Itinerant Diplomatic Precedent: A Spanish Colonial Encounter with Native Americans within an Islamic Context, al-Hajari’s Kitab 1611–13

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the Morisco Qasim al-Hajari’s (Kitab) The Supporter of Religion against the Infidel 1611–13 for its diplomatic merit within the rubric of the Islamic Maghreb. In particular, it sheds light on how a scene from Spain’s colonial expansionist encounters with native Americans is utilized within an Arabophone context of the early modern Islamicate world. Al-Hajari Islamizes the momentous and violent imperial encounter between the Aztec king Moctezuma and the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés (1519) in Mexico. Additionally, he juxtaposes such a scene with Spain’s violation of the treaties with Muslim Andalusians (1492–1609) and its incursions upon its neighboring Protestant powers. Al-Hajari’s account not only indicates the itinerant condition which characterizes the circulation of ideas between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean but also demonstrates how imperial episodes acquire different meanings, through diplomatic endeavors and within different hermeneutic communities.