<div dir="ltr">Dear colleagues:<div><br></div><div>In Joanot Martorell's <i>Tirant lo Blanc</i>, Muslim characters are asked to <i>jurar a l'alquibla </i>(as if they were swearing on the Bible) more than once. Does this reflect any historical practice or reference to making an oath of particular force while standing in the <i>qibla</i>, or perhaps while facing East, or is it just a fanciful construction of the author?</div><div><br>Thanks very much for any light you can shed on this question.</div><div><br>Best regards,<br>David<br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div>------------------------------------</div><div>David Wacks</div>Professor of Spanish<br>UO Dept of Romance Languages<br><a href="http://davidwacks.uoregon.edu/agenda" target="_blank">agenda</a> / <a href="http://davidwacks.uoregon.edu/" target="_blank">blog</a> / <a href="http://davidwacks.uoregon.edu/cv/" target="_blank">cv</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/davidwacks" target="_blank">twitter</a> / <a href="http://hcommons.org" target="_blank">hcommons.org</a></div></div>
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