Over a thousand years ago, Europe experienced one of its greatest periods of cultural enlightenment. Islam in Spain has had a fundamental presence in the culture and history of the nation. The religion was present inmodern Spanish soil from 711 until 1492 under the rule of the Arabs and Moors of al-Andalus. Islamic Spain was a multi-cultural mix of the people of three great monotheistic religions: Muslims,Christians, and Jews. For more than three centuries in Medieval Spain, Muslims, Jews and Christians lived together and prospered in a thriving multicultural civilization.
Here, remarkable individuals of different faiths made lasting contributions in such areas as poetry, art, architecture, music, dining etiquette, science, agriculture, medicine, engineering, navigation, textiles, and even hydraulic technology. Their rich, complex culture reached a high point in the Mediterranean Middle Ages. However, larger forces in conquest of land and power brought about puritanical judgments, absolutism and religious extremism. The conflict they triggered extinguished the shared learning that once flourished in this enlightened land. “…
I will forgive all the shortcomings and remove the evil deeds of those who were expelled from their homes or were persecuted for My sake and who fought for My cause and were slain. I shall admit them into Gardens underneath which rivers flow. This is their reward from Allah, and with Allah alone is the richest reward! ” (Al-Qur’an, 3:195)” Al-Andalus, which means, “to become green at the end of the summer” is referred to the territory occupied by the Muslim empire in Southern Spain, which refer to the cities of Almeria, Malaga, Cadiz, Huelva, Seville, Cordoba, Jaen and Granada.
Conquest This civilization spanned the eighth to the fifteenth century. In 711, Arabs crossed the Straight of Gibraltar (derived from ‘Gabal Al-Tariq’: ‘Mountain of Tariq’) and established control over much of the Iberian Peninsula. 2 Of the Arab conquest, Muslims called the area of the Iberian Peninsula they occupied, “Al-Andalus. ” This land called Al-Andalus, hence often called “Andalusia” had at one point included Portugal, Southern France, and the Balearic Islands. Within 3 years, in 714, Muslims had occupied almost all the peninsula.
Muslims crossed to Sicily and established control there for 130 years, until Muslim rule fell in 1091 to the Normans. Muslims also established rule in parts of France, but they were soon defeated by Charles Martel in 756, in which remains today one of the greatest victories for Christian Europe for bringing a halt to Islam’s expansion. The Muslims who arrived and settled in Andalus were called “Moors,” (‘dark’) a corrupt and negative term referring to the people who came from Morocco. They themselves, however, did not use the term to refer to themselves.
Muslims took control under the leadership of Tariq ibn Ziyad and his army of 12,000 troops. King Roderic, the last Visigoth ruler had reportedly “kidnapped” and raped the Governor of Ceuta, Count Julian’s daughter who was sent to be educated. Julian vowed to Roderic, “the next time I return to Spain, I promise to bring you some hawks the like of which your Majesty has never seen! ” Julian, a Christian, appealed to Musa ibn Nusayr, the Umayyad Governor of N. Africa for assistance in avenging Roderic for his crime, and hence take him out of rule.
Musa did not commit to a full-scale invasion, but called upon his lieutenant to take charge. Because of the weakened Visigoth kingdom due to internal conflicts, and the Muslims’ organization, the Muslim army easily defeated Roderic’s army of over 90,000 men almost without resistance. As an important reminder, during Islamic rule in Muslim history, we recall that upon hearing the news that a Muslim woman had been dishonored, Khilafah (Caliph) Jafer Al-Mansoor, despite risk of inciting war, ordered his entire army to burn the city in protest because the Roman Emperor failed to punish the offenders.
Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Straight of ‘Gibraltar’ at first with the sole intention of avenging king Roderic for the crime he committed. However, because of the weakness of the kingdom due to civil war, Tariq opted to continue his occupation of Roderic’s entire empire. Another theory for the occupation by the Arab Muslims of Spain is that because of their persecution, the Jews called upon their contacts in North Africa, who in turn encouraged the able Arabs to capture Spain. This allowed the Almoravids and the Almohads to establish themselves in Spain.
Nevertheless, without a doubt, the Jews supported and welcomed Muslims in Spain because they were great beneficiaries under Muslim rule. Rule The majority of the Army as well as commander Tariq himself were not Arab but Islamic Berbers, and in timeIslamic migrants from places as diverse as North Africa to Yemen and Syria came to live in the Iberian peninsula. The Islamic rulers called the Iberian peninsula “Al-Andalus”, which some say means “Paradise. ” That was the rootfor the name of the present-day region of Andalusia, the southernmost region of Spain.
