Name: Ms. Maria del Mar Rosa-Rodriguez

DISSERTATION PROJECT

Give a brief title of your dissertation. Simulacra and Religiosity: Muslim, Jewish and Christian Hybridity in 16th Century

Give a brief abstract of your dissertation.

My dissertation examines , Judaism and Christianity as portrayed in Aljamiado Literature, Judeo-Spanish Literature and a 1504 fatwa. These uncanny and hybrid texts exist on the borderline between the alphabet of one language and the sound of another, (e.g. Spanish written with letters). They reveal covert and subversive gestures of religious and linguistic hybridity contrary to the hegemonic definition of Imperial Spain. Based on a 4-year extensive archival research of these manuscripts in the archives in Madrid, my dissertation incorporates these marginalized texts into the Spanish Literary History and explains the religious passing that takes place when a subject lives between the simulation of Catholicism, and the dissimulation of Islam and Judaism.

If there is a web page associated with your project, please provide the URL here:

Broad Humanistic Significance of Project: Your proposal will be reviewed by scholars within your specific discipline and in other disciplines in the humanities and related social sciences. State the significance of your project for the humanities and related social sciences. Indicate how and why the project might be of interest to scholars in other disciplines. Please avoid discipline-specific jargon that may pose a problem for non-specialists.

In a polemic 16th Century fatwa, the of Oran advised the Muslims of Spain to dissimulate Islam while simulating Catholicism. The Inquisitorial Catholic power was stronger than ever and the Jewish community of Spain was brought closer to the Muslim community in the complicity of simulating Catholicism and dissimulating their respective faiths, languages, and cultures. Simultaneously, Aljamiado Literature (a secret phenomenon in written with Arabic and Hebrew characters) was flourishing and escaping the eyes of the inquisitors. In this complex setting of simulations and dissimulations, of persecution and complicity, of 3 religions in struggle, religiosities in transit between Islam, Judaism and Christianity emerged. Reviewing this 16th-century world and how they resolved their issues towards the Other might help us answer our questions about today’s hegemonic intolerance.

I will analyze specific and bizarre manuscripts (listed in proposal document) written in one language with the alphabet of another language. These texts portray a conception of religion that goes beyond its time and beyond the linguistic hybridity encrypted in them. All archival work has been completed and my next step is to explain the religious integration associated with this literary corpus in three chapters about: the linguistic form, the religious content, and the collaboration in which Muslims, Jews and Christians engaged to preserve these texts. This linguistic-religious-and social phenomenon of hybridity reveals an intimate conception of faith and values that crosses the borders of institutionalized dogma, and opens a possibility of real tolerance. The complexities approached in this project are original because of the rare expertise these texts require, and their relevance is not only to Spanish Literature, but also to Religion, Politics, History and to everyone that can use the 16th-Century Spanish “melting pot” to reflect upon our 21st-century globalized world.

If you are planning to conduct your proposed research project in a particular location, please specify where and when you plan to do so.

American Council of Learned Societies 633 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 5 María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 1 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09 Simulacra and Religiosity: Jewish, Muslim and Christian Hybridity in 16th Century Spain

I. PROPOSED WORK

In response to the worries of many crypto-Muslims living in Spain in the 16th Century, suffering persecution from the Inquisition for their practice of Islam; the Mufti of Oran writes a very revealing fatwa (legal response from an Islamic authority). He allows them to practice

Catholic rituals, drink wine, eat pork and profess that Jesus was the Son of God, as long as the intention of their hearts was faithful to Islam. A lost version of this polemic fatwa arrived in my hands after many months of work in the dusty archives of Madrid. I was conducting extensive research on the linguistic hybridity of Aljamiado manuscripts, legends, and short stories (written in Spanish language with Arabic or Hebrew characters). My encounter with this uncanny fatwa triggered a stronger approach in respect to the hybridity of the documents I was studying. I noticed that the questions posed by these texts went beyond language and literature and into the realm of religious ethics. To what extent could these religious minorities dissimulate their religious rituals and keep their true faith? Should they be martyrs of their faith and die in the hands of the Inquisition or should they lie about their religion and let their children assimilate in order to save their lives? How should they relate to the other religious subjects around them?

Should they be accomplice of other minorities struggling like them? How could they relate to

Christians when the Institution of Christianity was persecuting them? These texts portray the struggle of faith under hegemonic intolerance where the powerful are declared righteous, and the powerless resist in complicity and in hybridity.

My dissertation proposes that these 16th-century documents will help us understand the struggles and religious identities of the peoples of Spain, and furthermore, it argues that the many levels of hybridity of these texts reveal a conception of religion and ethics towards the other that do not necessarily follow the institutionalized dogmas of Islam, Judaism or Christianity. María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 2 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09 II. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES

The main theoretical argument of the dissertation is the development of a hybrid conception of religiosity that enables an unusual ethics toward the other and the other’s culture.

This new theoretical approach is sustained by extensive archival research throughout the past five years (explained in detail in Part III). This archival research (constituted by the process of collecting, transcribing, translating and analyzing each manuscript) is what supports the theoretical framework developed throughout the three stages (form, content, context) or chapters of the dissertation.

The first stage will focus on the hybrid form of the documents found. When three languages with sacred connotations (Arabic, Hebrew and Spanish) are written each, in the scripts of the other two, a chaos of representation occurs. The linguistic chaos is also religious, since these languages are referential signs of Islam, Judaism and Christianity in the context of Imperial

Spain. Some examples of the documents I found are an Aljamiado Koran and a book on Islamic

Law both written in Spanish Language with (BRAH 11/9414 and BRAH 11/9396), a Torah written in Hebrew language with Spanish script (BNM Ms 5468), a Jewish Law document in Arabic Language with Hebrew Script (ACH 2-8-438), the Catholic Hail Mary Creed in Arabic Language written in Spanish Script (Alcala 58983). All transcriptions have been finished and the necessary permits to reproduce this material in my dissertation have been granted. All of these combinations between the language of one religion and the script of another religion present symbols of hybridity that will also be illustrated in the content.

The second stage is focused on the religious hybridity found in the stories and legends.

