Al Andalus
Alh'amdulillah!
Allahu akbar!
Jazakallah u khaira!
elmudajjan2002@yahoo.com
(In English)
It was called simply "The land of the West," by the Moors when they entered Southern Spain.
And at it's height of glory, it would be known truly, as Al Andalus! So much has been
written about Al Andalus already, but what I shall attempt to offer, is what Al Andalus in
the end meant to the Mudéjares and Moriscos! We know that led by Tarik ibn Ziyad
along with his army of Berbers and Arabs, entered Southern Spain out of Northern Africa in
711. A.D. and that in 1492 at Granada the last Moorish empire, was defeated! But what did
Al Andalus mean to the descendants of the Moors the Moriscos and Mudéjares? As
the Moors were driven out of Spain, and the Moriscos and Mudéjares were left to
fend for themselves, the attachment of Al Andalus to a Morisco or Mudéjar, would
ultimately mean ethnic cleansing! Thousands of Moors who were the African, Berber, Arab, Central-Asian, Slav or Indigenous Spanish Muslim would in the end, face the wrath of the Spanish Inquisition. And ultimately a whole group of people, would be erased from not only Spain, but also Spanish history! Let us concentrate on the good things Al Andalus
stood for, for the Mudéjar and Morisco for the time being! We know that the Mudéjares and Moriscos grew up with great Islamic tradition, and were tolerant toward Christians in fact under the Moors, the Christians were allowed to build new churches something that was not seen nor heard of much, throughout the Islamic world at the time!
We know that many Mudéjares and Moriscos, were educated in the Qura'an and
Islam. And that many of the greatest scholars, were indeed Mudéjares and Moriscos!
On land and sea, Al Andalus was powerful. Her enemies, respected her. The way of life
for nearly 781 yrs for the Mudéjar and Morisco, was no different that that of other
Muslims throughout the Islamic world. Many great mosques and madrasas, were built in
Al Andalus spanding, from the north of the Basque country, to the south of Andalusia
itself! The Moorish kingdom of Al Andalus, was equal to that of it's predecessors, the Roman,
Carthagian, and the Visigoth! Where the others failed to achieve religious tolerance, the
Moors were able to achieve that not so much with the sword but instead, much like Salah
al din ibn 'Ayyub or Saladin, by religious and ethnic tolerance! The Spanish Moor had
learned well, from Islamic history and conquest. And they knew, that if they were to
maintain a kingdom, they would have to seek inclusion and not exclusion. They would
have to adapt to their local subject's way of life and customs as well. They created
Aljamiyah so that the Muladí as he was called in Spain in Aljamiyah, Spanish convert,
would be able to understand the Qura'an and Islam itself. The Moors allowed the
Christians and Jews, to be educated along with Muslims in their schools and mosques, or
in their own schools and places of worship. Though indeed they were taxed, the money
was used to build more new churches and synagogues for the Christian and Jew something
of which the Christian kingdom of Spain, did otherwise. Instead, they taxed the Jew and
Muslim after the Moors were expelled, for any new synagogue or mosque that was built.
But also the taxes they paid under the reign of the Moors, were for the protection of Al
Andalus and those who fell under it's protection.
Unfortunately life for the Mudéjar and Morisco at the fall of Granada in 1492, would
mean a totally new life for them. The following information I struggled to include, but I
felt it necessary to describe the horrendous and terrible condition and way of life, that the
Mudéjar and Morisco who remained in Spain, confronted. As King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabel, drove off the last Moorish emir 'Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad or in Spanish
(Boabdil), the insurgency of the Spanish Inquisition would befall. I shall not elaborate on
the horrible things already elaborated in this webpage, that befell the Mudéjares
and Moriscos. Instead I shall only offer how the way of life for these people changed so
dramatically even after the completion of the Spanish Inquisition in Spain, in 1614
officially.
The Mudéjar and Morisco who remained no longer was educated, instead he became
illiterate and uneducated not only in the things that were passed onto to each, by their
beloved ancestors the Moors; but more importantly in the area of the Qura'an and Islam
itself! Their Muslim religion, identity, became a thing of the past. They became peasants
and labourers, instead of scholars. They became Latinos or Hispanics, instead of
Mudéjares and Moriscos. They became Catholics, instead of Muslims. They became
the builders of churches and cathedrals, instead of mosques and madrasas. They became
speakers of Castilian or Portuguese, instead of Arabic or Aljamiyah. In the end they
became, Castilianized or even Portuguesized!
So now, we have learned a little about what Al Andalus meant to the Mudéjares and
Moriscos; and what life was like before and after in Al Andalus, for the Mudéjares and
Moriscos. But despite the good and the bad that happened in Al Andalus, for the
Mudéjar and Morisco, as Palestine is for the Palestian, their original homeland!
Insha'allah my Muslim brothers and sisters I ask, that you do not forget about Al Andalus and
about the Moriscos and Mudéjares! We are the Kashimire in India, the Bosnian in
Bosnia, the Kosovar in Kosovo, the Chechnyan in Chechnya, and as well the Palestian in
Palestine! A group of proud people of Muslim and Islamic tradition and history, who are
as well seeking to return without persecution to that of which was and is forever, our
beloved homeland of Al Andalus! Do not forget the many Mudéjares and Moriscos
brothers and sisters, who perished at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition! Remember the
names of those before us Mudéjares as, Maria de Molina, Luis Torres, Samuel
Trujillo, José Almeida, Omar Carmona, Mona Medina, Juan Uvalde and others
whose Muslim names, were Maryam el Mulinah, Musa el Thurri, Sumayl el Turyilluh,
Yusuf el Mai'idah, Umar el Qarmuna, Muna el Madina, Yahya el Ubaidh. Blas Perez
Infante the Father of Andalusia once mentioned, that to forget about Al Andalus and that
we were always at heart Muslims and Mudéjares or Moriscos, was to simply deny
the truth of the past!
Allahu ekbar wel Andalus el ekbar edaima fel khair!
