In the Lands of the Christians

by Nabil Matar (editor)

In the Lands of the Christians presents original translations from Arabic of four Christian and Muslim writers who visited Western Europe and America in the seventeenth century. These essays contain careful descriptions of the regions, societies, customs, and religions these intrepid travelers encountered in their journeys. Here you will find the complete travel narrative of the first Arab to visit South and Central America in 1688, the first English translation of the ambassadorial report by Mohammad bin Abd al-Wahab al-Ghassani who traveled through Spain in 1690, translations of letters by the Morrocan ambassador to France describing his relationship with his hosts and his impressions of the land, and Morisco author Ahmad bin Qasim's account of his voyage from Holland to France in 1610.

Genres: History, Islam, Religion

278 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2002

About the author

Nabil Matar studied English Literature at the American University of Beirut where he received his B.A. and M.A. In 1976, he completed his Ph.D. at Cambridge University on the poetry of Thomas Traherne. He taught at Jordan University and the American University of Beirut, and received postdoctoral grants from the British Council (Clare Hall, Cambridge University) and from Fulbright (Harvard Divinity School).

In 1986, Dr. Matar moved to the United States and started teaching in the Humanities Department at Florida Institute of Technology. In 1997, he became the Department Head and served until 2007 when he moved to the English Department at the University of Minnesota. He is Presidential Professor in the President’s Interdisciplinary Initiative on Arts and Humanities and teaches in the departments of English and History, and in the Religious Studies Program.

Dr. Matar’s research in the past two decades has focused on relations between early modern Britain, Western Europe, and the Islamic Mediterranean. He is author of numerous articles, chapters in books and encyclopedias, and the trilogy: Islam in Britain, 1558-1685 (Cambridge UP, 1998), Turks, Moors and Englishmen in the Age of Discovery (Columbia UP, 1999), and Britain and Barbary, 1589-1689 (UP of Florida, 2005). He wrote the introduction to Piracy, Slavery and Redemption (Columbia UP, 2001) and began a second trilogy on Arabs and Europeans in the early modern world: In the Lands of the Christians. (Routledge, 2003), Europe through Arab Eyes, 1578-1727 (Columbia UP, 2009). He is currently working on the third installment, "Arabs and Europeans, 1517-1798." With Professor Gerald MacLean, he published Britain and the Islamic World, 1558-1713 (Oxford UP, 2011). With Professor Judy Hayden, he edited a collection of essays on travel to the Holy Land in the early modern period (in press, Brill, 2012). His forthcoming publication is a study and an annotated edition of "Henry Stubbe and the Prophet Muhammad: The Originall & Progress of Mahometanism" (Columbia UP, 2012/13), He is completing work on "Names and Numbers: British Captives in North Africa, 1578-1727." In recognition of his "pioneering scholarship on the relationship between Islamic civilisation and early modern Europe," Dr. Matar was given the Building Bridges award at the University of Cambridge (28 March 2012).

Reviews

[Skallagrimsen]

There is, according to Nabil Matar, a self-congratulatory myth that early modern European travelers were unique in their curiosity and objectivity about other cultures. Only Europeans, according to this myth, made any effort to understand alien peoples on their own terms. In the Lands of the Christians puts that myth to rest, presenting three case studies of Muslim (or Middle eastern Jewish) travelers who visited "the lands of the Christians" from 1611 to 1700 on missions of diplomacy or commerce, and wrote thoughtful, closely observed accounts of seventeenth century European society. Matar's notes provide color and context. Outsider's perspectives are invaluable to historians. Yes, they always run the risk of misconstruing what they witness. Their value lies in observing details that natives take for granted and rarely record. For the fullest picture of early modern Europe, or any other time or place, accounts such as those collected books like this are indispensable.

[Jonathan Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Editor and translator Nabil Matar has done us a truly wonderful service in this volume! He has collected and translated portions of four seventeenth-century Arabic-language travel writings - one by a Christian (Ilyas Hanna al-Mawsuli, a priest who traveled to Europe and South America), but mostly by Muslims. The last of the four, the letters sent by Abdallah bin Aisha to correspondents in France at the century's close, weren't terribly interesting. But the other two were superbly fascinating!

The first item is by Ahmad bin Qasim al-Hajari, a Morisco who escaped Spain (before Philip III expelled the Moriscos in 1609), went to Morocco, became a translator for the local sultan, and then was sent as an envoy to France and Holland in hopes of liberating some captives. Along the way - his account covers 1611-1613 - he made many observations and recounted numerous debates in which, he felt, he got the better hand over France's Catholics. (Many of his arguments aren't exactly winners in retrospect - that's my two cents - but neither are most of the ones he records his opponents saying.) Frequently, they offer about fasting practices, abstention from wine, iconography, and so forth. A great read!

The third and longer work is by Ahmad ibn Qasim's eventual successor as Moroccan ambassador, Mohammad bin Abd al-Wahab al-Ghassani, who nearly eight decades later traveled to Spain (within living memory of the expulsion of his people) to try and ransom yet more captives. He, too, recorded the occasional debate, but even more so his observations and experiences from town to town, including his understanding of Spanish history (a bit jumbled), a contemporary account of the workings of the Spanish Inquisition, the festival after the canonization of St. John of God, and even detailed descriptions of medical care and postal delivery at the time! (At least, whenever he isn't alternating descriptions of how friendly everyone is with phrases like "may God curse them," "may God destroy them," "may God mutilate him," etc.)

All in all, though, an extremely worthwhile little volume!

[El-Jahiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most fascinating travel journals from the 17th Century. Was worth my time.