What Happened in Spain?

I was reading a research paper on ‘The Implication of Globalization on Arabic Language’ for my final assessment when I found a paragraph written about the Islamic Empire in al-Andalusia (now Spain) during its fall down. I felt an utter urge to share this with my Muslim brothers and sisters here.

The paragraph wrote about what happened when the Spanish Crusade had managed to overthrow the Muslims Caliph, they were deciding what to do with the millions of Muslims left. They (the Crusaders) decided to impose a forced conversion to Catholicism as well as destroying anything that relates to Islam. Knowing that that would happen, the Muslims only had two choices; leave Spain or pretending to be like the Catholic but keep the faith inside (Watt, 1965, p. 182).

The crusaders actions were full of hatred; honestly, I didn’t understand the reasons why they did all these besides they were envious and lustful for the power of ruling Spain. They banned the Muslims’ dress, prayers, fasting, pilgrimage to Makkah, and paying the zakat. The Muslims were also prohibited to speak or write in Arabic, and the penalties were severe;

• 30 days in prisons in chains for the first offense
• Double the sentence above for the second offense
• A hundred lashes and four years in the galley (boat or ship, to work as slaves, rowing them)
• Women and youths under 17 years old were imprisoned for four years.

(Thomson, 1989, p. 295)

The Muslims at that time were even unaffordable to utter ‘Allah’ in front of their young children, being afraid that the children would get the whole family in danger if they said the word at public upon hearing it. As time passed by, the knowledge of Islam was torn away from their mind and heart, what was left was the ‘syahadah’ being affirmed silently in heart without understanding the true meaning and obligation of it (Thomson, 1989, p. 285).

What happened to the Muslims back then was the biggest mourning by the Muslims’ world, it was unacceptable for what had been done to our brethren. It was totally the other way around when Islam captured Spain.

Tariq bin Ziyad was leading the Muslims navy from Morocco when they reached the Gibraltar Strait (did you guys ever wonder where the Gibraltar word came from? [Jabal (Gibral) Tariq] (tar)?], and marched the cleansing of Andalusia (the Land of the thieves, now known as Spain) from the barbaric gothic armies, saving the people from enslavement and suppression.

Besides bringing in the technologies, knowledge, civilisation and development, what more important is , Islam had never ever forced anyone in their region of caliphate to embrace Islam, instead, not only the Christians, but also the Jews were let to live in harmony and peacefully from any danger. Even more, in Toledo the three religions, Islam, Christian, and Jew were working together to translate the old transcript to Arabic before translating it to Spanish and other languages (an Islamic History in Europe, BBC 4).

In addition, Islam had also brought in the knowledge of medicine with its scholars, Avicenna (Ibn Sina), agricultural, philosophies, and some others. The most profound technology brought into Andalusia was architecture that was not only adopted by others in Spain, but also by one of the biggest cathedrals in the United Kingdom (When the Moors ruled in Europe). The magnificent build of the Cordova Mosque Pillars were adopted until today by many parts of the worlds for its beauty and its uniqueness.

Islam does not necessarily bring all the technologies, but surely Islam had never ‘murdered’ any culture is has come in to contact, it had either improvised it for the betterment, or provide assistance in living the right ways. Either or, Islam does not permit such separation of the believers of faith from their religions.

A LESSON for us, Muslims.

Reference

[video] An Islamic History of Europe, BBC 4, UK
[video] When Moors ruled in Europe, not known
Thomson, A. (1989). Blood on the cross: Islam in Spain in the light of Christian Persecution through the ages. London: Ta-Ha.
Watt, W. M. (1965). A history of Islamic Spain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.