Morisco alphabet

The Moriscos (Spanish for "Moor-like") were Muslims in Spain and Portugal how were forced to convert to Christianity at the beginning of the 16th century. Many Moriscos continued to practice Islam, most in secret, but some did so openly. A decree issued by King Felipe II in 1566 oblidged the Moriscos to adopt Spanish language, dress and customs. A number of unsuccessful rebellions of the Moriscos led to them being relocated from Granada to other parts of Spain, particularly Castile. At the beginning of the 17th century the Moriscos were expelled from Spain to Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.

The Moriscos produced books known as aljamiados, which written in Spanish using the Arabic alphabet and were used to instruct fellow Moriscos in Islam.

Morisco alphabet (alfabeto aljamiado)

Morisco alphabet (alfabeto aljamiado)

Sample text in the Morisco alphabet

Sample text in the Morisco alphabet

Links

Alhadith: Resources for the Study of Morisco Texts and Culture
http://www.colorado.edu/spanish/barletta/alhadith/

Colección de Textos Aljamiados (Collection of Aljamiado/Morisco texts)
http://biblioteca.arabismo.com/almonacid/a1/a1p_I.html

Other languages written with the Arabic script

Arabic, Hausa, Kashmiri, Kazak, Kurdish, Kyrghyz, Malay, Morisco, Pashto, Persian/Farsi, Sindhi, Tatar, Turkish, Uyghur, Urdu

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