Moriscos’ historical memory skipped the entire medieval era of al-Andalus

Evidence

In the scale of priorities of the Moriscos, what they considered to be of vital importance was what had happened in the early days of Islam, what was going to happen at the end of days (and many of them believed that the end was very near); they had little time to spare for more than brief anecdotes of the more recent past, especially if it was not a specifically Islamic past. Between the days of the Companions of the Prophet and the present, apart from fragmentary and largely fictional references to the great days of the Caliphate of Cordova, apart from some slight reflection of the drama of Nasrid history, there is a void. Nothing on the muluk al-tawaif or on the Almoravids or Almohads at all! In this connection it is to be noted, as we will see in chapter 6, that when the last Granadan rebellion broke out, its leader, Fernando de Valor, assumed the Arab name of Ben Umayya, harking back to the great days of the eighth to tenth centuries, not to any nearer historical milestone. “History” for the Moriscos meant the early days of Islam and the early days of an Islamic regime in al-Andalus, not the totality of time elapsed. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 762 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

It is obviously no more possible to make easy generalizations about the fate of the Moriscos once they were outside Spain than it was to present a straightforward account of what happened to them while they were still in their Spanish homeland. Most endured hardships on their journey into exile. Some perished. Some eventually flourished. And everywhere the surviving generations have tenaciously kept alive the memories of al-Andalus, the land from which their ancestors were excluded. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1684 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Resisting Spanish Muslims revived heroic names from al-Andalus’s past; Morisco historical memory skipped centuries to connect earliest Islamic triumphs with imminent apocalypse — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 762; Morisco diaspora outcomes varied hugely but memory of al-Andalus persisted — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1684 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Morisco historical memory skipped centuries to connect earliest Islamic triumphs with imminent apocalypse #corroborates (0.95) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 762
• Morisco diaspora outcomes varied hugely but memory of al-Andalus persisted #complicates (0.78) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1684