Cultural distress and linguistic loss ended ornamental prose among Moriscos

Evidence

In the case of the Islamic Spanish of this Morisco period, there was hardly time for a great deal of development and evolution to take place; indeed, it is remarkable that differences of such magnitude as we do find became fixed so quickly. Writers such as the Young Man from Ar´evalo built a distinctive style that could never be confused with the work of their Christian contemporaries. … After the final expulsion of 1609, the refugee community from Spain was free to pick up the threads of Arabic culture once more; because aljamiado literature did not live on into modern times, we should not underestimate the tremendous effort that the crypto- Muslims of Spain in the sixteenth century had put into developing it. In spite of all the limitations inflicted upon them by the persecutions of the Inquisition (for whom any manuscript in Arabic script was liable to be condemned as a Koran), a new literature was created. It was paradoxical that considerable innovatory ingenuity was deployed in the service of cultural and religious conservatism. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 673 (#complicates, via linked claim)

As for the converts themselves, there were mixed motives present too. Many Moriscos were attached to aspects of the material and intellectual culture of the Christian majority. What they wanted was to participate in society on an equal footing. But others clung resolutely to their distinctive heritage. What they wanted was to be left alone. Contradictory processes were at work. With the passage of time, the minority culture, subjected as it was to increasing persecution, became weaker, but then as time passed, many Moriscos, with understandable human stubbornness, became ever more determined to resist the erosion of their traditions. Over the time span that we are studying, Islam did not ever show signs of quietly fading away. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 533 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Persecution hardened Morisco resistance even as it weakened the culture; Persecution strengthened rather than extinguished Morisco cultural resistance — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 533; Morisco writers improvised a Romance religious vocabulary to replace lost Arabic (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Morisco writers forged a distinctive literary style under severe persecution. #complicates (0.86) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 673
• Persecution strengthened rather than extinguished Morisco cultural resistance #complicates (0.82) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 533