"View of Morocco across the Straits of Gibraltar, Near Tarifa, Cadiz Province, Andalusia, Spain". Still Image. Panoramic Image.
View of Morocco across the Straits of Gibraltar, Near Tarifa, Cadiz Province, Andalusia, Spain
View of Morocco across the Straits of Gibraltar, Near Tarifa, Cadiz Province, Andalusia, Spain
ISLAM
In brief, Islam is a monotheistic (believing in one God) and Abrahamic (meaning of Abraham) religion. Islam was introduced to the world in the 7th century by a man named Muhammad (570-632 CE), who was from the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Muhammad became the prophet to Allah (God) after experiencing an angelic vision on Mount Hira.(1) This makes Islam the youngest of the world religions. W. Montgomery Watt writes in his book A History of Islamic Spain that “Muhammad was both a prophet and a statement …. interested in Arab unity.”(2) What Watt is saying here is that Muhammad was more then just a religious leader, but a societal reformer and leader as well. Muhammad’s primary teachings are known as the Five Pillars of Islam, which are: declaration of faith, praying five times a day, giving money to charity, fasting (primarily during the month or Ramadan) and a pilgrimage to Mecca (at least once).(3) Muhammad dictated these teaching into the Islamic holy book named the Qur’an. Muslims, the people who follow the Islamic faith, believe that Islam has always existed, that Allah (the Arabic word for God) had sent previous prophets to teach mankind how to live. These prophets were Abraham, Moses and Jesus with Muhammad being the final prophet.(4)
THE HISTORY OF ISLAM IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
The Islamic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula began long before 711, when Muslim troops first set foot on it. Islamic rise to dominance truly began with the fall of the Holy Roman Empire. Arabs began to unify and in 633-642 they captured Syria, Iraq, and Egypt. In 661 the Caliphate (kingship) was in the hands of the Umayya Family, a branch of the tribe of Quraysh and of Mecca.(5) Then in 698 the Moors sacked Carthage. The Muslim empire was ever expanding, like a slow moving train of power, creeping towards Europe.
In Spain, the aristocratic family, the Visigoths had been in majority rule since they first entered the Peninsula in 414. Disjointed with various factions operating on their own, the Visigoths were “internally weak”.(6) One common theory is that the Jewish community of merchants, were under immense pressure by the Goths to convert to Christianity, and this pressure actually led to the speculation that Jews encouraged a Muslim invasion. W. Montgomery Watt writes, “The weakness of the Visigothic Kingdom may thus be attributed to three main factors: the divisions within the upper classes over the succession to the kingship; the discontent of the other sections of society at the privileges of the upper classes, with the consequent unreliability of the army; and persecution of the Jews.”(7) Musa ibn Nusayr, the Muslim governor of North Africa, seeking to the further Islamic rule. Sending the young general Tariq bin Ziyad, a Berber officer (Berbers, recent converts to Islam from Christianity, reaping benefits of Islamic conquest), with an army of 7000 troops. Thus, in April or May of 711 the Arab conquest came as a bolt from across the blue, coming across the strait of Gibraltar. Hugh Kennedy writes in his book Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of Al-Andalus, “Visigoths did not take the invasion sufficiently seriously,” (8) adding that many either made peace or fled northwards. (9) Shortly after the initial invasion in 712, Musa ibn Nusayr with an army of 18,000 reinforcements followed Tariq ibn Ziyad and aided in the conquest of al-Andalus (Muslim name for the Iberian Peninsula). Kennedy goes on to explain that the Muslims established power with relative ease and seemed to do so in two stages: “The first was the take-over of the main cities and the fertile lands of the south and the Levante… The second phase involved the conquest of the north-east…”(10) By 715, almost all of Spain was in Muslim hands, and in 717 Cordoba became the new capital and center of political life. Kennedy states that by 757 it was clear that the Muslims of the newly formed al-Andalus, were there to stay, and thus the transformations begun.(11) This early period of conquest and establishment is often referred to as the “Dependent Emirates”. An Emirate is a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Islamic Caliphate, often utilizing pre-existing officials under a Muslim “emir” or commander, appointed by the Caliph.