For a time, the area that is today Spain and Portugal was one of the great Muslim civilizations, reaching its summitwith the Umayyad Caliphate in the 10th century. Muslim Spain was not a single period, but a succession of different rules. Muslim Spain had the following chronological phases: • The Emirate directly dependent on the Caliph in Damascus (711–756) • The Independent Emirate (756-929) • The Caliphate of Cordoba (929-1031) • The first Taifas (1031-c. 1091) • The Almoravid rule (c. 1091-c. 1145) • The second Taifas (c. 1145-c. 1151) The Almohad rule (c. 1031–1212) • The Kingdom of Granada (1212–1492) • The late Alpujarras revolt (1568–1571) A Golden Age The Muslim period in Spain is often described as a ‘golden age’ of learning where libraries, colleges, public baths were established and literature, poetry and architecture flourished. Both Muslims and non-Muslims made major contributions to this flowering of culture. Muslims entered Spain not as aggressors or oppressors, but as liberators. In this multicultural society, many Jews and Christians held government positions.
Moreover, the Golden Age of Jewish history is in fact known as the period of Muslim rule in Spain. Islam allowed the Jews to flourish in Spain, with the example of the renowned philosopher Moses Maimonides, (Musa ibn Maymun) who wrote Guide to the Perplexed. “Judaism probably welcomed the conquest of Spain by the Muslims in 711. With the Muslim conquest began a Golden Age of freedom and tolerance for Jews. They freely entered the fields of government, science, medicine, and literature. Spain was home to by far the largest and most brilliant Jewish community in Europe; elsewhere, the Jews were hounded and persecuted.
Although non-Muslims paid more in taxes than the Muslims, it was by far less than any previous government had imposed upon them, especially Roderic’s. In addition, it obviously wasn’t much of a burden, however, since non-Muslims freely opted and longed to live under Muslim rule. “Throughout the period of Islamic rule, Al-Andalus was a remarkable example and outstanding model of tolerance. ” We fail to remember that the tolerance the Muslims, in accordance to their faith, displayed towards the Jews and Christians enabled them all to live together in relative peace and harmony, an indication of the Greatness of Islam, without question.
No where else has there been so long and so close of a relationship between the 3 Great faiths. All Jews and Christians were allowed to maintain their beliefs and live their lives as they desired as long as they respected their Muslim rulers. “Some Mozarabs took issue with the tolerance Muslim authorities displayed toward them and the Jews, a tolerance based on two Qur’anic verses: “No compulsion is there in religion” (2:256) and “If thy Lord had willed, whoever is in the earth would have believed, all of them, all together. Wouldst thou then constrain the people until they are believers? ” (10:99)… “
As a result of the compassion Islam displayed towards the non-Muslims inhabitants, many of them embraced Islam. Many accepted Islam simply because Islam provided a superior, healthier way of life at a time when the social system was in rapid decay. Unfortunately, religious tolerance was never a virtue in Christian Europe, as in the example of Charlemagne. And so, the peace exhibited under Muslim rule did not continue after the last of the Muslim rulers was defeated in 1492. In chapter 109 of the Qur’an, the Holy Book revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) through the Angel Gabriel, Allah advises mankind: Say to the disbelievers: I do not worship that which you worship .Nor do you worship that which I worship. And Nor will I worship that which you have worshiped. Neither will you worship that which I worship. To you belongs your religion, and to me mine. ” “In a time of tranquility and justice, the Christians have never been compelled to renounce the Gospel and to embrace the Qur’an. ” As a result of the tolerance displayed by Islam, the incredibly rich language of the Muslims became the official language of literature and scholarship in Spain for all by the year 1000.
Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike devoted their time in studying Arabic. Christians essentially spoke Arabic, which was “often better than their Latin. ” They absorbed the Arabic culture so much so that they began to be called, “mozarabs” a corruption of “must’arib” meaning the “Arabized ones. ” Furthermore, the Christian Priest Alvaro complained in the 9th century that Christians preferred to read Arabic writings and studied Muslim theologians and philosophers rather than their own. He exclaimed, “Oh, the pain and the sorrow! The Christians have even forgotten their own language, and in every thousand you will not find ne who can write a letter in respectable Latin to a friend, while as soon as they have to write Arabic, there is no difficulty in finding a whole multitude who can express themselves with the greatest elegance in this language… ” Non-Muslims under the Caliphate Treatment of non-Muslim The non-Muslims were given the status of ahl al-dhimma (the peopleunder protection), adults paying a “Jizya” tax, equal to one Dinar peryear with exemptions for old people, women, children and thedisabled, whenever there was a Christian authority in the community. When there was no Christian authority, the non-Muslims were giventhe status of majus.
The treatment of non-Muslims in the Caliphate has been a subject of considerable debate among scholars andcommentators, especially those interested in drawing parallels to the coexistence of Muslims and non-Muslims in themodern world. Maria Rosa Menocal, a specialist in Iberian literature, has argued that “tolerance was an inherentaspect of Andalusian society”. In her view, the Jewish and Christian dhimmis living under the Caliphate, while allowed fewer rights than Muslims, were much better off than minorities in Christian parts of Europe. Jews constituted more than 5% of the population.
