View source for Ahmad ibn Qasim al-Hajari

{{Short description|Moroccan translator of Morisco origin}}
{{Infobox person
|image=
| birth_date  = c.1570
| birth_place = [[Andalusia]]
| death_date  = c.1640
| death_place = [[Tunis]]
| education      =
| occupation     = Moroccan Ambassador to France and the Netherlands
| title          =
| spouse         =
| parents        =
| children       =
| nationality    = ''Moroccan''
| website        =
}}
'''Ahmad ibn Qāsim Al-Hajarī''' ({{langx|ar|أحمد بن قاسم الحجري}}) also known as '''Al-Hajari''', '''Afoukay''', '''Chihab''', '''Afokai''' ({{langx|ar|أفوكاي}}) or '''Afoqai''' ({{langx|ar|أفوقاي}}) (c.1570, [[Andalusia]]–c.1640, [[Tunis]]), was a Muslim [[Morisco]] who worked as a translator in Morocco during the reigns of the [[Saadi dynasty|Saadi]] sultans, [[Ahmad al-Mansur]], [[Zidan Abu Maali]], [[Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik II]] and [[Al Walid ibn Zidan]].<ref name=Hjamri>{{in lang|ar}} Abdulfattah Al-Hjamri, [http://saidbengrad.free.fr/inv/hojmripage/recitvoyage.htm المغرب والغرب-Morocco and the West], Retrieved 2005-March-10</ref> He was later sent as an envoy by Sultan [[Zidan Abu Maali]] of Morocco who sent him to France and Netherlands to negotiate the release of some Moriscos who were captured by privateers and thrown on the shores of the mentioned countries.
==Early life==
Al-Hajari fled [[Spain]] for [[Morocco]] in 1599, following the persecutions of the Moriscos.<ref name="Hillgarth 210"/>
==France (1610–11)==
{{further|France–Morocco relations}}
In 1610-11, the ruler of Morocco [[Mulay Zidan]] sent Al-Hajari to [[France]] in order to obtain redress on the subject of the [[Moriscos]].<ref name="Hillgarth 210">[https://books.google.com/books?id=vXTs8jJiuu8C&pg=PA210 ''The mirror of Spain, 1500-1700: the formation of a myth'' by J. N. Hillgarth p.210''ff'']</ref> He was involved in arms smuggling while in southern France, and visited [[Paris]] and [[Leiden]].<ref name="Hillgarth 210"/> The reason for the visit to France seems to have been that some French corsairs, falsely offering a transit to Morocco to the Moriscos being expulsed from Spain after 1609, had instead captured them and their belongings.<ref name="RA 410">[https://books.google.com/books?id=62SKVQNKMr0C&pg=PA410 ''Romania Arabica'' by Gerard Wiegers p.410]</ref> After sailing from [[Safi, Morocco|Safi]] to [[Le Havre]], Al-Hajari met with the King, and obtained a safe-conduct to visit the country. In Bordeaux he obtained some financial compensation from the shipowners who had been involved in the Moriscos affair.
===Oriental studies===
[[File:Erpenius Grammatica Arabica 1617.jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Erpenius]] received Lessons in Arabic grammar under al-Hajari. Then he wrote, ''Grammatica Arabica'' in 1617.]]
{{further|Orientalism in early modern France}}
Al-Hajari met with the [[oriental studies|Orientalist]] [[Thomas Erpenius]] in September 1611 in [[Paris]], and taught him some Classical Arabic.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sl8fniRER4kC&pg=PA43 ''Eastern wisedome and learning: the study of Arabic in seventeenth-century Europe''] by [[G. J. Toomer]] p.43''ff''</ref><ref name="Alastair">Alastair Hamilton, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/751466 An Egyptian Traveller in the Republic of Letters: Josephus Barbatus or Abudacnus the Copt] Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 57. (1994), pp. 123-150.</ref> Through the introduction of Erpenius, Al-Hajari also met with the French Arabist [[Étienne Hubert (Arabist)|Étienne Hubert d'Orléans]], who had been a court physician for Moroccan ruler [[Ahmad al-Mansur]] in [[Marrakech]] from 1598 to 1601. Etienne Hubert offered to help him in his proceeding and to represent him "to all people of authority".<ref name="RA 410"/> Erpenius described Al-Hajari as:
{{blockquote|A civilized and intelligent man, who as a youth studied literature, and who even speaks moderately good Latin Arabic [Classical Arabic]|Correspondence of Erpenius, September 1611.<ref name="RA 410"/>}}
They also discussed about religious subjects:
{{blockquote|We have frequent discussions about religion, but believe me their discussions are not so easy to refute as many people imagine. They abhor especially the godhead of Christ (...) About many other things, they do not think as stupidly as some of us try to prove by means of the Quran.|Correspondence of Erpenius, September 1611.<ref name="RA 410"/>}}
