Editing Morisco (section)

== Religion ==
=== Christianity ===
While the [[Moors]] chose to leave Spain and emigrate to [[North Africa]], the Moriscos accepted Christianity and gained certain cultural and legal privileges for doing so.<ref name="Keegan2000">{{cite book|last=Keegan|first=John|title=The Book of War: 25 Centuries of Great War Writing|date=2000|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|language=en|isbn=978-0140296556|page=73}}</ref>

Many Moriscos became devout in their new Christian faith,<ref name="Vassberg2002"/> and in Granada, many Moriscos became [[Christian martyrs]], as they were killed by Muslims for refusing to renounce Christianity.<ref name="Carr2009">{{harvnb|Carr|2009|p=213}}: "In Granada, Moriscos were killed because they refused to renounce their adopted faith. Elsewhere in Spain, Moriscos went to mass and heard confession and appeared to do everything that their new faith required of them."</ref> In 16th century Granada, the Christian Moriscos chose the [[Virgin Mary]] as their [[patron saint|patroness saint]] and developed [[Christian devotional literature]] with a [[Marian devotions|Marian]] emphasis.<ref name="Remensnyder2011">{{cite journal|last=Remensnyder|first=A. G.|year=2011|title=Beyond Muslim and Christian: The Moriscos' Marian Scriptures|journal=Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies|publisher=[[Duke University]]|volume=41|issue=3|pages=545–576|issn=1082-9636|doi=10.1215/10829636-1363945|quote=Early modern Spaniards, whether Old Christians or Moriscos, often used the Virgin Mary as a figure through which to define a fixed boundary between Islam and Christianity. Yet a set of sacred scriptures created by some Moriscos in late sixteenth-century Granada went against this trend by presenting her as the patron saint of those New Christians who were proud of their Muslim ancestry.}}</ref>

=== Islam ===
{{further|Oran fatwa}}
{{Multiple image
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| image1            = Aljamiado Quran RESC 25.jpg
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| image2            = Quran of Toledo.jpg
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| footer            = A [[Morisco Quran]] with the Arabic text and line-by-line [[Old Spanish|Castillian]] translations in [[Aljamiado]] and the 1606 [[Quran of Toledo]] in Castillian written with [[Latin script]].
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Because conversions to Christianity were decreed by law rather than by their own will, some Moriscos still genuinely believed in Islam.<ref name="Keegan2000" />{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=270}} Because of the danger associated with practicing Islam, however, the religion was largely practiced clandestinely.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=49}} A legal opinion, called "the [[Oran fatwa]]" by modern scholars, circulated in Spain and provided religious justification for outwardly conforming to Christianity while maintaining an internal conviction of faith in Islam, when necessary for survival.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|pp=60–64}} The fatwa affirmed the regular obligations of a Muslim, including [[salah]] (ritual prayer) and [[zakat]] (almsgiving). However, the obligation might be fulfilled in a relaxed manner (e.g., the fatwa mentioned making the ritual prayer "even though by making some slight movement" and the ritual alms by "showing generosity to a beggar").{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=61}} The fatwa also allowed Muslims to perform acts normally forbidden in Islamic law, such as consuming pork and wine, calling [[Jesus]] the son of God, and blaspheming against Muhammad as long as they maintained conviction against such acts.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|pp=61–62}}

The writing of a Morisco crypto-Muslim author known as the "[[Young Man of Arévalo]]" included accounts of his travel around Spain, his meetings with other clandestine Muslims and descriptions of their religious practices and discussions.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=179}} The writing referred to the practice of secret [[congregational prayer (Islam)|congregational prayer]],{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=181}} collecting alms to perform the [[Hajj]] (although it is unclear whether the journey was ultimately achieved),{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=181}} and the determination and hope to reinstitute the full practice of Islam as soon as possible.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=182}} The Young Man wrote at least three extant works, ''Brief compendium of our sacred law and [[sunnah]]'', the ''Tafsira'' and ''Sumario de la relación y ejercio espiritual'', all written in Spanish with Arabic script (''[[aljamiado]]''), and primarily about religious topics.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=173}}

Extant copies of the [[Qur'an]] have also been found from the Morisco period, although many are not complete copies but selections of [[surah|surat]], which were easier to hide.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=144}} Other surviving Islamic religious materials from this period include collections of [[hadith]]s,{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=146}} stories of [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|the prophets]],{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=149}} Islamic legal texts,{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=154}} theological works (including [[al-Ghazali]]'s works),{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=157}} as well as [[polemic]]al literature defending Islam and criticizing Christianity.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=159}}

The Moriscos also likely wrote the [[Lead Books of Sacromonte]], texts written in [[Arabic]] claiming to be Christian sacred books from the first century AD.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=264}} Upon their discovery in the mid-1590s, the books were initially greeted enthusiastically by the Christians of Granada and treated by the Christian authorities as genuine, causing a sensation throughout Europe due to their (ostensibly) ancient origin.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=267}}{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=271}} Hispano-Arabic historian [[Leonard Patrick Harvey]] proposed that the Moriscos wrote these texts in order to infiltrate Christianity from within, by emphasizing aspects of Christianity which were acceptable to Muslims.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=265}}{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=270}} The content of the text was superficially Christian and did not refer to Islam at all, but contained many "Islamizing" features. The text never featured the [[Trinity]] doctrine or referred to Jesus as Son of God, concepts which are blasphemous and offensive in Islam.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=270}} Instead, it repeatedly stated "There is no god but God and Jesus is the Spirit of God (''ruh Allah'')", which is unambiguously close to the Islamic [[shahada]]{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=265}} and referred to the Qur'anic epithet for Jesus, "the Spirit from him [God]".{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=275}}<ref>{{Cite Quran|4|171|style=nosup|quote=. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and ''a spirit from Him''.}}</ref> It contained passages which appeared (unbeknownst to the Christians at the time) to implicitly predict the arrival of Muhammad by mentioning his various Islamic epithets.{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=281}}

In many ways, their situation was comparable to that of the [[Marrano]]s, secret [[Jew]]s who lived in Spain at the same time.