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Islam in Italy:-Two centuries of Muslim Sicily

(sampler of original lost article–) Will be updated (We had completed extensive research on Muslim Sicily, and posted it on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is full of Islamphobes and would not post the article and repeatedly rejected it. This article is an appetiser. We will post our updated research in this site in due course of time)

NEW YORK: June 1 2008, Rupee News by Moin Ansari: Muslim control of Sicily sowed the seeds of the Iberian Al-Andulus Renaissance in Italy. Ibn Hawqal, the eminent Arab traveler, visited Sicily in year 972 and described the city of Palermo in his book Al-Masalik wal Mamlik as “the city of the 300 mosques”.

History

Palermo was founded in the 8th century BC by Phoenician tradesmen around a natural harbour on the north-western coast of Sicily.

In the 9th century, Sicily was divided into two prefectures by the Byzantines. The two prefects went to war with each other, and Euphimius, the winner, dreamt of reuniting the Roman empire. However, he lacked an army, so he asked the Arab Aghlabids rulers of North Africa, at the time the up-and-coming power in the Mediterranean, to lend him theirs. Within a week of the Arabs’ arrival in Palermo in 827, Euphimius died mysteriously, and they declined to leave. By 878 all of Sicily, except for a few Byzantine enclaves near Taormina, was controlled by the Saracens (Moors). The Arab rulers moved Sicily’s capital to Palermo where it has been ever since.

They ruled Sicily for two centuries and a few decades but their influence was nothing short of monumental. Under their administration, the island’s population doubled as dozens of towns were founded and cities repopulated. The Arabs changed Sicilian agriculture and cuisine. Their scientific and engineering achievements were remarkable. More significantly, they changed society itself. To this day, many Sicilian social attitudes reflect the profound influence –often in subtle ways– of the Arabs who ruled a thousand years ago but who (with the Greeks and others) are the ancestors of today’s Sicilians. Period as an EmirateIn succession Sicily was ruled by the Sunni Aghlabid dynasty in Tunisia and the Shiite Fatimids in Egypt. The Byzantines took advantage of temporary discord to occupy the eastern end of the island for several years.

After suppressing a revolt the Fatimid caliph Ismail al-Mansur appointed Hassan al-Kalbi (948-964) as Emir of Sicily. He successfully managed to control the continuously revolting Byzantines and founded the Kalbid dynasty. Raids into Southern Italy continued under the Kalbids into the 11th century, and in 982 a German army under Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor was defeated near Crotone in Calabria. With Emir Yusuf al-Kalbi (990-998) a period of steady decline began. Under al-Akhal (1017-1037) the dynastic conflict intensified, with factions within the ruling family allying themselves variously with the Byzantine Empire and the Zirids. By the time of Emir Hasan as-Samsam (1040-1053) the island had fragmented into several small fiefdoms.

The Cathedral of Palermo.The Arabs initiated land reforms which in turn, increased productivity and encouraged the growth of smallholdings, a dent to the dominance of the landed estates. The Arabs further improved irrigation systems. A description of Palermo was given by Ibn Hawqual, a Baghdad merchant who visited Sicily in 950. A walled suburb called the Kasr (the palace) is the center of Palermo until today, with the great Friday mosque on the site of the later Roman cathedral. The suburb of Al-Khalisa (Kalsa) contained the Sultan’s palace, baths, a mosque, government offices and a private prison. Ibn Hawqual reckoned 7,000 individual butchers trading in 150 shops.

Throughout this reign, continued revolts by Byzantine Sicilians happened especially in the east and part of the lands were even re-occupied before being quashed. Agricultural items such as oranges, lemons, pistachio and sugarcane were brought to Sicily,[2] the native Christians were allowed freedom of religion but had to pay an extra tax to their rulers.

The Arabs, who in medieval times were sometimes called “Saracens” or “Moors,” have been identified since antiquity (in Assyrian records dated to circa 850 BC), but until the Middle Ages they were not unified as a people. In the Early Middle Ages, it was Islam that united the Arabs and established the framework of Arab law. Initially, most Muslims were Arabs, and during the Arab rule of Sicily their Islamic faith was closely identified with them. (Even today, many principles believed to be tenets of Islam are, in fact, Arab practices unrelated to Muslim ethics.) The rapid growth of Arab culture could be said to parallel the dissemination of Islam. Except for some poetry, the first major work of literature published entirely in Arabic was the Koran (Quran), the holy book of Islam, and one may loosely define Arabs by the regions where Arabic was spoken in the Middle Ages and afterwards. Arabs were a Semitic people of the Middle East. The Berbers of northwest Africa and the Sahara were not Arabs, though many converted to Islam, adopted Arabic as their language and assimilated with Arab society. Though most parts of Sicily were conquered by Arabs, certain areas where settled by people who, strictly speaking, were Muslim Berbers.

Like many Berbers, some Arabs were nomadic. With the emergence of the Byzantine Empire, groups of Arabs lived in bordering areas in the Arabian peninsula and parts of what are now Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Egypt. Their language, Arabic, is a Semitic tongue of various dialects related to Hebrew and Ethiopic, written in script from right to left.

Muslims on the mainland: Emirate of Bari (847-871) Emirate of Bari
The joint capture of Bari by Byzantine and Franco-Lombard troops led by the Emperor Louis II in 871.The port city of Bari, in Apulia, was captured by a Muslim army in 847. For some 25 years it became the capital of a small independent Islamic state with an amir and a mosque of its own. The first ruler of Bari was Khalfun (847-852), a Berber leader who had probably come from Sicily. After his death in 852, he was succeeded by Mufarrag ibn Sallam, who strangthened the Muslim conquest and enlarged its boundaries. He also asked for official recognition to Baghdad caliph al-Mutawakkil’s governor in Egypt as wali (i.e., prefect ruling over a province of the Abbasid empire).

The third and last amir of Bari was Sawdan, who came to power around 857 after the murder of his predecessor. He invaded the lands of the Lombard Duchy of Benevento, forcing duke Adelchis to pay a tribute. In 864 he obtained the official investiture asked by Mufarrag. The town was embellished with a mosque, palaces and public works.

Latium and Campania
Throughout the ninth century the Arab ships dominated the Tyrrhenian Sea.[7] Their pirates prowled the Italian coast, launching hit and run attacks against the cities of Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples, and Salerno.[8] During this period, as the cities took command of their own defences, the Duchies of Gaeta and Amalfi gained their independence from the Duchy of Naples. The Christian states of the Campania were not yet prepared, however, to ally against the new “pagan” threat. Amalfi and Gaeta regularly teamed up with the Saracens and Naples was hardly better, all much to the chagrin of the Papacy.[9] In fact it was Naples that first brought Saracen troops to the south Italian mainland when Duke Andrew II hired them as mercenaries during his war with Sicard, Prince of Benevento, in 836. Sicard immediately responded with his own Saracen mercenaries and the usage soon became a tradition. In 880 or 881 Pope John VIII, who encouraged a vigorous policy against the Muslim pirates and raiders, rescinded his grant of Traetto to Docibilis I of Gaeta and gave it instead to Pandenulf of Capua. As Patricia Skinner relates:

[Pandenolf] began to attack Gaeta’s territory, and in retaliation against the pope Docibilis unleashed a group of Arabs from Agropoli near Salerno on the area around Fondi. The pope was “filled with shame” and restored Traetto to Docibilis. Their agreement seems to have sparked off a Saracen attack on Gaeta itself, in which many Gaetans were killed or captured. Eventually peace was restored and the Saracens made a permanent settlement on the mouth of the Garigliano river.[10]

The Saracen camp at Minturno (in modern day Lazio) by the Garigliano River became a perennial thorn in the side for the Papacy and many expeditions were sought to rid them. In 915 Pope John X organised a vast alliance of souther powers, including Gaeta and Naples, the Lombards princes, and the Byzantines, though the Amalfitans stood aloof. The subsequenty Battle of the Garigliano was successful and the Saracens were ousted from any presence in Lazio or Campania permanently, though raiding would be a continuous problem for another century.

