Brief History of Islam in Europe Thirteen Centuries of Creed, Conflict and Coexistence a Brief History of Islam in Europe
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MAURITS S. BERGER A BRIEF HISTORY OF ISLAM IN EUROPE THIRTEEN CENTURIES OF CREED, CONFLICT AND COEXISTENCE A Brief History of Islam in Europe A BRIEF HISTORY OF ISLAM IN EUROPE Thirteen Centuries of Creed, Conflict and Coexistence Maurits S. Berger Leiden University Press Cover design: Studio Frederik de Wal Cover illustration: Louis Haghe, Isle of Graia Gulf of Akabah Arabia Petraea, Feb 27th 1839, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington. Lay-out: TAT Zetwerk, Utrecht isbn 978 90 8728 195 3 e-isbn 978 94 0060 150 5 (ePDF) e-isbn 978 94 0060 151 2 (ePub) nur 680, 717 © Maurits S. Berger / Leiden University Press, 2014 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book maybereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyany means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. ThisbookisdistributedinNorthAmericabytheUniversityofChicagoPress(www.press.uchicago.edu). Contents Foreword · 11 Introduction · 13 1. The Link to Today · 13 Collective Memory · 15 2. ‘Islam’ and ‘Europe’ · 17 A Methodological Framework · 17 Europe · 18 Islam · 19 3. Europe’s Interaction with Islam · 22 ‘Physical’ and ‘Virtual’ Islam · 22 Five Periods · 24 Three Themes: Religion, Toleration, Othering · 25 Chapter One. Uncivilized Europe (700–1000ce) I. Setting the Stage · 35 1. Europe at the Dawn of the Muslim Conquests · 35 2. The Islamic Empire · 38 II. Physical Islam · 40 1. The Realm of Interaction · 40 Constantinople and the Byzantium Empire · 40 Al-Andalus: The Emirate and Caliphate of Cordoba · 41 Sicily · 43 2. Living with the Unbeliever: Christians under Muslim Rule · 44 The Issue of Conversion · 44 Religious Rule · 46 Tolerance and Social Tensions · 49 6 | contents 3. Other Relations and Contacts · 52 Wars and Raids · 52 Religious War? · 55 The Battle of Poitiers · 57 Diplomacy and Trade · 59 III. Virtual Islam · 63 Myths, Legends and Ignorance · 63 Chapter Two. Crusading Europe (1000–1500ce) I. Setting the Stage · 69 1. Economic Revival · 69 2. Religious Revival · 71 3. The Crusades · 72 II. Physical Islam · 74 1. The Realm of Interaction · 74 Al-Andalus: Reconquista and Convivencia · 74 Sicily: Expulsion of Muslims · 77 Byzantium: The Loss of an Empire · 78 Latin Kingdoms: A Short-Lived Dream · 79 Tataristan and Lipka-Tatars · 80 2. Living with the Unbeliever: Muslims under Christian Rule · 81 Conquering the Lands of the Infidel · 83 From Tolerant Segregation to Forced Assimilation · 85 3. Social Tensions · 88 4. Conversion · 90 5. Other Relations and Contacts · 93 Commerce and Trade · 93 Slavery · 95 III. Virtual Islam · 97 1. The Study and Legends of Islam · 98 2. Polemics and Martyrdom · 100 3. Culture and Technology · 103 contents | 7 Chapter Three. Divided Europe (1500–1700ce) I. Setting the Stage · 109 1. Europe: Reformation and National Self-Assertion · 109 2. Rise of the Ottoman Empire · 110 II. Physical Islam · 114 1. Living With the Unbeliever · 114 1.1. Lipka Tartars in the Christian Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth · 114 1.2. Ottoman Europe · 116 Settlement and Conversion · 116 Religious Rule · 119 1.3. Moriscos in Catholic Spain · 124 2. Other Relations and Contacts · 128 2.1. Wars and Raids · 129 Holy Wars Revisited? · 129 Vienna 1683 · 131 Raiding and Piracy · 133 2.2. Alliances and Treaties · 135 France and the Ottomans · 135 The Dutch Republic and the Moroccan Sultan · 137 2.3. Trade · 138 2.4. Slavery · 139 III. Virtual Islam · 142 1. The Image of the ‘Turk’ · 142 2. Dealing with the ‘Turk’ · 143 3. Islam: ‘Better Turkish than Papish’ · 144 Chapter Four. Powerful Europe (1700–1950ce) I. Setting the Stage · 151 1. Colonialism and Imperialism · 151 2. The Demise of the Ottoman Empire · 153 8 | contents II. Physical Islam · 156 1. Living with the Unbeliever · 156 2. The Combustible Mix of Capitulations, Millets and Nationalism · 160 Capitulations As a Political Tool · 161 Nationalism · 163 Reforms (Tanzimat) · 165 3. Wars and Insurgencies · 167 Inter-State Conflicts · 167 Internal Conflicts · 168 The Role of Religion in Internal and Inter-State Conflicts · 169 Religious-Ethnic Cleansing · 171 4. Diplomatic Relations and Trade · 174 5. Muslim Sojourners: Students, Nationalists and Conscripts · 177 III. Virtual Islam · 180 1. Eighteenth Century: Turquerie and Inclusive Othering · 181 Turquerie · 181 Studying Islam · 182 2. Nineteenth Century: Orientalism and Exclusive Othering · 184 Vision of the Turk and Orientalism · 184 Studying Islam · 186 Chapter Five. Struggling Europe (1950–) I. Setting the Stage · 193 1. A New Europe · 193 2. Islam in the New Europe · 195 3. Identity, Loyalty and Security · 197 II. Physical