Al-Andalus was a key center of Jewish life during the earlyMiddle Ages, producing important scholars and one of the most stable and wealthy Jewish communities. BernardLewis takes issue with this view, arguing its modern use is ahistorical and apologetic. He argues that Islamtraditionally did not offer equality nor even pretended that it did, arguing that it would have been both a “theologicalas well as a logical absurdity. “However, even Bernard Lewis states: “Generally, the Jewish people were allowed to practice their religion and live according to the laws andscriptures of their community.
Furthermore, the restrictions to which they were subject “were social andsymbolic rather than tangible and practical in character. That is to say, these regulations served to define therelationship between the two communities, and not to oppress the Jewish population” — Bernard Lewis, The Jews of Islam (1984), Naturally, toleration varied according to who ruled; when the Almohads took Cordoba in 1148 they gave the Jewsthere the choice of conversion, exile or death, with Jews like Maimonides choosing exile. Culture C. W.
Previte-Orton writes in his Cambridge medieval history, “The brilliant Saracenic civilization of Moslem Spainrendered the Moors, even during their declines under theReyes de Taifas, the most cultured people of the West. ” Many tribes, religions and races coexisted in al-Andalus, eachcontributing to the intellectual prosperity of Andalusia. Literacy inIslamic Iberia was far more widespread than any other country of theWest. From the earliest days, the Umayyads wanted to be seen as intellectual rivals to the Abbasids, and for Cordoba to have libraries and educational institutions to rival Baghdad’s.
Although there was a clearrivalry between the two powers, freedom to travel between the two Caliphates was allowed, which helped spread new ideas and innovations over time. Philosophy Andalusian philosophy The historian Said Al-Andalusi wrote that Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman IIIhad collected libraries of books and granted patronage to scholars ofmedicine and “ancient sciences”. Later, al-Mustansir (Al-Hakam II)went yet further, building a university and libraries in Cordoba. Cordoba became one of the world’s leading centres of medicine andphilosophical debate.
However, when Al-Hakam’s son Hisham II took over, real power wasceded to the hajib, al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir. Al-Mansur was adistinctly religious man and disapproved of the sciences of astronomy,logic and especially astrology, so much so that many books on thesesubjects, which had been preserved and collected at great expense byAl-Hakam II, were burned publicly. However, with Al-Mansur’s deathin 1002 interest in philosophy revived. Numerous scholars emerged, including Abu Uthman Ibn Fathun, whosemasterwork was the philosophical treatise “Tree of Wisdom”.
An outstanding scholar in astronomy and astrologywas Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti (died 1008), an intrepid traveller who journeyed all over the Islamic world andbeyond, and who kept in touch with the Brethren of Purity. Indeed, it is said to have been he who brought the 51″Epistles of the Brethren of Purity” to al-Andalus and who added the compendium to this work, although it is quitepossible that it was added later by another scholar of the name al-Majriti. Another book attributed to al-Majriti is theGhayat al-Hakim “The Aim of the Sage”, a book which explored a synthesis of Platonism with Hermetic philosophy.
Its use of incantations led the book to be widely dismissed in later years, although the Sufi communities kept studiesof it. A prominent follower of al-Majriti was the philosopher and geometer Abu al-Hakam al-Kirmani. A follower of hisin turn was the great Abu Bakr Ibn al-Sayigh, usually known in the Arab world as Ibn Bajjah, “Avempace” The Andalusian philosopher Averroes (1126–1198) is considered the father of secular thought in Europe andpossibly the most important among them. He was the founder of the Averroism school of philosophy, and his worksand commentaries had an impact on the rise of secular thought in Western Europe.
He also developed the concept of “existence precedes essence” Another influential Andalusian philosopher who had a significant influence on modern philosophy was Ibn Tufail. His philosophical novel, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, translated into Latin as Philosophus Autodidactus in 1671, developedthe themes of empiricism, tabula rasa, nature versus nurture,condition of possibility, materialism and Molyneux’s Problem. European scholars and writers influenced by this novel include John Locke,Gottfried Leibniz,Melchisedech Thevenot, John Wallis, Christiaan Huygens,George Keith, Robert Barclay, the Quakers,and Samuel Hartlib
Muslims made Spain a center for learning and knowledge The Muslims played a principal role in the history of Spain. Their presence illuminated the Iberian Peninsula while the rest of Europe was engulfed in darkness. And so, Andalusia produced a great civilization far ahead and advanced than the rest of Europe. Under their rule, Muslims made Spain a center for learning and knowledge. The Muslims were taught reading, writing, math, Arabic, Qur’an, and Hadith (Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH), and became leaders in math, science, medicine, astronomy, navigation, etc.
