provinces
controlled b y Arabs were obliged to supply a certain number of soldiers to the
central government to fight the Christians. I b n 'Idhari (p. 109) gives the following
quotas for the various provinces during the reign of Muhammad I :

Elvira 2,900
Jaen 2,200
Cabra 1,800
Priego 900
Takurunna 299
Algecira 290
Ecija 1,200
Carmona 185
Sidonia 6,790
Rayyah 2,600
Fahs al-Ballut 400
Moron 1,400
Tudmlr 165
I t seems that this military help ceased during the wars against I b n Hafsun.
But when Ibn Hafsun seceded to Christianity in about 900, his Muslim partisans
fought him and considered the right a jihad (holy war) (p. 139).
72 Anwar G. Chejne

tions, whereas the Muslims were dynamic and zealous in building a state and
disseminating their religion. In the process the Muslims acquired distinct
advantages and they finally succeeded in asserting themselves, in conformity
with Ibn Khaldun's theory of growth, from a primitive to a highly developed
civilization ('umran). Although al-Andalus assumed an independent political
posture from the outset, the Muslims of al-Andalus turned not inward for self-
development, but outward toward the East for religiocultural inspiration and
guidance. In fact, borrowing from Spain was relatively small, indeed much
smaller than the heavy borrowing from the East. There is no indication of
extensive translation from Greek or Latin into Arabic in al-Andalus as in the
East; nor do we have information that there were families of translaters in
Spain, the equivalent of the Bakhtishu' or Banu Ishaq families in the East.
In fact, when the Byzantine Emperor Romanos sent 'Abd al-Rahman III the
Materia medica of Dioscorides and the Historia of Orosius as a gift, the court
did not know what to do with them and asked the Emperor to send someone to
translate them. The Emperor obliged and sent the monk Nicholas to translate
the Materia from Greek into Arabic with instruction that Orosius's Historia
56
was in Latin and could be translated by local talent. Nor is there any indica
tion that the intellectual life in Spain was in a state of development sufficient
to exert appreciable influence on the intellectual perspective of the Muslims.
Latin literature was meager and declining steadily. Extant are but a few
religious tracts from the ninth century written by such men as Alvaro and Eulo-
gius. The sciences were barely cultivated by the Christians, a situation that may
have prompted the eleventh-century Sa'id of Toledo to say that al-Andalus did
not possess the sciences before the coming of the Muslims, and it was only after
57
the Conquest that they were cultivated by Andalusians.
Under those circumstances, al-Andalus was the recipient, slavishly dependent
on the East for intellectual nourishment, and remained so for a long time. In
light of the complete political severance of al-Andalus from the mainstream
of Islam, it may seem paradoxical that the country should or could afford to
depend so on the despised 'Abb&sid enemy. But the Umayyad emirs, committed
to Arabism and Islam in their pristine purity, encouraged and enforced that
dependence on the East. As highly educated people, they were no doubt fully
aware of the significance of that dependency and were willing to risk some
political considerations for the cause of r engiolirfguistic unity. Thus, they espoused
a form of orthodoxy intolerant of deviation or heresy; they introduced and
enforced Malikismthe legal school of Malik b. Anasas the sole doctrine
of al-Andalus; they orientalized the court and administration, imported talent

5 6
Ibn Juljul, Tabaqat al-alibba' wa-l-hukama', ed. F. Sayyid (Cairo, 1955),
pp. 22ff.
5 7
Tabaqat al-umam (Cairo, n.d.), p. 83. Ibn Juljul, Tabaqat, p. 92, also reports
that Christians were engaged in medicine, but did not have knowledge (basara)
of this science or of philosophy and mathematics.
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 73

of all sorts from the East, and built an enormous number of mosques, public
baths, palaces, and summer homes (munya) on oriental models. Pilgrimage to
the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a search for education in the East, an
active commerce and import of books and talented people from the East all
contributed to make al-Andalus an integral part of the Islamic community
58 59
in its religious and intellectual perspectives. Al-Maqqari, al-Dabbl, Ibn al-
60
Khatib, and other authors give us ample data concerning people who came
61
to al-Andalus as well as Andalusians who migrated to the East. This phenom
enon of cross-migration was perhaps, the most important factor in facilitating
the establishment of Islam and of Arabic as the predominant elements in the
life of al-Andulus. The formative stage was a period of transition from a Chris
tian Latin to an Islamo-Arabic base. It paved the way for the stage of Islamic
cultural ascendancy in which Islamization and Arabization went almost
unchallenged.

THE STAGE OF ASCENDANCY ( 9 2 9 - 1 0 8 5 )

In 929 'Abd al-Rahman III declared himself caliph, and his reign ushered in
a glorious period in the history of al-Andalus. He welded Arabs, Berbers, and
Muwalladun into a viable social complex. In order to avoid any entanglement
with any of these groups, he imported white slaves from Europe, the Saqaliba,
62
as praetorian guards. Numbering from 3,750 to 13,750, these men occupied
sensitive positions in the government and adopted the religion, language, and
customs of their masters. They became powerful and during the eleventh cen
tury they succeeded in establishing various states in eastern al-Andalus:
Tortosa, Valencia, Denia, and Almeria. They perpetuated the caliphal cultural
traditions, sponsored learning, and erected many buildings in the best Cordovan
traditions. A number of them, such as Mujahid, ruler of Denia, excelled in
5 8
Nafh al-tib, ed. I . 'Abbas (8 vols.; Beirut, 1968); for Arab settlements see
particularly I , 2 9 0 - 2 9 8 , and I I I , 5ff. See also Mu'nis, Fajr, pp. 271ff. and below,
n. 92.
5 9
Bughyat al-multamis, ed. Fr. Codera y Zaidin (Madrid, 1884).
6 0
Al-Ihata ft akhbar Gharnata, ed. M . 'Abdalla Tnan, Vol. I (Cairo, 1955).
6 1
For more details concerning the oriental influence on Spain, see A . Chejne,
Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture (Minneapolis, 1974), Chapter V I I I ; M . 'Ali
Makki, Ensayo sobre las aportaciones orientates en la Espana musulmana (Madrid,
1968); Jamal al-Dln Muhsin, Udaba' baghdadiyun fi-l-Andalus (Baghdad, 1 9 6 2 -
e
1963); R . Blachere, "Un pionnier de la culture arabe orientale en Espagne au X
siecle," Hespiris ( X , 1930), 15-36. For the impact of oriental influence on the High
March and the Ebro Valley, see J. Bosch Vila, El oriente arabe en el desarrollo de la
cultura de la Marcha Superior (Madrid, 1954); J. V e m e t , "El valle del Ebro como
nexo entre Oriente y Occidente," Boletin de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de
Barcelona, X X X I I (1950), 2 4 9 - 2 8 5 .
6 2
Dozy, Histoire, I I , 154ff. To these Saqaliba must be added the black slaves
who were imported from Black Africa. See Levi-Provencal, Histoire, I I I , 177 ff.
74 Anwar G. Chejne

Arabic letters. They felt equal to and even superior to their former Arab masters
as illustrated by a certain Habib who wrote a treatise giving proof of the excel
63
lence of the Slavs. No doubt 'Abd al-Rahman III united the country under
the aegis of Islam and Arabic and brought it stability and prosperity. His
reign (912-961) presaged the Golden Age of al-Andalus which lasted far beyond
the great revolt of 1009. His successors al-Hakam II and the dictator al-
Mansur carried the processes of Islamization and Arabization to ultimate frui
tion. Al-Hakam built numerous schools and encouraged learning. Al-Andalus
had reached the peak of its cultural achievement, and in the words of Dozy,
under the reign of al-Hakam II, practically everyone in al-Andalus knew how
64
to read and write. C6rdoba became an impressive cultural center and a worthy
rival of Qayrawan, Damascus, and Baghdad. According to one account, at the
turn of the tenth century it had some 1,600 mosques, 900 public baths, 60,300
66
villas, 213,077 houses, and 80,455 shops.
Literary sources point to the splendor of al-Andalus. The tenth-century
geographer al-Muqaddasi speaks of the uncompromising faith of the Andalu-
sians in orthodox Islam and gives some insight into linguistic usage in al-Anda
lus. He contrasts the three recognized legal schools in the East with the single
school (madhhab), that of Malik ibn Anas, and the single Qur'anic reading, that
of Nafi', in al-Andalus. The Andalusians, he reports, maintain that they recog
nize only the Book of God and the Muwatta' of Malik; that if they come upon
any Hanifi or Shafi'i they will exile him, and if they ever discover a Mu'tazila
66
or a Shi'a or the like, they would most probably put him to death. Al-Muqad
dasi adds that along with this religious unity, the Andalusians are the ablest
67
paper makers; their language is Arabic although not easily understood; and
es
they speak another language that resembles Latin (rumi). His contemporary
Ibn Hawqal, who visited al-Andalus in 337/948, records equally interesting
data: practically all cities on the sea are big and populous and possess all the
urban conveniences (mardfiq). Cordoba is the greatest city of al-Andalus and
is without equal in the Maghrib, the Arabian peninsula, Syria, or Egypt with
respect to the number of its population, spaciousness, ample streets, cleanliness,

6 3
The Arabic title is Kitab al-Istizhar wa-l-mughalaba 'aid man ankara fada'il
al-Saqdliba; see A h m a d Mujtar al-'Abbadi, Los Eslavos en Espana (Madrid, 1953).
6 1
Dozy, Histoire, I I , 184. Al-Hakam took keen interest in education. H e founded
27 schools for the poor and had a library reportedly with some 400,000 volumes.
See Ibn Tdhari, al-Bayan al-mughrib, ed. G. S. Colin and E . Levi-Provencal (Beirut,
n.d.), I I , 2 4 0 ; al-Zubaidi, Tabaqat al-nahwiyyin (Cairo, 1954), pp. 9ff.
6 5
Al-Maqqarl, Nafh al-iib, I , 540.
6 6
Ahsan al-taqasim, ed. M . S. de Goeje (Leiden, 1877), p. 236.
6 7
Ibid., p. 239.
6 8
Ibid., p. 243. Presumably, al-Muqaddasi is referring to the spoken Arabic which
differed from region to region (see below, pp. 7 8 - 7 9 ; also H . Peres, "L'arabe dialectal
e e
en Espagne musulmane aux X et X I siecles de notre ere," in Melanges William
Marcais (Paris, 1950), pp. 293ff.
6 3
Kitab swat al-ard (2 vols.; Leiden, 1938-1939), I I , 109.
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 75

70
and the abundance of mosques, baths, and inns; there are many villages with
71
thousands of Christians who are not yet civilized.
Ibn Hawqal's reference to the abundance of bathsmajor cities had hundreds
of themis significant for measuring the extent of Islamization since public
baths were used mostly for religious purposes. It explains why Christians showed
as much aversion to public baths as to mosques. Perhaps they avoided bathing
because of this association. And perhaps that was what prompted the eleventh-
century geographer al-Bakri to remark that Galicians were treacherous and
72
dirty, and took a bath but once or twice a year and even then with cold water.
Various Andalusian sources also assert that Islam was the most important
factor in the process of cultural change and, concurrently, the most predomi
nant cultural element, with Arabic next to it in importance and inseparable
from it. We have ample references attesting to the supremacy of Arabic as the
language of administration and as the instrument of intellectual expression par
excellence. In their eagerness to attain the linguistic competence needed, the
Andalusians devised a system of education that proved quite successful.
Instead of starting education with memorizing the Qur'an, they began with
reading and writing using the Qur'an, poetry, and other materials to bring
about its mastery. Ibn Khaldun appreciated the validity of the system when
he observed that "the Arabic philologists and teachers of Arabic in Spain are
73
closer to acquiring and teaching the [linguistic] habits than others."
As a result, they acquired enough command of the language to be able to
write with facility and lucidity. Moreover, as able grammarians and lexico
graphers, they wrote many commentaries elucidating, explaining, or pointing
74
out errors or shortcomings of the works of their predecessors, not sparing
75
even the lexicographer al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad or the great grammarian Sibawai-
76
hi. Al-Zubaidi, one of the ablest philologists of tenth-century Islam, regarded

7 0
Ibid., p. 111. For more information about C6rdoba, see al-Maqqari, Nafh
al-tib, I , 455ff.
7 1
Ibid., p. 111. Both al-Muqaddasi and I b n Hawqal admit the existence of non-
Arabic speaking communities. See below, pp. 8 3 - 8 4 .
7 2
A b u 'Ubaid al-Bakri, Jughrafiyat al-Andalus wa-Urubba, ed. 'Abd al-Rahman
'Ali al-Hajji (Beirut, 1968), p. 81.
7 3
Al-Muqaddimah, I I I , 357 and p. 3 6 4 . In his Maratib al-'ulum (ed. I . 'Abbas,
in Rasa'il Ibn Hazm [Cairo, 1952], pp. 5 9 - 9 0 ) I b n H a z m gives us valuable insight
into the educational system in al-Andalus. H e says that a child should be entrusted
to a teacher at a tender age, be introduced to writing, reading to enable him to read
any book that should fall into his hand (pp. 63ff.). For education in general see
J. Ribera y Tarrag6, "La ensenanza entre los musulmanes espanoles" in Disertaciones
y opusculos (2 vols.; Madrid, 1928), 1 , 2 2 9 - 3 5 9 . I t should be added that the Andalusian
teacher (mu'addib) was regarded highly, perhaps more so than in the East.
7 4
See Mutlaq, al-Haraka, pp. 307 ff.
7 5
Al-Khalil b. A h m a d (d. ca. 786) is the author of the famous lexicon entitled
Kitab al-'ain.
7 6
Sibawaihi (d. ca. 800) is the author of the well-known grammatical work,.
al-Kitab.
76 Anwar G. Chejne

the Arabic language as "the most palatable of all languages to utter, the most
accurate in its formation, the clearest in the meaning of expression and the
richest in the various branches of knowledge."" Among his works is an abridg
78
ment of Kitab al-'ain of al-Khalil and an explanation of portions of Sibawihi's
7
Kitab.' * Although he held al-Khalil and Sibawaihiin high esteem, he attempted
to correct and elucidate some of their findings. His Faulty Speech of the Common
so
People (lahnal-'awwdm) is extremely valuable for its insight into the speech
and written errors of tenth-century Cordoba.
The solid cultural structure established during the tenth century undoubtedly
owes its success to the social and political stability resulting from the existence
of a strong and highly centralized government under the Umayyads. The
high-handedness of al-Mansur, however, and his reliance on soldiers imported
from North Africa and elsewhere upset the social balance and had grave
repercussions almost immediately after his death in 1002. The urbane and
sophisticated Andalusians, including the Umayyads and their sympathizers,
Tesented the arrogance and rudeness of these mercenaries and broke into open
revolt in 1009, thereby putting an end to the unity of the country. Petty
states known as "party kings" (muiuk al-tawa'if), which were aligned according
to tribal or ethnic affiliation, mainly Arab, Berber, and Slav, emerged every
where. Although the power and influence of religious scholars per se declined
considerably in state affairs, the party kings conformed and adhered closely
to Islamic practices and institutions and to the Arabic language. Their capital
cities of Badajoz, Denia, Granada, Seville, Saragossa, Toledo, and Valencia
became important cultural centers. Cordoba, almost ruined by now, became
their model. They built palaces, mosques, public baths, gardens, and, in the
manner of their predecessors, the Umayyads, sponsored scholars in many
fields. In fact, there is no evidence to indicate that there was an attempt at a
linguistic revolt, mass apostasy, or Islamic sectarianism under the party kings.
The party kings, however, presided over their own ruin through perpetual
strife among themselves and, more importantly, through excessive exploitation
of the working class. This made them easy prey for the Christian kings to the
north who took advantage of the sharp division among the Muslim rulers
and began to make deep inroads into Muslim territory. The fatal blow occurred
when the city of Toledo fell to Alfonso VI in 1085, a date that marks the
beginning of the end of Muslim ascendancy in Spain. One could even suggest
that the process of Islamization and Arabization was then reversed in favor of
Christianization and Hispanization. But the reversal did not take place
overnight, particularly in view of deep-rooted Islamization and Arabization.
In spite of division and uncertainty, the inhabitants thought of themselves as
7 7
Al-Zubaidi, Tabaqat al-nahwiyyln wa-l-lughawiyyin, p. 1; cf. Chejne, The
Arabic Language, p. 14.
7 8
There exist various manuscripts, for instance, Escorial 569 and 570.
7 9
II Kitab al-istidrak 'aid, Sibawayhi, ed. I. Guidi (Rome, 1890).
8 0
E d . R . 'Abd al-Tawwab (Cairo, 1964).
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 77

Andalusians and expressed deep-seated Islamic consciousness in the face of

Christian danger. In a literary genre known as fada'il al-Andalus (the excellence
of al-Andalus), they reminisced about the good old days under the TJmayyads
and articulated their pride in their intellectual contribution and in their
country. The Andalusians realized fully that they had attained expertise in the
various disciplines known to the time. They felt no hesitation in comparing
themselves with the Eastern giants. They extolled their own talents which
they considered to be equal and even superior to those of the great intellectual
81
leaders of the East.
While these claims may demonstrate Andalusian cultural nationalism and
competence, they were at the same time an overt attack on the crudeness,
militarism, and intrusion of the newly arrived Berbers. The most articulate
82 83 84
apologists were Ibn Shuhaid and Ibn Hazm, followed by Ibn Sa'id, al-
85 88 87
Shaqundi, Ibn Bassam, Ibn Khaqan and others. Ibn Shuhaid and Ibn
Hazm tried to show Andalusian ascendance and national consciousness. Ibn
Shuhaid undertakes an imaginary journey into the underworld to meet and
compare notes with leading pre-Islamic and early Islamic poets. All these
poets, as well as some prose writers, declare him to be eminently qualified
(mujaz). His good friend, Ibn Hazm, supplies a valuable treatise in the form of
an anthology of Andalusian scholars vis-a-vis those of the East, but laments
the fact that the former had not received proper recognition. In another
88
treatise Ibn Hazm throws light on the state of the sciences in al-Andalus and
the manner of attaining them.
Despite the political dislocation wars, and Christian encroachment, intellec
tual developments in the eleventh century are perhaps the best index for
judging the extent reached by both Islamization and Arabization. It was then
that Arab hegemony was lost forever. The peninsula was sharply divided among
Arab-Andalusians, Berbers, and Slavs and was further overwhelmed by the
Berber influx and subsequent conquest by the Almoravids and Almohads.
Yet despite the sharp political division, there was cultural and linguistic unity,

8 1
Chejne, Muslim Spain, Chapter V I I I .
8 2
His Kitab al-tawabV wa-l-zawabi'', ed. Butrus al-Bustani (Beirut, 1951);
English trans. J. Monroe (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press,
1971).
8 3
Ibn Hazm's treatise is to be found in al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib, I I I , 1 5 6 - 1 7 9 ;
French trans. Ch. Pellat under the title "Ibn H a z m : Bibliographe et apologiste de
l'Espagne musulmane," Al-Andalus, X I X (1954), 5 3 - 1 0 2 .
8 4
Ibn Sa'id's treatise is also found in al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib, I I I , 179-186.
8 5
In ibid., I l l , 186-222. Shaqundl's treatise was translated b y E . Garcia Gomez
into Spanish under the title Elogio del Islam espanol (Madrid, 1934).
8 6
al-Dhakhira (4 vols.; Cairo, 1939-1945). Unlike eastern anthologies the work
is devoted solely to Andalusians.
8 7
Qald'id (Bulaq, 1283). The work is an imitation of al-Dhakhira of Ibn Bassam
and has the same outlook.
8 8
Maratib al-'ulum, ed. I . 'Abbas in Rasa'il Ibn Hazm (Cairo, 1952), pp. 5 9 - 9 0 .
78 Anwar G. Chejne

and earlier Berbers, Muwalladun, Slavs, Jews, and others contributed to its
88
preservation with zeal. Ibn Sida (d. 1066), the outstanding lexicographer of
al-Andalus, extols the merit of Arabic and considers it perfect, noble, and of
90
divine origin. The prolific Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), who delved into many subjects
with facility and penetrating lucidity, made Arabic the foundation of his
91
Zahirite theology. He also provides some insight into the linguistic and tribal
92
distribution in al-Andalus. He says that the inhabitants of Fahs al-Ballut

8 9
See H . Peres, "al-Lughah al-'arabiyyah wa-sukkan al-Andalus fi-l-qurun
al-wusta," Majallat al-majma' al-'ilmi al-'arabi, X I X (1944), 3 9 3 - 4 0 8 ; also his
e
valuable work, La Poisie andalouse en arabe elassique au XI siecle (Paris, 1937).
See also his "Les elements ethniques de L'Espagne musulmane et la langue arabe
e e
aux V / X I siecle" in Eludes d'orientalisme d&diies a la memoire de Livi-Provencal
(Paris, 1962), I I , 7 1 7 - 7 3 1 , where he says: "Fait remarkable: dans cette Espagne
musulmane ou 1'element arabe est en minorite, c'est la culture arabe qui domine;
Berberes, Chretiens, et Juifs qui vivent cote a cote avec les Arabes ont une predilec
tion marquee pour la langue arabe. Les elements ethniques sont h^terogenes mais
la culture est une" (p. 718).
9 0
Chejne, The Arabic Language, p. 11.
9 1
See Fv. Arnaldez, Grammaire et thiologie chez Ibn Hazm de Courdoue (Paris,
1956).
9 2
Mainly in his Jamharat ansab al-'Arab, ed. 'Abd as-Salam Muhammad Harun
(Cairo, 1962). Ibn H a z m gives a detailed account of the distribution of Arab tribes
in al-Andalus and makes reference to Berbers (pp. 495ff.) and the powerful Muwallad
family of Banu Qasiyy of Saragossa (pp. 502-503). They constituted notable
families (buyutat) having a fixed residence or mansion (dar). Following are some of the
major Arab families with their respective places of residence as given b y Ibn
H a z m in his Jamhara:
Banu Murra: Elvira and Seville (pp. 252ff.)
Banu Maslama: Cordoba and Seville (pp. 103-104)
Banu T a m i m : Seville (p. 140)
Banu Ghatafan: Seville (pp. 248ff.)
Banu 'Akk: Northern Cordoba and Seville (p. 328)
Banu Malik al-Agharr: Cabra (pp. 363ff.)
Banu K a ' b : Saragossa and Sidonia (pp. 363ff.)
Banu Khath'am: Sidonia and Seville (pp. 390ff.)
Banu al-Ash'ar: R a y y a and Seville (pp. 397ff.)
Banu 'Amila: Rayya, Sidonia, Algeciras, Murcia, Sidonia and Seville (pp. 419ff.)
Banu Himyar: R a y y a and Seville (p. 433)
Banu K a l b : Seville (p. 457)
Banu Khaldun: Seville (p. 460)
Banu 'Abd al-Dar Ibn Qusay: Saragossa (p. 126)
Banu Zuhra: Beja and Badajoz (p. 132)
Band A s a d : Jaen
Banu 'Awf: Talavera (p. 219)
Banu Nasr: Ecija (p. 269)
Banu Qushayr: Jaen (p. 290)
Banu I y a d : Carmona (p. 327)
Banu Daws: Murcia (p. 383)
Banu Khawlan: Cordoba, Elvira, Jaen, "Valencia (p. 418)
Banu 'Udhra: Jaen and Saragossa (p. 450)
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 79

(present-day Campo de Calatrava) spoke an Arabic dialect quite different from

93
that of Cordoba, and that the Banu Baliy, living to the north of Cordoba,
94
knew no Latin and used only Arabic. Even Galicians spoke Arabic, but when
they spoke it, they pronounced the 'ain and the ha' as ha', thus saying Muham
95
mad instead of Muhammad.
The eleventh century is a period of extensive cultural efflorescence; it may
be described as the age of poetry in which, according to the dictum of the
Spanish scholar E. Garcia Gomez: "Everybody from the poorest farmers to
96
kings is a poet and everything serves as raw material for and is put into poetry."

PERIOD OP DECLINE ( 1 0 8 5 - 1 4 9 2 )

However great the Islamic impact under the party kings, Islam and Arabic
began to give way to Christianity and Spanish. To be sure, the process of
reversal was slow and was accomplished only long after the Reconquest by the
Christians and even then only under dire and inhuman conditions. After the
fall of Toledo in 1085, the Christian rulers were neither sufficiently strong nor
united nor of the cultural level necessary to accelerate the process of Chris-
tianization and Hispanization. In fact, at first they depended heavily on the
97
skills of their Muslim subjects known as Mudejares (Arabic Mudajjanun),
on their coreligionists, the Mozarabs, and on the Jews. Although these three
groups were suspect to the "pure" Christians to the north, they were never
theless tolerated for they constituted the backbone of the ever expanding
Christian kingdoms since they served as civil servants, advisors, tax collectors,
agriculturists, artisans, and in other capacities. It was for this reason that they
were allowed to practice their religion, use their language, and follow their
customs. But, when they ceased to be so indispensable in state affairs and the

The Muwallad family of Banu Qasiyy embraced Islam at the time of the Conquest
and some of their descendants returned to Christianity. Invariably, they adopted
both Arabic and Romance names; thus, we have such names as Fortun, Huertas,
Lope, Garcia and Yunis, Musa, Mutarrif.
9 3
Ibn H a z m , Kitab al-ihkam fi usul al-ahkam (8 vols.; Cairo, A . H . 1345-1348),
I, 29ff.; I I , 127 and passim. The chapter dealing with a discussion of the language
was translated into Spanish b y M. Asin Palacios, "El origen del lenguage y problemas
conexos" in Historia y Filologia Arabe (Madrid, 1948), I I - I I I , 382.
9 4
Jamhara, p. 443.
9 5
Asin, Palacios "El origen . . . " p. 383. For more details on dialects, see Ibn
Hazm, Ihlcam, I , 31ff. and the valuable work of al-Zbaidi, Lahn al-'awwam, pp. 120,
133, 165, and passim.
9 6
Qasidas de Andalucia (Madrid, 1940), p. 8.
9 7
I. de las Cagigas, Los Mud&jares (2 vols.; Madrid, 1948-1949); A . Delgado
Hernandez, Memoria sobre el estado moral y politico de los Mud&jares de Castilla
(Madrid, 1864); J. Pedregal y Fantini, Estado social y cultura de los Mozarabes y
Mudejares espaholes (Seville, 1878).
80 Anwar G. Chejne

economy, they were gradually subjected to restrictive measures with respect

to religion, language, and customs. This became apparent particularly after
the thirteenth century by which time the Christians had developed skills and
Romance was becoming more and more the language of administration and of
literary expression.
This notwithstanding, Arabic and Islam were so deeply embedded that the
Muslims often resisted severe persecution and forced conversion to Christianity.
The kingdom of Granada remained the only significant refuge, but it proved
too small for the influx of masses of people from the north who settled in the
more receptive environment in North Africa and elsewhere in the Arab world.
The impact of the Reconquest should not be underestimated for it proved fatal
to Arab culture in the end. Nonetheless, Arabic literature in al-Andalus
remained a creative force and continued to flourish, although it was already
on the decline in the East by about the eleventh century. Paradoxically, al-
Andalus assumed the role of contributor to, rather than recipient of, Arabo-
Islamic lore. Andalusian teachers and scholars could be seen everywhere in
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and al-Hijaz. Thus, under adverse
political vicissitudes al-Andalus became the supply center of talent for North
Africa. Can one overlook renowned names such as Ibn Tufail and Ibn Rushd
who served at the Almohad court ? Or those of the great mystic Ibn 'Arabi
and the philologists Ibn Malik and Abu Hayyan, among many others, who
devoted the whole of their mature lives to teaching in North Africa and the
East ? Nor can one omit the prolific Granadan Ibn al-Khatib or Ibn Khaldun
of Tunis who was of Andalusian ancestry. The latter, who visited Spain in the
fourteenth century, gives glimpses into the state of Arabization and Islamization
in that country at the time. Although he admits that except for philology and
98
literature the sciences had declined in al-Andalus, he says that a sedentary
99
Arabic dialect was used there because Islam still remained and required it.
All the crafts and color of civilizationbuilding, cooking, singing, and enter
tainment, instrumental music, and dancingremain because sedentary culture
100
had become deeply rooted, even though civilization had receded.
Ibn Khaldun's statements are in harmony with a variety of documents.
The Mozarabs of Toledo used Arabic as late as the fourteenth century; in
101
this connection, Gonzalez Palencia edited and translated into Spanish 1,151
documents consisting of contracts of sales' wiHs, rentals, and litigation from
the period 1083 to 1303, and Seco de Lucena produced numerous similar

9 8
Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddimah, I, 351; I I , 290 and 386ff.
9 9
Ibid., I I , 430.
1 0 0
Ibid., p. 307 and pp. 349ff.
1 0 1
Los Mozdrabes de Toledo en los sighs XII y XIII (3 vols.; Madrid, 1926).
Also, his "Documentos arabes del Cenete" ( X I I - X V centuries), Al-Andalus, V
(1940), 3 0 1 - 3 8 2 .
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 81

102
documents from Granada which were written during the fifteenth century.
Arabic lingered on throughout the sixteenth century. Lexicons and grammars
were composed to facilitate the task of proselytizing and indoctrination. For
instance, Pedro de Alcala wrote his Arte para Ugeramente saber la lengua
103 104
ardbiga, and Alonso del Castillo, the son of a converted Morisco, translated
various items from Arabic into Spanish. Finally, the ill-fated Libros plumbeos
containing apochryphal Gospels and religious texts attempting to forge a
religious syncretism between Christianity and Islam were written in Arabic.
More significant still are the edicts of the Inquisition and the decrees of the
Spanish rulers which reveal that Arabic, Arabic customs, and Islam continued
to thwart the rulers in the sixteenth century in various parts of the peninsula.
105 106
The research of P. Dressendorfer and A. Gallego y Burin shows that the
struggle of Christianity against Islam was still in full vigor in Toledo and
Guadix during the sixteenth century and that the Christians were still obsessed
with the customs and practices of the Moriscos, including prayer, slaughtering
of animals, circumcision, the use of Arabic names, burial rites, wedding
ceremonies, festivals, clothing, veneration of Muhammad, the use of the Arabic
language, and other behavior. In fact, as late as 1566, Philip II (1555-1598)
reactivated and enforced old decrees forbidding the use of Arabic, the manu
facture and use of Morisco clothing, the practice of bathing or any part of
worship, and singing and dancing a la mauresque. Philip's decrees stipulated
that all books in Arabic were to be surrendered to the authorities within thirty
days and that the Moriscos were expected to learn Castilian within three years,

1 0 2
L . Seco de Lucena, Wathd'iq 'arabiyyah Gharndtiyyah (Madrid, 1961); also
his "Escrituras arabes de la Universidad de Granada," Al-Andalus, XXXVIII
(1970), 3 1 5 - 3 5 3 , which describes ninety-two documents. Also his "Documentos
arabes granadinos, I , Documentos del Colegio de Ninas Nobles," Al-Andalus, V I I I
(1943), 4 1 5 - 4 2 9 ; and " I I , Documentos de las Comendadoras de Santiago," Al-
Andalus, I X (1944), 1 2 1 - 1 4 0 ; and "Escrituras de donacion arabigo granadinas,"
BIEI, V (1957), 6 5 - 7 8 .
One should add the work of J. Bosch Vila, "Los documentos arabes y hebreos
de Aragon y Navarra," Estudios de la Edad Media de la Corona de Aragon, Vol. V
(Saragossa, 1952), pp. 4 0 7 - 4 1 6 ; "Escrituras oscenses en aljamio hebrea-arabe,"
Homenaje a Millds Vallicrosa, Vol. I (Barcelona, 1954), pp. 1 8 3 - 2 1 4 ; and "Los
documentos arabes del Archivo Catedral de Huesca," BIEI, V (1957), 1-48.
103 j ? ^ ^ published in 1505. It should be added that Juan de Segovia (15th
century) made a trilingual version of the Koran (Arabic, Spanish, and Latin). See
also Fr. Canes, Diccionario Ardbigo-Latino (3 vols.; Madrid, 1787).
1 0 4
D . Canabelas Rodriguez, El Morisco granadino Alonso del Castillo (Granada,
1965).
1 0 5
P. Dressendorfer, Islam unter der Inquisition: Die Morisco Prozesse in
Toledo 1575-1610 (Wiesbaden, 1971).
1 0 8
A . Gallego y Burin et al., Los 31oriscos del reino de Granada segun el sinodo
de Guadix de 1554, ed. D . Canabelas Rodriguez (Granada, 1968).
82 Anwar G. Chejne

10
after which they would not be allowed to speak, read, or write Arabic. '
Another significant source on the viable state of Islam and Arabic is the exten
sive Aljamiado literature written in Romance, but in Arabic script. This
literaturefor the most part paraphrases or translations of Arabic texts
contains religious and legal texts, stories, historical tracts, and is replete with
Arabic expressions. It also contains various bilingual texts: Aljamiado and
108
Arabic. It is significant also in that it expresses the undaunted faith of the
Moriscos in Islam, their hope of deliverance and of recapturing their cherished
land and traditions.

