Mike Reitz

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2132603

For my TimeToast assignment I chose to focus my studies on the rise and fall of
Islam in Sicily. I chose to study this region because of my heritage. My mother’s side of
my family is from Italy and Sicily and I still have relatives that live there. I have always
taken an interest in this part of my heritage to the point that during my time at Saint
Vincent College I spent a year studying the Italian language. I never really found it
surprising that I was raised Catholic until completing this assignment which I will discuss
further below.

I was very surprised to learn that Sicily was at one point predominantly Muslim. I
had no idea that for a period of time Muslims occupied Sicily. Reflecting on the
assignment I am finding myself by how the religion was spread. In everything we have
read thus far Muslims are peaceful unless they have to go to war, but even then, they
must meet the set criteria before they are allowed to take up arms. However, when
completing my studies, I learned that Sicily was taken under siege by Islamic North
Africa to spread their religion. I have summarized my timeline below and included a link
to it above.

To summarize my timeline the spread of Islam in Sicily started with Euphemius.

Euphemius was part of the Byzantines until he married a nun not only against the law
but also against her will, when he was being arrested, he rebelled and escaped to the
Islamic North Africa. He then convinced them to help him regain control of Sicily. To do
this, they supplied him with forces which he used to lay siege to Syracuse Sicily. For a
while Syracuse was able to resist the siege until Islamic Spain sends reinforcement
troops.
 After Syracuse falls Naples, Amalfi, and Gaeta all align themselves with the
Muslims. This alignment gives the Muslims bases along the coast of Italy. These bases
allow them a way to attack Italy and try to get a foothold there. However, after a few
years the Byzantines were able to rally enough forces to push the Muslims back out of
Italy. Even though the Muslims continue to focus their efforts of Calabria.

Almost 80 years later the Muslims were able to take Rametta which is the last
Christian community in inland Sicily. When taking towns such as this and Taormina they
would sale the citizens of the towns into slavery and then repopulate the towns with
Muslims, this practice is sometimes referred to as “islamization”.

Over the next years the two faiths intermingle and due to conversions happening
on a large scale, Muslim men married Christian women and were allowing the women to
raise their children Christian. In the 970s, Ibn Hawqal visited and was repulsed by this.
This helped to speed up the conversion to Islam under the Shiite Fatimid dynasty.

In the early 1000s the Normans become the new power in Italy and being to
move towards Sicily. The Normans siege and take Palermo around 1072. The fall of
Palermo marks the end of Muslim rule in Sicily. Islam definitely left it’s mark on Sicily
though because it took over two hundred years for much of the population of Sicily to
convert back to Christianity.

Tada, R. (2013, August 1). Islamic Isle of Sicily – A history of Islam in Italy. Retrieved

from https://muslimvillage.com/2013/08/01/42238/islamic-isle-of-sicily-a-history
of-islam-in-italy/