Al-Andalus became renowned for its prosperity as people who quested for knowledge journeyed from afar to learn in its universities under the feet of the Muslims. As a result, Andalus gave rise to a great many intellectual giants. Muslim Spain produced philosophers, physicians, scientists, judges, artists, and the like. Ibn Rushd, (Averroes) Ibn Sina, (Avicenna) Ibn Zuhr, (Avenzoar), Al-Kwarizmi, (Algorizm) and Al-Razi, (Razes) to name a few, were all Muslims educated in Andalus. In Muslim Spain, knowledge from Greece and Rome was preserved.
Arab scholars produced encyclopedias on medicine and astronomy in 11th century, also including astrology, psychology, zoology, biology, botany, chemistry, physics, mathematics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, etc. , which Christian scholars acquired and translated. Toledo thrived essentially because of its Muslim rule, and became the “cradle of learning,” and the chief point of interaction between the Muslims, Christians and Jews. Western scholars traveled to Spain and Sicily to learn Arabic and to make transcripts of texts in Latin.
Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, was also educated in Andalusia. It is from the Andalusian philosophers, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Sina that great renowned Christian men like St. Thomas Aquinas borrowed their philosophies. Both St. Thomas Aquinas and Dante called Ibn Rushd or “Averroes” the “The Commentator” and incorporated the views of Muslims. Through the works of Aristotle, Ibn Rushd reconciled reason with religion. However, Aquinas attempted to refute Ibn Rushd’s ideas because they placed a great deal of emphasis on human reason over faith, which were a “threat” to Christian beliefs.
Interestingly enough, Thomas Aquinas described Arabs as “brutal men dwelling in the desert. ” Dante himself was familiar with Muslim figures. It is reported by countless historians, including William Phipps, in his book, Muhammad and Jesus: A Comparison of the Prophets and their Teachings, that the theme of Divine Comedy was inspired by the mi’raj or ascension of the Prophet (PBUH) into heaven from upon the rock which today sits below the dome of Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. Roger Bacon, another individual who refrained from describing Arabs and Muslims in kind words, consulted Ibn Sina’s (Avicenna) work.
Ibn Sina’s work, Al-Qanun, (Canon) the widely studied medical work was used in European Universities for over 300 years, and formed half the medical curriculum. In any case, the list of contributions from the Andalusian Muslims is endless. The world of science in muslim spain “Many wise men have left us an immense scientific legacy from the days of al-Andalus, not always recognized for it true value”, says Cherif Jah during the exhibition’s presentation in Cordova, “which explains why we wish to pay tribute to those peoples of al-Andalus who made science their life’s work and thus helped improve all our lives”.
ISLAMIC SCIENCE AROSE IN THE MIDDLE EAST Al-Andalus was part of the Islamic World whose capitals were successively Damascus and then Bagdad. However, halfway in the 8th century the government of al-Andalus, led by a Damascus-born Omeyyad prince, Abderrahman I, al-Dajil (“The Immigrant”), became politically independent of Baghdad, thus breaking with any authority based in the Middle East and with the then-reigning Abbasid dynasty. Nonetheless, solid relations were retained in the areas of culture and religion, and especially through the Arabic language, the true common link to all Islamic societies.
The Bayt al-Hikma (“House of Wisdom”) was founded in Baghdad under the patronage of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma`mun (9th century). This Centre of knowledge responded to the thirst for knowledge typical of Islamic society. Its establishment made several hadiths, or prophetic traditions come true. The hadiths recommended: “Search for knowledge from the cradle to the grave”, or “The search for Science is the duty of all Muslims”. THE HOUSE OF WISDOM IN BAGHDAD
The House of Wisdom launched a school of translation Ander the leadership of Chaldaean-Iraqi Hunayn Ibn Ishaq (9th century), which began work on translating texts on astronomy, medicine, mathematics, mechanics, agriculture and botany from sources in several languages – Sanskrit, Copt, Persian, Greek and Syrian – to Arabic, which was the official language of knowledge throughout the Islamic world. Caliph al-Ma? mun paid these translations their weight in gold, which resulted in large margins and wide spaces between the lines of text.
Wise men of the Eastern Muslim world These centers of knowledge and their libraries were often visited by truly wise Islamic men, al-hakim, from the various regions of the Eastern Muslim World (Arabs, Persians, Iraqis, Syrians, Egyptians) who held universal knowledge that included all the sciences, from Mathematics and its subdivisions of Geometry and Astronomy to Medicine, Optics or Philosophy, as well as Astrology. The House of Wisdom of Bagdad was also responsible for the translation of ncient Persian and Greek medical Works (School of Gundisapur, works by Hippocrates and Galen). Muslim doctors contributed their Islamic concept of the nature of mankind and the causes of health, together with observation-based experimental practice. A number of major figures appeared, such as al-Kindi from Kufa and the Persian al-Razi (9th century) along with Ibn Sina from Bujara (Avicenna) (10th-11th centuries), who built on and extended Greek-Persian work and made major inroads in the pathology of many diseases by means of experimental practice.
