how muslims conquested spain//part 3

756 - 1031 AD Umayyads of Cordoba

In 750AD the Abbasid’s came to power after vanquishing the Umayyads. The first ruler Abu al-Abbas set about killing the remaining Umayyads who were mostly at Basra.

Ninety managed to escape, so Abbas explained that it was “all a mistake” and invited them to a dinner. When they were all assembled, the soldiers set upon them, flogging them till dead. A carpet was laid out over the bodies and the Abbasids feasted on the uneaten food. Only Abdul Rahman who did not go to the dinner escaped, and eventually turned up in al-Andalus in 756AD.

Abdul Rahman I had a 32 years reign and survived attacks from both Berber and Arab as well as Abbasids and armies of Charlemagne. Having both Arab and Berber as parents helped him to be accepted.

Hisham I (788-796) called for Holy War against Asturias and France, and assembled 100,000 warriors from even Syria, Arabia and Algeria, and attacked Narbonne and Carcassone and won enough booty to fund a new mosque in Cordoba

Al-Hakam (796-822) became known for the “Day of the Ditch” where he beheaded 5,000 converts to Islam in Toledo on suspicion of treachery

Abdul Rahman II preferred his Harem to Jihad and fathered 97 children

Abdul Rahman III (912-961) became one of the great military leaders, and in 929 named himself Caliph at Cordoba, and rivalled both the Abbasids in Baghdad and also the Shiite caliphate in North Africa.

Almanzor (967-1002) rivalled Abdul Rahman III as one of the greatest military leaders in Al-Andalus, and came to power after seducing Aurora, the wife of the homosexual caliph Hakam II. He beheaded 4,000 Christians after taking Zamora. He won the battle near Simancus and again beheaded about 4,000 Christians. Almanzor also razed the Christian shrine city of Santiago de Compostela which was to the Christians like the Kaaba was to the Muslims.

The Caliphate was eventually destroyed by civil war, Muslim against Muslim. Christian Castillians were even called in to help Sulaiman defeat 30,000 Moors at the battle of Cantich.

Cordoba and the Golden Age

When Abdul Rahman III in 929AD named himself the Caliph, proclaiming independence from the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, Cordoba had become the largest city in Western Europe and this ushered in the Golden years. His court was frequented by Jewish, Arab and Christian scholars all working together. Abulcasis (936-1013) wrote a 30 volume medical encyclopaedia and is considered the father of modern surgery.

The 11th century philosopher poets Ibn Hazm who wrote in Arabic and Judah Ha-Levi who wrote in Hebrew spent important time in Cordoba. In fact the two most celebrated scholars of Al-Andalus were the Muslim philosopher Averroes and the Jew Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) came from Cordoba. Maimonides, being Jewish, later fled at an early age to Egypt because of Almohad intolerance.

So civilization flourished in Cordoba while the laws of Islam were relaxed. Muslims, Jews and Christians (banned by Mohammed) worked together progressing science and literature, poetry and music (banned by Mohammed) delighted the Cordobans, and even wine (banned by Mohammed) was drunk for enjoyment.
So what happened to this “Golden Age”.

The Berbers, who held strictly to Islamic teachings, terrorised and looted Cordoba until the city fell and the Umayyad dynasty came to an end in 1031AD.

What can we deduce?

Only when Islamic law was softened did civilization flourish and science and art develop, but chaos and anarchy returned when strict Islam was adopted.

It is ironic considering that an arm bone of Mohammed is in the Mezquita in Cordoba, that when the arm of Mohammed was relaxed, science, philosophy, art, music and poetry flourished, but when Mohammed’s arm was tightened (Berbers), chaos and anarchy took the ascendancy.

This is a lesson not just for Spain today, but for the whole Western world.

1031-1248 AD Jihad continues; Islam declines

For some decades the Caliphate had descended into a number of Taifas or Kingdoms, which weakened the Moors and made them vunerable to Reconquista.

When Toledo was recaptured in 1085AD, and Seville had become the centre of Moorish culture, they sought help from North Africa. However the Almoravids were horrified when they entered Seville and noticed Jews and Christians trading freely in the markets, selling musical instruments and wine. A Fatwa was obtained and the Almoravids gained control of all Muslim lands and even taking back Valencia from the Christians.

This was followed by the even stricter Almohads who in turn fought and defeated the Almoravids in bloody Jihad.

But the Reconquista proved unstoppable and soon only the southern Taifa of Granada was left in Muslim hands, and it had to pay tribute to Castile.

1248-1492 Nasrid Dynasty; Islam is vanquished

Although the Alhambra complex had stood from the 9th century with the Alcazaba military complex, it was not until the 14th century that Alhambra reached its splendour under the Nasrid dynasty. Yusuf I (1333-1354) and Mohammed V (1354-1391) extended the building programme adding a Madrassa and a market and mercantile exchanges. The beautiful Generalife gardens stand as a lasting monument to the grandeur of Muslim Granada, with extensive water features which pay tribute to the technology of its architects.

Eventually Ferdinand and Isabella forced Mohammed XII (Boabdil) to surrender and he even gave them the keys to the palace before fleeing to Fez in Africa. Islam no longer controlled any part of Spain.


Conclusion

Spain provides a perfect example of how Islam is torn apart by sectarian and class rivalries which override the spiritual plane and result in endless Jihad.
There was Jihad galore, with Berbers and Arabs fighting the Visigoths, then Berbers fighting Arabs, Ummayyads fighting everyone else, Christian converts to Islam fighting the ruling classes, negroes, touaregs and Berbers against Christians, Christian soldiers fighting with Muslims against other Muslims, and the Almoravids and the Almohads fighting everyone else and each other.

Was there a Golden Age?

What can be concluded is that under the Umayyads of Abdul Rahman III, civilization flourished because true Islam was not practised, and indeed :

Jews and Christians Dhimmitude was not as severe, and they mixed with Muslim scholars

Literature, Medicine, Science and Astronomy advanced

Poetry and Music flourished (not banned)

Wine was drunk for pleasure (not banned)

Indeed, it could be said that:

“the Golden Age happened in spite of Islam, NOT because of Islam”.

When Cordoba was sacked, the scholars moved base to Toledo after 1085AD where science and literature flourished under Christian rule, NOT Islam. Scholars came from Europe to embrace new ideas then spread this throughout Europe.

Corollary
The stricter the practise of Islam, the more chaos and fighting occurred.

　

A Call to ActionThe West must learn from the lessons of Spain and realize that the Wahhabi form of Islam promoted and spread by the Saudis will never produce another “golden age” and that Islam must be resisted with all our strength. If we are silent, then the West will suffer the same fate as Cordoba did in the 11th century. .