Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Martin Frishman and Hasan Uddin 

Khan, eds., The Mosque: History, Architectural Develop-

ment, and Regional Diversity (New York: Thames and 

Hudson, 1994); Oleg Grabar, The Formation of Islamic 

Art (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1973); 

Renata Holod and Hasan Uddin-Khan, The Mosque and 

the Modern World: Architects, Patrons, and Designs since 

the 1950s (London: Thames and Hudson, 1997); David 

McCauley,  The Mosque (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 

2003).

moulid

  See 

mawlid

.

Mudejar

Muslims residing willingly as subjects of a Chris-

tian kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula (see a

nda

-

lUsia

) were known as Mudejars. The phenomenon 

of Mudejarism emerged with the Christian capture 

of Muslim territories, for example Toledo (1085), 

and concluded with the decrees of compulsory 

conversion to Christianity (1501, 1515, 1526). The 

Spanish term mudéjar derives from an Arabic verb 

connoting inter alia the taming of wild animals.

Mudejarism differs conceptually from the Quranic 

status of 

dhimmi

 (protected peoples) that Muslims 

accorded non-Muslim “p

eople

 

oF

 

the

 b

ook

” resid-

ing in Islamic territories. Whereas Islamic law 

protected non-Muslims, the Mudejars could be 

disenfranchised and enslaved with impunity.

The survival of Mudejar culture and institu-

tions depended upon whether the capture was 

accomplished through negotiated surrender or 

military defeat, the ratio of Muslim to Christian 

populations, the competing interests of the mon-

archy and the papacy, and economic exigencies. 

For instance, during the conquest of the Balearic 

Islands, the Muslims of Menorca refused to surren-

der and were enslaved. In Aragon, Navarre, Castile, 

and Portugal, however, many Mudejars capitulated 

following negotiations between local Muslim rulers 

and the Christians. In theory, these treaties safe-

guarded Mudejar property, customs, and institu-

tions provided they swore loyalty to the monarchy 

and paid an annual capitulation tax. In practice, 

however, Mudejar rights were often curtailed.

Congregational 

mosqUe

s were confiscated and 

converted into churches. In Aragon, the Crown 

appointed Islamic judgeships and judicial rulings 

could be overturned in a higher Christian court. 

In Navarre and especially Valencia, where the 

Mudejar majority constituted an indispensable 

economic “royal treasure,” Muslims were banned 

from emigration to Islamic territories. Papal coun-

cil edicts ordering the use of distinguishing cloth-

ing for Muslims (Fourth Lateran Council, 1215) 

and prohibiting the call to 

prayer

 and Muslim pil-

grimages (Council of Vienna, 1311) were applied 

in Castile and Aragon, but rarely enforced in 

Valencia. Increasingly from the 13th century, 

Mudejars were confined to ghettos (aljamas).

Mudejar institutions declined as the supply 

of competent teachers of Arabic and the Islamic 

sciences diminished. In response, the Mudejars 

developed strategies of cultural resistance. Isa 

ibn Jubayr of Segovia translated the q

Uran

 and 

an abridged 

sUnna

  into Romance (Latin-derived 

languages) for the Mudejars who no longer under-

stood Arabic. Mudejars banned from travel abroad 

K  486  

moulid

---

wrote to Muslim jurists (

mUFti

s) to seek legal 

opinions (

FatWa

s) regarding how to preserve 

Islam under Christian rule. Mudejar jurists and 

preachers urged the strict application of Islamic 

ritual purity and morality codes in everyday life. 

Such strategies also challenged uncompromising 

judges such as m

Uhammad

  i

bn

  r

Ushd

 (d. 1122), 

who condemned the Mudejars for remaining in 

non-Muslim territory.

Under the patronage of Christian monarchs, 

Mudejars collaborated in the translation schools 

that transmitted classical and Islamic knowledge 

to western Europe. Mudejar architects, artisans, 

and institutions left their cultural imprint on the 

Iberian Christian kingdoms. Mudejar 

arabesqUe

decorations and brickwork appear in churches 

and palaces built in Spain and Portugal and in the 

Americas from the 16th century. Following the 

royal decrees of compulsory conversion to Chris-

tianity, Mudejars came to be known as Moriscos.

See also 

architectUre

; c

hristianity

 

and

 i

slam

.

Linda G. Jones