To sum up, it would be an extreme view to suggest that the Latin lan
guage and Spanish customs merely disappeared after the Arabs arrived in
al-Andalus in 711. There is no doubt that interaction and absorption of ideas
took place. Christians were left free to practice their religion and there is no
evidence of forced conversion to Islam. In fact, there were six bishoprics whose
leaders, although appointed by the clergy, were subject to the approval of
the central government and were responsible for the collection of taxes
as well as for law and order within their archdioceses. Although the Chris
tians may appear to have been overwhelmed by the impact of Islam and
of the Arabic language, they did not abandon their religious practices or
language. On the one hand, the Mozarabs practiced circumcision and adopted
109
certain dietary customs of the Muslims. They also adhered to some religious
views under the impact of Islam, thereby creating a number of heresies. One
heresy advocated, among other things, that Christ was the adopted, not the
natural, son of God; another denied actual distinction of the Trinity, believed
110
in predestination, and permitted mixed marriages of Muslims and Christians.
On the other hand, Muslims were subject to local influences. It was not unusual
for some Arabic authors to use the Christian calendar along with the Muslim
111
lunar calendar. It is more significant that Muslims, besides observing 'id

1 0 7
'Abdalla 'Inan, Nihayat al-Andalus (2d ed.; Cairo, 1958), pp. 342ff. For more
details on the Moriscos, see H . Lea, The Moriscos in Spain (London, 1901), and H .
Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition (New York, 1965).
1 0 8
Chejne, Plegaria aljamiado-drabe de un Morisco (Madrid, 1974); also Muslim
Spain, Chapter X X I .
1 0 9
Simonet, Historia, p. 609.
1 1 0
Al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib, I, 557, refers to the legal practice ('amal) in Cordoba
as conforming more to ancient customs than to the religious law; this applies to
attachment to poetry, singing, and erotic poems.
1 1 1 1
The kitab al-anwa or Calendar of Cordova, by Bishop Recemundo, ed. R .
Dozy (Leiden, 1873), ed. Ch. Pellat (Leiden, 1961) gives the four seasons of the year
and the names of the months in Romance, Syriac, and Coptic. I t appears that the
Calendar was emulated by later authors, mainly, Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi,
who in his Calendrier (ed. and French trans. J. Reinaud, Paris, 1948) gives the
names of the months in Syriac, Coptic, and Romance, but omits Christian holidays.
This approach was followed in an anonymous treatise on the subject (ed. J. Vasquez
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 83

ai-fitr (the feast of break of fasting) and 'id al-adha (the feast of Sacrifice),
took part openly, despite the opposition of the pious, in the celebration of
various Christian holidays such as the New Year (Yannayr), the Birthday of
112
Jesus, the Day of St. John, and others. The opposition found its most vocal
113
expression in the work of the thirteenth-century Abu al-Qasim al-'Azafi,
who abhorred the involvement of his coreligionists and felt that there should
be a birthday of Muhammad which deserved as much commemoration as that
of Jesus or any other prophet. Aware of the origin of such a practice and fearful
of being charged of bid'a (innovation), he surveys the views on bid'a in the
Traditions and subsequently comes to the comfortable conclusion that there
are laudable bid'as and abominable ones. In consequence, advocacy of a
birthday of Muhammad is a laudable bid'a in that it will arrest the participation
of his coreligionists in the observance and fanfare of the ''infidels." Al-'Azafi
contends that Muslims spend a great deal of time and money preparing for
those holidays and that they allow their children to take off from school,
all of which leads to the corruption of morality and divine punishment in the
114
Hereafter.
At any rate, there were other areas of conviviality. In the tenth century Ibn
Abi 'Amir al-Mansur permitted his army contingent from Leon, Castile, and
115
Navarre to observe Sunday instead of Friday. The use of wine was so common
in al-Andalus that al-Hakam II attempted to put an end to vineyards, but the
people turned to making wine from figs. The most important aspect of cross-
fertilization lies in language usage. Although Arabic was the language of
administration and the language of intellectual expression par excellence, it
did not replace local dialects derived from Latin even in the capital city of
Cordoba itself. Romance and Arabic at the literary and colloquial levels were
both in common use and remained so for centuries and their presence is
documented by various testimonies, indicating that their use transcended

Ruiz, BIEI, I X - X (1961-1962), 2 3 - 6 4 , which gives the names ofthe month according
to the Muslim and Christian calendars and mentions Muslim and Christian holidays.
For more examples on the use of Christian dates, see Cronica anonima de 'Abd
al-Bahmdn III al-Ndsir, ed. E . Garica Gomez (Madrid and Granada, 1950), p. 28;
Ibn 'Idhari, al-Baydn, I I , 119, 169, 183; Ibn al-Khatib, A'mal al-A'ldm, ed. E .
Levi-Provencal (Beirut, 1956), pp. 323 and 334.
1 1 2
Simonet, Historia, p. 648. See also Fernando de la Granja, "Fiestas cristianas
en al-Andalus," Al-Andalus, X X X I V (1969), 1-53, and X X X V (1970), 119-142.
The Recemundo, Calendar of Cordova, contains practically all conceivable minor
and major Christian holidays.
1 1 3
Al-'Azafi was governor of Ceuta and lived in the thirteenth century. H i s work
is entitled Kitab al-durr al-munazzam fi mawlid al-nabi al-mu'azzam (The Book of
the Ordered Pearl Concerning the Birthday of the Exalted Prophet), see Granjas, in
al-Andalus, op. cit.
1 1 4
See de la Granja, "Fiestas cristianas . . . , " pp. 19ff.
1 1 5
Dozy, Histoire, I I , 232. The practice of having Christian soldiers serve in the
Muslim army or Muslim soldiers serve Christian rulers was common; cf. Levi-
Provengal, Histoire, I I I , 7Iff. Terrasse, Histoire du Maroc, I, 248.
84 Anwar G. Chejne

religious affiliations, for Muslims knew Romance and Christians were at home
in Arabic. Further testament to bilingualism is the occurrence of Romance
expressions in the zajal and on occasion by Romance kharjah in the muwash-
lle
shahah.
Moreover, there are references to leading clergymen who knew Arabic quite
117
well. The ninth-century Juan Hispalense, known as Sa'id al-Matran of Seville,
translated the Gospels into Arabic for the benefit of his Arabized coreligionists.
Other clerics who assumed both Latin and Arabic names were at home in both
Romance and Arabic. When Christian delegations made a state visit to the
court of al-Hakam II, they were accompanied to the court by leading Mozarabic
clergy, among them Walid ibn Khayzuran, the judge of Cordoba; 'Ubaidalla
ibn Qasim, the bishop of Seville; Bishop 'Isa ibn al-Mansur and the qumis
118
Mu'awiya ibn Lubb, who served as translators. Conversely, when al-Hakam
II sent an embassy headed by Ahmad ibn 'Ariis to Galicia, he also sent along
119
Bishop 'Ubaidalla ibn Qasim as translator. The Metropolitan of Cordoba
120
Recemundo, known as Rabi' ibn Zayd, an astronomer and roving diplomat,
was proficient in Arabic. He wrote a treatise for al-Hakam II which deals with
121
the four seasons of the year and with bodily hygiene. Others preserved their
ancestral names, among them Gomez, the secretary (kdtib) of 'Abd al-Rahman
122
II, who wrote Arabic "with remarkable purity and elegance" and whom
Alvaro and Eulogius describe as being Christian in name only. Among the
Muslims who preserved their ancestral family names were the historian Ibn

1 1 6
Romance or "Latin vulgar" are designated by Arab authors as 'Ajamiyya
'Ajamiyyat ahl al-Andalus, or Latiniyya. For interaction of Romance and Arabic
in the context of Arabization or Latinization of terms see M . Asin Palacios, Glosario
de voces romances registradas por un botdnico anonimo hispano-musulmdn (Madrid
and Granada, 1943); Simonet, Glosario de voces ibiricas y latinas usadas entre los
mozdrabes; Trend, The Language and History of Spain.
For bilingualism in the zajal see Ibn Quzman, Diwan, ed. A . R . N y k l (Madrid,
1933) and S. Stern, Les Chansons mozarabes (Oxford, 1965). For actual cases of
linguistic dualism used among Andalusians, see Muh. b. Harith al-Khushani,
Qudat Quartubah, ed. 'Izzat al-'Attar al-Husayni Cairo, 1372 A . H . ) , pp. 84, 96, 118,
Spanish trans. J. Ribera y Tarrago (Madrid, 1914). See also J. Ribera y Tarrago,
El Cancionero de Abencuzman (Madrid, 1922) where he demonstrates the existence
of a spoken Romance dialect used by the Mozarabs.
1 1 7
Simonet, Histoire, pp. 320ff.
1 1 8
I b n Hayyan, al-Muqtabis, ed. 'Abd al-Rahman 'All Hajji (Beirut, 1965),
p. 6 4 ; cf. al-Maqqarl, Nafh al-tib, I , 390ff. and Dozy, Histoire, I I , 177ff.
1 1 9
Ibn Hayyan, al-Muqtabis, p. 147.
1 2 0
Al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib, I, 365, 568; cf. Simonet, Historia, p. 606; E . Levi-
Provencal, Histoire, I I I , 222ff.
1 2 1
E d . R . Dozy under the title Le calendrier de Cordoue (Leiden, 1873).
1 2 2
Dozy, Histoire, I, 3 3 8 - 3 3 9 .
 Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View 85
123
al-Qutiyya, the biographer Ibn BashkuwSl, the poet 'Isa Ibn Labbun, and the
124
eleventh-century poet Ibn Garcia, to mention but a few.
This survey only scratches the surface, and it is hoped that a definitive work
on the subject of Islamization and Arabization be written. In the light of the
enormous data, one can conclude that the impact of Arabic and Islam on al-
Andalus was intense and wide, perhaps more intense and wide than it was in
Syria or Egypt. A cultural transformation from Christian-Latin to Arabo-
Islamic base may be said to have taken place by the ninth century but was not
total or absolute. Military, political, social, and economic conditions played
decisive roles in the process. Moreover, the contact or confrontation went far
beyond al-Andalus to the very source of Islam and Arabdom and had a great
125
impact on Europe. Thus al-Andalus, with the unbroken cultural continuity
that characterized most of its history, whether in its capacity as recipient of or
contributor to Islamic cultural traditions, served as a bridge between the East
and the West. The Andalusian was always fascinated with the East: his
accomplishments in practically all pursuits, the beauty of his land, the flour
ishing cities, rivers, mountains, fruits, were always compared with those in the
East. No doubt, the search for knowledge in the East, the institution of pil
grimage, and a calculated caution in religious practices and beliefs with equally
calculated dependence on Eastern masters contributed to preserving that
cultural continuity between al-Andalus and the rest of the Islamic peoples.
Despite their dependence on the East, the Andalusians displayed individuaUty.
They predetermined their needs and selected accordingly; they espoused an
126
Islam and a legal schoolthe Malikite; they strove for linguistic purism,
but never fell to the temptation of preoccupying themselves with linguistic
archaism; instead, they aimed at clarity of language and clarity of thought.
This individuality can be seen in their art and architecture and poetry. A

1 2 3
Ibn al-Abbar, al-Hulla, ed. Husain Mu'nis (2 vols.; Cairo, 1963), I I , 167ff.
The form Lubbun is of the Spanish Lobo and the Latin lupus. In its present form it
is the augmentative of Lobo, as Hafsiin from Hafs and 'Abdiin from 'Abd. Cf.
Levi-Provencal, Histoire, I I I , 184ff.
1 2 4
J. Monroe, The Shu'ubiyya in al-Andalus (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1970).
For other Muslims who preserved their ancestral names, see Levi-Provencal,
Histoire, I I I , 184.
1 2 5
The impact of Arabic culture on Spain in particular and on Europe in general
cannot be overestimated. I t suffices to mention the following works: T . Arnold and
A . Guillaume, The Legacy of Islam (Oxford, 1931); D . M. Dunlop, Arabic Science
in the West (Karachi, 1958); A . Mieli, La science arabe et son rdle dans devolution
scientifique mondiale (Leiden, 1938); J. Millas Vallicrosa, Estudios sobre la historia
de ciencia espanola (Barcelona, 1949); G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of
Science (2 vols.; Baltimore, 1927). Also Menendez Pidal, Espana eslabon entre la
cristianidad y el islam (Madrid, 1956); his Poesia arabe and Poesia europea (4th ed.;
Madrid, 1955; and A . Steiger, "Funcion espiritual del Islam en la Espana medieval,"
RIEI V I (1958), 4 1 - 5 9 .
1 2 6
See J. Lopez Ortiz, "La recepcion de la escuela malequi en Espana," Anuario
de Historia del Derecho Espanol, V I I (1930), 1-167.
86 Anwar G. Chejne

glimpse of the Alhambra of Granada, the Alcazar and Giralda of Seville, and
the Mosque of Cordoba shows their unmistakable Andalusian character as
opposed, for example, to Syrian or Egyptian characteristics. The same phenom
enon occurs in the poetry of al-Andalus, the best examples of which are the
zajal and the muwashshahah, both Andalusian creations. But all this would not
have been sufficient for Islam and Arabic to reign supreme. It was left to the
industry, sagacity, and the ingenuity of the Andalusian who acquired a thirst
for knowledge and pursued it everywhere; he built mosques as the main
religious and educational centers, public baths, public and private libraries,
and in addition, he wrote profusely. All of this became the symbol and eloquent
testimony to the glory that was al-Andalus.
 SPANISH ISLAM IN TRANSITION: ACCULTURATIVE
SURVIVAL AND ITS PRICE IN THE CHRISTIAN
KINGDOM OF VALENCIA, 1240-1280i

ROBERT I. BURNS, S. J.

University of San Francisco

By an obscure dialectic of mind and activity, a social body can distill a

supportive structure or culture which both facilitates life at every level and
gives it meaning. The underlying structure is expressed and maintained by a
complex of components, such as religion, language, traditions, ideologies, legal
system, values, behavior patterns, and work. Such a structure or constellation
of structures is dynamic, shifting and changing in myriad ways under the
influence of alien cultures. Anthropologists, especially in America, have
employed the conceptual tool of acculturation enthusiastically for nearly half
a century to explore this problem of culture contacts both benign and destruc
tive. Although acculturation is a constant, a healthy transformation never
ceasing, its principal meaning for many is the destructive: the warping or
1
For background and data see m y The Crusader Kingdom of Valencia: Recon
struction on a Thirteenth-Century Frontier (2 vols.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1967); Islam under the Crusaders: Colonial Survival in the Thir
teenth-Century Kingdom of Valencia (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974);
and Medieval Colonialism: Postcrusade Exploitation of Islamic Valencia (Princeton
University Press, in press). A further volume, The Crusader-Muslim Predicament:
Colonial Confrontation in the Conquered Kingdom of Valencia is in preparation, for
Princeton University Press. See also m y article studies cited below, especially the
two in the American Historical Review, and m y articles passim in Speculum,
especially "Journey from Islam: Incipient Cultural Transition in the Conquered
Kingdom of Valencia (1240-1280)," X X X V (1960), 3 3 7 - 3 5 6 . The abundant archival
and other materials in these works will allow us to dispense here with much technical
apparatus as well as with multiple examples. Although acculturation is a theme
only implicit in those studies, I have dealt with it more explicitly in m y The
Jesuits and the Indian Wars of the Northwest (New H a v e n : Y a l e University Press,
1966). The sparse bibliography on Spanish and Valencian Mudejars is analyzed in
Islam under the Crusaders, pp. xviii-xxii. Spanish mudijar carries a moot accent
in the plural, sometimes omitted. Morisco designates the baptized Moorish populations
of the Renaissance, presumed to be secretly Islamic; they maintained strong
cohesion and as late as 1609 could refer to themselves as "la nacion de los cristianos
nuevos de moros del reino de Valencia." A note of acknowledgment is due here to
the American Council of Learned Societies and to the National Endowment for the
Humanities, for recent grants toward the acquisition of supporting materials behind
this interpretative essay.
88 Robert I. Burns, S.J.

eroding of one culture's boundary-maintaining mechanisms under the dominance

of another, the disequilibrium introduced as some stabilizing or directive com
ponent disappears, the loss of identity or serenity in that identity as the com
ponents are displaced or destroyed.
Sociologists have borrowed the tool and made it a commonplace in their
texts. It has now come to enjoy a cautious vogue among historians, who
nevertheless remain mistrustful of its tendency to the static and the model.
The spreading influence of the school of Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre has
made the borrowing of behavioral tools respectable and even a little fashionable;
whole domains of history now lie open to a strategy of double envelopment. The
marriage of anthropology and history predicted by Claude Levi-Strauss is
beginning to produce its first bouncing offspring.
One might expect the perennial confrontation between Islam and Christendom
to have supplied occasions for brilliant use of the tool. Crusade historians have
indeed come up with occasional insights or alluring titles, but the general effect
has been disappointing. Ben-Ami's Social Change in a Hostile Environment, or
Prawer's two works on the colonial kingdom of Jerusalem in sociological
perspective, to name two recent authors, are almost exclusively studies of the
Christian society, owing to paucity of documentation on the inner life of the
2
Muslim community. At the facing extreme of the Mediterranean, however,
in a crusader kingdom roughly the size and shape of the crusaders' Holy Land,
an abundance of clues and evidence lies at hand with which to reconstruct the
inner or social history of an Almohad society as it transmogrified into a colonial
or Mudejar version of its former self. Despite the Behavioral bent of older
authors like Americo Castro and modern authors like Vicens Vives and Glick,
and despite a lively school both of Spanish Islamic and especially of Renaissance
Morisco studies today, almost nothing has been done to trace this early clash
3
and devolution of a proud culture.

2
Aharon Ben-Ami, Social Change in a Hostile Environment: The Crusaders''
Kingdom of Jerusalem (Princeton, 1969), essentially a survey of the crusader
principalities and their relationship with the Islamic powers, from standard
secondary sources, with a sociological perspective or expression. Joshua Prawer,
The Crusaders' Kingdom: European Colonialism in the Middle Ages (New Y o r k ,
1972), especially chap. 5. This is not a translation of his larger Histoire du royaume
latin de Jirusalem (2 vols.; Paris, 1969-1970)^ itself translated in somewhat abridged
form by G. Nahon from the recent Hebrew original; see especially I , 5 0 2 - 5 3 5 . See
also Claude Cahen, ha Syrie du nord a Vipoque des croisades et la principauti franque
d'Antioche (Paris, 1940), part 2, chap. 5; his "Le regime rural syrien au temps de la
domination franque," Bulletin de la faculte des lettres de Strasbourg, X X I X (1951),
2 8 6 - 3 1 0 ; and his "La feodalite et les institutions politiques de l'orient latin," in
Atti del convegno di scienze morali, storiche, e filologiche (Rome, 1957), pp. 167-197.
3
See for example Thomas Gliek and Oriol Pi Sunyer, "Acculturation as an
Explanatory Concept in Spanish History," Comparative Studies in Society and
History, X I (1969), 1 3 6 - 1 5 4 ; Americo Castro, The Spaniards: An Introduction to
Their History, trans. W . F. King and Selma Margaretten (Berkeley, 1971), replacing
his celebrated but less developed The Structure of Spanish History (Princeton, 1954);
 Spanish Islam in Transition 89

The task must fall to the Hispanist, rather than to the Arabist. Surviving
Arabic documentation for thirteenth-century Valencia is sparse to the point
of nonexistence: one notice of surrender, a marriage document, conventional
poems of lamentation, political and geographical notices in authors like Ibn al-
Khatib, and the later reflections of Ibn Khaldun. From the Valencian Christian
side, however, abundant details of the Mudejar community turn up in law
codes, trial records, tax lists, ecclesiastical reports, treaties, notes for land
division, classics of Catalan literature like the king's autobiography or the
memoirs of Desclot and Muntaner or even the multiple works of Lull, and
above all in hundreds of the documents preserved in the unique run of royal
registers resulting from the crusaders' acquisition of the Jativa paper mills.
To reconstruct either the colonialist Christian or the subjected Mudejar
society would require a series of books, each of considerable complexity.
Examination of intersocial relationships would demand further large effort.
Since each society stood in a relation of cultural parity to the other, and was
relatively open and flexible in matters not considered by its protagonists as
essential, the phenomenon of transculturation by which Mudejar society
4
influenced the Christian particularly merits attention. Firmly withdrawing
from such an inviting prospect, we shall instead inspect the first generation of
the conquered Islamic society for evidences of destructive or alienating accul
turation, isolating several significant components in the process of its trans
formation, and suggesting something of the wider reorientation implied. An
alien ruling society does assume a position of superiority, does tend to super
impose in subtle ways its idiosyncratic vision of reality, and does erode or
anyway bend into new shapes some of its victim's boundary-maintaining
mechanisms. The result may not be assimilation, much less integration, but a
certain divergence of the subjected group into the alien perspective, and the
adoption by them of novel behavior patterns or institutions resembling those
of the overlords.
A rapid sketch of the immediate background will set the stage. There have
been many Christian Spains, both geographically and chronologically, and more
than one cultural variety and set of political groupings in the correlative
Islamic al-Andalus, with continuing interaction and mild acculturation between

T. Glick, Irrigation and Society in Medieval Valencia (Cambridge, Mass., 1970),

especially part 2 on "cultural continuity." Morisco studies abound; for Valencia
see especially Tulio Halperin Donghi, "Un conflicto nacional: moriscos y cristianos
viejos en Valencia," Cuadernos de historia de Espana, X X I V - X X V (1955), 5 - 1 1 5
and X X V - X X V I (1957), 82-250, and his "Recouvrements de civilisation: les
morisques du royaume de Valence au xvie siecle," Annates, Economies, soci6Us,
civilisations, X I (1956), 154-182.
4
Thomas Glick has recently explored the "cultural diffusions" implicit in one
Christian office of eastern Spain, reworking the Ribera Tarrago thesis; see his
"Muhtasib and mustasaf, a Case History of Institutional Diffusion," Viator, I I
(1971), 5 9 - 8 1 .
90 Robert I . Burns, S.J.

the several forms. Here we are dealing specifically with the confederated Arago-
Catalan realms of northeastern Spain in the thirteenth century, centered on a
seacoast principality of prosperous towns linked with a castle feudalism under
a vigorous feudal monarch. Mercantile and troubadour Catalonia, resembling
and in many localities controlling Languedoc, differed from the heavily feudal
uplands of Aragon proper in language, laws, landscape, social and economic
structure, and temperament. A naval power, Catalonia more readily related to
Mediterranean France, Italy, and North Africa than it did to its less accessible
land neighbor Castile.
The Arago-Catalan complex functioned as a local expression of the recently
revolutionized European society, "a society now technologically advanced,
intellectually sophisticated, and fired with an aggressive and expansionist
optimism," a dynamic world of communes and guilds, of Roman Law and
scholasticism, of centralizing monarchical institutions and bureaucratic effi
ciency, of nascent nationalism, developed vernacular literatures, Gothic art,
universities, "modern" warfare and financial techniques, and of every sort of
5
corporative social mechanism. This was a Christendom ever more sharply
differentiated from its Islamic neighbor; in taking over an Islamic area now, it
would frame that area in its own strong forms, tolerating the alien system as
a coexisting irrelevance.
The Islamic neighbor to the south of Arago-Catalonia belonged to a world
even more complex. The recent battle of Las Navas de Tolosa at the center of
the peninsula had shattered the unity of Almohad Spain and North Africa
into a kaleidoscope of civil wars, intrigue, assassinations, and recombinations
of territory. Spanish claimants grabbed for the Almohad caliphate at Marrakesh,
which soon entered into its long death struggle against the Marinids. At Murcia
below Valencia the rebel Ibn Hud rose to construct very briefly a unified Spain;
a rival hero, Ibn al-Ahmar, salvaged a kingdom of Granada from the wreckage.
The Islamic province of Valencia held aloof from these larger excitements,
clinging to its Almohad identity under its wall, the sayyid or Almohad prince
of the blood Abu Zayd, until it suddenly dissolved into its own nativist civil
war. The rebel Zayyan drove Abu Zayd north into the arms of the king of
Aragon, James the Conqueror, while local Valencian dynasts entrenched their
power at places like Jativa and Denia.
James the Conqueror, after delaying to co'nquer the flanking Balearic islands
in an amphibious crusade, allied with Abu Zayd but eventually absorbed both
his cause and his "kingdom" of Valencia. While St. Ferdinand III of Castile
rolled relentlessly over the central fragments of al-Andalus, swallowing Cordoba
(1236), Jaen (1246), Seville (1248), and Murcia (1243 and 1266), with Granada
as a truce-tributary, King James battled his way for thirteen years down the
Mediterranean coast, mastering Burriana and the north from 1232 to 1235,
Valencia city and the center from 1236 to 1238, and the mountainous south
5
Burns, Crusader Valencia, I, vii-viii.
 Spanish Islam in Transition 91

from 1239 to 1245. The next set of kings, Alfonso the Learned of Castile and
Peter the Great of Aragon, after reconstruction of their respective conquered
regions, had to contend with near-successful revolts or countercrusades by
their subject or mudejar (from Arabic mudajjan) populations.
The conquered kingdom of Valencia comprised an unusually varied mixture
of fertile lowlands, drier uplands, and forbidding mountains, all disposed
around and behind a long coast with commerce-laden port cities. Valencia's
irrigation networks, agricultural and commercial prosperity, and tradition of
high culture contributed to its reputation in Islam as a cornucopia, a "paradise"
of friendly leisure and of learning. Its peculiarly variegated economies, co
existing varieties of social groupings with their divergent psychologies, patterns
by which each area fell to the advancing crusaders, and the demographic
patterns by which Christian settlers progressively intruded are all pertinent
to the process of acculturation. We must content ourselves with several generali
ties. First, King James had added not an enclave but a principality, increasing
his mainland holdings by a fifth; he accomplished this by a clever strategy
of privileged surrender, with only one pitched battle and two sieges prolonged
to the extreme of population expulsion. Second, except along the north and
northwest where the Aragonese spilled over, his new kingdom (formally set
up as such) was settled by the commune dwellers and the superficially feudalized
landlord class from Catalonia and southern France. Despite the king's best
efforts, a mere 30,000 Christians came south during the first thirty years,
clustering mostly in the towns, while the mass of perhaps 200,000 Muslims
persisted as the controlling presence over the countryside and in many towns.
Third, there was relatively little difference at this stage between crown, alodial,
or vassalage-seignorial lands as regards the conditions of Mudejar life. In the
cities the Muslim artisans and shopkeepers remained in bulk; in the countryside
their common condition was analogous to that of the Christians, owner-renters
of myriad nnnifarms.
Against this complex ecology of place and political circumstance, we may
finally engage the problem of early acculturation, suggesting main points of
pressure and tracing the deflection of important institutions or traits. Very
little of the acculturation was formalthat is, under the deliberate direction
of the authorities; and at all times the massive bulwark of language preserved
a central core of identity. Unlike the situation in Castile, whose language
received 71 percent of its Arabisms during this century alone, the Valencian
6
context at first restricted general contact between the two peoples. Bilinguality
6
Eero K . Neuvonen, Los arabismos del espanol en el siglo xiii (Helsinki, 1941),
pp. 3 0 4 - 3 0 5 . Studying over 300 Castilian Arabisms and excluding about 40 "acci
dental" words, he concludes that only 14 percent are pre-1050 and another 15
percent pre-1200. The great majority of the final group designate things peculiar
to Muslims but adopted by Christians, the remaining 5 percent designating items
so important to Muslims as to impinge on Christian consciousness. The overall
significance of Arabisms at this time was minor, indicating relatively less inter-
92 Robert I . Burns, S.J.