Islamic Sicily: Conquest of Sicily (827-902)
The Muslim conquest of Sicily and parts of Southern Italy lasted 75 years. According to some sources, the conquest was spurred by the Byzantine commander on the island, Eufemius, who feared the punishment from Emperor Michael II for a sexual indiscretion. After a short-lived conquest of Syracuse, during which he was proclaimed emperor, he was compelled by the loyal forces to flee to Africa at the court of Ziyadat Allah. The latter accepted to conquer Sicily, with the promise to leave it to Eufemius in exchange of a yearly tribute, and entrusted its conquest to the 70 years old qadi Asad ibn al-Furat. The Muslim force counted 10,000 infantry, 700 cavalry and 100 ships, reinforced by Eufemius’ ships and, after the landing at Mazara del Vallo, knights. A first battle against the Byzantine loyal troops occurred on July 15, 827, near Mazara, resulting in an Aghlabid victory.

Asad subsequently conquered the southern shore of the island and laid siege to Syracuse. After a year of siege, and an attempted mutiny, his troops were however able to defeat a large army sent from Palermo, also backed by a Venetian fleet led by doge Giustiniano Participazio. But when a plague killed much of the Muslim troops, as well as Asad himself, the Muslims retreated to the castle of Mineo. Later they returned to the offensive, but failed to conquer Castrogiovanni (the modern Enna, where Eufemius died) and retreated back to Mazara. In 830 they received a strong reinforcement of 30,000 African and Spanish troops. The Spanish Muslim defeated the Byzantine commander Teodotus in the July-August of that year, But again a plague forced them to return to Mazara and then to Africa. The African Berber units, which had been sent to besiege Palermo, managed to capture it after a year-long siege in the September 831.[11]

Ziyadat Allah sent his cousin on the island in Abu-Fihr in 833. The Byzantines were defeated in the early 834 and in the following year, his troops reaching as far as Taormina. The war dragged on for several years with minor Ahglabid victories, the Byzantines resisting in their strongholds of Castrogiovanni and Cefalù. New troops arrived in the island by the new Emir Al-Aghlab Abu Affan, which occupied Platani, Caltabellotta, Corleone, Marineo and Geraci, granting the Muslim the total control of western Sicily.

In 836 Muslim ships helped Andrew II of Naples, their ally, besieged by Beneventan troops,[12] and with Neapolitan support in 842 Messina was also conquered. In 845 also Modica fell and the Byzantines suffered a crushing defeat near Butera, losing c. 10,000 men. Lentini was conquered in 846. Ragusa was conquered in 848.

In 851 the governor and general Al-Aghlab Abu Ibrahim, whose rule had been highly appreciated by his new Palermitan and Sicilian subjects,[citation needed] especially if compared to the former Byzatine vexations, died. He was succeeded by Abbas ibn-Fadhl, the ferocious victor of Butera. he started a campaign of ravages against the lands still in Byzantine hands, capturing Butera, Gagliano, Cefalù and, most of all, Castrogiovanni (winter 859). All the Christian survivors from that fortress were executed, children and women sold as slaves at Palermo. The fall of the most important fortress in the island pushed the emperor to send a large army in 859-860, but this was defeated by Abbas, as well as the fleet which had carried it. The Byzantines reinforcements led many of the cities subjugated by the Muslim to revolt, and Abbas devoted the years 860-861 to reduce them. Abbas died in 861, replaced by his uncle Ahmed ibn-Jakub and, from February 862, by Abdallah, son of Abbas; the latter was in turn replaced by the Aghlabids with Khafagia ibn-Sofian, who captured Noto, Scicli and Troina. In the summer of 868 the Byzantines were defeated a first time near Syracuse.

More concrete hostilities were resumed in the early summer of 877 by the new sultan Jafar ibn-Muhammad, who strongly besieged it. The city fell on May 21, 878. The Byzantines now maintained the control of a short stretch of coast around Taormina, while the Muslim fleet attacked Greece and Malta. The latter was however destroyed in a naval battle in 880: for a moment it seemed that the Byzantines could regain Sicily, but new land victories for the Muslims reestablished the situation. A revolt in Palermo against governor Seuàda ibn-Muhammad was soon crushed in 887.

The death of the strong emperor Basil I in 886 also encouraged the Muslim to attack Calabria, where the imperial army was soundly defeated in the summer of 888. However, the first inner revolt was followed by another in 890, mostly spurred by the hostility between Arabs and Berbers. In 892 an emir sent from Ifriqiya by Ibrahim II ibn Ahmad Palermo, but was ousted again a few months later. The prince did not relent, and sent to Sicily another powerful army under his son Abu l-Abbas Abdallah in 900. The Sicilians were defeated at Trapani (August 22) and outside Palermo (September 8), the latter city resisting for another ten days. Abu l-Abbas moved against the remaining Byzantine strongholds, and was also able to capture Reggio Calabria on the mainland on June 10, 901.

As Ibrahim was forced to abdicate in Tunis, he decided to lead in person the operations in southern Italy. Taormina, the last main Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, fell on August 1, 902. Messina and other cities opened their gates to avoid the same massacre.

Ibrahim’s army also marched in southern Calabria, besieging Cosenza. Ibrahim died of dysentery on October 24. His grandson stopped the military campaign and returned to Sicily.

Aghlabid Sicily (827-909)
At this point, Sicily was almost entirely in control of Aghlabids, with the exception of some minor strongholds in the rugged interior. The population had been increased by the immigration of Muslims from Africa, Asia and Spain, as well as Berbers, who were most concentrated in the south of the island. The emir in Palermo nominated the governors of the main cities (qadi) and those of the less important ones (hakim), and the other functionaries. Each city had a council called gema, composed of the most eminent members of the local society, which was entrusted with the care of the public works and of the social order. The conquered Sicilian population lived as dhimmi or converted to Islam.

The Arabs initiated land reforms which in turn, increased productivity and encouraged the growth of smallholdings, a dent to the dominance of the landed estates. The Arabs further improved irrigation systems. Palermo in the 10th century is the most populous city in Italy, with about 300,000 inhabitants[13] A description of the city was given by Ibn Hawqual, a Baghdad merchant who visited Sicily in 950. A walled suburb called the Kasr (the citadel) is the center of Palermo until today, with the great Friday mosque on the site of the later Roman cathedral. The suburb of Al-Khalisa (Kalsa) contained the Sultan’s palace, baths, a mosque, government offices and a private prison. Ibn Hawqual reckoned 7,000 individual butchers trading in 150 shops.

Fatimid Sicily (909-965)
In 909 the African Aghlabid dynasty was replaced by the Shiite Fatimids. Four years later, the Fatimid governor was ousted from Palermo, the island declaring its independence under the emir Ahmed ibn-Kohrob. His first deed was a failed siege of Taormina, which had been rebuilt by the Christians; he was more successful in 914, when a Sicilian fleet under his son Mohammed destroyed the Fatimid fleet sent to recover the island. The following year, the destruction of another fleet sent against Calabria, and the unset caused by ibn-Kohrob reforms, led to a revolt of the Berbers.

Those captured and hanged ibn-Kohrob, allegedly in the name of the Fatimid caliph al-Mahdi, hoping he would leave them freedom of rule in Sicily. al-Madhi sent instead an army which sacked Palermo in 917. The island was governed by a Fatimid emir for the following 20 years. In 937 the Berbers of Agrigento revolted again but, after two sounding successes, were decisively beaten at the gates of Palermo. This did not prevent the revolt to extend to the capital itself; an army sent by the new caliph al-Qa’im besieged Agrigento twice, until it fell on November 20, 940. The revolt was totally suppressed in 941, with much of the prisoners sold as slaves and the governor Khalil boasting to have killed 600,000 people in his campaigns.

Independent emirate of Sicily (965-1091)

Southern Italy circa 1000, showing the Kalbid emirate before its collapse.After suppressing another revolt, in 948 the Fatimid caliph Ismail al-Mansur named Hassan al-Kalbi as emir of the Island. As his charge became soon hereditary, his emirate became de facto independent from the African government. In 950 Hassan waged war to the Byzantines in southern Italy, reaching up to Gerace and Cassano. A second Calabrian campaign in 952 resulted in the defeat of the Byzantine army; Gerace was again besieged, but in the end emperor Constantine VII was forced to accept to have the Calabrian cities to pay a tribute to Sicily.

In 956 the Byzantine replied reconquering Reggio and invading Sicily. A truce was signed in 960. Two years later a revolt in Taormina was bloodily suppressed, but the heroic resistance of the Christians in Rametta led the new Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas to send an army of 40,000 Armenians, Thracians and Slavs under his nephew Manuel, who captured Messina in October 964. On 25 October a fierce battle between the Byzantines and the Kalbids resulted in a defeat for the former, Manuel himself killed in the fray, as well as 10,000 of his men.

