Dante and Islam

Introduction Author(s): Jan M. Ziolkowski Reviewed work(s): Source: Dante Studies, with the Annual Report of the Dante Society, No. 125, Dante and Islam (2007), pp. 1-34 Published by: Dante Society of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40350656 . Accessed: 04/12/2012 15:49 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Dante Society of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Dante Studies, with the Annual Report of the Dante Society. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction JAN M. ZIOLKOWSKI isnota wildnovelty, becausesince1921 titleofthiscollection thewording"Dante and Islam"has been pressedintoservice in variouslanguagesas a headingforbooks,articles, repeatedly thephrasemaysoundjarringly andbookreviews.1 Nonetheless, paradoxiwith of medievalChristianity cal, in pairingthepoet mostemblematic stature a thenameof a rivalreligion.The Commedia beyond possesses in the canon and the foundational masterpiece preeminent beingmerely in Westas a more It alsostands ofItalianliterature. generally centerpiece a summaof medieval ern culture.Amongotherthings,it constitutes Christiancultureand an archetypeof Catholicliterature.2 Although in the subseand Dantecouldnothaveforeseen everywinding turning to hiswork he refers ofhispoem,in Paradiso presciently quentreception theComYet sacro" and as the"sacratopoema" (23.62) (25.1). "poema inpartbyincorachievesitssumma-like media (orencyclopedic) qualities it highly render some of which components, poratingheterogeneous to learnthat fora canonicalwork.3We shouldnotbe startled uncanonical andevenheretical accusedofbeingheterodox Dantewasalready bysome his near of contemporaries.4 and Catholic,theComwhatis Western, Christian, By exemplifying a mediaexertsin the earlytwenty-first century forcefarbeyondwhat still one mightexpectan earlyfourteenth-century literary composition in to radiatein a worldthatis caughtup morein thepresentthan the haveboiledoverrepeatcontroversies distant past.Fornearlya century of medieval abouttheperspectives edlyas to whatthepoem signifies to what restricted been the Nor have on Muslims. Christians disputes meantin its own day.Dante's chefd'oeuvreand the the Commedia l This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 reactions tradition baseduponithavealsoincitedpowerful iconographic fromMuslimsevenin thelastfewyears. in An extreme towardDante'spoemis thearrest instanceofhostility toblow withplotting who werecharged 2002 ofallegedIslamicterrorists ofthe a fresco to in so as the Basilica of San Petronio destroy Bologna up LastJudgment 1409-1456), (1409) by Giovannida Modena (flourished whichcontainsan illustration of Muhammadbeingconsignedto the level On an extreme flamesofHell thatwas inspired byDante'sInferno.5 the Italian that of the thisconspiracy poet'sporoutcry givestestimony theUnion Less of Muslim can the Prophet engender. explosively, trayal artthat the to thepope request ofItalianMuslimspetitioned offending the workbe concealedbecauseofitsinsultto Islam.Forsimilar reasons, in curriculum the be included groupadvocatedthatDante'spoem not in immigrant areas.6 taught that As suchepisodesdemonstrate, the Commedia responses prompts covera broadswath.On theone hand,it enjoysapprobation nowadays in generalbut of as a preeminent worknotjust of Europeanliterature atone In thiscapacity itcouldbe situated inparticular. Christian literature between medieval encounters end of thespectrum by thosewho view and Islam as beingthestarting Christianity pointsin an ongoing"clashof between mutualresistance civilizations."7 Withina construct thatassumes thecultures muchcouldfavortheinferassociated withthetworeligions, ence thattheLatinChristendom byDantewouldnothave exemplified at from The Westwould least not Muslims. much, sought knowingly, haveincurred debtsto theEastmainlyin specifictechnicalareasrather thanin thosemoregeneralcultural spheresthatwouldhavebeenlikely to manifest themselves in literature.8 On the otherhand,alternative of Dante'spoem not interpretations merelyacknowledgebut even emphasize perhapsoveremphasize evidencethatspeakson behalfof Islamicinfluences and thatallowsfor thefeasibility of peacefulcoexistence betweenMuslimsand Christians. such one takes the tackofsiAmong readings, seemingly contradictory thatDantedoomsMuhammad to theInferno but multaneously admitting also of avowingthatthe Commedia that formulates "religiouspluralism - that"the'philosophy be calledIslamic" ofreligion'thatis mayrightly one ofthefundamental of a the Commedia discourse components aiming to foster tolerance forreligiousand cultural diversitywas in largepart a legacyoftheArabo-Islamic tradition."9 Otherappraisals philosophical 2 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski to conventional Danteas havingbeennotmerelyresistant Chrispresent the enticeeven to and but countervailing welcoming tianity receptive thattheItalianpoetparticipated, mentsofIslam.In effect, theymaintain and cultural as hisdifferent insofar him, positionpermitted geographical thatin studiesofmedievalIberiais indicated ofpluralism in a spirit bythe Spanishtermconvivencia.10 as "coexistence") sums Convivencia roughly (whichcouldbe translated and times in the that cohabitation the prevailed rightplaces peaceful up andIslam.The wordhas intheMiddleAgesamongChristianity, Judaism, enteredevermorecommonusagesinceitsintroduction by theSpanish The AmericoCastro(1885-1972)inthe1940s.11 andhistorian philologist in portionsof is allegedto have predominated it describes coexistence and Arabized,Arabicized(if Muslim-held Spain(knownas al-Andalus) thanethnic),or Arabicizing rather andcultural theprocesswaslinguistic (ifit was stillunderway)Spainfromaboutthe invasionin 711 to the expulsionof thelastMuslimsin 1492 (and even beyondif one makes who werespecified to Christianity allowancefortheMuslimconverts by "Moor-like, theSpanishadjectivemorisco, Moorish").12 meaning centuthreeparticularly Withintheseeighthundred noteworthy years, at was installed the while to 711 riesrunfrom 1031, Umayyadcaliphate who dwelledunder Cordoba.The Mozarabs,as arestyledtheChristians life of in Islamicrule al-Andalus, bytheMuslims, practiced adoptedways and theseChristians helpedto bridgethe chasmbetweenthe religions couldbe the conceptof convivencia an extreme, to Taken and cultures. betweena hideboundand almostbelligerenlistedto upholda contrast Muslim and a benignand tolerant Christendom Latin entlybackward heldsway. worldin whicha pax Islamica themodernItaliancognate us Nothingshouldprevent fromapplying ofpeaceable conditions to denotecomparable to similar convivenza effect, if on and Italian southern on the cohabitation Sicily, infactthey peninsula years obtainedthere.MuslimsnotonlyruledSicilyforsometwohundred who Normans the under afterward force but abidedas a cultural long them.13 supplanted Suchevidencecan cut- or can be cut- in entirely oppositeways.As the concludingessayin thisvolume(byDavid Abulafia)demonstrates, to themainMuslimsfromSicilywereeventually transported surviving thatenduredfordecades.Thus the land and collectedin a settlement knownas LuceraSaracenorum of the Muslimcommunity persistence 3 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 theend ofthe (LuceraoftheSaracens)on theItalianmainlandthrough thirteenth couldbe construed as important confirmation thatnot century the town a Muslim Yet but too had onlySpain Italy presence. continuing couldbe regarded lessoptimistically as a sortofconcentration campavant in 1300 (a datenotwithout la lettre, and thedispersal of itsinhabitants in theappreciation sinceit is theyear ofDante'sCommedia, significance in whichtheactionis supposedto havetakenplace)bespeaksat leastto somedegreean antagonism towardIslamon thepeninsula. LuceraSaracenorum constitutes a microcosm oftheMuslimfoothold in Italy."Saracens"occupiedSicilyandpartsofthemainland formostof threecenturies, the the and eleventh. Montecassino, tenth, namely, ninth, renowned whereBenedictsetdownhisstillmorefamousrule monastery formonasticcommunalliving,had to be abandonedafterbeingsacked and burnedby Muslimraidersin 883. In the twelfth, and thirteenth, comfourteenth centuries the earlier centuries found thedisruptions of were as innovations enabled thanksto contactwithIslamic pensation, civilization the Crusades and Norman through Sicily.The Normansinhabitedsouthern andtheycreated Italycheekbyjowl withtheMuslims, a dominionovera nearlycompletely Muslimpopulation.In Sicilythe and fusionof cultures led to spectacular outcomesin art, juxtaposition and otherfields.The Palermitan courtof King architecture, literature, a cultural betweenIslamand RogerII (1095-1154)intensified symbiosis that II (d. 1250). Christianity reacheditsapogeeunderFrederick Wherearewe left?Ideologicalreasonsareimaginable thatcouldmotivatethosewhoenvisage a goldenageofyoreinwhichMuslimandIslamor at least rulersavoidedthe hostilities thatoften ophile Muslimophile aroseamongMuslims, in Europe,theMiddleEast, Jews,and Christians andelsewhere. the same it is token, By easyto picturewhyotherscould be stimulated to magnify thefrictions betweenChristians andMuslimsin - theconflicts theMiddleAgesas a meansto model- andjustify in our own day. In cultural criticism andliterary Dante'spoemholdsspecial scholarship sinceOrientalism book byEdward relevance, (1978),a highlyinfluential W. Said(1935-2003),features a briefbutpivotalanalysis oftheCommedia as illustrating a midpointin theprogression towardwhathe calls"the Orientalist stancetowardtheEastin whichempirical vision,"a Western dataabouttheOrientare disregarded so as to turn"Islamintothevery of an outsider which the wholeofEuropeancivilization epitome against 4 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski Said'spolemicsuggests thateven fromtheMiddleAgeswas founded."14 theacademicdisciplines demiseofEuropeanempires theformal longafter as once described preconventionally"Orientalstudies"havepurveyed these and that academic and "Orientals" "the Orient" of conceptions ofcolonialandneocolonialdomhaveservedtheinterests representations andculture. inationin politics, economics, someactionsdo haveequal ofthehumanities, In thepeculiarphysics is reciprocated and oppositereactions.In thisinstanceOrientalism by and reducedto distorted are in whichWesterncultures Occidentalism, thatare espousedboth withinand withoutthe prejudicedplatitudes thanhave farlessattention hasgarnered To date,suchstereotyping West.15 but we need to to whichtheycorrespond, the twistedrepresentations vision"not to of "the Orientalist the pitfalls takecarein sidestepping intoan Occior unconsciously, consciously byslipping, overcompensate vision. dentalist nor Orientalism thatneitherconvivenda It bearsrecalling (or forthat is a medievalword:theyaremodernconceptsthat matter Occidentalism) to bearon theMiddleAges,partly havebeenbrought (aswouldbe natuandpreoccupaperceptions ral)or evenwhollyin answerto present-day bothcarrywiththemthedangers morebluntly, To statematters tions.16 chronolofcultural fromthestandpoint and anatopism, ofanachronism respectively.17 ogyandgeography, to rebutIslamand itsinfluence The imperative maybe seento have as a visionofHell theCommedia to Dante'sdecisionto frame contributed that Butsucha vagueformulation andHeaven.18 begsa hostofquestions oftheseemingly to theimplications straightforward up in response spring doesbeing first the to reference With element, Islam." and "Dante phrase entail Christian medieval as canonically beingantienshrined necessarily to Islam,or evenuntouched bycultures aboveall, Islamic,unindebted Middle the since that Persian Arabicand Ages have been affiliated withIslam?Or,tolookfroma different vantage point,doesbeing strongly ofWesternculture,as Dante hasbecome,excludeipso an embodiment influences? to non-Western factoresponsiveness the in element final To turnto the phrase"Dante and Islam,"what In otherwords,to whatextentdid the exactlydid