Miguel Asín Palacios (5 July 1871 – 12 August 1944) was a Spanish scholar of Islamic studies and the Arabic language, and a Roman Catholic priest. He is primarily known for suggesting Muslim sources for ideas and motifs present in Dante's Divine Comedy, which he discusses in his book (1919). He wrote on medieval Islam, extensively on al-Ghazali (Latin: Algazel). A major book El Islam cristianizado (1931) presents a study of Sufism through the works of Muhyiddin ibn 'Arabi (Sp: Mohidín Abenarabe) of Murcia in Andalusia (medieval Al-Andalus). Asín also published other comparative articles regarding certain Islamic influences on Christianity and on mysticism in Spain.
Life Miguel Asín Palacios was born in Zaragoza, Aragón, on 5 July 1871, into the modest commercial family of Don Pablo Asín and Doña Filomena Palacios. His older brother Luis, his younger sister Dolores, and he were little children when their father died of pneumonia. His mother the young widow continued in business with help and made ends meet with decorum but not as well as before. He attended the Colegio de El Salvador instructed by Jesuits in Zaragoza, where he began to make lifelong friendships. He entered the Seminario Conciliar, singing his first Mass at San Cayetano in Zaragoza in 1895.Emilio García Gómez, "Don Miguel Asín (1871-1944) Esquema de una biografía" in Al-Andalus 9: 266-291, 269 (1944).
At the Universidad de Zaragoza Asín had met and begun study under the Arabist Professor Julián Ribera y Tarragó.Asín would later write the long introduction to the jubilación for Prof. Ribera, Disertaciones y Opúsculos (Madrid: Imprenta de Estanislao Maestre 1928), 2 volumes, at I: xv-cxvi. In 1896 at Madrid he defended his thesis on the Persian theologian Ghazali (1058–1111) before Francisco Codera Zaidín and Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo.Emilio García Gómez, "Homenaje a Don Francisco Codera: 1836-1917" in Al Andalus at 15: 263-274 (1950). All three professors guided his subsequent studies. Asín then developed his study of Al-Ghazali, and published it in 1901. He also wrote on Mohidin Abenarabe, who is often called the leading figure in Islamic mysticism. Thus Asín was running parallel with a then European-wide effort to understand Muslim inner spirituality.José Valdivia Válor, Don Miguel Asín Palacios. Mística cristiana y mística musulmana (Madrid: Ediciones Hiperión 1992) at 19-25, 66.James T. Monroe, Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship (Leiden: Brill 1970, Reprint, Cambridge: ILEX Editions/Harvard UP 2021) at 176.
Professor Codera then retired from his chair in the Arabic Language at the Universidad de Madrid in order to create room there for Asín; Ribera in Zaragoza allowed Asín to leave to assume this Madrid cátedra in 1903. Professor Asín lived in the same well-connected boarding houseThis boarding house was well known for its residents and visitors, past (e.g., Sanz del Rio) and current. The tertulia (discussion group) of Menéndez y Pelayo met there, as did a variety of politicians and their supporters, and the young Duque de Alba (hence Asín's entrée to royalty). Emilio García Gómez, "Don Miguel Asín" in Al-Andalus 9:266-291 at 274-275 (1944). as Codera, and was well received in the university. By 1905 Professor Ribera had also come to Madrid; together with Asín they soon founded the journal Cultura Española (1906–1909). Asín attended international conferences in Algeria (1905) and Copenhagen (1908), where he engaged other Arabists and academics in Islamic studies. In Madrid he continued to prosper, eventually being admitted to the royal court where he gained the friendship of Alfonso XIII.Monroe, Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship at 175-178, 129.Valdivia Válor, Don Miguel Asín Palacios at 25-27, 68. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1921.
Asín, is known for his academic work concerning the medieval Muslim-Christian interface of theology, mysticism, and religious practice, with a focus on Spain. His was a form of intellectual history. Among the figures studied were Al-Ghazali, Ibn 'Arabi, Averroës (Ibn Rushd), Ibn Masarra, and Ibn Hazm, as well as the rabbi Maimonides (all from Al-Andalus except al-Ghazali). Asín did comparative work vis-à-vis Islam respecting Ramon Lull, Thomas Aquinas, Dante Alighieri, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Blaise Pascal.
Asín's manner of approach was to stick to a theme, to keep circling over it, each time adding to the understanding. His method of work involved meticulous planning, by first conceiving the order of presentation in detail, then straight ahead, without a rough draft ("sin borrador"), redacted with each reference note on its proper page.Emilio García Gómez, "Don Miguel Asín" in Al-Andalus 9:266-291 at 284, 287 (1944).
