False Hope and Flawed Sainthood in Don Ouixote: Khiḍr, al-Mahdī, and the Knight of the Green Coat

Abstract

This article draws connections between the Muslim saint Khiḍr "The Green," and a minor character in Don Quixote Part II, an hidalgo named don Diego de Miranda, or the Knight of the Green Coat. The article traces literary representations of Khiḍr in medieval Iberia, as well as his significance for Moriscos, Iberian crypto-Muslims forced to convert to Christianity after Granada's surrender to the Catholic Kings. Marya Green-Mercado has already shown how Moriscos identified Khiḍr with the messianic figure al-Mahdī, who in Islamic belief will appear close to the Day of Judgment to end injustice on Earth. Morisco prophecies depicting this redeemer as a green knight on a white horse were well known among Spanish intellectuals contemporaneous with Cervantes. Don Diego, when read in the light of Moriscos' hopes of salvation, renders a literary representation of the prophecies' failure to save Moriscos, as the character is gradually revealed to be a hollow saint who manages to fool Sancho Panza with his magnificent appearance, but not don Quixote.