Islamcomprehend? and oftheArab Arabic,theone ethnicandtheotherlinguistic, categories ofIslam overlapwitheach other?AndwhatwouldDante'sconceptions Arab word the He used or ofethnicity language? havebeen,irrespective 5 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Dante Studies,CXXV, 2007 onlyonce (Par.6.49),as an ethnictermnotforanypeoplecontemporary - the "Arabs"who withhimbut insteadfortheancientCarthaginians followedHannibalacrossthe Alps to invadeRoman Italy.And what on the one handand equivalencewas fixedbetweentheArab/Arabic is that as we gazebackat the Islam/Muslim on theother?One certainty MiddleAgesfromour own today,we shouldmakeno instant equation and Latin,norshould betweenIslamicandArabicor betweenChristian and Chriswe establish an automatic betweenIslamo-Arabic dichotomy tian-Latin. how did the As if matters were not alreadysufficiently embroiled, medievalequivalents ofdesignations suchasBerber,Hagarite, Ishmaelite, to forreferring Dante'sdefault Moor,andSaracenenterintothepicture? the last-mentioned oftheLevant,Spain,or Sicily,is Arabs,whether epito markMuswhichservesevenmoregenerally thet,Saracen(Saracino), as a functions lims.19 Whereasin the chansons de gestethe substantive effect forpagan,Danteappliesitto different bycouplingitthree synonym Dante'sown timeswiththe stockwordforJew or Jewish(Giudeo).20 chides da Montefeltro cannot be when Guido antagonism questioned Colonna on Christians (the Pope BonifaceVIII (1294-1303)forwarring him d'i / avendo as "Lo novi Farisei, guerra family), describing principe / e noncon Saracinne con Giudei"(Inf.27.85-87).21 pressoa Laterano, Evenostensibly oftheterm,undercloserscrutiny, positiveapplications revealsymptoms ofbeingbackhanded Berberwomen(decompliments. the fact that the unfavorable undertone of "barbarian" spite probably rang arelauded,as areSaracenones(Par.23.103-5),butlessto extol through) themin theirown rightthanto chastise Florentine ladiesbycontrast for theirshamelessness. ForeseDonati (ca. 1260-1296),a friendof Dante, creditsMuslimwomenwithbeingmoremodestthantheirFlorentine Yet thecontextoffers at bestmixedflattery, sincethedrift counterparts. ofthepassageis thatevenbarbarians and Saracens(to use Dante'sword) in modesty thewomanhoodofFlorence.Likewise,whenDante surpass out as singles Italy beingpitiableevenamongtheSaracens(Epist.5.5 "iam nuncmiseranda YtaliaetiamSaracenis"),he impliesnot so muchthat Muslimsare extraordinarily as thattheconditions on the compassionate are as to induceevensuchaliensto commiserate. peninsula so wretched Does Dante offer adequateevidenceforus to drawanyfinedistincor are thesequestionsones thatwouldengagea philologist tions, today butthatwouldhavebeenirrelevant, or bothin theyears inconceivable, 6 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski notonlyArab/ around1300?Wouldwe be betteroffgrouping together but also Arabicizing and Islamicizing? In the Arabicand Islam/Muslim lastcase,we couldmulloverusinga catch-all term,suchas "Islamicate."22 to achieve This collectionaffords manygoals,one of opportunities innovative outlooksand to allowforfreshnuances whichis to facilitate oftherelaobviousrealities old viewsor denying whilenotoverlooking underthis issuessubsumed tionsbetweenDanteandIslam.The unsettled fornearlyone hundred in fitsand starts headinghave been ramifying the closeto exhausting not come did the but precedingcentury years, aboutthem.To secureanymeananyconsensus topicsorto guaranteeing intothe cause celebreof Dante and Islamrequires ingfulnew insights in Islamhad on LatinChristendom whateffects generally investigating whatthegreatItalian and earlyfourteenth thelatethirteenth centuries; or texts aboutMuhammad from other have could people gleaned poet thanis somewas forthcoming and Islam,sincemuchmoreinformation in this collection the timesrealized(as can be gaugedfrom essay byJose texts Islamic and Other the of 'Translations on Martinez Qur'an Gazquez whatofhisformation andThirteenth beforeDante(Twelfth Centuries"); culture(and Islamicate and Islamic to or he owed directly indirectly he knewor evencouldhaveknownthatithadcometo himvia whether whichactualMuslimswouldhave Islamiccultureor Muslimlearning); whatdirectandindirect residedin Italyduringhislifetime; acquaintance withhimmayhavehad,through withIslamotherItalianscontemporary travelsto the IslamicEast (or West,sinceregionsof Spainlingeredin Muslimhandsuntil1492),or throughcontactwithMuslimswho venturedwestwardor livedthere;and,lastbut not least,to whatdegree withIslamiceschatology. Dantecouldhavebeenacquainted specifically on Muslims, probingsof Dante'sperspectives Althoughpreliminary twentieth the antedated issues andrelated Islamicculture, century,23 early book a before never as was matters such of published by propelled study enla Divina musulmana La escatologia in 1919.The volumeunderscrutiny, delivered was first in theDivineComedy), Comedia(MuslimEschatology as an inaugurallectureby the SpanishArabist,Miguel Asin Palacios 26, 1919,uponhiselectionto theReal Acade(1871-1944),onJanuary would mia Espafiola(SpanishRoyalAcademy).His centralcontentions in otherswhenever uneasein somemilieusand excitement havestirred the but into came his disquisition subsequentdebatereacheda print, 7 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 contentious tookplaceon theeve of singularly pitchbecausepublication thesix-hundredth ofDante'sdeath(1921).24 anniversary the of the of thebrouhaha, thephrasing Among manyconsequences titlehashad a protracted nottenyearsafterits afterlife. Whenreprinted initialprintrun,thebookwasentitled morepithily DanteyelIslam(Dante and Islam).25 The equivalent ItalianphraseDantee VIslamwas cooptedas thetitlewhenAsinPalacios'smagnumopuswasfinally in Italy published in 1994.26 Islamand The Englishtranslation wasentitled andabridgement theDivineComedy, whichheightened thepolemicforcebyforegrounding andprivileging Islam27"Dante and Islam/'whetherhallowedor unhallowedbyitsmultiple uses,hasbeenadoptedforthiscollection. AsinPalacios'sargument thatDantewas beholdento Muslimsources elicitedstarkly different reactions, depending uponthefieldofscholarship in to whichthegivenreaderor revieweradhered.Afterfirst appearing musulmana en la Divina Comediawas receivedon the 1919, La escatologia unwholefavorably butmostly andespecially byOrientalists byArabists, or even negatively by Romanists(withthe exception enthusiastically of and Nowhere the morewidespread was mainly Hispanists). negativism thanamongItalianDantists.28 emphatic The reception hasbeenstyled"a scandalous ofAsinPalacios'swritings ofDante scholarship."29 chapterin thehistory Althoughtheconcession thatthe Commedia or any otherof Dante's writings mayhave "Arashouldnotundermine ofthearchetheauthenticity besque"properties and in foundational Italian it is how understandable literature, typal poet in different timesor circumstances themereacceptanceof a possibility thatDantemayhavebeenconditioned traditions byIslamiceschatological in hisconception ofa voyagethrough an otherworld ofHell andHeaven couldhavebeen feltto diminish him.Thus Dantistsmayhaverejected theSpaniard's bookwithparticular ofsuch vehemence becauseadmission indebtedness couldhavebeenfeltto lessenin one fellswooptheindividual genius,Christianity, andItalianness ofa poetaboutwhomtheyhada sense. it has been thatthespurning ofAsin proprietary Indeed, speculated Palacios'stheoryhasreflected bothcultural nationalism and theidoliza- thatDantistshavedistionofDante thathasbeen styledDantolatry30 dainedthe veryexistenceof the theory"as an assaulton the sublime author's as wellas on hisidentity as a Europeanandnot veryChristianity, leastas an Italian."31 On the otherside,it has been asserted thatAsin Palaciosandhissupporters wereled astray their own national interests by 8 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski in puffing of Spainand Arabic-speaking Islamto up the contributions In thiswaytheuproaris attributed to theopposed Dante'sepicproject.32 with Italians of and scholars, pittedagainst patriotismsphilologists literary andMuslims. Spaniards ofmedievalItalianliteraThe daymaycomewhenliterary anthologies oflanguages thaneschewthefullheterogeneity turewillembracerather on theItalianpeninthatwererootedatone timeoranother andcultures ofItalianwouldburgeontexts dialects insundry selections sula.Alongside in MedievalLatin,Byzantine Occitan, Greek,Old Germaniclanguages, match what would accommodation A to such shift Arabic. Hebrew,and hashappenedin thestudyofregionssuchas medievalEnglandandSpain, in theninethathad been determined wherein recentyearsparadigms teenthcentury philologieshavebeen allowedto breathe by nationalist thathavebeenthenormin manystretandto welcomethemultiplicities chesofEuropeatmanytimes. in their werebyno meansaltogether Allthesame,Dantists unjustified book stood The studies. Dante into Palacios's toAsin reactions open foray For was overstated. forall itsbrilliance, sinceitshypothesis, to criticism, drew Dante that notion the on relied it upon especially one, excessively theAndalusimysticIbn al-'Arabl(1165-1240) and the Syrianpoet alMa'arri(973-1057),whose oeuvreseven a skilledArabophonewould in latethirand appreciating have had difficulty interpreting, securing, in thefirst thesupposition warrants Europe andnothing teenth-century on the indebtedness Arabic.33 knew Dante that Whyhypothesize place had have not partoftheItalianpoetto Arabicsourcesto whichhe could aboveallin Latin,aboundedin visionary literature, access,whenWestern ofitsown?34 literature thewhole case advancedin AsinPalacios'sbook was Consequently, thatcouldhavemediofa Latintranslation nonexistence the undercut by in Christendom toWestern Islamiceschatology recherche atedapparently Yet withina yearof AsinPalacios's generaland to Dante in particular. hisbookhadbeenreprinted of deathin 1944,andjusta couple yearsafter thatthe first in Madridand Granadawitha surveyof the discussions of in the transmission link a editionhadprovoked, veryplausiblemissing was broughtto light.Shortly thereafter, literature Arabiceschatological of the was possiblyconfirmed AsinPalacios'shypothesis publication by alnot Ibn medievaltextsin Latinand Romance languages(though 'Arabl'smagnumopus, Futuhatal-makkiyya [The Meccan Openings]), Muhammad. of whichrecountthe"nightjourney" 9 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 holdsthatone nightMuWhatis thenight journey?Islamictradition hammadmadea two-stage voyageor a dream. journey,eithera physical twicesuccinctly known as al-isra' refers the sura the of Qur'an Although to thetradition (sura17.1 and 60) and anothersuramayalludeto it as writwell(sura53.1-18),mostofthestoryis conveyedin thetraditional journeyor partofthejourneyis thenight ingscalledthehadith.The first ism'proper.In it Muhammadis provided,by the archangel Gabriel,a wingedsteednamedBuraq thathe ridesfromthe Kaaba in Mecca to to be theTempleMountin the "farthest mosque,"usuallyunderstood in thepresenceof thereandconducting After prayer Jerusalem. alighting and commences thesecond otherprophets, Muhammadremounts Buraq theascensionor mi'raj.In thisascenthe is leg ofthenight journey,styled takenon a tourof the heavens,wherehe communeswiththe earlier andwithAllah,andhe is givena detailedviewofHell.35 prophets Arabicoriginal Between1260and1264,thepresumptive (nowlost)of intoCastilianby a Jewish a textaboutthenightjourneywas translated to theArabic named Abraham "Alfaquim"(whichcorresponds physician a golden "thedoctor").Thisversionoftheaccountincorporates al-hakfm, ladderof lightthatenablesMuhammadto commencehis ascentto textstheirnames.AbraHeaven.Thisvividimagehasgiventhesurviving servedas thebasisfor ham'sCastiliantranslation, itself no longerextant, Mahomet the Latin LiberscaleMachometi and Old FrenchLivrede Veschiele (Book of theLadderofMuhammad)thatwereproducedby theItalian in exile.36 Bonaventure ofSiena,a TuscanGhibelline The Latinversion, datedbetween1260and1264,precededtheOld