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Muslim Influences in Post-Arab Malta the Hal Millieri Church

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Muslim Influences in Post-Arab Malta the Hal Millieri Church chapter 21 Muslim Influences in Post-Arab Malta The Hal Millieri Church David Mallia Buildings are the most tangible of man’s creations, obstacles, and proceed to examine the multilay- because the materials from which they are made ered Hal Millieri site and its monuments for its define a man-made volume conceived for a func- Arab past.3 tion. Architecture—as distinct from building— goes beyond the mere organization of space for functional purposes, and cloaks physical struc- 1 Understanding the Maltese Psyche tures with intangible symbolic and ceremonial meaning. A building’s function may change with The Arab period in Maltese history is peculiar time as new needs supplant the old. However, it because “no other period of Maltese history is so may not be so easy to suppress and replace the fraught with admitted or hidden psychological symbolic references inherent in a building. This is complexes, with unconscious fears and hates that why a change in political regime is often accompa- imaginary skeletons in the national cupboard nied by the suppression of existing symbolism.1 If should become common property to the delight the symbolism inherent in a building is sufficiently and scorn of all.”4 This may explain the scarcity of strong, then its very presence may be enough to notable monuments or documents from the Arab generate emotions and feelings that are in the pro- period in Malta,5 an island where remains from cess of being suppressed. The destruction of the the Roman period, and subsequently that of the building may be the only way of annihilating these Knights, are treasured as national monuments. memories.2 This chapter will consider why the Furthermore, Malta’s vernacular architecture and search for a building from the Arab period in building construction methods, which are of Arab Malta has to overcome considerable ‘intangible’ origin, are considered to be insignificant when compared to the European-inspired masterpieces 1 Carmel Testa, The French in Malta (1798–1800) (Malta: Midsea Books, 1997), 108, and Albert Ganado, Palace of the 3 Joe Vella-Gauci, Christian-Muslim relations as a topos in Grand Masters in Valletta (Malta: Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Maltese historiography and literature (Victoria-Gozo, Malti, 2001), 170, in which it is noted that both the French Malta: Arab European Forum for Development and and British colonial administrations in Malta actively tried Dialogue, 2010), 14–27. to suppress the memory of the rule of the Order of St John 4 Godfrey Wettinger, “The Arabs in Malta,” Malta: Studies of by removing the symbols of nobility and coats-of-arms on Its Heritage and Its History (Malta: Mid-Med Bank, 1986), buildings and fortifications. The contemporary Maltese 87–104. reaction to this has been to hold the despotic rule of the 5 Giuseppe Bellafiore, Architettura in Sicilia nelle età islam- Order of St John in high esteem. ica e normanna (827–1194) (Palermo: Arnaldo Lombardi, 2 Edward. T. Salmon, Roman Colonization under the Republic 1990), 71–73. This important publication shows that many (London: Thames & Hudson, 1969), 119, in which it is noted of the so-called Arab monuments of Sicily were actually that the destruction of Carthage by the Romans and the built during the Norman period (i.e., post 1100) and that symbolic plowing of the land with salt is an example of there are very few buildings in Sicily that can be reliably this reasoning. It was almost a century before the Romans dated to the Arab period (827–1091). It is therefore not sur- built a new city on the ruins of the old Carthage. prising that even less has survived in tiny Malta. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi ��.����/�������������_��� 394 mallia built in succeeding ages.6 This contrasts with toponomy of the Islands—is extremely rich.12 neighboring Sicily where the few surviving Islamic The continued use of Arabic words such as Alla monuments are conserved and valued.7 (Allah) and randan (derived from ramadan),13 In the absence of any documents on this period which retain their original meaning, are a direct in the Maltese archives, historians have relied on connection with Arabic and Islam.14 The archaeo- the testimony of a few scattered episodes in the logical discoveries from the Arab period in the works of foreign medieval chroniclers. Generally, Maltese Islands are scant: a Muslim Cemetery in they had no personal experience of the Maltese Rabat with tombstones dating to the (subse- context and wrote from the perspective of the for- quent) twelfth-century Norman period, but as yet eign rulers of the Islands. The interpretation of no mosque or structure of any kind.15 More these events seems to depend heavily on the his- recently a more systematic analysis of Islamic toric situation of the time when they were written.8 period pottery finds from different parts of the In particular, the thorny issue of the survival of Islands has led to a reassessment of the economy, Christianity throughout the medieval period and agriculture, and settlement of the island in this the corresponding dominant presence of Islam on period.16 A series of publications, which appeared the island remain unresolved.9 The Catholic Christian church was reintroduced into the islands by the Normans in 1125. Inroads made by the etc.: Papers in Honour of Professor Glanville Price, ed. Catholic church cannot have been great since the M.M. Parry (Cardiff: University of Cardiff, 1994) Norman monarchy also supported the existing 281–294. Muslim population in the kingdom. The succeed- 12 Godfrey Wettinger, Place Names of the Maltese Islands ing Swabian dynasty decided to Christianize their (Malta: peg, 2000). entire kingdom. Nevertheless, the earliest refer- 13 Arabic learning resources, “Arabic religion vocabulary,” ences to Maltese Christian churches in the medie- accessed February 22, 2014, http://arabic.desert-sky .net/religion.html. val period date back to the late thirteenth century, 14 Geoffrey Roper, “Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq and the by which time “the order of the day had become Libraries of Europe and the Ottoman Empire,” accessed convert to Christianity or pack and leave.”10 February 21, 2014, http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/ The intangible heritage from the Arab period— ~lcr/archive/fulltext/LandC_33_3_Roper.pdf; and Yale in the form of the Maltese language11 and the Divinity School Library, “Eli Smith and the Arabic Bible,” accessed February 21, 2014, http://www.library 6 Joseph C. Sammut and E. Azzopardi, “A unique Fatimid .yale.edu/div/pub/OccPub4.pdf—The Syrian Christian gold coin of Malta,” Treasures of Malta 46 (2009): 9, scriptures were in Syriac with only “totally inadequate” who note that “The Islamic Era in the history of Malta Arabic translations available until the new Arabic is the pons asinorum (bridge of asses) of Maltese translation of the Bible was commissioned and printed historiography.” by the “American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 7 Bellafiore, Architettura in Sicilia nelle età islamica e nor- Missions” and the British “Church Missionary Society.” manna, 71–73. It was undertaken in the mid-nineteenth century by an 8 Nathaniel Cutajar, “Malte du Néolithique à la Conquête international team led by Eli Smith which included normande,” Les Dossiers d’archéologie 267 (2001): 76. Fāris al-Shidyāq and Rev. George Percy Badger. Much of 9 Cultural Malta, “Arab rule in Malta,” accessed February their work was done in Malta. 21, 2014. http://www.culturalmalta.org/index.php/History/ 15 Bellafiore, Architettura in Sicilia nelle età islamica e nor- arab-rule-in-malta.html. manna, 71, mentions only one building in Sicily that 10 Mario Buhagiar and Stanley Fiorini, Mdina: The was used as a mosque and that can be reliably dated to Cathedral City of Malta (Malta: Central Bank of Malta, the Arab period (827–1091). 1996), 113. 16 Nathaniel Cutajar and Alessandra Molinari, “Of Greeks 11 John Cremona, “The survival of Arabic in Malta—the and Arabs and Feudal Knights,” Malta Archaeological Sicilian centuries,” in The changing voices of Europe Review 3 (1999): 9–16..
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