The Preaching and Sermons of Muslims under Christian Rule (Mudejars and Moriscos)

Résumé En

Manuscripts of Islamic sermons were compiled, copied, and preserved by Mudejar andMorisco communities in the Iberian Peninsula. Most of these texts date from the late14 th to the 16 th centuries, with the exception of a handful of earlier anonymousmanuscripts. Some of these sermons were composed in Arabic while others were eithercomposed in Aljamiado or translated into Aljamiado from classical Arabic.Part I of this chapter will analyze the sermon literature in Arabic. The topics of studywill include the identification and classification of the sub-varieties of homiletic works(e.g., Friday and other canonical and para-liturgical sermons; “popular” homileticexhortation and storytelling; or Sufi homilies); a thematic and rhetorical analysis of thecontent of these diverse texts; as well as the discussion of the extent to which theyreflect a continuation with or divergence from the normative Islamic thought, rituals,and other practices that were current among Andalusi (and Maghrebi) Muslims prior tothe Christian conquests.Part II of this chapter will be devoted to the subject of Muslim preaching in theRomance vernacular languages collectively known as Aljamiado. Moriscos, like theMudejars before them, are largely assumed to have maintained the traditional models ofIslamic theology and orthopraxis –as Part I could demonstrate or affirm–, yet, the fieldof preaching in the vernacular remains to be explored. It appears, however, that onceagain, the Aljamiado production was between a conservative and an innovative stance,without that being necessarily exclusive. This 2 nd part will try to identify the componentof preaching within the Aljamiado corpus, to classify the different sub-varieties oforatory, and to present some possible sources and uses among the Mudejar and MoriscoRomance-speaking communities.The conclusion of this chapter will evaluate what relation, if any, exists between theArabic and the Aljamiado texts, for instance, whether it can be verified that anAljamiado sermon is a direct translation or adaptation of one of the Arabic texts.