By closely reading the content of these texts (which is an innovative approach since most scholars focus on the bizarre form and overlook the religious content), I will discuss an Aljamiado Legend where the Muslim figure of Amina, mother of is fused and influenced by the

Catholic figure of Mary, mother of Jesus in (Libro de las Luces BRAH 11/9413 T-17). Two different legends where Moses is portrayed untraditionally for the three religions (BRAH T-8 and María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 3 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09 BRAH T-19), and the autobiography of a crypto-Muslim named Mancebo de Arevalo (CSIC Ms

LXII), whose multicultural identity develops an ethical consciousness towards his Jewish and

Christian friends, and at times adopts their ways.

The third stage of this research will deal with the religious consequences of these prohibited documents in the lives of the people who read them. The Holy Office of the Inquisition forbade the use of any other language than Spanish; consequently these documents represented a real danger for their keepers and readers. Part of this chapter will focus on the inter-religious set of ethics developed between crypto-Muslims, crypto-Jews and accomplice Christians who decided to safeguard these documents. The other part will focus on the consequences of the fatwa of the Mufti of Oran (BRAH 11/9410 T-13) in the religiosity of crypto-Muslims. The advice of the fatwa revolutionized the conception of traditional dogma and the importance of ritual practice for faith and belief.

III. PREPARATION AND SKILLS

The completed archival research was possible thanks to several grants and fellowships. I started research about inquisition trials at the Archivo Historico Nacional (AHN) and the

Biblioteca Nacional (BN), both in Madrid (Archival Grant from Spanish Graduate Program

2004). I spend 4 in months in 2006 at the Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia (BRAH) and the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid (Dissertation Research Grant from GSAS). I spent Spring

2007 between Salamanca and Madrid researching in various archives, and studying Islamic

Jurisprudence at the University of Salamanca, while I was collaborating with Emory’s Study

Abroad Program in Spain. During 2007-2008 I taught a class on my dissertation research,

(Dean’s Teaching Fellowship) while advancing my dissertation. All on-site research has been completed and the dissertation proposal has been approved. I have my own library of documents and currently I am finishing the transcriptions to start the dissertation writing process.

My training on Aljamiado transcription began at the University of Puerto Rico, with renowned hispano-arabists during the spring of 2002. Followed by an intensive paleographical María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 4 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09 training at the University of Salamanca, focusing on 16th-Century manuscripts (summer 2004). At

Emory University I took a specialized Aljamiado seminar with Devin Stewart and a Judeo-Arabic seminar with Prof. Marina Rustow (Spring of 2006).

My Arabic training has been solid as well. Expertise in Spanish and Arabic is rare. I specifically chose Emory University because of their Arabic Program directed by Mahmoud

Albatal and Kristen Brustad. I have completed 4 years of Arabic Language training, in addition to an Arabic immersion program at Middlebury College in Vermont (May- August 2005).

IV. CONTRIBUTION AND RELEVANCE

This dissertation is an innovative and necessary contribution to the field of Literature. It reinstates a canon of literature that has been neglected for years. Most Spanish Literature scholars have focused on the prominent texts of the Spanish Golden Age without including Aljamiado

Literature to that official canon. Those scholars that have dealt with the idea of a Muslim and

Jewish Spain, have focused rather on the expressions of these cultures in traditional Spanish writers, like the work of Maria Carrion on Teresa de Jesus and Luce Lopez-Baralt with San Juan de la Cruz. The revolutionary works of L.P. Harvey, Ross Brann, Vincent Barletta, Maria Rosa

Menocal, and Consuelo Lopez Morillas, have created an entire discipline of

(“converted” Muslims) and Converso (“converted” Jews) Studies. Building on the work of these scholars, my dissertation proposes a different approach to Aljamiado Literature, which analyzes the meaning of these texts as much as their uncanny forms. It also contributes to the field of history and religion because it articulates a different conception of religiosity and belief supported by historical documentation. My work revises the understanding of the state of religion during inquisitorial times and opens new categories of religious identity in the Morisco and Converso communities. These new categories that I found in 16th Century manuscripts are incredibly similar to the categories of religiosity in today’s globalized world. In this sense, my findings can be a significant contribution for contemporary issues of religious tolerance. My approach is particular not only because of the uniqueness of these documents but also because of the María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 5 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09 difficulty of transcription and the language preparation these bizarre texts require. It has been a very difficult task and I have enjoyed every step of the way. I only need one more year so that my dissertation can truly explain, that when the politics of the powerful fail to bring understanding and peace, the powerless act in mysterious ways subverting hegemonic intolerance into a new set of values towards the other, where religion has space for hybridity, and difference becomes a reason for tolerance, instead of war.

______

TIMELINE:

The following timeline has been discussed in detail with my advisors.

(Summer 2007) (November 2008- January 2009) Finalized on-site research and submitted the CHAPTER III: Intention and belief without dissertation proposal. Approval of the dogmatic practice dissertation proposal took place on September 11, 2007. (February- March 2009) CONCLUSION and FULL (Fall 2007) BIBLIOGRAPHY Working on the final transcriptions of the documents that I collected during my on-site (March 26, 2009) research in the archives. Tentative date for submitting first OFFICIAL DRAFT to dissertation director (Spring 2008) I will revisit the archives to finalize the (April 9, 2009) bibliography of primary sources and Tentative date for returning corrections to afterwards will begin writing the the student for final revision. dissertation. (April 24, 2009) (April 2008) Tentative date for submitting INTRODUCTION and Final Bibliography DISSERTATION to Readers and of Primary Sources Dissertation Committee

(May- July 2008) (May 7, 2009) CHAPTER I: The Aljamiado Simulacra Tentative DISSERTATION DEFENCE

(August- October 2008) CHAPTER II: Profane Texts and Hybrid Religiosites

María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 6 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

SELECTED SECONDARY SOURCES:

Alcala, Angel. The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind. New Jersey: Columbia UP, 1987

Barletta, Vincent. Covert Gestures: Crypto-Islamic Literature as Cultural Practice in Early Modern Spain. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulations. trad Paul Foss, Paul Patton and Philip Beitchman. New York: Semiotext(e), 1983.

___. Simulacra and Simulation. trad Sheila Faria Glaser. Michigan: Ann Harbor and Michigan UP, 2006.

Bhabha, Homi. The location of culture. London, New York: Routledge, 1994.

Diaz-Plaja, Fernando. Daily Life in Muslim Spain. Madrid: Editorial EDAF, 1993.

Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary forms of Religious Life. trans. Joseph Ward Swain. London: George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1957.

Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: the Nature of Religion. Trans. Williard R. Trask. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovivh, 1959

____, Patterns in Comparative Religion: a study of the element of the sacred in the history of religious phenomena. trans. by Rosemary Sheed. Cleveland: Meridian Books, 1963.

