The Moorish revolt of 1571.
(In English)
In 1594, 96 Moriscos became victims of the (auto de fé) of the Spanish Inquisition. It would only be a gloomy ominous presage. In 1575 to 1610 let alone 179 Moriscos, were persecuted in Toledo. But this would pale indeed, to the many of Moriscos who were persecuted in Granada, under the banner of Christendom. In 1563 Guerrero, Archbishop of Granada had visited Pope Pius IV, and said that the Moriscos of Granada, were heretics and in his words, "Muslims still at heart!" He also exclaimed to the pope and then afterwards to Philip II, that the Christians of Granada, were being persecuted by the Moriscos. In his testimony to King Philip II, he described the conditions of the Christians there in Granada to be appalling and atrocious. He mentioned the fact that many of the Christians, had abanoned the Catholic tradition and observance. In his testimony, he said that many of the men and women of Christianity, were involved in debauchery, and that the men were involved in breeding with the Moors, and had secretly converted to Islam. But on the contrary, was this the real truth behind the revival of the old edict of 1526 where the Moriscos, were forbidden to speak or write Arabic. Where the doors of the houses were to be kept open during marriages and feasts. The use of the henna was forbidden; baths such as the hammam and any fountains of the wudzu, were destroyed. But this would pale to the horrible edict, that was ordered for every Morisco and Mudéjar child between the ages of three to five, who were ordered to be weaned in the Christian faith, and to speak Castilian. As to be expected, this would be the final straw for the mostly Moriscos and few Mudéjares of Granada. Thus, on the 23 of December in the year of 1568 of the Christian calendar, the revolt of the Moriscos and Mudéjares would befall.
Even against the impossible might of Christian Spain, the Moriscos and Mudéjares, were prepared to fight for not just their freedom, but as one Morisco who would lead them in the revolt would exclaim as he was crowned the new king of the Moors on that 30 of December in 1568 in Cádiar, "Dawn men around your neck as collars, the purple Moorish sword of yesterday and around your waists, the madder red insignia, of the Moorish flag of Al Andalus! This day I make a pledge, to uphold the honor that has been bestowed upon me, and I shall die upholding this oath, and the honor of our beloved ancestors the Moors! Remember men and women of Granada, that this is our homeland, the homeland of our forefathers who came before us. In their memory shall we but fight, for Al Andalus! And now men, how many of you will follow me? Though our enemy is greater, and we are but a few handful of proud men, if it is destined that we be defeated, then by the grace of Allah, let us die as brave men in battle!" As silence befell upon the masses who had gathered to hear this man, the shout that for so long since the fall of Granada in 1492 had been sentenced, then roared and echoed as this man lifted up the old Moorish sword that legend said, had belonged to thee Tarik ibn Ziyad as he rode into Spain nearly 760 years before, he shouted the old words that would echoe throughout the Christian kingdom of Spain, "Allahu Akbar!" His Christian name, was Don Fernando de Valór, but his Muslim name of which he reverted to, was that of Muley ibn Humeya, the last descendant of the first true great dynasty of Al Andalus, the Ummayad Dynasty!
Muley ibn Humeya, was a brave and intrepid man, who though was not a great military man exclaimed by his enemies the Christian Kingdom of Philip II, nevertheless he did prove to be a rather worthy adversary to the Castilian armies of Christendom. In a brief period of time faced against the insurmountable odds of his enemy, he took the towns of Poquiera, Pítres, Juvíles and Ugíjar. Some Castilians said that the Moriscos fought for something much meaningful than freedom, their land and Islamic identity. Muley ibn Humeya had assembled thousands of worthy Moriscos of Granada, Toledo, Córdoba, and Málaga along with some Mudéjares as well from Castilla and León, to fight along the side of their Muslim brothers. Faced with the mighty might of Christian Spain, Muley ibn Humeya (errashid) as he was known in Arabic, the lider employed the warfare of Guerilla warfare and ambush. Something that in which the Iberians themselves, employed against the Romans quite effectively. He used the mountainous area of the Alpujarras as his refuge and launch of attack at times. The plan also included the participation of the Turkish sultan of Northern Africa, Muley Cidan, who had taken a foothold in Northern Africa itself, long since the uprising of the Mameluks in Egypt and then in Morocco. But the help of Muley Cidan never reached the Moriscos or Mudéjares at all. For instead he was preocuppied with his petty skirmish, with the the Greeks in Cyprus!
