Christian Visionary or Muslim Prophet?

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the relationship between prophecy and the delineation of the contours of Morisco identity after the forced conversion of Muslims in the Kingdom of Castile that began as a result of the rebellion of Granada in 1499. The uprising was sparked by the intervention of the archbishop of Toledo, Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros. The arrival of the archbishop in Granada in the summer of 1499 quickly saw the forced conversion of “elches,” former Christian converts to Islam. This had taken place in contravention of the Granada Capitulations that regulated the rendition of the Muslim Naṣrid Kingdom to Ferdinand and Isabella after its final conquest on January 2, 1492. The conversion of “elches” was met with the resistance of the Muslim populations in the city of Granada, which then extended to the countryside.