French, whichwasitself composedin 1264. Allthreetranslations intoLatinandRomancelanguages weremadeat thebehestofKingAlfonsoX theWise of Castile(1262-1284),who in Toledopatronized withthehelpoflearnedtranslators fromall learning threereligions.37 In thisinstance Alfonsowouldappear(tojudge by the to the Old French on bya twofold version)tohavebeenspurred prologue thelifeandteaching ofMuhammad andthereby desire,tomakeaccessible to ease comparison ofwhathe regarded as theextravagant and fabulous of Christ.ThusAlfonsohad a legendoftheProphetwiththedoctrines thatcallsto mindtheanti-Islamic polemicmotivation impulsesofPeter theVenerable (ca. 1092-1156),abbotoftheBenedictine abbeyofCluny, who roughlya centuryearlierhad orchestrated the translation of the documents of Islamicfaith.38 The collection Qur'an and otheressential 10 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski is knownas theCorpusToletanum or Corassembled at Peter'sinstance (The essayin thiscollectionbyJoseMartinezGazpus Islamolatinum.39 of quez on translations theQur'anand otherIslamictextsis once again all the testimonies to relevant.)Consistentwith this interpretation, in surface anti-Islamic Machometi the Liber scale of polemics.40 knowledge dissemination to a wide The provenanceof the manuscripts points outsideSpain,sincethe Latinones were producedin Brittany (Paris, and thirteenth Lat. MS nationale de 6064, France, century) Bibliotheque BibliotecaApostolicaVaticana,MS France/Provence southern (Vatican, while the Old Vat. Lat. 4072, earlyfourteenth century:incomplete), MS Laud Bodleian in England(Oxford, Frenchtextwaswritten Library, thatthemanuMisc.537,thirteenth Beyondtheenlightenment century). scaleMachometi the Liber of forms bothsurviving transmission brings, script havebeenshowntohavebeenknownin Italyin thefourteenth century.41 have been could narrated The vectorsof the textor of the accountit Florentine Dominicanor Franciscan friars, diplomats Jewishmerchants, or in Latini,who servedas ambassador Spain), travelers (suchas Brunetto ofsomeotherbent. toDante oftheLiberscaleMachometi availability Whydoesthepotential to Islamiceschatologrevealssimilarities The Commedia so greatly? matter to suchan extentthatit is in bothcontentand structure ical traditions on Dante'spart.Nowheredoes the veryappealingto see indebtedness Muhammad's"night thanwhencontemplating runstronger temptation betweenthe"night of the the In parallels voyage." weighing implications itmakessensebothtobe opentothepossibilvoyage"andtheCommedia, thelatterand to bearin minda principle influenced itythattheformer to use thathashadto be rediscovered againandagainin Quellenforschung, not ofsourcesandparallels: wordfortheassaying theGermantechnical allsimilarities proveborrowing. here- at night. Muhammad'snightvoyagetakesplace- no surprise to Dante'spoem. ofthevoyagebetray Somefeatures noteworthy parallels the takes by the A guide(Gabriel/Vergil) voyager(Muhammad/Dante) to ascend himto thefootofa hill,andinviteshimto hand,accompanies whenbeastsappear.The Hell the thepeak,butthevoyageris hindered andisfilledwithweeping, liesbeneaththecityofJerusalem, visits voyager to Before woe. of passing Paradise,thevoyagerunwailing,andsounds ablution.The passageinvolvesa ladderor a flightof dergoesthreefold tree andrivers, thesprings thevoyagerwitnesses Once in Paradise, stairs. 11 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 of happiness, of heavenly fire,and overpowering brightness purifying luminosity. andtheCommedia Arethelikenesses betweentheLiberscaleMachometi or do theyfurnish sheerlycoincidental, proofthatDante had been exofMuhammad's nightvoyageto Paradise posedsomehowto a narration otherchannels? and Hell or to Muslimeschatology transmitted through who first EnricoCerulli(1898-1988),one ofthetwoscholars published most the LiberscaleMachometi and the one who comparedit minutely second to the the concluded that an affirmative answer Commedia, against optioncannotbe made,althoughit is conceivable,and thatwhatever wouldhavebeen andnarrative detailsdidentertheCommedia inspirations of withina construction thathad been composeddecisively integrated battle line elements culture. Thus a fromclassical, biblical,and Christian ofthe was effectively drawn.AsinPalacios,thoughnotyetin possession aboutthepossible LiberscaleMachometi, unfolded a verypotenthypothesis oftheCommedia indebtedness toArabicsources.His theseswereseconded withgustoby theSpanishscholar, JoseMufiozSendino,whosewholly scaleMachometi appearedsimulindependent studyandeditionoftheLiber with took theLiberscale Cerulli's.42 Whereas Mufioz Sendino taneously Machometi as incontrovertible proofpositivethatAsinPalacios'stheorem hadbeencorrect, Cerullistakedouta farmorecautiousposition.43 The circumspection couldseemjustified, sincetheLiberscaleMachometicontainsmanytraitssuggestive of the Commedia, butno particular or that an direct connection.44 phraseology image proclaims indubitably Anotherview would hold thatDante would not have been likelyto make an unmistakable allusionin Italianto a Latintextof undistinhisdebtto guishedstyle,andthathe wouldnotverywellhaveprofessed itscontent,sinceit revolvedarounda personagehe scornedas a schismaticatbest.In Inferno 2.32 Danteacknowledges thetripto theunderworld of Aeneas (Aeneid,book 6) and the ecstaticvision of the otherworld describedby the ApostlePaul (2 Cor. 12:1-4): "Io non Enea, io non Paolo sono." Even ifhe had come acrossthe Liberscale - and his restraint he would not have subjoined would not Machometi, have been dictatedby prosodyalone- "Anzi,sono io Maometto"or even"io non Maomettosono."45The sourcesDante signalsbelongnot to theIslamicbutrather to theWestern therichness tradition, visionary ofwhichmustnotbe underestimated. 12 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski Since manyof the polemicreactionsto AsinPalacios'sbook (itself in subsequent to repercussions polemic)have had recurrent approaches with two articles that offer thetopicsit raised,thiscompendium begins status of on the quaestionis "Dante and Islam"in thesecond perspectives Taken together, the pieces lend much halfof the twentieth century. weightto thenotionthattherealstoryto be toldis notthepresenceor butinsteadthe absenceofan IslamicorArabicdepositinDante'swritings enla Divina Comediain Dante studies. musulmana receptionofLa escatologia ofanything hashada lifeofitsown,almostindependent The controversy thatcanevenbe provenaboutthemedievaltextsthemselves. The first article, (1925-),hasa specialrelevance, byVicenteCantarino witha symposium sinceit was publishedin 1965 in conjunction sponand and Islam:History "Dante soredbytheDanteSocietyofAmerica.46 to be heavilycitedas a systematic continues ofa Controversy" Analysis reviewofthestudiesthatprecededAsinPalacios'sas wellas ofthescholtranslated The secondarticle, thathisbook experienced.47 arlyreception Italian the hereas "Dante and IslamicCulture"from originalby Maria in 1999 and printed at a conference Corti(1915-2002),was presented 48 in 2001. first Corti'spiececapsworkon thetopic,notjustas Albeitunintentionally, reachedan end but also as a close came to the the twentieth century in 2001 attacks thecoordinated by al-Qaedaterrorists periodpreceding on and theUnitedStateson theWorldTradeCenterin New YorkCity of9/11 thePentagonin Washington, D.C., thatgo undertheshorthand where alike andthegeneralpublic andthathavefurther polarizedscholars as wellas betweenIslamandChristianity to therelations issuespertaining betweentheNearEastandtheWestcomeintoplay.49 rivenclimateof thesedays,we mustguardagainst In thepolitically thatpitswhatcould be to eitherextremein the binarism succumbing calledIslamophilia (or misislamia). againstIslamophobia (or philislamia) thesecontrariesandthewordsin thesecondpairingpointin Although - build upon of fearingand hating but relateddirections the different aboutIslamin assumes Islamas theirkeyroot,neither expertise profound eitheritsmodernor medievalguises.Those on bothsidesmaynotbe from or anti-Occidentalism a minbarfroma minibar ableto differentiate releother and of a command In Hebrew, Arabic, anti-oxidants.addition, or evena meaningful vantlanguages, exposureto suchtongues,appears As a medieval know who those to be rareamong Europeanlanguages. 13 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 thegap Westernists incentiveto overstate result, mighthavea practical betweenmedievalLatinsandmedievalArabs,sincedoingso wouldexoneratethemof the responsibility to grapplewith difficult languages. or likelier to have are the other Orientalists mastery (who Among party, at leastworkingknowledgeofLatinand RomancelanguagesthanRooftheir manists areofArabicandHebrew)mightenhancetheimportance to medieif of the West theobligation areasofstudies theydemonstrated rule.Not havingmore val Arabs.Of course,thereis no hard-and-fast thana smattering ofa givenlanguagedoesnotprecludehavingromantic abouttheimportance of a cultureassociatedwithit: frommy feelings who as I a vivid days retain Hispanist pictureofan elderly undergraduate oftheArabsto theformahe lecturedpassionately on thecontributions of wrote on the blackboardkeyArabic tion Spanishculturecarefully terms butfromleftto right. to exaltthefieldsto whichthey In anycase,thedesireofprofessors havecommitted theirlivespalesbesidethepervasive powerofpoliticsto dictatewhatis taughtandstudied,andhow it is taughtandstudied.The shoutout newsofideologies headlinesof theearlytwenty-first century which andIslamicextremism, labeledvariously as Islamicfundamentalism socialwiththenational aresometimes equatedorevenlinkedhistorically ism(Nazism,forshort)ofAdolfHitler'sGermany(1933-1945).50 Such in which have been characterized as lead turn Islamo-Fascism, ideologies, to attitudes and actsthatareroundlycondemnedin theWest.Examples wouldbe (to giveonlya smallsampling) an anti-Westernism and espean antiAmericanism in violentdeathandmaythatmanifests itself cially andanti-Jewishness thatinvokesthedissolution of hem,an anti-Zionism Israelandeventheeradication ofJewsin a newholocaust, andfatwas that callforreprisal, evenmurder, authors and other artists who create against worksregarded as insulting to Islam.By farthemajority ofterrorist acts thatarereported in theWestern mediarelateto thehypertrophic forms oftheseideologies. Do thehorrors ofourcontemporary worldhavea bearingon theMiddle Ages,or vice versa?If theydo relateto each other,thenhow so? One approachis to elide the differences betweenmedievalIslamand Islamicfundamentalism (post)modern by arguingthatthegulfbetween theChristian Westand theIslamicEastexistedalreadyin themedieval - or Westernculture, Islam as perperiodor bypromoting present-day ceivedfromoutside as beingmedieval(andnotmedievalin a favorable 14 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski If we wishto sitin judgmenton the conductof sense!)in outlook.51 andMuslimpowersin theMiddleAges,thenwe shouldomit Christian neitherthe aggressive our assessment from projectionof Christianity sweep- themother againstIslamin theCrusadesnortheearlierwarring ofIslam(632-732)propelled ofmilitary century jihads- whichinthefirst on theArabian ofMuslimsfromtheirbirthplaces theearliest generations Minor and through into Asia the Levant through peninsulanorthward AfricaintoSpain.Laterconquests acrossnorthern Persiaand westward islandsto Cyprusas Muslim addedSicily,Crete,andotherMediterranean beforethe forcenturies ManyoftheselandshadbeenChristian holdings. incursions. madetheirfirst ofthenewreligion warriors betweenthepresent thecontrasts moveis to sharpen The contrapuntal thetimesofharmony andthepast,byhighlighting amongthethreemain in theMiddleAgesthattendto be overlookedor ignored monotheisms of pacific This accentuation conflicts. amidall theemphasison current phasesleadstoa focusuponhowmuchmoreadvancedIslamiccivilization in theMiddleAgesand how fruitfully was thanWesternChristendom andevenpeacefully Muslims,andJewscoexistedin medieval