Dark Side History: Arabic Islamic Sicily (827-1091 AD)

Sicily was once under Arabic-Islamic control, 827-1091 AD, and this represents an interesting period of history & cultural development that often fall in the shadow of al-Andalus (711-1492), the Iberian peninsula under Islamic Arabic control, but the emirate of Sicily period is in many ways its equal in being an important place of importance, and historic period of interest, regarding Arabic-Islamic influence in Europe. This video aims to shed some light upon this part of medieval history.
Please don't be afraid to comment or voice any questions as I love interacting with you my dear viewers and I will try to respond as quickly as possible to you. Also, please like, subscribe & click the bell icon as those actions helps this channel grow!
Sources and further reading:
Brett, Michael (2001). The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century of the Hijra, Tenth Century CE. The Medieval Mediterranean. Vol. 30. Leiden: BRILL.
Broadhurst, Ronald J.C. (1952). The Travels of Ibn Jubayr: being the chronicle of a medieval Spanish Moor concerning his journey to the Egypt of Saladin, the holy cities of Arabia, Baghdad the city of the Caliphs, the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Norman kingdom of Sicily. London: Cape.
Chiarelli, Leonard C. (2011). A history of Muslim Sicily. Santa Venera: Midsea
Catlos, Brian A. (2015[2014]). Muslims of medieval Latin Christendom, c. 1050-1614. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press
Fierro, Alfred (1996). Histoire et dictionnaire de Paris. Robert Laffont.p.280
Granara, William (2019). Narrating Muslim Sicily : War and Peace in the Medieval Mediterranean World Ibn Jubayr, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (1852). Riḥlat ibn Jubayr. Leyden
Johns, Jeremy, Arabic Administration in Norman Sicily: The Royal Diwan. Cambridge University Press.
J., Jeremy, The Greek church and the conversion of Muslims in Norman Sicily?, "Byzantinische Forschungen", 21, 1995; for Greek Christianity in Sicily see also V. von Falkenhausen, "Il monachesimo greco in Sicilia", in C.D. Fonseca (ed.), La Sicilia rupestre nel contesto delle civiltà mediterranee, vol. 1, Lecce 1986.
Maqdisī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad,Aḥsan at-taqāsīm fī maʻrifat al-aqālīm. MSA1421 Thur
Metcalfe, Alex (2009), The Muslims of Medieval Italy, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Nef, Annliese (2013). A companion to medieval Palermo: the history of a Mediterranean city from 600 to 1500. Leiden: Brill
Siculo-Norman art: islamic culture in medieval Sicily, Second edition, Dipartimento di Storia e Progetto nell'Architettura dell'Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy, 2010
#sicily #EmirateofSicily #Sicilyemirate #arabicScily #islamicsicily #Islamic_sicily #history #arabhistory #Arabsicily #Arabic_sicilly #muslimsicily #muslim_sicily

[@theculturedjinni]

I hope you liked this video regarding Sicily during this period. Please, don't be afraid to comment or voice any questions as I love interacting with you my dear viewers and I will try to respond as quickly as possible to you. Also, please like, subscribe & push the bell icon as those actions do help this channel to grow! Edit: I misspelled Normanni as Normmani in 5:34 sorry for this, I missed correcting this. And it feels very embarrassing considering that I know some Italian and I wrote it correctly in the smaller text down below. This mistake also remained due to missing to save the correction after having noticed it and corrected it, before I did the rendering & uploading of this video.

[@Ismail-un1jn]

Nice i dont know much about arab sicily i wonder if it was like arab spain

[@theculturedjinni]

👍 In many regards it was quite similar (being European areas taken over by Islamicate entities that also did become rather prosperous & important centers of culture & development), but there were differences too: Firstly, you had a shia and sunni dynamic in Sicily which did not exist in the same way in al-andalus. Secondly, the majority of people in Sicily remained christian, in al-andalus most people were eventually converted. Thirdly , Sicily was a much smaller place than al-andalus and thus not as big or filled with resources which made al-andalus into a more important place, but Sicily was still very important as an strategic island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea which more or less splits the sea in 2. Fourthly, by being an island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea and such an important island that functioned as a center of trade and seafaring meant that Sicily was far more important as a center of the exchange of ideas and culture than would otherwise be the case for an area that much smaller than al-andalus. Hence it could compete due to this factor alone. Fifthly, by being an isolated island, the grip upon the local population was harder to maintain, as you would have to transport troops across the sea to crush rebellions if they took the entirety of Sicily which would be easier to do than the entirety of al-andalus. Consequently, there were less discrimination and repression towards the Christians there and the focus of conflict usually was between the Sunni and Shia minorities being the subject of repression. There are more, but these are the most important factors that come to mind.

