Searching for Arab artifacts in Sicily – Arab Media

When I told Mrs. Diana Segantini from Lugano in the Swiss Italian canton that I would be traveling to Palermo in Sicily with my wife, she suggested that we go meet her friend, Mrs. Monica Saetta from Palermo, and that we would learn things that tourists might not know. I actually contacted her and we agreed to meet at a cafe and she sent me the coordinates.
I came to Sicily, I knew very little about it, Frederick II was a German who ruled it in the thirteenth century, he was tolerant of Arabs and Muslims, so much so that he entered Jerusalem without fighting, but through understanding with Muslims, I knew that the Arab geographer Muhammad Al-Idrisi – author of the book “Nuzhat Al-Mushtaq fi Piercing the Horizon” – lived there, but I did not know in what period. So I asked Mrs. Seta: Where did the people of Sicily come from? She answered: We are a mixture of Normans, Italians and Arabs. She added: Look at my nose, it is Arab, but my skin is Norman. The Normans originally came from Scandinavia, and later migrated from there to Normandy in northern France. I asked her about King Frederick II, she answered: He is our most important king, he is buried in the main cathedral in Palermo, which I recommended to visit because of its architectural importance, especially its architecture influenced by Islamic architecture.
The panel contains a summary of the history of the Norman kings who have ruled Sicily since the early eleventh century, with a history of the kings. I noticed similarities between the reasons why they were able to rule Sicily and the reasons why the Muslim Arabs were able to rule the island. In the early ninth century, a Roman commander sought help from the Arabs in Tunisia when he rebelled against the then Roman king. When the leader was victorious with the help of the Arabs, the Arabs marginalized him and ruled all of Sicily, including Palermo, for about two hundred years. When the Italians sought the help of the Normans in their war with the Arabs and defeated them in the early eleventh century, the Normans marginalized the Italians. This reminds us of how the Persians and Turks were able to control the Abbasid Caliphate after being called upon to support one side of the Abbasid Caliphate instead of the other.
“To fully understand Sicily, one must uncover its Arab identity,” said John Vincent, in an article titled “Sicily’s Arab Identity” published last May on italysegreta.com. “The Arabs expanded the cultivation of palm trees, sugar cane and oranges in Sicily,” Vincent added. In the 10th century, Arabs also introduced rice and saffron cultivation to Sicily. Vincent calls the city of Cefalù, 77 kilometers east of Palermo, in the Arab hinterland. In fact, I visited it and its cathedral, which was built in 1131 and looks like a Moroccan-style mosque from the outside. The tall palm trees in front of the cathedral enhance its mosque appearance. In fact, you need to go inside to be sure it is a church and not a mosque. John Vincent found many Arabic words intertwined with the Sicilian dialect in his article “Sicily’s Arab Identity” and during his visits to various cities in Sicily, including “peace be upon you.”
While I was touring Palermo Airport and the city of Cefalu, I saw photos of two civilians who seemed to be talking to each other, so I took a photo of them and asked about them. In fact, I thought they were the governors of the Sicilian city. But when I had dinner with Ms. Monica Saitta, accompanied by my wife, she surprised me by revealing that they were the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Porcellin, who were assassinated by the Mafia in January and August 1992. But before that, these two judges had put more than four hundred Mafia members in prison. Both were born in Palermo and the Palermo Airport was named after them.
A friend suggested that I try some Sicilian fruit, and he was right. In fact, apricots, peaches and grapes are outperforming the varieties I know. This brings us to the agricultural crisis in Sicily, or more precisely, the drought crisis that the island is suffering from. For more than a year. I would not have known about it at all if a friend had not sent me a piece of news published in the New York Times on July 24, with the headline: “Sicily fears losing its coast as sea dries up”. The fact is that tourists do not feel the water crisis, although they consume five times more than ordinary citizens. One of the manifestations of the drought, especially in the southern region that Tunisia faces, is that livestock breeders begin to send them to slaughterhouses due to lack of water and feed.
I would like to mention that the Arabs introduced water-saving irrigation systems to Sicily. But the situation has changed, and those who need water more than they do will not help them.

Hamid Hammoud
Kuwait Al-Qabas newspaper
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