(12) During this time there was political stability, with religious tolerance towards Christians and Jews, as well as economic wealth through the newly forged trade connections with Africa and fellow Muslim States. The next period, from 756-929, is often referred to as The Independent Emirate. Independent Emirates is the beginning of a self-ruled Muslim Spain. During much of the early portion of this period al-Andalus experienced continued wealth, and political and religious stability. Forced conversion was not the norm during these earlier periods. Instead people were often allowed to continue practicing Christianity or Judaism, as both Christians and Jews were seen as monotheistic and on the right path, they just needed to take the final step to Islam. This is not to say that forced conversions did not happen, and non-Muslims were still considered second-class citizens. However, religious tolerance was more prevalent, and Muslims believed others capable of contributing to society and did not place them intoslavery. 929-1031 is the time of the Caliphate in al-Andalus, with multiple centralized local governments each trying to take hold of the state. As the centralized symbol of the Caliphate striving to maintain control. Beginning in 1009, disunity and a slow decay in social tolerance and the economic condition swept across al-Andalus as the central government lost control and local ones fought for it.(13) He also writes from 1008 to 1031, wealth, power and cultural achievements fell into the abyss of a bloody civil war.(14) The Muslim State was dividend up into “Taifa Kingdons” as Kennedy writes, each small and operating under their own independence.(15) Attempts to unify al-Andalus were made during the Berber Almoravid Era from 1031-1130. Kennedy tells us that the Almoravid military regimes as well as the lesser Almohad Caliphate movements attempted unification.(16) He states however that; “Muslim disunity was a major cause of weakness” during the period and would lead to its undoing.(17) The decline of al-Andalus began in 1130 after these attempts to unify the nation failed. Disunity, oppression, and the lack of religious tolerance led to the Christian reconquest of Spain and Portugal beginning in 1223. As Christian forces slowing took back the peninsula beginning in the North and slowly moving south. Ferdinand III, king of Castile and Leon, conquered much of the al-Andalusian heart lands by 1231, and Granada by 1235. Seating his government in Cordova by 1236, where he then made the leap to Sevill in 1248 signifying the end of Muslim rule in the peninsula.(18) Pockets of Muslims remained under Castilian rule, and many Muslim residents stayed in there homes and towns. Forced conversions became increasingly common as Kennedy writes citing that it was “not because the Muslims who once inhabited the last part of these two countries converted to Christianity of their free will, but because they were defeated militarily and, ultimately, presented with the choice of conversion or expeditions.”(19) They simply did not have choice and were forced to survive by any means possible. L.P. Harvey adds to this point in his book Islamic Spain, 1250 to 1500 by discussing the multiple sides of forced conversion. From a Christian perspective they were doing these Muslims a favor, rounding them up and giving them the option of conversion, expulsion or sometimes death.(20) Muslim historians point out the cruelty of the entire situation. Harvey adds in another of his books Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, between 1609-1614 a mass expulsion of all Muslims, some 300,000 people were forcibly removed from their homes and were deported from Spain.(21) Kennedy states that it is impossible to truly understand how deeply influential military might, technology, political structure and religion were by the Castilians during the Reconquista. Each of these factors contributed to the demise of al-Andalus, and led to the eventual expulsion of Muslims from Spain and Portugal.(22) 1 "The Prophet Muhammad and the Origins of Islam." The Prophet Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. Accessed March 24, 2015. http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-educators/publications-for-educators/art-of-the-islamic-world/unit-one/the-prophet-muhammad-and-the-origins-of-islam.
2 W. Montgomery Watt,. A History of Islamic Spain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1965. 1. 3 "Islam at a Glance." BBC News. June 30, 2009. Accessed March 24, 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/ataglance/glance.shtml. 4 Ibid. 5 Watt, A History of Islamic Spain. 6 Ibid., 5. 7 Ibid., 7. 8 Hugh Kennedy. Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of Al-Andalus. London: Longman, 1996. 15. 9 Ibid., 21. 10 Ibid., 13. 11 Ibid., 29. 12 Watt, A History of Islamic Spain. 13 Ibid., 78. 14 Ibid., 73. 15 Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal, 130. 16 Ibid., 154-272. 17 Ibid., 306. 18 Watt, A History of Islamic Spain, 127. 19 Kennedy, Muslim spain and Portugal, 305. 20 L. P. Harvey. Islamic Spain, 1250 to 1500. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1990. 21 L. P. Harvey. Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. 1. 22 Kennedy, Muslim spain and Portugal, 308. |
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