They also authored encyclopedic works such as al-Razi’s Kitab al-Mansuri adn Avicenna’s al-Qanun, texts which for centuries remained standards for consultation both in the Islamic and in the mediaeval Latin worlds. Al-Razi wrote a treatise on smallpox and chickenpox and remedies for their prevention while Ibn Sina described diabetes and hypoglycemic coma in his “magnum opus” and recommended a homeopathic remedy based on cedar and fenugreek (alholva) seeds, among other leading medical research texts.
Physicist Ibn al-Haytam from Basora (Alhacen) (19th-11th centuries) developed Optics in his work al-Manazir, in which he formulated the revolutionary theory that Light rays travel from objects to the seeing eye and not the opposite, as Aristotle and Euclid had stated. Ibn al-Haytam also discovered the laws of refraction which proved the material nature of light, thus foreseeing what we today know as “corpuscular theory”. He described the anatomy of the eye (retina, cornea, aqueous humor…) and provided a scientific explanation to the seeing process.
He was one of the first to describe the principles of the camera obscure (bayt muzlim) by building a dark box with a small pinhole on a wall which, when a light was shined through, projected an inverted image of the outside object. This constitutes the forebear of today’s photographic camera. His great work was translated in the 12th and 13th centuries into Latin under the title Opticae thesaurus, which played a major role in the mediaeval European world and influenced Renaissance scholars such as Leonardo da Vinci.
Islamic researchers were particularly interested in Astronomy given that it studies the skies and is an example of the divine nature of Creation. By observing the stars they were capable of determining the basis upon which to calculate time: the time of day and the hours of the day, in order to determine the times for Muslim prayer and the direction towards Mecca (the qibla), which showed the direction of prayer. They also calculated the Islamic lunar calendar, especially important in establishing the beginning of the month of fasting, known as Ramadan.
This field of science also witnessed the appearance of astronomers-mathematicians such as al-Battani from Harran (10th century), who established the duration of the solar year, and Persians al-Jwarizmi and al-Biruni (9th and 10th centuries) from Jwarizm, who developed Mathematics on the basis of Indian, Persian and Greek. al-Jwarizmi acted as a bridge for the transmission of the knowledge of numerals into the Western world, especially the Indian base-10 system, which resulted in the transmission of the decimal system.
The development of Astronomy led to the use of the astrolabe (astrolabe) or stereographic projection of the celestial dome on the plane of the equator based on the formulations established by the Greek philosopher Ptolemy (2nd century). This instrument was necessary to measure the angle of stars and planets over the horizon, to calculate hourly angles, the times of sunrise and sunset, and the position of the Sun along the lines of the Zodiac.
A Wide range of treatises on the astrolabe have been written in the Islamic East and a large number was manufactured, particularly the 9th-century Ali ibn `Isa al-Asturlabi (“the constructor of astrolabes”) from Harran (Mesopotamia). ACCEPTANCE OF SCIENCE IN AL-ANDALUS As mentioned above al-Andalus was an undoubted part of the Islamic world which culturally evolved under Eastern Islamic teachers, and although the political relations of the Omeyyad rulers of Cordova with the Abbasid dynasty of Bagdad were not ideal there was a constant, permanent relationship as a result of the large number of Andalusian travelers who rossed the Mediterranean from West to East. Their main objective was to complete their pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj), but, once that was completed, they extended their trip to visit Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad and other cultural cities in the Islamic world. There they had the possibility of coming into contact with the great masters in various disciplines, including the mystical masters, and took the opportunity to purchase books, such as the latest scientific developments, in the numerous book markets in those cities.
The books were then brought to al-Andalus and incorporated to the major libraries, including that of caliph al-Hakam II in 10th- century Cordova, which held more than 400,000 books. With time the Andalusian students surpassed the work of many of their Eastern masters, developing their own theories and increasing the amount of knowledge. Centuries later the majority of this leading Andalusian work was translated to Latin and the Romance language by King Alfonso the 10th, The Wise, in the Toledo School of Translation, and from there it spread and became valued throughout Europe.
THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN THE ANDALUSIAN WORLD Science legacy Through the more than seven centuries of its existence as a territorial unit al-Andalus witnessed the growth and development of the various fields of science from the work of Andalusian scientists, born in the Iberian peninsula. Masters, schools and the many disciplines had their respective moment of splendor al different times. Science, spaces, eras and protagonists, each in their own section of the exhibition: Luxury technology as seen in clepsydras (water clocks) and automata was common in palaces and represented the vanity of political power. Earth sciences
In the late 11th century, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ma’udh, who lived in Al-Andalus, wrote a work on opticslater translated into Latin as Liber de crepisculis, which was mistakenly attributed to Alhazen. This was a short workcontaining an estimation of the angle of depression of the sun at the beginning of the morning twilight and at the endof the evening twilight, and an attempt to calculate on the basis of this and other data the height of the atmosphericmoisture responsible for the refraction of the sun’s rays. Through his experiments, he obtained the accurate value of18°, which comes close to the modern value.
In the early 13th century, the Andalusian-Arabian biologist Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati developed an early scientificmethod for botany, introducing empirical and experimental techniques in the testing, description and identification ofnumerous materia medica, and separating unverified reports from those supported by actual tests andobservations. His student Ibn al-Baitar published the Kitab al-Jami fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada, which is consideredone of the greatest botanical compilations in history, and was a botanical authority for centuries.
It contains detailson at least 1,400 different plants, foods, and drugs, 300 of which were his own original discoveries. The Kitabal-Jami fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada was also influential in Europe after it was translated into Latin in 1758. Geography and exploration Long distance travel created a need for mapping, and travelers oftenprovided the information to achieve the task. While such travel duringthe medieval period was hazardous, Muslims nonetheless undertooklong journeys. One motive for these was the Hajj or the Muslimpilgrimage. Annually, Muslims came to Mecca in Arabia from IslamicIberia, Persia, Africa, and India.
Another motive for travels wascommerce. Muslims were involved in trade with Europeans, Indiansand the Chinese, and Muslim merchants travelled long distances toconduct commercial activities. The baculus, used for nautical astronomy, originates from IslamicIberia and was later used by Portuguese navigators for long-distancetravel. The origins of the caravel ship, used for long distance travel bythe Portuguese after the beginning of their overseas expansion, in the15th century, date back to the qarib used by explorers from IslamicIberia in the 13th century.
According to a controversial theory, explorers from Al-Andalus mayhave travelled to the Americas (see Pre-Columbian Andalusian-Americas contact theories). Medicine Muslim physicians from Al-Andalus contributed significantly to the field of medicine, including the subjects ofanatomy and physiology. Major figures of this period included Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), author of theKitab al-Tasrif (“Book of Concessions”), a 30-volume medical encyclopedia, and Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), who madeadvances in surgery. Astronomy
In the 11th–12th centuries, astronomers in Al-Andalus took up the challenge earlier posed by Ibn al-Haytham,namely to develop an alternate non-Ptolemaic configuration that evaded the errors found in the Ptolemaic model. Like Ibn al-Haytham’s critique, the anonymous Andalusian work, al-Istidrak ala Batlamyus (Recapitulationregarding Ptolemy), included a list of objections to Ptolemic astronomy. This marked the beginning of theAndalusian school’s revolt against Ptolemaic astronomy, otherwise known as the “Andalusian Revolt”.
In the late 11th century, al-Zarqali (Latinized as Arzachel) discovered that the orbits of the planets are elliptic orbitsand not circular orbits,though he still followed the Ptolemaic model. In the 12th century, Averroes rejected the eccentric deferents introduced by Ptolemy. He rejected the Ptolemaicmodel and instead argued for a strictly concentric model of the universe. He wrote the following criticism on thePtolemaic model of planetary motion: “To assert the existence of an eccentric sphere or an epicyclic sphere is contrary to nature. [… The astronomyof our time offers no truth, but only agrees with the calculations and not with what exists. ” Averroes’ contemporary, Maimonides, wrote the following on the planetary model proposed by Ibn Bajjah (Avempace): “I have heard that Abu Bakr [Ibn Bajja] discovered a system in which no epicycles occur, but eccentric spheresare not excluded by him. I have not heard it from his pupils; and even if it be correct that he discovered such asystem, he has not gained much by it, for eccentricity is likewise contrary to the principles laid down byAristotle …
I have explained to you that these difficulties do not concern the astronomer, for he does notprofess to tell us the existing properties of the spheres, but to suggest, whether correctly or not, a theory inwhich the motion of the stars and planets is uniform and circular, and in agreement with observation. ” Ibn Bajjah also proposed the Milky Way galaxy to be made up of many stars but that it appears to be a continuousimage due to the effect of refraction in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Later in the 12th century, his successors Ibn Tufailand Nur Ed-Din Al Betrugi (Alpetragius) were the first to propose planetary models without any equant, epicycles oreccentrics. Al-Betrugi was also the first to discover that the planets are self-luminous. Their configurations,however, were not accepted due to the numerical predictions of the planetary positions in their models being lessaccurate than that of the Ptolemaic model, mainly because they followed Aristotle’s notion of perfect circularmotion.