Islam · 199 1. Living with the Unbeliever · 199 Counting Muslims · 199 Muslim Identity · 200 Conversion · 203 Visibility of Islam · 204 contents | 9 2. Secular and Religious Rule · 207 European Secularism and Religious Freedom · 208 Tolerance: A Clash of Fundamental Rights · 211 3. Wars and Terrorism · 213 The Yugoslavian Civil Wars · 213 Extremism and Terrorism · 216 4. Europe and Its ‘Neighbourhood’ · 218 Exporting Stability? · 218 Importing Extremism? · 220 Turkey and the European Union · 222 International Actions Against ‘Defamation of Islam’ · 224 III. Virtual Islam · 226 1. Images of Islam and Muslims · 227 Criticism and Islamophobia · 227 The ‘Third Wave’ · 229 A Conflict of Values · 231 2. The Study of Islam · 234 European Scholarship · 234 European Muslim Studies of Islam · 236 Epilogue: Islamization of Europe or Europanization of Islam? · 239 Historical Patterns · 239 Patterns into the Present · 244 To Be Extrapolated into the Future? · 248 Notes · 251 Bibliography · 305 Index · 343 Foreword This book is the result of six years teaching my BA class entitled ‘The history of Is- lam in the West’ at Leiden University. I want to thank the students for their active participation and comments, which prompted me every year further to refine my arguments, dig deeper into Europe’s rich history with Islam, and to become more critical about contemporary references to ‘Islam.’ Annefieke Bonants was one of the first students who took that class, and she later became my assistant to do the re- searchforthisbook.Hermeticulousandpainstakingwork,andnotleastthefriendly patience with which she reacted to the flurry of ideas and orders I hurled at her were indispensabletothefinishingofthewritingofthisbook.AnniekMeinders,thepub- lisher of the newly established Leiden University Press, was courageous enough to take on this project that did not fit neatly into an academic category. Finally thanks to the advisory board of Leiden University Press and the three peer reviewers who spenttheirprecioustimereadingthemanuscriptanddispensinghelpfulcomments: Prof. M. Schrovers of the History department at Leiden University, Prof. J. Nielsen of theTheologyFacultyattheUniversityofCopenhagen,andathirdreviewerwhopre- ferred to remain anonymous. The Hague, May 2014 Introduction Islam’s recent arrival in Europe by means of migration, violence and media images has kindled a wave of interest in Europe’s past and present relations with Islam. Publicationsonthesesubjectsareprolific,sowhyanotherbookon‘IslaminEurope’? There are three reasons: to provide the first comprehensive overview of the entire thirteen-century history of Islam in Europe from 700ce until now (most existing literature covers only a part of this history); to identify the role of ‘Islam’ during this period; and to look into the impact of this long history on the current discourse and situation of Islam in Europe. My endeavour is to present a framework by which we can conceptualize the notion of ‘Islam in Europe’ in time (the eighth to the twenty-first centuries ce) and space (‘Europe’), and that will allow us to sample and interconnect the enormous corpus of existing knowledge on Islam in Europe and to put it in chronological and thematic order. This framework should provide the reader with novel insights into the history of Islam in Europe. Given the comprehensiveness of this book, its approach is by default multidis- ciplinary. The secondary literature used to write it is that of specialists of regions (Europe, Spain, Sicily, the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire, the Mediterranean), periods (MiddleAges,Renaissance,colonialperiod,modernEurope),andspecificdisciplinary subjects (religion, economics, social sciences, political sciences, law, art, agriculture). The ambitious set-up that squeezes thirteen centuries into a single volume requires a clear perspective on what story this book wants to tell, how that story is told, and why it needs to be told in the first place. These questions will be addressed in the following. 1. The Link to Today In discussions nowadays on the role of Islam in Europe, direct or indirect references are often made to events of the past that allude to a history of perpetual conflict whereby ‘Europe’ and ‘Islam’ stand for entities that collide because, according to some observers, they represent different value systems or, in the eyes of others, because Islam is by nature aggressive and has put Europe on the defensive ever since 14 | introduction the Arab Muslims rode out of the Arab Peninsula in the seventh century in search of conquest. To the proponents of these views the current presence of large numbers of Muslims in Europe is a reason for concern, and they justify their anxieties with ref- erences to history.1 There are also other observers, however,