Cook and Bowen
-
In Cook’s “These Hidden Heretics” he recounts the history and experiences of Moriscos, (previously/ancestrally Muslim people who are now Catholic) in New Spain. According to Cook, Moriscos were often repressed in their outward expressions of belief and practice in Islam. As a result, many of them could not recite Arabic prayers, and as a result, there grew many populations of Moriscos who could not speak Arabic. Both because of their own pursuits of safety as well as their parents fear for their children being exposed as Moriscos or accused of being heretics and Muslims, they did not teach their children Arabic or taught them very little Arabic such as reciting a few prayers here and there. In fact, according to Cook, many Moriscos were considered by many north African Muslims to be ignorant because they could not speak Arabic, even if it was for their own safety. There is a parallel that can be drawn between the experiences of Moriscos in Spain and New Spain, and the experiences of Muslims in the west. Oftentimes, for our own safety, we hide stereotypical Muslim characteristics about ourselves such as speaking Arabic (or any other language associated with Islam) out loud or we hesitate to admit to our dietary restrictions (such as not eating pork) in order to assimilate and not be recognized as being different. Similarly, in last week's reading, Yasmin’s father encouraged her to respond to her mother in English, not Urdu in hopes that she would focus on assimilating into the English culture to ensure her safety and happiness and to avoid being considered different and therefore a threat. A similar thing is seen happening in Cook’s recount of Moriscos hiding their Muslim identity or, if they were truly no longer Muslim, hiding anything that may be even slightly considered Muslim such as not speaking Arabic for their own safety.
In “U.S Latina/o Muslims Since 1920: From “Moors” to “Latino Muslims” Patrick Bowen provides a relationship between Latino/a Muslims and Spanish Islamic history in a US context. He describes the argument against the word “Moor” to mean “N” according to Irving and the discontent it created among his audience of African American Muslims. He disagrees with this meaning of the word Moor because he claims that this is a word to mean Muslim Spaniards, many of whom with North and West African origins who came to Iberia as a part of Muslim conquest of Andalusia. He disagrees with the African American use of the word to mean black Muslims who were not enslaved, or who were free. For African Americans, they use this word to mean a black person who is independent from white slavery, and is a symbol associated with upward mobility and black pride. In general, rather than an image of enslaved black African, “Moor” is a term associated with a strong, independent, proud and freed African Muslim. It is this use of the word that Irving disagrees with and rather than associate the term “Moor” with black Muslims, places the term back in a Spanish context, exploring its roots in Andalusia and applying it to a modern day context for American Latino/a Muslims.