Chapter Seven: Ibrahim Al-Hakilani (1605–1664), Or: the Power Of

chapter seven IBRAHIM AL-HAKILANI (1605–1664), OR: THE POWER OF SCHOLARSHIP AND PUBLISHING1 Introduction. Cross-cultural contacts in the Mediterranean In most studies of the Mediterranean, the battle of Lepanto (1571) marks the end of whatever cultural or other unity the Inner Sea still might have had since the Crusades first divided it into an Islamic and a Christian sphere of influence. The gradual closing of the ranks on both sides, evident since the 10th century, by the end of the 16th century had developed into a virtual military and political standstill, which seemed to preclude any possibility of cultural exchange, the continuity of commercial contacts notwithstanding. However, I think we are wrong to view the Mediterranean in the 17th and 18th centuries as a region divided into two entirely self- contained cultures. Nevertheless, a general history of cultural life in the Mediterranean during this period remains to be written; but such a project does not seem feasible as long as those who have studied one or more of the numerous minor episodes of Christian-Islamic or, otherwise, European-Near Eastern contacts show little awareness of the basic fact that these very moments are part of a structure and a process of cultural exchange and even interdependence that continued to tie together the shores of this sea. It seems desirable that historians who study the problem of cross- cultural contacts in the Mediterranean should cast their net wide in- deed. If they want fruitfully to treat this topic, they will have to interpret the results of such other scholarly approaches to human reality as, e.g., cultural anthropology and oriental studies. Only by adopting an interdisciplinary and an integralist stance can they hope to discover the manifold examples of the above-mentioned fundamental unity. Ideally, 1 I gratefully acknowledge my debt to Dr. Monique Bernard, who critically read the manuscript and helped with the transliteration of the Arabic, following the usage of the Encyclopedia of Islam. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the cc-by-nc License.Peter Rietbergen - 9789047417958 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 09:33:04AM via free access ibrahim al-hakilani (1605–1664) 297 a search for the factors that brought about this unity would include a comparative study of popular customs and of religious and social usages. Equally important is an analysis of commercial contacts and their impact, on the one hand, and of the structures of politics and of systems of scholarly patronage on the other. Such topics as piracy and its influence, and, partly connected with it, the role of the so-called renegades arise as well. Essential is an awareness of the important function of Rome, of the papacy as a constant factor in the political, economic and cultural exchange between (Southern) Europe and, specifically, the Near East. In this context, research into the function of the many intermediate groups like the Greeks and the Jews is necessary, for they played a part in all these fields, from commerce to scholarship, and were seen and used as such by the papacy as well. Against this general background, it is the specific purpose of this chapter to draw attention to a group of mediators of special interest to historians of the contacts between Christianity and Islam.2 I am referring to the Lebanese Maronite community and, more precisely, to those members of it who, from the end of the 16th century onwards, came to Rome and, subsequently, to other capitals of Europe, as, for exam- ple, Paris. They have significantly contributed to the growth of oriental studies and thus to an ongoing European-Near Eastern debate during the following two hundred years. Also, however, the Maronites exem- plify the continuous tensions between the two dominant cultures of the Mediterranean, the Christian-European and the Islamic-Near Eastern. To illustrate the Maronites’ role, specifically within the context of papal cultural policy in the 17th century, I will concentrate on an important early representative of this group, a man called Ibrahim al- Hakilani, that is from the Lebanese village of Hakil, who styled himself Abraham Ecchellense when he lived in Europe. 