Granadan diplomacy seeking Muslim allies nearly triggered reprisals on Spanish Muslims

Evidence

To return to the beginning of our period, parallel to the approaches to the Ottomans made by the Nasrids at the end of the fifteenth century were those made by their envoy to the Mamluks of Cairo, Ibn al-Azraq. … The consequences of this diplomatic activity were not inconsiderable, for it provoked a response from Spain. There were Muslims in Spain, in Valencia, and in Aragon who would inevitably suffer if the Mamluks were to yield to Granadan requests that retaliation for their Granadan woes should be inflicted on the Eastern Christians. There was a danger of a spiral of vengeance, which did not occur. The outcome of this round of negotiations was mixed but positive for both sides. The diplomatic offensive initiated by the Granadan Ibn al-Azraq was stymied by the counter-embassy of Ferdinand’s Peter Martyr. The Muslims of the Crown of Aragon were left unmolested for another generation, until the 1520s in fact. And the Eastern Christians escaped persecution, too. They did not have to pay the price for the actions of the rulers of Spain. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1551

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the standing interest in how minority communities are held hostage to diplomatic conflicts between larger powers — echoes the logic of institutional design chapters read earlier. — connects to: Geopolitical ties to Muslim states shielded Spanish Muslims from Jews’ harsher treatment. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 132; Muslims escaped full persecution in Spain through economic utility and Ottoman diplomatic leverage — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 132