Andalus, as it was called, flourished not only in economic terms but it also was known as one of the great centers of arts, poetry, architecture, science, and learning. This was at a time when much of Europe was in the Dark Ages. It was largely through al-Andalus that the knowledge possessed by the Muslims would be passed on to Europe and start the European Renaissance.
A great tolerance of the Jews and Christians by the Muslims characterized the centuries of Islam in Spain. All the Jews and Christians who accepted the Muslims as the rulers of the country were allowed to retain their possessions and their beliefs and religious practices.
In 711 CE, the Muslims first moved into Spain with an army of 30,000 under the command of Tarik bin Ziyad. They took power from the Visigoths, who had taken over from the Romans. By 715 they had already crossed the Pyrenees and controlled an area that was home to four million people. Within only seven years, four-fifths of the Iberian Peninsula had been conquered and the Islamic caliphate established. In 732, the Christian army stopped the Muslims from advancing further into Europe at the Battle of Poitiers.
Especially from the beginning of the 9th century, the Christians entered Islam in masses, like the part in the Quran where the Muslims liberated Mecca from the polytheists:
When there comes the help of Allah and the victory,
And you see men entering the religion of Allah in companies,
Then glorify the praises for your Lord, and ask for His forgiveness. Verily, He is the One Who accepts the repentance and forgives.
(Quran 110:1-3)
At the same time, the Muslims were also doing futuhat, which means opening, in the Sindh area, which is now in Pakistan. This means that in less than 150 years, Islam expanded from a small movement of a handful of desert inhabitants to the greatest power in the world. This success could only happen because these people practiced their religion like they were supposed to. Their intention in doing jihad was primarily to spread the word of Islam and not to gain territories and war booty. Wherever they went, they established a system based on justice that replaced the dictatorships and monarchies of the time. The people were free to choose Islam or to keep their own religions. Many of them embraced Islam after they saw the good behavior and character of their conquerors.
From the tenth century on, the capital of the caliphate was Cordoba, with a population of 600,000. It later developed into a city with 200,000 buildings, 1500 mosques, and nearly 1000 public bathhouses. There were more than half a million manuscripts stored in the libraries. The center of the city had a canal system and at night the paved streets even had lighting. In short, this city had an infrastructure not to be found in any other European city. Christian kings even sent their children to study in Andalus because of the excellent universities. Arabic was the main world language. Nowadays it is the reverse. Many cities in Muslim countries are all slums, with almost no infrastructure and with the people suffering from poverty, war, disease, and lack of education.
The Muslim caliphate in Spain finally fell in 1492 when Granada was conquered by Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. These were the same rulers who gave Christopher Columbus three ships to initiate colonization, genocide, and the slave trade in the Americas.
The remaining Muslims and Jews at that point had three options: first, to keep their religion but to leave the country; second, to convert to Christianity; and third, to be killed.
It is easy to analyze why the Muslims lost Western Europe to the Christians. It was because they did not practice Islam like they were supposed to. With all the prosperity came decadence. Andalus became divided into many emirates fighting amongst each other. Sometimes they even took the Catholic militias as their allies against their own people.
Out of the Andalus experience we can learn many things. We Muslims have to realize that Allah, the Most High, helps us if we help Him in His cause. This means that if we practice our religion -- pray, pay zakat to the needy people, and do good deeds, then success is guaranteed -- not only in the next life, but also in this life.
As for the non-Muslims, especially the Jews and the Christians -- they have no reason to be afraid of Islam. The media is doing a “good” job depicting a bad image of Islam -- an image which has no basis except that it is based on false accusations. In a Muslim country, a non-Muslim has freedom of religion. He only has to pay a special tax, which also exempts him from military service.
It is important for us to be open-minded and to forget the hatred. The Muslims lost Andalus, the Balkans, India and a lot more because it was their own fault. There was no great resistance when colonialism destroyed Muslim unity and placed secular rulers and monarchies in power to divide and govern the Muslim lands.
Muslims are looking forward to a second, a third, and many more Andalusias, where they can live in peace, justice, prosperity, and dignity together with all kinds of people from other religions. However, sacrifices must be made.
AA/HG
End
MNA
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