The Oran fatwa of 1504 sanctioned Islamic practice under persecution

Evidence

The Oran Fatwa of 1504 The key theological document for the study of Spanish Islam in this final period is a jurisconsultum fatwa—a considered legal opinion provided on request) handed down by a mufti in Oran in 1504, that is to say, very shortly after the crisis created by the forcible conversions, first in Granada and then in all the lands of the Castilian Crown as described above. There is no reason to doubt that it is a direct response to them. This fatwa sets out for the benefit of the persecuted Muslims of Spain what modifications might legitimately be introduced in the range of religious obligations incumbent on a Muslim when he is being subjected to oppression. A fatwa is usually a response to a quite specific enquiry on a difficult point of detail, so it is unusual that this consultation covers what is almost the whole range of a Muslim’s religious duties, but it was a response, a responsum to a particular, if unusual, situation at a particular moment in time, not a reformulation of universal doctrine. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 313 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Oran fatwa helped unite northern and southern Spanish Muslims against the Crown; A 1504 Oran fatwa authorized specific religious waivers for persecuted Spanish Muslims — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 313; The 1504 fatwa legitimating crypto-Islam may have preceded or followed local capitulation — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 233 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• A 1504 Oran fatwa authorized specific religious waivers for persecuted Spanish Muslims #corroborates (0.95) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 313