Spain, the world champions of football, have given the besieged people of Gaza, as well as Palestine supporters across the world, much to cheer about. Throughout the month-long FIFA World Cup, Spanish players carried the Palestinian flag in solidarity. After their victory in the final, Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana led Spain’s show of support by displaying the Palestinian flag.
Event Context
The Origins of Al-Andalus
O’ Callaghan continues: “Thus, when Ferdinand and Isabella completed the reconquest in 1492, they decided that religious diversity was no longer acceptable; they expelled the Jews and began efforts to convert the Muslims who remained in the peninsula. Even though the Muslims accepted Christianity, at least outwardly, they were never wholly trusted and were expelled finally in the seventeenth century. Religious uniformity and intolerance were thus consecrated as public policy.”
Continuing influence
Even though Al Andulas ceased to exist politically by the end of the 15th century, the influence of this nearly a millennium-long embrace left an indelible mark on Spanish culture.
Illustratively, the expression ‘Hasta La Vista’ has roots in the term ‘Insha-allah’ or ‘I hope so’; several cities in both Americas such as California, Guadalajara, and Guadalupe have names that are Spanish but their actual etymological roots lie in the Arabic influence.
For instance, California’s root is a 16th century Spanish novel which references the rule of a legendary queen or Calipha; Guadalajara emanates from Wadi al Hajarah or the valley of stones; and Guadalupe comes from Wadi al lub or the valley of wolves; almost every 10th word in Spanish language is Arabic. Even the Spanish word for a mayor– Alcalde–comes from the Arabic word al-qadi.
Author Valay Singh’s HistoriCity is a column about a city in the news based on its documented history, mythology, and archaeological digs. The views expressed are personal.
Player Focus
“But Spain was not Orientalized, Arabized, Islamised, or Africanised. The links with the past were not obliterated, nor did Muslim influence overwhelm or wholly displace the Roman, Germanic, and Christian contributions to peninsular development,” he wrote.
Team Analysis
The seeds of Al-Andalus, or Islamic Spain, were sown when the disintegrating Byzantine Empire gave way to the rising Umayyad caliphate (661-750 CE).
In fact, the Umayyads, a clan originating from Mecca, were invited by the Goths — who were then ruling over the Iberian Peninsula — to defeat their archenemies, the Visigoths, who themselves were Western Goths from the Balkans who were mercenaries under the Romans.
The Arab conquest of present-day Iberia, which is separated from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees Mountain range, was led by general Tariq ibn Ziyad, who had spearheaded the Islamisation of Maghreb. Tariq’s conquest began with the capture of Tulaytulah, present day Toledo, subsequently followed by Mérida and Zaragoza (Saraqustah), conquering much of the Visigothic kingdom.
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The Arabs proceeded to cross the Meseta plateau in central Iberia, establishing total control. Sevilla (Ishbiliyah) became the first capital, followed by Córdoba of this newly acquired territory which would come to be known as Al-Andalus or Islamic Spain.
Joseph F. O’Callaghan in his work ‘A History of Medieval Spain, says: “In the eighth century Muslim conquerors, Arabs and Berbers, destroyed the unity of the Visigothic kingdom and interjected new religious and cultural elements into peninsular life. From that point the history of medieval Spain took on a unique character that distinguished it from the other western European states. Muslim influence upon Hispanic civilization was profound and is attested even today by architectural remains, the presence of numerous Arabic words in Hispanic languages, and more subtly, by patterns of thought and behaviour.”
The Umayyad Caliphate in Syria itself perished by the end of the 8th century, never to recover. In Spain, however, under Abd al Rahman, the Spanish Umayyad Emirate based in Córdoba flourished. This was an Islamic rule marked by tolerance and pragmatism, and clemency towards pre-existing Christian, Jewish and other non-Muslim communities. Though they had to pay the Jizya — a tax levied on non-Muslims — they were exempt from Zakat (charity).
The newly established kingdom, however, faced an existential crisis in CE 750 when the Abbasid Caliphate overthrew the Umayyads. Abd al Rahman survived by fleeing to north Africa.
The Mesquita of Córdoba
Córdoba, a city of about half a million people and the capital of Andalusia, has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites among all cities in the world. Situated on the right bank of the Guadalquivir, it is best known for the Great Mosque, which was built by Abd al Rahman in 785-786 CE.
Rahman was a non-Arab Muslim, just like Yamal, whose roots lie in three countries (a Moroccan father, a Guinean mother and Spanish upbringing). Because of Rahman’s desire to establish his legitimacy the mosque was built with Syrian, Roman, and Arab elements.
When the army of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile briefly took over Cordoba, a mass was held inside the mosque to purify it. They, too, left after plundering the mosque and fleeing with its gold and silver finials of the minar erected by Rahman III.
The fall of Al-Andalusia happened over at least two centuries. A string of Christian-Spanish kingdoms such as Castile and León took over Iberia with just Granada left under the Muslims. After this, the Reconquista began, which purged Islamic influences, and exiled those who refused to reconvert to Christianity.
As O’ Callaghan states, “Muslim failure to occupy permanently the regions of the far north-west and northeast gave the Christian population an opportunity to establish an independent basis from which to initiate the long and arduous task of reconquering the land they believed to be rightfully theirs.”
“Several Christian states, namely Asturias, León, Castile, Navarre, Aragon, Catalonia, and Portugal, emerged in the centuries following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom, and each evolved distinctive qualities, customs, and language. Despite these differences the Christian people were conscious of their joint responsibility for the reconquest,” he writes.
Christian rulers commissioned translators to convert over four lakh books from the libraries of Córdoba and other cities like Seville into Latin. It is believed that the ideas of great philosophers such as Averroes and Al-Zahrawi seeded the Renaissance. The Andalusi elite and intellectuals found refuge in the Maghrebi courts.
Match Outlook
For the next eight centuries, Al-Andalus would occupy a central place in the medieval world.
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According to UNESCO, “the Great Mosque of Córdoba represents a unique artistic achievement due to its size and the sheer boldness of the height of its ceilings. It is an irreplaceable testimony of the Caliphate of Cordoba and it is the most emblematic monument of Islamic religious architecture. It was the second biggest in surface area, after the Holy Mosque in Mecca, previously only reached by the Blue Mosque (Istanbul, 1588), and was a very unusual type of mosque that bears witness to the presence of Islam in the West.”
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More than 850 columns of jasper, marble and granite upholding double-tiered arches resemble trees in a forest. Every successor of Abd al Rahman, be it his own descendants such as Rahman II (r.822–852) and Rahman III (r. 912–961) who established the Caliphate, or the Christian challengers in the 13th century, everybody added and modified this symbol of power in Iberia.
Conversion of the mosque into a cathedral
The Umayyad Caliphate started declining soon after the demise of Abd al Rahman III. In the civil war that occurred in the first half of the 11th century, the mosque became collateral damage: it was damaged and looted.