Soon King Philip II, was forced to quell this insurgency in the south of Andalusia. The man who he would instruct, would be considered the Butcher of Granada, Don Juan of Austria the half brother of the kind. Soon 12,000 Spanish ducados, were placed on the head of Muley ibn Humeya. One night during the year of 1589 in a place called the Castilla de Laujar de Andarax, he would be betrayed by his uncle Ibn 'Abu, and others, who would strangle him with a rope leaving him to face an agonising death of strangulation. But before Muley ibn Humeya died, he shouted one last utterance before his death. As he looked at the sun, and over the horizon there laid Granada, he was quoted to had said infront of his capturers the words of, "Oh Granada, I have failed thee mightily, but knoweth that one day another shall come to take my place of martyrdom. To lead our people to freedom, and to the place of which was always ours, our beloved Granada! Does thee think that by killing me, you shall take the hearts and convictions of our people? To take that of which is in our hearts and veins, our beloved Al Andalus!" It is said, that he died quickly afterwords. Many cases such as Muley ibn Humeya and others, were recorded not by the beholders of the Spanish Inquisition, but instead by Moriscos and Mudéjares secretly, as time devoted martyrs of Islamic Spain's Al Andalus!
Ibn Farakh his next in line, tried valliantly to continue the revolt, but on February 1571, the revolt was finally crushed. And the Moriscos and Mudéjares valiant uprising, was at last defeated! Granada would never again, see the Moriscos or Mudéjares, swell in such numbers. Instead it would see, an influx of new Christians from the north, be brought into displace them! As Ibn Farakh and his remaining army fled to the Alpujarras mountains, Don Juan of Austria along with his thousands of men surrounded the remaining army of Moriscos and Mudéjares. There was no option bestowed upon the Moriscos and few Mudéjares. Except defeat, slavery, and utmost unforseable death if captured. Thus the men fought though outnumbered valiantly, but at the end of the battle of Galera, the might and superiority of men by the army of Don Juan of Austria, prevailed his men to victory, there laying on the ground was the stench of odor of thousands of brave Mudéjares and Moriscos, who died as men in battle as Muley ibn Humeya their once great leader, had professed in Cádiar. There after the battle of Galera had abated, huddled together in a square in Galera nearby, were 10,000 Moors, Mudéjares and Moriscos, women, elderly men, and children who once cultivated the lands of Granada, there in Galera, Alpujarras and others within the area with pomegranates, oranges, lemons and many agricultural wonders to the Christian Kingdoms of ere oddly enough, would find themselves scattered in blood their own blood within these very things that they cultivated, as they were massacred, as they cried out for mercy and leniency!
"Do not spare a living soul in Galera, because we have suffered more losses, than their's is deserving. Thus, how are we to dishonor our fallen men; for we have done no wrong in killing heretics and infidels. This is God's work, which has been accomplished!" Exclaimed Don Juan of Austria. For this Don Juan was hailed by the pope, as the champion of Christendom! Thus the exodus of the Moriscos from Granada befell, exiled to either Northern Africa or the Middle East. The Mudéjares of Castilla and León, were as well many who had participated in the revolt, casted to the Americas primarily, and to the Balearic Islands, Ibizza and to Extremadura. It was called, "La marcha de la muerte!" in Spanish. "The march to death!" Soon the Moriscos of Valencia, in 1609 would be expelled as well from Aragón. There afterwards the Moriscos and several thousand Mudéjares, were expelled from Catalunia, Murcia, Val de Piconte. Records say that upto 3,000,000 Moriscos and Mudéjares were expelled from Spain itself! In 1769, the last reported case of the (auto de fé)was reported in which, a Morisco was imprisoned for saying the adhaan!" Thus was the last Moorish victim of the Spanish Inquisition reported.
Oddly enough the very same man Don Juan of Austria, who slaughtered and massacred the elderly men, women and children of Galera, wrote soon then after the battle of Galera, to Rúy Gomez that from the many of the Moriscos, and several Mudéjare's families who had been deported from the district of Guadix, "Oh how pitiful this burden is upon me, to see a human bear the suffrage of being desbar from their land, like worthless cattle!" Not only was Spain depraved of a culture that gave so much to it, but more importantly a people, who gave so much as well but yet, would be erased completely in what to many was considered not only ethnic cleansing but as well, an ethnic holocaust!