does not seem to have been usual in either camp in Valencia; early evidences
against its Muslims knowing Romance have been confirmed by Juan Fuster's
7
fmdings for the later Morisco period. With the increase of the Christian settlers,
however, this relative separation suffered increasing erosion; traders, servants,
slaves, functionaries in contact with their Christian counterparts, Muslim
soldiers under the banner of Aragon, entertainers, or simply the opportunists,
compromised the state of serene possession formerly held by language, and
introduced some sense of threat.
More than language carapaced the subject society. All its gross features
persisted intact, so that one must peer closely in order to discern the alterations.
In external appearance, the land remained largely Islamic. Boundaries, divisions,
irrigation systems, and physical organization were taken over bodily, and even
reestablished by court action or crown order when thrown into doubt, the
memory of the oldest Muslims becoming the norm for decision. Arabic names
continued to define the landscape. The detailed surrender contracts guaranteed
not only religion but the religious structure, "establishing" Islam as a protected
and funded public institution. Valencian Muslims kept most of their mosques,
and their waqf properties as well; throughout the century their muezzins
continued to call from minarets everywhere. The crown formally protected the
right to pilgrimage, the fast of ramaddn, the role of alms, the independent
school system, and the sacred books. The conquerors left the Islamic juridical
structure in place and paid its personnel; this extended from the canonical
down to the local-customary, to jurisprudence and to procedure. Criminal
cases did involve the Christian authorities, but always according to Islamic
law, procedure, and punishments. Mixed cases, with Christians, respected the
rights and consciences of Muslims; a Koran and an Islamic oath-formula were
provided by the Christian court. In the same way, the conquerors accepted the
structure of local political authority: governance by qddi and council, the role
of faqih and muhtasib, and even the complex of taxes and their system of
collection.

penetration or transculturation b y Muslim forms than in later centuries (pp. 3 0 6 -

310); the interpenetration would have been much less in the realms of King James
of Aragon.
7
Despite the universal teaching, from Beuter through Menendez Pidal, Carreras
y Candi, and currently Sanchis Guarner, that thirteenth-century Valencian Muslims
commonly spoke Romance, m y own researches persuade me that only a minority
stratum did so. Although I shall reserve the evidence for more leisurely exposition
elsewhere, Fuster's marshalling of materials on the later Moriscos, from Boronat's
documentary collection, may be cited here as striking confirmation from the
sixteenth century (Poetes, moriscos, y capellans [Valencia, 1962], pp. 9 5 - 1 0 0 ) : few
Moriscos of Valencia knew Romance, but spoke a regional vulgar Arabic. Cultivated
Muslims here kept classical Arabic alive, so that Moriscos from Aragon proper sent
their children south to Valencian schools, to learn enough for reading the Koran.
 Spanish Islam in Transition 93

Although most castles and defenses passed into Christian hands, "many"
8
remained under Muslim lords. Not only did many a qa'id still rule his castle
and area, but several princely dynasties continued to control their regions
and to move about in the pomp of their traditional entourage. Muslims kept
their weapons, and aljamas were expected to field on demand both local
defenders and masses of infantry for aggressive action outside their area. Muslims
of every class turn up in the early documentation: wealthy rural families,
powerful warlords, erudite jurists and judges, a financial and a commercial
stratum, casual farm laborers, townsmen contemptuous of the bumpkins
(rustici), carpenters, makers of paper, cloth-dyers, silk-workers, and shepherds.
Valencian Muslims reckoned in their own coinage, followed the Islamic calendar,
dressed after their own fashion, enjoyed freedom of movement within Valencia
as well as abroad, drew their innumerable contracts, married or were buried by
their own rites, inherited and educated their sons according to past custom,
frequented their public baths, observed their dietary regulations, and enjoyed
their own meat markets and caravanserais. Above all, their moral, legal,
artistic, functionary, and value framework remained to all intents as before.
What more, then, could be desired ? A society framed in its own laws and
values, secure in its own religious and political institutions, apart with its own
language, functionaries, and social and military establishment, an overwhelming
majority in its own land, and operating on cultural and technological equality
with the conquerors, was surely safe enough from acculturative pressures ?
Even those daily life patterns shared by both societies, and their common
borrowings, would express something quite different in the two different
contexts, comprising elements in two distinct life metaphors. Since acculturative
devolution did occur, however, some historians deny the universality of Mudejar
privileges from the start, while others assume the cause to have been the
9
growing intolerance of the next century. Their perplexity misses the point.
Acculturative forces were strongly at work from the first generation; such
factors as Renaissance intolerance, malign clerical influence, or even expanding

8
Cronica de San Juan de la Pefia, ed. Antonio Ubieto Arteta (Valencia, 1961),
chap. 3 6 : "remansissent plurimi sarraceni tenentes in eo castra, et sibi post aliqua
tempora rebellassent, capiendo et interficiendo christianos plurimos dicti regni."
The corresponding Romance text had: "muytos moros tenientes castiellas en
aquell." The most prominent of these castellans and dynasts are collected in m y
Islam under the Crusaders, chaps. 12, 13.
9
Francisco Fernandez y Gonzalez, in his influential Estado social y politico de
los mudejares de Costilla, considerados en si mismos y respecto de la civilizacion
espahola (Madrid, 1866), p. 265, held that King James rarely allowed surrender
privileges, a remarkable misreading of the evidence. The great Ramon Menendez
Pidal took the same position in his La Espana del Cid (4th ed. rev.; 2 vols. [Madrid,
1947], I, 524). Henri Lapeyre, Isidoro de las Cagigas, Santiago Sobreques Vidal, and
other excellent authors currently propagate the same view in various applications.
For convincing evidence to the contrary, see m y Islam under the Crusaders, chap. 6
on "Surrender Terms: Universality and Pattern."
94 Robert I . Burns, S.J.

Christian settlement accelerated the process but did not dominate, much less
initiate it.
The very act of conquest, culminating several decades of civil war and tumult,
was a traumatic blow to the entire body social. Islam is not a church, separately
structured, but a function, or better the informing soul, of a sociopolitical
order. To destroy its central authority, leaving only local control, is to unroof
the Muslim. To place an infidel society in supreme command, with its garrisons
and representatives on every hand, with alien communities infiltrated at
strategic cities, is to remake his world and wrest it from his control. Ibn
Khaldun laid special stress on the bonding role of the regional dynasty or its
princely representative. Some Islamic theologians suggested that a Muslim
stripped of this bond and subjected to the infidel was in an intolerable situation
and ought to emigrate. On a much wider scale, Ibn Khaldun tied the fall of
Valencia and the Spanish territories to the loss of both caliphs simultaneously
in East and West, viewing the combined triumph of Christians, Mongols, and
10
Marinids as a calamity on an unprecedented, frightening scale.
The loss of Islamic rule brought other evils in its train. It meant lack of
central direction, of the foundation or font of justice, and of the organ for
acquiring alliances and overseas support. It spelled the end of general patronage,
so that creative individuals emigrated to more promising fields of action. In
the case of Valencia, a particularly disorienting circumstance intensified the
problem. The ruling sayyid, who boasted descent from the founder of the
Almohad sect and possession of the princely or caliphal blood line, publicly
became a convert to Christianity and played a novel role in his erstwhile
province as the baron Vincent, patron of churches in the Segorbe valley, crusader,
11
and promoter of the sacraments.
Nor did Valencian Islam remain unroofed, a noble ruin. King James clapped
a Christian roof upon it, contriving a hybrid social structure not unlike the
great mosque of Cordoba as altered by its Gothic center in the sixteenth
century. The Christian king, in effect, slipped into the sultan's seat. His action
echoed that of the Cid in Valencia a century before: "I want to be both qddi
12
giving judgment and vizier executing it." King James commissioned each
local qddi and saw to his salary. He deliberately conducted himself as the

1 0
Ibn Khaldun, Histoire des Berberes et des dynasties musulmanes d'Afrique
septenlrionale, trans. W m . MacGuckin (baron de Slane), rev. Paul Casanova and
Henri Peres (4 vols.; Paris, 1925-1956), I I , 306, 373.
1 1
Roque Chabas y Llorens, "Ceid A b u geid," El archivo, I V (1890), 2 1 5 - 2 2 1 , V
(1891), 143-166, 288-304, 3 6 2 - 3 7 6 . See also Ambrosio Huici Miranda, Historia
politico del imperio almohade (2 vols.; Tetuan, 1956-1957), I I , 617ff., and his
Historia musulmana de Valencia y su region, novedades y rectificaciones (3 vols.;
Valencia, 1969-1970), I I I , 252ff.
1 2
The Cid, in Menendez Pidal, Espana del Cid, I, 4 8 9 ; he set court days as
every Monday and Thursday, and announced he would not seclude himself like
their previous rulers but be available in any emergency requiring court.
 Spanish Islam in Transition 95
13
successor to Valencia's "other kings" of Islamic times. A number of legal
cases survive in the records, revealing his activities in this role.
One example, of impressive proportions, was part of a long contest between
the aljamas of Eslida and Uxo over control of a regional water system. During
the preceding regime, Zayyan had first awarded the water rights to Uxo, as
against the supporters of Abu Zayd at Eslida, and had later returned it to
Eslida as part of a political settlement, both times with the necessary show of
legal paperwork. With Zayyan now gone, each side appealed its case to King
James, "showing me the charters drawn for them by the aforesaid Zayyan
and by the man who acted as his lieutenant." In adjudicating the case, James
showed full respect for the preconquest documentation, and acted formally as
successor of the Islamic rulers, basing his decision on the final decree of Zayyan.
He did not dismiss the previous litigation as superseded or irrelevant, nor did
14
he repudiate Zayyan as a usurper in revolt against Abu Zayd. In another
dispute, this time between the Christian settlers and the Muslim inhabitants
at Alcira, James examined "each and every document," carefully "read also
the treaty of the Saracens," and took "counsel in diligent conversation" with
local Muslims, before delivering sentence "with the will and consent of the
sheiks and Saracen people of Alcira." Commendable as was this constant care,
15
benign neglect would have better served the Islamic community's integrity.
A constant deformative influence was the incorrigible manner in which the
conquerors perceived the subject society in their own European terms. Innocent
and unreflective, the practice was also implicitly arrogant and demonstrably
transformative. In matters relatively unimportant, this natural habit appears
to us as of no moment, and even as amusing; thus, the Catalans spoke of
ramadan as the Islamic "Lent" and solemnly recorded the fact of Islamic Holy
16
War "indulgences." This was of a piece with treating the Valencian wall

1 3
The phrasing is not from James but from his predecessor Raymond Berengar
I V , in the surrender charter of Islamic Tortosa, 1148 (in Fernandez y Gonzalez,
Mudejares de Castilla, appendix, doc. 5, misdated 1143): "usaticos sicut fuerunt in
tempus de suos alios reges" [sic].
1 4
Arch. Crown (Archivo de la Corona de Aragon), Barcelona, James I , Reg.
Cane. 11, fol. 185 (Nov. 12, 1260): "hostendentes nobis cartas de predicto Zahen
et de illo qui locum eius tenebat inde eis factas." I have copied the document in full
in Islam under the Crusaders, p. 257.
1 5
Archivo municipal, Alcira, pergs. c.r., sig. 010-1 (July 18, 1245), reproduced
in photocopy and transcription in Los pergaminos de la cancilleria real del archivo
municipal de la ciudad de Alcira (Alcira, 1967), perg. 1: "visis omnibus et singulis
instrumentis . . . viso etiam instrumento sarracenorum, habito consilio et diligenti
tractatu, voluntate et consensu senium et sarracenorum Aliasire."
1 6
Ramon Muntaner, Cronica, ed. Enrique Bague (9 vols, in 2 ; Barcelona,
1927-1952), chap. 5 1 : "anaren preycant e cridant per tota la Barbaria, e donar
perdons a llur mala lig." Document of 1287 in F. A . Roca Traver, "Un siglo de vida
mudejar en la Valencia medieval (1238-1338)," Estudios de edad media de la corona
de Aragon, V (1952), appendix, doc. 2 0 : "tenir e dejunar la quaresma dels moros
en la moreria"; the term was usual, occurring in other documents.
96 Robert I. Burns, S.J.

always as a rex and counterpart to Aragon's king, or with seeing the Islamic
nobiliary classes as feudal knights committed to the same values and priorities
17
as the Christian knight or castellan.
In various niggling ways too the Muslim was made to see that another order
prevailed. To expand his farm by purchase of land not actually retained by
Moorish cultivators at the time of conquest meant coming under the Christian
tithe incumbent on such land, an irritant for the Muslim buyer in the fast-
moving land market of colonial Valencia. A more subtle and wide reaching
alteration affected the everyday courts. The Islamic system of coordinate
courts, which allowed only restricted recourse after decision, and some "re
forming" of a previous judge's conclusions, tended during the postcrusade
period to take on the appearance of a hierarchical system of appeals. Thus in
1273 when King James appointed a qddi over nine important aljamas, he
stipulated that "if any feel themselves wronged, they may appeal to the
qddi of our Moorish quarter at Jativa." Fifty years after James's death, his
grandson Alfonso III had to caution against the growth of too complex a
system of appeals: recourse could be had henceforth from any one qddi to
18
only one further qddi.
Among important Islamic institutions, those which regularly related the
Muslim to his new overlord most easily lost their identity and began to assume
the reality of the overlord's analogous institution, a transmogrification at times
startling. The ubiquitous aljama council provides a handy example. The
Christians identified its Muslim members as prohoms, thus investing them with
the characteristics of that rank of citizens in Mediterranean European towns.
By handling this assembly in practical affairs just as they handled European
assemblies, the Christians assimilated the Islamic phenomenon to their own.
Consequently they brought it to effective corporate institutionalization and
thrust upon it new roles. Eventually it became a neat little body of elected
representatives. At Valldigna by the following century, for example, twenty-

1 7
King James reserved rex and rey to the independent rulers of Islamic Majorca,
Murcia, and Valencia, as well as to foreign blocs like Granada and Tunis; relatively
autonomous but lesser principates like Jativa did not merit the title for their rulers.
Abii Zayd, in his dealings with King James, styled himself rex b y accommodation.
On this whole question see m y Islam under the Crusaders, pp. 3 5 4 - 3 5 8 . The osmosis
by which Christian and Islamic aristocratic classes assimilated at the manneristic
or chivalric-feudal level is studied in m y "The Muslim in the Christian Feudal
Order (the Kingdom of Valencia, 1240-1280)," Studies in Medieval Culture (Western
Michigan University), V - V I (1972-1973), in press, and in Islam, chap. 12.
1 8
Arch. Crown, James I , Reg. Cane. 19, fol. 18 (June 14, 1273): "si quis vel si
qui senserint se gravari, possint appellare ad alcadum ravalli nostri Xative."
A surrender charter for an aljama on Valencia's northern border allowed appeal to
the qddi of Tortosa. The Jativa charter allowed further appeal "ad alium alcadi
[sie] sarracenorum." For more on this point, see m y suggestions in Islam, pp. 2 4 6 -
 Spanish Islam in Transition 97

nine such worthies rotated by election each Christmas; a similar arrangement

19
prevailed at Chelva.
Modern scholars like Roca Traver see these evolved aljama assemblies as
corresponcling to or identical with the body of Catalan municipal consellers.
King James applied to the component sheiks the significant title capitols, a tech
nical term for councilmen of a Catalan commune, and earlier for canons of an
incorporated cathedral chapter. At the same time each community or aljama
became in official parlance a universitas or commune-corporation. King James
normally handled a Mudejar town, valley, or district as though it were a legal
corporation, endowed with the peculiar attributes of such a corporation: "the
20
aljama and whole universitas of the Saracens of the valley of Pego." For so
knowledgeable a promoter of Roman Law and of the corporation concept as
was James I, the wording cannot have been careless. It worked an inevitable
effect. At the moment of conquest the Valencian Islamic aljama was not what
it later became, a semiautonomous municipal corporation enjoying immortality
and abstract or fictional being in law, with an electoral system, jurates,
counsellors, and a growing corpus of municipal privileges. In his pioneering
study of Sicily's conquered Muslim community, Amari detected a similar
21
tendency for the aljamas to evolve into true communes. Such an evolution was
no mere adjustment to external forms but rather an intrinsic change, abolishing
the basic politicostructural differences between the Islamic and the European
medieval town. So great an institutional change undoubtedly worked psycho
logical changes in the town's inhabitants.
Particularly instructive, among acculturated political institutions, is the
evolution of Mudejar Valencia's amin. The name, "trustworthy," attached in
Islamic societies to a bewildering variety of minor offices, so that it reveals
nothing by itself. In Valencian Mudejar society, however, the alami came to
be a specific functionary in the specific office of the "alaminate," exercising
identical powers in every aljama. Roca Traver and Grau Monserrat make him
equivalent in Valencian Mudejarism to the Christian municipal head jurate,
holding "personal governance of the aljama in every sense of the word." Gual
Camarena prefers a parallel with the more ambiguous bailiff. Macho Ortega,
working in the documents of Aragon proper, sees him as analogous to the head

1 9
The surrender charters of Jativa and Chivert employ probi homines, for example;
sometimes synonyms like meylors and bona appear. The Valldigna carta puebla of
1366 is in Miguel Gual Camarena, "Mudejares valencianos, aportaciones para su
estudio," Saitabi, V I I (1949), 175; the Chelva document is in Fernandez y Gonzalez,
Mudejares de Castilla, appendix, doc. 71 (1370).
2 0
Arch. Crown, James I, Reg. Cane. 37, fol. 57v (Dec. 22, 1272): "vobis aliame
et toti universitati sarracenorum de Pego." King James addressed the sheiks of
Murcia aljama as its capitols, in his autobiography, Cronica [Llibre dels feyts], ed.
J. M . de Casacuberta (9 vols, in 2 ; Barcelona, 1926-1962), chap. 439.
2 1
Michele Amari, Storia dei musulmani di Sicilia (2d ed.; 3 vols.; Catania, 1933
1939), I I I , 2 9 1 - 2 9 2 .
98 Robert I. Burns, S.J.

jurate. For fifteenth-century Valencia, Piles Ros finds him the central governing
22
power.
Important and specific though his role was, it differed radically during the
postcrusade years from what it became during the later or high Mudejar era.
In this earlier period he was essentially the main tax collector, with no visible
share in the authority role that fell either to a qa'id or a qddi. Nor was the later
amin simply the ruling qa'id or qddi under a more generic or alternate title.
In fact, he retained his revenue-collecting function alongside his new authori
tarian function; in a significant exception, tax collecting was specifically
forbidden to one amin. The crown describes this continuing tax connection as
a general characteristic, in a later appointment of an amin: "to defend and
maintain the royal rights and regalian claims of the lord king," in the same
way as his predecessors "in times past were accustomed to maintain and
23
supervise them." An elected official, sometimes appointed by the Christian
authorities, this later amin convoked and chaired the weekly aljama meeting,
defended the common good, kept the tax records, and played (as did his earlier
counterpart) a minor role in justice. Some places had two of these officials,
representing two overlords.
The transformation of the amin, startling though it is, has gone unnoticed.
In a field of study that concentrates on high Mudejarism and the later Moriscos,
the tendency has been simply to project later organization back into the
thirteenth century, to assume that the developed administrative machinery
had been a constant, and by implication to suggest that the Muslims had carried
the system over with them intact from the Islamic period. It will be appropriate
to pause for a closer look at this handy illustration of political acculturation:
in this case not so much an assimilation to the conquerors' forms as a wrenching
replacement of political structure to suit the altered situation and practical
demands. It is not to the point here to examine the military and political role
of the qddi, a phenomenon that found its fullest scope in Spanish Islam, nor
indeed to cite the many examples of both amin and qddi in postcrusade Valencia,
to elaborate on their respective roles, or to conjecture as to whether more

2 2
Roca Traver, "Vida mudejar," p. 127. Gual Camarena, "Mudejares valencianos,
aportaciones," p. 176. Francisco Macho y Ortega, "Condition social de los mudejares
aragoneses (siglo x v ) , " Memorias de la facultad de fdosofia y letrasdelauniversidadde
Zaragoza, I (1922-1923), 156. Andres Gimenez Soler, La edad media en la corona de
Aragon (2d ed.; rev.; Barcelona, 1944), p. 293. Manuel Grau Monserrat, "Mudejares
Castellonenses," Boletin de la real academia de buenas letras de Barcelona, X X I X
(1961-1962), 261. Leopoldo Piles Ros, "La situation social de los moros de realengo
en la Valencia del siglo xv," Estudios de historia social de Espana, I (1949), 2 7 3 - 2 7 4 .
M y Medieval Colonialism will gather the manuscript documentation on the early
Valencian amin; meanwhile, see my Islam, pp. 3 7 6 - 3 8 1 .
2 3
Appointment by bailiff general (Feb. 5, 1425) in Piles Ros, "Moros de realengo
en Valencia," pp. 2 7 3 - 2 7 4 : "lo offici d'alaminat. . . e com alami dessus dit mantingues
e defenes los drets e regalies del dit senyor re segons los altres alamis en temps
passat be ha acostumat tenir e regir."
 Spanish Islam in Transition 99

prosaic or common offices such as muhtasib or mushrif underlay that of amin.

For our present purpose, the investigation of acculturative phenomena, I
wish to suggest that the emergence of this all-important political chief, the
amin, and the transformation of political structure it represents, derived
directly from the symbiotic relationship between conquerors and conquered.
Practical necessities and expediency destroyed the existing order of local
authority and quietly educed a new order, in an intriguing instance of unplanned
but nearly inevitable acculturation. First, the steadiest interaction between
the two peoples, and the most valuable to the Christians, was the regular
assessment, collection, and receipt of taxes. The necessity had held even for
Almohad Berber appointees in Islamic Spain, whose native liaison officer had
been precisely the mushrif or treasurer. The Cid at Valencia similarly maintained
in his entourage at least two Muslims bearing that title and revenue function,
employing them as liaison and creating one of them his vizier over the Valencian
kingdom. For both Cid and Almohad caliph, the prime need had been efficient
management of revenues, necessarily implying liaison or relational participation
in governance: the subject-community at times required an effective and
influential spokesman, while the lord at times required a confidant having
wide contacts and influence within the conquered community.
Something similar happened in the Holy Land, where the native ra'is in the
rural settlement became tax collector, point of liaison, spokesman to and from
24
the crusade overlords, and eventually receptacle of real local power. In
Valencia, however, the strong political structure around the qddi inhibited the
logical and swift devolution of power to the amin, though it could not reverse
or halt it. Unlike the Holy Land too, each Valencian Mudejar community
evolved into a hybrid kind of semi-commune, not at all rural or backward, so
that the amin eventually emerged into a position more independent and
governing than was the case with the Near Eastern ra'is in his Latinate raisa-
gium. Again, the Valencian postcrusade manuscripts connected with tax-
collecting equate amin with bailiff, seeing each as the equivalent of the other
in practice; for example, in surrendering two thousand solidi of taxes at Alcira,
Alfandech, and Pego in 1263 to a Christian creditor, King James conveyed to
26
him the corresponding right "to install bailiffs, whether alamini or alcaydi."
But the bailiff in the Valencian kingdom was as much a kind of governing
officer, the overlord's alter ego with wide powers to represent his material
interests, as he was a mere tax collector. The logic of such equivalence must
have worked to extend the prestige and power of the amin. Again, the crown,
concerned with revenue affairs more than with any single Mudejar business,
2 4
Cahen, "Le regime rural syrien," pp. 3 0 6 - 3 0 8 .
2 5
Arch. Cro^m, James I, Reg. Cane. 17, fol. 43v (April 30, 1263): "possitis
instituere baiulos, sive alaminos sive alcaydos." Punctuation, missing in such
medieval texts, here makes the two to be species of the genus baiulus; simple equiv
alency of all three, an alternate interpretation, would not change the point in our
text. The alcaydus was both qa'id and, often, castellan.
100 Robert I. Burns, S.J.

had more occasion to address "the amin and the aljama" of a given region than
it did to communicate anything to the qddi or to the community as such.
As Christian presence multiplied over the centuries, and as Christian prestige
or oppressive superiority entered the consciousness of the younger generation,
the practical authority of the amin had to become ever more evident. Eventually
this financial power and political boss either came to preside de facto or (at
some point obscure to us) was finally installed with royal acquiescence in the
seat of de jure political power. The new disposition could not work very well
without this reorientation of fact, so that recognition merely blessed an accul-
turative evolution of long standing. Can such an evolution ever occur, and such
a structure develop, without premising some foundational alteration of psycho
logy or self-view ? And once created, will the new political structure subtly
influence its inhabitants 1 How many political communities, after all, gather
around their treasurer as dominant authority, or salute the head of the revenue
service as custodian of community power and values ? The development
whether a Good Thing or a Bad Thingwas as unplanned as it was logical;
and it altered the psychopolitical shape of the Valencian aljama.
As the Christian immigrants drifted south, they made their presence felt in
numerous subtle ways. They superimposed three dioceses on the hapless
Muslims, with a network of parishes (often without parishioners yet) reaching
into every corner. Commandeered mosques, refurbished as churches, stood
grotesquely empty in many villages where no Christian settler had yet pene
trated nor would for a generation. How galling such modest presence was to the
Muslims can be seen from an incident at Segorbe, where the first pealing of
hated bells in the improvised church of the few Christian settlers precipitated a
26
full-scale riot by the Muslims. The dozen parish ex-mosques at the capital
soon gave way to Gothic structures; new streets were opened also, and the
pantheon or cemetery building for the Muslim rulers became the city hall; the
skyline, the rhythm of city life, and the relation of the quarters to the city's
center altered decisively.
The same pattern was incipient elsewhere in the realm, and a potential
threat everywhere. Initiative had passed from the Muslim majority to the few
but busy newcomers, whose military orders patrolled the roads and whose
Mendicant friars penetrated everywhere. As Ibn Khaldun noted, such a
conquered society loses hope, the dynamism generated by hope, and the com
mercial and civilizing results of that dynamism, promoting the society's dis-

2 6
A participant described the incident to his son, who so testified at a legal
inquiry in 1323; see J. Villanueva, Viage literario a las iglesias de Espana (17 vols,
in 2 2 ; Madrid, 1803-1852), I I I , 45. See also F. de Asis Aguilar y Serrat, Noticias de
Segorbe y de su obispado (2 vols.; Segorbe, 1890), I, 8 3 - 8 4 . Martin Almagro and
others date the incident 1237, but P. L . Llorens y Raga argues convincingly for
1245.
 Spanish Islam in Transition 101
27
integration. What the North African sage saw in the recent past of Spain, we
have seen all too often in colonized societies.
Even the Muslim-held castles, disjecta membra left over from the broken
body politic of Valencian Islam, proved shortly to be a drawback for the Mude
jar community. True, a certain osmosis of aristocratic, military, and chivalric
fashion assimilated the Islamic nobiliary classes to their Christian counterparts.
And the petty principality or the castellan-^a'id surviving here and there did
offer a psychological rallying point. Unhappily, they also posed a temptation to
revolt.
The failed gamble of each revolt, a drumfire of uprisings over four decades,
saw the military-political establishment progressively dismantled, the leaders
killed or driven into exile, the castles taken over, the wealth confiscated, and the
authority curtailed or destroyed. The fate of al-Azraq, lord of Alcala and the
Pego valleys, master-rebel in several revolts, makes a cautionary tale. The
complicated history of the Banu 'Isa, around whose Jativa principate the forces
of discontent rallied, provides a similar illustration; they survived as lords of
Montesa and uncrowned leaders of Valencia's Mudejars until the ultimate rebel
28
lion led to their downfall in the 1280s.
The many castles of conquered Muslims did offer for a time an opening toward
adjustment to the Christian feudal world. Eventually, however, they became
another occasion for the fear and anger that issued in a full-throated anti-
Moor prejudice among the threatened colonial population. This phenomenon
is seen most clearly in the kingdom-wide "race riots" that erupted in 1275 and
continued for months despite the king's angry determination to halt them and
to punish the Christian culprits. These destructive riots extended from Peniscola
and Oropesa, far in the north, to Cocentaina far in the south, and from the
coastal cities like Valencia inland to Liria and Chelva, lasting over several
years. They were true ethnic riots, not merely religiously motivated episodes;
converted Mudejars, ostensibly assimilated and safe, suffered equally with
29
then former colleagues.
2 7
The Muqaddimah; An Introduction to History, trans. Franz Rosenthal (3 vols.;
New York, 1958), I, esp. chap. 2, sees. 2 2 - 2 3 , and chap. 3, sec. 5. The penetration
and role of military orders and Mendicants are covered in m y Crusader Valencia,
chtps. 10, 11.
2 8
The history of the Banu 'Isa and of similar feudal families of postcrusade
Valencia, including the complicated tale of the al-Azraq clan, has been reconstructed
from all manuscript and published sources in m y "Le royaume Chretien de Valence
et ses vassaux musulmans (1240-1280)," Annates, Economies, sociitis, civilisations,
X X V I I I (1973), 199-225. Much of this material was incorporated in Islam, chaps.
13-14. See also F . de P. Momblaneh y Gonzalbez, "El rey D . Jaime y las guerras
de Alazrach," VII Asamblea de cronistas de Valencia (Valencia, 1970), repaged
offprint.
2 9
This remarkable episode is studied only in m y "Social Riots on the Christian-
Moslem Frontier (Thirteenth-Century Valencia)," American Historical Review,LXVI
(1961), 3 7 8 - 4 0 0 , with transcriptions from some fifty manuscripts revealing its
details.
102 Robert I. Burns, S.J.

