Nobles protected Muslim cultivators because their labor was economically valuable

Evidence

But Ferdinand at Monz´on continued the well-established Mudejar policy he had inherited; he did what his Cortes asked him to do and swore not to force through conversion of his Muslim subjects. The reason why the estates, summoned to legislate and settle grievances, wished the guarantees of religious freedom for their Muslim fellow Aragonese to be preserved was no doubt that nobles and others among them saw interference with the religious status quo as a threat to their material interests. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 459 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Those who owned the lands that were rented or cultivated by Muslims had economic motives to avoid change. Nobles in particular had often in medieval times given inducements to Muslims to come and work their lands. Little had changed by the beginning of the sixteenth century. A steady drift from royal (realengo) to noble estates had taken place because Muslims could be enticed to leave by the better conditions offered by some of the nobles. Muslims both in the Ebro basin and in Valencia excelled in producing high-yield crops on the good irrigable tracts that they tended for Christian lords, and also in dry farming on unirrigated lands (secano) to which they were themselves increasingly condemned. Their masters did not want to lose them. Muslims were a vulnerable minority who would show gratitude for a little local protection, for being left alone to live according to the religion of their ancestors. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 431 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Muslim rulers profitably tolerated dhimmi subjects because their jizya tax was lucrative; Aragonese nobles protected Muslim religious freedom out of material self-interest — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 459; Noble landowners opposed Muslim conversion for economic self-interest — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 431 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Aragonese nobles protected Muslim religious freedom out of material self-interest #corroborates (0.95) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 459
• Noble landowners opposed Muslim conversion for economic self-interest #corroborates (0.93) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 431