Christians, Muslim-held or formerly in theMuslim-held regions Europe,especially ofSpainandSicily. a place forthe encounters The worldis and has been too intricate and linguistico-ethnic betweendiffering todayto be groupings religions of ofone strain pastrelaas nothingmorethantheprojections regarded - and so is tionsinto the present.Currenteventsare too complicated - forsuchsimplism to serveus well.It is laudableto takea stand history to motivatepeople to againstpotentialevil,and it is also praiseworthy In manycasesthemanioftheirsharedhumanity. on thestrength interact an of boththenow and thethenrenderverydifficult foldambiguities and it wouldbe simplerto exclusivechoicebetweenthetwo impulses, to havea sortofpartyadherencethatwouldabsolveus ofthenecessity histoforanswers butno one eversaidthatbeinga responsible struggle rian(orcitizen)wassupposedto be easy. Withthesecaveatsin mind,letus turnto whatshouldbe ourpointof of Dante,and to whatwe can stateas facts.Aftercenturies departure, havingbeen on the advance,Islamhad to contendfromtheverylate in the beachheads withChristian thethirteenth eleventh through century inpresent-day Eastern Mediterranean, Syria,Lebanon,andIsrael, Turkey, of the Christian with of time stretch andovera muchlonger reconquest 15 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 inwhatis modern-day fromthethirteenth al-Andalus, Spain.In addition, on, Islamhad to cope withtheevengravermenaceofMongol century However in theeast,whichreachedintoitsheartlands. encroachments as theadherents ofthetwo religions mistaken it wouldbe to caricature was climate the retreated behind barriers, completely impenetrable having - exchanges - outsidetheIberianpeninsula rather decreased oneinwhich of Syriaand Palestinehad thanincreased.In 1291 theLatinkingdoms of the reconquest(Reconquista) been lostto the Mamluks.In contrast, had facilitated and had madedecisiveprogress SpainbyLatinChristians theMeditheextension andtradebyEuropeansthroughout ofshipping andbeyond.52 terranean close weredrawingto a definitive Thoughmanyoftheseadjacencies "the called has been in Dante'slifetime, must that what we recognize thatrubbedup cultures legacyof Islam"was attainednot onlythrough thatsucceeded cultures eachothersimultaneously butalsothrough against eachotherandthatabsorbedelements ofeachotherin theprocess. cameand In theHolyLandandLatinKingdomsofGreece,Crusaders but othersto live went,someforonlythedurationof shortcampaigns theirwholelives.In fact,theirpresencewas so extendedthateven to ofimperimpression speakoftheircomingandgoinggivesa misleading who spentmostoftheir The LatinKingdomshad inhabitants manency. to fromcradleto grave,in placessuchas Tyre,andthetraffic existences, and fromtheselocalescomprehended and others, merchants, pilgrims, the warriors. alongside LatinChristendom neverwalleditselfoffaltogether fromcommerce withArabIslam,nor did Muslimsimmurethemselves fromtradeand otherexchanges withChristians. Italiancommunities, amongwhichVenice holdsprideofplace,hadintense mercantile andcommercial ties.MisDominicansand Franciscans, to theEast.In traveled sionaries, especially thiscollection theentireessaybyThomasE. Burmanon "How an Italian FriarRead His ArabicQur'an" and pagesof othersbyJoseMartinez MariaEspositoFrank,KarlaMallette, Gazquez,BrendaDeen Schildgen, andJohnTolanaredevotedto theFriarMinorRiccoldoofMonteCroce casein pointas a possiblechannel (1242-1320).Riccoldois a fascinating fortransmission ofdetailsaboutIslamto Danteandas an exemplar ofthe unusualbutnotuniqueexchanges thatcouldanddidtakeplace.53 In 1286-1287,approximately theFlorentwenty yearsafterentering tineconventof SantaMariaNovellain 1267,Riccoldo setoffforAcre 16 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski he traversed to preach.Eventually thelandthen witha papalcommission to enterAsiaMinor,beforewendinghiswaytoBaghknownas Palestine dad via Mosuland Tekrit.Even afterthefinalcollapseof the Crusader in 1291 Riccoldo remainedin Baghdadto studytheQur'an kingdoms he hadtoflee.In 1301he is recorded buteventually andIslamictheology, aboutIslambothbefore as beingbackin Florence.He wroteprolifically and in 1315 he was appointedpriorof SantaMaria and afterhisreturn, Novella. knowledgeofIslamand exposureto Islamiccultureflowed Although thechieflocusfortransmisall oftheseconduits, intotheWestthrough In al-Andalus. was occidentalIslam,especially awareness sionofcultural andMuslimsengagedwithone anotheron a day-to-day SpainChristians hitherandyonin Italy,buthe neverspenttimein basis.Dantetraveled fromthose Muslimlands.He couldhaveheardArabicwordsandphrases thathe acquiredforhimself butnothing who knewthelanguage, suggests in Arabicthatwouldhaveenabledhimto converseor read. anyfacility his wouldhavecomethrough In sum,hispictureofIslamanditscultures travels who had had exposurethrough informants and through readings is word last to Spain,Sicily,and othersuchplaceswithtraces(andthat or evento theLevant. ofMuslimoccupations oftenan understatement) mention.In manyregionsof channelof contactwarrants A further toutcourt thepeoplewho arenow oftendesignated LatinChristendom as Europeans(a conceptthatdidnottakeshapebeforearound1600)had - thosewho other" The "internal withMuslims.54 no directinteraction and ethnicities to the prevailing stood out by contrast Christianity who adherednotto IslambutinsteadtoJudaism.55 individuals comprised connectedintiYet sincetheJewsofmedievalEuropeweresometimes in to bonds and economic coreligionists Muslim-held family matelyby for as intermediaries suchas al-Andalus, territories theyoftenfunctioned canIslam and Muslims on Dante's Thus influences. Islamic perspectives fromhis possibleencounters not and shouldnot be boxed offentirely of if even and withJews Jewishculture, assumptions nineteenth-century betweenhim and Immanuelben Solomonof Rome a fastfriendship Romano and Manoello Giudeo,ca. 1265Immanuel as (knownalso ofpayThe advisability as illfounded.56 1331)haveoftenbeendismissed is Verona Dante's to linked other and Immanuel brought Jews ingheedto "DanteandtheThreeRelihomein thiscollectionin theessayentitled gions:One ReligionfortheEmpire"byGiorgioBattistoni. 17 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Dante Studies,CXXV, 2007 intoIslam, how Dantecouldhavegainedan entry Beyondwondering Muslims,writings specific byMuslims,theArabiclanguage,and culture withIslam,Arabs,and otherslikelyto havebeen considered associated of "Muslimfashion"and Muslims,we need to isolatewhichfeatures evenmoreencompassingly ofan "Islamicwayoflife"wouldhavebeen In thisambitthevarieto himand otherLatinChristians. apprehensible usefuldata from Arabic offers words that derived lexicon of Italian gated to mine. withMuslimsexposed The Arabicderivatives indicatethatinteractions in foodand ofItalyto manynovelties theRomance-speaking Christians realms haute textiles and couture,entertainment, oflearning, agriculture, includeddatepalmsandcitrus The newcropsintroduced andtechnology. andplantssuchas cotcane for as well as fruits, sugarmanufacture, sugar whichwereusedin producing textiles, ton,hemp,andmulberries, rope, numbered would be the foodstuffs and silk, paper.Among many matting, the lute and tambourine such as in instruments entertainment spices, that The learning and backgammon. and gamessuchas chess,checkers, MusliminterMuslimsoratleastthrough streamed fromtheEastthrough In thiscoland medicine. mediaries science, mathematics, encompassed to attention is paid to Dante's ultimateindebtedness lectionparticular in her on Boccassini infowling, Daniela Arabicculture essay "Falconry by as a Transmutative Art:Dante,Frederick II, and Islam,"andotherdebts andopticscould domainssuchas astronomy alongtheselinesin technical be identified. The imprint thatArabiclefton Dante'slanguage,as on Italianas a all butone ofthemlexicalrather TheseArabisms, whole,is undeniable. thansyntactic, further of the culturalarenasin whichArabogive sign phoneMuslimshad a commandof thingsand conceptsthathad been unfamiliar in theWest.Arabicwordswerenaturally intoDante's brought Italianto describeoffices or functions thatweredistinctive ofwaysoflife In Arabs. this would fall words from "sultan" among category ranging (Inf.5.60, 27.90, Par. 11.101) and "admiral"(Purg.13.154 and 30.58) Italiantermfor through"assassin"(Inf.19.50) to one characteristically not from a lexical boy (ragazzo:Inf.29.77). (Although pointofview,the in this volume on in "Mendicants and Muslims Dante'sFlorence" essay Tolan in deals extenso with the . . byJohn "presenza . superba"of the sultan to whom Francis of Assisipreachesin Canto 11 of the Egyptian Paradiso.) 18 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski In keepingwithwhathasbeenmentioned Danteresorts, witalready, to denotewholebodiesofscienceand or not,to Arabicderivatives tingly know-how,suchas "alchemy"(Inf.29.119 and 137),as well as specific "zenith"(Par.29.4),anatomterms withinthem,suchastheastronomical ical nuca(Inf.32.129), or nauticalscirocco (Purg.28.21). Luxuryitems, the withthem(azzurro, and colors associated them Inf. gemstones among 17.59; balasso,Par. 9.69; carato,Inf.30.90; zajiro,Purg.1.13, Par. 23.101), suchas musicalinstruments ofentertainment, andforms (lento, Inf.30.49) Par. 28.93; rocco, and games (scacchi, Purg.24.30; aljino,Dettod'amore456; to Iszara,Purg.6.1). The onlyArabicloanwordthatrefers particularly via which arrived lamicreligionis mosque(meschita, Spanish. Inf.8.70), basedon theArabiccomes The sole exampleof a caique conceivably ofheavtobetokentheinfluence theverbimprimere whenDanteemploys had alBut the the earth bodies expression (Par.17.76-77). upon enly to it.57 in ItalianbeforeDanteresorted readyfigured thatDantewasconto would be it Howeverpreposterous hypothesize has spurred versantin Arabic,morethanone passagein the Commedia thattheItalianpoethadatleastheardenoughofthe recurrent speculation one propernouncorrectly be to otherlanguage (the capableofstressing in somewhatgarbled nameAll in Inf.28.32)58and even of replicating in thelanguage,one pronouncedby Pluto formtwo longerutterances (Inf.7.1) and theotherbyNimrod(Inf.31.67).59But thestepwouldbe thatDantecouldimitate theconjecture fromaccepting enormous loosely of the on oneself to theflowof Semiticlanguages convincing strength reador speakArabic. twolinesthathe couldactually is farfromidentical In anycase,Dante'soutlookon Islamas a religion Arawithhisoutlookon Islamiccultureor on culturemediatedthrough bic. A classicarticleof 1932 averredthat"Dante showsmuchthesame and it is a low and as his contemporaries, view of the Mohammedans on itas ofIslamandhisperspectives one,"60buthisknowledge negligent declaration as thisunhesitating arenotas typical a religion presupposes. of being feature not onlythedefining IslamshareswithChristianity butalsotheclaimofdescentfroman individual, Abraham, monotheistic saw theirfaith Christians Medieval Bible. who hasa placein theHebrew asbeingevenmorecloselyrelatedto thatofMuslimsthanto thatofJews, thedistrust thandiminished rather heightened althoughthisrecognition other called the felt toward andhostility things) (among peoplethey they 19 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 Saracens. The mostcommonor atleastpopularimageofIslamin medievalliterary andhistorical textswasas a polytheistic parodyofChristianity ofApollo(Apolinin the thatblasphemed in itspaganidolatry theTrinity Such Old French), Muhammad(Mahumet), andTermagant (Tervagan).61 is thecase,mostnotably, in theChanson deRoland(SongofRoland).62 By and at once orthodox unorthodox, coincidence, Dante, lays supremely when invokes the himself to he the accusation of such open polytheism as Christ(13-15), lateras theHoly Spirit 1, first god Apolloin Paradiso 63 and as Father God the (19), (22-24). finally andDante The Commedia to Muslims, contains references unflattering and antagonists withtheprotagonists thereadyfamiliarity demonstrates All thesame, oftheCarolingian thatwe wouldexpect.64 