Gallego, Maria A. “The Languages of Medieval Iberia and their Religious Dimension”. Medieval Encounters. 9(1)

Griffin, Clive. Journeymen-printers, heresy, and the Inquisition in sixteenth-century Spain. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005.

Harvey, L.P. “Crypto-Islam in Sixteenth-Century Spain.” Actas del Primer Congreso de Estudios Arabes e Islamicos celebrado en Cordoba en 1962. 163- 183

____, Muslims in Spain 1500 to 1614. Chicago and London: Chicago UP, 2005.

Hary, Benjamin. “Jewish Languages, are they Sacred?” Lenguas en contacto: el testimonio escrito. Ed Pedro Badenas, Sofia Torralas, Eugenio R. Lujan y Maria A. Gallego. Madrid: CSIC, 2004. 225-244.

Levinas, Emmanuel. Otherwise than being or Beyond Essence. 5th ed. trad. Alphonso Lingis. Pittsburgh: Duquesne UP, 2004.

Longas, Pedro M. Religious Life of . Madrid: 1915.

María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 7 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09 Lopez-Baralt, Luce. Islam in Spanish Literature: From the Middle Ages to the Present. Trans Andrew Hurley. San Juan: University of Puerto Rico UP / E.J. Brill, 1992

Lopez-Morillas, Consuelo. “Language and Identity in Late Spanish Islam”. Hispanic Review. 63(2) Spring 1995, pp.193-210.

Menocal, Maria Rosa. The Literature of Al-Andalus. Cambridge UK: Cambridge UP, 2000. 33- 59

Netanyahu, Benzion. “The Primary Cause of the Spanish Inquisition.” The Spanish Inquisition. Ed. Angel Alcalá. Highland Lakes, NJ: Columbia UP, 1987 11-32.

Otto, Rudolf F. The Idea of the Holy ; and inquiry into the non-rational factor in the idea of the divine and its relation to the rational. trans John W. Harvey. London: Oxford UP, 1923.

Perez, Zagorin. Ways of Lying: dissimulation, persecution, and conformity in early modern Europe. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1990.

Robinson, Cynthia. “Mudejar Revisited”. RES 43 (Spring 2003) Islamic Arts, p. 51-77.

Root, Deborah. “Speaking Christian: Orthodoxy and Difference in Sixteenth-Century Spain”. Representations. 23 (summer 1988), pp. 118-134.

Saenz-Badillos, Angel and Judit Targarona. Hebrew Grammarians of al-Andalus:10-12th Century . Córdoba: Ediciones El Almendro, 1988.

Sonn, Tamara. Islam and the question of minorites. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996.

Stewart, Devin J. “Documents and Dissimulation: Notes on Performance of Taqyyah.” Identidades Marginales. Estudios Onomasticos-Biograficos de al-Andalus. Ed. Cristina de la Puente. Madrid: CSIC, 2003. 569-598.

Wiegers, Gerard. Islamic Literature in Spanish and Aljamiado: Yça of Segovia (fl.1450), His Antecedents and Successors. Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1994.

SELECTED PRIMARY SOURCES (Aljamiado, Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-Arabic Manuscripts):

(Fatwa of the Mufti of Oran) Epístola mahometica del apóstata. BRAH MS T13 f. 28r-32r. Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid

Leyendas musulmanas sobre Jesus. BN Mss. 4932. Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.

Pentateuco en ladino. BN Mss 5468. Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.

Discusiones mahometanas sobre Jesucristo. BN Mss 5302. Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.

Koran aljamiado. BN Mss. 4938 y BN Mss. 4963. Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.

Libro de las Luces. BRAH 11/9413 T-17. Bib. Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 8 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09 Extra materials

In the following pages you will see examples of the documents I work with and their uniqueness. These are 16th-century manuscripts, that look like one language, but sound like another when you read them out loud. These were written and produced by the crypto-Muslims and crypto-Jews living in Spain and the pictures are my own property. Their uniqueness does not mean they are few in quantity, there is a whole canon of these texts waiting to be decoded and read. They tell another history that is part of Spain’s multicultural history.

Libro de las Luces. BRAH 11/9413 T-17. Bib. Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid First Line Transcription: “La historia tercera de Isa Abu Alhasan...” Translation: The third story of Jesus son of alHasan...” María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 9 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09

BRAH 11/9415 olim T-19 f 209r Title Transcription: “Capitulo del derecho que tienen las mujeres sobre sus maridos” (Translation: Chapter about the Right of the woman over her husband) Again, it looks like Arabic but it sounds like Spanish

Geniza Collection TS 13 J14 Judeo-Arabic Letter of a worried father because he fears for his son’s engagement with a matchmaker. This document is another example of the linguistic hybridity of 16th-century Spain. This one looks like Hebrew but it sounds like Arabic. María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez Proposal Document & Timeline 10 ACLS Dissertation Fellowship 2008-09

BN Mss 5468 f 2r (Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid) “Pentateuchus Hebraichus in letteris latinis” This is a bilingual copy of the Torah. This is the first page of the Jewish book of Genesis. The left column is in Spanish Language and the right column is in Hebrew Language written with Spanish characters. This document looks like Spanish but sounds like Hebrew.

______

These are just some examples of the linguistic chaos and cultural hybridity of Spain’s “melting pot”. There are also texts that look like Hebrew but sound like Spanish, and texts that look like Spanish and sound like. Because of the difficulty of decoding these texts, which requires knowledge of all the languages and alphabets involved, they have been sitting in the archives for too long. Not only in their form, but also in their content there is a history waiting to be heard.

Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 1

IMPORTANT NOTE: I contacted Saul Fisher because my dissertation is in Spanish Language since I am graduating from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. I am advanced in my writing process but since the Mellon/ACLS program wants everything in English, he suggested sending a writing sample in English. The following Writing Sample is an article that is currently under review in a referee journal (Medieval Encounters) and it is part of the third chapter of the dissertation.The following format follows the editorial specifications of Medieval Encounters and the Chicago Manual of Style.

Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 2

SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION: RELIGIOUS HYBRIDITY IN A MORISCO FATWA

MARIA DEL MAR ROSA-RODRIGUEZ Emory University

To dissimulate is to pretend not to have what one has. To simulate is to feign to have what one doesn’t have. One implies a presence, the other an absence. Jean Baudrillard- Simulacra and Simulation

ABSTRACT: IN TIMES OF PERSECUTION AND INQUISITORIAL HEGEMONIC DISCOURSE, AN IMPERIAL CHURCH STATE DEFINED ITSELF BY AN ANXIOUS DICHOTOMY OF SELF AND “OTHER”. THROUGH COVERT GESTURES, MANY SUBJECTS UNDERMINED DOMINANT IDEOLOGIES IN ORDER TO CONVEY HYBRIDITY AND PLURALISM. IN 1504 THE MUFTI OF ORAN WROTE A FATWA TO THE MUSLIMS OF SPAIN ALLOWING THEM TO SIMULATE ALL THE RITUALS OF CATHOLICISM WHILE SIMULATING THE RITUALS OF ISLAM. HE DECLARED THAT EVEN WITHOUT THE FORMAL PARCTICE OF ISLAM, THEY WERE STILL TRUE MUSLIMS. BETWEEN THESE SUMULATIONS AND DISSIMULATIONS A NEW TYPE OF RELIGIOSITY DEVELOPED. INSTEAD OF THE STATIC CATHOLIC RELIGIOSITY, LIKE THE ONE PROMOTED BY THE CATHOLIC KINGS, A VERY FLUID AND HYBRID RELIGIOSITY EMERGED, THAT IS NOT MUSLIM, JEWISH, NOR CHRISTIAN, BUT SOMETHING IN PASSING THROUGH THE THREE. THIS ARTICLE PROPOSES A NEW THEORY ON RELIGIOUS HYBRIDITY TO ARGUE THAT THE NOTION OF RELIGIOSITY IN 16TH CENTURY SPAIN WAS VERY INTIMATE AND TRANSCENDED INSTITUTIONALIZED DOGMAS.THIS THEORETICAL APPROACH IS BASED ON ARCHIVAL WORK WITH A LOST VERSION OF THE FATWA OF THE MUFTI OF ORAN. AN ORIGINAL TRASCRIPTION AND TRANSLATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT OF THE FATWA AND PALEOGRAPHICAL COMMENTARY ACCOMPANY THIS ARTICLE.

In a revealing letter, the Mufti of Oran advises the Moriscos of 16th Century Spain to dissimulate Islam while simulating Catholicism.1 Between the process of dissimulating

Islam and simulating Catholicism, a phenomenon of indefinition arises. A religious state of simultaneous participation in two different religions implies a presence of a religiosity, but conversely, it also implies an absence of the two original religiosities. A new kind of

1 Morisco is the term for a Muslim forced to conversion under Spanish Catholic rule. Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 3 hybrid religiosity is the result of these two processes. The formation and expression of hybrid religiosities in transit between defined religions is the focus of this article.

Spain’s never ending story is the anxiety to define itself, to define the nation. The search for uniformity, simple taxonomy and absolute categorization has characterized

Spanish cultural history for centuries. However, there is not such thing as a defined

Spanish subject, who is of pure blood, Castilian ethnicity, old Christian practices,

European origin, or other lapidary and fixed categories that constitute the hegemonic discourse. Spain’s identity has always been hybrid, fused, mixed, dubious, in transit, undefined, and anything but the static definition that dominant ideologies tried to establish as the norm (especially in the 16th-century). Religious identity cannot escape the anxiety of definition either, and thus cannot escape hybridity. In times of persecution and fear, of Inquisitorial hegemonic discourse, in times where an Imperial Church State defined itself by an anxious dichotomy of “self” and “other”, many subjects raised their voices in contradiction to dominant ideologies to convey hybridism in its most profound form. In the same year of 1492, with the official end of al-Andalus, (emblematised by the fall of Granada), the Expulsion of the Jews, the publication of the first Spanish grammar, and the “discovery of America,” the politics of the Spanish Church State were aimed against the genealogy of religious, linguistic, and cultural pluralism that existed in Iberia for centuries.2 Strict Catholicism, Spanish monolingualism and hegemonic Castilian culture were enforced, whereas Islam, Judaism, Arabic, Hebrew, and all signs of cultural hybridity were debarred. Conversion of religious, linguistic and cultural aspects was

2 Iberia’s pluralism and diversity is presented and carefully documented in Maria Rosa Menocal. Literature of Al-Andalus. Cambridge UK: Cambridge UP, 2000.

Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 4 required from all subjects under Spanish rule. Nevertheless, these officially “converted” others kept expressing their own selves in a resistant otherwise.

In response to the worries of many crypto-Muslims that lived in the Iberian

Peninsula in the 16th Century, and suffered persecution by the Inquisition for any practice of Islam, the Mufti of Oran wrote a highly polemic letter. It is not a normal letter; it is a fatwa, a legal Islamic response written by an Islamic authority. For this precise reason, the answers and advice of this fatwa are to be taken very seriously, since they are not mere opinions, but advice from an Islamic authority. In the fatwa, the mufti gives permission to dissimulate Islam; to do whatever the Christians wanted Muslims to do as long as the “intention of their hearts” was pure. The Muslims of Spain were allowed to eat pork, drink wine, get baptized, recognize Jesus as the son of God, and pray (not according to Islamic dogma, but whenever they were able to and however they were able to pray), as long as the intention of their hearts was pure to Islam. This statement is repeated continually through out the fatwa, and is very controversial since it puts the

“intention of the heart” over ritual practice and official dogma. Anyone can argue that in every religion, the “intention of the heart” is always more important than the ritual or dogma, but in the fatwa the symbiotic relationship between belief and practice is broken.

A Muslim can be a Muslim of intention without having to follow the Islamic dogma and ritual practice.

The purpose of this article is to analyze how the particularities of religion and co- habitation in sixteenth century Spain, produced hybrid religiosities.3 These religiosities are defined internally within each individual, and not collectively. They are in

3 By religiosity I mean the way in which a religion is lived, or the way in which a religion is translated into the daily live activities, ritual practices, dogmas, etc. Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 5 simultaneous transit between the realms of two different religions, transcending superficial syncretism and establishing hybrid religiosity as the norm of daily life.

Hybridity establishes a dialogue between the concepts that it fuses. In this way, this phenomenon is not mere syncretism but rather a very complex hybridism that characterizes Spanish Culture, even when it has been neglected in Spain’s official history.4 After many generations followed the advices of this fatwa, this dissimulated form of Islam and simulated form of Catholicism, (that was intended only for a short period of time), became the quotidian way of representing Islamic faith. At the same time, this quotidian representation of Islam fused and overlapped with the quotidian way of representing any religion in Spain’s 16th and 17th Centuries. This work argues that the religiosities of this time and space were hybrid because of their constant transit between three religions: Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam.