Astronomy or Science of the Shape of the Heavens enjoyed royal patronage but developed in the studies and observatories belonging to masters and pupils, and created a number of leading schools. Its younger sister science, Astrology, was not truly accepted by Islam but was the subject of strong demand by the powerful and became very popular both in the Islamic and in the mediaeval Latin worlds. Mathematics developed and grew alongside Astronomy. Medicine and Pharmacy, also with the support of the caliphs, developed jointly and in the surroundings of Royal Libraries and Botanical
Gardens where it was possible to both study and experiment with new drugs. Together with these two disciplines the heterodox Alchemy was limited to secret, enclosed spaces in the search for the Philosopher’s Stone or Elixir of Life (al-iksir). Agriculture As early as the 9th century, an essentially modern agricultural system became central to economic life andorganization in the Arab caliphates, replacing the largely export-driven Roman model. It started with Zakat, anIslamic tax on large land holdings, which slowly broke the land monopoly of the nobility that had smothered therural economy for centuries.
Cities of the Near East, North Africa, and Moorish Spain were supported by elaborate agricultural systems which included extensive irrigation based on knowledge of hydraulic and hydrostatic principles, some of which were continued from Roman times. {Glick, Thomas (1996) Irrigation and Hydraulic Systems pp. 10} The introduction of new crops transforming private farming into a new global industry exported everywhere,including Europe, where farming was mostly restricted to wheat strains obtained much earlier via central Asia.
Spainreceived what she in turn transmitted to the rest of Europe; many agricultural and fruit-growing processes, togetherwith many new plants, fruit and vegetables. These new crops included sugar cane, rice, citrus fruit, apricots, cotton,artichokes, aubergines, and saffron. Others, previously known, were further developed. Several were later exportedfrom Spanish coastal areas to the Spanish colonies in the New World. Also transmitted via Muslim influence, a silkindustry flourished, flax was cultivated and linen exported, and esparto grass, which grew wild in the more aridparts, was collected and turned into various articles.
The process of getting all of these new crops was not as easy as some might assume it was. It was difficult to takethese new plants and fruits to the Iberian Peninsula and in some cases it was done illegally. Bringing them wasdifficult in many cases because there were specific varieties of plants that were not allowed to be removed fromMuslim territories that people had to smuggle out; however, in the end this process proved very helpful to the Iberianpeninsula. The economic implications were enormous. By having so many new crops people began to become morehealthy and due to this there was a great economic upturn in this time.
Agriculture was one of the areas of activity which acted as a driver of the Andalusian economy. What was much later known as the “Green Revolution” was the source of acclimatization of new crops brought from the East and led to major developments in botany. Irrigation networks increased significantly and multiplied production to the point that it became possible to export surpluses both the Islamic world and to Christian kingdoms. Psychology and sociology Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis), the father of modern surgery, developed material and technical designs which are stillused in neurosurgery.
Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) gave the first accurate descriptions on neurological disorders, includingmeningitis, intracranial thrombophlebitis, and mediastinal germ cell tumors, and made contributions to modernneuropharmacology. Averroes suggested the existence of Parkinson’s disease and attributed photoreceptor propertiesto the retina. Maimonides wrote about neuropsychiatric disorders and described rabies and belladonnaintoxication. Said Al-Andalusi (1029–1070) stated that people in all corners of the world have a common origin but differ incertain aspects: “ethics, appearance, landscape and language”.
He treated the history of Egypt as part of the universalhistory of all humanity, and he linked Egypt and Sudan to the history of the Arabs through a common ancestry. ]They linked ancient Egypt to Muslim history through Hajar (Hagar), the wife of Ibrahim (Abraham) and mother ofIsmail (Ishmael), the patriarch of the Arabs, thus making Hajar the mother of the Arabs. Islamic Civilization The Islamic civilization had reached its peak in the 10th century, and by 1100, the number of Muslims rose to 5. 6 million.
There existed in Cordoba alone, 200,000 houses, 600 mosques, 900 public baths, 10,000 lamps, 50 hospitals, lighted and paved streets. Muslims introduced public baths because of their need to to wash in preparation for prayer 5x a day. Libraries and research institutions grew rapidly in Muslim Spain, while the rest of Europe remained illiterate. Revolustion of industries Muslims produced cotton, paper, salt, silk, satin, pepper, stamps, clocks, soaps, rulers, maps, globes, furs, velvets, described over 200 surgical instruments, and named over 200 stars with Arabic names.
