The Secret Literature of Spain's Last Muslims

THE SECRET LITERATURE OF THE LAST MUSLIMS OF SPAIN
Author(s): LUCE LPEZ-BARALT

Source: Islamic Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Spring 1997), pp. 21-38
Published by: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23076080
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Studies
Islamic
36:1
(1997)
THE SECRET LITERATURE

OF SPAIN
LAST MUSLIMS
OF THE
LUCE
not
in times
by a sixteenth
century
"We
are
and
the
literature
cryptic
of the native
of them
most
author
Mancebo
de
who
community
which
de
an
Ubeda.
chronicler
world
The
her
before
and
the nostalgic
To
tragic
old
in another
is how
detail
of Granada
back
in
regret,
Another
of "El
The
wailing.
all her
the
the Mora
What
lost
Mora
with
story
personal
she
Arabic
their
a vanquished
depicts
to incessant
her
to
recourse
the pseudonym
Arvalo"),
in
again
of the Qur'n.
under
to their
and
have
at the fate of the Muslims".
of the saintly
eyes,
of
to
with
language
shares
in dramatic
and
had
uttered
prior
over
al-Andalus.
identity
to tears
"weeping
the siege
during
possessions
real
Man
woman,
interlocutor
her eager
apart
while
his
was
de Reminyo
of Spain
is echoed
flourishing
Young
reduced
Muslim
Muslims
who
the sacred
to hide
is again
old
of Baray
of their oppressors
forgotten
("The
statement
Spaniards
of the once
chose
This
statement
hybrid
language
simply
Arvalo"
sorrowful
these
terse
by the name
of the last
situation
tongue
had
Morisco
young
of
of tears".
crypto-Muslim
This
the Spanish
transliterating
tells
1609.
in
expulsion
script
Spanish
up the emotional
it sums
final
but
of gracc
LPEZ-BARALT
relatives
and
1492.
crypto-Muslim
woman
is literally
heart-breaking
passage
of the
coming
Mancebo's
Breve compendio (Abridged Compendium) she grieves at the destruction of the

Book],
according
child's
papers
The
their
are
are
of
it,
Mora
themselves
Harvey,
our
|of
that the present
thinks
that
to blame
"in
al-harsidal"
the
up
these
the Muslims
of
to suffer".
to
folios,
collective
the
tragedy
"The
weepers
of her
made
my
great
Moriscos'
because
of
themselves
determined*?)
|weepcrs|
in spite
Heavenly
who
of al-Andalus,
for the past

But,
Exalted
[The
merchant
folded
of the faith:
misfortunes|.
were
hands
for the present
of the tenets
present
|weepers|
alkiteb
I picked
and
observation
lukewarm
the cause
el alto
to L.P.
out
sadness..."1
ancestors,
"I saw
of Islam:
books
holy
overwhelming
sorrow, she is still hopeful that God will be merciful towards the Spanish
Muslims
and
will
permit
"that
the
minarets
once
more
will
stand
in fixed
peaks".'
tall
luce lpez-baralt/The
The
Secret
extant
testimonies
plaintive
Literature
in the
of the Last
folios
of
Muslims
these
of Spain
secret
Morisco
most of which are still unpublished truly reach the point of

manuscripts
Now
obsession.
it is Yse
considers
"great
Mancebo
of
the
recent
another
Banegas,
who
Arabist",
weeps
historical
whom
crypto-Muslim
while
uncontrollably
events
that
had
afflicted
him
the Mancebo
the
informing
so
poignantly.
The testimonial writer, being from Avila, was ignorant of what really had
in Granada:
happened
I do
son,
"My
not
for the past,
weep
for from
the past
nothing returns; but I weep for what you will see if you have life |long enough|
and
are
We
relive
...
present
expression
is
clandestine
Morisco
Muslim.
they
now
the
I did
...
not
doloroso"
Mancebo's
with
author
to come
desire
to such
or "paintful
bitterness"
when
we
witness
Yse
and
his daughter,
,.."3
weeping
the
of the times
the
who
of
parting
was
also
the
a devout
They showed the Mancebo around their Granadan farm-house, which
were
about
to lose,
themselves
excusing
weeping
on
and
him
gave
as a farewell
for the meagreness

when
"And
everything.
was
in Spain
the "acbar
again
all
I bade
both
present
of the gift,
the father
and
for they
a ring
had
the daughter
and
lost
a pearl,
practically
there
goodbye,
sides".4
A mysterious crypto-Muslim by the name of Muhammad Cordillera

copied a beautiful codex in 1577 which today is extant in the National Library
of Madrid (ms. 5223).
In this miscellaneous manuscript, whose author is
unknown, we find a desolate prayer to God again, full of tears and wailing
asking Him to have mercy on His algaribos or His exiled Muslims from Spain.
The
author
anonymous
. . . against
asks
our
cruel
that the lamentations

have
died
or
to show
the Almighty
enemies,
and
always
tears
undergone
and
sighs
and
prison
His
full
wrath:
of
of those
martyrdom
iniquity
against
blessed
and
us,
Muslims
other
manners
so
who
of
torment and oppression can be avenged in this world and in the next;
and
may
again
be
what
they
God
forbid
disturbed,
have
that
and
already
the
hearts
He
may
lost
of the
permit
Muslims
that
they
of this
lose
no
land
ever
more
than
...5
It is no wonder that Muhammad himself is seen to cry over al

Andalus's tragic fate in the Morisco's plaintive literature. We now read in
ms. 774 of the Bibliotheque National de Paris an aljfar or prophesy in which
Ibn 'Abbs recounts that one day the Prophet, after his evening prayer, looked
over the setting sun "and he cried and cried very hard". Pressed by Ibn 'Abbs
to tell him the cause for such uncontrollable sorrow: "Why have you cried until
you have wet the hairs of your beard with your tears?" Muhammad answered:
"I have wept because my Lord has shown me an Island which is called
Andalusia, which will be the most distant Island which will be populated of all
of Islam, and will be the first most from which Islam will be thrown".6
The flow of tears we find in clandestine Morisco literature is indeed
overwhelming. No wonder the Mancebo sums up the symbolic identity of his
fellow crypto-Muslims by saying sternly that they are "lloradores" or "weepers".
Islamic
Studies
such
Why
36:1
(1 997)
extreme
grief?
experience.
And
it constitutes
a collective
Islamic
this
effort
been
throughout
the sixteenth
immediate
impact
on
the
the
out
precisely
been
of their
so
quoting
But
century
from
this
the
Morisco
becoming
full-fledged
Muslims
of
for
Spain,
Moriscos'
of
in spite
were,
monument
elite
resistance
had
baptized
(quite
Muslims,
crypto-Muslims
of
an
to Muslim
adamant
Renaissance
yet sorrowful
all
they
Spain,
and
we
have
of
slow
authors
its tears,
all
We
are
about
and
and
Hispano-Arabs
all
resistance,
of the last
its outrage,
was
the
through
sixteenth
literature
polyculturalismthat
to browse
The
religious
the secret
Thus,
destiny
sophisticated
cultural
its desperation
and
fatal
culture.
Spanish
heroic
Spaniards.
the
escape
of the highly
of their
to the hybridness
lot.
did-not
official"
descendants
crypto-Muslims,
al-Andalus,
lasting
fled
forcibly
As
underground.
edicts
the prohibitions
were
was
dance
of official
of the most
the combative
mainstream
gradually
the
the festive
Moriscos
Many
in Spain
Islamic
came
easy
about:
far.
even
into
absorption
midst
the
an
is all
cultural-religious
by a succession
But some
went
of
epitome
to stay
Muslim
be expected,
could
conviction).
Catholic,
"officially"
been
of the community's
apparel-even
community.
chose
never
literature
odds
of
regional
forbidden
As
Islamic
all
against
remnants
names,
strictly
while
those who
countries;
often without
true religious
represented
the
century.
has
Morisco
in the midst of Inquisitorial Spain
all
personal
language,
had
of the zambra
soul
Spanish
to preserve
for
difficult,
ceremonies,
now
what
But doing so
identity.
overwhelmingly
one's
Rendering
is precisely
is a
understandably
folios
a literature
of
which was indeed unique, not only because of its hybrid linguistic fabric but also
the historic
because
Muslim.
As
we
to the West,
and
But
and
will
but
cultural
see,
out
of
are exclusively
literature
Morisco
Spanish
is confined
precisely
it explores
experiences
Hispano
both
belongs
to the
East
to neither.
the
troubled
crypto-Muslims'
came
identity
an
unexpected literary creativity. The underground Moriscos took to the task of

