Being caught reading Arabic could bring punishment in Morisco Spain

Evidence

I was in their company, but I had not revealed to the Christian that I could read Arabic, because of the sentence of punishment which they usually passed upon those who appeared to do so. While he was reading the book there was hesitation at the correct reading of some words. So I said to them: “Maybe it means this!” They found that this was true. Thereupon the priest looked at me and said, “You know how to read Arabic? Do not be afraid [to admit it], because the archbishop is looking for someone who knows something of reading Arabic, so that he may explain something written in that language that has come to light.” — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1280

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ‘Grafting & Growth’ as authorial framing, but more directly to the pattern of persecuted literacy — similar to Milgrom on institutions and the Catholic indexing of knowledge in The Library.
• SEED: Essay angle: the danger of possessing forbidden literacy as a recurring tool of colonial/imperial control across cultures — reading as a punishable act in al-Hajari’s Spain parallels book burnings and language suppression worldwide.