The impact of Islamic culture in the book “Al-Conde Lucanor”

The issue of Arab or Islamic influence on Western civilization is as funny as it is thorny and requires more effort and dedication to explore its depths and determine its true dimensions.
After the aversion that characterized the Western point of view towards everything related to the Islamic world, an era began in which honest criticism was responsible for showing the virtue of this world that carried the torch of civilization for many centuries. According to historical reality, the bright light of Islamic civilization over the land of armed Spain extended its rays to spread throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.
 
The result of this direct contact - life and cultural - appears in the Arab-Islamic spirit that breathes Don Juan Manuel, which contributed to the formation of his conscience.
This spirit rears its head in everything Don Juan wrote, and surfaces in his best work (Al Conde Lucanor). The work derives from Islamic civilization stylistic and artistic elements, such as: the inclusion of secondary - sub-stories within the general framework of the main story, the presentation of many issues and moral principles through popular and attractive examples, the use of wisdom, proverbs and famous sayings to extract lessons, focus on them, and attribute the narrative to the conscience of the first person. And the direct intervention of the author in what he writes...etc.
The influence of Islamic civilization is not limited to the stylistic and artistic elements referred to, but rather extends to the topics treated and the ideas presented, as many of the book’s themes are inspired by
Islamic history, customs, and heritage.  This confirms that the best prose writer known in the Spanish
Middle Ages drank and drank - like many others - from the springs of Islamic civilization.