urgently trying to preserve their rich cultural heritage from receding into
of rewriting
their classical
literature
"del arabi
and, in the very process
from Arabic
to Spanish
in the Arabic
they ended
up
script
oblivion,
en
aljami"
belles
as
themselves
reinventing
of literary
process
reforging
of the
lettres,
Islamic
authors
implied
and
The
readers.
indeed
treatises
religious
end
a profound
even
and
result
innovation
of the
of
this
long
of the Arabic
works
practical
(medical books, itineraries, etc.) that the Moriscos had inherited from their
ancestors.
through
effort
Let
time
to meet
us take
and
space
a yet
the case
of the legend
in the midst
unborn
prophet
of untold
by
the
of the hero
cosmic
name
of
who
Buluquia,
marvels
travels
in a superhuman
The
Muhammad.
story,
which an anonymous Morisco translated into Spanish in ms. VIII of the

Biblioteca de Estudios Arabes of Madrid7, is extant in its original. The Arabic
version both in the Thousand and One Nights and in al-Tha'libTs Qasas al
But it is one thing to have enjoyed the Muslim legend in the open
Anbiy'.
spaces
of a Moroccan
or Syrian
medieval
market
place
and
quite
another
heard it in the hushed silence of the Spanish crypto-Muslims'
to have
clandestine
luce Lpez baralt/The
unrestrained
instead
Arabic
So
an
that
urgent
of extinction.
of
literature
served
Moriscos,
a different
Mirabilia
it as
assuming
in danger
identity
for
delight
of
even
it is quite
Furthermore,
dwellings.
tool
exact
when
when
adab,
of the
of Spain
the story's
so
famous,
of a national
he proposes
translated
of cultural
purpose
renditions
on
fiction
the defence
is right
or
Muslims
to focus
Arabic
for
Chejne
pedagogical
the painfully
made
political
Anwar
of the Last
experience
has
entertainment
a utilitarian,
even
Literature
Secret
that
Arabic
become
originals
texts with a new political meaning in the hands of the Morisco authors.
is
the
of
case
testimonial
more
simple
can
of the underground
literature
well
that
imagine
was
community
still
the
more
If this
poignant
and
original
engaged.
Before
closer
look
we
between
undergo
underground
themselves
time
were
they
had
and
religious
now
a thing
had
to
give
of the past.
into
we
Catholic
have
Catholic
the
slow
culture
a very
acquiring
But
social
had
of their
be
in their
Islamic
out
that
by
into
an
in oblivion
identity,
did
heritage
was
motherland
up being
by
culturally
not
always
of the solidly
knowledge
pointed
'Moors'.
bury
national
ended
of
same
cultural
integration
of their
nor to a profound
for
The
Ages
to either
Moriscos
the
legitimate'cultural
Middle
cultural
out,
during
at the
Spain.
to stay
opted
ingredients
many
vogue
their
of the
They
It must
into
even
the
Moriscos
Spanish
ended
up
innuendo.
Moriscos,
very
tolerance
who
Islamic
of
and
ways
but
Muslims,
aspects
a
to
literature,
antagonistic
in Renaissance
pointed
a result,
victors.
negative
two
relative
already
were
they
these
deterioration
came
these
two
identification
of the
now
which
between
Moriscos
the
As
to a complete
torn
take
had
Spain
precisely
polymorphic
"Spanishness".
clandestinity
because
way
name
as
the
The
discredited.
totally
hybrid
and
in
is to say,
intensely
incompatible
authors
centuries-both
That
of their
beings:
And
simply
pluralism
monolithic
force
now
human
Spaniards.
become
accept,
official,
as
seventeenth
were
let us
manuscripts,
that the Morisco
countries.
most
Muslims
old
identities
and
Islamic
wrote
they
Spanish
perceiving
heritage
sixteenth
adoptive
in which
the disturbing
of conflicting
the
in their
the years
to read
begin
at the drama
afterwards
or
we
translations,
the
by
self-affirmation.8
now
by
profoundly
torn
in
their
national
identity, faced a new dilemma when their final expulsion was decreed by Philip
III in 1609: they had not been allowed to be bona fide Spaniards in their native
land, but they did not have the time either to become full-Hedged Muslims in the
first decades
two
of their exile
different
in Barbary.
of
processes
The
Morisco
acculturation.
The
community
Islamic
culture
thus
underwent
was
forcefully
taken away from them in Renaissance Spain, and, when they were finally in the
process of becoming assimilated into the 'official' Spanish culture, they were
by the circumstances
forced
In
their
new
into
a new
adoptive
of assimilation.
process
countries
they
began
to
relearn
their
long
forgotten Arabic and to acquire a deeper knowledge of their Islamic religion, by

now
mostly
Tunisia
reduced
received
considered
them
to superficial
the
to be
Muslim
rituals.
refugees
Europeans.
As
Countries
with
open
Mikel
de
like
arms,
Epalza
Morocco,
but,
reminds
Algeria
at the
us.
and
same-time,
the Turkish
Islamic
Studies
regent
of
foreign
(1997)
Tunis,
'Uthmn
community
of
his
under
36:1
direct
The
Dey,
Moriscos
found
and
themselves,
new
comers
as
level
economic
for obvious
protection
political
the
protected
technical
high
utilitarian
an
and
autonomous
reasons.1'
in the ironical
therefore,
them
placed
situation
of
being expelled from Spain as Muslims and then of being considered Europeans
by their benefactors in their new homelands. Like the symbolic olive tree (see
Qur'n 24:35), they belonged neither to the East nor to the West. While in
Spain they had to hide their Islamic identity. But once in Barbary, even though
they
were
to
overjoyed
be
to
able
Islam
practice
at
last,
long
felt
they
poignant, understandable nostalgia for their lost Iberian motherland. And this,
again, proved to be a difficult undertaking: after so many decades they had
learned to love and to memorize their contemporaries' re-discovered literary
works.
It is usual
to come
across
the Spanish
Renaissance
classical
authors
Lope de Vega, Quevedo, Gngora cautiously bui admiringly

intermingling with Islamic authorities in the proselitistic treatises written in
exile. It must also be said that the literature the Moriscos produced as refugees
proved to be as hybrid and as polycultural as it had been during the Spanish
Garcilaso,
underground
But
period.
could
authors
express
for
inverse
their
openly
reasons:
identification with their former European

