Forced mass baptism in Granada birthed underground crypto-Islam.

Evidence

Cisneros had successfully argued that the Muslims had lost all claim to continue to be treated according to the 1492 peace terms, so that now the monarchs might impose whatever terms they saw fit. Faced with the determined campaign of conversions pushed through by Cisneros, the Muslims gave up overt resistance (we will soon see that covert resistance never ceased). They converted in large numbers, 50,000 souls accepted baptism, says Alonso de Santa Cruz (1951), 60,000 said Pope Alexander VI in the letter of congratulations that he sent to Cisneros on March 27, 1500). With hindsight we can probably best understand the “success” of the drive for conversion to Christianity as something quite different: for the Muslims of Granada it marked the beginning of underground crypto-Islam, which will be discussed below. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 185

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the meaning of crypto-Islam as the covert continuation of Islamic practice by those formally converted under duress.