Traveling to archives in Tunisia, Morocco, France, and England, with visits to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Spain, Nabil Matar assembles a rare history of Europe's rise to power as seen through the eyes of those who were later subjugated by it. Many historians of the Middle East believe Arabs and Muslims had no interest in Europe during this period of Western discovery and empire, but in fact these groups were very much engaged with the naval and industrial development, politics, and trade of European Christendom.
Beginning in 1578 with a major Moroccan victory over a Portuguese invading army, Matar surveys this early modern period, in which Europeans and Arabs often shared common political, commercial, and military goals. Matar concentrates on how Muslim captives, ransomers, traders, envoys, travelers, and rulers pursued those goals while transmitting to the nonprint cultures of North Africa their knowledge of the peoples and societies of Spain, France, Britain, Holland, Italy, and Malta. From the first non-European description of Queen Elizabeth I to early accounts of Florence and Pisa in Arabic, from Tunisian descriptions of the Morisco expulsion in 1609 to the letters of a Moroccan Armenian ambassador in London, the translations of the book's second half draw on the popular and elite sources that were available to Arabs in the early modern period. Letters from male and female captives in Europe, chronicles of European naval attacks and the taqayid (newspaper) reports on Muslim resistance, and descriptions of opera and quinine appear here in English for the first time.
Matar notes that the Arabs of the Maghrib and the Mashriq were eager to engage Christendom, despite wars and rivalries, and hoped to establish routes of trade and alliances through treaties and royal marriages. However, the rise of an intolerant and exclusionary Christianity and the explosion of European military technology brought these advances to an end. In conclusion, Matar details the decline of Arab-Islamic power and the rise of Britain and France.
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgments xi
- A Note on Transliteration xvii
- Chronology xix
- List of Rulers xxiii
- PART ONE
- Introduction 3
- I. Popular Sources: Accounts of Muslim Captivity in Christendom 29
- The Captives “Speak”—and Write 41
- Captivity and the Other 51
- Captivity and Karamat 55
- Captivity of Women 60
- European Captives and New Muslims 65
- II. Elite Sources: Muslim Ambassadors in Christendom 72
- Al- Nafhah al- Miskiyah 77
- Ahmad ibn Qasim and Fakhr al- DIn al- Maʿni II 80
- The Widening Exposure 93
- Ambassadors and European Women 106
- Non-Muslim Ambassadors 114
- Conclusion: Encountering the Dunya of the Christians 118
- Nasr 122
- Sinaʿ a/Technology 125
- PART TWO
- Translations 139
- 1. 1578: Letters of Radwan al- Janawy on Muslim Captives, in Tuhfatal- Ikhwan, Rabat National Library, MS Kaf 154, fols. 423–424, 427–428. 141
- 2. After 1588: Description of the Defeat of the Armada, by Abu Faris ’Abd
al-ʿAziz al- Fishtali, in Rasa’il Saʿdiyah, ed. ʿAbdallah Gannun, 152–157. 144