The new emir Abu al-Qasim (964-982) launched a series of attacks against Calabria in the 970s, while the fleet under his brother attacked the coasts of Apulia, capturing some strongholds. As the Byzantines were busy against the Fatimids in Syria and the Bulgars in Macedon, the German emperor Otto II decided to intervene. The allied German-Lombard army was however defeated in 982 in the Battle of Stilo. However, as al-Qasim himself had been killed, his son Jabir al-Kalbi prudentially retreated to Sicily without exploiting the victory.

The emirate lived the peak of its splendour under the emirs Jafar (983-985) and Yusuf al-Kalbi (990-998), both patron of arts. The latter’s son Ja’far was instead a cruel and violent lord, who expelled the Berbers from the island after an unsuccessful revolt against him. Ja’far’s power did not survive another uprising in Palermo in 1019, and was exiled to Africa, being replaced by his brother al-Akhal (1019-1037).

With the support of the Fatimids, al-Akhal defeated two Byzantine expedition in 1026 and 1031. His attempt to raise a heavy tax to pay his mercenaries caused a civil war. al-Akhal asked support to the Byzantines, while his brother abu-Hafs, leader of the rebels, received troops from the Zirid emir of Ifriqiya, al-Muizz ibn Badis, commanded by his son Abdallah. The operation were initially favourable to the Byzantine-Kalbids, but when the Byzantines returned to Calabria al-Akhal

o end the constant mutinies of his army, the Aghlabid magistrate of Ifriqiya sent Arabian, Berber and Andalusian rebels to conquer Sicily in 827, 830 and 875, led by, amongst others, Asad ibn al-Furat. In 902 the Ifriqiyan magistrate himself led an army against the island. The magistrate of Sicily, who rebelled against Constantinople, had called the Muslims (named Saracens by the Europeans) for help. In 831 Palermo fell to them, in 843 followed Messina, in 878 Syracuse, in 902 Taormina, in 918 Reggio Calabria on the mainland, and in 964 fell Rometta, the last remaining Byzantine toehold on Sicily.

Emirates in Apulia
From Sicily the Muslims set over to the mainland and devastated Calabria.In 835 and again in 837 the Duke of Naples had been fighting against the Duke of Benevento and had called the Muslims for help. In 840 Taranto and Bari fell to the Muslims, and in 841 Brindisi. Capua was destroyed, Benevento, under Frankish protection at that time, was occupied 840-847 and again 851-52. Arab attacks on Rome in 843, 846 and 849 failed. In 847 Taranto, Bari and Brindisi declared themselves emirates independent from the Aghlabids. For decades the Muslims ruled the Mediterranean and attacked the Italian coastal towns. 868-70 Ragusa in Sicily stood under Arabian rule.

Only after the fall of Malta in 870 the occidental Christians succeeded in setting up an army capable of fighting the Muslims. The Franko-Roman emperor Louis II conquered Brindisi and beat the Arabs at Bari in 871, but then fell captive to the Aghlabids. In his stead the Byzantines conquered Taranto in 880. A small number of Arabian strongholds in the south lasted until 885, for example Santa Severina Crotone in Calabria. In 882 the Muslims had founded at the mouth of Garigliano River between Naples and Rome a new basis further in the north, which was leagued with Gaeta, and had attacked Campania as well as Sabinia in Lazio. A hundred years later the Byzantines called the Sicilian Arabs for support against a campaign of German emperor Otto II. They beat Otto at Taranto in 982 in the battle at Crotone and in the next 200 years largely succeeded in preventing his successors from entering southern Italy. In 1002 Bari was again conquered by the Arabs, but was soon recaptured by the Byzantines. Melus (Melo), Emir of Bari 1009-1019, stood up against the Byzantines and called the Normans for help. Melus, of Lombard-Arabic origin, is depicted as Ismahel (Ismail) on the gold-embroidered “Sternenmantel” he gave to German emperor Henry II.

After the Aghlabids were defeated in Ifriqiya as well, Sicily fell in the 10th century to their Fatimid successors, but claimed independence after fights between Sunni and Shia Muslims under the Kalbids.

Invasions in Piedmont
After they had conquered the Visigoth empire in Spain, the Arabs and Berbers 729-765 from Septimania and Narbonne carried out raids into northern Italy, and in 793 again invaded southern France (Nice 813, 859 and 880). In 888 Andalusian Muslims set up a new base in Fraxinet near Frejus in French Provence, from where they started raids along the coast and in inner France.

In 915, after the Battle of Garigliano, the Muslims lost their base in southern Lazio. In 926 King Hugh of Italy called the Arabs to fight against his northern Italian rivals. In 934 and 935 Genoa and La Spezia were attacked, followed by Nice in 942. In Piedmont the Muslims got as far as Asti and Novi, moving northwards along the Rhône valley and the western flank of the Alps. After the defeat of Burgundian troops, in 942-964 they conquered Savoy and occupied a part of Switzerland (952-960). Swiss town names such as Saratz still bring the mark of Arabic presence in the area. To fight against the Arabs, Emperor Berengar I, Hugh’s rival, called the Hungarians, who in their turn devastated northern Italy. Under the pressure of German kings Fraxinet had to be given up in 972, but thirty years later, in 1002, Genoa was invaded, and in 1004 Pisa.

Pisa und Genoa leagued to end Muslim rule over Corsica (Islamic 810/850-930/1020) and Sardinia. Since 1015 Sardinia was protected by the fleet of the Andalusian Emir of Dénia in Spain, who was defeated by allied Italians in 1016 and again after his invasion in 1022.

On the legend of the birth of Messina: the festivities include the parading of two huge statues, I Giganti, a pair of 8-metre papier-maché giants representing Messina’s legendary founders, Mata and Grifone.

Sicily was ruled by the Muslims for centuries. Islamic influences in Sicily are omnipresent, but one has to navigate the cover-up which tried to eradicate all Muslim influences. The Spanish Inquisition eliminated most of the Muslims and Jews from Italy also. There is not enough information about the rule available. We purchased this out of stock book on Muslim Sicily listed in this article and put a profile together. A one-time Arab emirate and jewel in the Moorish crown Sicily is breathing a new wind of Islamic culture. We take a trip through modern Muslim Sicily and discover a land when past and present mix . . .

Under Muslim dominion Palermo became an important commercial and cultural center, a flourishing city broadly known in the whole Arab world – it is said that it had more than 300 mosques.

“They [the Muslims] were treated kindly, and they were protected, even against the Franks. Because of that, they had great love for king Roger”

- Ibn al-Athir[19]

Interactions continued with the succeeding Norman kings, for example under William II of Sicily, as attested by the Spanish-Arab geographer Ibn Jubair who landed in the island after returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1184. To his surprise, Ibn Jubair enjoyed a very warm reception by the Norman Christians. He was further surprised to find that even the Christians spoke Arabic, that the government officials were still largely Muslim, and that the heritage of some 130 previous years of Muslim rule of Sicily was still intact:[20]

“The attitude of the king is really extraordinary. His attitude towards the Muslims is perfect: he gives them employment, he choses his officers among them, and all, or almost all, keep their faith secret and can remain faithful to the faith of Islam. The king has full confidence in the Muslims and relies on them to handle many of his affairs, including the most important ones, to the point that the Great Intendant for cooking is a Muslim (…) His viziers and chamberlains are eunuchs, of which there are many, who are the members of his government and on whom he relies for his private affairs”.

