Meet My Protagonists - The Love Story of Moraima and Muhammad in Sultana: The White Mountains

By Lisa J. Yarde

Sultana: The White Mountains, set in late fifteenth-century, is the story of the protagonists Moraima and Muhammad, based on historical figures of the same name. The hero Sultan Muhammad XI (more commonly known as Boabdil in Spanish history) is aged 24 at his introduction. He faces a struggle that will determine his family’s fate and the future of Islamic rule in Spain. He is the eldest son of the Moorish Sultan Abu’l-Hasan Ali (Muley Hacén) of Granada and his wife Sultana Aisha. Born a prince in 1458, Muhammad ascends the throne as a Sultan in 1482. Born in 1465, Sultana Moraima is the youngest daughter of Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Attar, governor of Loja and his late wife Mahjuna. Aged 17 at the novel’s opening, she is also the sole wife and mother of the only children of Sultan Muhammad XI, whom she married in when she was 15. How can Moraima protect her small family from their enemies within and outside the kingdom of Granada?

Granada's Alhambra Palace, where the real Muhammad and Moraima lived

Sultana: The White Mountains, the final novel of the six-part Sultana series, begins at a tumultuous time in history, the last period of Muslim rule in Spain. Spanish chroniclers of the era recorded several details about the real Moraima and Muhammad as the one-time ruler of Moorish Granada and his young wife. Both have also been portrayed onscreen, most recently in the Spanish dramatic series, Isabel, about the unification of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. There are even brief depictions of the turbulent life of Muhammad and Ahmad, his eldest son with Moraima, in the 2016 fantasy film, Assassin’s Creed.

Muhammad XI, as depicted by Alex Martinez
in the Spanish series, Isabel

History has deemed Muhammad XI as a hapless pitiful pawn, caught up in the machinations of his mother Aisha, who reviled his father Abu’l-Hasan Ali and rebelled against him so their son could take the throne. A famous legendary saying of his mother upbraided him with, “Do not weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man” – a ridiculous fable considering the woman who presumably spoke those words, but for some reason, the association has remained. Moraima comes down through the ages as a wilting wallflower, the sweet but pretty daughter of an aged provincial governor, overwhelmed by marriage into the Nasrid royal family and the ambitions of its powerful members. On her wedding day with Muhammad, she described by the historian Lafuente Alcantara as having “… borrowed dresses and jewelry. A chronicler invited to the wedding feast indicated that the bride wore a cloth skirt and black shawl and a white veil that almost covered her face…’pity because her features are pleasing and seductive.’ And a Muslim poet added Moraima had large expressive eyes in an admirable face, and conjectured, ‘through thick clothes one could guess the shoulders, arms, hips and waist contours as classic and opulent.”

Moraima, as depicted by Alba Garcia in
the Spanish series, Isabel

But just because Moraima and Muhammad’s past is already etched in the annals of history doesn’t mean their full story has been revealed. They enjoy a love match, rare among those of the Nasrid rulers. Muhammad is a poet at heart and often expresses his feelings in verses for his wife. While no actual record of poetry by the historical figure exists, the inspiration for the behavior of the fictional character comes from another Sultan who lived in the next century, the Ottoman Suleiman the Magnificent who wrote verses for his greatest love, Hurrem Sultan. While Moraima and Muhammad's union occurred after a chance meeting in the previous novel, their mutual regard endures across the pages of Sultana: The White Mountains, as Muhammad comes to the throne during a coup against his father. In the quest to ensure the viability of his reign, and ultimately, the survival of their family, Moraima seeks out his erstwhile allies and sometimes his rivals. Even in defiance of her husband’s wishes. More than twenty years of study has revealed the power of the Nasrid queens, many of whom were anything unlike the stereotypical view of Muslim wives, veiled and secreted behind harem walls. If Muhammad’s mother could successfully plot against a reigning monarch, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Moraima played her part in dynastic intrigue as well.

What else can readers expect of the protagonists in the novel? In keeping with the theme of the series, Moraima and Muhammad not only share a deepened respect for each other, but they want the same goal – the consolidation of their familial interests in the survival of Moorish Spain. Readers can anticipate there will be dangerous enemies attempting to thwart their plans, who pose threats inside the Moorish kingdom and outside its borders. The novel features its most powerful nemeses in Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragón, whose marriage for Spanish hegemony over the Iberian Peninsula has direct consequences in Moraima and Muhammad’s lives. There are rival court ministers and incompetent generals, dutiful bodyguards and faithful servants. Muhammad’s mother, an inherent schemer, also impacts several events. An intimate connection for Moraima also occurs with a wily former courtesan to Sultans, called The Thousander – readers will be entertained by her antics, including how she got that strange name!

Now, meet Moraima and Muhammad in the first chapter of Sultana: The White Mountains.

Chapter 1

The House of God

Sultana Moraima

Gharnatah, Al-Andalus or Granada, Andalusia

29 Jumada al-Thani 887 AH / August 15, AD 1482

Moraima stirred just as Muhammad nuzzled her cheek. His husky voice whispered in her ear, “The ornament of the world, my precious jewel. The center of my thoughts. My immortal garden, my fragrant rose. The fulfillment of the heart. My music, my song….”

She rolled beneath the damask coverlet and reached for his hand on her shoulder. His thumb skimmed her flesh. “My guide, the brilliance of a thousand suns. My sweet waters, the solace of my soul.”

How many mornings in the past two years had they awoken like this in the bedchamber they shared? Each subsequent day had seemed the happiest of her life, though always surmounted by the arrival of the next dawn.

