The Moriscos' Letter of the Dead: A Safe Passage to the Afterlife

FAIN: FT-58696-11

Miguel Angel Vazquez, PhD
Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL 33431-6424)

In this project I propose an examination of the letters of the dead produced by the Moriscos (the last Muslims in Spain who produced hundreds of manuscripts written in Spanish but with the letters of the Arabic alphabet.) These letters were part of the Moriscos' mortuary rituals and constitute an innovation within Islam. They were meant to identify the dead person as a good Muslim and a faithful follower of the tenets of Islam. The project will entail spending a month in Spain visiting the several archives that contain Morisco manuscripts, copying any letters of the dead that I find, and consulting with other experts in the field of the Moriscos. The second month will be spent analyzing the content of the letters, and preparing the results of my analysis for publication in a peer reviewed journal.