An anonymous book appeared in Venice in 1547 titled L'Alcorano di
Macometto, and, according to the title page, it contained "the
doctrine, life, customs, and laws [of Mohammed] . . . newly
translated from Arabic into the Italian language." Were this true,
L'Alcorano di Macometto would have been the first printed direct
translation of the Qur'an in a European vernacular language. The
truth, however, was otherwise. As soon became clear, the Qur'anic
sections of the book-about half the volume-were in fact
translations of a twelfth-century Latin translation that had
appeared in print in Basel in 1543. The other half included
commentary that balanced anti-Islamic rhetoric with new
interpretations of Muhammad's life and political role in
pre-Islamic Arabia. Despite having been discredited almost
immediately, the Alcorano was affordable, accessible, and widely
distributed. In The Venetian Qur'an, Pier Mattia Tommasino uncovers
the volume's mysterious origins, its previously unidentified
author, and its broad, lasting influence. L'Alcorano di Macometto,
Tommasino argues, served a dual purpose: it was a book for European
refugees looking to relocate in the Ottoman Empire, as well as a
general Renaissance reader's guide to Islamic history and stories.
The book's translation and commentary were prepared by an unknown
young scholar, Giovanni Battista Castrodardo, a complex and
intellectually accomplished man, whose commentary in L'Alcorano di
Macometto bridges Muhammad's biography and the text of the Qur'an
with Machiavelli's The Prince and Dante's Divine Comedy. In the
years following the publication of L'Alcorano di Macometto, the
book was dismissed by Arabists and banned by the Catholic Church.
It was also, however, translated into German, Hebrew, and Spanish
and read by an extended lineage of missionaries, rabbis, renegades,
and iconoclasts, including such figures as the miller Menocchio,
Joseph Justus Scaliger, and Montesquieu. Through meticulous
research and literary analysis, The Venetian Qur'an reveals the
history and legacy of a fascinating historical and scholarly
document.
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