She sighed as he bent his head and kissed her closed eyelids. “The abode of bliss. My opulence formed in purest gold. My elegance arrayed in finery. You, who have bound me in your spell. Do not relinquish the heart, which never ceases to love.”

Her eyelids flickered and she smiled up at him. Beyond the bed, faintest morning light seeped through the lattice-covered window. She caught his bearded face between her hands and silenced him with soft pecks on his lips. Cinnamon mingled with sugar, from the dafair loaves shared at dinner, lingered on his breath.

Then Muhammad laughed against her mouth. “Were this morning’s verses so poorly composed, so unworthy of the one who inspires them?”

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Lisa J. Yarde writes fiction inspired by the Middle Ages in Europe. She is the author of two historical novels set in medieval England and Normandy, The Burning Candle, based on the life of one of the first countesses of Leicester and Surrey, Isabel de Vermandois, and On Falcon's Wings, chronicling the star-crossed romance between Norman and Saxon lovers before the Battle of Hastings. Lisa has also completed a six-part series set in Moorish Spain, Sultana, Sultana’s Legacy, Sultana: Two Sisters, Sultana: The Bride Price, Sultana: The Pomegranate Tree, and Sultana: The White Mountains, where rivalries and ambitions threaten the fragile bonds between members of a powerful family. Her short story, The Legend Rises, which chronicles the Welsh princess Gwenllian of Gwynedd’s valiant fight against English invaders, is also available.

Men: Muhammad XI of Granada

By Lisa Yarde

Descended from line of kings that ruled Granada, Spain for more than two centuries, Abu 'abd-Allah Muhammad XI was perhaps the unluckiest man to ever ascend the throne. His hold on his kingdom was unsteady from the start, and in the end, he lost it forever to the Catholic monarchs Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon.

Life was already turbulent when Muhammad was born in 1459. He descended from a royal line which had come to power in the mid-1200s. His grandfather Abu Nasr Sa'd maintained a tenuous control of a shrinking territory, which was routinely shaken up by internal squabbles. Over two centuries, the rulers of Granada had developed a reputation for killing their closest relations to hold the throne; at least half of those rulers who came before Muhammad were either dethroned or assassinated by their own relatives. His mother was a princess named Aisha, herself a daughter of Muhammad IX of Granada, who precariously held the kingdom four times. His father Abu'l-Hasan Ali was the heir to the throne, impatiently awaiting an opportunity to seize power.

In 1464, when Muhammad was five years old, his father Abu'l-Hasan Ali, deposed Abu Nasr Sa'd. Aisha and Abu'l-Hasan Ali had at least two more children after Muhammad, a son Yusuf and a daughter, but the new king was not content with his wife. In a raid on the Catholic town of Martos, his men captured a teenaged girl, Dona Isabel de Solis, who was the daughter of the governor. Allegedly, she was so beautiful that Abu'l-Hasan Ali fell deeply in love with her. After her marriage and conversion to Islam, she took the name Soraya and had two sons by Abu'l-Hasan Ali. Legends detail the rivalry between the queens of Granada, especially how Aisha's influence over her son Muhammad XI led to Granada's end.

The fractured family relations in Granada vied with Catholic attempts to retake the Iberian Peninsula. The near-800 year Reconquista of Spain had begun almost as soon as the Muslims invaded. The rulers of Granada had already lost key territories; Antequera in 1410, and Gibraltar and Archidona in 1462. In 1482, they defended the town of Loja against attack from Catholic forces. Its governor, Ibrahim Ali al-Attar had a 15-year old daughter Moraima, who had married Muhammad earlier that year. The governor held the town until his son-in-law arrived with reinforcements and a surprising announcement; Abu'l-Hasan Ali had been driven from Granada into exile in Malaga. Allegedly, Queen Aisha's hatred for her rival Soraya and her husband inspired Muhammad's revenge.

Despite all appearances of a happy union with his queen Moraima and the birth of their first son Ahmad in 1483, Muhammad XI was not to have any peace on the throne he seized. He was captured in battle later that year and held by the Catholics until 1487. Now known to the Catholics as Boabdil, a corruption of his given name Abu 'abd-Allah, Muhammad XI was released under two conditions; he would accept the dominion of the Catholic monarchs and give up his son Ahmad as a hostage. The boy was raised as a Christian in Queen Isabel of Castile’s household, spoke no Arabic and would not see his parents for several years. Despite their agreement with Muhammad XI, Isabel and Ferdinand continued to chip away at the shrinking territory around Granada. Baeza, Malaga and Almeria fell in 1487, followed by Almunecar and Salobrena two years later.

The Capitulation of Granada by Francisco Padilla

By the end of 1491, the armies of Ferdinand and Isabella were at the gates of Granada itself. Muhammad XI secretly agreed to hand over the city to the Christians. He reunited with his eldest son Ahmad. On January 2, 1492, as he left the city with his wife Moraima, the rest of his family and retainers, he paused to look back at the Alhambra palace, which his ancestors built two hundred and fifty years before, and the whole of Granada. "Allahu akbar!" he said, "God is most great," and burst into tears. His mother Aisha chided him: "You do well to weep like a woman, for what you could not defend like a man." The spot where Muhammad XI took his farewell bears the name "el ultimo sospiro del Moro" which translates as "the last sigh of the Moor."

The family retired to an estate in the Alpujarras Mountains. Moraima died soon afterward, and was buried in Monjudar. Muhammad XI crossed over to Morocco. He never returned to Spain.