cyclenarratives ofChristianDantedoesnotretailIslamas thestarkly distorted mirroring to a he subscribes that the Chanson de Roland forward. Instead, ity puts it notas a dismorelearnedapprehension ofIslam,whichmisconstrued itself.65 cretereligion butinsteadas a heresyor schismwithinChristianity In fact,Dante'sviewoftheworldwasso solidlyChristianocentric thathe saweachofthetwoothermonotheisms knownto him,namely, Judaism andIslam,as beingunfulfilled manifestations ofChristianor misfulfilled as ofMuhammad ity.Seenfromthisvantagepoint,themisrepresentation a schismatic didnotrender hima hostileanddangerous "other"butrather an insiderwhosesin(truly) was to haveruptured theharmony ofa relithatpreviously hadbeenunified.66 gionandcivilization the that Muhammad wasa heresiarch Eventually perspective developed a legendary in a tale(attested no earlierthantheend of the expression, thirteenth thatcharacterized theProphetas a cardinal who out century) offrustration at notbeingelevatedto thepapacyresolvedto institute a rivalreligionofhisown.67Although thislegendmakesno appearance, at leastnot explicitly, in the Commedia,68 Islamdoes not elicitanygentler in theCommedia as a consequence. handling Islamis notmentioned attheendofPurgatorio 32.130-35,but outright the description thereof a chariotthathas itsfloorbrokenawayby a as referring to thelosses dragonhas been takenby mostcommentators suffered the of Islam.69 Whether or notthis Christianity through growth construction of thepassagein Purgatorio othersectionsin passesmuster, theCommedia makeclearDante'sconviction thatIslamwasa corruption of Christianity, conceiveddeliberately Muhammad and entrenched by 20 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski on thepartoftheChristian Churchand solelyowingto grossnegligence leadership. of a characterization Thus in Paradiso15.142-44 Dante volunteers who in the Islamin thevoiceofhisgreat-great-grandfather Cacciaguida, III Conrad Second CrusadefoughtalongsideEmperor (1138-1152) in theHolyLandand whomDante setsin Heavenamongmartial leaders, the blame forthe and Roland.Cacciaguidaplaces suchas Charlemagne care("percolpad'i in pastoral ofIslamupona breakdown veryexistence in the pastor")withinChristianityin otherwords,uponshortcomings of the Christian the culpability Christian clergyin clergy.Nonetheless, the Muslims not make faithfulto Islamdoes thelossofpeople former ofthemas "quella tojudgebyCaccciaguida's pillorying anylessunsavory, genteturpa"(15.145). whichstandsapart Islamas a sect,relatedtoJudaism, Dantepresents he lodges this fromChristianity conception, (Inf.27.87). In accordwith as a schismatic. hispunishment Muhammadin Hell andportrays Justfive the in all ofthem Muslimsfinda placein theCommedia, (Cantos Inferno 6 and 28), fora totalof not even twentylines:Avicenna(980-1037), Averroes (IbnRushd,1126-1198),Saladin(ca. 1138-1193),Muhammad to the (570-632),andAli (d. 661). Elsewherein hiscorpusDanterefers Abu Muhammad and astrologer astronomer Ja'faribn ninth-century Arab the ninth-century Ma'sharal-Balkhl(Com. 2.13.22,Albumasar); and thelateeleventhastronomer (Conv.2.5.16,Alfagrano); al-Farghanl al-GhazallAbu (HamidMuhammad philosopher, earlytwelfth-century ibn Muhammadal-TusI:(Conv.2.13.5 and 4.21.2, Algazali);and the Nur al-Dln ibn Ishaq al-BitrujT Andalusiastronomer twelfth-century as wellas to Averroes readAlfarabio); formerly (Conv.3.2.5,Alpetragio, withArathesereferences Puttogether, andAvicenna. pointtofamiliarity but and philosophy, in thephysicalsciences,mathematics, bic learning In withArabicoriginals. none of themhintsat anydirectacquaintance Latin fact,all of themlook to have been mediatedthroughscholastic authorssuch as AlbertusMagnus(the Great,d. 1280) and his student ThomasAquinas(ca. 1225-1274). at anylength,in a thirty-eightMuhammadis theonlyone discussed line passage;Ali meritsonlytwo lines,althougheven thatcoverageis he had in theMiddle in view of how muchlesscurrency noteworthy, who splitthebodyoftheChrisAs a schismatic AgesthanMuhummad.70 is Muhammad tianChurch,Dante's planteddeep in Hell,in theninth 21 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 as bolgiaoftheeighthcircle.Dantelabelsthosedwellingat thisstratum andscismo di scandaloe di scisma"(Inf.28.35). Bothscandalo "seminator not to are Greekderivatives thatcarryassociations religionin relating in particular. To be specific, theypresuppose generalbutto Christianity who causeda thatMuhammadwas a Christian, Christian buta sectarian schismwithintheChurch. As is analyzedin thiscollectionin essaysbyMariaEspositoFrankon "Dante's Muhammad"and KarlaMalletteon "Muhammadin Hell," a bodilymutilation thatenactsupon Muhammadis depictedas enduring to hisrending ofthechurch,one hisownpersonthecorporalequivalent in a poemthatis hardly ofthemostgrotesque and ignoblepunishments devoidofhorrors: he is rippedfromthechindownto theanus,withhis torsoclovenso thathisbowelsandotherdigestive organsdanglebetween 71 to charachislegs(Inf.28.25-36). Thenagain,itmaybe a misstatement a certain terizeMuhammadas suffering, sincein a wayhe displays proud in splaying hisbreastwithhisown handsto showit to the exhibitionism betweenMuhammad's alleged poet.72In anyevent,thecorrespondence the since term has sinandthepunishment resonance, depicted particular canto in finale of this the Commedia at the very only contrapasso appears 28.142). (Inf. toviewtheportrayal Itwouldrequirealmostunimaginable contortions ofMuhammadandAli as anything denunciation otherthana categorical ofIslam,notevenas a legitimate initsownright faith butasa degradation of a bona fidereligion.Certainly Muslimswho have translated Dante haveconsistently deemedtheportrayal ofMuhammadtoo offensive for inclusion in theirversions ofthepoem.Particularly in Arabictranslations ofthepoem,thepassageintheInferno thatdescribes thedamnable punishmentof theProphethasbeen expurgated.73 All thesame,Dante'scondemnation of Muhammadand Ali cannotbe equatedautomatically to all of Muslims. of The views Islam have categorical rejection poet's gained recurrent in partprecisely becausehe evincessucha positive notoriety towardsomeMuslims:hiscontempt forthetwo representadisposition tivesofIslamas a religioncouldbe feltto finditsoppositein hisesteem forexemplars of theintellectual achievement and even of the chivalry attained other Muslims.74 by DanteplungedMuhammadandAli deepin theinferno, we Although encounter thetwoonlylongafter ofMuslims havingmetthethreesome he setinLimbo:Saladin,Averroes, andAvicenna.(Averroes andAvicenna 22 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski in thisvolumein essaysby BrendaDeen Schildgenon receivescrutiny Theologians,and the IslamicLegacyin Dante" and by "Philosophers, B. Stoneon "DanteandtheFalasifa: Religionas Imagination.") Gregory Averroes and Dantedoesnotallocatemuchspaceto thethreecelebrities: Saladinmeritno morethana fulllineeach,Avicenna justpartofone.75 Thus theyseem minimizedwhen measuredagainstthe dozen ancient withthemin thecityofthesages, GreeksandRomanswho areconfined fromHell proper(or improper) whichis sequestered by sevenwalls.At thesametime,therespectthatDante accordsthemcannotbe gainsaid. we needto ponder allthreewereMuslimandArabicspeakers, Although wouldhaveisolated Danteandhiscoevalsin LatinChristendom whether in the identities of the as the keyor even a keyattribute Muslimness triad.Theirreligion whytheylackedthe solelyas explaining maymatter faiththatwouldhavesavedthemfromtheir oftheChristian awareness towardthevirtuous in Limbo.Dante'sdisposition pagans(or placement his consider is undeniably virtuousunbelievers) handlingof complex:76 theunderworld. hisguidethrough Still,no wayliesopenforminiVergil, it of is a Limbo fact that the Hell, justas thecantodescribing part mizing that"threeMuslimsrestina The assertion withintheInferno. fallssquarely Limbo Paradise-like almost pagans comfortable, alongwithothervirtuous IfthethreeDante'stheology.77 fromtheclassicalworld"misrepresents it is despite,notbecauseof,their somereceivesanyspecialdispensation, The onlySaracenin withwhatDante brandedas a schism.78 affiliation Dante's Paradiseis Renouard(Rinoardo:Par. 18.46), who could be awardeda nicheamongthosewho foughtforChristsolelybecausehe wasa convert. In the Commedia 4.11.14,is Saladin,who is also praisedin Convivio "solo in set off albeit the in Limbo unbaptized, among righteous placed parte"fromtheheroesof ancientTroyand Rome withwhomhe soofSaladininLimbomakesapparjourns(Inf.4.129).79Dante'splacement he wouldhavebeen entthatiftheMuslimgeneralhadbeena Christian, takenasspeaking has been of Saladin Dante's disposition spared.Although forIslam,we mustexercisecautionaboutmaking toa pervasive sympathy on thebasisofa singleverse. broadinferences or generalizationsdrawing the valorof thisMuslimwarriorwhose Dante could have underlined in 1187so as to the handsoftheCrusaders from wrested forces Jerusalem notto ofmanyofhiscontemporary Christians, bringhometheignobility who if even those hint that to instead but itself cling Christianity disparage 23 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 to a deformed heresyor (to be moreaccurate)schismcould conduct had evenlessexcusefor themselves thenthetrulyfaithful chivalrously, Dante'sHell is repletewithbackhanded theirshortcomings. compliments ofthisbrand. identified In Inferno arethelasttwopersonages AvicennaandAverroes comin Canto4 (143-44). Theyappearwithina cohortthatotherwise who livedbeforeChrist,withtheexceptionof Ovid, prisesindividuals Lucan,Seneca,and Saladin.The nameofAvicennais flanked by thatof thegreatphysicians and Galen,whileat thefeetofAristotle Hippocrates Alon theStagirite. is Averroes, who elaborated thegreatcommentary to the be eyes though messagemay foreign manytwenty-first-century andears,medievalreaders wouldhavesharedtheassumption underlying - that theselinesthattheancientpastand theirpresentwereunbroken as theChristians theMuslimsbelongedon thesamecultural continuum (ortheJews). inparticular cannotbe labeledsimply anArab.Bornin Spain, Averroes inMuslimCordoba,he couldqualify asEuropeanatleastinhisgeographsuchas ofthought, ical origins.But retrojecting a modern-day category assimilate the and is not the ideal to way European non-European, always andwriting oftheMiddleAges.Although Dantewasaccusedof thinking for he an Averroist six after his death, wasnotfaulted being already years of forthesimplereasonthattheshortcomings beinga crypto-Muslim, Averroism wereseento residein philosophy rather thanin religion.80 In thecaseofAverroes andAvicenna, theirstatusas philosophers may havetrumped theirethnicand religious affiliations. AvicennaandAverroesenteredtheLatincultural tradition as philosophers, wheretheirheto speakofbothLatinAvicennism gemonywas suchthatit is legitimate and LatinAverroism.81 Thesemovements can be seenas two wavesrelatedto theproblematic in medievalEurope,in of Aristotle reception whichfirstAvicennism and thenAverroism challengedthe orthodoxy. Ecclesiastics such as AlbertusMagnusand ThomasAquinasmanaged theirsyntheses to keepthenewphilosophical currents, through especially ofAverroism, fromoverwhelming thechurch.In so doing,theyenabled otherchurchmen to digestAristotle as he wasmediatedthrough theArathinkers. bic-writing in the Convivio, Dante refers to philosophical worksthat Particularly hadbeencomposedoriginally in Arabic,butnotstartlingly he alludesto 24 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski - as funthemexclusively as translated intoLatinand- moreimportant He evidencesa veryfavorable neledthroughLatinChristian thinkers. inclination towardthisphilosophy. a Indeed,he situates SigerofBrabant, of in the Heaven of Averroism, thirteenth-century exponent prominent theSun,alongwithThomasAquinasandotherteachers (Par.10.136-38), intodisrepute insomequarters forhisalleged eventhoughSigerhadfallen andend. beliefthattheworldwaswithoutbeginning De causis, The othersideofthesamecoinmaybe thetreatise typically from as theLiberdecausis(Book