The Moral Vision
History Speaks
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HISTORY SPEAKS
Roger II, (1095-1154), founder of the Norman
dynasty in Sicily, holds a distinguished place
among medieval European monarchs. He had his
capital at Palermo, and is noted for having made
Sicily into a prosperous country. He established a
strong administration, and constructed a powerful
fleet. The success of Roger II, according to a western
historian, can be attributed in part to the fact that he
“made Sicily a meeting place of European and
Arabic scholars.”
Al-Idrisi was a contemporary of Roger II. Born in
Marrakesh, he was educated in Spanish
universities. Later he travelled extensively in
Europe, Asia and Africa. He became the greatest
geographer of his age, and a close friend and
adviser to Roger II, at whose court he served as
official geographer. Roger II originally invited AI-
Idrisi to Sicily to make a map of the world for him.
Here we can see the cause of the esteem in which
Muslims were held in times past. They made Islam
a dominant force on the world scene, not through