- Ibn Jubair, Rihla.[21]

Ibn Jubair also mentioned that many Christians in Palermo wore the Muslim dress, and many spoke Arabic. The Norman kings also continued to strike coins in Arabic with Hegira dates. The registers at the Royal court were written in Arabic.[22] At one point, William II of Sicily is recorded to have said: “Everyone of you should invoke the one he adores and of whom he follows the faith”.[23]
[edit] Arab-Norman art

Arab-Norman art and architecture combined Occidental features (such as the Classical pillars and friezes) with typical Islamic decorations and calligraphy.[24]Numerous artistic techniques from the Islamic world were also incorporated to form the basis of Arab-Norman art: inlays in mosaics or metals, sculpture of ivory or porphyry, sculpture of hard stones, bronze foundries, manufacture of silk (for which Roger II established a regium ergasterium, a state enterprise which would give Sicily the monopoly of silk manufacture for all Europe).[25]

Arab-Norman architecture
The new Norman rulers started to build various constructions in what is called the Arab-Norman style. They incorporated the best practices of Arab and Byzantine architecture into their own art.[26]

The Church of Saint-John of the Hermits, was built in Palermo by Roger II around 1143-1148 in such a style. The church is notable for its brilliant red domes, which show clearly the persistence of Arab influences in Sicily at the time of its reconstruction in the 12th century. In his Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily, F. Elliot described it as “… totally oriental… it would fit well in Baghdad or Damascus”. The bell tower, with four orders of arcaded loggias, is instead a typical example of Gothic architecture.
“The Cappella Palatina, at Palermo, the most wonderful of Roger’s churches, with Norman doors, Saracenic arches, Byzantine dome, and roof adorned with Arabic scripts, is perhaps the most striking product of the brilliant and mixed civilization over which the grandson of the Norman Trancred ruled” (EB1911).The Cappella Palatina, also in Palermo, combines harmoniously a variety of styles: the Norman architecture and door decor, the Arabic arches and scripts adorning the roof, the Byzantine dome and mosaics. For instance, clusters of four eight-pointed stars, typical for Muslim design, are arranged on the ceiling so as to form a Christian cross.

The Monreale cathedral is generally described as “Arab-Norman”. The outsides of the principal doorways and their pointed arches are magnificently enriched with carving and colored inlay, a curious combination of three styles – Norman-French, Byzantine and Arab.

Other examples of Arab-Norman architecture include the Palazzo dei Normanni‎, or Castelbuono. This style of construction would persist until the 14th and the 15th century, exemplified by the use of the cupola.[27]

Arab-Norman law
A significant influence on Norman law came from Islamic law and jurisprudence after the Normans had conquered the Emirate of Sicily and inherited its Islamic legal administration. In turn, the Normans introduced a number of Norman and Islamic legal concepts to England after the Norman conquest of England and may have laid the foundations for English common law.[28]

Transmission to Europe: Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe
The points of contact between Europe and Islamic lands were multiple during the Middle Ages, with Sicilia playing a key role in the transmission of knowledge to Europe, although less important that of Spain.[29] The main points of transmission of Islamic knowledge to Europe were in Sicilia, and in Islamic Spain, particularly in Toledo (with Gerard of Cremone, 1114-1187, following the conquest of the city by the Spanish Christians in 1085). Many exchanges also occurred in the Levant due to the presence of the Crusaders there.[30] For Europe, Sicily became a model and an example which was universally admired.[31]

Aftermath

An example of Arab-Norman architecture, combining Gothic walls with Islamic domes: Saint-John of the Hermits built in Palermo by Roger II around 1143-1148. 1840 lithography.[32]Arabic art and science continued to be heavily influential in Sicily during the two centuries following the Christian conquest. Norman rule formally ended in 1198 with the reign of Constance of Sicily, and was replaced by that of the Swabian Hohenstaufen Dynasty. Constance’s son Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily in the early 13th century, who was Norman by his mother and Swabian by his father Emperor Henry VI, spoke Arabic and had several Muslim ministers.

In 1224 CE however, Frederick II, responding to religious uprisings in Sicily, expelled all Muslims from the island, transferring many to Lucera over the next two decades. In this controlled environment, they couldn’t challenge royal authority and they benefited the crown in taxes and military service. Their numbers eventually reached between 15,000 and 20,000, leading Lucera to be called Lucaera Saracenorum because it represented the last stronghold of Islamic presence in Italy. The colony thrived for 75 years until it was sacked in 1300 by Christian forces under the command of Charles II of Naples. The city’s Muslim inhabitants were exiled or sold into slavery,[33] with many finding asylum in Albania across the Adriatic Sea.[34] Their abandoned mosques were destroyed or converted, and churches arose upon the ruins, including the cathedral S. Maria della Vittoria.

Even under Manfred (died in 1266) Islamic influence in Sicily persisted though, but it had almost disappeared by the beginning of the 14th century.[35] Latin progressively replaced Arabic, however: the last Sicilian document in the Arabian language is dated to 1245

Ibn Hawqal, the eminent Arab traveler, visited Sicily in year 972 and described the city of Palermo in his book Al-Masalik wal Mamlik as “the city of the 300 mosques”. This Islamic and Arabic identity of the island was still preserved even 100 years after the arrival of the Normans[23] as described by the Spanish-Arab geographer Ibn Jubair who landed in the island after returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1184.

To his surprise, Ibn Jubair enjoyed a very warm reception[citation needed] by the Norman Christians. He was further surprised to find that even the Christians spoke Arabic, that the government officials were still largely Muslim, and that the heritage of some 200 previous years of Muslim rule of Sicily was still intact[24][25][dubious - discuss].

Arabic art and science continued to be heavily influential[26] in Sicily during the two centuries[citation needed] following the Christian conquest. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily in the early 13th century, spoke Arabic and had several Muslim ministers. The heritage of Arabic language can be still found in numerous terms adapted from it and still used in Sicilian language nowadays.

A community of Muslims, especially fishermen from Tunisia, has deep roots in the history of the town of Mazara del Vallo, on the south-western coast of Sicily.[citation needed] During the 1970s, a prosperous Italian economy spurred the immigration of Muslims from Jordan, Syria and Palestine to the area[27].

Another legacy of Muslim rule is many Sicilian placenames of Arabic origin, for example “Calata-” from Arabic Qal`at … (قلعۃ) = “castle of”.

We start our journey in Palermo, whose very name – from the Arab Balarm – defines its origins. The city, a one-time Arab emirate, was described in 973 as “the city of the 300 mosques” by the eminent Arab traveller and explorer Ibn Hawqal. Wherever you look there are signs of the city’s heyday as a capital of the Islamic, and consequently Norman kingdoms. Modern Islamic culture occupies a much humbler place in Palermo. The 300 mosques have diminished to but 1 which is housed in a deconsecrated church in Palermo’s inner city. The church, San Paolino dei Giardinieri, was badly damaged during WW2 and was given to the council by the diocese and is now run by the Tunisian government.

Its a short walk from the Mosque to Palermo’s architecturally eclectic Cathedral. Built in 604 AD as a Christian temple it was given ‘facelifts’ by both Moors and Normans with the last (disastrous) restoration taking place in the 18th Century. Take a close look at the columns that flank the main entrance. Arab scholars will recognise verses from the Koran. Perhaps the finest example of Arab-Norman art in Sicily is the Cappella Palatina in Piazza della Vittoria, a few minutes’ walk from the Cathedral. The chapel is a magnificent showcase of Arab-Norman art with its breath-taking Byzantine mosaics rivalled only by those in Istanbul and Ravenna.

Another church well worth a visit is Chiesa di San Giovanni degli Eremiti – which was built on the remains of an Arab mosque. From there we then head towards La Zisa (from the Arab al-aziz meaning noble and magnificent). This splendid Arab-Norman castle was built in the 12th Century as the King’s summer residence. You can visit the museum which houses an impressive collection of Islamic artefacts from the Mediterranean basin.

Returning from a pilgrimage to Meccain 1184, the famous Muslim traveler Ibn Jubair was shipwrecked in the Straits of Messina off the coast of Sicily. The inhabitants of Messina, hearing calls of distress, immediately launched their boats, hoping to profit from the situation by charging large fees for rescuing the passengers. The poorer Muslim pilgrims were unable to pay the high fees demanded, and were at a loss to know what to do.At that point, Ibn Jubair reports, an authoritative figure rode down to the shore and issued an order. And the Muslims found themselves carried to shore free.Bewildered by this turn of events, Ibn Jubair went to thank their deliverer, and discovered that he was the ruler of Sicilyhimself who, although a Norman Christian, welcomed Ibn Jubair and the other Muslims and promised them protection during their sojourn in his dominion.As the Norman Christians had ruled Sicilyfor 100 years, Ibn Jubair was astounded at this reception. And there were other surprises to come. He found that even the Christians spoke Arabic, that the government officials were still largely Muslim and that the heritage of some 200 previous years of Muslim rule of Sicily was still intact.

