Rašf Al-Darab Fī Faḍl Bani IsraϽīl Wal-L-ϲArab (On the Eminence of Israelites And Arabs), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas ed. by Paul Fenton

Abstract

76 BOOK REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS on the term ‘Négritude’ in order to try and inscribe its emotional and cultural significance for the author within the larger African context. When one examines the type of memories that are associated with the space of the native city in Sphaxitude, one notices that these memories are primarily sensory: they relate to the senses of taste, smell, vision and touch. The city of Sphax is described as a “poulpe rayonnant tentacules” or referred to as an incurable illness, as can be seen in the two first verses of “Ô toi ville natale: ‘Je te porte en moi / Incurable maladie’. The absence of a feeling of sentimentality is visible in the collection. Instead, Sphax is perceived as an idyllic space that the author is proud of belonging to, but it is also experienced as a space of disappointment and even rejection. If one examines the entire collection, one can conclude that the native space of Sfax is a space of memory that stands in contrast with the reality of the modern, contemporary city of Sfax. Paradoxically, the native city remains unattainable and can be experienced only as a memorial trace by the author. The anthology ends with a selection of poems from two of Bouraoui’s more recent collections, Traversées (2010) and Livr’errance (2013), as well as with a small selection of unpublished poems or those published in various places. A poem that resonates particularly with the notions of nomadism and transpoetics is, in my view, “L’interligne en movement”, not only for the quality of its rhythm and imagery, but also for its conceptual force. Form and content are perfectly aligned, yet they are not fixated. Instead, they are in constant movement. They both destabilise and disorientate the reader, as is relayed in the ultimate stanza of the poem: Nomade dans le carousel du temps / Mes pas laissent des traces / La rose des vents les efface / L’histoire finira par en retracer le courant. To conclude, Mario Selvaggio’s bilingual anthology gives the reader an excellent overview of Bouraoui’s poetry. The anthology can be recommended to both experts and those who wish to be introduced to Bouraoui’s oeuvre and his notions of transpoetics and transculturalism. JASMINA BOLFEK-RADOVANI University of Westminster PAUL FENTON, EDITOR, RA¸SF AL-DARAB Fı FA∂L BANI ISRA√ıL WAL-L-fiARAB (ON THE EMINENCE OF ISRAELITES AND ARABS), CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS, MADRID, 2016 Students of Jewish history are very familiar with various questions regarding conversion, including such issues as forced conversion, crypto-conversion and BOOK REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS 77 crypto-Jews. Although the prevailing understanding of many Muslims who interpret the Quranic verse ‘lā ikrā bil-dīn’ as an imperative is that it is forbidden to enforce conversion, there are several well-known historical cases of compulsory conversion. Examples to support this interpretation of Jewish– Muslim historical relations can be carefully chosen from remote places. The history of the Jews in Marinid Fez on the one hand and in 19th-century Mashhad are two remote cases that easily come to mind. Part one of Fenton’s book concentrates on the history of converted Jews in the Moroccan city of Fez.1 He provides a longue durée history of this society. The mass assimilation of Jews created social tension, accelerated by economic and political competition. The new-believers were not received by their neighbours with open arms. The case under review here casts light on 18th-century northern Morocco. Fenton devotes many pages to the history of the Biladiyun, accompanied by bibliographical and historiographical valuable notes. The refusal by ‘old Muslims’ to acculturate the ‘new Muslims’ is a most striking element in the detailed picture painted by him. This certainly stands against the common Muslim interpretation of Qu√rn 49: 13,2 the Hadith ‘la faḍl lil-arabi’3 or the popular tradition ‘even an Ethiopian slave’.4 Part two concentrates on the Ben Zikrī family from Fez, a family with a longdocumented history. Over the centuries scions of the family crossed the border separating Judaism from Islam and converted. One of them is the pivot of the book...