World Literature Paper II

International Baccalaureate World Literature

World Literature paper II: During Hasan’s time and continuing to the present, religion is often used as an excuse for war and the atrocities that accompany it, but it is power not religion that draws these wars.

03/10/2010

Word count: 1,416

In the novel Leo Africanus, Amin Maalouf creates the false impression of the function of religion played throughout the novel. During Hasan’s time and continuing to the present, religion is often used as an excuse for war and the atrocities that accompany it, but it is power not religion that draws these wars. In the novel Leo Africanus, all people have committed horrific crimes in the name of religion but its desire for power not religion that causes war− it creates conflict. This can be shown through the Castilians of Spain, the Ottoman Turks, and the German Lansquenets. These armies represented a different religion and used it as an excuse to gain more power against each other.

The first set of incidents in Leo Africanus is in the Book of Granada. The Moorish Kingdom of Granada was in decline. Its leader, Sultan Boabdil, a corrupt Muslim leader began to surrender his land and soldiers to the invading Castilians to spare his life. After the Castilians ransacked Granada, I believe the Castilians began to gain their power by eliminating other religious groups they may harm the Castilians rise in power in Moorish Spain. Amin Maalouf shows this with the attack on the Jewish Community in Granada. At this time, Hasan overhears the discussion between Gaudy Sarah and his mother. Gaudy Sarah explains how one of her “nephews was burnt alive at the stake…” In this scene, the Catholic Castilians began their inquisitions on the other religions in Granada. In this case, the Jews of Granada were shown as an example of those who are not Catholic. “…when this city is taken, do you think that your lands, your houses and gold will be less coveted than ours?” In this quote, Gaudy Sarah describes how is Hasan’s family life is no different than that of the Jews in Granada. No matter the social status, wealth income or profession you are, if you are Muslim or Jewish, it is most likely that person will lose it to the Castilian state. “…do you believe that your Faith will be more tolerated than ours?” In Castile, or Spain, all of its citizens must be Catholic. All Muslims and Jews who wish to keep their culture, religion and social status are allowed to leave Spain without the threat of death. What Amin Maalouf is portraying the idea of the Castilians of using religion to unite all of Spain to increase their power, but with no real intentions of using it to unite the people with peace. After the surrender of the tower Comares by Boabdil, “a bishop hoisted up a cross on the watch tower, and the soldiers cheered him, crying ‘Castile’, ‘Castile’, ‘Castile’, three times, which was their custom when they occupied a place.” This quote, Amin Maalouf is trying to show the reader that after the bishop hoisted up a cross on the watch tower, the Castilian soldiers cried their state of Castile rather than to give thanks to God himself for the victory. Although the Castilians gain a united Spain with the victory over Granada, it shows how the actions committed by the Castilian soldiers were unchristian and were used to gain power through religion.

This is a preview of the whole essay

The next set of incidents in Leo Africanus is in the Book of Cairo. The Ottoman Turks led by Sultan Salim the Grim, invaded Cairo with its armies to expand its power to Egypt. Led by Tumanbay, the Royal Advisor of the Sultan of Cairo, the Cairenes, people of Cairo, had a strong defense against the Ottoman soldiers until the death of Tumanbay after a betrayal from an ally. However, different from the Castilian conquest of Spain, the Ottoman Turks and the inhabitants of Egypt were the same religion, but different ethnic groups in both armies. Seeing the inhabitants of Cairo threatening the rule of the Ottoman Turks, “the Circassians were the first victims. Mamelukes or descendants of the Mamelukes, they were hunted down relentlessly…” From this excerpt proves Maalouf’s idea of using religion as an excuse the actions and genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks. The Circassians are a different ethnic group with its own histories, people, and culture and the Ottoman Turks saw that as a threat to their rule. The Ottoman “soldiers forced open the doors of houses, and under the pretext of flushing at escaping Mamelukes, gave themselves over to pillage and rape…” Believing themselves to chase out Mamelukes out of the houses in Cairo, the soldiers committed rape and murder over the citizens of Cairo. Believing their religion justifies their actions, the Ottoman Turks are able to kill and rape the citizens of Cairo. Although the Ottoman Turks and the citizens of Cairo share a common religion, in this case, Islam, the differences of culture and ethnicity is what triggered the fire of the conflict. “…they now had to punish the entire population of Cairo. The soldiers of the Grand Turk poured into the streets with orders to kill anything that breathed…” The Ottoman Turks establish their powers by eliminating the other ethnic groups that threaten their rule in Egypt. With the native population of Cairo decimated, the Ottoman Turks are able to rule without the uprising of the suppressed peoples. Just in history, people of the same religion have killed each other to gain power over each other, as Amin Maalouf proves in the Book of Cairo.

The final set of incidents in Leo Africanus is in the Book of Rome. The Christian reformers known as the Lansquenets led an uprising in Rome to separate them selves from the Catholic Church of Rome. Believing them to have the right to break apart from the Church, the Lansquenets sacked Rome, “…totally absorbed in their pillaging, orgies, and drunkenness.” In Rome, the Lansquenets committed unchristian like actions against the innocents living in Rome, believing it was the necessity of their new religion, Lutheranism. Being secured in Castel San Angelo, Hasan describes the onslaught of the lansquenets and the destruction they have caused in Rome. “By the God who caused me to traversed the wide world, by the God who has made me live through the torments of Cairo and those of Granada, I have never encountered such bestiality, such hatred, such bloody destruction, such pleasure in massacre, destruction and sacrilege!” this quote proves that the Lansquenets use their authority of religion to commit the atrocities they committed in Rome. In sacking Rome, the Lansquenets would attack the Church by destroying the sacredness of church ideas. “Would anyone believe me if I were to say that the nuns were raped on the alters of the churches before being strangled by laughing lansquenets?” Since the nuns symbolize the Church, the Lansquenets defile the sacredness of the purity of the nuns as a way to express their rebellion against the Church. “Would anyone believed me if I were to say that the monasteries were sacked, that the monks were relieved of the habits and forced under the threat of the whip to trample on the crucifix and proclaim that they worshipped the cursed Satan, that the old manuscripts from the libraries fed huge bonfires, around which drunken soldiers danced, that no sanctuary, no palace, no house, escaped being looted, that eight thousand citizens perished, mostly from among the poor, while the rich were held hostage until their ransom was paid?” In this excerpt, Hasan describes how the Lansquenets destroyed most of Rome in order for them to gain their independence from the Papacy and the Catholic Church. It seems that the Lansquenets use their religion as an excuse to get rid of the church’s power and establish their own power in Europe.

Although people commit atrocities to other people in the name of their religion, it is only a power struggle that lies beneath religion. During Hasan’s time, for example, the Castilians use their religion to eradicate the other religions in Spain, to make it a unified kingdom without the Muslims or Jews to threaten their rule. The Ottoman Turks use religion to kill off the native populace in Cairo so the Ottoman Turks are able to rule without the threat of other ethnic groups. The Lansquenets use religion to separate themselves from another power, in this case, the Catholic Church, and to establish their own power in Europe. In Leo Africanus, it is evident that people have committed appalling crimes in the name of religion, but its desire for power, not religion, that causes conflict with the other people in Hasan’s time.

Work Cited

Maalouf, Amin. Leo Africanus. Trans. Peter Sluglett. Chicago: New Amsterdam, 1992.