The Normans, originally were from Scandinavia. In their search for new lands to conquer, and sun to bask in, they had wandered into southern Italy, and seen that the land was to their liking. Although their numbers were small, the Normans were formidable military men: they did not hesitate to take what they wanted, and what they wanted above all was that beautiful and productive island that had been ruled by the Muslims for some 200 years.The Norman kingdom of Sicily is a bright spot in the turbulent history of the Middle Ages. Although Norman rule coincided with the very period that produced the Crusades – the first took place four years after the Normans conquered Sicily- they governed their ethnically, religiously and linguistically mixed population with a degree of tolerance and sympathy unequaled in the Middle Ages and rarely found today. But their achievements in statecraft, administration, learning, architecture, agriculture and science were largely an inheritance from Sicily’s Islamic past Credit must certainly go to the imagination and energy of such men as Roger II, sponsor of Islam’s great geographer al-Idrisi (see Aramco World, July-August 1977), but they could have accomplished little without the Muslim inhabitants.Muslim interest in Sicilygoes back to the very threshold of Islamic history.

There is no god but God alone, Who has no peer! I swear, O soldiers, that I have not been appointed to this command by my father, or my grandfather, nor do I know of anyone to whom such a thing has happened, for I have been given this appointment because of my achievements with the pen, not the sword. I urge you all to spare no effort, no fatigue, in searching out wisdom and learning! Seek it out and store it up, add to it, and persevere through all difficulties, and you will be assured of a place both in this life, and in the life to come!”Unlike Spain, which fell like ripe fruit, the conquest of Sicily, after Mazara fell, took 75 years. But immigration and settlement on the land began almost immediately. The island was divided into three administrative districts, the names of which survive to this day. Val di Mazara, the first to be established, comprised the western end of the island; its capital was Palermo. The central regions, including Syracuse, were called the Val di Noto, while the remaining area of the island – the last to be conquered – was called the Val Demone, and included Catania and Messina. The word “val” is derived from the Arabic word meaning “province”The history of Sicily under Muslim rule reflected the political changes that were taking place in North Africaand further east.

The Aghlabids were succeeded by the Fatimids, who in turn gave way to the Kalbids. But the unique achievements of the period were not political, and are hardly mentioned in the works of the historians. Under the Muslims, Sicily once more became a granary to the world, as it had been under the Romans. While both the Byzantines and the Romans before them had been interested almost solely in the cultivation of grain, however, the Arabs introduced many new crops: cotton, hemp, date palms, sugar cane, mulberries and citrus fruits. The cultivation of these crops was made possible by new irrigation techniques brought in by the conquerors. These innovations, especially the breaking up of the large estates and the redistribution of land, meant an end to the long years of economic and social depression. Sicily began to bloom.The revolution in agriculture generated a number of related industries, such as textiles, sugar manufacture, rope-making, matting, silk, and paper – the latter introduced to Europe by way of Sicily.

The beautiful silks of Sicily became internationally known, and garments made of them were the prized possessions of both Muslim and Christian rulers. This industry continued to flourish under the Normans – and Sicilian silks carried an embroidered mark, the tiraz, that guaranteed their provenance. One example which has survived – the “Mantle of Roger II” now housed in the National Museum of Vienna – suggests the richness and quality of this work.As they had wherever they went, the Muslims also extended and beautified such cities as Messina, Syracuse, Sciacca, Mazara, and Castrogiovanni. But the finest was Palermo, called Al-Banurmu or simply al-Madina, “the City,” which Ibn Jubair described in glowing terms:”The capital is endowed with two gifts, splendor and wealth. It contains all the real and imagined beauty that anyone could wish. Splendor and grace adorn the piazzas and the countryside; the streets and highways are wide, and the eye is dazzled by the beauty of its situation. It is a city full of marvels, with buildings similar to those of Cordoba, built of limestone. A permanent stream of water from four springs runs through the city. There are so many mosques that they are impossible to count. Most of them also serve as schools. The eye is dazzled by all this splendor.”Although dimmed by age, modern Palermostill retains traces of that splendor – not only in the few surviving monuments of the time, but in the layout of the streets. The plan of the Arab city has been meticulously reconstructed by Professor Rosario La Duca. The center of the Norman city was the Palazzo Reale, still known locally as “il Cassaro” from the Arabic word al-qasr,meaning “fortress.” Not far from the port is the area known as the Kalsa.

It dates back to the year 937, when an outer line of defense was built against any attack from the sea. In Arabic it was known as al-Khalisa – hence Kalsa. It was encircled by a high wall with four gates, and formed the administrative center of Sicily. Inside the walls were a richly decorated mosque, barracks for the troops, the arsenal, and the headquarters of the government ministries.Nowhere is the feel of Arab Sicily more alive than in the outdoor markets of Palermo. Although the number of these has been reduced by later town planning, the ones that survive – particularly those of Capo and Ballaro – are organized like the suqs of North Africa. (See Aramco World , September-October, 1978). If one imagines the inhabitants of modern Palermo in long flowing robes, the illusion is complete, for the features of the people, their methods of salesmanship, the sights and smells, all are evocative of the Arab world.

The markets are not the only palaces that preserve a living trace of the past. Many street names are still recognizably Arabic, and in some cases not only the original name, but the function, has been preserved. The district of the Lattarini has harbored perfumers and grocers since the ninth century. The Arabs called it suq al- ‘attarin,the market of the perfumers, and it was situated near the mosque of Ibn Siqlab, described by Ibn Hawqal in the 10th century.The Muslims’ architectural legacy is more difficult to detect; as with so many other things, Sicily’s architecture is a melange of styles and periods. The Palazzo Reale, for example, rests on Phoenician foundations, on top of which the Romans built, to be followed by the Byzantines, then the Arabs, then the Normans, the Swabians, and finally the Spanish. And the Palermo Cathedral, originally a Byzantine church and then a mosque, still bears – on one of the columns at the entry to the Cathedral – a verse from the Koran. The column itself once supported the roof of a Roman temple.There are only two wholly Arab works of architecture left in Sicilytoday. One is the castle known as La Favara, from its Arabic name al-Fawwara, the gushing spring. It was the residence of the Emir Ja’far (997-1019), whose name is commemorated in a street sign that leads to the Castle. It was restored by King Roger, who built a small church within its precincts.

The other surviving example of Arab architecture is the baths of Cefala Diana, 30 kilometers outside Palermo on the road to Agrigento. Although now in poor repair, these baths were still in use as recently as 50 years ago. They were built in the 11th century, and were visited by Ibn Jubair.The Arab presence in Sicilywas the stimulus for the tremendous upsurge in artistic activity which characterized Norman Sicily, especially during the reign of Roger II. But as Arab and Norman activity were so inextricably intertwined, it is clearer to call the results ‘Arabo-Norman,” althouth in fact it did not end with the collapse of Norman Sicily.Earlier generations of scholars were inclined to consider the art and architecture of Norman Sicily as more Normanthan Arab. But Professor Giuseppe Bellafiore, dean of architectural history at the University of Palermo, has written in a recent book: “. . . the purely Normanelement in Arabo-Norman architecture is less than the name might suggest. The Norman rulers had the tact and the foresight to accept, and even like, what they found. Yet they retained the tenuous links which they had with the land of their origin.

The strength and efficiency of the Norman administration derived from its policy of deliberate flexibility toward the existing Muslim order on the island. Thus culture in general, and artistic tradition in particular, owed little to the Norman’s own land of origin.”With this in mind, it is easier to understand the legacy of the Arabs in the arts and architecture. Virtually all monuments, the cathedrals, the palaces and castles built under the Normans were Arab in the sense that the craftsmen were Arab, as were the architects. One must also remember that there was a third element in the mixture – the Byzantine, for the Byzantines too contributed to creation of the architectural style so characteristic of Sicily. The Cappella Palatina in the Palazzo Reale is a good example of how all three strands combined to create something new and exciting. The marvelous ceiling with its carved and painted decoration is the work of Arab craftsmen, while the glowing mosaics which adorn the walls of the chapel are purely Byzantine.

One of the most splendid residences of the Norman kings is the Zisa, whose name conceals the Arabic word al-Aziz, “the mighty”. It is currently being restored. The Cubaand the Cubula are now within the city limits of Palermo, but when they were built were in the countryside, and probably served the Norman kings as hunting lodges or summer retreats. Their names are apt, for they are cube-shaped.Throughout the Val di Mazara are visible traces of the Arab past. The plans of cities like Trapani, Marsala, and Mazara itself recall the men who built them. One district of Mazara is still called La Kasbah, and in recent years this quarter has been occupied by Tunisian and Algerian immigrants. The wheel turns full circle.Sicilyof course abounds in Arabic place names, such as Alcantara (from the Arabic qantara,bridge), Gibellina, from the Arabic word jabal, mountain, and so forth.