[@Ismail-un1jn]

@@theculturedjinni thank you for enlightening me on Muslim rule in Sicily

[@theculturedjinni]

@@Ismail-un1jn I am glad to be at service!👍

[@hamouz1999]

Sicilian still has borrowed words from arabic. A very interesting island indeed and beautiful people. فيديو ممتاز كالعادة

[@theculturedjinni]

👍 Yes and some of these went into standard Italian too. Sicily is truly a beautiful & interesting island that has been influenced by a lot of cultures and entities that came there and brought various influences leading to a lot of interesting results in terms of architecture & culture. Also, there is also another Island where, despite islamicate rule ending, Arabic actually remained and became its own language, an island I intend to go into in a future video.

[@violadude97]

@@theculturedjinniI remember having a discussion about this island with someone. He said you’d think you were in the Middle East. Which island is this?

[@theculturedjinni]

@@violadude97 It is Malta and its archipelago (though Cyprus does have a Maronite Cypriot Arabic speaking minority too) where the local Arabic dialect turned into it's own language, Maltese.

[@wewenang5167]

@@violadude97 huhu go to malta today and listen to the local dialect most north African Arabs can understand them

[@Quantuam-t5g]

@@theculturedjinni Maltese is really cool, the only Latinized Semitic language

[@yumenosoko]

Hello, 1) Concerning the historical aspect: firstly the conquest of Sicily was not done in one go, it took almost 75 years since the call to Jihad (827 - 902), if we count the different attempts under Byzantine control before 827, since the 7th century, I'll let you count. Then the Muslim influence and the Arab populations were not homogeneous throughout the territory. Global domination lasted only a hundred years compared to the 800 years of Al-Andalus. I do not think that the entire population was converted, especially since many may have decided to live as dhimmis by agreeing to pay kharâj. If you have contemporary Arabic texts I would like to read them. 2) Concerning DNA: Firstly, North African and Arab traces are not present in the entire modern Sicilian population, and for those who have them the contribution is heterogeneous, but overall is quite weak as much as the contribution of the Normans in the DNA of these same populations, because in both cases the conquerors did not stay long enough to influence the DNA of the natives. Finally, we must consider that Sicily is located at a crossroads of several cultures, and that it has experienced different waves of migrations since the Neolithic (for those that we know), notably of Anatolian farmers and Iranian farmers (Zagros). The Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Byzantines who mixed with the local populations brought a signature of the Natufian farmers and more to increase that of the other two. All these populations in the Neolithic and in Antiquity lived in the Near East on the lands of Phenicia, Mesopotamia, the Persian Empire, that of Alexandre Legrand (Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Pakistan, etc. .) in North Africa (Cartharge, Ifriquia). The contribution to the DNA of the Sicilians is very likely to predate the period of the conquest completed in 902 until the Norman Conquest (1061 - 1091). The domination lasted a maximum of 264 years, and a minimum of 161 years. Cultural contributions and a political, military and intellectual influence on the region that I find remarkable in such a short time. If you present the Italians, Germans, add the Normans, the French (Angevins) and the Spanish (Aragonese) who arrived after the Aghlabids as invaders towards the indigenous Muslims, you must also present the Muslims as invaders towards of the Greco-Byzantines in 827, as the Vandals and Ostrogoths were also invaders against the Romans, as the Romans were also invaders against the Greeks, as the Greeks were also invaders against the Sicanes, the Sicules and Élymes. Modern Sicilians are a mixture of all these peoples from the first European hunter-gatherers (WHG) to the late Italians from the north and modern migrants from Africa.

[@theculturedjinni]

👍 Indeed you are right regarding those points , though I actually mention that the conquest took 75 years in the video & I never claim that the Arabs were not invaders nor would I ever claim that the others were not, I like my consistency in historical interpretation. I just consider them one of many invaders in the history of the Island (that have all contributed to create the modern Sicilian people as you point out) and a group I have a particular focus upon and just like you state: "The domination lasted a maximum of 264 years, and a minimum of 161 years. Cultural contributions and a political, military and intellectual influence on the region that I find remarkable in such a short time." They indeed left an impressive legacy on the island. You are also correct in that they never converted the entirety of the population (most remained Christian as they had been) nor did they take over genetically either. But, they still managed to leave quite a legacy in culture & intellectually which is also due to the fact they were so centrally located in the Mediterranean which also brought them great opportunities for trade as they also were connected to the greater Islamicate world during this period, bringing in great wealth to the island through the sea trade occurring on the Mediterranean which fueled the richness that made them able to build & leave this legacy. And, being in the middle of a trade network also allowed them to spread their legacy even beyond the island in cultural contributions in such matters as Arabic poetry & other Arabic high-culture.