This article also engages in a theoretical analysis of the fatwa. Not only do the content and consequences of this fatwa portray religious hybridity, but its form and diffusion portray a very complex hybridity as well. This fatwa was originally written in

Arabic, but the Moriscos in Spain had lost a substantial part of the Arabic Language, so it was translated into Aljamiado (Spanish written in Arabic characters, with some Arabic phraseology and vocabulary). One Arabic version and two different Aljamiado versions of the same fatwa have been found.5 The only Spanish translation of the fatwa has not yet

4 I distinguish between syncretism and hybridity, and prefer the term hybridity as defined by Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London-New York: Routledge, 1994). Bhabha defines a hybrid as a new product, something that is neither one thing nor the other. He defines hybridity with a fluid sense that I emphasize in my work with the term “in transit”. While syncretism is the process of combining or blending two different or contrary doctrines, Hybridity is the indeterminate product of a process of fusion. Hybridity in this sense, goes beyond syncretism, since is an “in-between” product (like Bhabha defines it), a negotiated third space were the original qualities of the previous things are not determined. 5 The Arabic version of this fatwa is in the Vatican with code number MSS Borgiano Arabo 171, folios 2-4, published by L.P. Harvey, “Crypto-Islam in Sixteenth Century Spain,” Actas del Primer Congreso de Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 6 been published and is the object of this study. For the three cultures living in 16th and 17th

Century Spain, language was sacred. Thus, the linguistic hybridity of this document represents a religious hybridity as well. The content of this fatwa and also the hybrid form in which it is written deconstruct the static definition of religious identity that the

Spanish Church State imposed, and that the Spanish Inquisition ruled upon. Between the dissimulation of one religion and the simulation of another religion a simulacrum takes place. It is a simulacrum full of hybridity and transit that portrays a religiosity very different from what has been known.

The essay begins establishing a brief context of the Moriscos in Spain, focusing on the complexities that generated the Mufti’s response ( fatwa.) This will be followed by a short paleographical commentary on the document and its different versions, necessary for the main argument of this article since both the form and the content of the document argue towards a hybridity of religion. The third and main part of this article develops a theoretical framework about the religious simulacra that takes place in 16th-century Spain through the simultaneous processes of simulating Catholicism and dissimulating Islam found in this fatwa as well as many other Aljamiado documents of the time that portray a religious hybridity. This article concludes by proposing the possibility of religiosities that are neither Muslim, Jewish nor Christian; but are instead religiosities in transit between the three. Closing this article there is an Appendix with a transcription of the unedited

Estudios Arabes e Islámicos celebrado en Córdoba, (1962) pp 163- 183. The first Aljamiado version can be found in the Library of the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid with code number BRAH T-13, folios 28r – 32r, published by M. Pedro Longás, Vida religiosa de los Moriscos, (Madrid: 1915). The second aljamiado version known as of today is in Bibliotheque Méjanès in Aix-en-Provence, manuscript No.1223 folios 130-138, this version was published by J. Cantineau, “Lettre du Moufti D’Oran aux Musulmans D’Andalousie,” Journal Asiatique. Janvier-Mars (1927). pp 1-17. Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 7 version of the fatwa, (fatwa X), a translation into English of this version and a paleographical comparison between this version and the other three versions of the fatwa.

The fatwa of the Mufti of Oran was written in 1504. Many scholars, (among them

L.P. Harvey and Maria R. Menocal) have discussed the historical context and the situation of Moriscos under Spanish Rule during 16th and 17th-centuries.6 Ross Brann and

Consuelo Lopez Morillas are some of the scholars that argue that Moriscos as well as

Conversos7 kept secretly practicing Islam and Judaism, respectively, during this period.8

Vincent Barletta explains the different covert gestures of these subjects to maintain a forbidden faith.9 Not only were they forced to convert publicly by the Spanish

Inquisition, but also they had to deny their old faith.10 They were asked to commit blasphemy and curse Muhammad; they were even forced to eat pork and drink wine. In order to survive they had to hide their beliefs and disguise any practice that would identify them with any other religion that was not Catholic Christianity. Because of this situation, crypto-Muslims and crypto-Jews encountered complicated religious dilemmas.

To what extent were they allowed to hide their faith? What should they hide, and what should they maintain? Could they still be Muslims without practicing the traditional dogma and rituals? Should they feel guilty when having to deny and hide their real faith?

Should they resist conversion to Christianity even if it cost their lives? Should they keep

6 See L.P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain 1500 to 1614, (Chicago and London: Chicago UP, 2005), María Rosa Menocal (see note #2), Luce López-Baralt, Islam in Spanish Literature: From the Middle Ages to the Present, Trans. Andrew Hurley, (San Juan: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico / E.J. Brill, 1992). 7 Converso is the term for a Jew forced to conversion under Spanish Catholic rule. 8 Ross Brann, Renewing the past, reconfiguring Jewish Culture: from Al-Andalus to the Haskalah, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), and Consuelo Lopez-Morillas, The in Sixteenth Century Spain: Six Morisco Versions of Sura 79, (London: Tamesis Books Limited, 1982). 9 Vincent Barletta, Covert Gestures: Crypto-Islamic Literature as Cultural Practice in Early Modern Spain, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005). 10 See Benzion Netanyahu, “The Primary Cause of the Spanish Inquisition,” in The Spanish Inquisition, ed. Angel Alcalá, (Highland Lakes, NJ: Columbia UP, 1987), 11-32, and Virgilio Pinto, “Sobre el delito de herejía (siglos XIII-XVI),” in Perfiles jurídicos de la Inquisición española, ed. José Antonio Escudero, (Madrid: Instituto de Historia de la Inquisición, 1989), 195-204. Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 8 teaching their children Islam, and how would they do that with the Inquisition over their shoulders? These are only some of the questions that arose among the Morisco communities.11 As an answer to some of these questions the Mufti of Oran wrote a fatwa to the Muslims of Andalusia around 1504.12 A fatwa is a legal Islamic response written by an Islamic authority in response to the questions of the followers of Islam. In this case the followers of Islam were the crypto-Muslims dissimulating Islam under Spanish-

Catholic Rule.

