Qur’anic exegesis (tafsir) manuscript from 16th-century Arévalo (north-western Spain).

This is written in the Romance language (Castilian Spanish) of the Muslims of Castile but with Arabic (as opposed to Latin) alphabet. If this manuscript had been discovered in Aragon, it would have been composed in Catalan, whereas if if had been found in Portugal, it would probably have been written in Portuguese. This language was known as Aljamiado and is one of the most fascinating phenomenon from the late medieval and early modern periods. Through it, the Andalusi (Iberian) Muslims affirmed their distinctive identity and their affiliation with their homeland (Spain) on the one hand and the Islamic world on the other. Another reason to dispense with the ludicrous term “Moor” and its derivatives to refer to the Muslims of Spain from 711-1609.