- 3. ca. 1589–1591: A Journey from Morocco to Istanbul andBack, in Abu Hasan ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAliMuhammad al- Tamjruti:11 Al- Nafhah al- Miskiyah fi¯al- Safarah al- Turkiyah, ed. ʿAbd al- LatIf al- Shadhili,28–29, 41–42, 65, 74–76, 84–86, 90–94, 128–132, 140–141. 147
- 4. After June 1596: Description of the En glish Attack onCadiz, in Abu Faris ʿAbd al-ʿAzI z al- Fishtali, Manahilal- Safa’, ed. ʿAbd al- KarIm KarIm, 193–196. 159
- 5. 1613–1618: Description of Pisa and Florence, in Lunbanfi¯ ʿAhd al- Ami¯r Fakhr al- Di¯n al- Maʿni al- Thani, ed.Asad Rustum and Fu’ad Afram al- Bustani, 208–224.32 163
- 6. 1623: Expulsion of the Moriscos and the MiraculousRansoming of Muslim Captives, in Al- Muntasir ibn AbiLihya al- Qafsi, Nu¯ r al- Armash fi¯ Manaqib al- Qashash,ed. Lutfi ʿIsa and Husayn Bujarrah, 138–141, 151–154. 178
- 7. 1633–1635: Letters from Tunis by Osman/Thomas d’Arcos,a Convert to Islam, Les Correspondants de Peiresc:Lettres inédites publiées et annotées, ed. PhilippeTamizey de Larroque, 2:23–28, 36–39. French original.46 186
- 8. 1635: Letter About Muslim Captives Converted toChristianity, Rabat National Library, MS Ji¯m 223,101–103. 192
- 9. 1635: Expulsion of the Moriscos, Muhammad ibnʿAbd al- RafI ʿ ibn Muhammad al- Andalusi, Al- Anwaral- Nabawiyah fi¯ Aba’ Khair al- Bariyah, in A. Turki,“Watha’iq al- hijra al- Andalusiyah al- Akhirah,”Hawliyat al- Jamiʿah al- Tunisiyah 4 (1967): 27–39.56 194
- 10. 1642: Description of the World, in Ahmad ibn Qasim,Nasir al- Di¯n ʿala al- Qawm al- Kafiri¯n, ed. MuhammadRazzUq, 95–99.62 200
- 11a. Before 1688: Christian Attack on Jarbah (Tunisia) in1510, in Sulayman ibn Ahmad al- Hilati, ‘Ulama’ Jarbah,ed. Muhammad Qawjah, 32–39. 205
- 11b. 1685: Bombardment of Tripoli, Libya, by the French Fleet, in Ahmad ibn Khaled al- Nasiri,Talʿat al- Mushtari, 2:28–30. 210
- 12. 1681–1691: Battle Accounts, in Taqayi¯d Tarikhiyah,Rabat Royal Library, MS 12352. 213
- 13. 1590–1654: Euro- Tunisian Piracy, in Ibn Abi Dinar, Kitabal- Mu’nis fi¯ Akhbar Ifri¯qiyah wa- Tu¯ nis, 190–202. 216
- 14. Before September 2, 1706: Letter of Mulay Ismaʿil to the English Parliament, Les Sources . . . Filalienne, ed.Brissac, 6:349–354. 227
- 15. November 1, 1707: Letter from a Captive in France, ed.Jamal Vannan, Nusu¯ s wa Watha’iq fi¯ Tari¯kh al- Jaza’iral- Hadi¯th, 1500–1830, 144–145. 230
- 16a. 1713: Letters of Bentura de Zari, MoroccanAmbassador Under House Arrest in London, NationalKew Archives, SP 71/16/63–65, 70–71. En glish original. 232
- 16b. January 12, 1717: Letter of Mulay Ismaʿil to Philip V, inMuhammad al- SaghI r al- IfranI , Rawdat al- Taʿri¯f, ed.ʿAbd al- Wahab Benmansour, 133–134. 236
- 17. 1726–1727: On Quinine, in Husayn KhUjah, Al- Asraral- Kami¯nah, ed. al- Karray al- QusantIni, 31–43. 237
- 18. Mid- eighteenth century: Captivity in Malta, in Abual- Qasim Al- Zayani, Al- Tarjumanah al- Kubra, ed. ʿAbdal- KarIm al- Filali, 192–193. 241
- 19. 1782: Muhammad ibn ʿUthman al- Miknasi. Falling inLove in Naples, in Al- Badr al- Safir li Hidayat al-Musafir ila Fikak al- Asara min Yad al-ʿAduww al-Kafir. Rabat National Library, MS Ha 52, fols. 145–150. 242
- 20. 1798: Letter from a Female Captive in Malta, MuhammadRazzUq, Dirasat fi¯ Tari¯kh al- Maghrib, 178–181. 245
- Notes 249
- Bibliography 277
- Index 301
Text
Audio
Adobe DRM
Login to your account