The conceptual journey of sharia in the Spanish lexicon

Abstract

The conceptual history of Spanish Islam is little studied. This article analyzes the concept of sharia in the Iberian Peninsula throughout eight centuries of documentation of variation of the term. We start from two premises that complement each other as much as they debate dialectically. The first is based on the theory of the existence of "fundamental concepts" by Reinhart Koselleck (2012). The second abounds in the observation of Antonio Gramsci (1975) regarding the persistence of the external aspect of language despite historical changes. We will analyze documents, historical works and lexicographical works written mainly in Spanish from the 13th century to the present. We do not intend to be exhaustive in the documentation analyzed —which would be completely impossible, especially in the texts of the 20th century— although it is representative of each period. We take as a theoretical framework the four phases of Edward Said's "traveling theory" (1983 and 2000) and compare them with the conceptual journey of sharia to explore how and why the translation of meanings from "xara é çumna" took place in the first Mudejar documents to “xaraçina” in the later Mudejar laws and to “ley y xara” in Moorish documents, to later, from the 17th century, reach the point of being an absent voice in the documentation and finally reappear late eighteenth century in the dictionaries of the Spanish missionaries. Lastly, it will be outlined the most recent conceptual travel of the charía/sharía in Spanish: firstly, a result of the Spanish colonial enterprise in Morocco, and later, of the globalization of information, the immigration, and the institutionalization of Spanish Islam. The conclusion is that the concept of sharia has functioned as a bridge of meanings that exceed the Islamic doctrine and reflect the very history of Spain.