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Muslim Iberia was a multi-cultural mix made up of Muslims, Christians and Jews. Although the latter two lived under restrictions, most of the time the three groups managed to get along together, and even to benefit from of each other to some extent. Muslim Iberia’s refined civilisation matched the heights of the Roman Empire and the later Italian Renaissance. Muslim forces invaded Iberia in 711 and conquered it within seven years, turning it into one of the great Muslim civilisations that reached its summit with the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba in the tenth century. Muslim rule declined after that and eventually ended in 1492 with the conquest of Granada. The centre of Muslim rule was Southern Spain, al Andalus.
Muslim Spain was not a single period, but a succession of different rules.
- The Dependent Emirate (711-756)
- The Independent Emirate (756-929)
- The Caliphate (929-1031)
- The Almoravid Era (1031-1130)
- Decline (1130-1492)
The traditional story says that the oppressed Christian chief Julian contacted the Muslim governor of North Africa, Musa ibn Nusair, in 711. He asked for help to get rid of Roderick, the current ruler of Spain, a tyrannical Visigoth. Musa ibn Nusair sent a young general, Tariq bin Ziyad, along with 7,000 troops. Though there is no doubt that Ziyad invaded Spain, it is supposed that this invasion was rather intended to enlarge Muslim territory than in response to Julian’s plea. The army of the Visigoths was easily defeated, their chief killed in battle, leaving the invading Muslims with most of Spain and Portugal, whose people offered little opposition. In 720, the entire region was mostly under Muslim control, most likely also due to the generous terms of surrender offered to the people, terms that contrasted with the harsh conditions previously imposed by the Visigoths.
Stability came with the establishment of the Andalusian Umayyad dynasty, lasting from 756 to 1031. The credit goes to Abd al-Rahman, who founded the Emirate of Córdoba, and was able unite the various different Muslim groups.
The Muslim period is often described as a Golden Age of Learning, where libraries, colleges and public baths were established, and literature, poetry and architecture blossomed. Muslims as well as non-Muslims made major contributions to this flourishing culture. Some historians maintain that the idea of religious and ethnic tolerance and interfaith harmony between the three monotheistic religions is falsely interpreted, and that this might lead modern readers to believe that Muslim Spain was tolerant by the standards of the 21st century, which would be wrong. The historian Bernard Lewis wrote that the status of non-Muslims in Islamic Spain was a sort of second-class citizenship but he went on to say:
“Second-class citizenship, though second class, is a kind of citizenship. It involves some rights, though not all, and is surely better than no rights at all … A recognized status, albeit one of inferiority to the dominant group, which is established by law, recognized by tradition, and confirmed by popular assent, is not to be despised.”
Jews and Christians were forced to live in a state of ‘dhimmitude’. A dhimmi was a non-Muslim living in an Islamic state who was not a slave, but did not have the same rights as a Muslim living in the same state. This means they maintained some freedom, providing they obeyed certain rules. By the standards of the time they were not much of a burden, and in many ways the non-Muslims of Islamic Spain were treated better than conquered people might have expected:
- they were not forced to live in ghettoes/special locations
- they were not slaves
- they were not prevented from practising their faith
- they were not forced to convert or die
- they were not banned from any particular ways of earning a living
- they could work in the civil service of the Islamic rulers
- Jews and Christians were able to contribute to society and culture
The Muslims did not explicitly hate or hassle the non-Muslims. As Bernard Lewis puts it: “… in contrast to Christian anti-Semitism, the Muslim attitude toward non-Muslims is one not of hate or fear or envy but simply of contempt.” As the Islamic empire declined, and more territory was taken back by Christian rulers, Muslims in Christian areas found themselves facing similar restrictions to those they had formerly imposed on others. But, on the whole, the lot of minority faith groups was to become worse after Islam was replaced in Spain by Christianity.
Under Abd al Rahman III (r. 912-961), the cultural peak of Muslim civilisation in Spain was reached. In the 10th century, Córdoba, the capital of Umayyad Spain, was unrivalled in both east and west for its wealth and civilisation. One author wrote about Córdoba:
“… there were half a million inhabitants, living in 113,000 houses. There were 700 mosques and 300 public baths spread throughout the city and its twenty-one suburbs. The streets were paved and lit … There were bookshops and more than seventy libraries.”
Muslim scholars served as a major link in bringing Greek philosophy, of which the Muslims had previously been the main custodians, to Western Europe.
The collapse of Muslim Spain was not only due to the increasing aggressions on the part of the Christian states, but also to divisions among the Muslim rulers themselves. Early in the eleventh century, the single Islamic Caliphate had shattered into a score of small kingdoms, ripe for picking-off. The first big Islamic centre to fall to Christianity was Toledo in 1085. Others followed. Though the Muslims under general Yusuf bin Tashfin managed to regain control of most of Andalusia by 1102, it didn’t last. As soon as Yusuf had died in 1106, the “rulers of Muslim states began cutting each other’s throats again”, as one historian put it. Owing to internal rebellions in 1144 and 1145, further shattering Islamic unity, the Muslims finally lost all power in Spain in 1492.
By 1502 the new rulers issued an order, requiring all Muslims to convert to Christianity, and when this didn’t work, they imposed brutal restrictions on the remaining Spanish Muslims.
Links:
• Medieval Sourcebook - Ibn Abd-el-Hakem: The Islamic Conquest of Spain, Fordham University
• Edward Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter LI, University of Adelaide
• Islam Spain and the History of Technology, Davidson College of Engineering
Main image: Alhambra by My Other Car Is A Bus
Map of Umayyad Caliphate: University of Pennsylvania
Divider and floral ornament: Swiss Web Art
Masthead background: Persian Garden, Sarmarcande Bahktiari's Kilim Bazaar
Sources: Wikipedia, BBC, others
Remaining images, content summary and page design: Alal-Sin Malachus
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