The dialect spoken in Sicily is full of Arabic words, as one would expect, and some of these, such as zagara, the orange flower, have entered standard Italian.But the Arab past of Sicily which must now be painfully recovered from the few material remains which survive, is nowhere more evident than in the intellectual and scientific legacy which was passed from the Arabs of Sicily to Italy and then to all of Europe. Under the rule of the extraordinary Roger II, Sicily became a clearing house where eastern and western scholars met for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire, and in an atmosphere of tolerance and beauty exchanged the ideas that were to wake Europe from the dark ages and herald the coming of the Renaissance. The Arab tradition of tolerance toward other religions, perpetuated under the Norman kings, led to free discussion and a climate of intellectual freedom that was the envy of the world. Astronomy, medicine, philosophy and mathematics were the subjects of discussion, and books on these subjects were translated into Latin and became the standard textbooks in the universities that in the 12th century were beginning to be founded throughout Europe.

The University of Salerno, founded in the 13th century, became the most famous medical school in the world, and it was there that Avicenna (Ibn Sina) was translated into Latin, and the first scientific dissections were performed.The people of Sicilyhave not forgotten their Islamic past. It lives on in the puppet shows, in which beautifully dressed two and three-foot puppets enact the great battles of the past, the legends that were told so long ago in the market places of Palermo and Messina. Professional story tellers – like the rawiswho until recently throughout the Arab east told the tales of the Banu Hilal and Antar ibn Shaddad (see Aramco World , July-August, 1978) – still exist in Sicily, and hold their audiences enthralled as they sit before lively folk paintings depicting the heroes and heroines of their tales.In Italy the subject of Sicily’s Arab past, long neglected despite the pioneering work of the great 19th century historian Michele Amari, has suddenly flowered once more. In 1959 the University of Palermo established once again a chair in Arabic language and literature.The brilliant past of Sicily is all too often ignored, and still inadequately assessed. But the visitor to the island is immediately touched by a breath of that far-away and exotic culture that once flourished so near the heartland of Europe.

The great Sicilian Arab poet Ibn Hamdis, who in his life knew the pain of exile from his beloved island, wrote, more than seven centuries ago:”I spoke the word Sicily and longing troubled my heart. A man exiled from a paradise can do nothing but tell of the things he has lost.”Gian Luigi Scarfiotti studied classics in Italy and economics in Switzerland. After six years as director of a company he turned to free-lance writing and photography. Paul Lunde is a staff writer for Aramco World specializing in Islamic history.

Arab period
In 535 AD, Emperor Justinian I made Sicily a Byzantine province, and for the second time in Sicilian history, the Greek language became a familiar sound across the island (Hull, 1989). As the power of the Byzantine Empire waned, Sicily was progressively conquered by Saracens from North Africa, from the mid 9th to mid 10th centuries. The Arabic language influence is noticeable in around 300 Sicilian words, most of which relate to agriculture and related activities (Hull and Ruffino). This is understandable since the Saracens introduced to Sicily the most then-modern irrigation and farming techniques and a new range of crops – nearly all of which remain endemic to the island to this day .

Some words of Arabic origin:

• azzizzari – to embellish (from aziz; precious, beautiful), (Giarrizzo)
• babbaluciu – snail (from babus; but Greek boubalàkion), (Giarrizzo)
• burnia – jar (from burniya; but Latin hirnea), (Giarrizzo)
• cafisu – measure for liquids (from qafiz), (Giarrizzo)
• cassata – sicilian cake (from qashatah; but Latin caseata – something made from cheese), (Giarrizzo)
• gèbbia – artificial pond to store water for irrigation (from gabiya), (Giarrizzo)
• giuggiulena – sesame seed (from giulgiulan), (Giarrizzo)
• ràisi – leader (from rais), (Giarrizzo)
  saia – canal (from saqiya), (Giarrizzo)
  zaffarana – saffron, type of plant whose flowers are used for medicinal purposes and in Sicilian cooking (from safara)
  zagara – blossom (from zahar)
  zibbibbu – type of grape (from zabib), (Giarrizzo)
  zuccu – tree trunk (from suq; but Aragonese soccu and Spanish zoque), (Giarrizzo).

Throughout the Arab epoch of Sicilian history, a large Greek-speaking population remained on the island and continued to use the Greek language, or most certainly a variant of Greek heavily influenced by Arabic (Hull). What is less clear is the extent to which a Latin-speaking population survived on the island. While a form of Vulgar Latin clearly survived in isolated communities during the Arab epoch, there is much debate as to the influence it had (if any) on the development of the Sicilian language, following the re-Latinisation of Sicily (discussed in the next section). There are few Sicilian words reflecting an archaic Latin form (as may be found, for example, in Sardinian), so the influence may have been minor (Hull). However, some forms do exist, so the tantalising prospect of a Sicilian form of a Vulgar Latin surviving the Arab period and influencing the modern development of Sicilian remains open (as already mentioned, Privitera puts forward the radical proposition that medieval Sicilian descends directly from a form of Vulgar Latin that survived throughout the Byzantine and Arab periods).

These are some words of Latin origin that may have survived the Arab epoch:

• antura – a while ago (from ante oram – an hour ago), (Giarrizzo)
• asciari – to find (from afflare, cf. Portuguese “achar”, to find), (Giarrizzo)
• bìfara – to fruit twice yearly, Large-green fig (from bifera), (Giarrizzo)
• filìnia – spider’s web (from filum, line, strand), (Giarrizzo)
• oggiallanu or ovannu – last year (from hodie est annus).

Sources

• Amari, M. (2002). Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia. Le Monnier.
• Gabrieli, Francesco; Umberto Scerrato (1993). Gli Arabi in Italia. Cultura, contatti e tradizioni. Milan: Garzanti Scheiwiller.
• Masson, Georgina (Secker & Warburg). Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. A Life. London: Secker & Warburg.
• Previte-Orton, C. W. (1971). The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Musca, Giosuè (1964). L’emirato di Bari, 847-871. Bari: Dedalo Litostampa.
• Skinner, Patricia (1995). Family Power in Southern Italy: The Duchy of Gaeta and its Neighbours, 850-1139. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Taylor, Julie Anne (April 2007). “Freedom and Bondage among Muslims in Southern Italy during the Thirteenth Century”. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 27 (1): 71-77.

Notes

• ^ Moors and Saracens in Sicilian History
• ^ “L’emirato di Bari, 847-871″, jstor.org, 7 October 2007.
• ^ The first permanent Arab conquest on Sicily occurred in 827, but it was not until Taormina fell in 902 that the entire island fell under the sway, though Rometta held out until 965. In that year the Kalbids established the independence of their emirate from the Fatimid caliphate. In 1061 the first Norman conquerors took Messina and by 1071 Palermo and its citadel (1072) were captured. In 1091 Noto fell to the Normans and the conquest was complete. Malta fell later that year, though the Arab administration was kept in place. See Krueger, Hilmar C. (1969) “Conflict in the Mediterranean before the First Crusade: B. The Italian Cities and the Arabs before 1095.” A History of the Crusades, vol. I: The First Hundred Years. M. W. Baldwin, ed. (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press), pp. 40-53.
• ^ Jellinek, George. History Through the Opera Glass: From the Rise of Caesar to the Fall of Napoleon. Kahn & Averill. ISBN 0912483903.
• ^ Kenneth M. Setton, “The Byzantine Background to the Italian Renaissance” in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 100:1 (Feb. 24, 1956), pp. 1-76.
• ^ Daftary, Farhad. The Ismāʻı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge University Press.
• ^ Skinner, 32-33.
• ^ Skinner, see first chapter. See also the vast literature on the coming of the Normans to southern Italy.
• ^ Skinner, 2-3.
• ^ Skinner, 33, based on Leo of Ostia and the Chronica Monasterii Cassinensis.
• ^ Previte-Orton (1971), vol. 1, pg. 370
• ^ Previte-Orton (1971), pg. 370
• ^ Overview of Italy in the late 9th century at cronologia.leonardo.it
• ^ Saracen Door and Battle of Palermo
• ^ Previte-Orton (1971), pg. 507-11
• ^ Normans in Sicilian History
• ^ Roger II – Encyclopædia Britannica
• ^ Tracing The Norman Rulers of Sicily
• ^ Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor
• ^ Saracen Archers in Southern Italy
• ^ Aubé, Pierre (2001). Roger Ii De Sicile – Un Normand En Méditerranée. Payot.
• ^ Abulafia, David (1988). Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor. London: Allen Lane.
• ^ Masson, Georgina (Secker & Warburg). Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. A Life. London: Secker & Warburg.
• ^ AramcoWorldMagazine.
• ^ Masson, Georgina (Secker & Warburg). Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. A Life. London: Secker & Warburg.
• ^ Masson, Georgina (Secker & Warburg). Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. A Life. London: Secker & Warburg.
• ^ [http://www.lastampa.it/redazione/cmsSezioni/cronache/200710articoli/27164girata.asp Immigrazione, continua il flusso di clandestini in Sicilia e Calabria]. ‘La Stampa’. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
• Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Islam_in_southern_Italy

One has to really search to find Islamic inscriptions in Polermo.