"lloradores"
l'or many
thus
took
their
to come:
years
tears
this,
to exile:
in spite
in
while
to
allegiance
culture could
their
was
destiny
of their
adamant
Muslim
the
Barbary
Islam,
too
enthusiastic
The
be suspect.
to remain
loyalty
landless
to the
Islamic
religion of their ancestors from al-Andalus, which they finally recovered in the
Muslim nations which gave them refuge.
But let us retrace the Moriscos' steps while they were still in the
Peninsula, struggling to remain faithfulto the Islamic faith. Their literary saga,
which roughly encompasses the sixteenth century, began in earnest alter the
Catholic
Monarch's
be violated.
to reforge
forced
benevolent
capitulations
after
the
fall of Granada
began
to
This is not to say that the Spanish Islamic community had not tried
their
baptisms
national
culture
( 1499-1525):
into
let us
Spanish
remember
prior
to the Granada
the sixteenth
debacle
century
or the
aljamiado
rendition of the Poema de Yusuf and 'Isa ihn Jbir's 1456 Spanish translation of
the Qur'n, whose momentous historical importance many scholars have recently
stressed.1" But the sustained, collective effortof preserving for posterity the last
remnants of the Moriscos' cultural identity is, ironically, really a Renaissance
Perhaps a Renaissance ci l'envers phenomenon, l'or no other
phenomenon.
can boast of having produced such a peculiar literary corpus as
nation
European
did
during its supposed "classical" period, Be that as it may, thanks to
Spain
these manuscripts which we have recently begun to discover and to decode" we

have the impressive opportunity of witnessing with singular pathos the
extinction of an entire peuple, and we see as well their efforts to hold back the
inevitable historical forces which were about to descend upon them,
The Morisco authors were the chroniclers or perhaps the anti
chroniclers.' of a vanishing world. Their first tragedy was that they could
produce neither literature nor religious proselitistic treatises in the language of
luce lpez baralt/The
their
from
forebears
their
wrote
al-Andalus.
and
Spanish,
Secret
The
which
Arabic
were
Literature
of the Last
characters
with
a few
Muslims
in which
the Moriscos
exceptions
of Spaii
the full extent
of their knowledge of their holy tongue, testifyto a terrible tragedy.

loss
The
of
the
believers
from
the point
of view
of religion,
revelation
is
an
Hegyi
less
from
of these
indignation
or
"al-'Ajam"
of
part
the
for
for
their
and
authors,
crypto-Muslim
aljamiado
their
ritual.
than
more
This
texts
who
leads
hung
Arabic
that the
dignity
resented
Thus
the
to use
having
comes
expression
Ottmar
to their
readers.13
deeply
the
treatises:
from
of the
tongue
fact
for the sacred
clandestine
Muslim
particularly
in the sacred
clandestine
of secrecy
to the
grievous
but
praying
religious
of these
them
was
Qur'n
of culture,
for in Islam
considerations
held
the
of view
that the author
characters
Arabic
the point
essential
to observe
characters
of
language
not only
from
the
Arabic 'ajamiyyah, meaning foreign tongue. Although the coined technical term
has
been
Muslims
generally
to the totality
applied
it must
of Spain,
be
of the secret
literary
that some
acknowledged
corpus
Moriscos
of the last
wrote
also
in
the Arabic language and even in Spanish using the Latin script both before and
after their exile in Barbary. That is why Gerard Wiegers prefers to refer to
Morisco
fully
literature
aware
"Islamic
as
of their
linguistic
were
shortcomings,
the foreign, almost heretical aljamiado,

author
In any
literature".13
Spanish
the Moriscos,
case,
outraged
to have
to write
in
as the vitriolic tone of this anonymous
demonstrates:
clearly
Not one of our religious brothers or sisters knows the Arabic in which
our
Holy
be
was
Qur'n
nor
religion,
conveniently
can
stated
nor
revealed,
appreciate
its refined
to them
the
understands
excellence,
in a foreign
truths
unless
tongue,
which
of
these
the
things
is that
of
these Christian dogs, our tyrants and oppressors. May Allah confound
them! Thus, then, may I be pardoned by Him who reads what is
written
in the heart,
and
knows
that my only
intention
took
the task
is to open
to the
faithful of the Muslim religion the path of salvation, even if it be by

this vile
and
Another
anonymous
despicable
means,14
Morisco,
who
on
of translating
the
Qur'n into Spanish in 1606, is again quite unhappy over the fact that he has to
use the "letters of the Christians". He begs for his readers' understanding:
[The writer) begs that on account of being in those letters [his work|
be not belittled, but rather respected; because, being set down in this
way, it can better be seen by those Muslims who know how to read
Christian, but not Muslim, letters. For it is true that the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be on him) said that the best language was the one
that could
be
understood".15
The process of learning to transliterate these "letters of the Christians"

with the Arabic script was not an early one, A high-n>nking sharlf of noble
Islamic
36:1
Studies
Ibn
origin,
his
father
was
six
'Abd
al-Rafi'
him
taught
his
hand.
His
home
father
Ibn
al-Andalusl
the Arabic
old.
years
crypto-Muslim
when
(1997)
'Abd
testimonial
and
quietly
and
him
assures
the
the fear the youngster
one
with
day
reader
that
many
when
must
to a
have
of
years
felt
in his
slate
exile
Barbary he can still see the slate graphically inscribed in his memory.
father
starts
to write
the father,
with
the "letters
of the Christians",
and
in
The
over
goes
Every time the child repeats one of these "foreign" signs,

yet authoritative
gentle
Arabic
corresponding
the slate
upon
them with his son.
he
access
a walnut-wood
after
of how
of Islam
a privileged
us
gives
us to share
forces
account
the first notions
account
approached
al-Rafi'
us a heart-rendering
gives
alphabet
patience,
are
"Ours
signs.
like
on
goes
to instruct
he whispers
this",16
on
him
the
in the startled
child's ear. 'Abd al-Rafi' ends up having to memorize a double alphabet neatly
inscribed in a double column. He learns immediately that he is in the midst of
a very dangerous academic task: he must keep his father's teachings strictly to
himself.
Not
signs
when
lesson,
was
even
of duplicity
well
very
a secret
caution
as
what
and
to
his
teaching
he was
He
mother
you?".
teaching
to be
proves
loyal
the
access
remains
bursts
mutters
But
you".18
to the father
saintly
had
of
scolds
and
the future
who
his
the child,
afraid,
tell
who
Granada,
ominous
"What
him:
his
starting
life
for I know
me,
had
sharif
introduced
In the years
community.
al-thrl
and
Arabic
curving
memorizing
the room
be
"Don't
to the delicate
alone,
into
"Nothing",
of his threatened
with
study
have
should
slate.
a crypto-Muslim.17
to the secrets
manage
mother
suddenly
father
your
his
in the wooden
extant
learnt
him
to keep
with
had
such
he will
to come
an
become
expert in Islamic law before the fall of the city. Al-Rafi' had to continuously
risk his life in order to furtherhis knowledge of Islam and it is not surprising
that he finally decided to tlee his native homeland.
Not
same
good
all
the crypto-Muslims
as had
luck
Ibn
had
'Abd
the same
scholarly
The
al-Rafi'.
tenacity
Morisco
nor
Francisco
the
de
Espinosa alleged in his Inquisitorial trial that "he knew no more words in Arabic
than
El
they
meant".19
de
handurila
Of
la
course
bradamin
hurrazmin,
the accused
man
and
could
that he
be
knew
disguising
not
his
even
true
what
Islamic
knowledge to avoid incrimination, but the truthis that the aljamiado manuscripts
indicate a similar situation. The reader often comes across the pathetic practice
of the Arabic alphabet in the blank folios of the anonymous codices. Usually,
when the Arabic language is briefly quoted in the manuscripts, it is interspersed
with grammatical errors. Even the Mancebo de Arvalo, whom his collaborator
Baray de Reminyo describes as a "scholarly young man... very expert and
educated in the reading of Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and in aljamiado
most conversant",20 seems to have had a quite modest literary and religious
culture. L.P. Harvey has demonstrated the errors our scholar falls into when
he tries to show off his knowledge of these venerable languages,21 He was also
ignorant of the basics of Arabic grammar and of the rules of declination, which
he appears to confuse with the attitudes of the speaker, His Morisco friends,
ignorant of Arabic, begged the young man to give them some instruction in the
luce Lpez barai The
And
language.
opacity
we
he
to collect
friends
my
with
this
Literature
of the Last
Muslims
of Spai
"lesson",
whose
original
outrageous
in the translation:"
respect
I wished
them
"helps"
Secret
certain
asked
me
Arabic
why
similes
it was
that
in aljamiado
in
Arabic
because
in certain
of
some
passages
sometimes one said Allh, ther times Allhu. and other times Allhi....
one
is to understand
that
saying
Allah
without
any
other
appearance
|addition| is to speak in absolutes. Allhu is to take current |sic., no