ofCauses),whichcirculated designated madeby Gerardof Cremona(d. 1187) the 1180sin a Latintranslation This is the onlyArabic ninthcentury). froman Arabictext(probably book thatDantecanbe provenbeyonda doubtto haveknownfirsthand ofearthly andmystical Fromit he tappedthetheory in Latintranslation. oflightthat stilnovoandthemetaphysics in thedolce lovethatwascentral conclusion Butitis nota foregone ofParadise.82 hisconception pervades thatDante would have conceivedof thisbook as Arabic,even lessas accordedto be theworkofAristotle.83 Muslim,sinceitwasuniversally influthatexerteddeterminative To whatdegreetheAristotelianism as cultures shouldbe regarded encesuponlatemedievaland humanistic still is a Arabicized at least as or instead Greek puzzle partially mainly is insteadto the more To be furor. of question precise, arousing capable was Islamicized.The latest whatextentthe ArabicizedAristotelianism thatswirlaroundthisaspectofEuropeanand ofthetensions expression can be seen in a recentstormthathas earneda even Westernidentity This uproarhas been stirred as theaffaire by a Gouguenheim. reputation writtten a an MontAristote Frenchbook,entitled Saint-Michel, by profesand publishedin namedSylvainGouguenheim sor of medievalhistory to 2008. Gouguenheim arguesthatmedievalIslamwas not hospitable muchof mostof ancientGreekculture,thattheArabswho translated culture never Greek that were Hellenistic Christians, perished thought in andthat nativized never it was whereas in West the Islam, really fully was launched in the Middle Aristotle of translation thelarge-scale Ages fromtheGreekin the notfromtheArabicin MuslimSpainbutrather in Normandy. Benedictine abbeyofMontSaint-Michel conflicthaselicitedsharply thetempest thatunleashed The paperback in it was For in the greetedwarmly popularpress. instance, ingresponses in a whereasitwascriticized andhe Monde, reviewsin he Figaro searingly Telerama.84 More in the cultural letterpublishedby he Monde magazine 25 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 the thebookinstigated a backlashamongacademicsthroughout tellingly, in therole of in medievalhistory Westwithexpertise and particularly controThe resultant ofWestern culture. medievalIslamintheformation U.S. to was broadcast the world,especially expatriates, versy Anglophone in theInternational HeraldTribune.85 a commentary through printed and AH,Muslims few mentions Muhammad the of explicit Beyond identified (whether overtly bytheirfaithornot),andArabs,theCommedia toucheson a fewLatinChristians whohavebeentaggedas Islamophiles.86 in Par. di the Although "quel Spagna"who is describedunflatteringly been identified withAlfonsoX theWise,the 19.124-26hassometimes refers to Ferdinand holds that the IV, kingof phrase majority opinion CastileandLeon from1295to 1312.Anothernotablepersonage aligned was acII (1194-1250).But thoughFrederick withIslamis Frederick mundi claimedbysomeas stupor (wonderoftheworld),in theCommedia forhis he is stuckamongtheheretics, wherehe undergoes punishment of theemperorcouldrestin parton an hedonism.87 Dante'sdamnation examined in a municipality awareness oftheharemFrederick maintained "The Last thatcapsthiscollection, closelyin theessaybyDavidAbulafia with(anddisapprovhe couldbe familiar Muslimsin Italy."Alternatively, thatFrederick reachedwithMuslimsin theHolyLand ingof) thetreaty in whenhe wentthere 1228. forhispawon fame(orinfamy) Frederick Beyondhisown missteps, intellectual and theoof questionable tronageofat leasttwo individuals the and Pier della logicalrepute, poet politicalfigure Vigna(1190-1249, and mentionedbut not namedin Inf.13.58-69) and the philosopher scientist MichaelScot(Inf.20.115-17).Nothingconspicuous intheCommediaforcesthe conclusionthatPierwas regardedas an Arabicizer or he is condemned in theInferno forbeinga suicide.Forbeing Islamophile: a magicianMichaelis lodgedin thefourth bolgiaof the eighthcircle. Michael'sengrossment in unsanctioned knowledge, includingastrology and alchemy, was notunrelated to hisgraspofArabic,whichmayhave coincidedwithopennessnotmerelyto Aristotelian as mediphilosophy atedthrough Arabictranslations and commentaries butalso to Islamitself.88 ButhowmuchMichael'sexpertise as anArabist orwhatcouldhave beenhisallegedIslamophilia enteredintoDante'sunfavorable estimation ofhimis notreadily gauged. 26 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m. ziolkowski ofDante'srelation Wherearewe leftin ourappraisal to Islam?Ifanyfromtheseprolegomena, it is thattheessays thinghasbecomeapparent needed.The enigmacriesout to be setin an to followare desperately in thepast.In addition, thetopic amplercontextthanhasbeenattempted can come who do not that when those the illumination needs belongto fieldjoin thosefromwithintheguildto takea fresh a well-established we mustbe preparedto testout a conundrum. look at an old Finally, thatare now of viewpoints of solutionsas greatas thediversity variety Western relations between Europeand espousedin regardto present-day andEuropeanofIslam.Christian-Muslim theMediterranean expressions in thehereandnowruna sweepinggamut,as heldtrue Arabinteractions was notat all thesamethenas it is butthespectrum in Dante'slifetime; nowadays.We mustbe alertto bothall thatis thesameand all thatis in seekingto framequestionsand answers,and we mustnot different to misleadus into aboutthepresent allowourhopesor disappointments thatitwasnot intomisrepresenting fromthepastsomething fabricating or theMiddleAgesin thehopesofbettering modernity, postmodernity, othernounwe electto describeourown epoch. whatever that modernsituations so as to correct a long-gonecentury Distorting us will helpno one: thechildhoodprinciplethat"two wrongs distress as don'tmakea right"appliesat leastas well to manyhumansituations of "an eye foran eye,a toothfora tooth"(Exod. does the lex talionis 21:24,Lev. 24:20,Deut. 19:21). Of course,thetrickis alwaysto decide is to be Not all optimism when one is veeringintomisinterpretation. And thepastdoes repeatitself, eschewed,anymorethanall pessimism. havebeenmolded whenbothitandthepresent butusuallymostreadily to be evident.Dante,Islam,Christianity, so as to permittheresemblance entitieshave been movingtargets these Italian and Arab,European, sincelong beforethe namesand termsforthemcame into everyday parlance.89 I would theessaysthemselves, Beforeallowingthereaderto confront wheretheyaredue.ThomasKozachekhascopyedliketo renderthanks itedand indexedwitha sureand gracioushandall theessays,and Swift Edgarhasperusedthemwitha pairofeagleeyes. Harvard University Cambridge,Massachusetts 27 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 NOTES 1. Forpublications withtheSpanishtitle,see MiguelAsinPalacios,Dantey el Islam,Coleccion de manualesHispania,serieB:l (Madrid:Editorial Voluntad, 1927);andRicardoHoracioShamsuddi'nEli'a,Danteyelislam:El pensamiento musulman enla EuropadelsigloXIV (BuenosAires,Argentina: EdicionesMezquitaAt-Tauhid, 1998).WiththeItaliantitle,see GiuseppeGabrieli,Dantee I'Islam: nellaDivinaCommedia Contro la memoria di Mig.Asininterno aliaEscatalogia musulmana (VaralloSesia: in forms in similar Unionetipografica valsesiana, 1921);EnricoCerulli,"Dantee l'lslam,"published nel discienze ed Occidente storiche 21 maggio-10 morali, Convegno efilologiche, giugno1956. Tema:Oriente 21 (1956): MedioEvo (Rome: Accademianazionaledei Lincei, 1957), 275-94, and Al-Andalus alia Bracciolini: Bibliotecacomunale,Assessorato 229-53; PeterRussell,Dantee l'lslam(Terranuova cultura, 1991);PeterRussell,"Dantee l'lslam:Una introduzione generale,""Dantee l'lslamoggi," and "Assunzioneceleste:Quartaconferenza su Dante e l'lslam,"in Poetic Asides,2 vols.,Salzburg 5-6 (Salzburg:Institut Studiesin EnglishLiterature: PoeticDrama& PoeticTheory77:3, Outsiders furAnglistik und Amerikanistik, Universitat Salzburg,1992-1993),2:5-23, 24-33, and 34-51, respectively. introduction MiguelAsinPalacios,Dantee l'lslam,trans.RobertoRossiTestae YounisTawfik, byCarloOssola,2 vols.,Nuovisaggi94 (Parma:Pratiche1994;repr.,Milan:NET, 2005); andKarla 41 (2005): e letteratura Rivistadistoria Mallette,"Dantee l'lslam:sulcantoIII del Purgatorio," religiosa Mittei39-62. Withthe Frenchtitle,see WernerSoderhjelm, "Dante et l'lslam,"Neuphilologische (1921); and GiorgioLevi dellaVida, "Dante et l'lslam:d'apresde nouveauxdocuments," lungen Revuede la Mediterranee no. 60 (1954). WiththeEnglishtitle,see ThomasWalkerArnold,"Dante andIslam"(reviewofAsinPalacios),Contemporary Review(August1921);andFuatSezgin,ed. Dante Scienceat andIslam:TextsandStudies, oftheInstitute fortheHistoryofArabic-Islamic Publications for theJohannWolfgang 119 (Frankfurt am Main: Institute GoetheUniversity: Islamicphilosophy theHistory ofArabic-Islamic Science,2000). 2. Ifthereis needto demonstrate thattheCommedia as a summa,consider thetitle passesmuster of Dante,Summamedievalis: SUNY Stony Proceedings oftheSymposium oftheCenter forItalianStudies, ed. CharlesFrancoandLeslieMorgan,Filibrary 9 (StonyBrook,N.Y.: ForumItalicum, Brook, 1995). On Danteas a Catholicauthor, seeJ. F. Makepeace,"The DanteSexcentenary," NewBlackfriars 2, no. 14 (1921): 92: "For Dantewas,first and foremost, a Catholicand regarded froma everything Catholicstandpoint." 3. Paul A. Cantor,"The UncanonicalDante: The Divine Comedyand IslamicPhilosophy," andLiterature 20, no. 1 (1996): 138-53. Philosophy 4. TeodolindaBarolini,TheUndivine Dante(Princeton, Comedy: Detheologizing N.J.:Princeton GuidoVernani)and267-68 n. 9 (citedby Press,1992),6 (on theDominicans, University especially ofthetopic,seeJamesMiller,editor, DanteandtheUnorthodox: The Cantor).Fora fuller exploration Aesthetics Ont.:Wilfrid LaurierUniversity Press,2005). ofTransgression (Waterloo, 5. The incident hasbeendiscussed Einboden,"Voicingan IslamicDante:The Problem byJeffrey ofTranslating theCommedia intoArabic,"Neophilologus 92 (2008):77. Fororiginal see,for reporting, example,PhilipWillan,"Al-Qaida Plot to Blow Up BolognaChurchFresco,"in The Guardian (London),June24, 2002,GuardianForeignPages,13. 6. RichardOwen, "MuslimsSay FrescoMustBe Destroyed,"The Times(London),June9, 2001,OverseasNews. 7. The term"clashof civilization" owes itsvogueto an articlethatappearedfirst in 1993,the titleofwhichhadlostitsconcluding andhadbeentransformed intoa sloganforfuture interrogative in 1996: SamuelP. Hunpoliticalconductbythetimethebook bythesameauthorwaspublished "The ClashofCivilizations?" 72,no. 3 (Summer1993):22-49; andHuntingtington, Foreign Affairs andtheRemaking Order ton,TheClashofCivilizations ofWorld (New York:Simon& Schuster, 1996). The "pushback"bothfromwithinNear Easternstudiesand fromthosealliedwiththetheoryof Orientalism wasstrong. Fortwoinstances, see Roy P. Mottahedeh, "The ClashofCivilizations: An 28 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m.ziolkowski andIslamic Islamicist's MiddleEastern Review2, no. 2 (1996): 1-26; and Edward Critique,"Harvard W. Said,"The ClashofIgnorance,"TheNation273,no. 12 (October22, 2001): 11-13. 