Two pages, with the colophon on the left, of a marvelous abbreviated Qur'an with a Spanish interlinear translation (BnF Arabe 447), completed in 1569 by Ybrahim Isquierdo, who hailed from a prominent Morisco family and who had left Iberia to settle in Ottoman Salonika; a thread:
Interlinear translations (often with much exegetical material) of abbreviated Qur'ans (usually selections with liturgical import) by Mudejar and Morisco Iberian Muslims are not terribly rare, but most are written using Aljamía script, Spanish in Arabic letters, such as this one:
But unlike the above Arabic-Aljamía Qur'an, Ybrahim Isquierdo used Latin script for the Spanish interlinear, and produced what we would recognize as a translation, probably without reference to other written or oral translations/interpretations. It's a mystery as to why-
in her article 'The Genealogy of the Spanish Qur'an' Consuelo Lopez-Morillas speculates that Ybrahim, resident in the Ottoman Empire well before many Moriscos would arrive after the expulsions, translated the Qur'an as 'a palliative' for his isolation and used it only for himself
Regardless, it is clearly a work of personal devotion, with beautiful Arabic and Latin handwriting, and clear signs of use; one can imagine the disruptions and loneliness that Ybrahim must have felt as a Spanish-speaking Muslim in a city where as yet the language was rare
The colophon is most striking: he refers to himself as 'ybrahim isquierdo pobre à Allāh,' with 'Allāh' written not in Latin script but in Arabic; he concludes: 'la salvacion de Allah sea sobre el perdone Allah, a my y a quien lo leyere y a quien se parare sobre el amin.'
addendum: the page of Aljamía interlinear w/ Arabic Qur'an above is from BnF Arabe 425
also I should add that I literally learned about all this like 2 hours ago and was so excited I had to share it so it's possible that I've made an oversight or incorrect interpretation, anyone out there with more knowledge of Mudejar/Morisco cultural production please correct me!
(thank you to my long-suffering wife for indulging in my first round of excitement and attempted interpretation)
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