2 For references to Arabic texts, I have used C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur (= GAL), (Weimar 1898–1902), and supplement volumes, (Leiden 1937–1940). Other data are from G. Graf, Geschichte der Christlichen Arabischen Literatur, (Città del Vaticano 1944–1953), Vols. I–V, and M. Steinschneider, Die europaischen Uebersetzungen aus dem Arabischen bis Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts (Vienna, 1904–1905), Vols. I–II. I have also consulted: W. Strothmann, Die Anfänge der Syrischen Studien in Europa (Wiesbaden 1971); J. Fuck, Die Arabischen Studien in Europa bis in dem Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig 1955) as well as: C. Aboussonan, (ed.), Le Livre et le Liban jusqu’à 1900 (Paris 1982). Peter Rietbergen - 9789047417958 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 09:33:04AM via free access 298 chapter seven The significance of Ecchellense has been noted before,3 and some elements for a reconstruction of his life and works have been available for some time, but no effort has been made to assemble these data, to enquire into the nature of Ecchellen’s work and to integrate it all into a proper biographical sketch and, in doing so, correct a great amount of minor and major mistakes. A lucky find of some manuscripts included an extensive (auto-)biographical note, apparently supplied by Ecchellen himself to Carlo Cartari, a Roman patrician and the self- appointed chronicler of the Roman university. This provided me with an opportunity to systematize and synthesize the existing data about the career of this learned Maronite. Far more important, however, in interpreting Ecchellen’s life and works against the background of 17th- century papal culture and propaganda policy, I can now try to illumine some of the problems of cross-cultural Mediterranean contacts and, specifically, the significance, within that process, of Rome’s need to use the expert knowledge of the Maronites about the roots of the Church in the East for its efforts at religious reintegration and at strengthening its position in the West.4 The Maronites in history Most readers will have some use of a few introductory remarks about the Maronites, a fascinating group that, from a religious community, developed into a nation with a definite culture of its own that has since become an integral part of the Lebanon.5 3 Most of the available information to date has been meticulously, though unsystem- atically gathered in a number of footnotes to: G. Levi della Vida, Ricerche sulla Formazione del piu antico fondo dei manoscritti orientali della Biblioteca Vaticana (Città del Vaticano 1939) especially 6,note2 andinGraf,o.c., III, 354–359. 4 Archivio di Stato di Roma (= ASR), Fondo Cartari-Febei (= FCF), Vol. 64, ff. 23r– 27r and 69r–81v. 5 I have used: A.S. Atiya, A History of Eastern Christianity (Londen 1968)partVI, the Maronite Church, 391sqq. Older, Maronite historians, though offering valuable information, tend to be very apologetic; cfr. Stephan al-Dawayhi (1630–1704), Tarikh al-ta"ifa al-maruniyya (Beirut 1890) and Michel A. Gabriel, Tarikh al-kanisa al-Antakiya al- suraniya (Beirut 1900–1904). A rather slight study is: P. Carali, Les Maronites au Liban (Jounieh 1949). The most recent monograph to date, M. Moose, The Maronites in History (Syracuse 1986), is largely a rehash of older works and unnecessarily unsympathetic. More informative is: R.M. Haddad, Syrian Christians in Muslim Society (Princeton 1970). A decent survey of Maronite historiography gives: K.S. Salibi, Maronite Historians of Medieval Lebanon (Beirut 1959). Peter Rietbergen - 9789047417958 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 09:33:04AM via free access ibrahim al-hakilani (1605–1664) 299 Reputedly, the rather legendary St. Maro(n) (350–433), a mono- physite Christian monk, founded the monastery around which the community originated, in the Syrian valley of the Orontes, near Antioch. In the 6th century, the greater part of the group was slaughtered in an attack by Jacobite-Syrian Christians, a fact not normally mentioned in Maronite historiography, which likes to stress the unbroken continuity of their community from its beginnings to the present day. Following the Arab invasions of the seventh century, the Maronite patriarch of Antioch fled to Byzantium. The remainder of the Maro- nites, who had migrated to North Lebanon, then chose to elect their own pontiff. One of his successors was St. John Maron who ruled from 685 to 707 and gave his name to the group. Again, the Maronite historical tradition has tried to rewrite the past, telling that the saint led his followers into safety from persecution by Islamic Arab con- querors or by Islamicised countrymen. Nowadays, the view is that the Maronites, Christianised tribes of the Lebanese region, fled the valley of the Orontes at the end of the 9th century before the onslaught of the Byzantine armies and hid in the mountains till, in later times, they spread again. It is not easy to decide what is true and false in these various inter- pretations of early Lebanese history, precisely because they still play such a major part in the present-day politics of the country. According to many Muslims, the Christian Maronites, whose number probably amounts to 25 per cent of the Lebanese population, have an inordi- nate hold over the cultural and political life of the nation. To counter this criticism, which actually dates from the last century already, the Maronites continue to strive to create a non-Arab, Christian past for themselves that would make them the original masters of Lebanon, the founding fathers of the present state.

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