Arabist

This is an article about the scholars known as Arabists, not the political movement Pan-Arabism.

Arabism and proselytism

Beginning in the 13th century, with the Reconquista well under way, Arabist efforts in Spain were tied closely to the goal of the possibility of proselytizing Christianity in the Arab world. In this wave of activity, Raymundus Martini, author of Pugio fidei adversos mauros et iudaeos (The Fight of Faith Against Moors and Jews) wrote an Arabic vocabulary book and Ramon Llull, in 1275, established in Majorca a school to teach Arabic to preachers. Pope Honorius IV granted permission to Martini and Llull to found a center for "oriental studies" in Rome.

Related Topics:
13th century - Reconquista - Christianity - Raymundus Martini - Ramon Llull - 1275 - Majorca - Pope Honorius IV - Oriental studies - Rome

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While Llull may have been motivated in large measure by the desire to proseletise, his relationship to the Arab world was not so simple. According to Julián Ribera, Llull wrote his Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men in Arabic, then translated it into Catalan as the Llibre del gentil e dels tres savis.

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This wave of Arabism gained its greatest impulse from Alfonso X of Castile, who commissioned translations of major works into the Latin and into the Castilian Spanish of the time. This led to the first Spanish translation of the Qur'an, and of such influential works as Kalilah and Dimnah, Libro de los engannos et de los assayamientos de las mugeres (Book of the Deceits and the ? of Women), the Escala de Mahoma (The Ascent of Muhammed?) and Los fuegos del ajedrez (The Fires of Chess). Alfonso's own works in history and astronomy drew on numerous elements of Muslim knowledge; the Tales of Count Lucanor, by Juan Manuel and El Libro de buen amor (The Book of Good Love) by Arcipreste de Hita from this period both show an interpenetration and symbiosis of Oriental and Spanish cultures.

Related Topics:
Alfonso X of Castile - Latin - Qur'an - Kalilah and Dimnah - Tales of Count Lucanor - El Libro de buen amor - Arcipreste de Hita

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This trend continued in the 15th century, with Juan de Segovia's trilingual Qur'an (Arabic, Spanish, and Latin), now lost, and Cardinal Cisneros's multilingual Bible. In the 16th century, Pedro de Alcalá undertook several books intended to allow Spanish-speakers to learn Arabic; also, there are several 16th century histories of the Kingdom of Granada, of its conquest and the Moorish uprisings, including the Guerra de Granada (War of Granada) by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and the Historia de la rebelión y castigo de los moriscos (History of the Rebellion and Punishment of the Moors) by Mármol Carvajal.

Related Topics:
15th century - 16th century - Kingdom of Granada

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The eclipse of Spanish Arabism

By this, time, however, Spanish Arabism was succumbing to the repressive atmosphere created by the Spanish Inquisition. Moriscos hesitated to show even the most minimal knowledge of their mother tongue (Cabanelas, El morisco granadino Alonso del Castillo, Granada, 1965) and Arabic books were burned; any effort to understand Arabic language or culture became a cause for suspicion. It would be the mid-1700s until the power of the Inquisition began to wane and a new Arabism arose in Spain.

Related Topics:
Spanish Inquisition - Moriscos

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