[@masahibbhatti4088]

Amazing video. Keep these coming!

[@theculturedjinni]

You do not need to worry, I will make more videos!

[@LeekyKale]

Good job on the Arabic!

[@theculturedjinni]

👍 Glad you noticed and it should be considering that I have studied Arabic & Arabic history for several years at uni.

[@LeekyKale]

@@theculturedjinni you should be proud of your Arabic skills, most عجم give up pretty quick.

[@theculturedjinni]

@@LeekyKale It was a combination of a die-hard interest and the fact that I did have previous experience with learning a lot of other languages before I tackled Arabic that helped me through it. Also I actually found Arabic a lot easier than expected when it came to the fus7a...the real issue is that is not the language that is mostly used in normal conversation...that is the really hard part of Arabic.

[@LeekyKale]

@@theculturedjinni for the modern dialects their grammar is actually easier. The biggest issue would probably be the vocab. Chose either Egyptian or a Levantine dialect as those are the most popular and there’s already resources online.

[@LeekyKale]

You already have standard Arabic, which is the Skelton of all the dialects.

[@Mustafa70116]

The poem is really sad.

[@theculturedjinni]

Indeed it is, it really gives weight to the longing sorrow that those that were forced to flee following the Norman conquest must have felt.

[@MrHichammohsen1]

Very very nice video! Will definitely subscribe.

[@theculturedjinni]

I am happy you found it so nice 👍😁

[@masahibbhatti4088]

This channel is gold!

[@theculturedjinni]

👍It warms my heart to know that you think so!😃👍

[@masahibbhatti4088]

@@theculturedjinni Of course keep it up!!!!

[@cometmoon4485]

It is amazing to learn the deep influence that Islamic history had on European lands.

[@theculturedjinni]

Yes, they left a rather large & impacful legacy in both Sicily and on the Iberian peninsula.

[@yumenosoko]

In my opinion, for this period in Sicily we must see a Mediterranean and non-European historical context, with a still significant Greek, Cartaginian and Byzantine influence.

[@biggbals4375]

Tjena mannen

[@theculturedjinni]

Hej på dej!👍

[@Mustafa70116]

This goes to show how much Islamicate history has influenced Europe. The Islamic world was right at their doorstep. Sicily does indeed get overshadowed by Al Andalus. People also forget the Fatimids ruled the region. The Abbasids and Ottomans imo get too much attention and we end up ignoring other dynasties and kingdoms.

[@theculturedjinni]

Yes, Sicilly does tend to be overshadowed by Al-andalus despite actually being rather important too at least from an Arabic cultural stand point. I can also kinda agree that the Abbasids and Ottomans get too much attention, and I say this as someone that has studied Abbasid history as my focus in my uni studies. There are a lot of other interesting dynasties and polities too that are worth a look into and get often neglected, some of which I intend to make future videos about.

[@yumenosoko]

this influence is quite well known and has been the subject of numerous university studies, in Italy and Europe.

[@tc7500]

The real version would be from locals non Muslim who wrote about that era!

[@theculturedjinni]

We do not have much material from non-muslims regarding Sicily during this period, but what we have seem to correspond roughly with the Muslim sources.

[@perniciousseizurehellio3438]

There was a lot of native Muslim Sicilians who unfortunately all got killed or converted

[@theculturedjinni]

@@perniciousseizurehellio3438 Yes that happened too.

[@wewenang5167]

after the Normans and Italian took over Sicily most of the Muslims were forcefully converted or moved to Naples and then later also forcefully converted...go do a DNA test on Southern Italian and Sicilian you will find North African and Arabs DNA in them. The Christians did wrote about it, just go read in churches' archive...just ask the King of Sicily during the Norman times, he even wrote and speak in Arabic and have Arabs ministers although he was a Norman Christians. even the Pope were piss about him. Al Idrisi the famous Muslims geographer who made the first world map and the biggest globe ever worked for him in his palace. But after the fanatical Italian-German Catholics dynasty took over Sicily they burned most of their libraries and melted the huge metal world globe. Some of these books were managed to be save by some Franciscan monks who guarded and hide all these books because unlike the nobles and common folks these monks knows their values, they even save the Quran. These monks were real true Christians. Most local Christians at that time were illiterate and only the rich, nobles and priest can read and write. Not to mention many of the LOCALS as you call it are also converted to Islam. So your LOCALS would be also the Muslims. Many westerners failed to understand that during that times your religion is your ID and your identity NOT YOUR RACE or skin colors. Afte Muslims took over Sicily after 400 years many local Sicilian Christians actually converted to Islam and assimilated themself with the Arabs Muslims who were the minorities ruling class. Same things happen in Spain and Egypt. So when Isabella and Ferdinand were massacring Muslims in Al Andalus what they did was just massacring their own people, native Spanish people who were Muslims that adopted Arabic language and culture instead or real Arabs immigrants. Can we call all white Anglo-Saxon American as immigrants even if they are born and raised in America since May flower 400 years ago today? Well the Arabs and local native Muslims live in Spain and Portugal for 800 years which is longer than the existent of USA and a nation . lol. who's the real native and who's the invaders here?