There are several versions of this fatwa, which suggests that it was widely spread among the Morisco community in Spain. The original fatwa has not been found yet, but historians agree that it must have been written in 1504. Four other versions and/or translations have been identified. The first one (fatwa V) is in the Vatican.13 This copy is in Arabic and, according to Harvey, it is an abbreviated version since it is copied in the first empty pages of a manuscript book. Since the book is from 1519, the fatwa had to have been copied after 1519, but it is not known how long after. The second copy (fatwa

M) is an Aljamiado version of the fatwa, (Spanish language in Arabic script).14 It is dated from 1563 and is in the library of the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid, part of the

11 This situation and dilemmas apply to Moriscos as much as they can be applied to Conversos, but for the purposes of this study we will focus on the Morisco situation, acknowledging that many of the results and conclusions of this analysis, in terms of faith and dogma, can be applied to Conversos as well. 12 The identity of the mufti of Oran is a controversial subject that is discussed in detail in Devin J. Stewart, “The Identity of the Mufti of Oran: Abu al-Abbas Ahmad b. Abi Jumah al-Maghrawi al-Wahrani (d. 917/1510),” in Al-Qantara, No. 2: vol XXVII (July-December, 2006) pp 265-301. 13 Manuscript Borgiano Arabo 171, folios 2-4. It has been transcribed by L.P. Harvey in Crypto-Islam in Sixteenth Century Spain (see note #5) 14 Aljamiado literature is a whole canon of texts written in Spanish with Arabic characters. These hybrid writings were very common among the Moriscos in Spain for different reasons. It is considered to be the “language of the moriscos”, even thought is not really a new language. For more information on Aljamiado Literature and the Aljamiado phenomenon, refer to Cosuelo Lopez Morillas, Textos Aljamiados sobre la vida de Mahoma: El profeta de los Moriscos. (Madrid: CSIC, 1994), Antonio Vespertino Rodríguez, Leyendas Aljamiadas y Moriscas sobre personajes bíblicos, (Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1983), Gerard Weigers, Islamic Literature in Spanish and Aljamiado: Yça of Segovia (fl.1450), His Antecedents and Successors, (Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1994), and Ottmar Hegyi, “Entorno y significación en los textos Aljamiados.” in Centro Virtual Cervantes, pp. 125-130. Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 9

Gayangos Collection.15 The third copy (fatwa A) is in the Bibliotheque Méjanès in Aix- en-Provence.16 This is also an Aljamiado version, and is thought to date from 1609. The fourth known version of this fatwa (fatwa X) was known to exist, since Eduardo Saavedra mentioned it in his study about the Gayangos Collection. 17 Even though it was know to exist, no one had seen it since the 19th Century. This version is no longer lost and will be the object of this study.

Lost in the Archive: a paleographical commentary

For many years this version of the fatwa was lost in the Archive. Nobody had seen it since professor Eduardo Saavedra in 1878. He lists this fatwa in a catalogue of the

Gayangos Collection that he writes as an appendix to a speech that he gave to the Real

Academia de la Lengua in Madrid.18 When Saavedra lists and describes the documents in the Gayangos Collection he gives the signature number or code number to each of the documents, but when he arrives at the document titled “Tractados contra el alcoran”, where fatwa X is located, he does not give a code number.19 That is why scholars have not been able to locate this version of the fatwa. Thanks to Prof. Miguel A. Ladero and

15 With code number BRAH T-13, folios 28r – 32r. It was transcribed by M. Pedro Longás in Vida religiosa de los Moriscos and also in L.P. Harvey Crypto-Islam in Sixteenth Century Spain (see note #5). The Gayangos Collection is now at the Library of the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid. 16 Manuscript No.1223 folios 130-138. It has been transcribed and translated into French by J. Cantineau in Lettre du Moufti D’Oran aux Musulmans D’Andalousie (see note #5) 17 I have used L.P. Harvey’s abbreviations of the versions of the Fatwas (Fatwa V, Fatwa M, Fatwa A and Fatwa X) for an easier comparison of the versions. 18 Refer to Eduardo Saavedra, Discursos Leídos ante la Real Academia Española el 29 de diciembre de 1878, (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1878) 19 Describing the document, Eduardo Saaverdra explains the following: “Códice cuyo título en el tejuelo es: Tractados contra el Corán, m.s.s, y contiene: 1) Lumbre de la fe contra el Alcoran; por Maestro Figuerola, escrito e ilustrado con dibujos en 1519. 2)Discurso sobre el libro que se halló en el monte de Valparaíso intitulado “vida y milagros de Cristo N.S.” por Tesiphon Abenathar, discípulo de Jacobo el Apóstol. 3) “Epístola Mahomética del Apóstata” Es una carta de Obaydala Ahmed Abenabigioma, natural de Almagro y avecindado en Oran, fechada en la menguante de la luna de Ragiabo, año 910 de la Hegira. Está intercalada entre los desordenados cuadernos del tratado anterior y de la misma letra, y viene a ser la misma del no. 5 del códice No LXXXVII Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 10 librarian Ester González Ibarra of the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid, I was able to locate the document and a signature number was assigned to it.20 As Saavedra described in 1878, the part titled Epístola Mahomética del Apóstata is the same as no.5 of codex No. LXXXVII” (179). When we looked in Eduardo Saavedra’s catalogue this is the old signature number to fatwa M. This means is a different version of the same fatwa of the Mufti of Oran.

Contrary to what some scholars thought, fatwa X is not in Aljamiado. Is a Spanish translation of the fatwa in Latin characters, probably used by inquisitors to identify the covert gestures of crypto-Muslims living in Spain. The only date that appears in the document is “fecha en la menguante de la luna de Ragiabo 910 de la Hegira” (mss quote, f.345v) which corresponds to 1504, the date of original fatwa.21 The date of this particular translation does not appear in the fatwa. Scholars like L.P Harvey and Devin Stewart agree on the year of 1504 for the original fatwa. This date is exactly two years after the forcible conversions of Muslims under the Crown of Castile in 1501-1502 and it makes sense that around 1504 crypto-Muslims were looking for answers on how to practice their religious rituals.

