[381] As to the inferred development of pre-Islamic civilisation in Arabia, see Deutsch, Literary Remains, pp. 91, 123, 124, 313, 314; and Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, Eng. tr. pp. 18, 19.
[382] The first Islamites, apart from the inner circle, were the least religious. See Renan, Études d'histoire religieuse, pp. 257-65; and Van Vloten, Recherches sur la domination arabe, Amsterdam, 1894, pp. 1, 2, 4, 7. Nöldeke (p. 15) speaks in the conventional way of the "wonderful intellectual outburst" which made possible the early triumphs of Islam. The case is really on all fours with that of the French Revolution—"la carrière ouverte aux talens." Cp. Milman, Latin Christianity, 4th ed. ii, 204, as to the readiness with which the followers of Moseilama turned to Mahommedanism.
[383] See above, p. 97, note 1.
[384] Prescott, History of Ferdinand and Isabella, Kirk's ed. 1889, pp. 187, 188.
[385] Cp. Bouterwek, History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature, Eng. tr. 1823, i, 4, and Sismondi, Literature of the South of Europe, Eng. tr. i, 61, 64, 68, 80-90. As to Arabic study of linguistics, cp. Nöldeke, p. 17.
[386] Cp. Testa, History of the War of Frederick I. upon the Communes of Lombardy, Eng. tr. p. 100.
[387] Van Vloten, Recherches sur la domination arabe, Amsterdam, 1894, pp. 7-12.
[388] As to the religious zeal of the Berbers in the way of Moslem dissent, on all fours with the phenomena of Protestantism, see Lane-Poole, as cited, p. 53.
[389] Dozy (Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne, 1861, iii, 109) decides that "in Andalusia nearly everyone could read and write"; but even if this were true, which is very doubtful (seeing that on the same page the historian tells how Hakam founded twenty-three free schools for the children of the poor in Cordova), the reading would be almost solely confined to the Koran.
[390] The mere preaching and miracle-working of the Marabouts among the Berbers set up successively the movements of the Fatimites, the Almoravides, and the Almohades (Lane-Poole, p. 54).