Anselm Turmeda (), later known as Abd-Allah at-Tarjuman ( ar, عبد الله الترجمان; 1355–1423), was a Christian priest from

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

who converted to Islam and settled in Tunis. He is one of the earliest writers to have written in both

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and a Latin language (

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

). He became a vizier in

Hafsid The Hafsids ( ar, الحفصيون ) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. who ruled Ifriqiya (western ...

Tunis where he died in 1423 during the reign of Abu Faris Abd al-Aziz II.

Life

Turmeda wrote that he studied and lived in

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

. When approximately 35, he traveled to Sicily and stayed there for five months, after which he sailed to Tunis during the reign of

Abu al-Abbas Ahmad II Abu al-Abbas Ahmad II () (reigned 1370–1394) was a Hafsid Caliph of Ifriqiya. He restored the Hafsid kingdom to full power after a period of disarray which followed the invasion of Ifriqiya led by Abu Inan Faris of the Marinids. Biography ...

(r. 1370—1394), where he stayed with some Christian clergymen and traders for four months, during which time he asked to be connected to a Muslim who knows the "language of the Chrisitians", and was introduced to the court physician Yusuf, and announced to him that the reason he came to this land was because he intended to convert to Islam. Yusuf then introduced him to the Hafsid ruler, who inquired about his motives and authorized him to convert and offered him a salaried position.

Works

*''Llibre dels bons amonestaments'' Turmeda dates it to April 1398, eleven years after his settlement in Tunis. It consists of 428 poems arranged in three rhyming stanzas followed by a rhyme-free one. Its preface says it was "composed in Tunis by monk Anselm Turmeda, also called Abdalà". The work was very popular in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, being called ''franselm'' (from "fra .e. friarAnselm"). *'' Disputa de l'ase'' Written in 1417 in Catalan, no part survived in its original language. Current Catalan editions are available based on a medieval French translation. The

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

put it on the

Index of prohibited books The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden ...

in 1583, contributing to its disappearance. Both for political and religious reasons, it did not square with the orthodoxy of Catholic Spain in the 16th century. It presents a dispute among a donkey and a friar, arguing about the supremacy of men over animals, each one defending their genre. Finally, men win because Christ was incarnated in a man. The work is, however, very critical towards mankind, in all the aspects: religious, moral, political, etc. *''Llibre de tres'' This book wants to instruct in an amusing way. *''Tuhfat al-Arib fi al-Radd 'ala ahl al-Salib'' nglish: The Gift to the Intelligent for Refuting the Arguments of the Christians ar, تحفة الأريب في الرد على أهل الصليب (1420) The best known of his Arabic books, it is a polemical work against Christianity and affirming the prophethood of the messenger of Allah,

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

. It had three editions in Arabic, three in Turkish, and one in Persian in a century (1873 to 1971). (Epalza)

References

External links

Page about Anselm Turmeda by the AELC
''Association of Writers in Catalan Language''. Page in Catalan, English and Spanish. * Anselme Tourmède, ''Pourquoi j'ai embrassé l'islam'', Perpignan, France: Éditions de la Merci, 2009

Poems by Anselm Turmeda (Catalan)

Esbozo comparativo del Pluralismo Pedagógico en Ramon Llull y Anselm Turmeda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turmeda, Anselm Spanish Arabic-language writers Writers from Catalonia Exophonic writers Medieval Catalan-language writers Catalan-language poets Translators from Arabic Translators to Arabic Translators from Catalan Translators to Catalan 1355 births 1423 deaths Converts to Islam Converts to Islam from Roman Catholicism Spanish Muslims Majorcan writers Spanish Franciscans 14th-century Aragonese Roman Catholic priests 14th-century people of Ifriqiya 15th-century people of Ifriqiya Spanish emigrants to Tunisia