The revolts in turn contributed to the hemorrhage of emigrants, especially

from the creative and nobiliary strata. What was the extent of emigration ?
Certainly neither King James nor his barons, nor for that matter the cities or
the churchmen, desired wide-scale departure of Muslims from Valencia. Behind
the rhetoric of expulsion, all classes mcluding king and clerics enthusiastically
imported fresh Muslims while clinging to those they held. Muslims meant
productive farms and fat rentals. Greed did not counsel retention of the nobili
ary or notable classes, however; the castellan, the faqih, the princely rebel,
the large landowner, the merchant, the intellectual, or the poet: these were
small loss to the Christian settler, and in some ways their going meant positive
gain.
Even before the rebellions many of this stratum had left, including the entire
populations of the capital city and of the most important northern city, Bur-
riana. Ibn Khaldun witnesses to the draining of Valencians and Murcians down
into Tunis, in such numbers as to constitute eventually a distinct segment of
that African city's population. The calligraphic talent that fled to North Africa
revolutionized handwriting and book production there. Individuals stand out
in the mass of Valencian fugitives. Ibn al-Abbar of Onda, secretary to the last
three rulers of Islamic Valencia and a great historian, betook himself to a career
in Tunis. Ibn 'Amira al-Qadi of Alcira fled in 1238 to become state secretary
and qddi in Morocco and Tunis. Abu 'r-Rabi' b. Salim, colleague-disciple of
Averroes and chief qddi of Valencia, fell fighting at the climactic battle of Puig
outside Valencia city. A noted group of Sufi, mystics, the Banu Sid-bono at
Denia and Valencia city, removed to Granada and founded a popular religious
center.
The farmers of course and those less mobile or with no prospects in foreign
climes were bound to remain. But' 'many people from eastern Spain were exiled,''
as Ibn Khaldun notes; those who stayed in Spain "were concerned with making
a living." The great historian exaggerates here; culture and religion were not
dead. Their scope of course was dramatically reduced; and this in turn meant a
very different balance of social classes remaining, with a consequently poorer
image in the eyes of Muslim and Christian alike. Even in the later thirteenth
century the chronicler Desclot tended to regard Valencia's Mudejars as "pea
30
sants." The effects of all this upon Valencia's Islamic society can be read
between the lines or even projected from analogous situations in other times
and places.
Since Christian settlers headed in disproportionate numbers toward certain
Valencian cities, Muslims there tended eventually to center upon morerias
which, while not exactly ghettos, stood to the side of mainstream civic activity.
The increasingly ruralized Islamic society consequently related ever more closely

3 0
Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, I I , 288, 350, 430. The concern with "making
a living" refers directly to the remnant at Granada. Bernat Desclot, Crbnica, ed.
Miguel Coll i Alentorn (4 vols.; Barcelona, 1949-1950), I, chaps. 49, 65, 67.
 Spanish Islam in Transition 103

to their landlords or lordsto Christians who exercised some control or frame

work in their lives. One such control, as time passed, was tax exploitation, first
as occasional abuse and later as a seignorial commonplace during the hard times
of the early Renaissance. Even those strata of Mudejar society which lodged in
Christian contexts as nurses, retainers, bodyguards, slaves, merchants, and the
like, occasioned restrictive laws designed to inhibit sexual contact between the
two peoples, blasphemy or at least an understandable but disconcerting public
display of contempt by Muslims for the conquerors' religious symbols and
processions, and even a counter-acculturative process of attracting Christians
to Islam. Here again a measure of superficial or opportunistic acculturation
in episodes of dress, language, alternate names, and similar accidentalsthough
rewarding for both peoples, occasioned friction and repression.
There had always been an infiltration of style and of people between the
Islamic and European camps, as there would continue to be, for example,
between Spain and North Africa. No hard and fast boundary existed, no iron
curtain difficult to penetrate. Merchants moved freely, albeit with minor re
straints, in both directions; Christian merchants braved excommunication in
considerable numbers to trade in strategic or wartime goods. Adventurers
passed between the several groups, as did whole army units coming as allies
or rented away as mercenaries by their rulers; thus the king of Aragon sent
Catalan contingents to fight for North African sultans at so much per head,
and imported similar Muslim armies himself. Renegades betrayed both the
Islamic Valencian and the Arago-Catalan causes to the enemy, and apostates
31
were a problem to both sides. Mild acculturation was a two-way street. Since
each society stood in a relation of cultural parity to the other, and was relatively
open and flexible in matters not considered by its protagonists as essential, the
phenomenon of transculturation by which even Mudejar society influenced the
Christian merits attention.
For Valencian Muslims, however, such activities took on acculturative
significance mainly when the balance of equality turned into a relationship of
conqueror and conquered. The alien Muslim warriors had now became some
thing less than allies to the Christians, and their military spirit threatened
32
rebellion; King James expressed his mistrust of them. The merchant changed
from a cooperative terminal to an internal rival. Slowly the merchant role
proper to Muslims in a homeland celebrated for its commerce diminished until,
within a century of the crusade, they were confined largely to interior and trans-
33
border Castilian petty trade. Just as the balance of agricultural types shifted,

3 1
See the many examples of each type culled for m y "Renegades, Adventurers,
and Sharp Businessmen: The Thirteenth-Century Spaniard in the Cause of Islam,"
Catholic Historical Review, L V I I (1972), 341-366.
3 2
Llibre dels feyts, chap. 362.
3 3
D . Perez Perez and E . Pascuale-Leone Pascual, "Algunos aspectos del comercio
valenciano a fines del siglo xiv," VII Congris d'histdria de la corona d'Arago (3 vols.;
Barcelona, 1963-1964), I I , 537.
104 Robert I . Burns, S.J.

so here the loss of the central city and the sharing of the other main cities,
together with the loss of dynasties and lordlings and their patronage contribu
tion, destroyed the "establishment." A new establishment would emerge, but
more linear and less urban, with the local affluent villager assuming the role of
faqih and guardian of culture.
Worst of all, the new monasticism of this century allowed crown and church
to press an open campaign of proselytism. Valencia had become a frontier of
apostolic opportunity for a dozen or more religious orders, but especially for the
Dominicans. Europe's greatest living jurist and one of its most supple minds,
Raymond of Penyafort, resigned the Dominican generalate to prosecute this
campaign along the Mediterranean shore of Spain and in Tunis. His prime
centers were the Dominican schools of Arabic, or more properly of dialectical
confrontation with Muslim savants, at Valencia, Jativa, Murcia, and Tunis,
with headquarters at Barcelona. The celebrated Raymond Marti was prominent
among the many Dominicans in this work along the conquered eastern seaboard
of Spain, and recent research suggests that Thomas Aquinas contributed his
metaphysical expertise ex distantia. The Franciscans also involved themselves,
largely in the panoplied person of Raymond Lull. With royal backing, the
friars also penetrated the aljamas at will, forcing their presentations upon the
general Muslim populace. The proselytizers reported sufficient success to create
34
among Christians a mood of pentecostal expectation.
However misled and exaggerated their reports may have been, the friars
constituted an acculturative pressure of major proportions. Since their work
affected especially the Muslim intellectuals and the pace-setting people of high
education, it could not but convey a sense of menace, and evoke a response of
defensive rigidity, among the community's responsible leaders. The stratum
of converts resulting from their efforts antagonized Christian and Muslim alike.
The schools did not survive long into the next century, but they had helped
create a siege mentality in the dissident majority. Every surge of Christian
immigration into the cities would have reinforced the alien pressure, loosening
attachment to traditional values, diminishing the opportunities for upward
mobility, dictating new conditions for retaining a tolerably comfortable life,
and accelerating the conversion rate. Coupled with the presence of the parish
and other ubiquitous mechanisms of the medieval church, and with the serene
possession by the colonial overlords of assumptions, values, and identity
unacceptable to Muslims, the conversion campaign can hardly be overestimated
as a weapon for acculturation.
Valencian Islam survived. Most Mudejars continued to go about their im
memorial business, still attending their mosques and hearing the familiar call
of the muezzin, still visiting the Arabesque suq at the nearest town, sending

3 4
See the documents and references in m y detailed account, "Christian-Islamic
Confrontation in the W e s t : The Thirteenth-Century Dream of Conversion,"
American Historical Review, L X X V I (1971), 1386-1434.
 Spanish Islam in Transition 105

their children to Koranic school, marrying and selling by traditional contracts,

as prosperous shareholders in their farms in this prosperous land, safe from
harassment behind determined royal protection, and privileged in their many
local constitutions. Above all, their value system survived: in legal philosophy,
morals, attitudes, concepts of beauty, and the complex of religiosocial con
victions.
But if Islam survived, something of its glory had gone. A sense of strain, of
impingement, of small but important losses, of a torsion toward the awry had
entered. Massignon has remarked that in times of crisis the intellectuals are
attracted to the syncretistic or ecumenical, while the common man grows
35
intransigent. As emigration weighted the balance toward common men, and
as conversion and acculturation or reorientation posed a threat, such inflexi
bility must have been the heaviest price paid by Mudejar society for its survival.
Life can imitate its former self, recoil inward, and refuse motion, until a
formerly spirited ambience declines into a replica, a Disneyland. Valencia did
not reach such extremes, but it moved willy-nilly in that direction. Did such a
society, retrograde and dull, obstinately old-fashioned, experience trouble with
its own rising generation ?
Islamic Valencia did not become fully Mudejar for over half a century. The
setting sun of the full culture continued to warm another generation or two.
Mercifully the Mudejar could not perceive the several changes as a slow and
terrible transition to an intolerable future state; his world was final for him,
with all its change, as ours is for us. He may even have seen the postcrusade
decades as more tranquil than those of the Almohad death struggle. And his
adapting world had its advantages. Although it lacked our modern concept of
tolerance and was drifting toward the Renaissance era of crisis, economic ex
ploitation, and cruelty, it had found for the moment a reasonable pluralism in
some ways more advanced or permissive than our own. It lasted a very long
timefor a couple of generationsas long indeed as the era of sharp hostility.
The Muslim of this Early Mudejar or twilight period, dominant in numbers,
secure in his religious and juridical milieu, relatively affluent and with the
greater part of his traditional society intact, probably went about his business
in a state of reasonable content. Whatever the degree of acculturation, the new
synthesis was recognizably, irreducibly Islamic.

3 5
Louis Massignon, "Ibn Sab'in et la 'conspiration hallagienne' en Andalousie,
et en orient au xiii siecle,'' Etudes d'orientalisme dedttes d lamimoiredeL6vi-Proven
cal (2 vols.; Paris, 1962), I I , 660.
 TURK AND HINDU: A POETICAL IMAGE AND ITS
APPLICATION TO HISTORICAL FACT

ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL

Harvard University

On the revival of Hindu nationalism in India during the 1920s Peter Hardy
remarks in his book The Muslims of British India that the Muslims were deeply
1
shocked at the sight of the followers of Gandhi in homespun garments. The
sight reminded them of their own glorious past, thus rekindling their age-old
aristocratic instincts with respect to their former Hindu subjects.
His remark is perfectly to the point. To Muslims in India, the Hinduhow
ever intelligent, clever, and even wisewas basically connected with negative
judgments such as ugliness, lowliness, and slavery. Instances of this attitude
are revealed in the history of Persian and Turkish poetry. The contrast between
Turk and Hindu posed by most of the poets is known to everyone from Hafiz's
famous line:

If that Shirazi Turk would take my heart in his hand,

2
I would give for his Hindu mole Bukhara and Samarkand.

This contrast expresses more than a mere rhetorical play; it rather reflects
a basic attitude that can account for some of the friction between the two
communities after the Muslim conquest of India. We may therefore ask our
selves how much this deeply engraved feeling of "ruling Turk" versus "lowly
Hindu" contributed to the sociopolitical development and the particular
attitudes of Muslim society in the Subcontinent.
It goes almost without saying that feelings of this kind occurred only rarely
in the first period of Muslim rule in India, which was restricted to Sind. Even
in later periods Sind and Hind proper are always treated as separate entities,
which certainly points to different cultural settings. At the time of the conquest
most of the inhabitants of Sind were Buddhists who, if we believe the Cliachname,
rather rejoiced at being freed by the Muslims from the Hindu rulers who had on
ly recently usurped power. The precocious wisdom of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim,
the seventeen-year-old commander of the Muslim army who subjugated the

1
Peter Hardy, The Muslims of British India (Cambridge University Press, 1972,
paperback); the statement sums up his remarks on p. 228.
2
Sa'di, Kulliyat, ed. M . A . Furughi (4 vols.; Tehran, 1342 sh./1963), I I I , 578.
 108 Annomarie Schimmel

Indus valley up to Multan, set an example for later Indian rule; he considered
the Hindus to belong to the ahl al-kitdb (and indeed, they had their own sacred
scriptures) and imposed upon them, as upon the Buddhists, only the jizya,
3
refraining from treating them as idol-worshipers. Some later Muslim scholars,
of course, would have loved to do so, and declared that the Prophetic saying
"Either Islam or execution" is meant particularly for the Hindus "the most
4
inimical enemies of Mustafa"thus Barani in the fourteenth century.
In their descriptions of the inhabitants of Indiaof those both in Sind and on
5
the Malabar coast, where the Arabs had long-standing commercial relations
the early Arab geographers, and also authors like al-Jahiz, largely followed the
Hellenistic tradition of describing the Indians as black; they partly argued
6
that the climate blackens them. But they expressed a certain admiration for
the achievements of Indian scholars in the fields of philosophy (the Hindu
hakim becomes a standard type), medicine, mathematics, and related sciences,
7
not to forget magic. Translations from Indian sources were soon made avail
able to the Arabs.
The second wave of Muslim conquest, however, changed the image: al-Biruni's
Kitab al-Hind, objective and unbiased as it is, gives a vivid account of the
difficulties of mutual understanding. His remark that

3
Chachname, ed. M . U . Daudpota (Delhi, 1939), p. 118; cf. idem, p. 122: The
Islamic conquest was foretold by the stars. About a similar attitude of the Buddhists
vis-a-vis the Muslims in Bengal see S. M . Ikram, Muslim Rule in India and Pakistan
2
(Lahore, 1966), p. 203. See also M. A . Ghani, "The Advent of the Arabs in Hindustan:
Their Relations with the Hindus, and the Occupation of Sind," Proceedings Tenth
All-India Oriental Conference (1940).
4
Barani, Tarikh-i Firuzshahi, ed. Sir Sayyid A h m a d K h a n (Calcutta, 1 8 6 0 -
1862), p. 291.
5
Maqbul Ahmad, Indo-Arab-Relations (Delhi and Bombay, 1969); for the whole
complex see Sayyid Sulaiman Nadwi's numerous publications in Urdu.
6
L . Rosher, "The Greek and the Latin Data about India," in Zakir Husain
Presentation Volume (Delhi, 1967), pp. 23ff. The idea that the Indians are almost
equal to the Negroes was elaborated b y Tabarl, Ta'rikh al-muluk wa'r-rusul, I , 217,
and b y Mas'udi, Muruj adh-dhahab, I I I , 294f., as well as by other medieval Arab
-authors; the Ikhwan as-Safa (Rasa'il, 1,233) thought that the climate was responsible
for the black color.
7
Dr. R a m Kumar Chaube, India as Told by^ the Muslims (Varanasi, 1969) gives
an account of Arabic writers interested in Indian subjects; the book, however,
is very weak. India as the home ofhikma, wisdom, and philosophy, is often mentioned
b y medieval authors like Mas'udi (Muruj, I , 76), in the Rasa'il Ikhwan as-Safa
(II, 282) as well as in Ibn al-Qif^i's Ta'rlkh al-hukama', ed. J. Lippert (Leipzig,
1903), p. 266. Persian poets allude to Indian wisdom and Indian magic in early
times, thus Abu Shaktir al-Balkhi who ascribes Indian origin to the biblical device
"Make thy bread travel over water" (Eccles. 1 1 : 1) (G. Lazard, Les Premiers
Poetes Persons [2 vols.; Tehran, 1962], I I , 116). In Nizami's poetryboth Iskandar-
name and Makhzan al-asrarthe wise Indians and Indian magic are described, and
the fact that Hallaj's journey to India in 905 was attibuted to his wish "to learn
magic" shows that India was considered the home of magical practices and other
worldly wisdom.
 Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 109

in all manners a n d usages t h e y differ from us to such a degree as to

frighten their children with us, with our dress, and our ways and customs,
and as to declare us to be the devil's breed, and our doing as the v e r y
8
opposite o f all that is g o o d a n d proper,

is poetically reflected in 'Attar's story about the H i n d u boy's reaction when he

9
was kindly taken t o M a h m u d Ghaznawi's t h r o n e .
Biruni, for all his understanding of H i n d u philosophy a n d thought, has
stressed the fact that the H i n d u s "direct their fanaticism against those who do
not belong to t h e m , the mleccha, impure." 10
T h e concept of purity and the fact
that a m e m b e r of a lower caste cannot acquire religious merit in the same w a y
as can a Brahmin shocked his feelings of Muslim piety and equality more than
11
anything e l s e ; the caste system was, for him, the decisive line that separated
both communities, "and this is the greatest obstacle which prevents a n y ap
12
proach or understanding between H i n d u s a n d M u s l i m s . "
I t must have been approximately in BirQni's time that Persian adopted the
word " H i n d u " for everything black; then, the long list of possible comparisons
begins: the treacherous twisted black tresses, the dangerous infidel beauty spot,
the unpleasant blackish down on the friend's lip, the killing pagan eyes of the
13
sweetheart are all H i n d u s who encroach u p o n the Muslim's h e a r t . T h e star of

8
al-Biruni, Kitab fi tahqiq ma li'l-Hind (Hyderabad, 1958), and E . Sachau,
2
al-Biruni's India (London, 1 8 8 8 , 1 9 1 0 ) , p. 10; about the "innate perversity" of the
Hindu character, ibid., p. 91.
9
H . Bitter, Das Meer der Seele (Leiden, 1955), p. 3 3 3 ; the story of the Hindu boy
is found in 'Attar's Mantiq at-tair. See also Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Mathnawi, ed. R . A .
Nicholson (6 vols.; London and Leiden 1925-1940), V , 3157; V I , 1383ff.
1 0
Sachau, al-Biruni, p. 19.
1 1
Ibid., p. 271.
1 2
Ibid., p. 4 8 ; cf. also p. 11 about the narrow-mindedness of the Indians.
1 3
To a black "Hindu" can be compared tresses, mole, down, eye or eyelashes,
pen, night, bad luck. The term became so generally accepted as meaning "black"
that several translators, among them Garcin de Tassy, did not hesitate to translate
Hindu as "Negro." Sa'di applies the biblical saying that one cannot wash off the
Ethiopian's color (Jer. 13:23) to the Hindu:
Y o u can take away love from Sa'di's heart b y blaming him
I f you can wash with water the color off the Hindu's face.
(Kulliyat, I I I , ghazal 628.) A n d the final effect is reached in Talib-i Amuli's famous
lines at the occasion of his emigration from Iran to India:
N o one brought a Hindu as a present into India
Leave your black luck ( = misfortune) in Iran!
(M. Aslah, Tadhkira-yi shu'ara-yi Kashmir, ed. H . Rashdi [5 vols., Karachi, 1 9 6 7 -
1968], I I , 678, and E . G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia [4 vols.; repr.
Cambridge, 1953], I V , 255). I hope to elaborate the development of the poetical
contrast "Hindu-Turk" in a separate study which will also cover the pictorial
witness in early miniature painting.
Even 'Abdul Ghani an-Nabulusi, Sufi and poet (d. 1728 in Syria), still uses an
amusing comparison: he compares the numerous fleas that troubled him and his
110 Annemarie Schimmel

misfortune, Saturn, became the Hindu-ye falak, the black doorkeeper of higher
14
spheres to whom all evil influences of Hindu magic were ascribed. From the
eleventh century onward Hindus appear in poetical language as highway
robbers, thieves, and moneylenders (contrary to the praise of the Hindus'
15
sincerity in some earlier Arabic sources). In genera], the word becomes a
synonym for "slave." One may think of the number of Indian prisoners that
16
Mahmud of Ghazna brought back from his Indian campaigns. At exactly
the same time the Turks, formerly described in not too flattering terms in the
17
books of Arab geographers, and feared as fierce warriors, turned into the

party to "Hindus with small bodies, black" (ar-Rihla at-Tarabulusiya, ed. Heribert
Busse: Die Reise des 'Abd al-Gani an-Nabulusi dutch den Libanon [Beirut, 1 9 7 1 ] ;
Arab, text p. 36 [poem]).
1 4
Saturn occurs as a Hindu doorkeeper in Farrukhi, Diivdn, ed. ' A b d ar-Rasiili
(Tehran, 1311 sh./1932), Tarji'band, p. 216, line 2 1 ; A b u 'Ali Marwazi (quoted in
M . 'Aufi, Lubdb al-albdb, ed. E . G. Browne and M . Qazwini (2 vols.; London and
Leiden, 1903-1906), I I , 342, cf. I I , 239) knows the expression too. The most famous
example of Saturn imagery is the description of "black" Saturday in Nizami's
Haft Paikar. Even for Ghalib (d. 1869), the 'Hindu-yi falak' is still an active force,
and he uses the term both in his horoscope as found in his Persian Qasida no. 9, and
in Qasida no. 64. A n d not in vain has Iqbal, in turn, put the two Indian traitors to
their nation into the "Sphere of Saturn" in his Javidname (Lahore, 1932).
1 5
Hindu moneylender: 'A^tar, Diwan, ed. S. Nafisi (Tehran, 1339 sh./1950),
no. 4 4 2 ; about positive statements: Chaube, India, p. 230.
1 6
The equation Hindu = slave goes back at least to Farrukhi, and is fully
developed in Khaqani, see his Diwan, ed. Z . Sajjadi (Tehran, 1338 sh./1959),
Qasida p. 2 1 9 : "The Khaqan (Turkish ruler) is the Hindu (slave) of your hinduish
( = black) tresses," and v. 30 in the Mada'in-qasida). 'Atfcar is very fond of the same
expression, see Diwan, ghazal no. 647, no. 445, twice, or no. 469): "When m y Turk
gave me a kiss, I became willingly his Hindu." The equation is continued through
the whole of Persian poetry, so that Jam! (Diwan-i kamil, ed. Hashim Rida,
[Tehran, 1341 sh./1962], p. 273, no. 364) speaks of "the Hindu 'Intellect' which is
fettered b y the chain of affliction." Even Pashto poetry does not lack similar
expressions, such as Khushhal K h a n Khattak's line "I am the Hindu-slave of t h y
locks . . ." in G. Raverty, Selections from the Popular Poetry of the Afghans (London,
1862), p. 246.
1 7
The famous hadith utruku'l-atrak and the warning in the hadith qudsi, "I
have an army which I have called Turk and which I made dwell in the East . . . , "
belong to the first period of Muslim-Turkish relations (cf. A . J. Wensinek, A
Handbook of Early Muhammadan Tradition (Leiden, 1927), s.v. Turk; cf. I . Gold-
ziher, Muhammedanische Studien (2 vols.; Halle, 1897), I , 270, I I , 127, and the
study b y E . Mainz, "DieTiirken in der klassischen arabischen Literatur," Der Islam,
X X I (1933), 2 7 8 - 2 8 5 . That the Arab Muslims respected the Turkish warriors (who
were thought to be the perfect embodiment of the "cold-and-humid" principle)
is shown b y J. Schacht and E . Meyerhof, The Theologus Autodidactus of Ibn an-
Nafis (Oxford, 1968), Excurs 6, p. 82. The image of the Turks as fierce warriors
is reflected as early as in A b u Nuwas's poetry: he compares the bubbles in a
glass of wine to arrow-shooting Turks, see E . Wagner, Abu Nuwas (Wiesbaden,
1965), p. 402, and the connection of the Turk with arrow and bow remains a
topos in later Persian poetry. The "warrior-planet" Mars is called Turk-i falak,
the "Turk of Heaven," and thus contrasted with the Hindu-yi falak, Satum,
 Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 111

ideal of manliness: admiration for Mahmiid's beloved, the Turkish slave Ayaz,
may have played a role in this development. "Turk" becomes the equivalent of
white, beautiful though cruel, courageousall qualities that the ideal beloved
of Persian poetry would possess. The use of the contrasting pair "Turk and
Hindu," "ruler and slave," in poetical language was, then, easy to follow. It
18
occurs, strangely, primarily in Nizami's work, that is. in Western Iran,
and is fully developed in the mystical poetry of 'Attar and in the imagery of
the Kubrawiyya order around 1200. The Qoranic idea that at doomsday infi
dels and grave sinners will bring their blackened books with them, which con
nects with their faces being blackened by shame (cf. Sura 3:106), made the
equation Hindu = 'sinner', 'infidel,' most comfortable. The black demons,
descendants of Ahriman in Persian mythology, may have contributed to the
19
development of the image. The mystics did not hesitate to describe then-
vision of the beloved God in the form of a beautiful young Turk, with his cap
20
awry; Majduddin Baghdad! even thought that the angels are manifested in the
21
shape of Turks, the devils in that of Hindus. The similar contrast between
the heavenly world of light as a Turkestan whence the beloved appears, and the
dark world of matter as Hindustan is extremely frequent in Jalal ud-Din
22
Rumi's verses. Even an early Indo-Persian poet like Amir Khusrau knows
23
and uses the concept of black Hindustan as a hellish place. Persian miniatures
from the fourteenth century onward always represent the Indian as blackish in
color, often reminiscent of the dark blue Krishna in Hindu painting.

both stars being connected with ill-fortune. Sa'di applies the hadlth utruku'l-atrak
most wittily to his Turkish beloved (Kulliyat, I I I , Ghazal 276):
D i d I not tell you "Do not look at the Turks," Sa'di ?
Since you did not say "Leave the Turk," you need patience.
1 8
H . Ritter, tjber die Bildersprache Nizamis (Berlin, 1927), pp. 12ff.
1 9
About the blackened faces, see F . Meier, Die schone Mahsati (Wiesbaden,
1963), pp. 182ff.H.Reitzenstein, in the Festschrift fur F. K. Andreas (Leipzig, 1916),
p. 38, shows that the classical Greek Book of Krates already equates the devils with
Indians (quoted by F . Meier, Die fawa'ih al-gamal wa fawdtih al-galal des Nagm
ad-Din al-Kubra [Wiesbaden, 1957], p. 115).
2 0
See Ritter, Meer der Seele, pp. 448ff., about Ruzbihan Baqli's vision of the
beloved as Turk, and p. 481.
2 1
Quoted Meier, Die fawa'ih, pp. 115, 121.
2 2
The contrast Turk-Hindu occurs several hundred times in Rumi's Diwdn; a
few particularly interesting instances are: Diwan-i kabir, ed. B. Z . Furuzanfar
(10 vols.; Tehran, 1336 sh.ff./1957), nos. 1290, 570, 1876, 1439.
2 3 3
Waheed Mirza, Amir Khusrau (Calcutta, 1935; Lahore, 1 9 6 7 ) , p. 131, about
Amir Khusrau's visit to Deogir in 722/1322: "Although they are of Hindu origin
and so hellites, in point of beauty they are all heavenly and of houri descent." For
the idea that India is, for many reasons, as intolerable as hell, see Khushhal K h a n
Khattak's complaints about his imprisonment in India:
In Hind, O Khushhal, thou will not remain for aye
For the sinner, even, at last, will escape from the fire of Hell.
(Raverty, Selections, p. 194).
112 Annemarie Schimmel

May we, then, surmise, that this imagery, formed by the poets whose works
were known to every educated person, may have worked under the surface to
strengthen the Muslim feeling of superiority in the Subcontinent ? This is
highly probable, all the more as the racial background of most of the early
Muslim dynasties in India was indeed Turkish. And if we believe Amir Khusrau,
Turkish was widely and well spokeneven better than in Central Asia!in
24
thirteenth-century India.
Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) seems to me a particularly interesting exponent
25
of the formative period of Indian Islam. Tenderly named Turk Allah by his
mystical guide Nizamuddin Auliya, who was himself of Turkish extraction,
Amir Khusrau was also the "parrot of India" thanks to his sweet speech. Son
of a Turkish officer and of a woman of Indian background, he lived through
the reigns of seven kings, each of whom interpreted Islam in his own way
though not always very correctly. We may agree with S. M. Ikram that Indian
Muslims in their whole approach did not start with orthodox Islam. In general,
the earlier rulers of the Delhi sultanate like Iltutmish, for all their piety,
followed a course more realistic than shari'a-boxmd. Iltutmish's father-in-law,
Aybek, a Turkish war slave, had become Sultan before his official manumission
(which was against the shari'a). Iltutmish himself dared to propose his daughter,
Radiya Sultan, as his successor (1236); she was hailed by the Turkish nobles
28
who, however, later resented her partiality toward an Abyssinian officer.
Four hundred years later, Iltutmish's action was severely criticized by 'Abd al-
Haqq Muhaddith-i Dihlawi, the reformer of Prophetic tradition in the heyday
of the Mughal Empire when the need for stricter orthodoxy was felt by most
of the Indian Muslims. But during the midthirteenth century the 'ulama'
indeed
"did lend a hand, and perhaps not unsuccessfully, in helping the advance
27
ment of Muslim society [in the Hindustdn-i kdfir, as poets would say ]
28
instead of harnessing all the religious passions to impede its progress."