doubt meaning "speak" | in order to invoke some saying as though to
say "merciful" or "mercy".
Saying Allah is like that man who
entrust
to
wishes
himself
to Allah; he goes directly to Allah
suddenly
instead of asking his al-rahmah or pity. The man who says Allahu
goes more slowly in seeking ... pity.-'
For all their distressing linguistic difficulties, the crypto-Muslims
refused to forget Arabic. And they did it against all historical odds; in the
momentous year of 1492 - the fall of Granada and the expulsion of the Jews permitted the nationalization of Spanish territory, while the discovery of
America
the
opened
Peninsular
culture
to unexpected
horizons.
But
1492
was
also a historical year because Antonio de Nebrija published the first Gramtica
de la lengua castellana. The great humanist thought that his Spanish Gramtica
based on Quintilianus and Diomedes, would be of service for the unity of his
recently founded nation, which quickly proclaimed Castillian as its official
tongue, But in a few years the underground Moriscos will in turn be hurriedly
the
translating
famous
aljamiado
anonymous
Arabic
grammar
or
Jurrmiyyah
Muqaddtmah
al-Sanluiji ihn al-Jurrfon, born in Fez (1273-1339
Muhammad
rendition
of the popular
opuscule,
extant
in ms.
),
Junta
of
The
XII,
probably anteceded the first European editions and Latin translations of the
text -4
It
is
no
exaggeration
to
say
that
the
clandestine
manual
was
the
fierce answer to Nebrija's Gramtica, and one can only wonder how
many crypto-Islamic children used it in the secrecy of their homes in their
struggle to remain bilingual. They were precisely the future authors of our
hybrid aljamiado texts,
Aljamiado literature was indeed so mestizo or hybrid in its linguistic
outlook that when (he first manuscripts were discovered in the eighteenth
century, scholars just did not know what to make of them, Confused by texts
Moriseo's
that were written in the Arabic script but which at the same time were not extant
in Arabic, researchers like Sylvestre de Saey thought they must have been
written in "some of the languages spoken in Africa, or perhaps in
Madagascar".-'
Let us begin by opening some of the most prdselitistic manuscripts, for
the hulk of sixteenth-century Islamic Spanish literature, Again
constitute
they
Mancebo
de Arvalo who describes vividly in his Breve compendio or
it is the
Brief Compendium a visit he payed to Sarmiento, an illustrious 'lim or
Muslim sage from Granada.
Sarmiento, already one hundred years old and
Islamic
Studies
had
infirm,
constant
36:1
(1997)
been
so
his
insults
afflictcd
fellow
the outskirts
of the town.
two
friends
Morisco
lecture
and
and
almimbar,
the
greeted
must
from
Arvalo.
seemed
to
returning
Tafsira
free",0
that is,
yet
to come.
modern
Moriscos
He
a journalist
la
avant
the "grande
Banegas,
to learn
quoted,
several
final
city's
"do
noble
both
ladies,
I saw
lament
last
the
historical
sold
is one
him.
not
As
and
void;
because
I do
son,
slaves
of
the
own
of
in
than
more
point
moment
be
saw
how
the
the
city
all
eyes
and
the
humiliated,
maidens.Yse's
for posterity.
At long
describe
community
of Granada
the
they do
not echo
for from
is
understanding
your
when
frightened
when
for the past,
not weep
hundred
records
out
in the
of view:
that of the things

not
read
role
my
scorned
Yuse
already
when
he
with
I saw
Islamic
vanquished
should
is no
three
the Mancebo
have
important
square
being
with
we
his
of that of
months
events,
town
was
and
the Mancebo
an
these
for
women,
two
had
almost
again,
editor,
Granada
makes
the
thee...
telling
poignant
their
you
there
style,
married
auction
I know
son,
who
his
eyewitness
as
my
and
in public
events
My
doubt
of the most
voices
an
from
scholar,
and
is
inside
deep
of doubt;
Tafsira's
for
stays
Arabist"
to correct
sold
widows
from
old
The
loud
were
muted
My
or "great
the
land
that the worst
again
the
Narvez,
Islam
this
But
the feeling
survivors
Mancebo
The
capitulations.
surrendered:
Teresa
lettre.
surahs
women
Granadian
and
Maria
arabigo"
from
Qur'nic
the
of
"when
felt the pangs
have
newcomer
magnas,
opus
Tafsira
the Christians.
have
in Granada
interviewing
keeps
reminds
attitude
must
writer
he meets
began
Islamic
to the
his
he
to the old
possibility
of
prologue
from
is "liberated"
Spain
the
over
at his
when
he
pathetic
yet another
write
formally
occasions,
time
to
of
stood
wear
to
attachment
emotional
in the
"He
used
festive
optimistic
will
he
tunic
during...
assures
testimonial
the crypto-Islamic
the fellow
he
Sarmiento
or almimbar:
yet at the same
that he
when
very
remained
Exposition,
same
the
moved
in the company
house
he heard
when
to avoid
he
to,
subjected
to his
pulpit
stubborn
heroic
for
Spain,
or
all
the
in order
that
being
went
impressed
Granada
chronicler
Our
still
Mancebo
quite
Sarmiento's
have
of the city
were
a home-made
with
of
Kings
preaching...".16
ways
was
from
the newcomers
house's
The
fall
the
by
Muslims
tell
you
them,
my heart
within
the past
of
nothing
...
returns,
but I weep for what you will see if you |stay] in this island of Spain.
Pray to His kindness, that . . . this thing that 1 say fall into oblivion,
and not be fulfilled as I have foreseen it, specially with our religion so
scorned ... that the people will say: Where did our preaching go?
What has happened to the religion of our fathers'.' And all will be
for the man
bitterness
with
sense
[to
feel
it).
And
what
most
hurts
is
that the Muslims will imitate the Christians, and will not refuse their
dress nor dodge |spurn] their food. Pray to His kindness that ... they
pay
no
that
I say
attention
all
this
to their
law
passionately
with
|but|
their
hearts...
I did
not
You
desire
will
clearly
to come
see
to such
luce Lpez baralt/The
if now
For
weeping...
ourselves
in such
[the last days] come?
short
will
of the Last
space
it appears
there
be
Muslims
of Spai
that we
when
the
last
sustain
autumns
If the fathers belittle the religion, how will the
grandchildren
not his
Literature
what
confrontation,
by
great-great-great
keeps
Secret
what
words,
If the
it?
praise
awaits
us
from
his
of
king
the
conquest
successors?29
Banegas was painfully right in his historical "prophesy": the Catholic

Monarch
Ferdinand
King
not only
in the Alpujarras
Saragossa.
Again
in one
making;
secret
are
his
most
as a worried
of
anger
his
from
in
accords
important
debt
to
the
dramatic
and
after
the
fall
men"
The
he
sense
of Granada.
whom
in
in
history
minute
the
detail
in which
he participated,
records
the desperation
skilfully
of
many
like
resistance
of
describes
in Aragon,
chronicler
Muslims,
of Islamic
pockets
Mancebo's
scenes,
wise
observer.
fellow
own
And yet, the crypto-Muslims did put up a fight,
but
we
of "Muslims
meeting
probably
and
of
his
betrayed
They were hard times indeed.
could
not
deal
with
the
difficulties involved in keeping Islam alive:

...[the
gave
our
Muslims!
gathered
his
harangue:
loss
was
and
had;
indeed
be
that
many
was
no
was
they
avail
and
each
one
one
who
said
little essence
that the worK

but
merit;
to
at how
said
man]
sorrows
there
things
lamented
greater
work
the
among
[wise
to our
so
and
of our
to speak
began
great
'lim
another
do...would
saying
and
far
as
the
work
we
his
repudiated
as
our
which
had
to
speech,
[or
precept
orthodoxyl is concerned, because it was lacking the principal thing,

which
is the
call
[officiali
to prayer,
and
thus
the
work
could
not
be
pleasant [spiritually acceptable to God|...