8. A classictallying ofdebtsto Islamis TheLegacy ofIslam,ed.JosephSchacht,2nded. (Oxford: focusedupon theMiddleAgesareNormanDaniel, TheArabs ClarendonPress,1974). Specifically andMediaeval Europe(London:Longman,1975); NormanDaniel,IslamandtheWest:TheMakingof an Image(Edinburgh: Watt,TheInfluence Press,1960); and W. Montgomery ofIslamon University Medieval Press,1972). University Europe(Edinburgh: andtheIslamic B. Stone,Dante'sPluralism 9. Gregory (New York:Palgrave Philosophy ofReligion "DanteandtheFalasifa: to thisvolumean essayentitled Macmillan, 2006),54. Stonehascontributed 133-56. Religionas Imagination," butI hasten I drawattention onceagainto Stone,Dante'sPluralism, topluralism, 10. Byreferring in hisbook.NordoesMariaRosa Menocal,the to pointoutthathe doesnotusethetermconvivencia worldof theidea thatDantewas heavilyinfluenced mostprominent exponentin theAnglophone medieval of Dante,althoughshe does emphasize in herearliest majortreatment by Arabicculture, A Forgotten RoleinMedieval andItaly.See TheArabic betweenal-Andalus connections History: Literary ofPennsylvania Press,1987),esp. 115-35. University (Philadelphia: Heritage ourApproachto Medieval 11. Jonathan Reassessing Ray,"BeyondToleranceand Persecution: SocialStudies 11,no. 2 (Winter2005): 1-18. Convivencia;' Jewish 510 to1215 IslamandtheMaking see DavidL. Lewis,God'sCrucible: 12. Forexamples, ofEurope, Golden Medieval World: A Vanished Chris W.W. York: Ageof Norton, Spain's Lowney, 2008); (New D. (New York:FreePress,2005); VivianB. Mann,ThomasF. Glick,andJerrilynn Enlightenment in Braziller G. York: in Medieval and Christians Convivencia: (New Muslims, Spain Dodds,eds., Jews, How withtheJewishMuseum,1992);MariaRosa Menocal,TheOrnament association oftheWorld: in Medieval a Culture Created Spain(Boston:Little,Brown, ofTolerance Muslims, Jews,andChristians andJewsin and theMuslims and Coexistence: Rodrigo Archbishop 2002); and Lucy K. Pick, Conflict ofMichigan,2004). Medieval Spain(AnnArbor:University to Italianculturein theMiddleAges,see oftheArabcontribution 13. Fora broadconsideration e tradizioni contatti Li ArabiinItalia:Cultura, (Milan:GarFrancescoGabrieliandUmbertoScerrato, TheKingdom Karla see to attention Mallette, With history, literary zanti/Scheiwiller, 1979). particular ofPennsylvania Press,2005). University (Philadelphia: History ofSicily,1100-1250:A Literary in two 14. (New York:PantheonBooks,1978),70. Said'sviewson Dantehavebeencritiqued of whichresists by KathleenBiddick,"Coming easydisentanglement) essays(theinterrelationship 105 (2000): 1234Historical Review, Out ofExile:Danteon theOrient(alism) Express,"TheAmerican MiddleAges,ed. 49, and "ComingOut ofExile:Danteon theOrientExpress,"in ThePostcolonial JeromeCohen (New York:St. Martin'sPress,2000),35-52; as wellas byElizabethA. CogJeffrey 2007): 133-51.Theyarealsodiscussed "Dante,Islam,andEdwardSaid,"Telos139 (Summer geshall, volumebyMariaEspositoFrank,"Dante'sMuhammad,"185-206. in thepresent to medievalstudies)Occidentalism: reference 15. See (thoughwithoutanyparticular ofthe Images ed.JamesG. Carrier(Oxford:ClarendonPress,1995). West, mowsyjudws(Buenos see AmericoCastro,Espanaensu historia: Cristianos, 16. For convivencia, oftheterm,seeJonathan Aires:Editorial Losada,1948),198-202.On recentturnsin theapplication toMedievalConvivencia," ourApproach Jewish Reassessing Ray,"BeyondToleranceandPersecution: citationin anysensein the theearliest SocialStudies 11,no. 2 (Winter2005): 1-18. For Orientalism, is datedto 1769. Dictionary English Oxford Danteandthe see BrendaDeen Schildgen, 17. On theplaceoftheOrientin Dante'sgeography, ofIllinoisPress,2002), 19-44. Orient (Urbana:University Role,127,130. 18. MariaRosa Menocal,TheArabic 5:30-31. dantesca 19. See Alessandro Niccoli,"Saracino,"Enciclopedia SaracenoftheSongsof see C. Meredith 20. On thechansons Jones,"The Conventional degeste, 11.4. andEpistola see Convivio In 27.87, 204-6. 2.8.9, 17 Dante, Inferno Geste,"Speculum (1942): and conceptof theHoly Land Crusade,see Schildgen, 21. On Dante'soutlookon thereality 66-91. DanteandtheOrient, 29 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Dante Studies,CXXV, 2007 and Historyin a WorldCivilization,3 vols. 22. Marshall Hodgson, The Venture ofIslam: Conscience ofChicagoPress,1974),1 ("The classical (Chicago:University age ofIslam"):59, coinedtheadjecbut tiveIslamicate to thereligion, as referring "notdirectly Islam,itself, (on themodelofItalianate) withIslamand theMuslims,bothamong to thesocialand cultural associated complexhistorically Muslimsthemselves andevenwhenfoundamongnon-Muslims." 23. A senseoftheresearches thathadbeendonecanbe gleanedfromEdgarBlochet,Lessources de toutesles nations41 (Paris:J. Maisonorientales de la DivineComedie, Les Litteratures populaires neuve,1901). thataccompanied 24. AsinPalacioshimself summarized thereaction to hisbookin an addendum itwhenitwasreprinted in 1943 ("Historiay criticade unapolemica").On theoccasionofa much and theproblems laterreprinting ofAsinPalacios'scollectedworks,MariaRosa Menocaldiscussed 24 (1996): in thereception LastSigh,"La coronica ofhiswork:see "An Andalusianist's peculiarities 179-89. 25. Coleccionde manualesHispania,SerieB:l (Madrid:Editorial Voluntad, 1927). 26. Dantee I'Islam,trans.Ossola. 27. IslamandtheDivineComedy, ed. andtrans.HaroldSunderland 1926). (London:J.Murray, 28. DieterKremers,"IslamischeEinfliisse aufDantes'GottlicheKomodie,'" in Orientalisches AULA5 (Wiesbaden: ed. Wolfhart NeuesHandbuchderLiteraturwissenschaft Mittelalter, Heinrichs, theonlyextendedstudybyan ItalianDantist Verlag,1990),202. In theearlyyearsofthereception, thatshowssignsof havingrespondedpositively to AsinPalacios'sbook is LuigiValli,//linguaggio e scienza10 (Rome: Optima[L'univerdiDantee dei "Fedelid'amore," Bibliotecadi filosofia segreto sale],1928). trans.RobertoRossi Testa 29. MariaRosa Menocal,reviewof //Librodellascaladi Maometto, Dantis13 (1993): 106. (Milan:SE, 1991),in Lectura 30. FrancescoGabrieli,"Dantee I'Islam,"Cultura e scuola13-14 (1965): 195. inMedieval 31. PhilipF. Kennedy, "The MuslimSourcesofDante?"in TheArabInfluence Europe: FoliaScholastica ed. DionisiusA. AgiusandRichardHitchcock(Reading:IthacaPress, Mediterranea, 1994),63. Lit32. LeonardoOlschki,"Mohammedan andDante'sOtherWorld,"Comparative Eschatology erature 3 (1951):2. 33. AlexanderKnysh,"Ibn 'Arabi,"in TheLiterature ed. MariaRosa Menocal, ofAl-Andalus, andMichaelSells(Cambridge: Press,2000),331-44; RaymondP. Scheindlin, Cambridge University Ascension:Ibn 'ArabiandtheMi'rag,"Journal JamesWinstonMorris,"The Spiritual oftheAmerican Oriental 107 (1987):629-52 and 108 (1988):63-78. Society 34. Forthelateststudiesofsuchmaterial bya scholarwho haslongbeenactivein thisdomain, - das mittelalterliche see Peter Dinzelbacher, Von der Weltdurchdie Holle zum Paradies Jenseits(Pader- born:Ferdinand ofmanykeyworkscan be foundin Eileen 2007). Englishtranslations Schoningh, MedievalVisions GarlandMedievalBibliographies Gardiner, 11, ofHeavenandHell: A Sourcebook, GarlandReference oftheHumanities 1256 (New York:GarlandPublishing, 1993).German Library withthetextsin theoriginal enface,areavailablein Mittelalterliche Visionsliteratranslations, languages - eineAnthologie, tur ed. and trans.PeterDinzelbacher(Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1989). For an overviewof suchvisionsof the otherworld up to Dante,see CesareSegre, i modelli sinoalia Commedia nella di Dante,"in hisFuoridelmondo: "Viaggie visionid'oltremondo EinaudiPaperbacks 204 (Turin:G. Einaudi,1990), 25-48. For a dell'aldila, folliae nelleimmagini consideration ofAsinPalacios'sinvestigations imitaas a testcasefordetermining thelawsofliterary avec une bibliographie, ed. classeset presentes tion, see Louis Massignon, Opera minora:Textes recueillis, YouakimMoubarac,3 vols.(Beirut:Dar al-Maaref, 1963),59-81. 35. RichardW. Southern, "Dante and Islam,"in Relations Between Eastand Westin theMiddle Ages: PapersDeliveredat theSecondColloquiumin MedievalHistorytobe heldat theUniversity ofEdinburgh, March1969,ed. DerekBaker(Edinburgh: Press,1973),140. Edinburgh University 36. For detailsaboutBonaventure, see EnricoCerulli,"Bonaventura da Siena,"in Dizionario dellaEnciclopedia italiana,I960-), 11: 640-42. biograflco (Rome: Istituto degliItaliani 30 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m.ziolkowski 37. The foundational edition,withtheLatinand Old Frenchen face,was byEnricoCerulli,// Studie testi150 (Vatican dellaDivinaCommedia, "Librodellascala"e la questione dellefonti arabo-spagnole oftheLatinareLiberscale thestandard editions Vaticana,1949).Currently City:BibliotecaApostolica ed. EdeltraudWerner,Studiahumaniora4 Die lateinische Machometi: FassungdesKitabal mi'radj, = Liberscale deVechelle deMahomet Le livre Droste,1986);and (withFrenchtranslation) (Dusseldorf: 4529 Librairie Lettres Michele Besson and trans. Gisele Brossard-Dandre, (Paris: Machometi, gothiques and intoFrench,German, / Le Livrede poche,1991).Thesehavebeentranslated francaise generale = Mohammeds Italian,but not yetintoEnglish.For the Germanand Italian,see Die Jenseitsreise = Kitabal-mi Texteund Edeltraud LiberscaleMachometi Werner, Religionswissenschaftliche 'raj,trans. trans.RobertoRossiTesta, dellascaladiMaometto, Studien14 (Hildesheim: Olms,2007),and //libro Mahomet: deVEschiele seeLe livre Oscarclassici464 (Milan:A. Mondadori, 1999).FortheOld French, ed. PeterWunderli,RomanicaHelvetica77 eineralfonsinischen Diefranzosische Ubersetzung, Fassung oftheOld French,see TheProphet ofIslamin Old (Bern:Francke,1968). Foran Englishtranslation Ladder(1264),trans.Reginald TheRomance French: (1258) andtheBookofMuhammad's ofMuhammad 75 (Leiden:E. J.Brill,1997),97-198. Brill'sStudiesin Intellectual History Hyatte, "The MuslimSources,"76-77. 38. Mufioz,followedbyKennedy, and Islam,ed. JamesKntzeck, 39. The mostreadilyavailableeditionis Peterthe Venerable Press,1964), but the new PrincetonOrientalStudies23 (Princeton, N.J.: PrincetonUniversity zumIslam,ed. and trans.ReinholdGlei,CorpusIslamois now PetrusVenerabilis: standard Schriften SeriesLatina1 (Altenberge: CIS-Verlag,1985). Christianum, "The MuslimSources,"78. 40. Cerulli,followedbyKennedy, 41. The workwasfamiliar alreadyaround1350to theTuscanFaziodegliUberti(ca. 1305-after Faziomentions //Dittamondo 10. In a poementitled evokedin Inferno oftheFarinata 1367),grandson of Monte Riccoldo invokes he also Liber scale in described Croce).The as Paradise Muslim the (and RobertoCaracciolo(1425-1495)ofLeccewho in laterto theFranciscan Liberscalewasalsofamiliar to it. See FrancescoGabrieli,"Dante und derIslam," dellafede(Mirrorof Faith)refers his Specchio 9-10 (1978): vomMenschen Internationale WernerEicke,Diogenes: trans. Zeitschrift furdieWissenschaften 6 (1954): 65. The Castilian 25; and FrancescoGabrieli,"New Lighton Danteand Islam,"Diogenes a sourceforthecloseresumegivenby Saint was probably no longeravailable, translation, although Sect).Forthelatest PeterPascual(1227-1300)in hisSobrela setamahometana (On theMuhammadan 39-48. trans.Werner, see DieJenseitsreise, oftheseandothertestimonia, estimation X el ordenada latinyframes, delarabeal castellano, porAlfonso 42. La EscaladeMahoma:Traduccion Asuntos de Ministerio Exteriores, Sabio(Madrid: 1949). albeit in "Dantee l'lslam."A verycareful, a conciseformofhisconclusions 43. Cerullioffered "Dante and the of evidenceis performed now somewhatdated,sifting by TheodoreSilverstein, oftheOtherLiterature on theChristian LegendoftheMi'raj:The Problemof IslamicInfluence 11 (1952):89-110 and 187-97. Studies vroild"Journal ofNearEastern "DanteandIslam,"141. is madein Southern, 44. Thisobservation herebyOlschki,"Mohammedan 45. I am inspired Eschatology,14. in A Dante of a Controversy, "Dante and Islam:Historyand Analysis 46. VicenteCantarino, De ed. William Birth Poet's the 700th the in Commemoration (1265-1965), Anniversary of of Symposium Sua and Gino Rizzo, sponsoredby the 1965 Dante CentenaryCommittee:Dante Societyof of NorthCarolinaStudiesin theRomanceLanguages America,SouthAtlantic Region,University ofNorthCarolinaPress,1965),175-98. 58 (ChapelHill:University andLiteratures thatappearedat nearlythesametimeis PeterWundannotated 47. An exhaustive bibliography einer Versuch iiberdiemuselmanischen QuellenderDivinaCommedia: erli,"ZurAuseinandersetzung Edoardo later 19-50. 