2 4
Waheed, Amir Khusrau, p. 160, from the dibdcha-yi ghurra-yi kamal.
2 5
About this poet see ibid.; also M . Habib, The Life of Amir Khusro (Bombay,
1927); H . Ethe, in W . Geiger and E . Kuhn, Grundrifi der iranischen Philologie
(2 vols.; StraBburg, 1898-1902), I I , 244 ff.; H . Elliot, The History of India as Told
by Its Own Historians (London, 1867ff.), I l l , 5 2 4 - 5 6 6 ; A . Schimmel, "Islamic
Literatures of India," in J. Gonda, ed., History of Indian Literatures (Wiesbaden,
1973), pp. 16ff.
2 6
Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 220. Iltutmish's Turkish wife, Shah-i Turkan, is
described b y the historians as an outrageous woman.
2 7
This term occurs in Sana'i, Hadiqat al-haqiqa, ed. M. Razawi (Tehran, 1329 sh./
1950), chap, viii, p. 589; one century before him, Parrukhi, in his capacity as court
poet of Mahmud of Ghazna, had praised his patron in many verses as conqueror of
"infidel India"; and even Indian mystical poets, like the Chishti saint Gisiidaraz
(d. 1422 in Golconda), confront the "infidel Hindu" with the Turk (Diwdn anis
al-'ushshaq [lith. n . d . ] , p. 18, cf. p. 45).
2 8
Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 134.
 Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 113

They thought it wise to follow Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's mode of government

by "leaving the people to their ancient belief, except in cases of those who
29
wanted to become Muslims."
The struggle for the throne at Nasiruddin ibn Iltutmish's death (1265)
consisted merely of a struggle between the Turkish amirs, led by the future
sultan Balban, and the Indian-born princes, those nau-musulmdns who, as some
30
politicians felt, were not to be trusted too much. Being a Muslim was not
considered "enough to make any difference to his political status, unless he
31
was a Turk of pure blood": this racial consciousnesswhich is reminiscent
of the early Arab attitude toward the mawdlireflects, too, the conviction
that the Turk was the ideal Muslim hero.
The rule of Balban (1265-1287) is painted in most glowing colors three
generations later by Barani. This author, himself boasting of his unalloyed
Turkish pedigree, cannot find enough praise for the stern Islamic rule of Balban,
and explains his ideals of Islamic statesmanship in India in copious advice put
into the mouths of wise theologians or of the Sultan himself. To protect the
faith, dinpandhi, is the most important duty of the ruler,

and if the Padishah would perform a thousand rak'as of prayer every day,
and would keep the fast during his whole life, and would never commit any
forbidden act, and would spend the treasure in the way of God, and would
not protect the faith, and would not use his power and strength in lowering
and restricting the enemies of God and His messenger, and would not seek
the honor of the orders of the Divine law . . . then his place would be
3 2
nowhere but Hell . . .

And in a later paragraph of Barani's History even 'Ala'uddin Khalji, though

by no means regular in prayer and fasting, is praised by Maulana. Shamsuddin
Turk of Multan for his dinpandhi which resulted in the Hindu women's and
33
children's begging at the Muslims' door.
Barani's overall approach to the duties of a Muslim king in Indiawho, of
34
course, should not allow any philosophy to be taught or studied in his country
shows keen awareness of the danger that "as the pagan and idol-worshipping
35
Hindus have forgotten God, the Muslims may also forget Him." This feeling
was strengthened after Balban's death and after the short and more-cheerful-
than-pious rule of his young grandson Kaikubad (1287-1291), when the Khalji

2 9
Sachau, al-Biruni, p. 11.
3 0
Barani, Ta'rikh, p. 335.
3 1
Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 163, quoted from P. Saran, Studies in Medieval Indian
History (Delhi, 1952), pp. 223ff.
3 2
Barani, Ta'rikh, p. 44.
3 3
Ibid., p. 297, cf. p. 72.
3 4
Ibid., p. 43.
3 5
Ibid., p. 94, cf. p. 42. The models set before the ideal ruler are 'Umar ibn al-
Khattab and 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz.
114 Annemarie Sohimmel

faction dethroned the Turks, and were in turn overthrown by Khusrau Khan,
a Hindu convert of low caste. The less than five months of Khusrau Khan's
rule in 1320 (April 14-September 6) in Delhi, a place once rivaling Cairo and
36
Baghdad, are gloomily described by both Amir Khusrau and Barani as a
severe blow to everything Islamic, so that Muslim apprehension concerning the
Hindus seemed perfectly justified. Mosques were defiled and destroyed, the
Qoran no longer honored. Barani is said to have put all his moral zeal into the
work that he wrote as the court historian of the following dynasty, the Tughluqs,
who had come to power with the motto "Islam in danger." (That Muhammad
ibn Tughluq appointed a Hindu as governor of Sind sounds surprising under
these circumstances. But so do several other actions of his, like the choice of
Daulatabad in the Deccan as his new capital where he transplanted most of the
37
inhabitants of Delhi in 1327.) Barani was delighted to see that Muhammad's
son Firuz Tughluq who ascended the throne in 1351 levied the jizya on the
Brahmins, although he disliked even the idea that the Hindus might be able to
continue the tradition of idol worship by merely paying a few tankas and the
poll tax: what, then, he asks, is the difference between Muslim kings and Hindu
138
raja?
His remark that the Hindus by and large continued living in almost exactly
the same way as they did before the Muslim advent is correct; land administra
tion did not change and in the countryside life continued according to time-
honored patterns. The shari'a did not interfere with the autonomous structures
of rural and caste life. The role of the Hindu merchant remained likewise
unchallenged; it was comparable with that of Jews hi medieval Arab countries
(so that in the early twentieth century Mirza Qalich Beg in his Sindhi adaptation
of The Merchant of Venice could still transform Shylock into a Hindu moneylend
er). In time of war, Hindu subjects of a Muslim ruler might fight under his
arms against another Hindu ruler, for "loyalty to the salt" was one fundamental

3 6
Ibid., p. 341. That Delhi rivaled Cairo is valid notwithstanding 'Ala ud-
Din's illiteracy! About the internal feuds during these years see Amir Khusrau's
verse (quoted by Waheed, Amir Khusrau, p. 122):
The Hindus can fight against each other like two cocks,
But not against the Turk, who is like a falcon.
3 7
Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 96. The reason for his choice of Daulatabad was
probably his fear of the strong Sufi influence in Delhi.
3 8
See Ikram, Muslim Rule, 130f.; on Barani's fatawa-yi jahandari see M . Habib
and Afsar Afzalu'd-Din, Political Theory of the Delhi Sultanate (Aligarh, I 9 6 0 ) ;
see also K . A . Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India during the
th
13 Century (Bombay, 1961). Barani held a theory opposite to that of Fakhr-i
Mudabbir one century earlier; Fakhr had advocated the protection of the dhimmis.
On this historian see 'Abdus Sattar Khan, "Fakhr-i Mudabbir," Islamic Culture
(Hyderabad/Deccan), X I I (December, 1938), 3 9 7 - 4 0 4 . I t should not be forgotten
that other rulers acted differently according to the exigencies of time and place;
thus, Zain al-'Abidin of Kashmir (1420-1470) abolished the jizya completely.
 Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 115

39
social principle: here, the difference with the dhimmis in the central lands of
Islam becomes evident.
In the later years of his reign, Flrfiz Shah Tughluq (1351-1388) appointed a
Hindu who had been converted to Islam by Nizamuddin Auliya to the coveted
office of the vizier, and thus gave the final blow to the ideals of Turkish suprem
40
acy.
These ideals, however, remained alive in poetry: in the regional languages,
the word "Turk" became equivalent with "Muslim."
Can one speak during this formative period of Islamic rule in India of any
deeper changes in the Muslim community ? Certainly, there are some modifica
tions in the application of outward legal rules, but the whole setting seems to
provide very well-defined borders between Turkish rulers and Hindu ruled
(which included the former spiritual leaders of the people). On the highest
level of social order, the borders were adamant, and if any cultural exchange
took place at all, it was on the level of superstitions, of popular festivities, and
the like.
May one then try to look for approximations in the field of literature ? Lahore,
proudly called "Little Ghazna" before it was sacked by the Mongols in 1241,
produced the outstanding scholar oihadith, as-Saghani (d. 1252), the author of
the widely read Mashdriq al-anwdr. As tradition tells, some of the early poets
living there composed some verses in Hindi, the general term for regional
languages as contrasted with the learned idioms. Unfortunately neither the Hindi
diwdn of Mas'ud-i Sa'd-i Salman (d. 1121), the Panjabi poet, nor the Hindi
verses of Amir Khusrau are extant so as to enable us to judge possible influences
of Hindu imagery upon these writers. It can be said, however, that Mas'ud
uses for the first time in Persian the type of bardmdsa, the poem about the
peculiarities of the seasons or, in his case, the twelve months of the Muslim
year. This form, derived from Sanskrit, never became popular in Persian, not
even hi the Subcontinent; but it remained one of the favorite types of poetry,
both Hindu and Muslim, in the regional languages from Bengali to Sindhi and
41
Panjabi.
The first, and indeed the only, Indo-Persian poet to introduce some Indian
flavor into his poetry is Amir Khusrau: the very first line of his diwdn contains
the traditional Indian motif of the lover complaining of separation during the
rainy season. Yet, Amir Khusrau uses the inherited dichotomy Turk-Hindu,
Turkish beloved and Hindu slave, in his verses in exactly the way we know it
from Mzami, 'Attar, and innumerable others. Maybe he stresses slightly more
3 9
See Habib, Amir Khusro, on this problem.
4 0
Ikram, Muslim Rule, pp. 139, 164.
4 1
Mas'ud ibn Sa'd, Dlwan, ed. Rashld Y a s m i (Tehran, n.d.), pp. 654ff. For the
poetical form: D . H . H . Ingalls, Sanscrit Poetry from Vidyakara's 'Treasury''
(Cambridge, Mass., 1968). For the form in Sindhi see the collection by N . B. Baloch,
Hafta, Dinhan, Rdtiyun, Mahina (Hyderabad/Sind, 1961); for Panjabi see L .
Ramakrishna, Panjabi Mystical Poetry (London and Calcutta, 1938).
116 Annemarie Schimmel

than his predecessors the aspect of the drunken Turk, that is, the frenzied and
42
heart-robbing chevalier; but Hindu remains more or less the synonym of
"black" and "slave." Amir Khusrau, however, has highlighted one aspect of
Hinduism in a rather positive way: in his poems, the ascetic practice of burning
43
oneself (known to earlier authors as well) is often mentioned; the firm belief
of the Hindu in his idols becomes a model for the Muslim (an idea still repeated
44
by Ghalib and Iqbal in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively).
The faithful wife who burns herself for the sake of perfect love is openly admired
45
by Amir Khusrau; the subject of sati itself, however, was only once made the
theme of a Persian epic in India, that is, Nau'i's Suz u gudaz in the late Akbar
46
period. It was, on the whole, too repellent to Muslim feeling. One should not
overlook, however, that even the earliest Persian-writing poets like Daqiqi had
spoken of the fire worship of the Hindus; the poets even tended to confuse Hin
47
dus and Zoroastrians, both connected with fire worship, and in poetry the
love of the little black Hindu boy (symbol of the lower soul which can become
useful through constant education) can at times alternate with the love the poet
48
allegedly feels for the charming Zoroastrian cupbearer. Both are counter -
4 2
The "drunken Turk" already occurs in Nizami's Khusrau Shirin, and in
'Attar, Diwan, ghazal no. 321, in contrast with the Hindu; the topic has been dealt
with in an unpublished, untitled paper by Wheeler M. Thackston, Harvard Univer
sity.
4 3
Bitter (Meer der Seele,p. 533),gives instances from Naubakhti, Firaq ash-shi'a,
and 'Ainulqudat Hamadhani. Daqiqi (d. 980) connects the Hindu with burning
(Lazard, Premiers Poetes, I I , 167). In Amir Khusrau's Diwan, ed. M . Darwish
(Tehran, 1343 sh./1964), the following instances are particularly revealing: no.
186; no. 1442:
Y o u have claimed love, Khusrau, now it befits you
To burn alive, like Hindus, in the fire of grief,
no. 7 3 5 : the Hindu "Night" is burned b y the sun. See also nos. 42 and 1533. Long
before, Anwari had complained of a Hindu who burned the poet's soul as if it were
a Hindu (Diwan, ed. S. Nafisi [Tehran, 1337 sh./1958], Qasida p. 144, a tashbib
with a number of other interesting remarks). The image was extended: the black
"hindu" curls surround the fiery, reddish, glowing beautiful face (Jami, Diwan,
nos. 312, 2 0 7 ; Naziri, Diwan, ed. T. Musaffa [Tehran, 1340 sh./1961], ghazal p. 328
and several times).
A n interesting combination of two motifs is given b y Maulana Qasim Kahi, the
witty poet of early Mughal times, who puts Rumi's famous lines "I was raw, I was
cooked, I burned" in the mouth of a wise Brahmin whom he allegedly met at
Somnath (quoted in Mir 'AH Shir Qani', Maqalat ash-shu'ara, ed. H . Rashdi
[Karachi, 1957], p. 677).
4 4
Ghalib, Urdu diwan, ghazal"brahman ko." Iqbal, "Lala-yi Tur," in Paydm-i
Mashriq (Lahore, 1923), no. 118, or in Jdwidname, line 366.
4 5
Amir Khusrau speaks of sati in Diwan, no. 678, and his idea that "it is not
easy to burn alive out of love" is repeated, though rarely in Persian poetry, b y later
Pashto poets, cf. Raverty, Selections, p. 2 2 1 ; see p. 226 for Khushhal and p. 301
for A h m a d Shah Abdali.
4 6
English version b y Mirza Y . Dawud and Dr. A . K . Coomaraswamy (London,
1912); printed at the end of Vol. I of Akbarname (Lucknow, 1284/1867). Some
 Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 117

images to the purity of Islamic faith, and the idol worship of the Hindu added a
new element of elegance to Persian love poetry.
There are lines in Amir Khusrau's poetry which suggest a deeper under
standing of things Indian; in his epics he excels in describing the fruits, flowers,
49
and the material culture of his native country. His historical epics, which usher
in a new period in epical poetry in Persian, reflect life in the Turkish period and
tell of the meeting of Balban's son Bughra Khan with his son Kaikubad, the
king of Delhi, or relate the admirable love story of Duwal Rani and Prince
50
Khidr Khan, and many more local events. Of prime interest in this respect
is his epic Nuh Sipihr, "The Nine Spheres," each sphere composed in a different
meter. The third Sphere, which contains praise of Hindustan, has a unique
meter (three times ~ ^ ~ ) . Here, the poet glorifies his country which has prod
uced wisdom and books like Kalilah wa Dimna, and has curious animals, like the
parrot and the peacock, the one gifted with speech, the other connected with
Paradise. And was not Adam driven out of Paradise to India ? And there are the
numerous languages of India which, when imported, develop more beautifully
than it was possible in their native countryis not the Persian (darl) of India
much superior to that of Khurasan or Sistan % Do not people learn the finest
Turkish here ? To be sure, no language can be compared with Arabic, yet
Sanskrit, with its complicated grammar, is inferior only to Arabic but superior
to Persian. And is not this country blessed with possessing a unique poet like
51
Amir Khusrau himself?

beautifully illustrated manuscripts of the poem are found inter alia in the Chester
Beatty Library, Dublin, nos. 268, 269, and in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris,
Suppl. Pers., no. 769.
4 7
Farrukhi, however, wishes his patron happiness
As long as the profession of the mobeds is wne-worshipping,
A s long as the profession of the Brahmin is idc^-worshipping,
(Diwdn, qasida, p. 161). 'Urfi, five and a half centuries later, contrasts the brahmin-
kish, "who has the religion of a brahmin" with the "vault of the fire temple," in
Kulliydt-i 'Urfi, ed. A . Jawahiri (Tehran, n.d.), ghazal p. 382.
Even a Turkish poet like Rusjeni (d. 1487) uses the idea of the Hindu magician
who burns himself in a poem about the tulip: since this flower has not lowered its
head before the rose, it has burnt itself like a mugh-i Hindu-yi gebr, cited in Irene
Melikoff, "La Fleur de la Souffrance," Journal Asiatique, 255 (1967), 353.
4 8
A lovely qifa pertaining to the difference between a Hindu and a Turkish
slave b y Farrukhi (Diwdn, p. 232) claims that the docile Hindu is easier to kiss and
to love than the obstinate and cruel Turk. See also the verse b y Mukhtar-i Ghaznawi,
quoted in Meier, Mahsati, p. 8.
4 9
See S. A . Rahman, "Patriotism in Amir Khosrau's W o r k , " Indo-Iranica, X V ,
3 (1962), and S. H . Askari, "Rasd'il-ul-Ijdz of Amir Khusrau: A n Appraisal,"
inZakir Husain Presentation Volume (Delhi, 1968), pp. 116ff., with highly interesting
examples from Khusrau's epistolography.
5 0
Waheed (Amir Khusrau, p. 180) hymnically praises this epic which "breathes
with patriotism."
5 1
See Waheed, Amir Khusrau, pp. 182f., an analysis of the Nuh Sipihr. Parrot,
peacock, and elephant are typically Indian animals; the elephant who longs for
118 Annemarie Schimmel

The last statement, which crowns the poet's praise of India, raises the
question of how much we should take his lavish praise at face value. There is no
doubt that Amir Khusrau has expressed his admiration for his country more
than once in poetry and prose. But most revealing seems to me the poem in which
he says:

Happy be Hindustan, with its splendor of religion,

Where the skari'a enjoys perfect honor and dignity!
In learning now Delhi rivals Bukhara,
Islam has been made manifest by the rulers,
From G-hazni to the very shore of the ocean
You see Islam in its glory,
Muslims, here, belong to the Hanafi creed,
But sincerely respect all the four schools.
They have no enmity with the Shafiites, and no fondness for the Zaidites,
With heart and soul they are devoted to the path of jamd'at and sunna.
It is a wonderful land, producing Muslims and favoring religions,
52
Where the very fish in the streams are Sunnis.
Amir Khusrau's verses foreshadow poems written in a less fortunate period, the
eighteenth century, when the pious Muslims in the decaying Mughal Empire
dreamed of those days of a happy past and tried to establish, by learned treatises,
that India was the real home of everything beautiful, nay, even of prophecy.
Amir Khusrau's idea that everything develops its best qualities in India is
53
echoed hi the verses of poets migrating from Iran to Delhi in the Mughal period
as much as in the words of Shibli Nu'mani, the historian of literature in the
54
early twentieth century. The Stibhat al-marjan by the eighteenth-century
scholar Azad Bilgrami is a typical example of the nostalgic attempts to restore
55
once more the "sacred Muslim Hindustan" in a time of distress. Did not even
some Indo-Muslim interpreters try to connect Abraham with the barahima, the

home, India, becomes commonplace among poets starting with Nizami and
Khaqani, and mainly with R u m i ; Khaqani (Diwdn, qasida p. 391) praises the
justice of a ruler thanks to whom all the climates of the earth have become unified
so that the falcon (a typically "Turkish" bird) dwells in India, the parrot (typically
Indian) in Bulghar, that is, among the Turkish tribes on the Volga.
5 2
The poem, quoted b y Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 89, is from the Qirdn as-Sa'dain.
Amir Khusrau's Tughluqndme, ed. H . Farldabiidi (Aurangabad, 1933), is filled with
descriptions of black Hindus and wordplays related to their blackness so that those
Muslims who fight on the side of the Hindus become "like (black) shadows" (line
2147).
5 3
Thus Salim's famous line that Henna does not acquire its proper color until
it comes to India, in Aslah, Tadhkira, I , 403, quoted in Browne, A Literary History,
I V , 166.
5 4
Shibli Nu'mani, Shi'r aUajam (Hyderabad/Deccan, 1908-1918).
5 5
The strange book was lithographed Bombay 1903.
 Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 119

Brahmins, so that the trial of Abraham in Nimrod's pyre could be related to

56
Hindu fire ordeals ?
But this is only one current that appears now and then, and mainly in time
of despair, in Indo-Muslim writing. In general the Muslims living in the Sub
continent preserved their cultural identity amazingly well. One of the reasons
was probably the strictly classical curriculum that the Muslim student had to
undergo which made perusal of the classics of Islamic mystical theology, like al-
Ghazzali's Ihya' 'ulum ad-din, Qushairi's Risala, Makki's Qui al-qulub, and
Suhrawardi's 'Awarif al-ma'arif, as necessary for him as the study of the trad
itional Arabic handbooks of grammar and dogmatics, of hadith, and of Hanafi
jurisprudence (mainly the Quduri). A glance at Zubaid Ahmad's book on India's
contribution to Arabic literature shows the large amount of work inspired by
57
Arabic sources.
The main center of Arabic influence other than pure theology and philosophy
was southern India; in the north, the Persian tradition was prevalent in the
nonscholarly fields. Already Balban had introduced Persian court style in Delhi.
In fact, as much as the early rulers felt themselves to be Turks, they connected
their Turkish origin not with Turkish tribal history but rather with the Turan
of the Shahname: in the second generation their children bear the names of Fir-
dosi's heroes, and their Turkish lineage is invariably traced back to Afrasiab
whether we read Barani in the fourteenth century or the Urdu master poet
58
Ghalib in the nineteenth century. The poets, and through them probably
most of the educated classes, felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the civ
ilized world by the thread of Iranianism. The imagery of poetry remained
exclusively Persian. Even when Indian topics were elaborated, like Ndl Daman,
Padmavati, or similar subjects, the poets closely followed the model once set
by Nizami's epics and adapted their style, meter, and imagery. For centuries,
the roses and nightingales of Shiraz continued to blossom and sing in the
ghazals of Indo-Persian poets: barely a word in the Persian verses of a nine
teenth-century poet like Ghalib points to his Indian origin (if we disregard

5 6
See Le Coran, traduction inte'grale et notes du Muhammad Hamidullah
(Paris, 1959), p. 596, note at Sura 87 : 19 about the possible relation of the suhuf
Ibrahim with the Veda.
5 7
Cf. Zubaid Ahmad, The Contribution of Indo-Pakistan to Arabic Literature
2
(Lahore, 1 9 6 8 ) ; M . Ishaq, India's Contribution to the Study of Hadith Literature
(Dacca, 1955). A h m a d al-Quduri (d. 1037) is the author of the most widely read
handbook of Hanafi jurisprudence, the Mukhtasar.
5 8
Barani, Ta'rikh, p. 3 9 ; for Ghalib's claim see A . C. S. Gilani, Ghalib: His Life
2
and Persian Poetry (Karachi, 1962), pp. 15f.
5 9
Fayzi's Ndl Daman, part of a khamsa imitating Nizami's Khamsa, was printed
first Lucknow 1877. Padmavat: see S. A . Abidi, "The Story of Padmavat in Indo-
Persian Literature," Indo-Iranica, X V , 2 (1963), 1-11. Romances of Indian origin:
Ethe, Grundrip, I I , 251. See also S. A . H . Abidi, "The Influence of Hindi on Indo-
Persian Literature in the Reign of Shah Jahan," Indo-Iranica, X I I I , 2 (1960),
1-18, and the same, Indian Elements in Indo-Persian Literature (Delhi, 1969).
120 Annemarie Schimmel

some unpleasant remarks about his Indian fellow poets). Even the Hindu
scribes were so deeply steeped in this literary language that they would freely
apply the inherited Persian images and not mind the role of the "Hindu" in
60
this very imagery. Ghazzali and Abu Hanifa, Hallaj and Bayazid were much
more alive in the vocabulary of the average Muslim than any historical figure
connected with the Subcontinent, and the poets to be quoted were Sa'di, Hafiz,
and Jalal ud-Din Rumi: from them the average educated Indian Muslim took
his spiritual nourishment. That can be understood very well from the notes of
Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, a British woman in Lucknow in the 1820s: most of her de
scription could apply as well to the setting in Istanbul, Shiraz, or Cairo as to
Lucknow, and proves the complete uniformity of feeling and learning throughout
61
the Muslim world even at that late point in history.
But was there not a single sign of change in Indian Islam ? The central bloc
of Muslim believers in the Subcontinent certainly remained comparatively
untouched by their surroundings, and the line of rigid separation between
Hindu and Muslim goes from the earliest times via Barani through Bada'uni
to Aurangzeb and his political advisers. But side by side with Bada'uni at
Akbar's court lived Abu'1-Fadl, the historian, and side by side with Aurangzeb
lived Dara Shikoh, the mystic. It is in the mystical traditions of Indian Islam
that certain changes can be detected, both on the highest level of theosophical
62
mysticism and on the lowest level of popular mystical piety and poetry.

