Europe Through Arab Eyes, 1578-1727

by Matar, Nabil

• ISBN13: 9780231141949
• ISBN10: 0231141947
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-03
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. XI
A Note on Transliteration	p. XVII
Chronology	p. XIX
List of Rulers	p. XXIII
Introduction	p. 3
Popular Sources: Accounts of Muslim Captivity in Christendom	p. 29
The Captives "Speak"-and Write	p. 41
Captivity and the Other	p. 51
Captivity and Karamat	p. 55
Captivity of Women	p. 60
European Captives and New Muslims	p. 65
Elite Sources: Muslim Ambassadors in Christendom	p. 72
Al-Nafhah al-Miskiyah	p. 77
Ahmad ibn Qasim and Fakhr al-Din al-Ma'ni II	p. 80
The Widening Exposure	p. 93
Ambassadors and European Women	p. 106
Non-Muslim Ambassadors	p. 114
Conclusion: Encountering the Dunya of the Christians	p. 118
Nasr	p. 122
Sina'a / Technology	p. 125
Translations	p. 139
1578: Letters of Radwan al-Janawy on Muslim Captives, in Tuhfat al-Ikhwan, Rabat National Library, MS Kaf 154, fols. 423-424, 427-428	p. 141
After 1588: Description of the Defeat of the Armada, by Abu Faris 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Fishtali, in Rasa'il Sa'diyah, ed. 'Abdallah Gannun, 152-157	p. 144
ca. 1589-1591: A Journey from Morocco to Istanbul and Back, in Abu Hasan 'Ali ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali Muhammad al-Tamjruti, Al-Nafhah al-Miskiyah fi al-Safarah al-Turkiyah, ed. 'Abd al-Latif al-Shadhili, 28-29, 41-42, 65, 74-76, 84-86, 90-94, 128-132, 140-141	p. 147
After June 1596: Description of the English Attack on Cadiz, in Abu Faris 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Fishtali, Manahil al-Safa', ed. 'Abd al-Karim Karim, 193-196	p. 159
1613-1618: Description of Pisa and Florence, in Lunban fi 'Ahd al-Amir Fakhr al-Din al-Ma'ni al-Thani, ed. Asad Rustum and Fu'ad Afram al-Bustani, 208-224	p. 163
1623: Expulsion of the Moriscos and the Miraculous Ransoming of Muslim Captives, in Al-Muntasir ibn Abi Lihya al-Qafsi, Nur al-Armash fi Manaqib al-Qashash, ed. Lutfi'Isa and Husayn Bujarrah, 138-141, 151-154	p. 178
1633-1635: Letters from Tunis by Osman/Thomas d'Arcos, a Convert to Islam, Les Correspondants de Peiresc: Lettres inedites publiees et annotees, ed. Philippe Tamizey de Larroque, 2:23-28, 36-39. French original	p. 186
1635: Letter About Muslim Captives Converted to Christianity, Rabat National Library, MS Jim 223, 101-103	p. 192
1635: Expulsion of the Moriscos, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rafi' ibn Muhammad al-Andalusi, Al-Anwar al-Nabawiyah fi Aba' Khayr al-Bariyah, in A. Turki, "Wathai'q al-Hijra al-Andalusiyah al-Akhirah," Hawliyat al-Jami'ah al-Tunisiyah 4 (1967): 27-39	p. 194
1642: Description of the World, in Ahmad ibn Qasim, Nasir al-Din 'ala al-Qawm al-Kafirin, ed. Muhammad Razzuq, 95-99	p. 200
Before 1688: Christian Attack on Jarbah (Tunisia) in 1510, in Sulayman ibn Ahmad al-Hilati, 'Ulama' Jarbah, ed. Muhammad Qawjah, 32-39	p. 205
1685: Bombardment of Tripoli, Libya, by the French Fleet, in Ahmad ibn Khaled al-Nasiri, Tal'at al-Mushtari, 2:28-30	p. 210
1681-1691: Battle Accounts, in Taqayid Tarikhiyah, Rabat Royal Library, MS 12352	p. 213
1590-1654: Euro-Tunisian Piracy, in Ibn Abi Dinar, Kitab al-Mu'nis fi Akhbar Ifriqiyah wa-Tunis, 190-202	p. 216
Before September 2, 1706: Letter of Mulay Isma'il to the English Parliament, Les Sources ... Filalienne, ed. Brissac, 6:349-354	p. 227
November 1, 1707: Letter from a Captive in France, ed. Jamal Vannan, Nusus wa Watha'iq fi Tarikh al-Jaza'ir al-Hadith 1500-1830, 144-145	p. 230
1713: Letters of Bentura de Zari, Moroccan Ambassador Under House Arrest in London, National Archives, Kew, SP 71/16/63-65, 70-71. English original	p. 232
January 12, 1717: Letter of Mulay Isma'il to Philip V, in Muhammad al-Saghir al-Ifrani, Rawdat al-Ta'rif, ed. 'Abd al-Wahab Benmansour, 133-134	p. 236
1726-1727: On Quinine, in Husayn Khujah, Al-Asrar al-Kaminah, ed. al-Karray al-Qusantini, 31-43	p. 237
Mid-eighteenth century: Captivity in Malta, in Abu al-Qasim al-Zayani, Al-Tarjumanah al-Kubra, ed. 'Abd al-Karim al-Filali, 192-193	p. 241
1782: Muhammad ibn 'Uthman al-Miknasi. Falling in Love in Naples, in Al-Badr al-Safir li Hidayat al-Musafir ila Fikak al-Asara min Yad al-'Aduww al-Kafir. Rabat National Library, MS Ha 52, fols. 145-150	p. 242
1798: Letter from a Female Captive in Malta, Muhammad Razzuq, Dirasat fi Tarikh al-Maghrib, 178-181	p. 245
Notes	p. 249
Bibliography	p. 277
Index	p. 301
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