15 Romanistisches kritischen Slightly appeared Jahrbuch (1964): Bibliographic," 1 (Caracas:INCIBA, 1966). INCIBA centenario deunDanteislamizado, Crema,La leyenda eprospettwe in "Percorrer islamica," 48. MariaCorti,"Dantee la cultura acque. . . : Bilanct miglior di intemazionale del Atti Verona-Ravenna, nuovo del alle danteschi studi millennio, convegno soglie degli del "CentroPio Rajna" Sezioneprima,Studie saggi9 25-29 ottobre 1999,2 vols.,Pubblicazioni of MariaCortion thetopic"Dante e l'lslam," (Rome: Salerno,2001), 1:183-202.An interview 31 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 dellescienze at Enciclopediamultimediale recordedon April20, 2000, is availablein transcription = 490. filosofiche, http://www.emsf.rai.it/interviste/interviste.aspPd as al-Qa'ida and means 49. Al-Qaeda,also knownas al-Qaida,is moreproperly transcribed "base" or "foundation" in Arabic. IconofEvil:Hitler's 50. For a fewexamples, see David G. Dalin andJohnF. Rothmann, Mufti God's Continent: and theRiseofRadicalIslam(New York:RandomHouse, 2008); PhilipJenkins, Crisis(Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press,2007); and David Islam,andEurope's Christianity, Religious Battle withIslam(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books,2005). Selbourne,TheLosing 51. Fora subtleexploration ofsuchelisionbybothsides,see BruceHolsinger, "Empire,Apocahumorous 34 (2008):468-90. Fora darkly Critical investigalypse,andthe9/11Premodern," Inquiry tionof unfavorable aboutthe MiddleAges,see FredC. Robinson,"Medieval,the assumptions MiddleAges,"Speculum 59 (1984):745-56. 52. Fora quickoverviewofthesedevelopments, R. Lewis,"The IslamicWorld see Archibald andtheLatinWest,1350-1500,"Speculum 65 (1990):833-44. versuneideologicde la superior53. See alsoJohnTolan,"Du sagearabeau Sarrasin irrationnel: in Culture au turban dansValbum arabeetculture L'inconnu iteoccidentale," colloque defamille: europeenne: de Nantes,14 et 15 decembre 2000, ed. MalikaPondevieRoumane,FrancoisClement,andJohn Tolan(Paris:Harmattan, IslamintheMedieval European 2006), 189-201;andJohnV. Tolan,Saracens: Press,2002),245-54. (New York:ColumbiaUniversity Imagination 54. The earliest to referto "a nativeofEurope"is earlyseventeenth-century. use of European See theOxford s.v. Dictionary, English see 55. To appreciate howmonstrous JewsandMuslimswereoftenmadein LatinChristendom, in Medieval Debra HiggsStrickland, Demons,andJews:MakingMonsters Saracens, (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Press,2003). University 56. A recentstudydevotedto Immanuelis FabianAlfie,"ImmanuelofRome, aliasManoello in Fourteenth-Century Giudeo:The PoeticsofJewishIdentity Italy,"Italica75 (1998):307-29. For und earlierstudies,see UmbertoCassuto,"Dante und Manoello,"Jahrbuch furjudischeGeschichte 24 (1921-1922):90-121; UmbertoCassuto,Dantee Manoello Literatur (Florence:Israel,1921);and TheodorPaur,"ImmanuelandDante,"Jahrbuch 3 (1871):451-62. The derDeutschen Dantegesellschaft interrelatedness of Dante'sviewson Jewsand Muslimsis examinedmostbroadlybyJesperHede, Review16 (2008): 101-14. "JewsandMuslimsin Dante'sVision,"European 57. PaolaManni,"II Trecentotoscano:la linguadi Dante,Petrarca e Boccaccio,"ed. Francesco italiana 2 (Bologna: II Mulino,2003), 156. Bruni,Storiadellalingua 58. J.S. P. Tatlock,"MohammedandHis Followersin Dante," TheModern Review 27 Language (1932): 195. 59. Einboden,"Voicingan IslamicDante,"84, and RichardLemay,"Le Nemrodde 1' 'Enfer' " de Danteetle 'LiberNemroth,' 40 (1963):57-128. Quademidegli"Studidanteschi" 60. Tatlock,"MohammedandHis Followers,"186. 61. Theseimageshavebeenexaminedrepeatedly, in greatest detailbyRichardSchroder, Glaube undAberglaube indenaltfranzosischen einBeitrag zurKulturgeschichte desMittelalters Dichtungen: (Erlangen: A. Deichert,1886),andNormanDaniel,Heroes andSaracens: an Interpretation de Geste oftheChansons oftheimages,see Tolan,Saracens, Press,1984). Fora distillation (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University 105-34. 62. The threesome canbe seenmostclearlyin Chanson deRoland,laisse187,verses2580-2591, in TheSongofRoland:anAnalytical ed. and trans.GerardJ.Brault,2 vols.(University Park: Edition, StateUniversity Press,1978),2:156-59. Pennsylvania 63. For concisecommentary, see RobertHollanderandJeanHollander, DanteAlitranslators, Paradiso ghieri: (New York:Doubleday,2006), 16-20. 64. Forinstance, considerCharlemagne and Roland(Orlando:Inf.31.16-18, Par. 18.43),Ganelon(Inf.32.122),andWilliamofOrangeandRenouard(Rinoardo:Par.18.46-48). 65. This perception of Islamtook shapemanycenturies beforeDante. Considerforexample Johnof Damascus,as analyzedin DanielJ. Sahas,JohnofDamascuson Islam:The "Heresyofthe 32 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Introduction, jan m.ziolkowski ofthetwelfth-century rootsofthistradition, see Ishmaelites" (Leiden:Brill,1972). Forexamination 135-69. Tolan,Saracens, at 190. 66. HereI amindebtedto Tolan,"Du sagearabeau Sarrasin irrationnel," Martinfreres, 67. See EdmondDoutte,Mahomet cardinal (Chalons-sur-Marne: 1899). XXVIII: The FigureofMuhammad, YaleItalianStudies 68. RashaHamoodAl-Sabah,"Inferno 1 (1977): 158. DanteAlighieri: 69. See RobertHollanderandJeanHollander, translators, (New York: Purgatorio 680. 2003), Doubleday, in Western d'Anas represented on Muhammad 70. The basicmonograph legendsis Alessandro ed. AndreaBorruso,Omikron51 (Rome:SalernoEditrice, inOccidente, diMaometto cona,La leggenda dellaLetteratura Italiana13 (1889): 199-281andlater first in Giomale Storico 1994),whichwasprinted letteraria di critica e storia Studi in Alessandro revised d'Ancona, (Bologna:Zanichelli,1912), form) (in undseineLehreinderDarstellung see StephanHotz,Mohammed 2:167-306.Formorerecentcoverage, 11. biszurMittedes12.Jahrhunderts: vomspa'ten Autoren abendldndischer QuellenundTendenzen Aspekte, am Main: Lang,2002). Studienzurklassischen undWandel, in Kontinuitdt Philologie137 (Frankfurt see Albrecht Fora rapidoverview, Noth,"Muhammad3. The Prophet'sImagein Europeand the West,"in TheEncyclopedia ofIslam,11 vols.,Web-CD editions(Leiden:Brill,2003),7:377-81. The to DantehasbeenGiuseppeMacaluso, in relation ofMuhammad examination specifically lengthiest Dantee Maometto (Rome:EdizioniRuiz, 1951). see andhisbodilymutilation, statusas a schismatic betweenMuhammad's 71. On theinterplay "DanteandIslam,"137-38. andSouthern, XXVIII: The FigureofMuhammad," Al-Sabah,"Inferno 72. Tatlock,"MohammedandHis Followers,"192. 73. Einboden,"Voicingan IslamicDante,"79-82. ofWestern in Dantes viewsas emblematic inherent oftheopposition 74. Fora simplediagram in general,see FernandoCisneros,"Dante y el Islam.Enfoquesa partirdel textode la attitudes deAsiayAfrica Estudios 36, no. 1 (2001):79. Commedia," illustnnella 75. On therolesof thethreein Dante,see GiuseppeMacaluso,"Tre Mussulmani e modemo antico sull'isldm e scritti DivinaCommedia"in his Conferenze (Rome: (seconda dispensazione) Pensieroe azione,1974),287-360. Despitethepaucityof spaceallocatedto Avicennawhenhe is maybe moreextensive.See RudolfPalgen,"Dante und named,his influencein the Commedia derWissenschaften Akademie KlassederOsterreichischen derphilosophischen-historischen Avicenna," Anzeiger andDante'sDivineCom"Ibn Sina'sPsychology Strohmaier, 1951,no. 12, 160-172,and Gotthard 9 (1991): 107-11. Science ofArabic fortheHistory edy/'Journal 76. See MarciaColish, The VirtuousPagan:Danteand theChristianlraaition, in me unand ed. WilliamCaferro inHonorofjaroslav Ecumenism inChristian Pelikan, bounded Community: Papers 1822 (New York:Garland,1996), oftheHumanities GarlandReference DuncanG. Fisher, Library ed. De Sua andRizzo, 43-92; GinoRizzo, "DanteandtheVirtuous Pagans,"inA DanteSymposium, of the Transactions 115-31; and CindyL. Vitto,The Virtuous Paganin MiddleEnglishLiterature, AmericanPhilosophical AmericanPhilosophical Society,1989), Society79, pt. 5 (Philadelphia: 36-49. TowardsIslamin MedievalEurope,"in 77. JoAnnHoeppnerMoranCruz,"PopularAttitudes ed. David R. Blanks andEarlyModemEurope:Perception ViewsofIslaminMedieval Western ofOther, 61. Martin's York: St. Press, andMichaelFrassetto 1999), (New to thereasonable wasdrawnattheveryendofthetwentieth 78. An illuminating century parallel undertheir leadersor scientists and reputablemilitary betweendictators reflexto differentiating and "Arabsand Latinsin the MiddleAges: Enemies,Partners, regimes.See AlauddinSamarrai, and Blanks ed. Modern and Medieval Frassetto, in Islam Views in Western Europe, Early Scholars," of towardAdolfHitleron theone hand,andMarshal attitudes forexample,theWestern 141: "Contrast, WernerHeisenbergon the other;or JosephStalinvs. ErwinRommeland the Germanphysicist PeterKapitza." MarshallGeorgiZhukovandtheSovietphysicist dessavants(May-August 79. On Saladin,see GastonParis,"La Legendede Saladin, Journal 1893):284-299,354-364,428-438,486-498; AmericoCastro,"The PresenceoftheSultanSaladin ed. and trans. Selected in An IdeaofHistory: Castro, in theRomanceLiteratures," EssaysofAmerico 33 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DanteStudies, CXXV, 2007 Press,1977), 241-69; StephenGilmanand EdmundL. King (Columbus:Ohio StateUniversity HannesMohring, DavidS. Bachrach(Baltimore: Saladin,theSultanandHis Times,1138-1193,trans. Muslims Press,2008); andJohnV. Tolan,Sonsoflshmael: JohnsHopkinsUniversity through European to Pressof Florida,2008), 79-105 (withreference Eyesin theMiddleAges(Gainesville: University Tolan'searlierstudieson thetopic). 80. For theinfluence delVinvenofAverroes andAverroism on Dante,see MariaCorti,Percorsi zione: II linguaggio poeticoe Dante (Turin: Einaudi, 1993). 81. On thehistory oftheterm"LatinAvicennism," "AvicennaandWestern see KenelmFoster, NewBlackfriars, 32,no. 381 (1951):591-602.On LatinAverroThoughtintheThirteenth Century," d'Averroes dansla surla reception chez les latins:Vues cavalieres ism,see S.-T. Bonino,"Averroes latinemedievale,"Bulletin delitterature 100 (1999): 133-52. scolastique 82. VincentCantarino, Romance "Dante and Islam:Theoryof Lightin theParadiso," Kentucky 15 (1968):3-35. Quarterly 83. Rocco Murari,"II De causise la sua fortuna dellaletteratura nel Medio Evo," Giomale storico italiana 34 (1899):93-117. 84. For a samplingof articleson the furore, un detourarabe see Eric Aeschiman, "Aristote, "Du rififi chezlesintellos: Litterature," conteste," Liberation, April30, 2008,Culture,29; Aeschiman, Le Monde, Liberation, "Averroes," July19, 2008, CahiersEte, 8; JeanBirnbaum, July,25, 2008,Le Mondedeslivres, 4; Birnbaum, April25, 2008, "Polemiquesurles'racines'de l'Europe,"Le Monde, Le Mondedeslivres, a l'islam?L'historien 2; Roger-PolDroit,"Et sil'Europene devaitpassessavoirs a l'Occidentparle recusel'idee que la sciencedes Grecsait ete transmise SylvainGouguenheim mondemusulman," Le Monde,April4, 2008, Le Monde des livres,6; Droit,"Jacquesde Venise, du moyen passeuroublie,"Le Monde,April4, 2008, Le Monde des livres,6; Historiens age,"Oui, l'Occidentchretien estredevable au mondeislamique,"Liberation, April30, 2008,Rebonds,32; Le Le Monde, Monde,"Gouguenheim," July11,2008,Le Mondedeslivres,9; Le Monde,"'Le Monde des livres'a Blois," October10, 2008, Le Monde des livres,8; GabrielMartinez-Gros andJulien Le Monde, Loiseau,"Une demonstration suspecte," April25, 2008,Le Mondedeslivres,2; Nicholas surle moyen Weill,"KurtFlasch:Un regard'demembre' July4, 2008,Le Mondedes age,"Le Monde, livres,10; ThomasWieder,"Penser1' 'affaire Gouguenheim,'"Le Monde,October17, 2008, Le Mondedeslivres,2. 85. JohnVinocur,"Europe'sDebt to IslamGivena Skeptical Look; Politicus,"TheInternational HeraldTribune, April29, 2008,News,2. 86. ShawkatM. Toorawa,"Muhammad, The and Islamophiles in Dante'sCommedia," Muslims, MuslimWorld 82 (1992): 133-44. 87. The epithet is knownbestfromMatthewParis(Chronica no. 141a,5.190):seeAndrea majora, II. unddie mittelalterliche PublikatiSommerlechner,Stupormundi?:KaiserFriedrich Geschichtsschreibung, onendesHistorischen Instituts beimOsterreichischen in Rom: I. Abteilung, AbhandKulturinstitut AkademiederWissenschaften, lungen11 (Vienna:VerlagderOsterreichischen 1999),9, 226, 470, and479. 88. ThomasE. Burman,"MichaelScot and the Translators," in TheLiterature ofAl-Andalus, 404-11. 89. A finalnote: overbars and underdots have been omittedin transcribing long vowelsand infrequently Arabicwordsandnames,suchasAli,Buraq,hadith, Muhamspecialcharacters repeated mad,andQur'an. 34 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.75 on Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:49:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions