Islam in Sicily as described in chosen Arabic sources from 10th to 12th century

The most important Arabic sources describing relations between Muslims and Christians in Sicily are those written by eyewitnesses who either were bom or spent a period of time there. Unfortunately, only a few works concerning that problem have survived. In this paper 1 make use of the best-known sources that have not been translated into Polish. They differ considerably in character and purpose. The first is Ibn Hawqal’s Kitab surat al-ard which offers an interesting and vivid picture of 10,h- century Palermo. Another is the well-known 12,h-century geographical work by al-IdrTsT Kitab nuzhat al-mustaq fi’htiraq al-ajaq where Sicily is described in detail in the fourth iqlim, but only a few remarks cast some light on the problem of Islam on the island. The last source used is Ibn Gubayr’s Rihla, some thirty years later than al-Idnsi’s work and written in the form of a diary from his trip from Andalus to the East. His account gives the most sincere and colourful picture of Sicily. The feature common to all the sources is that they show Islam’s outward face, without touching upon its doctrinal problems. They offer information about mosques, some Muslim customs, selected Christian customs, and to some extent about Christian attitudes toward Muslims. They emphasize the role Sicily played as a place where Islamic culture and science influenced Europe.