6 0
Cf. N . S. Gorekar, "Hindu Efforts at Persian Studies," Indo-Iranica, X V ,
2 (1962), 12-27. The interest of Hindu scholars in Persian waxed stronger under
Sikandar Lodi's rule in the late fifteenth century; they participated in historiog
raphy (like Bindraban and Sujan R a y in the seventeenth century) and in science;
among the poets, Chandar Bhan Brahman, Dara Shikoh's secretary, is particularly
worth mentioning. Later, many Hindus wrote tadhkiras. In the regional languages,
they sometimes even composed poetry in honor of the Prophet of Islam. A typical
example of their use of traditional Muslim symbolism is the verse b y Roshan, a
Kashmiri Hindu in the seventeenth century, describing the curls on the friend's
cheek:
Your lock which leans full of coquetry on a rose petal:
Look at the Hindu who stretched his foot on a copy of the Qoran!
(Aslah, Tadhkira, I , 289).
The idea is borrowed from 'Urfi (Kulliyat, ghazal p. 357):
I saw Hindu children, e.g. his mole, his down, and his curls,
W h o had stretched their feet on a copy of the Qoran: that is how an idol-
temple should be!
Earlier, Katib-i Isfahan! had compared the mole close to the beloved's lips to a
Hindu sitting at the paradisiacal fountain Kauthar (R. P. Masani, Court Poets of
Iran and India [Bombay, 1938], p. 71), an idea often elaborated b y later poets in
the Subcontinent.
6 1
Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, Observations on the Mussulmauns of India (2 vols.;
London, 1832), I, 88.
6 2
T h . Arnold, The Preaching of Islam (London, 1896; repr. Lahore, 1956);
Yusuf Husain, L'Inde Mystique au Moyen-Age (Paris, 1929).
 Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 121

It is well known that the Islamization of the Subcontinent owes largely to

the incessant activities of the Sufi saints who, except for Hujwiri's (d. 1071)
early stay in Lahore, began to wander to India around 1200. Mu'in ud-Din
Chishti of Ajmer (d. 1236) and his khalifas as well as Baha' ud-Din Zakariya. of
Multan were veritable pillars of mystical enlightenment; but the Sufism they
preached was fully consonant with the classical line reaching from Abu Talib
al-Makki to Ghazzali and Abii Hafs 'Umar Suhrawardi. It was no mean ideal
of some Sufis up to the nineteenth century to attain the glory of martyrdom
63
by destroying a Hindu idol and being killed by the guardians of the temple.
Only one of the mystics of the thirteenth century represents a model for what
was to happen later: La'l Shahbaz Qalandar, the saint of Sehwan, to whom the
dervishes "outside the law" are attached and whose dwelling place was nothing
but an ancient Shiva sanctuary. Similar transformations of Hindu shrines into
Muslim sanctuaries (a fact often witnessed in the Near East in the case of
Christian places of veneration) occur frequently, and often the same miracles
64
are ascribed to the former Hindu deity and to the later Muslim saint. Kashmir
proved a particularly fertile soil for this kind of syncretism which, however,
worked almost everywhere on the lower level of popular piety. On the higher
level, it was Ibn 'Arabi's theosophy that largely influenced the world view of
many an Indian Muslim. Sayyid 'Ali Hamadhani, the Kubrawi saint who
reached Kashmir with his followers in 1371, composed the first commentaries
6b
on the work of the shaikh al-akbar, and half a century later Ibn 'Arabi's sys
tem of wahdat al-wujud was well known in the Subcontinent thanks to a
number of commentators (Gisudaraz, d. 1422; 'Ali ibn Ahmad al-Maha'imi,
66
d. 1431). Contrary to the approach in the classical period with its stress on
practical piety and the voluntaristic aspects of mysticism, the gnostic approach
permeated the thought of many of the later Sufis of India. But that is true for
most parts of the Islamic lands as well. In India, though, it seemed not im
possible to cross the borders to Indian mystical philosophy starting with Ibn
'Arabi's Unity of Being. Externals of Indian (Buddhist and Yoga) mystical
technique had been incorporated into Sufism in a rather early period (breath

6 3
About the martyr, mainly the Sufi slain by Hindus, see Th. Arnold, "Saints
and Martyrs, Muhammadan, in India," in Encyclopedia of Religions and Ethics, X ,
68ff.; a good example of this attitude is that of the Naqshbandi mystic 'Abd ar-
Rahim Girhori in eighteenth-century Sind (U. M . Daudpota, Kalam-i Oirhori
[Hyderabad/Sind, 1955]).
6 4
The best account of this process is still Arnold's article in the ERE (cf. note
63), esp. 13.
6 5
About him see J. K . Teufel, Eine Lebensbeschreibung des Scheichs 'Ali-i
Hamad&ni (Leiden, 1962); for his commentaries on Ibn 'Arabi's works and other
Sun books see Zubaid Ahmad, Contribution,Section. I V , 4.
6 6
The most famous commentators were Abii'l-Mahasin Sharaf ad-Din Dihlawi
(d. 1392), Muhammad Gisudaraz (d. 1422), 'All ibn Ahmad al-Maha'imi (d. 1431),
and Muhibb Allah Allahabad! (d. 1648), called 'the Ibn 'Arabi of India.' For all of
them cf. Zubaid Ahmad, Contribution, Section I V .
122 Annemarie Schimmel

67
control, chilla-yi ma'kusa, vegetarianism); but only in the sixteenth century
were attempts made at blending Sufi and Yoga experience (the Rushdndme by
68
'Abd al-Quddus Gangohi, d. 1538, deserves detailed study); popular poets
6 9
would even praise the Yogis in terms taken from the Qoran. . . .
The feeling that mutual understanding and greater toleration could be achiev
ed by going back to the sacred books and holy traditions of Indian thought
clearly underlies Akbar's attempts to reconcile the two communities, which re
sulted in an enormous output of translations from Sanskrit into Persian. The
literary language, however, remained as unchanged as the general attitude of
the Muslim middle-class intelligentsia toward Hindu tradition. Similarly, Dara
Shikoh's noble attempt to create a new synthesis by "uniting the two oceans"
70
was doomed to fail.
But in another sector of Islamic mystical life a change occurred that is worth
mentioning, namely in the mystical poetry in the regional languages. As almost
everywhere, it was the mystics who transformed the spoken idioms into higher
literature: they liked to sing of their Divine love in words even the simplest
villager could understand, and to instruct their fellow creatures in the essentials
of the faith in verses even a little schoolboy could memorize. Thus, the growth
of regional languages as vehicles of literature owes largely to mystical leaders
who used early forms of Dakhni Urdu, Panjabi, and Sindhi to introduce in
71
poetical form the Islamic tradition to the unbelievers. And it was here that
poetry took the turn toward the Indian tradition which it had not taken on the
higher, Persian, level. For the poets imitated the verses sung by the women in
the houses and during their work to describe the longing of the soul for God.
Whereas Persian love poetry, mystical or profane, speaks almost exclusively of

6 7
The so-called chilla-yi ma'kusa, the forty days' meditation, performed b y
hanging oneself upside down in a well or from a tree, was known in early times in
Iran; see R . A . Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Mysticism (Cambridge, 1921), on A b u
Sa'id Abu'l-Khair. Vegetarianism occurs in the eighth century among Iraqi
ascetics as well as in North Africa; in both cases, the derivation from Indian prac
tices cannot be proved.
6 8
I. H . Quddusi, 'Abd al-Quddus Gangohi (Karachi, 1961).
6 9
Thus the Sindhi poet Shah 'Abd al-Latif (d. 1752), Risalo, ed. K . Adwani
(Bombay, 1957), Sur Ramkali.
7 0
K . R . Qanungo, Dara Shukoh (Calcutta, 1*935); B . J. Hasrat, Dara Shikuh:
Life and Works (Calcutta, 1953); L . Massignon and A . M . Kassim, "Un essai de
bloc islamo-hindou au X V I I siecle: l'humanisme mystique du Prince Dara," Revue
du monde musulman, L X I I I (1926), 1-14; for his Persian translation of the Upani-
shads (ed. Tara Chand and M . R . Jalali Na'ini [Tehran, 1961]) see E . Gobel-Gross,
Die Upanishad-Ubersetzung Dara Shikohs (Phil. Diss. Marburg 1962).
7 1
For the development in Urdu see Maulwi 'Abd al-Haqq, Urdu ki nashw u
nama men sufiyayi kiram ka kam (Karachi, 1953); for Panjabi: L. Ramakrishna,
Panjabi Mystical Poetry (London and Calcutta, 1938); for Sindhi: H . T . Sorley,
Shah Abdul Latif (London, 1940), Sayyid Hussamuddin Rashdi, Sindhi Adab
(Karachi, s.d.), and A . Schimmel, "Sindhi Literature," in J. Gonda, History of
Indian Literatures (Wiesbaden, 1974).
 Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 123

a love relation between two males, and Ibn 'Arabi sees the highest manifestation
of the Divine Essence in female beauty, Indo-Muslim folk poets returned in
stead to the native tradition of the loving Radha yearning for Krishna, of the
village woman anxiously waiting for her husband and indulging in happy swing-
songs at his arrival. Almost the whole tradition of Sindhi and Panjabi mystical
poetry carries this specifically Indian flavor. The poets in the Indus plains see
the heroines of the old folktales, Sassui, Sohni, Marui, Lila, Hir, as representa
tives of the soul; they see the soul as a lonely woman sitting in her reed-thatched
hut, waiting for her husband to come in the rainy season and cover her with
His grace, or describe her spinning the yarn of the dhikr in her heart. The
feminine nafs, the despised, base soul principle of Arabic and Persian mysticism,
is forgotten; the soul as the seat of feeling, longing, and love is seen as a tender
hearted and courageous woman who takes upon herself all hardship in the
service of her husband. And the Muslim poet may even express his love of the
Prophet in words taken from the traditional Hindu women's song, whether
he uses the form of the bardmdsa, or of the Golden Alphabet, or any of the
traditional Indian patterns. Even the female companions, so often addressed in
Hindu songs uttered by women, are not lacking in these verses composed by
men.
2
The same imagery occurs in some early Urdu mystical works;' but later,
this language became too strongly Persianized to allow this symbolism any
more. (Yet, we may remember the profanation of similar trends in the later
"decadent" genre oirekhtl, Urdu verses in women's dialect composed by sophis
ticated male poets.) But even in the Persian writings of an eighteenth-century
Naqshbandi mystic of Delhi, Nasir Muhammad 'Andalib, the soul is represented
once in a daring image as a bride who, at the moment of the consummation of
marriage, is taught that the seeming cruelty of the husband in wounding
73
her body is nothing but the proof of his perfect love and "naked union."
Here, the Islamic idea of God's jamdl and jaldl, of suffering as sign of Divine
love, and the Indian traditional view of the bridal soul are ingeniously, though
rather surprisingly, wrought together.
It is this level of mystical folk poetry in which the differences of Turk and
Hindu disappear: that is what mystics like Kabir and Dadhu had already
expressed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; later Sindhi and Panjabi
Muslim poets would boast that they are no longer Turk or Hindu, Lahori or
74
Peshawari.
Yet, it was the Turkish element that once more interfered with the mystical
attempt at unification, or even at approachment. Their spearhead was the
7 2
Thus in the work of Shah 'Ali Muhammad Jiw Jan (d. 1515) where God ia
seen as the Beloved, the soul as bride or wife ('Abd al-Haqq, Urdu, p. 10).
7 3
Muhammad Nasir 'Andalib (d. 1752), Nala-ye 'Andalib (2 vols.; Bhopal,.
1309 sh./'l890), I , 560."
7 4
Thus Kabir and his disciple Dadhu; or Guru Gobind Singh; or Bullhe Shah
(quoted in Ramakrishna, Panjabi Mystical Poetry).
 124 Annemarie Schimmel

Central Asian Naqshbandi leader Khwaja Baqi Billah who, reaching India in
the late days of Akbar, called the Muslims once more to fight the Hindustan-i
kdfir. The teachings of his disciple Ahmad Sirhindi were instrumental in the
final survival of the orthodox Aurangzeb whose behavior would have delighted
75
Barani and Bada'uni, and in the defeat of Dara Shikoh's mystical syncretism.
That the Naqshbandiyya also condemned music, in which field the greatest
approximation between Muslim and Hindu tradition had been achieved, fits
76
the picture perfectly.
The Naqshbandiyya also fought relentlessly against the Shia. It seems,
indeed, that some un-Islamic elements had entered into the customs of the
Shia community of India, as Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali says so poignantly about the
ta'ziya ceremonies in Lucknow: "Here, the ceremony is not complete without
& mixture of pageantry with the deeply expressed and public exposure of their
77
grief."
Considering Amir Khusrau's joy that even the fishes in the Indian streams
were Sunnis, we need not be surprised at the reaction of the Naqshbandiyya
to the Ithna'ashariyya Shia.
They were probably not aware, however, of the existence of other Shia
groups in the Subcontinent in which an almost perfect blending of Islamic and
Hindu tradition has taken place. I describe the Ismailis in their different
branches. The first Ismaili settlement was founded in Multan in the late ninth
century. In the fourteenth century they resumed their missionary activities in the
same area and farther south, often posing as Sufis. They succeeded in converting
Hindus on a large scale by offering them a mystically tinged theory which was
as close as possible to the indigenous tradition. Among the religious poems by
which they enriched early literature in Sindhi, Kucchi, and Gujerati, the
Dasamo Avatar group is of greatest interest: these worksstill recited among
the Satpanthis and the Imamshahiswent as far as to adopt the Hindu system
of avatdra and to declare 'Ali to be the tenth avatar of Vishnu: pictures show
him riding his white mule Duldul, the monkey-God Hanuman serving as his
78
umbrella-bearer. It is the only true blending of the two traditions.

7 5
Y . Friedman, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (Montreal, 1971).
7 6
The first to create the typically north Indian musical style was Amir Khusrau;
an important development of Indo-Muslhh music took place at the court of the
Jaunpur Sharqi kings (Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 191), and among the 'Adil Shahis
of Bijapur. I t is remarkable that a stern naqshbandi mujaddidl like Mir Dard of
Dehli (d. 1785) has defended his own interest in music in the treatise hurmat al-
ghind. Professor Daud Rahbar kindly informed me that even today the same raga
can contain Hindu or Muslim invocations, and that very strange combinations of
Hindu and Muslim imagery can be observed in Indian songs.
7 7
Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, Observations, I, 54.
7 8
Gulshan Khakee, "The Dasam Avatar of the Satpanthi Ismailis and the
I m a m Shahis of Indo-Pakistan" (Ph.D. Diss. Harvard, 1972). For the Iman
iShahis of Pirana see also Arnold, in ERE, X , 69.
 Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 125

One has tried to elucidate further the problem in how far Muslims have taken
over Indian customs like nonremarriage of widows (which was rather frequent,
though always opposed by the orthodox) and the Hindu caste system. There
are, no doubt, traces of castelike organizations according to trade groups, as
79
S. C. Misra has shown for Gujrat. Even closer to the caste system seems the
fact that intermarriage between the different strata of Muslim societySayyids,
Pathans, Mughal, Shaikhis comparatively rare. Particularly has the role of
the sayyids aroused comment, for the veneration of Sayyid families has
sometimes reached incredible heights. For them, intermarriage with other
groups was, and partly still is, almost impossible, and even the poorest of them
80
were strictly bound to certain codes of behavior. But in absolute contrast
with the Brahmin, the religious duties of the sayyid are exactly the same
as those of his lowliest servant, and in prayer no difference exists between
81
Muslims any more. The feeling of all-embracing friendship, the firm trust in
the Prophetic tradition that "the believer is the believer's brother" (but also
his mirror who shows him his own faults) permeates the whole of the Indian
Muslim attitude. Problems of pollution through contact with other Muslims
do not arise. This closely knit net of mutual fraternity, with the general attitude
of cheerful though serious trust in Godwell expressed in the uniformity of
certain catchwords, gestures, and facial expressionwas one of the greatest
boons for the Muslims in the Subcontinent to help them to keep their cultural
identity unchanged for so many centuries.
A true change in the outlook of the Indian Muslims as a whole sets in rather
late. We may once more refer to poetical imagery to illustrate this change:
the poets of the Middle Ages had linked together the Turk and the Hindu in a
well-established master-slave relation; but shortly before 1600, a new element
appears in poetry besides these two standard characters: it is the firangi, the
infidel European, who soon became a much more real danger, and the qaid-i
firang appeared to be a much more realistic image than the infidel Hindu
82
tresses that had imprisoned the Turk's heart for so long. The Indian Muslims,

7 9
S. C. Misra, The Muslim Communities of Gujrat (Bombay, 1964).
8 0
Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, Observations, I , 6.
8 1
On the importance of congregational prayer see IqbaPs statement in The
Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1928; 10th ed., Lahore 1958), p. 93
(in Chapter I I I ) : " W h a t a tremendous spiritual revolution will take place, practically
in no time, if the proud aristocratic Brahman of South India is daily made to stand
shoulder to shoulder with the untouchable!"
8 2
First instances in 'Urfi, thus Kulliyat, p. 106 (Qasida), p. 12 (na't), p. 340
(ghazal); Naziri, Diwan, ghazal 152; Talib-i Amnli, Diwan, ed. T . Shihab (Tehran,
1346 sh./1967), ghazal 16; Abu Talib Kalim, Diwan, ed. P. Baida'i (Tehran, 1336 sh./
1957), ghazal Nr. 7 1 ; Fighani, Diwan, ed. A . S. Khwansari (Tehran, 1340 sh./1961),
2
p. 266; Sarmad, in S. M . Ikram, Armaghan-i P&k (Karachi, 1953), p. 2 3 7 ; Mirza
Bedil, Kulliyat (4 vols.; Kabul, 1962-1965), I, 97, and often. In Sindhi poetry the
firangi is likewise the enemy since the Portuguese sacked Thatta in 1555: see Shah
'Abd al-LaJ,If, Risald, Sur Sarirag I I I , 13. The old motif of the "Hindu = mole in
126 Annemarie Schimmel

headed by the Naqshbandiyya and Qadiriyya leaders and the traditionalists,

struggled to maintain their identity against this new enemy. The whole
eighteenth-century history of Muslim India tells of their desperate attempts
at self-identification both on the individual and collective levels, and at
assertion of the most important values of Islam (which meant, as far as possible,
of Indian Islam), versus the westerners. This pathetic struggle to cope with the
new situation continues through nineteenth century, as can be well witnessed
in poetry and prose. P. Hardy has shown how the Muslims slowly awoke to the
new situation and how painful this process proved for them. But interestingly
enough, the ideal of the Turkish defender of the faith remained alive in Muslim
India, as almost every novel written in Urdu or Sindhi between 1870 and 1930
83
can prove. The longing of the Indian Muslim for the seat of the caliphate,
Istanbul, and their nostalgic participation in the khildfat movement should
also be understood in terms of allegiance to a literary ideal which had been
84
before their eyes for about a thousand years.
The change of Indian Islam began only recently, with the partition of the
Subcontinent, when Dara Shikoh's ideal of peaceful coexistence on the one
hand and Aurangzeb's ideal of Muslim supremacy on the other were cast
into political forms. But the inhabitants of both parts of the Subcontinent
have still to find their proper attitude vis-a-vis the firangi and vis-a-vis new,
perhaps more destructive, forces that threaten Turk, Hindu, and Firangi alike.

Turkistan white face" is, then, transformed into "a Hindu as king of Europe,"
thus in Qani', Maqaldt ash-shu'ard, p. 3 0 9 ; see also p. 609. The firangi occurs now
and then in classical Persian poetry, thus in Khaqani's verses (Diwdn, Qasida p. 270
and esp. in Qasida No. 1) in connection with the Crusades and the city of 'Asqalan,
and in the same connection, with images inherited from him, in Rumi's lyrics
(Diwdn, nos. 694, 1211, 2517, 361, 1330). Sa'di uses the word in similar connections,
but it was not yet used as a fixed topos as it was after 1600.
8 3
Some instances of this Turcophil orientation are mentioned by A . Schimmel,
"Ein Frauenbildungsroman auf Sindhi: Mirza Qalich Beg's Zinat," Der Islam,
39 (1964), 2 1 0 - 2 2 5 .
8 4
For Iqbal's shifting attitude toward the Turks see A . Schimmel, Gabriel's
Wing (Leiden, 1963), pp. 2 4 0 - 2 4 5 .
 RELIGIOUS CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN THE
BALKANS AND ANATOLIA FROM THE FOURTEENTH
THROUGH THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

SPEROS VRYONIS Jr.

University of California, Los Angeles

An analysis of the impact on each other of Christian and Islamic societies

in the Balkans and Anatolia in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries
is a broad topic, given the extensive area and the length of time covered. Al
though the specific interest of the Levi Delia Vida Conference is Islam and
cultural change, hence the cultural changes that Islam effected by its spread,
the very fact that Islam spread implies that its civilization was affected in the
process. One need only trace the fate of the Christian society that evolved in the
period from the death of Jesus to the proclamation of Christianity as the
official religion of the Byzantine state to grasp the reciprocal aspect of all such
changes. Consequently an examination of the cultural change that accompanied
the spread of an Islamic society in Anatolia and the Balkans can best be viewed
in the contrast between the elements of change brought about by Islamization
and the elements of survival in the pre-Turkish culture. On occasion this scheme
is rendered more complex by the fact that pre-Turkish cultural elements were
absorbed and survived within the new Turkish-Muslim society, and, conversely,
elements from the latter were absorbed in the Christian society. In a sense one
is posing the question of the degree to which the establishment of Islam in
Asia Minor and the Balkans altered the culture of the area. I concentrate on
only one of the two aspects of cultural change which seem most salient to us
looking back at it from a far-off distance of several centuries: Islamization.
Although linguistic change is equally apparent, evidence illustrating its nature
becomes more abundant after the sixteenth century and so falls outside the
scope of this study.
What was the cultural hue of Anatolia in the eleventh century, and of the
Balkans in the fourteenth century, on the eve of the Turkish conquests of, and
settlement in, these two peninsulas ? Both areas had a long and complex
history of ethnic migrations and fusions alongside rule by three imperial
structures which grew out of one another (Macedonian, Roman, and Byzantine)
and which had imposed on the area strands of political and cultural unification.
In Anatolia Hellenization as a linguistically and culturally transforming force
had commenced with the Greek colonization of the preclassical period, and then
128 Speros Vryonis Jr.

with the Alexandrian conquests began to penetrate the vast Anatolian hinter
1
land from the coastal peripheries. Greek institutions and language spread
first to the urban centers, some of them Greek foundations, others forming
Greek synoicismoi in connection with the then prevailing rhythm of social life.
The rural areas, removed from the focal power of Hellenization, retained their
indigenous cultural characteristics longest and it was here that the indigenous
Anatolian languages such as Lycian, Phrygian, and Cilician survived the longest.
There are persuasive indications that by the end of the A. D. sixth century these
languages were either moribund or dead and that the Greek language had
penetrated the rural areas from the urban centers, although of course small
ethnic groups continued to be settled in Asia Minor throughout Byzantine
history. The one limitation to the generalization concerning the spread of
Greek is the following: east of a line running from Trebizond in the north
through Caesareia to Cilicia in the south Greek was known by a minority of the
populace, for this area was occupied by Georgians, Lazes, Armenians, Kurds,
and Syrians and their languages must have predominated.
Anatolia was one of the first extensive Mediterranean regions to undergo
strong Christian influence, the importance of the seven churches of Asia being
sufficient to demonstrate this point. The very structure of the Byzantine
ecclesiastical administration reflects the fact that the Anatolian region was the
most important province of the Constantinopolitan church. In the eleventh
century there were forty-seven metropolitanates and more than four hundred
bishoprics in the towns of Anatolia, many more by far than existed in the
Balkans. The Cappadocian church fathers, themselves Anatolians, had played
a crucial role in the integration of Greek literary culture into the new religion ;
the principal monastic centers long lay on Anatolian soil. The process of
Christianization was in many ways parallel to that of Hellenization. Christianity
spread first to the urban centers and thence to the rural areas only later. Here
it seems to have encountered religious opposition, eventually in the form of
heresies, particularly Montanism and later the dualistic heresies, whether
Manichaeism or the later Paulician-Bogomil. The comparative religious homo
geneity of Asia Minor, as also the lingustic homogeneity, ended abruptly at the
linguistic boundaries of Trebizond-Caesareia-Tarsus, east of which only the
Georgians and a minority of Armenians adhered to the Chalcedonian church of
Constantinople. The Armenians, like the Syrians, had never acknowledged the
post-431 Byzantine ecclesiastical councils.
Within these linguistic and religious limitations, Asia Minor west of Trebizond-
Caesareia-Cilicia was predominantly, though not exclusively, Graecophone and
Chalcedonian Christian. On the eve of the Turkish invasions of the eleventh

1
For all that follows on Anatolia, Speros Vryonis, Jr., The Decline of Medieval
Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the
Fifteenth Century (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1971) (hereafter Asia Minor).
 Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia 129

century all sources point to a province that was demographically and economi
cally vital with well-developed towns and thick clusters of agricultural villages
around the towns. Merchants and commerce, particularly from the Islamic
world, frequented the area where there were special hans and occasionally
mosques for their convenience.
In the Balkans when the Turks first crossed into Europe, they encountered a
2
group of societies that had undergone a different evolution. The basic difference
lay of course in the fact that massive Slavic groups had imposed themselves
into the heart of the peninsula in the sixth century and by the time Orhan's
legions entered the peninsula of Gallipoli there existed political entities that
were the medieval precursors of those of the modern Balkan states. Although
the Slavs succeeded in erecting the independent kingdoms of Serbia and
Bulgaria, and incidentally of effecting a major linguistic-ethnographic alteration
in the heart of the Balkan peninsula, they were themselves closely integrated
into the Byzantine cultural sphere. In the southernmost portion of the peninsula
they were converted to Orthodox Christianity and ultimately Hellenized. But
more significant is the fact that Serbs and Bulgars received Christianity from
Constantinople rather than from Rome and by so doing accepted the entire
Byzantine Basileia-Orthodoxy complex of politicocultural ideas and forms.
Thus the culture of the newcomers was heavily, decisively, influenced by
Byzantium. Although this was strongest at the formal level of culture, that is,
in the life of the court and of the higher ecclesiastical milieu, there were such
elements as hagiolatry and iconolatry which penetrated to the grass roots level
as well.
A look at the cultural face of the Balkans and Anatolia on the eve of the
entrance of the Turks reveals that there existed vital, self-conscious cultural
entities which may be characterized as Greco-Armenian and Greco-Slavic. Too
often political or military weakness has been equated with cultural inarticulation.
It is interesting that Byzantium exercised its greatest cultural influence on the
Serbs in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries when it was in an advanced
state of political, military, and economic decline. In any case we see a larger
Christian society stretching from eastern Anatolia to the Danube.
The Ottoman tax registers of the early sixteenth century show that a mighty
change had occurred. The Ottoman tax registers are the earliest extensive
sources for serious population estimates in the hands of historians, and since
taxation depended upon, among others, the factor of sectarian affiliation these
documents differentiate among Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The historian
has, thus, an invaluable tool for measuring religious change. Muslims were to
all intents and purposes nonexistent in eleventh-century Anatolia and in the
fourteenth-century Balkans. There were, it is true, notable exceptions such as

2
Vryonis, "The Byzantine Legacy and Ottoman Forms," Dumbarton Oaks
Papers, X X I I I - X X I V (1969-1970), 253ff. (hereafter "Byzantine Legacy").
130 Speros Vryonis Jr.

the Muslim quarter with its mosque in Constantinople (there were even
3
Christian Turks in the Dobrudja and the Vardar regions). But the number of
Muslims was infinitesimal in comparison with the number of Christians. The
Ottoman tax lists of 1520-1530 record the following numbers of taxable Muslim,
4
Christian, and Jewish Households in Anatolia:

Muslims Christians Jews Total

Number 903,997 77,869 559 982,425
Percent 92 7.9 0.1 100
5
In the Balkans the totals were as follows:
Muslims Christians Jews Total
Number 194,958 832,707 4,134 1,031,799
Percent 18.8 80.7 0.5 100

Even though the absolute accuracy of the statistics is questionable, the figures
are nevertheless essentially correct in that they give a sense of the basic
proportions of the three religious groups to the total population. The principal
student of this material, the Turkish historian Omer Barkan, has broken down
much of this evidence to reflect the sectarian constituency of the Ottoman
provinces and of many of the towns enabling one to extrapolate interesting
information, on the religious configuration of the Balkans and Asia Minor for
the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The first and foremost fact is
that in Anatolia Islamization was so widespread that 92 percent of the taxable
hearths appear as Muslim whereas in the Balkans only 18.8 percent of the total
taxable households were Muslim. After all allowances have been made for
possible errors and blind spots in these statistics they reflect an important
historical fact. The Turkish conquest and settlement effected a basic trans
formation of the once solidly Christian Anatolian peninsula, whereas Islam and
the Turks were numerically a minority phenomenon in the Balkans. Further,
the tally according to provinces and towns enables us to observe, in more
detailed fashion, the patterns in the spread of Islam. For the five large provinces
6
in Anatolia Barkan has tabulated the following figures:

3
Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 4 4 2 - 4 4 3 , n. 126; "Byzantine and Turkish Societies and
Their Sources of Manpower," paper delivered at the Conference on " W a r , Techno
logy and Society in the Middle East," University of London, September, 1970, in
preparation for publication, ed. Malcolm Y a p p .
4
O. L . Barkan, "Essai sur les donnees statistiques des registres de recensement
e
dans l'empire ottoman aux X V siecle," Journal of the Economic and Social History
of the Orient, I (1958), 9 - 3 6 (hereafter "Essai") and "Tarihi demografi ara^tirmalan
ve osmanh tarihi," Turkiyat Mecmuasi, X (1952-1953), 1-26.
5
Barkan, "Essai," passim.
Ibid.
 Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia 131

Muslims Christians Jews Total

Province Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Anadolu 517,813 98.3 8,511 1.6 271 0.1 526,595

Karaman 134,452 97.9 3,172 2.1 137,579
Zulkadriye 64,102 96.0 2,631 4.0 66,733
Diyarbekir 70,858 85.28 11,938 14.36 288 0.36 83,084
Rum 116,772 68.3 51,662 31.7 168,434

Total 903,977 77,869 599 982,425

From these figures we see that Islamization was nearly complete in Anadolu,
Karaman, and Zulkadriye, with a Christian minority of 14.36 percent in
Diyarbekir and a large Christian minority in Rum or northeastern Asia Minor
centering on Trebizond where the Christians constituted slightly less than a
third of the population. A brief glance at the sectarian configuration of five
Anatolian towns reinforces this impression. Bursa in the northwest had 6,165
Muslim, 69 Christian, and 117 Jewish hearths; Ankara had 2,399 Muslim, 279
Christian, and 28 Jewish households; Konya had 1,092 Muslim and only 22
Christian taxable hearths. In all these towns of the central and western Ana
tolian regions the Muslim hearths constituted over 97 percent, 88 percent, and
98 percent, respectively, of the totals. In Tokat there were 818 Muslim and 701
Christian households, whereas in Sivas there were 261 Muslim and 750 Christian
hearths. In the former the Muslim-Christian ratio was 53.8 percent-46.2 percent,
and in the latter it was 25.8 percent-74.2 percent. These two cities with a much
larger Christian populace were located in northeast Asia Minor where, as we
saw, the Christian element remained more numerous. This, then, is the impact
of the statistics on taxable hearths in Asia Minor, namely, that Islamization
was a thoroughgoing process throughout the peninsula save in the northeastern
Trebizondine region of Rum where Christians remained a significant minority
(31.7 percent).
Moving to the Balkans where, as noted, there were 194,958 taxable Muslim
hearths (18.8 percent), 832,707 Christian (80.7 percent), and 4,134 (0.5 percent)
taxable Jewish hearths, the statistics for the twenty-eight Balkan districts
tell us the following: 85 percent of the total Muslim hearths were to be found
in ten of the Balkan districts and the remaining 15 percent were sparsely
disseminated in the remaining eighteen districts. Muslims were most numerous
in Pasha (66,684 hearths), Silistria (17,295), Bosnia (16,935), Tchirmen (12,686),
Trikala (12,347), Vize (12,193), Nikopolis (9,122), Herzegovina (7,077), Kiisten-
dil (6,640), Gallipoli (5,001). But in only four of these districts did the Muslims
constitute a majority (Silistria, 72 percent, Tchirmen 89 percent, Vize 56
percent, Gallipoli 56 percent). In six districts they formed between 20 and 46
132 Speros Vryonis Jr.

