Chapter V: Part IV

PROBABILITY OF THE TRANSMISSION OF ISLAMIC MODELS TO CHRISTIAN
EUROPE AND PARTICULARLY TO DANTE

I. INTRODUCTION:

1. Literary imitation dependent on three conditions, viz.
resemblance between model and copy; priority of the
former; and communication between the two 237
2. The similarity in artistic representation of the life beyond
the grave is conclusive proof 237
3. Three headings under which evidence of contact may be
furnished 238

II. COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ISLAM AND CHRISTIAN EUROPE DURING THE
MIDDLE AGES:

1. Trade; pilgrimages to the Holy Land; the Crusades;
Missions to Islam 239
2. Norman expeditions and conquest of Sicily. The Sicilian
court under the Norman dynasty a centre of Moslem culture 240
3. Contact in Spain. The Mozarabs; the slaves; the Jews;
other intermediaries 242
4. The Mudejars and the court of Toledo. Archbishop Raymond’s
School of Translators 244
5. The court of Alphonso the Wise and the inter-denominational
colleges of Murcia and Seville 245

III. TRANSMISSION OF THE MOSLEM LEGENDS ON THE AFTER-LIFE TO
CHRISTIAN EUROPE AND DANTE:

1. Probability of their transmission through any of the
channels mentioned 246
2. Moslem Spain a likely channel 247
3. The knowledge of Moslem legendary lore possessed by the
Mozarabs 248
4. The legend of the “Miraj” probably included in the
“Summa” of Robert of Reading 248
5. The legend of the “Miraj” in the “Historia Arabum” of
Archbishop Rodrigo and the “Estoria d’Espanna” of
Alphonso the Wise 249
6. The “Miraj” and other legends of the after-life in the
“Impunaçion de la seta de Mahomah” of St. Peter
Paschal 250
7. The legend probably transmitted to Italy by St. Peter
Paschal 251
8. The knowledge of Arabic learning possessed by Dante’s
master, Brunetto Latini 252
9. Brunetto may have learnt of the legend of the “Miraj”
during his mission to the court of Alphonso the Wise,
and have transmitted his knowledge to his disciple 253

IV. THE ATTRACTION FELT BY DANTE TOWARDS ARABIC CULTURE CONFIRMS
THE HYPOTHESIS OF IMITATION:

1. Need of this final enquiry 256
2. The receptiveness of Dante’s mind such that he cannot
have felt aversion to Arabic culture 256
3. Signs of Dante’s liking for the Semitic languages 258
4. Evidence of his thorough knowledge of the history of
Islam; the torture of Mahomet and Ali 259
5. Dante’s liking for Arabic culture shown by the use he makes
of the works of the astronomers and the exemption from
hell of Saladin, Avicenna and Averrhoes 261
6. Sigier of Brabant, the champion of Averrhoism, placed in
paradise 262
7. Bruno Nardi’s explanation of this enigma; Dante’s philosophy
akin rather to that of Avicenna and Averrhoes
than to that of St. Thomas 263

V. THE CLOSE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN DANTE AND THE MYSTIC, IBN ARABI
OF MURCIA, FURNISHES FURTHER PROOF OF THE THESIS OF IMITATION:

1. Dante’s relation to the Illuministic Mystics mooted 263
2. General parallel between the Illuministic images used by
both authors 264
3. Comparison of their expository methods. The cabbala
of letters and numbers; astrological subtleties;
personification of abstract entities; interpretation
of dream visions 265
4. Particular parallel between Dante’s vision of Love (_Vita
Nuova_, XII) and similar visions described by Ibn Arabi 266
5. Striking analogy of Dante’s “Cancionero” and its
allegorical commentary, the “Convito,” to Ibn Arabi’s
book of songs, “The Interpreter of Love,” and its
allegorical commentary, “The Treasures of Lovers” 267
6. The _dolce stil nuovo_ poetry and Vossler’s hypothesis as
to its origin 271
7. Earlier examples of this type of poetry in Islam. Romantic
love in profane literature. The “Necklace of the Dove,”
or “Book of Love,” of Ibn Hazm of Cordova 272
8. The mystical love of woman in Sufi literature. Woman as
an angel and a symbol of Divine wisdom. The phenomena
of love analysed and allegorically interpreted in Ibn
Arabi’s _Futuhat_ 274
9. Epilogue. The eschatology of Islam and the conceptions
of Ibn Arabi as a key to the riddles in Dante and a
remote reflex of Christian spirituality 275

ISLAM AND THE DIVINE COMEDY

PART I

_THE LEGEND OF THE NOCTURNAL JOURNEY AND ASCENSION OF MAHOMET COMPARED WITH THE DIVINE COMEDY_