In summary, fatwa X contains a long and detailed introduction, where we find the name and origin of the person who writes the fatwa (the Mufti of Oran), and the addressees of the fatwa who are the Moriscos in general, and other captives in Spain who follow the sect of Muhammad.22 This introduction contains several religious formulae,

20 The assigned code number is BRAH Gayangos n.1922/36 (antiguo 28) f. 343r-346r 21 1 Rajab 910 corresponds to 8 December 1504, for more discussion on the date of the original document, refer to Devin Stewart The Identity of the Mufti of Oran (see note #12) 22 There have been some errors in terms of the real identity of the writer of the original Fatwa. For the purposes of this analysis I will refer to the author as the Mufti of Oran. The generic name that scholars of the different versions have agreed on, is the “Mufti of Oran” but for a detailed study on the real identity of this jurist, refer to Devin Stewart The Identity of the Mufti of Oran in note 12. Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 11 but they are all translated into Spanish; they are not in Arabic as usually the case in the

Aljamiado versions. It then starts discussing several aspects of dissimulation associated with the concept of taqiyyah, a practice of Islamic dissimulation originally used to disguise Shiite practices among Sunni Muslims. Even though the term taqiyyah is not used in the fatwa, the content of the fatwa is describing the act of taqiyyah. The advice on dissimulation of Islamic practices and rituals starts with the reference to the praise of fake idols, which according to the Mufti is not a problem because they are only of wood and stone. Following this, it clarifies that God is only one and that he does not have a son. It is interesting that God is written as “Dios” and not “Allah”, as is seen in the Aljamiado versions. Then the mufti begins to explain the importance of the assala and the ways to dissimulate prayer as one does in times of war. He also discusses the purification necessary for the assala or prayer and the ways to dissimulate this purification. He discusses the issue of the assala more than any other aspect and then quotes Abin Hagio quoting the Prophet’s words: “haced lo que la possibilidad os permite”(mss quote f.344r).23 He also mentions the issue of having to drink wine and eat pork, and how to do these things when in danger, but always knowing in the heart that it is forbidden by law.

The Mufti also discusses the issue of marrying Muslim sons with Christian daughters, which is allowed because they are part of the “Peoples of the Book”. However, marriage between Muslim daughters and Christian men should be avoided as much as possible. Then he talks about the azzaka or alms, and how to dispose of them when they cannot do it publicly. He discusses blasphemy and gives some grammatical tricks to avoid it, when possible. Afterwards, the Mufti treats the subject of Mary and Joseph and then of Jesus’ crucifixion. The fatwa concludes by asking the Moriscos to send any other

23 English translation “do whatever possibility allows you” Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 12 doubts to him so he can answer. He tells them that he will testify to God that they are true

Muslims, and that hopefully the Noble Turks will help them restitute Muslim power in

Spain so they can practice Islam publicly again. He concludes the fatwa but then starts a long postscript. In this postscript he discusses the practice and dissimulation of assala in detail and quotes Alphaqui Abu Mahamed, Abdala Abin Abizaydo from the city of

Cyrene in Africa. He also quotes the Quran and Alphaquy Abu Abdala Alahamed Abin al[esahaxio] in his book “Esplicaçion delos rayos de esplendor”. He ends the postscript with a quote from this book. It is important to notice that through out the whole fatwa he emphasizes on doing these things while the “intention of the heart” is faithful to God.

After understanding the contents of the fatwa, namely its focus on open dissimulation of

Islam and simulation of Catholicism, where the intention of the heart was the only thing that mattered; the conception of what constitutes the dogma of a religion is totally altered.

Traditional dogma and ritual practice change dramatically, and therefore religiosities start to overlap.

Religiosities in transit

In addition to the literal advices on the dissimulation of Islam presented by this document and its various versions, there are several theological points that are critical to any study of sixteenth century Spanish subjectivities, religious hybridity, Islamic studies,

Christian theology, among other fields. First, it is important to understand that this fatwa is not an isolated document. The different versions and translations demonstrate that it was spread throughout sixteenth century Spain. The Muslims of Spain practiced the Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 13 authorized dissimulation of Islam presented in this fatwa after 1502.24 They were forced to practice a cryptic Islam, an Islam that required only the “intention of the heart,” a dissimulated new form of Islam. Dissimulation of Islam was not limited to hiding Islamic rituals, but also included simulating Catholic rituals, like baptism and confession, and professing Catholic dogma, among others. Not every Muslim in Spain had access to this fatwa. It would be unrealistic to assume that. The importance of this fatwa is that it demonstrates that dissimulation of Islam was happening with the permission of Islamic authorities, revealing a very flexible form of Islam in Spain.

The phrase “the intention of the heart” is repeated continually in this fatwa. Every time the Mufti excuses a ritual Islamic practice, he repeats this phrase. He also tells the

Moriscos to practice Islamic rituals within their possibilities, meaning that they would only be excused from doing these things when they were in danger or under surveillance.

For Muslims living in Spain, the danger was continuous and the surveillance was constant. The Spanish Inquisition was everywhere. The “familiares” of the Inquisition were often the neighbours next door who could look through the window.25 Because of this, it is important to understand the way in which Inquisitorial accusations worked. The

Spanish Inquisition would prosecute someone “under suspicion of heresy”.26 They did not need proof to prosecute and condemn someone. Anyone could accuse another person

24 1502 is the year when the Catholic King and Queen of Spain signed the Decree of Conversion or Expulsion for Muslims under Castilian Rule in Granada. 25 Familares are the official Informants of the Inquisition; refer to Angel Alcala in The Spanish Inquisition, (Highland Lakes, NJ: Columbia UP, 1987). 26 For more information on the charge of heresy by the Spanish Inquisition refer to Virgilio Pinto “Sobre el delito de herejía s. XIII-XVI” and also Benzion Netanyahu “The Primary Cause of the Spanish Inquisition” in bibliography (both in note #10). They both discuss the charge of heresy in terms of legal action and in terms of definition. Heresy takes center stage, especially in the Spain of the Catholic Kings, and because of this. It was very easy to make an accusation of heresy but very hard to proof innocent from that accusation. It is important to understand the role of heresy in this time to understand why Moriscos and Conversos had to be very careful in hiding their religious identity. Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 14 of heresy and that would be enough to prosecute that person. The culture of surveillance and accusation was such a dominant part of daily life that disagreements between neighbours would end in accusations of Islamic or Judaic practices. Thus, if people who were not even practicing Islam or Judaism were in danger of being prosecuted, those who were really Muslims, had to hide their religion at all costs. This is revealing and problematic because it can reach the point of erasing Islamic ritual and practice completely from the lives of these Muslims. This phenomenon did not occur for two or three years, it lasted more than three centuries and many Muslims were born and died within this dissimulated form of Islam. The Catholic Kings instituted the Spanish

Inquisition in 1478 to maintain the Catholic orthodoxy. It was abolished 356 years later, in 1834 during the reign of Isabel II. Although, the Spanish Inquisition was not always as strong as it was in its beginnings, it could be argued that fear of that institution prevailed and made Muslims and Jews hide the expression of their religions to the point of confusing their rituals with Christian ones.

