Central Asian and Iraqi scholars’ works defined Morisco religious identity.

Evidence

Among the books owned by Muslims in this late period were many pious miscellanies, usually arranged in a loosely thematic way and designed primarily for religious edification (although often including many items that one might classify as popular narratives designed primarily for entertainment). Because we lack a convenient name with which to designate the genre, it is difficult to discuss them, but the type is indeed easily recognized if one has any familiarity with Morisco manuscripts. I did in the past (Harvey 1958, 164ff) suggest the designation of “paraenetic works” for such volumes, but I now find that to be an absurdly overerudite term, quite at odds with the popular nature of the texts in question. Perhaps “exhortatory miscellany” would be preferable. We may certainly relate the genre to those later devotional (rather than scholarly) developments of hadith literature to which reference has already been made (anthologized Forty Traditions, etc.), but it is perhaps best understood as an offshoot of popular preaching (waz). … The formal khutba or Friday homily, usually short, is something distinct; what I have in mind here were extended popular sermons, at times addressed to large multitudes, and ranging over a broad span of moralizing, admonitory, and edifying material. Those who are familiar in medieval Castilian with, for example, the lively Christian sermons of the archpriest of Talavera (with their frequent warnings of hellfire) may form some idea of the tone of this parallel Islamic genre. We can be quite sure that preaching of this kind continued among the crypto-Muslims, for the works of the Young Man from Ar´evalo contain eyewitness accounts of occasions when the faithful assembled (presumably in secret) to listen to sermons (sometimes given by females!). — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 710 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Gossip to the effect that the “newly converted” could not hold their liquor would not have been surprising in Old Christian circles, but that Alonso del Castillo should record for us the reputation of the Moriscos for drunkenness I do find puzzling. It is almost as if Alonso del Castillo, by using this word, “Moriscos,” is seeking to distance himself from his own background. It is as if he were not in his own mind a real Morisco but something else. From his highly privileged and safe vantage point in society he must have developed very confused attitudes toward both his vulnerable fellows and his own identity. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1732 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Some Moriscos possessed highly specialized Arabic linguistic scholarship; Texts surviving from Moriscos were curated to fit their religious priorities — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 760; Morisco scholars engineered forged holy texts to counter Christian intolerance — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1342 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Morisco pious miscellanies derive from popular preaching rather than scholarly hadith #complicates (0.80) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 710
• Even prominent Morisco scholars distanced themselves from their own community’s identity #complicates (0.75) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1732