In 1932 the journal Al-Andalus began publication under the direction of Asín Palacios; it was technically equipped to satisfy a readership of academic specialists. Asín himself was a frequent contributor. In the universities, a new generation of Spanish Arabists was emerging, such as Emilio García Gómez, influenced by Asín.See the Continuations section below. In 1936 Asín was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936, and caught Asín Palacios while in San Sebastián in the Basque country visiting his nephew and family. The horrors of this struggle remain very painful to contemplate with regard to both sides; over six thousand priests were assassinated by factions of the Second Spanish Republic. Asín was in personal danger, yet that September nationalist forces captured San Sebastián. During the war he taught Latin and managed to obtain photocopies of Arabic texts.Valdivia Válor, Don Miguel Asín Palacios at 34-35.Monroe, Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship at 192.Emilio García Gómez, "Don Miguel Asín" in Al-Andalus 9:266-291 at 284-285 (1944). After the trauma of Civil War, Asín was able to return to Madrid and resume his professorship at the university. There he continued his duties and his work on his multi-volume study of Al-Ghazali.
Don Miguel Asín Palacios had intense black eyes, fine hands; photographs did not seem to capture his personality or expressions. He was well dressed ("entre cardenal y torero"). Characterized by a preference for a tranquil working environment over professional ambition, he was regarded as a supportive and generous friend. His colleagues recognized in him an enduring innocence, so that he was "not knowing" in the mixed turbulence of the world.García Gómez affectionately commented that Asín sometimes would appear "un poco en la luna". "Don Miguel Asín (1873-1944) Esquema de una biografía" in Al-Andalus 9:266-291 at 289 (1944). One may conjecture whether Prof. García Gómez tended to type his teacher. He projected a brightness ("diafanidad"); his mind had developed to become a great work of refinement. A pious priest, an admirer of John Henry Newman, "a child of 73 years" when he died.Emilio García Gómez, "Don Miguel Asín (1873-1944) Esquema de una biografía" in Al-Andalus 9:266-291 at 287-289 (1944).
He died on 12 August 1944 in San Sebastián. His passing prompted many scholars to review his work.See bibliography below.
Works Following early publications on Al-Ghazali and Ibn 'Arabi as noted above, Asín Palacios discussed, edited and rendered into Spanish translation many Arabic writings, and composed books and essays on related themes, including an occasional piece in Latin, French, or Italian.See "Selected Publications" section below. For descriptions of different critiques of Asín's works generally, see Valdivia Válor, Don Miguel Asín Palacios at 147-175; also the "Selected Commentary" section, infra.
Aquinas and Averroës
Asín Palacios researched Muslim influence on Tomás d'Aquino (c. 1225–1274), which would most likely come from the philosopher Ibn Rushd of Córdoba (1126–1198), whether as protagonist or antagonist. Ibn Rushd came to be written Averroës in Latin. The result was the 1904 article, "El Averroísmo teológico de Santo Tomás de Aquino" by Asín, the professor from Zaragoza newly arrived in Madrid.Originally published in Homenaje a D. Francisco Codera en su jubilación del profesorado. Estudios de erudición oriental (Zaragoza: Escar 1904) at 271-331; reprinted in the collection of Asín's articles, Huellas del Islam (1941), at 11-72.
With respect to Greek philosophy, particularly Aristotle, Asín infers that the religio-philosophic world inhabited by Averroës is analogous to that of Aquinas, and also to that of ben Maimon or Maimonides (1135–1204) the Jewish philosopher and talmudist, also from Córdoba.Asín Palacios, "El Averroísmo" (1904), in Huellas del Islam (1941), e.g., cf., section III at 49, also VI at 63-64. Asín understood that it was with piety that Averroës used reason to interpret his Islamic faith, and probes this issue for the sake of clearly distinguishing Averroës from several of the not-so-pious Latin "Averroístas".Asín, "El Averroísmo" (1904), in Huellas del Islam (1941), III at 43, 45-46, especially 49; see also II at 21, and again V at 60.Earlier Asín quoted rather extensively from Averroës, his Kitab al-Tahafut (ed. Cairo A.H.1303), and the Kitab al-falsafat Ibn Rusd (ed. Cairo AH.1313), which contains two works including Fasl al-maqal (Doctrina decisiva). Asín, "El Averroísmo" (1904) in Huellas (1941), II at 21-41. Asín also refers to medieval voluntarism (called asaries in Islam), in order to contrast and distinguish the similar rationalisms held by Averroës and by Aquinas."El Averroísmo" (1904), in Huellas del Islam (1941), IV at 52, V at 57-60. Duns Scotus (1266-1308) was an advocate of voluntarism.Asín understood that Santo Tomás and Ibn Rusd, rather than legendary enemies, shared a similar task that encumbered their age, i.e., to reconcile faith and reason. Valdivia Válor, Don Miguel Asín Palacios (1992) at 104-107, 104. Yet, many Thomists did not then accept without great controversy Asín's point of view.P. Chalmeta Gendrón, "Asín Palacios, Miguel" in Gran Enciclopedia Rialp [GER] (1991) GER. As a medieval tactician, St. Thomas did write his De Unitate Intellectus Contra Averroistas [Paris 1270], translated as On the Unity of the Intellect against the Averroists (Marquette Univ. 1968); cf., Etienne Gilson, The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy (New York: Scribners 1936) at 176-178, 182-183. Nonetheless, what Asín presents here may be considered a modernist view point through a wide-angle lens, a philosophical anthropology.
Ibn Masarra