“Messina and Palermo

This city (Messina) is the [market]of the [Christian] merchants, the focus of ships from the world over, and thronging always with companies of travelers by reason of the lowness of prices. . . Its markets are animated and teeming, and it has ample commodities to ensure a luxurious life. Your days and nights in this town you will pass in full security, even though your countenance, your manners and your tongue are strange. . . You will observe ships ranged along the quay like horses lined at their pickets or in their stables. . . . The prosperity of the island surpasses description. It is enough to say that it is a daughter of Spain in the extent of its cultivation, in the luxuriance of its harvests, and in its well-being. . . .”The finest town in Sicilyand the seat of its sovereign is known to the Muslims as al-Madina, and to the Christians as Palermo. It has Muslim citizens who possess mosques, and their own markets, in the many suburbs. The rest of the Muslims live in the farms (of the island) and in all its villages and towns, such as Syracuse and others. . . .”The Muslims of this city preserve the remaining evidence of the faith. They keep in repair the greater number of their mosques, and come to prayers at the call of the muezzin. In their own suburbs they live apart from the Christians. The markets are full of them and they are the merchants of the place. . . They have a qadi to whom they refer their lawsuits, and a. . . mosque where, in this holy month [Ramadan] they assemble under its lamps.”The Christian women of this city follow the fashion of Muslim women, are fluent of speech, wrap their cloaks about them, and are veiled. They go forth on this Feast Day dressed in robes of gold-embroidered silk, wrapped in elegant cloaks, concealed by colored veils, and shod with gilt slippers.

“The King”This King possesses splendid palaces and elegant gardens, particularly in the capital of his kingdom, al-Madina [Palermo]. In Messina he has a palace, white like a dove, which overlooks the shore. . . William is engrossed in the pleasures of his land, the arrangement of its laws, the laying down of procedure, the allocation of the functions of his chief officials, the enlargement of the splendor of the realm, and the display of his pomp, in a manner that resembles the Muslim kings. His kingdom is very large. He pays much attention to his (Muslim) physicians and . . . also takes great care of them. He will even, when told that a physician. . . is passing through his land, order his detainment, and then provide him with means of living so that he will forget his native land. . . . One of the most remarkable things told of him is that he reads and writes Arabic. . . .”Travels of Ibn Jubair, R. J. C. Broadhurst, Jonathan Cape, London, 1952

Muhammad (the Prophet of Islam) was born in Mecca around AD 570 and his religious community at Medina eventually grew to dominate the entire Arabian peninsula. Following Muhammad’s death in 632, caliphs (civil and religious leaders) succeeded him. Three families from Muhammad’s tribe ruled the expanding Arabian empire for the next few centuries, namely the Umayyads (661-750), the Abbasids (750-850) and the Alids (Fatimid dynasty in northern Africa from 909 to 1171). In practice, certain regions –including Sicily– were actually controlled by particular (if minor) families, or often under local emirs (there were several in Sicily when the Normans arrived in 1061).

Initially, the Arabs aspired to little more than some productive land in coastal areas and around the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, but within decades of the Prophet’s death their objectives grew greater. With the growth of their society supported by conversions to Islam, the wealth sought by Arabs was precisely that which the Koran (3:14) discouraged: “The passion for women, the desire for male children, the thirst for gold and silver, spirited horses, and the possession of cattle and land, in fact all the pleasures of life on earth.” Sicily offered all of these things in abundance.

By 650, the Arabs were making their way through Libya and Tunisia, and what remained of the once-prosperous city of Carthage was destroyed in 698. The Byzantines had already lost these areas, but they retained control of Sicily –despite numerous raids by Arab pirates– until 827. In that year, Euphemius, a Byzantine admiral and resident governor of Sicily who found himself at odds with the Emperor, offered the governorship of the island to Ziyadat Allah, the Aghlabid Emir of Al Qayrawan (in Tunisia) in exchange for his support. This fiasco resulted in the landing of over ten thousand Arab and Berber troops at Mazara in the western part of Sicily. Euphemius was soon killed and Sicily’s Arab period had begun.

Three Arab dynasties ruled Sicily –first the Aghlabids (a “minor” family based in Tunisia which had broken away from the Abbasids of Baghdad) and then, from 909, the Fatimids, who entrusted much of their authority to the Kalbids in 948. In that year, Hassan al-Kalbi became the first Emir of All Sicily. By 969, the Fatimid dynasty (descended from the Prophet’s daughter, Fatima) were moving their geographic center of power to Cairo, leaving their Tunisian capitals (Madiyah and Al Quayrawan) and western territories to the care of what in Europe would be called “vassals.”

Islam spread quickly across the Mediterranean but in Sicily the Arabs’ conquest was a slow one. Panormos, which was to become the seat of an emirate as Bal’harm (Palermo) in 948, fell in 832. Messina was taken in 843. Enna (the Arabs’ Kasr’ Yanni, also an emirate) was conquered in 858. With the violent fall of Syracuse in 878, the conquest was essentially complete, though Taormina and several other mountaintop communities held out for a few more years.

Byzantine society, culture and government were closely identified with Christianity, and the law was based largely (though not entirely) on Judeo-Christian ideas, but it would have been mistaken to consider the Byzantine state a theocracy. Moreover, as Christianity already existed in many regions (such as Sicily) in the Byzantine Empire, there was not always a need to introduce (or impose) it. Islam, however, was a way of life that could not easily be separated from society itself, and it was a religion formerly unknown in Sicily. This obviously influenced Arab society in Sicily and elsewhere, though efforts were made to retain something of the established order. In the early ninth century, Islam itself could be said to be in its formative stages socially, with certain literary sources (collections of hadiths containing sunnahs or “laws”) still being written.

Arab administration, if not particularly enlightened, was not very harsh by medieval standards, but it was far from egalitarian. Sicily’s Christians and Jews (Sicily was at least half Muslim by 1060) were highly taxed, and clergy could not recite from the Bible or Talmud within earshot of Muslims. Christian and Jewish women (who like Muslim ones were veiled in public) could not share the public baths with Muslim women –many of whom were ex-Christians converted to Islam to contract financially or socially advantageous marriages to Muslim men. Non-Muslims had to stand in the presence of Muslims. New churches and synagogues could not be built, nor Muslims converted to other faiths. A number of large churches, such as the cathedral of Palermo, were converted to mosques. (The Arabic inscription shown above is still visible on one of its columns.)

A degree of religious tolerance prevailed; there were no forced conversions. Yet, a new social order was soon in place. Except for a few merchants and sailors, there had been very few Muslim Arabs in Sicily before 827, but Byzantine legal strictures imposed upon them, and upon the Jews living across the island, cannot be said to have been as rigid as those imposed upon non-Muslims by the Arabs after about 850. At first, however, many Sicilians probably welcomed the prospect of change because they had been overtaxed and over-governed by their Byzantine rulers.

The Arabs introduced superior irrigation systems; some of their qanats (channels) still flow under Palermo. They established the Sicilian silk industry, and at the court of the Norman monarch Roger II great Arab thinkers like the geographer Abdullah al Idrisi were welcome. Agriculture became more varied and more efficient, with the widespread introduction of rice, sugar cane, cotton and oranges. This, in turn, influenced Sicilian cuisine. Many of the most popular Sicilian foods trace their origins to the Arab period.