Another theological phenomenon to consider is the performance of Christian daily life rituals by Moriscos, while keeping an Islamic faith “in their hearts”. The interchangeability between the dogmas of one religion with the internal faith of another religion, gives space to a hybridity that goes beyond syncretism because it involves the core aspects of the manifestation of the divine in the self and its actions. These hybrid religiosities cannot be defined since they are private and intimate, instead of collective.

Collectiveness of religious dogma and ritual practice allows for institutional control of the religiosity of its subjects in the sense that it makes it uniform. When a community of

Muslims practices the same rituals established by the Islamic dogma, the Islamic Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 15

Institution somehow controls the definition of their religiosities. But when the traditional dogma and rituals are suspended and the intention of the heart prevails, like we see in the fatwa, these religiosities vary with each individual and cannot correspond to any institutional dogma. In this case religiosity becomes uncontrollable and undefined. Even when an individual identifies his or her specific faith, the way in which he or she practices that religion is very unique and malleable.

The cohabitation of these undefined religiosities under the simulation a very strict

Catholicism and the dissimulation of Judaism and Islam, produces hybrid expressions of religious thought and practice. These malleable religiosities influence each other and produce a hybrid between Islam, Christianity and Judaism. An overlapping occurs, that would not be possible in the isolated contexts where Islam and Christianity usually exist.

This overlap among religions is portrayed in Aljamiado Literature where the qualities of the Catholic figure of Mary, mother of Jesus, are fused with those of the Islamic figure of

Amina, mother of Muhammad.27 The portrayal of Amina found in Aljamiado literature tends to be influenced by the Christian conception of Mary, revealing a hybrid conception of the mother of the chosen one.

Taqiyyah was practiced by Shiite minorities among Sunni Muslims, for a specific range of time, (while in danger, in war, in the road).28 Taqiyyah was not widely practiced with a different religion until the situation of the Moriscos in Spain. The concept of

27 One of various examples is this rhetorical overlap between Mary and Amina; it appears in Aljamiado manuscript BRAH T-18 f.103r, where it says “Amina de buena ventura eres sobre todas las mujeres”. In Spanish this is a religious formulae used for Mary mother of Jesus, but here is used referring to Amina. This manuscript is edited by Consuelo Lopez Morillas in Textos aljamiados sobre la vida de Mahoma (see note #8). 28 For further discussions on taqiyyah refer to Devin Stewart works, “Taqiyyah as Performance: the travels of Baha al-Din al-Amili in the Ottoman Empire (991-93/ 1583-85),” in Princeton Papers in Near Eastern Studies, vol.4 (1996), pp 1-70, and also “Documents and Dissimulation: Notes on Performance of Taqyyah.” in Identidades Marginales. Estudios Onomásticos-Biográficos de al-Andalus, ed. Cristina de la Puente. (Madrid: CSIC, 2003), pp 569-598. Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 16 taqiyyah is not used in the fatwa literally, but its definition is. The entire fatwa talks about the dissimulation of Islam in front of Christians. So it is not a mistake to make reference to this concept. The difference between this type of taqiyyah and the one practiced “intra- religion” had very controversial consequences. The taqiyyah practiced in Spain not only crossed religion boundaries, but it also lasted generations. We can see how taqiyyah was supposed to be in a transitory situation when at the end of the fatwa, the Mufti wishes that

Muslim power to be re-established with the help of the “Noble Turks”, so they can freely practice their religion once again. But the problem was that the dissimulation of Islam for

Moriscos lasted generations, children were born and died within taqiyyah, not being able to practice the traditional Islamic rituals. This phenomenon portrays a different shape of

Islam, an internal Islam where the only thing that mattered was the “intention of the heart”.

For some Muslims (the ones who were born and died inside a dissimulated form of Islam), this was the only Islam they knew. It is an Islam that survived in a transitory state; that allowed rituals and practices from other religions. They were Muslims that were baptized, ate pork, drank wine and professed with their mouths that Jesus was the

Son of God. This exchangeability between the “intention of the heart” of one religion and the rituals of another religion generates very complicated types of religiosities, which are not the Islam, Judaism and Christianity that we know. It is very important to understand this complexity when studying the famous Convivencia between these three religions.29 It

29 By Convivencia I am referring to a whole debate among scholars about the ways in which Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in the Iberian Peninsula. The term Convivencia was proposed by Americo Castro defending the fact that Spain’s past is tri-cultural. It can seem really obvious to us now, but the early 20th Century in Spain was extremely conservative, and Franco’s Government banned allusions to a Muslim or Jewish past. In the other side of the debate, (against the idea of Conviviencia), is Sánchez Albornoz, who neglected this multi-culturalism and alleged that the idea of Convivencia is an idealistic view of the cohabitation of these three communities. Currently under review by Medieval Encounters 17 is impossible to talk about monolithic religious subjects. The religious subjects of 16th- century Spain were subjects in transit, ergo religiosities in transit, constantly moving in different directions. This paper aims to bring to the forefront the following questions for further critical inquiry: How can these complex subjects be approached? How is it possible to both study and comprehend these hybrid religiosities?

In conclusion, the importance of this fatwa is that it officially documents the existence of religiosities that do not depend on ritual practice. By religiosity I mean the way in which a religion is lived, or the way in which a religion is translated into the quotidian activities. Because of the context of 16th-century Spain and the Inquisitorial imposition, different religions were forced to live in a very similar manner for two centuries. Even when the context was an awful one, and when the faith of all these subjects had a specific identity or identification, (either with Islam, Judaism,

Protestantism, or Catholic Christianity), the daily-life-manner in which they lived their faith, dissimulated or not, was very common among them. Imposed or not, their religiosities were very similar, whereas the intention of those hearts was strongly different. This fatwa is an example of how private and intimate faith can be. In the simultaneity between the simulation of a religion and the multiple dissimulations of other religions, a simulacrum takes place. This simulacrum is constituted by a whole spectrum of hybrid religious expressions. In between simulation and dissimulation a new religious subject arises claiming the hybridity and transit of a Spain, erroneously defined as pure and static.

______