On Monday, May 16, May, CU-Boulder’s Mediterranean Studies Group presents three scholars—Sabahat Adil, Asian languages and civilizations, CU-Boulder; Brian A. Catlos, religious studies, CU-Boulder; and Núria Martínez-de-Castilla, Arabic and Islamic studies Complutense Madrid—in an event, "Europe's Problem with Islam 500 Years Ago," which will survey the experience of forgotten European Muslims, their literature and culture, and their post-exile fate.
In 1609, the Spanish crown began the expulsion of more than 400,000 Moriscos. Spanish Christians descended from native Muslims who were forcibly converted to Christianity nearly a century earlier.
These people, who knew no other home, were uprooted, deprived of their property and sent into exile in far off and often hostile Islamic lands.
In the century they lived as Christians in Spain, the Moriscos endured prejudice and abuse; the prohibition of the use of Arabic, the veil, traditional clothes, dances and customs; popular suspicion, discriminatory tax laws, and ethnic hatred. Expected to live as Christians, they were given virtually no ministry or instruction.
Yet some embraced their new faith and served the church, and king. Others retrenched doggedly persisting in their faith, even as the Inquisition hunted them done. Still others developed a hybrid religion combining Islam, Christianity and the veneration of the Virgin Mary. All to no avail.
The presentation begins at 6:30 p.m., at the Grand Assembly Hall of Chautauqua Historical Park. The event is free and open to the public, but seats must be reserved no later than May 9. To reserve seats, email tickets@cumediterranean.info.
To read more about the history and context, visit the Mediterranean Seminar website.
May 3, 2016