I find the Emirate of Granada to be a fairly interesting state. It was the final remaining rump of the once-so-might al-Andalus, but that didn't make it a backwater by any means. Granada was economically prosperous and culturally vibrant, and Muslims, Christians, and Jews seemingly lived together largely peacefully. The several points mentioned in this thread further make it a fascinating country imo. Of course, Granada ultimately fell to a Spanish invasion, owing to the perceived threat of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean.
I want to explore a surviving Granada, even if it largely exists at the mercy of the Spaniards. But one thing that's noticeable about Granada is that it was fully monolingual in Arabic; even the Christians and Jews used Arabic exclusively. I'm a sucker for Mozarabic, so I wanted to see if there's any way to make Granada... well, not monolingual in Arabic. Either it could retain Mozarabic, or a new Arabized Romance language could develop.
The way I understand it, Mozarabic was already on its way out by the time Muhammad I took power, dying out by the year 1300. If this source is to be believed, Muhammad did not help their cause either:
Assuming this is true, we could say that Muhammad "just" doesn't expel them, but 1) that's handwavium, and 2) it won't help anyway, as the Christians would probably just switch to Arabic either way.
I did some digging and it seems that Muhammad II, the second sultan of Granada, was finalizing an anti-Castilian alliance with Aragon. They were planning to invade Castile and partition their conquests, with Murcia going to Aragon and the rest of what is now OTL Andalusia going to Granada. However, the sultan's son, Muhammad III, poisoned his father before the campaign started because he wanted to accede to the throne and became impatient. And then Granada declined.
Allowing this campaign to go through is probably a solid PoD to ensure Granada's survival. However, it isn't a full solution to the language issue; the Christians who now find themselves living in Granada might just switch over to Arabic anyway.
All in all, I'll probably need a PoD several centuries earlier that emancipates the Mozarabic language in some way, preventing it from being outcompeted by Arabic. This is probably difficult for as long as the Umayyads rule, as they believed Arab-ness was a fundamental aspect of being a Muslim. But if I have the Umayyads replaced by a Muladí dynasty like Omar ben Hafsun, then Granada, Almoravid/Almohad Spain, and pretty much all the gains of Castile, León, Portugal and Aragon are likely butterflied.
So this is where I consult the board: How can I emancipate the Mozarabic language in al-Andalus, to the point that the last remaining rump of Muslim Iberia would use it as a primary language? We don't literally need to end up with OTL Granada; in fact, that might be a detriment to my goal if it's true that Muhammad was "a staunch defender of Islam and Islamic culture". At the simplest level, I'm just trying to obtain a Romance-speaking Muslim kingdom in southern Spain that outlives the rest of al-Andalus and is no bigger than OTL Andalusia at its absolute maximum. I'm aware that this is a highly specific and likely difficult goal to accomplish, but I figure it's worth trying at least.
I want to explore a surviving Granada, even if it largely exists at the mercy of the Spaniards. But one thing that's noticeable about Granada is that it was fully monolingual in Arabic; even the Christians and Jews used Arabic exclusively. I'm a sucker for Mozarabic, so I wanted to see if there's any way to make Granada... well, not monolingual in Arabic. Either it could retain Mozarabic, or a new Arabized Romance language could develop.
The way I understand it, Mozarabic was already on its way out by the time Muhammad I took power, dying out by the year 1300. If this source is to be believed, Muhammad did not help their cause either:
Assuming this is true, we could say that Muhammad "just" doesn't expel them, but 1) that's handwavium, and 2) it won't help anyway, as the Christians would probably just switch to Arabic either way.
I did some digging and it seems that Muhammad II, the second sultan of Granada, was finalizing an anti-Castilian alliance with Aragon. They were planning to invade Castile and partition their conquests, with Murcia going to Aragon and the rest of what is now OTL Andalusia going to Granada. However, the sultan's son, Muhammad III, poisoned his father before the campaign started because he wanted to accede to the throne and became impatient. And then Granada declined.
Allowing this campaign to go through is probably a solid PoD to ensure Granada's survival. However, it isn't a full solution to the language issue; the Christians who now find themselves living in Granada might just switch over to Arabic anyway.
All in all, I'll probably need a PoD several centuries earlier that emancipates the Mozarabic language in some way, preventing it from being outcompeted by Arabic. This is probably difficult for as long as the Umayyads rule, as they believed Arab-ness was a fundamental aspect of being a Muslim. But if I have the Umayyads replaced by a Muladí dynasty like Omar ben Hafsun, then Granada, Almoravid/Almohad Spain, and pretty much all the gains of Castile, León, Portugal and Aragon are likely butterflied.
So this is where I consult the board: How can I emancipate the Mozarabic language in al-Andalus, to the point that the last remaining rump of Muslim Iberia would use it as a primary language? We don't literally need to end up with OTL Granada; in fact, that might be a detriment to my goal if it's true that Muhammad was "a staunch defender of Islam and Islamic culture". At the simplest level, I'm just trying to obtain a Romance-speaking Muslim kingdom in southern Spain that outlives the rest of al-Andalus and is no bigger than OTL Andalusia at its absolute maximum. I'm aware that this is a highly specific and likely difficult goal to accomplish, but I figure it's worth trying at least.