==Low-Countries (1613)==
In 1613, Al-Hajari visited the Dutch Republic, which he could visit freely due to the existence of a Treaty of Friendship. He stayed from June to September.<ref name="RA 410"/> He met an old acquaintance, the former Dutch Consul in Morocco [[Pieter Marteen Coy]].<ref name="Matar 44">[https://books.google.com/books?id=U09goMOOG5oC&pg=PA44 ''In the lands of the Christians: Arabic travel writing in the seventeenth century'' by Nabil I. Matar p.44 Notes 38-39]</ref> He also discussed with the Dutch Prince [[Maurice of Orange]] the possibility of an alliance between the [[Dutch Republic]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Morocco]] and the Moriscos, against the common enemy [[Spain]].<ref name="Hillgarth 210"/> His book mentions the discussion for a combined offensive on Spain,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QI8b8jUpJDkC&pg=PA37 ''In the Lands of the Christians'' by Nabil Matar, p.37] {{ISBN|0-415-93228-9}}</ref> as well as the religious reasons for the good relations between Islam and Protestantism at the time:
[[File:Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt - Maurits prins van Oranje-edit 1.jpg|thumb|Al-Hajari discussed an alliance with [[Maurice of Orange]].]]
{{Blockquote|Their teachers [Luther and Calvin] warned them [Protestants] against the Pope and the worshippers of Idols [referring to the Islamic view of Catholic [[iconodule|image veneration]]]; they also told them not to hate the Muslims because they are the sword of God in the world against the idol-worshippers. That is why they side with the Muslims.|[[Al-Hajari]], ''The Book of the Protector of Religion against the Unbelievers'' <ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QI8b8jUpJDkC&pg=PA33 ''In the Lands of the Christians'' by Nabil Matar, p.37] {{ISBN|0-415-93228-9}}</ref>}}
He then met with [[Erpenius]] there, as well as with the future explorer [[Peter Nuyts]].<ref name="RA 410"/><ref name="Matar">[https://books.google.com/books?id=gWjpowTH4b4C&pg=PA75 ''Europe through Arab eyes, 1578-1727'' by Nabil I. Matar p.75]</ref> In the series of Moroccan envoys to the Dutch Crown, Al-Hajari was preceded by [[Muhammad Alguazir]], and succeeded by [[Yusuf Biscaino]].<ref name="RA 410"/>
==Later life==
The later part of his life was devoted to translating religious texts from Arabic to Spanish for the benefit of the Moriscos diaspora.<ref name="Hillgarth 210"/>
His importance lies in his chronicling of his journey which also contains a part on his fleeing the Inquisition with his family. His chronicles are titled: ''The supporter of religion against disbelievers and the unsheathed sword on heathens'' ({{langx|ar|ناصر الدين على القوم الكافرين وهو السيف الأشهر على من كفر}}, ''{{Ill|Kitāb Nāṣir al-dīn ʻalā ʼl-qawm al-kāfirīn|ar|رحلة الشهاب إلى لقاء الأحباب}}'', also shortened to ''Kitāb Nāṣir al-dīn''), which he authored in 1037 AH/1637 CE at the request of a [[Tunisian people|Tunisian]] [[Sheikh|Cheikh]].<ref name=Husam>{{in lang|ar}} Husam Tammam, [http://www.islamonline.net/arabic/arts/2002/03/article5.shtml تصحيح تاريخ العلاقات الإسلامية الهولندية-Revising the History of Islamic-Dutch Relations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305140537/http://islamonline.net/abic/arts/2002/03/article5.shtml |date=2016-03-05 }}, Retrieved 2005-March-10</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=U-kQJr-D_ikC&pg=PA324 ''Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614'' by L. P. Harvey, p.324]</ref>
He seems to have died in [[Tunis]] in the 1640s.<ref name="Hillgarth 210"/>
==See also==
*[[Islam and Protestantism]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
Nabil I. Matar, ''In the Land of the Christians'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=QI8b8jUpJDkC&dq=A%E1%B8%A5mad+ibn+Q%C4%81sim+Al-%E1%B8%A4ajar%C4%AB&pg=PA42] (retrieved, August 5, 2010)
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Moroccan translators]]
[[Category:Moroccan writers]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:1570s births]]
[[Category:1640s deaths]]
[[Category:Moroccan diplomats]]
[[Category:17th-century Moroccan people]]
[[Category:16th-century Moroccan writers]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Morocco to France]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Morocco to the Netherlands]]