Article of the Month - April 2023
 “Translation and Polemics in the Anti-Jewish Literature of the Muslims of Christian Iberia:
The “Conversion of Kaʿb al-Aḥbār” or the “Lines of the Torah””
(Monica Colominas Aparicio:
Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society, University of Groningen)

Mònica Colominas Aparicio, “Translation and Polemics in the Anti-Jewish Literature of the Muslims of Christian Iberia: The ‘Conversion of Kaʿb al-aḥbār’ or the ‘Lines of the Torah’,” Medieval Encounters, 26 (2020): 443—476.

Read the article here.

Keywords: Kaʿb al-Aḥbār • Translation • Conversion • Minorities • Medieval Christian Iberian Peninsula • Mudejars • Moriscos •  Jews • Torah • Qur’ān • Knowledge of Judaism in Islam • Arabic • Aljamiado • Hebrew in Arabic characterse

Abstract:
Muslim anti-Christian and anti-Jewish polemics from Christian Iberia often include references and quotations from the Qurʾān, the Torah, and the Gospels. Even when they are composed in Romance, the script used in their writing is often Arabic. This article discusses the conversion narrative of “the lines of the Torah,” in which transla- tion is halfway between the faithful rendering of the original and its interpretation by its Muslim scribe. I show in this paper that the ability to convey, or so to speak, to “unveil,” new meanings makes translation a powerful means to convert the opponent and to strengthen the faith in Islam. The analysis aims to shed light on the intellec- tual and social milieus of “the lines of the Torah,” and deals with translation in other anti-Jewish Muslim writings from the Christian territories: the “Jewish Confession,” or Ashamnu; the chronology in Seder Olam; and the lengthy Muslim anti-Jewish polemic of Taʾyīd al-milla (The Fortification of the Faith or Community).

Nomination Statement:
Mònica Colominas's extraordinary technical - linguistic skills allow her to investigate the minority fringes of the tremendous religious élan of the era of the Spanish Golden Age. Scholars have brought to light Jewish-Muslim/ Morisco-converso connections (see, for example, the scholarship on “el Mancebo de Arévalo”) but work such as this casts further light on what would otherwise be a shadowy world of religious interaction — one that is crucial for our understanding of early Modern Mediterranean religious dynamics in the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean World.

Authors’ Comment:
The analysis I offer of an account of the famous Jewish convert Kaʿb al-Aḥbār (“the Lines of the Torah”) is in keeping with a number of questions about an interesting if little explored dynamic of Muslim-Jewish relations, namely conversions between the two minorities in the Christian territories of the medieval and early modern Iberian Peninsula. The extent of this phenomenon is difficult to estimate, but the circulation of narratives such as the one discussed here, together with some historical evidence, seem to support that conversions were probably not an exception. In the present article I am driven by an interest in the concept of translation in relation to conversion, following the understanding that the circulation of the story of Kaʿb al-Aḥbār among Muslim Mudejars and Moriscos provides a compelling example to understand how processes of knowledge transfer worked in Christian areas, on the fringes of religious communities. For something, the one known as the “Owner of the Two Books” (i.e., the Bible and the Qurʾān) goes in search of knowledge about some verses hidden in a sealed Torah bequeathed by his late father, until he discovers that these verses are actually parts of the Qurʾān.
         The verses of the Torah/Qurʾān in the copy of the narrative at hand (dated in 866/1481) are rendered both in Arabic and in their Aljamiado Romance translation (Romance in Arabic characters). This reveals an almost direct and literal exchange through translation between the sacred texts of the two communities: that is, between the lines of the Torah and the verses of the Qur’ān. It is a substitution that simultaneously entails the recognition and integration of the “Jewish element” as constitutive of the hermeneutics of Muslim identities. I see translation here as linked to the self-understanding of the Mudejars and Moriscos with respect to Jews and Judaism and so I pay particular attention to the way in which translation merges the recognition of the validity of God’s revelation to the Jews with the Muslim accusation that the Jews have manipulated their Scriptures to conceal the signs of the advent of Muḥammad and Islam. My purpose is to show how the ability to convey, or as it were, to “unveil” new meanings makes translation a powerful means of converting the adversary and strengthening faith in Islam.
         Following this train of thought I argue for the possibility that the story of Kaʿb’s conversion was read in the Christian territories by individuals with a deep knowledge of Judaism and Jewish sources—possibly converts from Judaism—and that translation was likely a primary avenue for the circulation and shaping of that knowledge. This is inferred from the content and use of language in this Aljamiado narrative and is reinforced by the presence of other writings on “Jewish subjects” in the same Aljamiado miscellaneous where it is found, such as the important polemic against Judaism, the Taʾyīd al-Milla (the Fortification of the Faith, or Community). In fact, Muslims took it upon themselves to translate Islamic and non-Islamic sources, as evidenced by several texts of Jewish tradition placed after the colophon of the latter work, including the Viddui, or Jewish “confession of sins” and the Seder Olam “Order of the World”, all written in an unusual way in Hebrew with Arabic characters. Taken together, the evidence supports the view that narratives about Jews may have served to educate recent converts and to reinforce faith in Islam among Muslims in Christian Iberia. Mudejars and Moriscos, as well as converts to Islam, may have found useful sources such as those discussed here to teach and learn Islamic views on Jews and Judaism, and to get a sense of the broader implications of translation.
        In addition to the aforementioned aspects of translation and conversion between Judaism and Islam, I also provide an overview of the manuscripts relating to Kaʿb’s conversion that circulated among Muslims in Christian territories, and a brief analysis of how these manuscripts may relate to each other. Each of the topics I address in this article undoubtedly merits further investigation but I believe that approaching them together can be useful in providing a broader understanding of the account of Kaʿb’s conversion, as well as of the uses of translation of Islamic and Jewish sacred texts in the anti-Jewish Muslim literature of Christian Iberia.

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See the other Articles of the Month here.