[@yumenosoko]

⁠@@wewenang5167 Hello, 1) Concerning the historical aspect: firstly the conquest of Sicily was not done in one go, it took almost 75 years since the call to Jihad (827 - 902), if we count the different attempts under Byzantine control before 827, since the 7th century, I'll let you count. Then the Muslim influence and the Arab populations were not homogeneous throughout the territory. Global domination lasted only a hundred years compared to the 800 years of Al-Andalus. I do not think that the entire population was converted, especially since many may have decided to live as dhimmis by agreeing to pay kharâj. If you have contemporary Arabic texts I would like to read them. 2) Concerning DNA: Firstly, North African and Arab traces are not present in the entire modern Sicilian population, and for those who have them the contribution is heterogeneous, but overall is quite weak as much as the contribution of the Normans in the DNA of these same populations, because in both cases the conquerors did not stay long enough to influence the DNA of the natives. Finally, we must consider that Sicily is located at a crossroads of several cultures, and that it has experienced different waves of migrations since the Neolithic (for those that we know), notably of Anatolian farmers and Iranian farmers (Zagros). The Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Byzantines who mixed with the local populations brought a signature of the Natufian farmers and more to increase that of the other two. All these populations in the Neolithic and in Antiquity lived in the Near East on the lands of Phenicia, Mesopotamia, the Persian Empire, that of Alexandre Legrand (Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Pakistan, etc. .) in North Africa (Cartharge, Ifriquia). The contribution to the DNA of the Sicilians is very likely to predate the period of the conquest completed in 902 until the Norman Conquest (1061 - 1091). The domination lasted a maximum of 264 years, and a minimum of 161 years. Cultural contributions and a political, military and intellectual influence on the region that I find remarkable in such a short time. If you present the Italians, Germans, add the Normans, the French (Angevins) and the Spanish (Aragonese) who arrived after the Aghlabids as invaders towards the indigenous Muslims, you must also present the Muslims as invaders towards of the Greco-Byzantines in 827, as the Vandals and Ostrogoths were also invaders against the Romans, as the Romans were also invaders against the Greeks, as the Greeks were also invaders against the Sicanes, the Sicules and Élymes. Modern Sicilians are a mixture of all these peoples from the first European hunter-gatherers (WHG) to the late Italians from the north and modern migrants from Africa.

[@tc7500]

What he also choose to ignore or don’t even know is that the first coins minted by the group later called Muslims had a Christian cross indicating that the first believers were Arab Christians and Jews and later morphed into the also later adopted name of Islam! The Quran doesn’t even mention the words Islam or Muslims!

[@theculturedjinni]

It is kind of outside of the topic of this video as that is a much different earlier history, place & topic (7th century Arabia & Middle east & the origins of Islam) than what this video focuses upon in period, place & topic ( 9th century Sicily), but it is a theory of the origins of Islam that I might make a future video about.

[@rommy007]

Actually the hypothesis is that they were using old coins or forgot to change the die of the mint. But I don't think this is a good reason. There is no good reason for a ruler to use other coins.

[@theculturedjinni]

@@rommy007That is another theory and I am more inclined to believe it was due to using old molds for the coins due to practicality of the fact that keeping the old molds with slight changes would been easier done and exchanging all the molds for the coins would have not been a priority or practical to do quickly after the invasion. But, the existence of these coins is an interesting topic.

[@tc7500]

I don’t want to hurt sensibilities but I do not believe anything about Islam. As far as I’m concerned the 3 main areas of Islam are totally false and exaggerated! 1. The Quran 2. Muhammad and 3 Mecca! None of it is true, basically ZERO credibility!

[@theculturedjinni]

@@tc7500 Okay, I have no issue with your beliefs, indeed as a non-believer i do not believe in Islam either, but how is this connected to anything in the video?