And
all
among
these
another
disgusts,
wise
man
said
another
...angry
piece: like all the rest, he said that every man should tie up his skirt
his
about
desired
waist
[so
salvation
as to move
should
go
in order
freely
out
and
seek
to escape]
it.
and
took
Everyone
those
his
who
speech
very ill, because it caused great sadness [?fea\ and did not give the
of a good
example
and
as
each
surprised
any
mood
Muslim.
of those
that each
to jest,
men
one
nor
There
many
felt the general
should
to utter
speak
his
improper
different
sorrows
harm
his
fact
that the underground

sometimes,
community,
aljamiado
law.
barely
Moriscos
so.
Reem
did
because
mind,
were
we
told;
I was
own,
were
not
not
in
words.30
In spite of all these difficulties, the aljamiado

to the
as
manuscripts bear witness

to survive
manage
Iversen31
has
as
an
documented
Islamic
a curious
letter (ms. Junta XV1) addressed to an al-faqih or Islamic doctor of
It is written
in great
haste
by an anonymous
Morisco
who
requests
that the
al-faqih send him (or her) at once a prayer rug to perform the salh or Islamic
ritual
prayer.
The
sender
of the undated
be hall (made of licit materials).
letter
also
specifies
that the mat
must
If the clandestine business was discovered it
Islamic
Studies
would
have
36:1
cost
even
perhaps
(1997)
But
the
both
letter
writer
and
the crypto-Muslim
authors
did
were
much
mat
their
provider
and
liberty
more
not limit
from
sophisticated
to these
themselves
merely
They attacked Christianity in treatises
ritual aspects of their Islamic religion.

that
the
lives.
their
of
point
theological
view.
The
anonymous polemist who authored ms. 5302 of the National Library of Madrid
was
in his
frontal
quite
attack
of Christ,
whose
downsizes
he
figure
to that of
a simple prophet who was not, as Catholics claim, God himself. Reading this
text
to be
proves
an
uneasy
still
manuscript
particular
of Jesus'
circumstances
for
experience
remains
The
unpublished.12
and
gestation
readers:
Spanish
which
birth,
no
to him
seems
months
and
polemist
nor
drinks
born
and
and
he
then
left it through
nor
as a grown
you
say
that
and
he slept
man,
and
he was
was
God
having
he
and
as
it".33
'Isa
The
this?"34
leave
But
for thirty three
all
sons
fear
the
normal
that he neither
him
saw
people
them
done
afraid.
as
and
experienced
and
with
Adam's
is Uncreated,
is never
of Adam
the sons
where
place
that Allah
of course
drank,
with
then
and
sleeps,
he ate and
walked
the same
his reader
reminds
this
womb for nine
those of any other human being: "(Jesus| stayed in |Mary's|

Our
wonder
first depicts
author
or
and
eats
Jesus
"was
he fled
Herod
first as
a child
and
years.
So
can
author's
how
of
depiction
Christ's crucifiction is truly startling from the point of view of a traditional

Catholic
He
Spaniard.
"We
have
to
and
complained
process
of
comfort
him...
such...and
And
.So
as
moriscos
los
offers
that
asked
God
Prophet
recent
Textos
be
afraid...and
from
excused
him
to let
as you
and
rest,
Christians
at that:
he
that
the
experiencing
an
came
angel
when
claim,
the
to
he needed
de
Superior
of Lights,36
vida
inherited
Prophet
the
depicting
from
is
l'envers,
Consuelo
el Profeta
Cientficas,
1994)
Prophet's
sacred
to the profusely
According
de Mahonia:
Investigaciones
texts
of aljamiado
the
la
sobre
Christ
community.
crypto-Islamic
aljamiados
miracles.
veritable
Muhammad,
of
Consejo
frequent
he
man
fearful
was
|Jesus]
the Almighty?"35
collection
Book
as an anguished,
and
that
he be God,
expected,
(Madrid:
and
or
he
can
true
splendid
genealogy
Anwr
be
the
Lpez-Morillas's
fact
|God|
from
consolation
celebrated
de
how
could
as a man,
the
implored
death.
As
died
accept
copied
Adam
and
Kitb
al
from
the
religious prophets that preceded him, a miraculous light which shone on his
as a sign
forehead
of his
famous Kitb al-Mi'rj

vivid
detail
future
role
of the Muslims.
leader
as the spiritual
The
or Libro de la esca'a,37 on the other hand, describes in

on
ascension
Muhammad's
the
al-burq
to
the
seventh
heaven,
where he spoke with God himself. Again, this well-known text was respectfully
once
copied
their
and
secret,
to venerate
again
defiant
openly
One
of
by
the Spanish
in Catholic
the
most
It seems
crypto-Muslims.
to the Christian
answer
religious
figures
to have
they
their
not only
children
moving
constantly
hostage
and
forced
of
Islamic
Spain.
testimonies
of
the
whole
corpus
Spanish literature, however, is the denunciation of the Inquisition.

Tribunal
been
were
violated
the crypto-Muslims'
confiscated
their
properties.
consciences,
Our
The feared
but took
anonymous
luce lopez baralt/The
who
informer,
writing
for
constant
threat
writes
l'orni
...
midst
be
of
grew
Inquisition,
properties,
and
years
were
small,
the
if it was
were
know
to
of Spai
that
live
...
should
|we|
he
is
under
the
out
the
|we|
designs,
...
to
rear,
said
that
be castrated
not
of
all
|we|
should
and
children
if they
like
them,
be
cauterization!
{by
engender
into
be left for
the children,
make
the
lives,
thrown
should
they
to
of our
was
and
oneself
taken
stripped
consumed
of
abhorrence
show
were
were
where
some
might
that one
a person
to
their
day
a thrice
out
put
every
done.
us
plucked
necessary
not
in
was
and
that we
that
Muslims
to
like
who
Lord,
the truth we
for
the property
they
so
body
it was
it was
as their evil
heretics;
others
and
children;
as
Christiansi,
death,
merciful
for following
as black
prison,
many
what
heretics...|tor|
for
where
dark
to our
Christian
demanded,
they
seems
Tunisia,
describes
in their hearts,
greater
of the Last
Tribunal:
given
these
Literature
of
safety
he
of the feared
Thanks
as
the
when
posterity
Secret
so
[the
put
to
in a part
of
die
out
by
degrees.
Almost
the
Islamic
members
within
not
the
lived
all
in
faith.
treatises
taught
afterlife.
of
precisely
the
Moriscos'
the
most
all
Antonio
about
law
but
moment
beliefs.
how
that
to be
religious
of dying
and
its
to die
had
Different
Rodriguez19
from
to teach
also
the processes
Vespertino
authors
managed
critical
traditional
community
Both
the Morisco
by
community
to Islamic
according
was
the secret
rewritten
Muslim
and
Miguel
the
Angel
have published excerpts of some of the most fascinating "death
Vazquez*'
manuals"
what
secret
to marry
Death
context
ensuing
The
how
only
the
of life were
aspects
of view.
point
of itljamido
it had
been
"Azrail
me
for him
[the
received
our
club
it all
of
with
now
pulling
after
of my
such
feel
detail
the
my al-rh
from
vein
I can
compare
only
been
lying
in
pain
my
and
from
[soul]
to vein
it with
that
fire
brandishing
he knocked
I...have
still
in morbid
until
he
a terrifying
it to the
here...for
throat
three
from
the
soul...41
eschatological
that a particularly
learning
and
...
took
and
Then
alive.
us
upon
He
to joint
pain
skinned
describes
soul;
of fury.
joint
1 felt such
years
out
a blast
to my throat.
of being
hundred
his
descended
Death|
from
the way
fire.
experience
But
of
souls
skull
symbolic
to surrender
Angel
it apart]
I tearing
forced
literature.
like
struggle,
delightful
heaven
many
awaited
Moriscos
had
them.
It was.
the relief
as
was
of
to
be expected, an Islamic Paradise inhabited by black-eyed houris of ravishing

