Greek language Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Arabic alphabet=== Some [[Greek Muslim]]s [[Cretan Muslim|from Crete]] wrote their [[Cretan Greek]] in the [[Arabic alphabet]]. The same happened among Epirote Muslims in [[Ioannina]]. This usage is sometimes called [[aljamiado]], as when [[Romance language]]s are written in the Arabic alphabet.<ref name="Kotzageorgis">{{cite book |last=Kotzageorgis |first= Phokion |editor1-last=Gruber |editor1-first=Christiane J. |editor2-last=Colby |editor2-first=Frederick Stephen |title=The Prophet's Ascension: Cross-cultural Encounters with the Islamic Mi'rāj Tales |date=2010 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-35361-0 |pages=297 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sjLHirJmvPUC&q=Reworking+the+Ascension+in+Ottoman+Lands:+An+Eighteenth-Century+Mi%27r%C4%81jn%C4%81ma+in+Greek+from+Epirus&pg=PA297 |language=en |quote=The element that makes this text a ''[[wiktionary:unicum|unicum]]'' is that it is written in Greek script. In the Ottoman Empire, the primary criterion for the selection of an alphabet in which to write was religion. Thus, people who did not speak—or even know—the official language of their religion used to write their religious texts in the languages that they knew, though in the alphabet where the sacred texts of that religion were written. Thus, the Grecophone Catholics of Chios wrote using the Latin alphabet, but in the Greek language (''[[frangochiotika]]''); the Turcophone Orthodox Christians of Cappadocia wrote their Turkish texts using the Greek alphabet (''[[karamanlidika]]''); and the Grecophone Muslims of the Greek peninsula wrote in Greek language using the Arabic alphabet (''[[tourkogianniotika]]'', ''[[tourkokretika]]''). Our case is much stranger, since it is a quite early example for that kind of literature and because it is largely concerned with religious themes."; p. 306. The audience for the Greek ''[[Mi'rājnāma]]'' was most certainly Greek-speaking Muslims, in particular the so-called ''[[Tourkogianniot]]es'' (literally, the Turks of Jannina). Although few examples have been discovered as yet, it seems that these people developed a religious literature mainly composed in verse form. This literary form constituted the mainstream of Greek ''[[Aljamiado]]'' literature from the middle of the seventeenth century until the [[population exchange between Greece and Turkey]] in 1923. Tourkogianniotes were probably of Christian origin and were Islamized sometime during the seventeenth century. They did not speak any language other than Greek. Thus, even their frequency in attending mosque services did not provide them with the necessary knowledge about their faith. Given their low level of literacy, one important way that they could learn about their faith was to listen to religiously edifying texts such as the Greek ''Mi'rājnāma''.}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page