Dozens of towns were founded or resettled during the Saracen era, and souks (suks, or street markets) became more common than before. Bal’harm (Palermo) was repopulated and became one of the largest Arab cities after Baghdad and Cordoba (Cordova), and one of the most beautiful. Construction on Bal’harm’s al-Khalesa district built near the sea was begun in 937 by Khalid Ibn Ishaq, who was then Governor of Sicily. Despite later estimates of a greater population, there were probably about two hundred thousand residents in and around this city by 1050, and it was the capital of Saracen Sicily. Bal’harm was the official residence of the Governors and Emirs of All Sicily, and al-Khalesa (now the Kalsa district) was its administrative center. As we’ve mentioned, in 948 the Fatimids granted a degree of autonomy to the Kalbid dynasty, whose last “governor” (effectively a hereditary emir), Hasan II (or Al-Samsan), ruled until 1053. By then, Kasyr Yanni (Enna), Trapani, Taormina and Syracuse were also self-declared, localized “emirates.” (This word was sometimes used rather loosely to describe any hereditary ruler of a large locality; in law Sicily had been a unified emirate governed from Palermo since 948, but by the 1050s the others had challenged his authority over them.)

Naturally, Arabic was widely spoken and it was a major influence on Sicilian, which emerged as a Romance (Latin) language during the subsequent (Norman) era. The Sicilian vernacular was in constant evolution, but until the arrival of the Arabs the most popular language in Sicily was a dialect of Greek. Under the Moors Sicily actually became a polyglot community; some localities were more Greek-speaking while others were predominantly Arabic-speaking. Mosques stood alongside churches and synagogues.

Arab Sicily, by 948 governed from Bal’harm with little intervention from Qayrawan (Kairouan), was one of Europe’s most prosperous regions –intellectually, artistically and economically. (At the same time, Moorish Spain was comparable to Sicily in these respects, but its prior society had been essentially Visigothic rather than Byzantine.) With the exception of occasional landings in Calabria, the Sicilian Arabs coexisted peacefully with the peoples of the Italian peninsula. These were Lombards (Longobard descendants) and Byzantines in Calabria, Basilicata and Apulia, where Bari was the largest city.

Under the Byzantines’ empire, Sicily enjoyed some contact with the East, but as part of a larger Arab empire having greater contact with China and India, Far Eastern developments such as paper (made from cotton or wood), the compass and Arabic numerals (actually Indian) arrived. So did Arab inventions, such as henna –though today’s middle-class Sicilian obsession with artficial blondness is a twentieth-century phenomenon. Under the Arabs, Sicily and Spain found themselves highly developed compared to England and Continental northern Europe.

Byzantium hadn’t forgotten Sicily, and in 1040 George Maniakes, at the head of an army of Byzantine-Greeks, Normans, Vikings and Lombards, attempted an invasion of Sicily without success. By the 1050s, the Pope, and some Norman knights from this failed adventure, were casting a long glance toward Sicily with an eye to conquest. This desire was later fueled by dissension among the island’s Arabs, leading to support by the Emir of Syracuse for the Normans against the emirates of Enna and Palermo. Most of these internal problems developed after the ruling Fatimids moved their capital from Tunisia to Egypt, where they established Cairo (near ancient Memphis).

The Normans conquered Messina in 1061 and reached the gates of Palermo a decade later, removing from power the local emir, Yusuf Ibn Abdallah, but respecting Arab customs. Their conquest of Arab Sicily was slower than their conquest of Saxon England, which began in 1066 with the Battle of Hastings. Kasr Yanni was still ruled by its emir, Ibn Al-Hawas, who held out for years. His successor, Ibn Hamud, surrendered, and converted to Christianity, only in 1087. Initially, and for over a century, the Normans’ Sicilian kingdom was the medieval epitome of multicultural tolerance. By 1200, this was beginning to change. While the Muslim-Arab influence continued well into the Norman era –particularly in art and architecture– it was not to endure. The Normans gradually “Latinized” Sicily, and this social process laid the groundwork for the introduction of Catholicism (as opposed to eastern Orthodoxy). Widespread conversion ensued, and by the 1280s there were few –if any– Muslims in Sicily. Yet, the mass immigration of north-African Arabs (and Berbers) was the greatest Sicilian immigration since that of the ancient Greeks, leaving today’s Sicilians as Saracen as Hellenic.

While Norman government and law in Sicily were essentially European, introducing institutions such as the feudal system, at first they were profoundly influenced by Arab (and even Islamic) practices. Many statutes were universal, but in the earliest Norman period each Sicilian –Muslim, Christian, Jew– was judged by the laws of his or her own faith.

When did the various Sicilian localities cease to be Arab (or Byzantine Greek)? There was not an immediate change. Following the Norman conquest, complete Latinization, fostered largely by the Roman Church and its liturgy, took the better part of two centuries, and even then there remained pockets of Byzantine influence in northeastern Sicily’s Nebrodi Mountains.

Had the Normans not conquered Sicily, it might have evolved into an essentially Arab society not unlike that which survived in some parts of Spain into the later centuries of the Middle Ages, and the Sicilian vernacular language (as we know it) would have developed later. It is interesting to consider that general functional literacy among Sicilians was higher in 870 under the Arabs and Byzantines than it was in 1870 under the Italians (at about seventeen percent). In certain social respects, nineteenth-century Sicily still seemed very Arab, especially outside the largest cities, well into the early years of the twentieth century.

About the Author: Palermo native Vincenzo Salerno has written biographies of several famous Sicilians, including Frederick II and Giuseppe di Lampedusa.

ISLAM IN ITALY

Sicily:-The Daughter of Spain

To these 820,000 foreign residents of Muslim heritage legally residing in Italy, another 100,000-150,000 should be added, as Muslims represent, according to the widely accepted yearly estimates of Italian association Caritas, about 40% of Italy’s illegal immigrants.

Despite illegal immigrants representing a minority of the Muslim presence in Italy, the issue of Islam in contemporary Italy has been linked by some political parties (particularly the ‘Northern League’ or ‘Lega Lombarda’) with immigration, and more specifically illegal immigration. Immigration has become a prominent political issue, as, especially in the summer, reports of boatloads of illegal immigrants or clandestini dominate news programmes.

Police forces have not had great success in intercepting many of the thousands of clandestini who land on Italian beaches, mainly because of the sheer length of the Italian coastline: some 8,000 km in total. However, many of the clandestini landings in Italy are only using Italy as a gateway to other EU nations, due to the fact Italy doesn’t have as many economic opportunities for them as Germany or France, and a somewhat more hostile climate to their presence, due to a still devout Catholic Italy, is perceived.

The number of foreign Muslims who have been granted Italian nationality is estimated between 30,000 and 50,000, while Italian Muslims (converts of full Italian ancestry who previously belonged to the Catholic faith or had no religion) are estimated to be less than 10,000.

Therefore, in 2005 the number of Muslims living in Italy is estimated to be between 960,000 and 1,030,000,with an average estimate strikingly close to the million mark which Italian media have started to adopt while referring to the numbers of Muslims in Italy.

Muslims represent today 1.4% of Italy’s population, a percentage much lower than that of other major EU countries, and still slightly lower than that recorded in Italy between the middle of the 9th century and the end of the 13th century, before the removal of the last Muslim strongholds in Puglia in year 1300.

While in Medieval times the Muslim population was almost totally concentrated in Insular (Sicily, Sardinia) and Southern (Calabria, Puglia) Italy, it is today more evenly distributed, with almost 55% of Muslims living in the North of Italy, 25% in the Centre, and only 20% in the South.

It should be remarked that despite the stereotype of a ‘Muslim invasion’, Muslims form a lower proportion of immigrants then in previous years, as the latest statistical reports of the Italian Ministry of Interior and of Caritas show that the share of Muslims among new immigrants has declined from over 50% at the beginning of the 1990s (mainly Albanians and Moroccans) to less than 25% in the following decade, with non-Muslim Countries like Romania, Moldavia, and Ukraine taking the lead of the latest “wave” of immigration.

The relatively small size of the local Muslim community means that Islam has yet to make a significant impact on public life, but there are signs that this is changing. Recent points of contention between native Italians and the Muslim immigrant population include the presence of crucifixes in Italian State school classrooms and hospital bedrooms. Adel Smith has attracted considerable media attention by demanding that crucifixes in public places (i.e., schools, hospitals, and government offices) be removed. The Italian Council of State, with the sentence number 556, 13 February 2006 , confirmed the display of the crucifix in government-sponsored spaces. Smith has subsequently been charged with defaming the Catholic religion in 2006.[4]

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