beauty.
to look
Their
down
immediately
demeanour
upon
turn
was
the ocean
so
incredibly
with
their
gentle
heavenly
that if just
gaze,
one
its salty
of them
waters
sweet.4'
were
would
Islamic
36:1
Studies
The
another
literary
which
genre
We
way.
of Sacromonte
and
are
is again
imagination
the persecuted
minority
of the Tower
the old
minaret
the cathedral,
a lead
was
use
in
domo
sua
in
pro
affaire
was
to good
of the lead
of Turpin
of the mosque,
box
pul
exploited
to the incredible
referring
the parchment
Turpiana.
to expand
order
feverish
crypto-Muslims'
a spectacular
the Torre
(1997)
in Granada.
When
in
demolished
discovered,
books
containing
1580
"prophetic"
inscriptions in Spanish and Arabic dealing with the end of the world.
years
later,
were
found
Arabic
in 1595.
were
belong
to
more
in Sacromonte
characters
which
a much
first
and
century,
Seen by St. James,

Mysteries
others attributed
to Tesifn
of
disciples
St.
tablets
or plomos
as
uproar
us a physical
heaven
on
a mare
heaven
on
the burciq)
the
vices
that
of Christ
and
in
scholars
who
Muslims
the
the discovery,
followed
version
coarse
(a
1600,
they
the Virgin
(in
in
those
and
although
were
finally
late
years.
were
the lead
as much
The
texts
is snatched
Peter's
as
as
to
theological
where
into
inquiries
and
under
long
give
up
to the seventh
to
the
dispute
by Peninsular
authenticated
to Rome,
The
Spain.41
day.44
to St.
suffer
among
ordered
who
to
Green
putative
to Harvey,
own
will
the relics
moved
of
of Muhammad
Arabic)
Granada
The
Enalrab,
saint
Mary,
of the ascent
replies
Virgin,
Cecilio
according
in our
caused
and
by the
Seen
patron
to appear
enthusiastically
the find caused,

have
sixteenth-century
of
importance
and
future
de Castro,
Vaca
Scrolls
description
his brother
the
spostle,
Pedro
Sea
Mysteries
and
thin tablets,
made
books
several
and
Ebnatar
excavated,
Dead
the
included
tablets
in angular
These
been
Fifteen
lead
written
Latin.
had
wafer,
they
Enigmas
the
James
of Granada.
Archbishop
in crude
the si/.e of a communion
made:
in Granada,
and
antique)
was
discovery
mountain"
"holy
as to look
(so
about
the
or
remarkable
in
were
they
declared
heretical.4''
This
hoax
a utilitarian
served
eve of its final expulsion in 1609.

is one
Here
is no
"there
illa
as
time,
Harvey
pair
and
chroniclers
theological
and
expulsion
"literary
to lend
few
prophesy,
assures
will
break
the
of
these
extant
the reader
out
"between
two
are
last
prestige,
One
774
which
kings,
the
are
adorers
is the
[in
form]
at the
that
took
as
today
halt
are
part
The
false
at
Moorish
of interest
We
as
have
the
manipulating
is an anonymous
colourful
Nationale
a merciful
of the cross
in
pathetic
the
aljamiado.
aimed
the
in the
authors.
to
llha
Jesus
suspicion
Bibliothque
to have
and
who
yet they
in
of the most
of
seen
failure
prophecy
pieces
that the Moriscos

the
their
total
of
genre
in ms.
fact
their
some
literary
future.
Luna,
Miguel
in
some
de
set-phrase
becomes
God
Qur'nic
is
manuscript
in
tragic
Islam
community's
crypto-lslamic
who
and
of
very
were
tablets,
of Turpin
dying
god
and
but
religions.
Islamic
the
Messenger"
is no
There
and
Castillo
the
Tower
precedent"
documented
author's
of
is His
"there
observes!46
del
naivet
or
[in contenti
aptly
Alonso
the
syncretism
Allah,
on the
population
the Islamic
and
in the texts:
Muhammad
Catholic
translations
"official"
and
ruh
Very
controversial
YasiV
of God".
same
their
but God
god
of the Christian
a synthesis
of religious
example
wa
Allah,
spirit
to reach
attempt
desperate)
for the Moorish
purpose
The plomos implied a diplomatic (and truly
de
fate,
and
Paris,
for discord
the
eaters
ol
Secret
of the Last
Literature
pork...and Allah...will send a king who shall be called Ahmad".47

Turks
will
come
an apotheosis
to the aid
of Islam:
of the Spanish
The
Muslims,
that will
first thing
and
return
of Spaii
Muslims
Finally, the
the prophesy
closes
to the religion
with
of al-Islm
will be the Island of Cecilia [Sicily], and afterward the Island of the Olives,
which is Mallorca, and the Island of the salt, which is Ibiza...and the great
Island
of Spain
The
...4S
could
triumph
not be
more
and
complete,
the details
are
startling:
And the King of the Christians will be captive, and be sent to the city
of Valencia.
There he will become a Muslim.
And when the
Christians see that, they will gather in the city of the river. Over them
will
come
one
three
and
arms,
all
the
area
of
and
kings,
shall
will
one
another;
into
Muslim
three
they
eat at one
move
uera
table,
into
enter
and
afterwards
the
the city
other
by force
will
they
of Monkayo
the area
and
(sic.],
will
the other
[sic.],
into
the
of
bless
area
of
Hima
(which we believe signifies Seville). And when the Christians see that
their king is captive they will turn Muslim .... And the Muslims shall
be
of course,
History,
Islamic
their
decreed.
Even
of
period
precipitated
was
who
community
strenuous
with
conquerors,
of Allah
another
to invent
time.
Some
this last wilful
took
had
flight
the power
tum.
took
their
to Barbary
even
before
fled
as
secretly
as
did
in
had
they
had
lived
crypto
for such
their
the edict
He].49
the Spanish
as a people
destiny
affirmation
be
|exalted
so
And
their survival
Many
act of Islamic
ta 'ala
own
a long,
of the final
expulsion
in Renaissance
an ironic
touch:
and
hands
Spain.
the Moriscos
had to escape disguised as Christian pilgrims on their way to "Santa Maria de

Lorito
assume
been
in France
ILoreto]"
their
able
real
identity
to document
or
to St.
Mark
and
continue
again
a curious
in Venice.
aljamiado
Once
there,
their
trip to Islamic
"Guide
to the road",
could
they
I have
lands.
which
guided
the fleeing crypto-Muslims out of their "precious island" of Spain:

Information
you
for the road:

about
something
in Jaka
where
you
are
you
will
show
going
gold:
if they
[say]:
because
should
ask
of debts.
And that you wish to withdraw into France. And in France [say] that
you are going to Santa Maria de Lorito [sic.]. In Leon, you will show
the coin, you will pay forty-one, in silver or gold, you will demand the
road to Milan; from there onward you will say that you are going to
visit Samarko [St. Mark's] in Venice. Embark in Padua and on a river
with destination in Venice, you will pay half a real per head, you will
disembark at the plaza of Samarko; you will enter an inn, [but] first
before
a room
entering
with
a bed
[there],
you
must
arrange
the price,
you will pay half a real per day, and take [eat or drink] nothing from
the inn,
to buy
headgear
for you
whatever
are
will
pay
thing
Turks,
for one
you
need.
those
with
thing
three
There,
yellow
times.
Go
out
those
that you
headgear
are
see
Jews,
to the plaza
with
white
merchants
Islamic
S tu di es
36:1
from
(1997)
the Grand
for
wish,
brothers
ducat
vinegar
for eight
a
of
the
cake
de
shores
as
la
Oliver
Historia
to be
of Spanish
generation
Again,
liberated
if it had
even
one
Muslims:
Moriscos
born
one
and
and
and
and
rice
fresh
and
bread
author
he does
that of
of ms.
ourselves
in Islamic
for the first
writes
not want
*S-2
reached
entourage
author
new
their
testimonies
his
to see
wanted
in
arrival
vivid
the profilic
anonymous
in exile:
pay
for water
stew
beans
safe
He
"We
Our
will
give
have
you
man.5"
their
calls
it is you
that
you
buy
white
of the most
Madrid.
naked".52
also
days,
per
Asin51
of
whatever
them
there;
will
or other
celebrate
ask
Tell
to go
you
at ten pounds
texts
as Jaime
it.
wish
chickpeas
Morisco
of Tunisia",
to
for fifteen
provision
and
should
you
aright
for the passage

and
few
Biblioteca
Africa's
lands,
that you
of adoption.
countries
"the exile
and
olives
days
those
you
Purchase
and
from
lead
and
head,
per
Quite
will
in Salnica
firewood.
Islamic
and
Turk,
they
them
to forget
their immense debt of gratitude to Citibulgaiz (Sd! Ab -Gayth al-Qashshsh,

the holy
man
who
their
organized
and
arrival)
to Uzmanday
or
'Uthmn
Dey,
Tunisia's Turkish regent, who also took special pains in helping the newcomers
adapt to their new life as full-fledged Muslims:
In this
of
land
of Islam
we
were
demeanour
imposing
but
received
to
us
Tunisia's
Uzmanday,
by
a gentle
and
lamb;
king,
the
by
saintly
itibulgaiz, and by the Muslim people; and all of them tried very hard
to
accommodate
Uzmanday
every
us,
us
exempted
had
ship
to pay
form
what
is more,
he even
let us choose
were
offered
to occupy.
Some
one
from
and
hundred
friendship.
us..
the different
among
La
to choose
Mahdia
that
escudos
so as to encourage
in port,
had
love
great
the
paying
arriving
upon
with
us
showering
.and
lands
we
their
against
will, and still, he helped them with wheat, barley and guns...And
found
as
I get
need
we
out
well
and
did
a friend
through
you
and
I will
give
it to them.
not have
to pay
he was
of his that when

go
And
anything
to all these
we
were
[any
to find out
places
three
given
and
taxes]...
as soon
ill he said:
years
what
during
he prevented
they
which
people
from harassing us... on the other hand, Citibulgaiz helped us with food
and lodged us in the zaguyas [zawiyahs or sanctuaries], specially in
iti el-Zulaychi's [zwiyah], where he gave lodging to many women
And since it is usual for
and children and to many poor people.
ignorant children to defile without taking into consideration where they

are, they soiled [iti el-Zulaychi's zwiyah] to the extreme, until the
guaquil [man in charge] warned itibulgaiz, telling him that the
zwiyah had been turned into a dungheap. And he answered: "Let
them be, and let them defile all they want, for if the place they are in
could
blessed
talk,
it would
people,
perfect
say:
"May
Muslims
you
and
be
most
dearest
welcome
brethren.
to
Only
my
place,
he who
is
a mu'tnin |believer)
will
[hypocrite]
Reading
we
Sometimes
that many
It is true
it.
to halt
unable
that
their
these
literature
their
is
wrote
troubled
chroniclers
in spite
destiny
of the Last
Muslims
of Spai
you".53
Moriscos
out
Literature
will love thee, and only he who is a munfiq
Islamic
Spanish
feel
but to try to sort
heritage,
with
loath
Secret
sobering
not only
identity
of
of their
and
indeed.
experience
to preserve
their
to try to come
Moorish
aljamiado
harangues,
their
Islamic
to terms
literature
secret
were
or
meetings,
their optimistic yet falsifying prophesies.
Yet they offer us an invaluable vision
of
as
their
gradual,
painful
disappearance
testimony
of these
hand
al-Andalus
ceased
in the midst
of tears
how
written
and
human
lloradores
or
and
And
importance.
weepers,
to be
a
we
in sixteenth
desperation,
it belongs
both
culture.
living
have
been
Thanks
able
to
to witness
the
first
Their
testimony,
is a legacy
of invaluable
historical
to the East
and
century
Spain.
to the West,
for it
is Uniquely Hispano-Muslim.
'Barary de Reminyo and the Mancebo de Arvalo. Breve Compendio, fol. 225r.
:The Mancebo de Arvalo. Tafsira, fol. 232r. The manuscript is found in the old Biblioteca
de la Junta de Estudios Arabes de Madrid (currently known as the Biblioteca del Instituto de
and is usually catalogued as Janta LXII.
Filologia C.S.I.C.),
^Maria Teresa Narvez, "La Tafsira del Mancebo de Arvalo.
texto" (Puerto Rico:
'Ibid., 159.
Rio Piedras,
unpublished
Ph.D.
Transcription
y estudio del
thesis), p. 161.
5Ms. 5223 of National

''Mercedes
Library of Madrid, fol. 170v-18()r.

Alvarez. El manuscrito miscelneo 774 de Ici Biblioteca
Sanchez
CLEAM
Nacional
de Pars
p. 252.
7The Biblioteca de Estudios Arabes, which harbours a very important collection of Morisco
manuscripts, has had many names in this century. It has been known as the Biblioteca de Estudios
Arabes, Biblioteca de la junta de Estudios Arabes, Biblioteca Miguel Asin, Biblioteca del Instituto
(Madrid:
Gredos,
1982),
de Filologia, etc. We have abbreviated the name of the Library as 'Junta'.

"Anwar Chejne, Islam and the West: The Moriscos (Albany: State University of New York
press, 1983).
''Mikel de Epalza,
1992), p. 252.
Los moriscos antes y despus
de la expulsion
(Madrid:
Editorial Mapfre,
'"Dario Cabanellas, Juan de Segovia y el problema islmico (Madrid: Facultad de Filosofiya

Leonard Patrick Harvey, "The Literary Culture of the Moriscos, 1492-1609:
A
y Letras, 1952).
Study Based on the Extant Manuscripts in Arabic and Aljamia" (Oxford: Ph.D. Thesis, unpublished,
The Qur'n in Sixteenth Century Spain: Six Morisco Versions of
1958); Consuelo Lpez-Morillas.
Sura
79 (London:
Temesis
Books
Ltd. 1982);
and Aljamiado, Ya of Segovia (fi. 1450):

"Ya Gidelli (fl. 1450). His Antecedents
and Gerard Wiegers, Islamic Literature in Spanish

His Antecedents and Successors (Leiden: Brill, 1994) and
and Successors:
A Historical Study of Islamic Literature
in Spanish and Aljamiado" (Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit, Ph.D. Thesis, 1991).

"The clandestine manuscripts began to be discovered long after the expulsion of 1609.
In
1728. several codices which had been hidden inside a column of a house in Riela turned up. and in
1884 a substantial collection was discovered
under a false floor in a demolished
house in Almonacid
de la Sierra in Saragossa.
In the last ten years many more manuscripts have been surfacing, and it
must also be remembered that not all the Morisco texts extant in the libraries ot Spain or other
countries of Europe
are properly catalogued.
Studies
Islamic
36:1
(1997)
'-Ottomar Hegyi, "El uso del alfabeto arabe por minoras musulmanas y otros aspectos de la
literatura aljamiada, resultante de circunstancias histricas y sociales anlogas" in Adas, 147-164.
''Gerard Wiegers. Ya Gidelli, op. cit., p. 2.
"George Ticknor. Historia (leIci literatura espaola (Madrid: Rivadeneyra, 1881-85), p. 420.
The Qur'n, op. cit., p. 13.
''Lpez-Morillas.
"'Ahdelmajid Turki. "Documents sur le dernier exode des andalous
en Tunisie"
in Recueil.
114-127.
bid.
'"Ib iti.
Garcia
"'Mercedes
-"Ilarvey,
(1958). 65.
Arenal, Los moriscos (Madrid:
"Un manuscrito aljamiado
Editora Nacional,
de la Universidad
de Cambridge"
p. 103.
in al-Andalus
1975),
XXII
-'Harvey. "El Mancebo de Arvolo y la literatura aljamiada" in Actas, p. 33.

