I read about the history of Muslim spain long time ago, but I was not very sure about how the fall came about. I think now I have a better idea.
But before I get into the history, let me recount an experience.
I was talking to an ultra-orthodox friend of mine. He told me this about Spain (Al-Andalus)- “the Muslims there were so impious that when the Christians told them to wait the Muslims did not have the ability to run or fight. The Christians came back with swords to slaughter them.
I was deeply disturbed by this account. There was no sympathy for a race that was being persecuted! There was, instead, a contempt for the sufferer (a signature of right wing mind).
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History
It is a sad story and a shameful one for the Musilms. And a demostration of how easily unity of Ummah can fall apart.
Problem started when the Umayyad dynasty at Baghdad was overthrown by the Abbasids. A young surviving Umayyad prince named Abd-ar-Rahman came to Spain and started to rule there. The Abbasids, sure enough,did not like the development. They sent a band of soldiers to kill Abd-ar-Rahman. These soldiers were duly defeated by Abd-ar-Rahman, and he then declared Andalus independent of Baghdad.
Can you imagine what happened next? The Abbasids formed an alliance with the French kings and warlords who were fighting Muslim Andalus from the north. The Andalusians, in turn, allied with the Byzantine empire who were defending their falling empire againt invading Muslims.
Even inside Andalus things were not black and white. There were many Christians fighting for the Muslims. For the invading French, however, things were black and white. They considered Muslims as pagans and heretics who had to be destroyed.
Meanwhile Abd-ar-Rahman’s successor Abd-ar-Rahman III declared himself the Caliph of all Muslims.
This proved fatal. Succession struggle became so bitter that the empire fell into pieces of city states. Muslim Andalus never recovered from this infighting which was almost a civil war. Add to the problem- the invading French from the north.
The city states held out for about three more centuries among infighting and constant attack from the north.
In 1492, with the fall of Granada, fall of Muslim spain was complete. Then came in Spanish Inquisition, the brutality of which I better not mention, except that no less than a million books on theology, physics, chemistry, astornomy, philosophy and medicine burned.
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So what do I make of the narrative of my ultra-orthodox friend? I think that the Abbasids, who were never quite friendly with the Umayyad Al-Andalus spread these rumours about Andalusian Muslims, as propaganda. I would argue that these propaganda has survived through ages.
Instead of helping the tolerant and coherent Muslim Andalus, where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived side by side, they (both the Andalusian and the Baghdadi Caliphate) paved the path for inquisition and maybe even the crusades.
manas
I didn’t know about the forged Hadith, but I did read about Umayyad’s treatment of the non-Arabs. They even made Muslim non-Arabs pay jiziya, which is proposterous.
Abbasids had their pitfalls as well. They gathered wealth upon wealth, and it was during their reign that the the Islamic unity came under serious challenge.
I guess, after the death of the prophet, and the four rightly guided Caliphs, we are at a loss.
I can only hope…
Indscribe
No, but I will look it up at Amazon. Thanks for the recommendation.
(UPDATE: I could not find it on Amazon, can you tell me where to get it, or which library has it?)
By the way, I’ve always wondered what your pen name means. Is it ‘Indian Scribe’?
Raza
Thank you very much for the `hau(n)slaa afzaai’. Really!
Thanks. I’ll check it.
My parents are very fond of Spain, Andalucia in particular. I’ve been twice and when I went to visit the Alhambra, I heard another interesting little historical anecdote. According to the tour guide the last ruler of Granada and his entourage fled the Spaniards, and his mother said to him “Weep my son. Weep like a woman for what you did not fight for like a man.” I asked the guide what his sources were for this and of course he did not have any.
Ashi
I have heard a very similar version- the mother said ‘Do not cry like a woman for what you could not defend like a man.’
Everybody mention it, but source? I don’t know.
But Muslim Al-andalus was doomed the moment it was broke into pieces. Unless somebody could unite them, they had to fall at some point of time.
With it, went a beautiful example of love of humanity, coherence and beauty. Alhamra can testify to the love of beauty.
Yeah I only asked about the source because I was curious to see whether it was a legitimate story or not.
It’s a shame that today’s Muslims still haven’t learned the whole “united we stand, divided we fall” lesson.
Nice posts.
The story of Muslim Spain is indeed heartbreaking- you should check out a poem called The Lament of Saville- it really breaks the heart.