7
percent, and in twenty others they constituted less than 20 percent. This brief
survey indicates that Islam made the deepest inroads in Thrace, Macedonia,
Thessaly, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Silistria, but was quite weak in the regions
of Serbia, Central Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, Epirus, Acarnania, Euboea
and Attica, Morea and the islands.
A tabulation of twelve major urban centers in the Balkans indicates another
dimension of Islamization which the figures for the twenty-eight districts do not
8
reveal. In nine of the towns the Muslims were more numerous than the Christians
(the figure are in percentages):
Muslim Christian Jewish
Istanbul (1478) 58.2 31.6 10.2
Adrianople 82.1 12.8 5.1
Saloniki 25.2 20.5 54.3
Sarajevo 100.0
Larissa 90.2 9.8
Serres 61.3 32.8 5.9
Monastir 75.0 20.2 4.8
Skopje 74.8 23.7 1.5
Sofia 66.4 33.6
In only three of the twelve Balkan towns were the Christians more numerous:
Athens 0.5 99.5
Nicopolis 37.7 62.3
Trikala 36.3 41.5 22.2
Here we see, graphically documented, that in the Balkans the towns were the
focal centers of Islam. By contrast the hinterlands were most often Christian.
Adrianople and Sofia, important Muslim centers with Muslim majorities of
81.2 and 66.4 percent, were in provinces that had 74 percent and 94 percent
Christian hearths, respectively. Sarajevo, an Ottoman foundation with 100
percent Muslim hearths, administered a district in which Christian hearths
constituted 56 percent. Larissa had a Muslim majority of 90.2 percent but was
in a district that contained an 82.5 percent majority of Christian hearths;
Skopje and Monastir had a Muslim majority of 74.5 and 75 percent, respectively,
but were in a district that contained an "89.5- percent majority of Christian
hearths. The conclusion is an obvious one: although the Muslims were most
heavily settled in Silistria, Herzegovina, Bosnia, Thessaly, Macedonia, and
Thrace, their most significant concentration was often in the urban centers.
The tax registers record for us one of the most basic aspects of cultural change
and continuity in Anatolia and the Balkans by indicating the general pro-
7
Ibid.; Vryonis, "Religious Changes and Patterns in the Balkans, 14th-16th
Centuries," in H . Birnbaum and S. Vryonis, Aspects of the Balkans: Continuity and
Change (The Hague and Paris, 1972), pp. 162-172 (hereafter "Balkans").
8
Barkan, "Essai," passim.
 Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia 133

portions of sectarian makeup of the populace as well as by showing the geo

graphical spread and extent of Islam and Christianity. As such these statistics
are invaluable and unique for this comparatively early period of history, and
yet they do not answer the basic historical questions of why Christians converted
to Islam, why the religious transformation was so drastic in Anatolia but
remained peripheral in the Balkans, when the conversions occurred; and finally
they do not describe the nature of the religious and indeed the cultural changes
wrought by Islamization.
Why, briefly, did the subjects of the Turks convert to Islam ? Inasmuch as the
process of Islamization in Asia Minor differed quantitatively from its course in
the Balkans there is some merit in considering the two peninsulas separately,
and so with a few bare strokes I shall attempt to sketch the reasons for the religious
9
transformation in Anatolia. The reasons are of two broad categories : those that
can somehow be labeled negative, that is to say, processes that weakened Christian
society; and those that can be described as positive, that is to say, the elements
of strength and vitality in Muslim institutions. In the former category, perhaps
the single most important reason was the peculiar character of the Turkish
conquest and settlement of Anatolia. From the time of the initial Turkmen
raids in the eleventh century until the final Ottoman conquest and reunification
of the peninsula four centuries later the area knew no unified political rule. In
the place of the one Byzantine political structure that most of the land had
previously borne there arose a bewildering variety of political entities struggling
with one another in an interminable series of minor and major military actions.
This warfare was particularly intense in the eleventh and twelfth, fourteenth,
and early fifteenth centuries, the thirteenth century being a notable exception
because in this period the political stabilization of the Seljuks in Konya and of
three Christian states in Nicaea, Trebizond, and Cilicia provided the necessary
peace and security for the economic and cultural flowering that the sources
and archaeological monuments reveal. But stability first waned, then collapsed,
as the kingdoms of Konya, Cilicia, and Nicaea disappeared in the Turkmen
whirlwind. By the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, Anatolia consisted
for the most part of a large number of small Turkmen beyliks. The consequences
of continuous warfare and political splintering were of great importance to the
indigenous population and society. First of all it meant that inasmuch as
warfare was frequent, there was substantial disruption of life and a partial
destruction of society. A recent study identifies more than seventy-five towns
and villages that from the eleventh to the mid-twelfth century underwent
serious devastation. Twenty-seven of these towns were destroyed and lay
unoccupied for differing lengths of time. Although the sources are far less
satisfactory for the period of renewed upheaval commencing in the fourteenth
century, they nevertheless list fifty-two destroyed or partly destroyed towns and
villages. The failure of the Turks to conquer Anatolia in a comparatively short
8
Vryonis, Asia Minor, passim.
134 Speros Vryonis Jr.

period and to pacify it in effect converted substantial areas into a dar al-harb,
a no-man's-land.
All of this had serious consequences for the Christian society of Anatolia.
It meant that the two strongest and most centralized forces that gave this
society its tone, the Byzantine state and the Orthodox church (both centered
in Constantinople), were disengaged from the body of significant numbers of
Christians who had now fallen under Turkish rule. With the disappearance of
the emperor's authority, the church remained the most important source of
leadership and inspiration for the Christian subjects of the Turks. The history
of the Orthodox church in Turkish Anatolia falls roughly into three periods,
periods that coincide with the region's political history: (a) upheaval from the
eleventh to the mid-twelfth century, (b) stability and prosperity in the thirteenth
century, (c) renewed upheaval in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. A
careful examination of the ecclesiastical, imperial, and other administrative doc
uments indicates that the church suffered a disastrous collapse because of the his
torical events of those times. The principal manifestations of the church's col
lapse are administrative and economic. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the
chaos, tribal depredations, and wars that caused so much disruption entailed the
impoverization of the church (lands, revenues, and buildings were seized by the
invaders) and the flight and expulsion of bishops and metropolitans. As a result
of the Byzantine recapture of western, southern, and northern Asia Minor, and
as a result of the stabilization of Anatolia with the emergence of the states of
Trebizond, Konya, and Nicaea by the thirteenth century, the church was
freed of the vexatious conditions long warfare had imposed. The emperors, in
colonizing the ravaged areas, took great care to reestablish the church, its
administration, and its economic prosperity as essential to organized life in the
Byzantine tradition. The Seljuk sultans, exercising the established practice of
toleration of Christians, opened their lands to the return of the Christian bishops
and metropolitans. Consequently thirteenth-century Anatolia contained two
Orthodox churches: that within the domains of the emperor, which once more
flourished as the recipient of economic wealth from its traditional protector,
and that much reduced segment within the domains of the sultan. In the latter
case the church was not able to recover its original state, recovery being barred
by Islamic practice and Turkish interests. Rather it preserved those modest
remnants which had managed to survive the events of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries. With the revival of anarchy in the fourteenth century, the church
suffered a complete collapse, losing practically all property and revenues, and
its bishops and metropolitans were barred from their seats in the Anatolian
churches for decades at a time. These clerics suffered the further liability of
being the instruments and appointees of the Constantinopolitan emperors and
patriarchs, the principal foes of the Turkish rulers.
The Christians of Anatolia, having lost their ultimate Christian political
leader and protector (the emperor) were now deprived of the last modicum of
 Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia 135

Christian leadership when bishops and metropolitians were unable to go to

their ecclesiastical sees in Turkish lands. Further, the basic institution on which
they had relied for economic, educational, and other types of support was so
completely impoverished that the church lost its ability to function as an
effective social organ. The impact of such a long series of calamities could not
but have had a serious effect on the morale of many Anatolian Christians. The
once proud Christians became the subjugated, the dispossessed. The centuries-
old foe, Islam, had now become dominant in the heartland of the Byzantine
empire, and the Christian emperors were impotent before the Turks. An anecdote
preserved in a contemporary Muslim source best illustrates the despair that
many must have felt. In the anecdote a cleric in addressing his homily to the
Christians of Amaseia remarked that although the Christians would enter
Paradise the Turks would remain outside its gates. A parishioner retorted that
he could not believe that the Turks would allow the Greeks to enjoy possession
10
of Paradise undisturbed, but would also take that away from them.
These, broadly outlined, are the basic factors in the weakening and under
mining of Christian society. But Islamization proceeded from the combination
and interaction of these negative factors, along with certain positive ones.
First and foremost was the fact that Islam enjoyed the status of being the
religion of the conquering, dominant class. This had great political, legal,
social, economic, and emotional consequences. Although non-Muslims enjoyed
official toleration, they were nevertheless second-class citizens. Ultimate political
authority was removed from their hands. Islamic law put them at a legal
disadvantage in the Muslim courts. In the economic realm as the majority of
lands, buildings, and Christian manpower passed into the hands of Muslims,
the Christians found themselves paying a tax burden that was proportionately
heavier than that paid by Muslims. The impact of these factors obviously
impressed upon the Christians their inferior status while openly declaring the
superiority of Islam and Muslims. The economic consequence was significant,
for the Christian properties that were confiscated became the economic basis
of the Turkish military and of the Islamic institutions such as mosques,
madrasas imarets, hospitals, caravansarays, and the like. Revenues and
manpower that had hitherto supported Christian institutions now nourished
their Muslim equivalents. This enabled Islamic institutions to exercise their
social functions with a certain efficacy and elegance at the very moment when
the Christian church was suffering economic impoverization and social paralysis.
These traditional Islamic institutions, which had now obtained prestige and
wealth from the Islamic states of Anatolia, constituted the principal frame
within which Christianity had to adjust and produced as one important result
an impetus to religious conversion. Conversion seems to have been an important
phenomenon in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries but the sources

1 0
O. Turan, "LTslamisation dans la Turquie du moyen age," Studia Islamica,
X (1959), 145.
136 Speros Vryonis Jr.

indicate that as of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Christians of Anatolia
still constituted a large proportion of the populace, perhaps the majority. The
mass Islamization reflected in later documents seems to have occurred during
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the time of political collapse and renewed
nomadization.
The tempo of Islamization undoubtedly accelerated as a result of the rise
of Sufism and spread of the dervish orders, a phenomenon noticeable from
the middle of the thirteenth century which intensified markedly in the
fourteenth. Although these orders varied widely four factors seem to have been
common to most of them. As is well known they had an emotional rather than
a legalistic approach to the religious life, evolving essentially mystical rituals
that would appeal to the lower as well as to the upper social classes. The most
spectacular of these seems to have been the sema of the Mevlevis. Second,
although they had great appeal for the masses, they enjoyed the economic
support of the rulers and administration. Third, in contrast to the formal
state apparatus, they were fired by the zeal to bring the religious way to the
inhabitants of Anatolia, Christians as well as Muslims. The testimonies to their
religious zeal are spelled out clearly and colorfully in the two principal sources
for dervish history in Anatolia, the Menaqib al-Arifin of Efiaki and the Vilayet-
name concerning Hadji Bektash. Finally, one should note the tolerant and
latitudinarian character of dervish preaching (at least among the Mevlevis and
Bektashis) wherein religious syncretism allowed for the accommodation of
Christian beliefs and practices, thus facilitating the passage of Anatolians from
affiliation with Christianity to formal affiliation with Islam. It even created a
11
group that seemed to be both Muslim and Christian. Djalal al-Din Rumi's
influence over the Christian populace and the interesting process of religious
syncretism which took place come out clearly in Eflaki's account of Rumi's
funeral.

After they had placed his body on the litter all the great and humble
uncovered their heads, and raised such a tumult that it resembled that of
the great resurrection. All wept and most of the men marched in the
procession, uttering cries and tearing their clothes. The members of the
different communities and nations were present, Christians, Jews, Greeks,
Arabs, and Turks. They marched forward, each holding on high their
sacred scriptures. In accord with their customs they read verses from the
Psalms, the Pentateuch, and the Gospels, and uttered funereal lamentations.
The Muslims were not able to restrain them either by blows from clubs or
from swords. There arose an immense distrubance, the news of which
reached the sultan . . . and his minister. [Accordingly] they summoned
the chiefs of the monks and priests and demanded what possible connection

1 1
Efiaki, Les saints des derviches tourneurs, trans. C. Huart (Paris, 1918-1922),
II, 96-97.
 Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia 137

this event could have with them, since the sovereign of religion [Rumi] was
the director and imam of the Muslims. They replied. "In seeing him we
have comprehended the true nature of Christ, of Moses, and of all the
prophets such as we have read about in our books. If you Muslims say that
our Master [Rumi] is the Muhammud of his period, we recognize him
similarly as the Moses and Jesus of our times. Just as you are his sincere
friends, we also are one thousand times over his servants and disciples. It is
thus that he said it. 'Seventy sects hear from us their own mysteries. We
are as a flute which, in a single mode, is in tune with 200 religions.' Our master
is the sun of truth which has shone upon mortals and accorded them favor:
all the world loves the sun which lights their abodes." Another Greek
priest said: "Our master is much like unto bread which is indispensable
to all the world. Has a hungry man ever been seen to flee from bread ?"

It was the traditional Islamic institutions and the dervish orders that effected
the assimilation of the dispirited and disoriented Christian society via religious
conversion in the period from the late thirteenth to the fifteenth century.
We turn now to the conversionary process in the Balkan peninsula where
12
Islamization remained a peripheral phenomenon. If one compares the length,
nature and certain other factors of the Turkish conquest in the Anatolian and
Balkan situations, great differences are apparent. From the first landing of
Turkish forces on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1352 until the reunification of most
of the Balkans under Ottoman power in 1453, one century elapsed, in contrast
with the four centuries that elapsed during the process in Asia Minor. Even the
one century does not reflect the reality of the situation, for Serbia, Bulgaria,
and much of Greece were already integrated into the Ottoman system by 1393,
that is to say, within four decades of the initial invasion of the Balkans. Thus
the Timurid interlude obscures the fact that the basic conquest of the Balkan
core was the work of 40 years, far shorter a period of conquest than that of
Anatolia. It brought less disruption and destruction, and the situation was regu
larized and stabilized very quickly by a strong centralized state which had been
unknown in that part of the Mediterranean world since the eleventh century.
The position of the church suffered far less in the Balkans because of the
comparative brevity and conservative nature of the Turkish conquest. With the
extinction of the Byzantine empire and the reestablishment of the Orthodox
patriarchate under Ottoman suzerainty in 1454 the Orthodox church became
a bureau of the new Muslim state. The patriarchate was no longer looked upon
as the instrument of a hostile power and its relations with provincial metro-

1 2
Vryonis, "The Conditions and Cultural Significance of the Ottoman Conquest
in the Balkans," in Hime Congres international des Uudes du Sud-Est Europien
(Athens, 1970), pp. 3 - 1 0 , repr. in Vryonis, Byzantium: Its Internal History and
Relations with the Muslim World (London, 1971).
138 Speros Vryonis Jr.

politanates and bishoprics were secured, as were its remaining lands and
revenues. But until 1454 the ecclesiastical districts of Thrace and Macedonia
suffered from the same conditions that afflicted the Anatolian bishoprics.
Bishops and metroplitans were expelled by the Turks and church property
13
suffered extensive confiscation at the hands of Turkish authorities. The
process of conquest having been relatively short, the church in the Balkans
suffered far less attrition than in Anatolia, a fact that corresponds to the much
lighter Islamization in the Balkans.
Up to this point one very important topic has gone unmentioned, and that is
the ethnic factor, which played a substantial role in the subject under discussion.
It is obvious that the largest influx of Turks took place in Anatolia, and played
an important role in cultural change, although we have no figures in this respect.
Of particular interest are the sixteenth-century registers, which record the
14
proportion of sedentary to nomadic taxable hearths. In Anadolu, the large
district that included central and western Anatolia, there were among the
Muslims 388,397 sedentary and 77,268 nomadic hearths. In the region of
Anadolu, which leaves out the remainder of eastern Anatolia, the nomads
constituted 16.29 percent of the entire population (both Muslim and Christian).
In the entire Balkans by contrast, there were among the Muslims 157,523
sedentary and 37,435 nomadic hearths. In the Balkans the nomad constituted
19.3 percent of the Muslim population (thus the proportion of sedentary to
nomadic Muslims is similar for both regions) but they formed only 3.6 percent
of the total Balkan population. This smallness of nomadic numbers in the
process of conquest and settlement is an important factor in the differing
nature of the Turkish conquests and of Islamization in the Balkans and in
Anatolia. Significant currents of Islamization did continue in the Balkans after
the sixteenth century, but this is outside the scope of my topic.
The nature of the religious and, by implication, the nature of the cultural
change wrought by Islamization is an enormous topic and much about the
nature of general cultural change will have to be inferred from my brief
statement on the nature of religious change. A perusal of the sixteenth-century
Ottoman tax registers gives only a two-dimensional picture of this aspect of
cultural change, of a single line movement of Christians and Jews into the fold
of Islam. In short, it is a quantitative measure of cultural change, and the
quality of the transformation is hardly indicated. One tends to think of formal

1 3
K . Amantos, "Zu den Bischofslisten als historische Quellen," in Akten des
XI. internationalen Byzantinisten-KongrefS, Munchen 1958 (Munich, 1960), pp.
2 1 - 2 3 ; Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 321-322. For examples of Christian properties
converted to waqf and timar see T. Gokbilgin, XV-XVI asvrlarda Edirne ve Pasa
livasi vakiflar-mulkler-mukataalar (Istanbul, 1952), and "XVI-yiizyil baslarindan
Trabzon livasi ve dogu Karadeniz bolgesi," Belleten, X X V I (1962), 3 2 0 - 3 3 2 .
1 4
Barkan, "Essai," passim.
 Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia 139

Christianity and Islam, of patriarch and Shaykh al-Islam, of purified religious

dogmas. But the complex nature of Christian and Muslim religiosity must be
examined in order to perceive the quality, the full spectrum and variegation of
religious coloration that resulted from Islamization. Since pure Christianity
and Islam were maintained primarily by a minority (by segments of the upper
classes) it is the religiosity of the masses, that is to say popular Christianity
and especially popular Islam, that require attention. Second, the large-scale
16
Islamization that transpired in Anatolia, as well as the dense Christian
16
environment of Balkan Islam, meant that popular Islam was heavily affected
by the Christian practices of the converts. This was particularly true where
large or compact groups converted or in areas where Muslims took Christian
wives and concubines on an extensive scale. The popular Islam that the
dervishes preached also accommodated itself to syncretism. At the level of folk
religion Christianity and Islam in the two peninsulas were strongly permeated
17
by the hagiolatric phenomenon. The Byzantine saints and Islamic dervishes
belong to the same category of religious phenomenology: the local holy man
who caters to the immediate needs of the local populace and who intercedes
with God or the state on its behalf. It is therefore not surprising to find that
Christians frequently visited the shrines of Muslim holy men, and that even
more frequently Muslims sought the benefits dispensed at the shrines of
Christian saints, a phenomenon studied in such detail by Hasluck that one need
not expand upon it. There arose, also, in certain eases, an equalization between
certain Muslim and Christian holy men in the eyes of the populace, with
interchangeability of the two and on occasion with double religious shrines.
In such a fluid environment many Christian cult practices passed into popular
Islam, perhaps the most spectacular of which was the practice of baptism among
18
Muslims on an extensive scale. But there were other Christian and even pre-
Christian practices discernible in popular Islam which were brought into Islam
by the conversion of the Christians: iconolatry, certain types of animal sacrifice,
certain holy days, and a variety of practices associated with the seasonal
18
cycle. Consequently, although the formal aspects and appearances of life in the
Balkans and especially in Anatolia underwent substantial religious change,
behind the appearances and formality there was a strong and vital continuity

is Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 3 5 1 - 4 0 2 .

1 6
Vryonis, "Balkans," passim.
1 7
F . W. Hasluck, Christianity and Islam under the Sultans, Vols. I, I I (Oxford,
1929); F. Babinger, "Der Islam in Siidosteuropa," in Volker und Kulturen Siidost-
europas, Schriften der Siidosteuropa Gesellschaft (Munich, 1959), pp. 2 0 6 - 2 0 7 . Also-
the numerous studies of H . J. Kissling.
1 8
Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 359, 441, 466, 4 8 7 - 4 8 9 ; K . Rhalles and M . Potles,
SuvxayXa T U V Oeicov xat tspcov xavovcov (Athens, 1852-1859), I I , 498.
1 9
Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 4 4 4 - 4 9 7 ; Vryonis, "Balkans," pp. 172-176.
140 Speros Vryonis Jr.

in the popular religious life of the area during the transition from Byzantine to
Ottoman Rule.
Studies of political, economic, and cultural institutions have indicated that
the same pattern obtained there as observed in the change and continuity of
religious life: change at the formal level, substantial continuity at the popular
20
level. But in the long run it has been the formal religious and cultural forms
that have deterrnined the cultural identity of the popular stratum.

Vryonis, "Byzantine Legacy," pp. 306-308.

 INDEX

'Abbasid, 67, 7 2 ; period, 4 0 ; poetry, 52 ahl al-kitdb, 108

'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Musa, 67 Ahmad ibn 'Ariis, 84
'Abd al-Haqq Muhaddith-i Dihlawi, 112 Ahmad Sirhindi, 124
'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, 38 Ahriman, 111
'Abd al-Quddus Gangohi, 122 Akkadian language, 40
'Abd al-Rahman I, 67 Akbar, 122; court of, 120; period, 116,
'Abd al-Rahman I I , 84 124
'Abd al-Rahman I I I , 71, 73 alami (alamini) 97, 99
'Abdallah ibn ' A b d al-Malik, 38 'Ala'uddin Khalji, 113
'Abdallah Khorshid al-Birri, 32 Albania, 132
Abraham, 14, 29, 48, 118-119 Alcala, 101
A b u al-'Abbas al-Qabbab, 4, 5-6, 9, 15 Alcala, Pedro de, 81
A b u 1-Barakat ibn Kabar, 39 Alcira, 95, 99
A b u '1-Fadl, 120 Aleppo, 20
A b u Hafs 'Umar Suhrawardi, 119, 121 Alexander the Great, 45
A b u flanlfa, 120 Alexandria, 21, 22, 25, 32-33
A b u Hayyan, 80 Alfandech, 99
A b u Ishaq al-Shatibi, 4, 15 Alfonso I I I (King), 96
A b u Muhammad al-Fishtali, 5 Alfonso V I (King), 76
A b u Nu'aim, 36 Alfonso the Learned of Castile, 91
A b u al-Qasim al-'Azafi, 83 Algeciras, 67
A b u Qurra, Theodore, 34, 35 Algeria, 40, 80
A b u 'r-Rabi' b . Salim, 102 'Ali ibn A h m a d al-Maha'imi, 121
A b u Ralhan al-BIruni, 5 5 - 5 7 , 1 0 8 - 1 0 9 'All Hamadhani, Sayyid, 121
A b u Talib al-Makki, 7, 119, 121 aljama(s), 93, 9 6 - 9 8 , 100
A b u 'Ubaid al-Bakri, 75 Aljamiado literature, 64, 82
A b u Zayd, 90, 95 Almohad(s), 77, 90, 94, 99; caliphate,
Acarnania, 132 90; court, 80; society, 88
Achaemenian: empire, 45, 46, 54, 55, 57; Almoravids, 77
period, 46. See also Neo-Achaemenid Alvaro, 60, 64, 69, 72, 84
nationalism Amari, Michele, 97
Achila (King), 6 5 - 6 6 amin, 9 7 - 1 0 0
addad, 57 Amir Khusrau, 111-112, 114, 115-118,
Adrianople, 132 124
Afrasiab, 119 'Amr ibn al-'As, 23, 3 1 - 3 3
Africa, 19 Anadolu, 131, 138
al-Afshin, 39 Anatolia, Anatolian(s), 127-140. See
Aghnides, N . P., 27 also Turkey
142 Index

al-Andalus, 5 9 - 8 6 ; Sufis in, 3, 4, 7 Baghdad, 29, 74, 114

Ankara, 131 Baha' ud-Din Zakariya of Multan, 121
Annals of Assurbanipal, 43 Bakh'ah, 40
Anthony, Saint, 22 Bakhtishu' family, 72
Antinoe, 38 al-Bakri. See A b u 'Ubaid al-Bakri
Antioch, 19, 20 Balban (sultan), 113, 119
Apamea, 19 Balearic islands, 90
Apophthegmata Patrum, 22 Balj, army of, 67
Aquinas, Saint Thomas, 17, 104 Balkans, 127-140
Arab armies, 18, 2 4 - 2 5 , 31, 33 Banu Baliy, 79
Arabia, 19, 33 Banu Codera, 63
Arabic: language, 19, 26, 31, 33, 3 6 - 4 1 , Banu 'Isa, 101
5 6 - 5 7 , 9 1 - 9 2 , 117; use in al-Andalus, Banu Ishaq, 72
5 9 - 8 6 ; literature, 39, 53, 80, 119 Banu Sid-bono, 102
Aragon, Aragonese, 91, 92, 9 7 ; king of, Bar-Hebraeus, 40
90, 91, 103 Baradaeus, Jacob, bishop of Edessa, 2 0
Aramaic language, 19, 45 barahima, 118
Arberry, A . J., 49 baramdsa, 115, 123
architecture, Andalusian, 8 5 - 8 6 Barani, 108, 1 1 3 - 1 1 4 , 119, 120, 124
Arianism, 65 Barcelona, 104
al-'Arish, 32 Barkan, O . L . , 130
Aristotle, 17 Barsuma, bishop of Nisibis, 20
Armenians, 128 Bashshar ibn Burd, 52
Arnold, Sir Thomas, 26 Basil, Saint, 23
Arsacid period. See Parthian period Basra, 35
Artobas, 66 barrlq, 19
Aryan(s), 4 6 ; background of writers, 5 7 ; Bayazid, 120
heritage, 4 3 ; Indo-Aryan culture, 44, Becker, C. H . , 27, 35
4 5 - 4 6 ; nationalism, 46 Beirut, 35
Asia, Asian: Central, 43, 44, 46, 112; Beja, 67
Minor, 128, 131, 134, 137 Ben-Ami, Aharon, 88
Asin Palacios, Miguel, 63 Bengali, 115
al-'Assal, 39 Berber(s), 60, 66, 67, 70, 73, 76, 7 7 - 7 8 ;
Athanasius, Saint, 22, 23 dialects, 69
Athens, 132 Bible, 22
'Attar, 109, 111, 115 bid'a, 83. See also heresies and heretics
Attica, 132 al-Biruni. See A b u Raihan al-Blruni
Aurangzeb, 120, 124, 126 Bishai, W . B 37
avatara, 124 Bloch, Marc, 88
Averroes. See Ibn Rushd (Averroes) Boer, T . J. de, 35
Avesta(n), 44, 5 3 ; Gathas, 4 5 ; legends, Bohairic, 22, 37
48 al-Borollos, 32
'Awarif al-ma'arif (Abu Hafs 'Umar Bosnia, 131-132
Suhrawardi), 119 Brahmin(s), 109, 114, 118-119, 125
A y a z (Turkish slave), 111 Buddhist(s), 107-108, 121
A y b e k (sultan), 112 Bughra Khan, 117
Azad Bilgrami, 118 Bulgaria, Bulgars, 129, 137; Central, 132
al-Azd, 19 Burriana, 90, 102
al-Azraq, 101 Bursa, 131
butun, 32
Babylon, 25, 32 Byzantium, Byzantine, 17-24, 38, 133,
Badajoz, 76 134; ecclesiastical administration, 128;
Bada'uni, 120, 124 emperor, 7 2 ; influence on Serbs and
 Index 143