"Some of these translations of the aljamiado texts are taken form my book Islam in Spanish
Literature, From rite Earliest Times to the Present, tr. Andrew Hurley (Leiden: E.J. Brill: 1992).
Islam in Spanish Literature: From the Middle Ages to the Present Age
:'Luce Lpez-Baralt.
(Lieden: Brill. Universidad de Puerto Rico. 1992), pp. 178-79.
; 'Martin
Martinez de Cantalapiedra used the Jurrumiyyah to teach Arabic in Salamanca around
1560-64. precisely when St. John of the Cross was a student at the prestigious University.
"Silvestre
Savants.
de Sacy, "Notice et extraits des mss. de la Bibliotque

626-947.
Nationale"
in journal
de
IV (1797).
op. cit., pp. 73-74.

op. cit., p. 34.
'"Harvey. "Yiise Banegas: un moro noble en Granada bajo los Reyes Catlicos"
XX (1956), 297-302.
^'Ilarvey.
-'Narvez.
Un manuscrito,
in al-Andalus,
"'Ibid.
La Tafsira, op. cit.. pp. 171-72.
'Her work is under publication in the Revue d'Histoire Maghrebinne in Zaghouan (Tunisia).
'-The study we are quoting, written by Edil Gonzlez Cannona, from the University of Puerto
Rico, is under publication in the Revue d'Histoire Maghrebinne of Zaghouan (Tunisia).
"Ms. 5302 of the National Library of Madrid, fol. 5r.
"'Narvez,
"Ibid.,
fol. 6r.
"Ibid., fol. 13v.

Kitb id-Anwr:
al-BakrT sometimes
The legend was written in Arabic by Abu'l-Hasan
during the thirteenth century of the Christian Era. It is extant in Arabic in several mss.. like ms.
9972/297 of the National Library of Tunisia and ms. Borgiano Arabo 125 (Vatican Library. Rome).
In aljamiado we also have quite a few manuscripts of the legend: in the Biblioteca de la Real
de la Historia of Madrid, it is included in mss. T-17, T-18. T-12 and T-13, while in the
Royal Library of Madrid, it is extant in mss. 1767 and 3225. Also, in the National Library ot
Madrid, it is extant in ms. 4955. My former Ph.D. student. Maria Luisa Lugo (now a professor at
the University of Puerto Rico) edited the legend taking into account all these mss.. and she will soon
Academia
publish her book.

17Kitb al-Mi'rj:
The anonymous legend circulated profusely during the Middle Ages. and.
according to Miguel Asn palacios, influenced Dante's Divine Comedy. We have several mss. of the
6064 of the National
legend, in Arabic (ms. 518 of the Bodleian Library in Oxford), in Latin (ms.
Library of Paris) and in aljamiado (mss. ms. 1163 of the National Library of Paris, ms. T-17 of the
Real Biblioteca de la Historia de Madrid, ms. 5053 of the National Library of Madrid, among
others).
Islam, op. cit., p. 238.
'"Lpez-Baralt.
Gredos. 1983).
sobre personajes bblicos (Madrid: CLEAM
Leyendas aljamiado-moriscas
4""lln morisco muere ante nuestros ojos: el jadiz y leyenda de Silman al-Farsi" in Le Vq
C'EROMDI.
A Temmi. ed. (Zaghouan:
1993).
Centennaire de la chute de Grenade 11492-1992).
pp. 333-45.
"Rodriguez.
Leyendas,
op. cit.. p. -.44.
Secret
Literature
of the Last
Muslims
of Spaii
42I am quoting from ms. S-2 of the Biblioteca de la Real Academia de Madrid.
"Dario Cabanellas.
El morisco grandino Alonso del Castillo (Granada:
patronato
Alhambra, 1965).
""Harvey, The Moriscos, op. cit., p. 8.
"'Jos Godoy y Alcntra, Historia de los falsos
"''Harvey, The Moriscos, op. cit., p. 14.
"Lpez-Baralt,
"Ibid., p. 206.
Cronicones
(Madrid:
1968),
de la
p. 47.
Islam, op. cit., pp. 205-06.
"Ibid.
"'Lpez-Baralt
Paris y el ms. T-16
pp. 547-82.
e Awilda Irizarry. "Dos itinerarios moriscos secretos del siglo XVI: el ms. 774
Madrid" in Homenje a Alvaro Galms de Fuentes (Madrid: Gredos).
BRAH
"James Oliver Asin,

Coliccin
Gayangos"
,;Lpez-Baralt.
Review, (1987),
Hispanic
"Ibid.,
"Un morisco de Tnez,
in al-Andalus,
"La angustia
I (1933)
admirado
de Lope.
Estudio del ms. S-2 de la
409-54.
secreta del exilio:
el testimonio de un morisco de Ttinz"
pp. 41-57.
pp. 49-50.
J11]
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THE SECRET LITERATURE OF THE LAST MUSLIMS OF SPAIN

Author(s): LUCE LPEZ-BARALT

THE SECRET LITERATURE

at the fate of the Muslims".

Breve compendio (Abridged Compendium) she grieves at the destruction of the

that the present

for the past

for the present

most of which are still unpublished truly reach the point of

for the past,

They showed the Mancebo around their Granadan farm-house, which

for the meagreness

A mysterious crypto-Muslim by the name of Muhammad Cordillera

that the lamentations

It is no wonder that Muhammad himself is seen to cry over al

in the midst of Inquisitorial Spain

unexpected literary creativity. The underground Moriscos took to the task of

which an anonymous Morisco translated into Spanish in ms. VIII of the

heard it in the hushed silence of the Spanish crypto-Muslims'

luce Lpez baralt/The

that the Morisco

forgotten Arabic and to acquire a deeper knowledge of their Islamic religion, by

Lope de Vega, Quevedo, Gngora cautiously bui admiringly

identification with their former European

these manuscripts which we have recently begun to discover and to decode" we

luce lpez baralt/The

the full extent

of their knowledge of their holy tongue, testifyto a terrible tragedy.

for the sacred

that the author

the foreign, almost heretical aljamiado,

as the vitriolic tone of this anonymous

faithful of the Muslim religion the path of salvation, even if it be by

The process of learning to transliterate these "letters of the Christians"

the fear the youngster

Every time the child repeats one of these "foreign" signs,

them with his son.

the first notions

luce Lpez barai The

|addition| is to speak in absolutes. Allhu is to take current |sic., no

al-Sanluiji ihn al-Jurrfon, born in Fez (1273-1339

for the past,

that of the things

that the worst

felt the pangs

yet at the same

luce Lpez baralt/The

[the last days] come?

If the fathers belittle the religion, how will the

Banegas was painfully right in his historical "prophesy": the Catholic

And yet, the crypto-Muslims did put up a fight,

They were hard times indeed.

difficulties involved in keeping Islam alive:

that the worK

orthodoxyl is concerned, because it was lacking the principal thing,

pleasant [spiritually acceptable to God|...

felt the general

that the underground

In spite of all these difficulties, the aljamiado

manuscripts bear witness

letter (ms. Junta XV1) addressed to an al-faqih or Islamic doctor of

be hall (made of licit materials).

that the mat