Bulgars, 129; relationship to Muslim al-Dabbi, 73

civilization, 3 3 - 3 4 ; state, 127 dad, 56
Dadhu, 123
Caesareia, 128 Damascus, Damascenes, 19, 20, 34, 3 5 ,
Caetani, Leone, 27 40, 67, 7 4 ; caliphate at, 66
Cagigas, Isidoro de las, 64 Daniel-Rops, Henry, 24
Cairo, 32, 114, 120 Daqiqi, 52, 116
Campo de Calatrava. See Fahs al-Ballu$ dar al-harb, 134
Cappadocian church fathers, 128 Dara Shikoh, 120, 122, 124, 126
caste system, 109, 114, 125 darl, 117
Castile, Castilian(s), 62, 83; language, 81 Darius, 55
Castillo, Alonso del, 81 Darmesteter, James, 45
Castro, Americo, 61, 88 Dasamo Avatar group, 124
Catalonia, Catalan(s), 90, 9 1 , 95, 9 7 ; Daulatabad, 114
literature, 89 day'a, 66
Catholicism, 65 deir, 52
Chachname, 107. See also Shahnama Delhi, 114, 118, 119; sultanate, 112
(Firdosi) Denia, 73, 90, 102
Chalcedon, 20 Dennett, D . C , 27
Chalcedonian(s), 2 3 ; Christian, 128; dervish(es), 121, 136-137, 139
church, 128; patriarch, 25. See also Desclot, Bernat, 89, 102
Melkite(s) dev, 44
Chehata, Chafik, 35 devband, 44
Chelva, 97, 101 dhikr, 123
chilla-yi ma'kusa, 122 dhimml{s), 28, 3 0 - 3 1 , 32, 38, 115
Chingiz Khan, 46 Dimyat, 32
Chosroes, 4 9 - 5 0 dinpanahi, 113
Christianity, Christian(s), 18, 5 3 ; A n Diocletian, 19
dalusian, 5 9 - 8 6 ; elements in the divine law, 9 - 1 4 . See also figh, shari'a
Koran, 4 7 ; in Anatolia and the Bal al-diyafa, 33
kans, 1 2 7 - 1 4 0 ; in Egypt and Syria, Diyarbekir, 131
2 5 - 4 1 ; sellters in Valencia, 91-104 Djalal al-Din Rumi, 111, 120, 136-137
Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar), 94, 99 Dobrudja region, 130
Cilicia, Cilician, 128, 133; language, 128 Documentum martyriale (Eulogius), 64
Cocentaina, 101 Dominicans, 104
Codera y Zaidin, Francisco, 6 2 - 6 3 Dozy, Reinhart, 59, 64, 70, 74
Constantinople, 20, 120, 126, 128, 129, Dressendorfer, Peter, 81
132, 134; Muslim quarter in, 130 Duperron, Anquetil, 57
Constantinopolitan: church, 128; em Duwal Rani, 117
perors and patriarchs, 134
conversion: to Christianity, 67, 80, 104; Ebro valley, 64
to Islam, 2 7 - 2 9 , 59, 66, 6 7 - 6 8 , 82, 124, Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, 23
133, 135-137, 139 education, Muslim, 69, 75, 119
Copts, Coptic, 2 2 - 3 2 , 3 8 - 3 9 ; Church, 2 3 ; Eflaki, 136
language, 2 1 - 2 2 , 3 1 , 32, 3 7 - 3 9 ; litera Egypt, Egyptian(s), 17-18, 2 1 - 4 1 , 64,
ture, 2 2 - 2 3 ; monasteries, 23 74, 80, 85, 8 6 ; emigrants from, 6 7 ;
Corbin, Henry, 47, 54 language, 2 2 ; Lower, 2 2 ; Upper, 2 2 ,
Cordoba, Cordovan, 62, 73, 7 4 - 7 5 , 76, 37
79, 9 0 ; local dialects in, 8 3 ; Metro Ekhna, 32
politan of, 8 4 ; mosque of, 86, 94 Elamite civilization, 46
Cyrus (patriarch), 23, 25 Eliade, Mircea, 4 6 - 4 7
Elvira, 67
Emesa, 19
144 Index

Ephesus, 20 Gospel(s), 22, 25, 41, 70, 81, 84

Epirus, 132 Granada, 4, 62, 76, 81, 90, 102; A l -
Eslida, 95 hambra of, 8 6 ; kingdom of, 80, 90
Euboea, 132 Grau Monserret, Manuel ,97
Eulogius, 60, 64, 69, 72, 84 Greece, Greek(s), 18, 19, 20, 57, 60, 1 2 7 -
Europe, European, 19, 38, 46, 62, 63, 128, 137; alphabet, 2 2 ; language, 18,
73, 85, 96, 129 21, 31, 3 6 - 3 7 , 38, 72, 128
fadd'il al-Andalus, 77 Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint, 23
Fahs al-Ballut, 7 8 - 7 9 Gregory of Nyssa, Saint, 23
faqih, 92, 102, 104 Grohmann, Adolf, 27
al-F&rabi, 55 Guadalete, 66
fatdwi, 4 Guadiz, 81
Fatimites, 32 Gual Camarena, Miguel, 97
Fattal, Antoine, 27 Gujerati, 124
Faulty Speech of the Common People Gujrat, 125
(al-Zubaidi), 76
Febvre, Lucien, 88 Habib, 74
Ferdinand I I I , Saint, 90 hadith, 115, 119. See also Prophet, tra
Fez, 4 ditions of
fiqh, 10. See also divine law Hadji Bektash, 136
fiqh al-bdtin, 10 Hafiz Ibrahim, 4 9 - 5 0 , 107, 120
fiqh al-zdhir, 10 al-Hakam I I , 74, 83, 84
firangi 125-126 al-Hakim (caliph), 39
Firdausi (Firdosi), 44, 48, 50, 54, 56, 119 hakim, 108
fire worship, 52, 116, 119. See also sati Hallaj, 120
Firuz Shah Tughluq, 114, 115 Hanafl jurisprudence, 119
Fostat, 31, 3 2 - 3 3 , 38 rjanlfi, 74
France, 90, 91 Hardy, Peter, 107, 126
Franciscans, 104 Hasluck, F . W . , 139
Fuster, Juan, 92 Hebrew language, 69
Hejaz, 19
gabr, 53 Heliopolis, 19
Galicia, Galicians, 75, 79, 84 Hellenistic: age, 46, 4 7 ; influences on
Gallego y Burin, Antonio, 81 Iranian culture, 4 5 ; traditional de
Gallipoli, 131; peninsula of, 129, 137 scription of Indians, 108
Galmes de Fuentes, Alvaro, 64 Hellenization, 19, 21, 127-128
Garcia Gomez, Emilio, 63, 79 Heraclius, 20, 25
Georgians, 128 heresies and heretics, 23, 29, 45, 65, 72,
getik, 47 82, 128. See also bid'a
Ghalib, 116, 119 Herodotus, 43
Ghassanids, 19 Herzegovina, 131-132
al-Ghazali (al-Ghazzali), 5, 10, 119, 120, al-Hijaz, 80
121 Hind, 107
Gisiidaraz, 121 Hindu, Hindus, 1 0 7 - 1 2 6 ; attitude of
Glick, Thomas, 88 Persians toward, 1 0 7 - 1 1 7 ; caste of
Gnosis, Gnosticism, 45, 47, 53, 54, 55 the Kayasthas, 57
God, 8 - 1 5 , 24, 25, 26, 29, 35, 113, 122, Hindu-ye falak, 110
139 Hindustdn-i kdfir, 112, 124
Goldziher, Ignaz, 35 Hinz, Walther, 51
Gomez (secretary of 'Abd al-Rahman Hispalense, Juan, 84
I I ) , 84 History of the Patriarch (Severus), 23
Gomez Moreno, M . , 64 H o l y Land, 88, 99
Gonzalez Palencia, Angel, 63, 80 Horns, 40
 Index 145

Hujwiri, 121 irtiba', 32

Humsis, 67 'Isa ibn al-Mansur, 84
Huns, 19 'Isa ibn Labbun, 85
Tshqi, 51
Iberian: peninsula, 61, 6 5 ; society, com islam, 11
position of, 61 'isma, 12
I b n 'Abbad al-Rundi, 4, 6 - 9 , 14 Ismaili(s), 124
Ibn al-Abbar of Onda, 102 Isra'iliyydt, 36
I b n A b i 'Amir al-Manstir, 83 Istanbul. See Constantinople
Ibn al-Ahmar, 90 istiqdma, 12
Ibn 'Amira al-Qadi, 102 Italy, 90
I b n 'Arabi, 54, 80, 121 Ithna'ashariyya Shi'a, 124
Ibn 'Ata' al-Adami, 10 i'tidal, 12
I b n Badis, 4 0 - 4 1 ittild', 12
I b n Bashkuwal, 85
Ibn Bassam, 77 Jabalah, 31
Ibn Garcia, 85 Jabia, 19
Ibn Hafsun, 71 Jacobites, 40
Ibn Hawqal, 7 4 - 7 5 Jaen, 67, 90
Ibn Hazm, 77, 78 jahiliyyat, 52
Ibn H u d , 90 al-Jahiz, 108
I b n Khaldun, 4 - 5 , 9 - 1 5 , 6 0 - 6 1 , 75, 89, jalal, 123
94, 100-101, 102; Andalusian ances Jalal ud-Din R u m l . See Djalal al-Din
try, 80; theory of growth, 72 Rumi
I b n Khaqan, 77 jamal, 123
I b n al-Khatib, 73, 80, 89 James I (King), 9 0 - 9 1 , 9 4 - 9 5 , 99, 102,
I b n Malik, 80 103
Ibn al-Qutiyya, 66, 8 4 - 8 5 JamI, 54
Ibn Rushd (Averroes), 54, 8 0 ; disciple Jamshid, 4 9 - 5 0
of, 102 Jarullah, Z . , 3 4 - 3 5
Ibn Sa'd, 24 Jativa, 90, 96, 104; paper mills, 9 8 ;
Ibn Sa'id, 77 principate, 101
Ibn Salama, 4 Jerash, 24
Ibn Shuhaid, 77 Jerez de la Frontera, 66
Ibn Sida, 78 Jerusalem, 20
Ibn Tufail, 80 Jesus Christ, 29, 65, 83
'id al-adhd, 83 Jews, Jewish, 28, 30, 31, 32, 44, 66, 69,
'id al-fitr, 8 2 - 8 3 78, 79, 114, 129, 138; households in
ihsan, 11 Anatolia and the Balkans, 1 3 0 - 1 3 2
1
Ihya 'ulum ad-din (al-Ghazali), 119 jizya, 2 7 - 2 8 , 108, 114
Ikram, S. M . , 112 John (Spanish martyr), 70
Iltutmish. See Naslruddin ibn Iltutmisb John Chrysostum, Saint, 19, 23
imam, 4 John of Damascus, Saint, 29, 3 4 - 3 5
Imamshahis, 124 John of Nikiu (bishop), 23, 25, 29
iman, 10, 11 Jordanians, 67
immigration and emigration, 73, 94, 102 Jubba'din, 40
India, Indian(s), 57, 1 0 7 - 1 2 6 ; contact
with Iran, 45 Ka'ba, 52, 56
Indiculus luminosus (Alvaro), 64 Kabir, 123
Indus River: plains, 1 2 3 ; valley, 108 kafir, 53
Inquisition, 81 Kaikubad, 113, 117
Iqbal, 116 kamdl al-najdt, 11
Iran, 31, 4 3 - 5 7 , 118; Western, 59 Karaman, 131
146 Index

Karshuni, 40 Macdonald, D . B . , 35
kashf, 12 Macedonia, Macedonian, 132, 138; em
kashishan, 53 pire, 45
Kashmir, 121 Macho y Ortega, Francisco, 97
Ka'us, 4 9 - 5 0 Mada'in, 51
al-Khalil ibn Ahmad, 7 5 - 7 6 Mada'in-qasida (Khaqani), 5 0 - 5 1
Khaqani, 5 0 - 5 1 madhhab, 74
kharaj, 28 madina fadila, 55
kharjah, 84 Maghrib, 74
Khidr K h a n (Prince), 117 Magian(s), 4 8 - 4 9 , 5 2 - 5 3
khilafat, 126 Mahmud Ghaznawi, 109, 110
khitta (pi. khitat), 32 Majduddin Baghdad!, I l l
Khusrau K h a n . 114 al-Makin Girgis ibn al-'Amid, 39
Khwaja Baqi Billah, 124 al-Makki. See A b u Talib al-Makki
Khwarazmian language, 56 Malabar coast, 108
Konya, 131, 133, 134 Malaga, 67
Koran, 11, 13, 14, 26, 29, 41, 47, 74, 75, Malik ibn Anas, 72, 74
92, 111, 114, 122; creation of, 3 5 ; Malikism, Malikite, 72, 85
Maniehaean elements in, 4 7 ; Naff Ma'hila, 40
reading of, 74 Mani, 45
Kubrawiyya order, 111 Manichaeism, 128
Kucchi, 124 al-Mansur, 74, 76
Kustendil, 131 al-Maqqari, 73
kufr, 53 marafiq, 74
Kurds, 128 Marcais, Georges, 64
Marinids, 4, 90, 94
lahn al-'awwam (Faulty Speech of the Maronites, 38, 40
Common People) (al-Zubaidi), 76 Marrakesh, 90
Lahore, 121 marriage, mixed, 28, 65, 82, 125, 139
Lakhmids, 19 Marti, Raymond, 104
La'l Shahbaz Qalandar, 121 martyrs: Christian, 7 0 ; Sufi, 121
Lammens, Henri, 19 Marwan I I (caliph), 38
Languedoc, 90 Marwanids, time of, 40
Laodicea, 18 Mashariq al-anwar (as-Saghani), 115
Larissa, 132 Maslhiyyat, 36
latifa ruhaniyya, 12 Massignon, Louis, 36, 5 6 - 5 7 , 105
Latin: authors, 6 0 ; language, 22, 6465, Mas'ud-i Sa'd-i Salman, 115
6 9 - 7 0 , 72, 8 3 - 8 4 ; literature, 64, 69, Maulana Rumi, 54
7 2 ; rumi, 74 Maulana Shamsuddin Turk of Multan,
law, Islamic, 35, 92, 135 113
Lazes, 128 mawall, 67, 70, 113
Le6n, 83 Mazdfrism, 53, 5 5 ; influence on post-
Levi-Provencal, Evariste, 64 Islamic Persian literature, 5 1 - 5 3
Levi-Strauss, Claude, 88 Mazdak, 45
Libros plumbeos, 81 Mecca, 73
Lichtheim, Miriam, 22, 23 Medina, 33, 73
Liria, 101 Mediterranean Sea, 38, 88
L0kkegaard, Frede, 27 Meer Hasan Ali (Mrs.), 120, 124
Lucknow, 120, 124 Melkite(s), 20, 23. See also Chalcedo
Lull, Raymond, 89, 104 nian^)
Lycian language, 128 Memphis, 32
Menaqib al-Arifin (Efiaki), 136
Mendicant friars, 100
 Index 147

Menendez Pidal, Ramon, 62, 71 Muntaner, Ramon, 89

Menendez y Pelayo, Marcelino, 59 munya, 73
menok, 47 al-Muqaddasi, 74
Mesopotamia: Iranian contacts with, 43, Muqaddima (Ibn Khaldun), 4
44, 46 Murcia, Murcian(s), 62, 67, 90, 1 0 4 ;
Michael (Patriarch), 38 emigration of, 102
Michael the Syrian, 25 mushdhada, 12
Millas Vallicrosa, J. M . , 6 3 mushrif, 9 8 - 9 9
Mirza Qalich Beg, 114 Mustafa, 108
Misra, S. C , 125 Mu'tazilite(s), 3 4 - 3 5 , 74
al-Mi'ydr (al-Wansharisi), 4 mutrdn, 53
mleccha, 109 Muwalladun, 7 0 - 7 1 , 73, 78. See also
Mo'in, Mohammad, 48, 51 Mudejar(s)
monasteries and monasticism, 2 2 , 23, muwashshahah, 84, 86
34, 36, 38, 39 Muwatta' (Malik ibn Anas), 74
Monastir, 132 mysticism, 63, 111, 1 2 0 - 1 2 4 . See also
Mongols, 94 Sufism
Monophysitism, Monophysite(s), 20, 22
monotheism, 4 7 ; Zoroastrian, 44 na/s, 123
Monothelite formula, 2 3 Nahda, 40
Montanism, 128 Ndl Daman, 119
Montecroce, Ricoldo da, 29 Naqshbandiyya, 123-124, 126
Montenegro, 132 Nasir Muhammad 'Andalib, 123
Montesa, 101 Naslruddin ibn Iltutmish, 112, 113
Moors, Moorish, 6 2 ; prejudice against, Nasr, S. H . , 54
101; quarter at Jativa, 96 Nau'i, 116
Morea, 132 Navarre, 83
morerlas, 102 Las Navas de Tolosa, 90
Morisco(s), 8 1 - 8 2 , 9 8 ; period, 9 2 ; stu Neo-Achaemenid nationalism, 46
dies of, 88 Neoplatonic: ideas, 4 5 ; poetry, 48
Morocco, 80, 102 Nestorians, 20, 40
Mozarab(s), 6 9 - 7 0 , 7 9 - 8 0 , 82 Nicaea, 133, 134
Mu'awiya ibn Lubb, 84 Nicopolis, 131, 132
Mudajjanun. See Mudejar(s) Niebla, 67
Mudejar(s), 7 9 - 8 0 , 8 8 - 1 0 5 . See also nifaq, 10
Muwalladun Nile River, 18, 22, 32
Mughal, 125; empire, 112, 118 Nitria, 22
mughbaohe, 49 niyya, 10
Muhammad, the Prophet, 47, 5 5 , 69, Nizami, 54, 111, 115, 119
70; birthday of, 8 3 ; veneration of, 8 1 . Nizamuddin Atiliya, 112, 115
See also Prophet nomads, 19, 138
Muhammad Gisudaraz, 121 North Africa, North African, 4, 66, 80,
Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, 107-108, 113 90, 102, 1 0 3 ; emigrants from, 6 7 ;
Muhammad ibn Tughluq, 114 soldiers imported from, 76
al-Muhasibi, 7, 10 Null Sipihr ("The Nine Spheres") (Amir
muhtasib, 9 2 , 9 9 Khusrau), 117
Mu'In ud-Din Chishti of Ajmer, 121 Nushirwan the Just, 5 5
mujahaddt, 9 Nykl, A . R . , 64
Mujahid, 7 3 - 7 4
Muladies. See Muwalladun Orhan's legions, 129
Multan, 108, 124 Oropesa, 101
muluk al-tawa'if, 76 Orthodox: Christianity, 129; churches
Munajjid, Salahuddin, 36 in Turkish Anatolia, 134, 137
 148 Index

Ottoman: empire, 46, 137, 140; con Qui al-qulub (Abu Talib al-Makki), 119
quest, 133; provinces, 130; tax re
gisters, 129-130, 138 Rabi' ibn Zayd, 84
Radiya Sultan, 112
Pachomius, Saint, 22 ra'is, 99
Padmavati, 119 Ramadan, 29, 92, 95
Pahlavi: regime, 5 1 ; text, 47 Rashid, 32
Pakistan, 31 Raymond of Penyafort, 104
Reeemundo of Cordoba. See Rabi' ibn
Palestine, Palestinians, 18, 25, 31, 36,
Zayd
67
Palmyra, 19 Reconquest of Spain, 62, 79, 80
rekhti, 123
Panjabi, 115, 122-123
Parthian period, 45, 46 Renaissance, 46, 103, 105: intolerance
Pasha, 131 of the, 93
Pathans, 125 Revelation, 26, 29
al-ribat (dispatch of troops), 3 2 - 3 3
Paulician-Bogomil heresy, 128
Ribera y Tarrago, Julian, 63
Pego, 9 9 ; valley, 97, 101
Peniscola, 101 rindi/rusva'i, 52
Risdla (al-Qushayri), 119
Peres, Henri, 64
Perfectus, 70 Ritter, Hellmut, 48
Roca Traver, F . A . , 97
Persepolis, 44
Roderick (King), 6 6 ; widow of, 67
Persia, Persian(s), 17-20, 24, 43, 54-56;
Roman(s), 18, 19, 2 5 , 60, 61, 6 5 ; law,
language, 56, 109-111, 117, 122;
90, 97
literature, 4 8 - 5 3 , 111, 115-120
Romance language, 82, 8 3 - 8 4 , 9 2 . See
Peter the Great of Aragon, 91
also Spanish language
Philip I I (King), 81
Romanos (Emperor), 72
Phoenicia, 19
Rome, 129
Phrygian language, 128
R u m , 131
Piles Ros, Leopoldo, 98
rumi, 74
Plato, 47
poetry, 4 8 - 5 2 , 62, 79, 119; Andalusian, Rumi. See Djalal al-Din R u m i
Rushdndme ('Abd al-Quddus Gangohi),
8 6 ; mystical, 111, 1 2 2 - 1 2 3 ; Neopla-
122
tonic, 4 8 ; Persian love, 117, 1 2 2 - 1 2 3
Portugal, 62 Sade, Feast of, 48, 5 4 - 5 5
Prawer, Joshua, 88 Sa'di, 5 2 - 5 3 , 54, 120
Prophet, 11, 12, 24, 69, 123; sayings of Safavid(s), 4 6 ; age of, 46, 51, 53
14, 108; traditions of, 13, 14, 83, 125. as-Saghani, 115
See also Muhammad Sahidic language, 22
Puig, 102 Sa'id ibn al-Batriq, 39
Sa'id al-Matran of Seville. See Hispa-
Qa'ani, 46 lense, Juan
qadi, 92, 94, 96, 9 8 - 1 0 0 , 102 Sa'id of Toledo, 72
Qadiriyya, 126 Salahuddin al-Munajjed, 36
qa'id, 93, 98, 101 Saloniki, 132
qaid-i firang, 125 Samson, 60
qasida, 51, 52 Samuel, 60
Qayrawan, 74 Sanchez Perez, J., 63
Qinnasrmis, 67 Sanskrit, 57, 115, 117, 122
Qoran. See Koran Saqaliba, 73
Quduri, 119 Saqi-nama (Hafiz Ibrahim), 4 9 - 5 0
Quraish, 40 Saracens, 29, 95, 97
Qur'an. See Koran Saragossa, 62, 64, 76
al-Qushayri, 5, 119 Sarajevo, 132
 Index 149

Sasanian(s), 24, 44, 47, 51, 54, 55, 5 7 ; Steiger, Arnald, 61

period, 45, 4 6 ; Zoroastrianism, 47 Strata Diocletiana, 19
sati, 116 Subcontinent. See India
Satpanthis, 124 Subhat al-marjan (Azad Bilgrami), 118
Sawirus ibn al-Muquffa, 39 Sufi(s), 3 - 1 5 , 124; activities in India,
sayyid(s), 90, 94, 125 121-122; mystics, 102
Seete, 22 Sufism, 3 - 1 5 , 5 3 - 5 4 ; blending with
Schaeder, H . H . , 52 Yoga, 1 2 1 - 1 2 2 ; Christian influence
Scripture(s), 30, 35, 39 on, 34, 3 6 ; effect on Islamization of
Seco de Lucena [Paredes, Luis], 80 Anatolia, 136; Malamati school, 53.
Segorbe, 100 See also mysticism
Seleucia, Seleucids, 18, 19; period, 46 Sughdian Iranian scribes, 57
Seljuk(s), 133, 134 Sunnis, 54, 124
Semitic: languages, 5 6 ; peoples, 19, 26, Sunnite nations, 46
31 Suz H guddz (Nau'i), 116
Serbia, Serbs, 129, 132, 137 symmachoi, 19
Serres, 132 Syria, Syrian(s), 17-20, 2 4 - 4 1 , 64, 74,
Severus, patriarch of Antioch, 20 80, 85, 86, 128; emigrants from, 67
Severus of Eshmunein, 23, 39 Syriac language, 31, 4 0 ; influence on
Seville, 62, 67, 76, 90 Arabic language, 36, 40
Shafi'i, 74
Shahnama (Firdosi), 44, 4 9 - 5 0 , 119 Taghlibi al-Akhtal, 4 0
Shaibanids, 46 Tahmuras, 44
Shaikh, 125 Ta'if, 24
shaikh al-akbar, 121 Tamerlane, 46
al-Shaqundi 77 tanassara, 67
sharVa, 9 , 1 1 2 , 1 1 4 , 1 1 8 . See also divine law taqwd, 9
Shaykh al-Islam, 139 Tariq, 66
shaykh al-ta'lim, 6 Tarraconsis, 65
shaykh al-tarbiya, 6 Tarsus, 128
Shenute of Atripe, 22 taxes and taxation, 20, 82, 135; exemp
Shl'a(s), 5 3 - 5 4 , 7 4 , 1 2 4 ; Ithna'ashariyya, tion from as incentive to conversion
65 to Islam, 28, 67
Shibi Nu'manl, 118 ta'ziya, 124
Shi'ism, 46, 5 3 - 5 4 Tchirmen, 131
Shiraz, 119, 120 Terrasse, Henri, 61, 64
shirk, 10 Thaqif, 24
Sibawaihi, 7 5 - 7 6 Thessaly, 132
Sicily, Muslim community of, 97 Thrace," 132, 138
Sidonia, 67 Timurid interlude, 137
Silistria, 1 3 1 - 1 3 2 Tokat, 131
Simonet, F., 5 9 - 6 1 Toledo, 62, 64, 68, 7 6 ; fall of, 7 9 ;
Sind, 107, 114 Mozarabs of, 8 0 ; Third Council of, 65
Sindhi, 115, 122-123, 124, 126 Torres Balbas, Leopoldo, 64
Sivas, 131 Trebizond, 128, 131, 133, 134
Skopje, 132 Trikala, 131, 132
Slav(s), Slavic, 74, 76, 7 7 - 7 8 , 129 Trinity, 65, 82
Sofia, 132 Tritton, A . S., 27
Sohag, 22 Tughluq dynasty, 114
Sornnath, Hindu temple of, 52 Tunis, 102, 104
Spain, Spanish, Spaniards, 59-63, 67, 72, Tunisia, 80
76, 94, 102; Arago-Catalan region, 9 0 ; Turan, 119
language, 64; literature, 64 Turk Allah. See Amir Khusrau
150 Index

Turkey, 31. See also Anatolia von Grunebaum, G. E . , 1-2, 3, 17, 33

Turkic languages, 57 von Kremer, Alfred, 35
Turks, Turkish, 1 0 7 - 1 2 6 ; in Anatolia Vryonis, Speros, Jr., 33
and the Balkans, 1 2 7 - 1 4 0 ; language,
57, 112, 117 wahdat al-wujud, 121
Tyre, 19 wall, 90, 9 5 - 9 6
W a l l d ibn Khayzuran, 8 4
'Ubaidalla ibn Qasim (bishop), 84 al-Wansharisi, 4
'Umar I , 31 wara', 9
'Umar I I , 28 Wellhausen, Julius, 27
Umayyad(s), 4 0 ; dynasty in al-Andalus, White Monastery, 22
67, 69, 72, 76, 7 7 ; period, 28 Widengren, Geo, 43
umm al-walad, 68 Wiet, Gaston, 27
'umran, 72 Witiza (King), 65
Unity of Being (Ibn Arabi), 121 writing, 102; art of, 4 3 - 4 4
Upanishad, 57
Urdu, 126; Dakhni, 122; poetry, 123 Yamanis, 32
U x 6 , 95 Yarmuk, 25
Y o g a , 121-122
Valencia, Valencian, 62, 8 7 - 1 0 5 ; city of,
76 Zahirite theology, 78
Valldigna, 9 6 - 9 7 zajal, 62, 84, 86
Vardar region, 130 Zand, 53
Vernet Gines, Juan, 63 Zarathustra, Zarathustrian, 44, 47
Vicens Vives, Jaime, 88 Zarruq of Fez, 4
Vilayetname, 136 Zayyan, 90, 95
Vincent (baron), 94 Zoroaster, Zorastrian(ism), 47, 52, 116;
Virgin Mary, 29 monotheism, 44
Visigoth(s), Visigothic, 61, 65, 66, 67 Zubaid Ahmad, 119
Vize, 131 al-Zubaidi, 7 5 - 7 6
Vizier, 94, 99, 115 Zulkadriye, 131