Hence, it was this Islamic civilization in Spain that was the main threshold behind the European Renaissance. During the time the Muslims set foot in Spain in 711 until 1084 (a year before Toledo was taken) Muslim Spain had become an area unique to the entire world. Culture legacy Islamic architect The Muslim artisans applied their remarkable skills to architecture in making mosques (masajid) and palaces. The Muslims mastered technique and design. The Alhambra Palace, and The Great Mosque of Cordoba, are just two of the famous magnificent architectural masterpieces of the Muslims which can still be seen today.
Of the Alhambra, it is called, “a utopia, the brightest memory of a lost golden age of pleasure, poetry, tolerance, art, and learning. ” One Muslim poet wrote: “A sun dwells in this place and even its shadow is blessed. In this palace a multitude of pleasures capture the eye and suspend the intellect. Here a crystal world teaches marvels. Everywhere Beauty is carved, opulence is manifest. ” The Islamic architecture in Spain is elaborate and decorative with intricate designs. Stone, and stucco, plaster for coating exterior walls, were widely favored. Later, brick replaced stone.
The “Mezquita” or The Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Alhambra of Granada are two Islamic monuments that utilize this design. There are, however, not many examples of Islamic architecture remaining today in Spain because many were destroyed or converted from mosques to churches when Muslims were later exterminated (officially) in the year 1492 and beyond. The Alhambra is the only palace left nearly intact and preserved of all the Muslim masterpieces in Spain Narrated by Ibn Abbas (RA), the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “Whoever creates a living image in this world (i. , human, animal) will be charged with putting a soul in it which he will never be able to do. ” Architecture resulted from a deep knowledge of Geometry, which led to a blend of visual and light effects through the use of beautiful decoration, water, light and gardens by Andalusian master builders. Muslim artists were prohibited from making images of living things so that they could concentrate on the oneness of God. Paintings of inanimate objects, trees and flowers were permitted. Islamic ideology teaches that the making of images can lead to idolatry.
It can also lead to praising of one’s own work, which does away with humility and humbleness, important virtues stressed in Islam. Inevitably, it leads to one’s neglect of the remembrance of Allah, and one’s neglect of the fact that it was Allah who gave the artist the talent from birth. It is also rivaling with Allah Himself who is the sole creator of the Universe and its inhabitants. Though many of Muslims therefore abstained from painting figures of people and animals, Islamic art was far from lacking beauty.
Muslim rulers introduced a characteristically Arabic architectural style, which by the end of their rule in Iberia included elements of Arabic, Byzantine, and Visigothic architecture. These features remained highly influential inthe Iberian Peninsula long after the Reconquista. Some examples of the lasting architectural contributions under thetaifa include the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Cordoban palace estate al-Rustafa. Christians and Jews adoptedArabic architectural elements into their own churches and synagogues. This became known as the Mozarabic style.
Mozarabic architecture included the absence of exterior decoration, diversity of floor plans, the use of the horseshoearch in the Islamic style, and the use of the column as support, with a capital decorated with vegetable elements. Moorish styled architecture continued to be popular long after Muslim rule was pushed out of Spain by theReconquista. Many Christian Cathedrals were built in the Moorish architectural style. The Spanish-Moorish artisticstyle, that is exemplified by the Sinagoga del Transito, became known as the Mudejar style.
Arabic architectural elements were also incorporated in what would eventually become the Romanesque style in the 12th century. Presently, cities in the southern portion of Spain contain examples of all these architectural styles, all of whichincorporate Arabesque elements. Cuisine Restaurants in medieval Islamic Spain served three-course meals, which were introduced in the 9th century byZiryab, who insisted that meals should be served in three separate courses consisting of soup, the main course, anddessert.
Linguistics and literature In the 12th century, the Andalusian-Arabian philosopher and novelist Ibn Tufail (known as “Abubacer” or “EbnTophail” in the West) first demonstrated Avicenna’s theory of tabula rasa as a thought experiment in his Arabicnovel, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, in which he depicted the development of the mind of a feral child “from a tabula rasa to thatof an adult, in complete isolation from society” on a desert island.
The Latin translation of his work, titledPhilosophus Autodidactus, published by Edward Pococke the Younger in 1671, had an influence on John Locke’sformulation of tabula rasa in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which went on to become one of theprincipal sources of empiricism in modern Western philosophy, and influenced many Enlightenment philosophers,such as David Hume and George Berkeley.
Hadith Bayad wa Riyad (The Story of Bayad and Riyad) was a 13th century Arabic love story written in Al-Andalus. The main characters of the tale are Bayad, a merchant’s son and a foreigner from Damascus, and Riyad, a welleducated girl in the court of an unnamed Hajib (vizier or minister) of Al-Andalus who is referred to as the lady. TheHadith Bayad wa Riyad manuscript is believed to be the only illustrated manuscript known to have survived frommore than eight centuries of Muslim and Arab presence in Spain.
Translation Thanks to the Toledo School of Translators, established after Toledo was reconquered by the Christian forces in1085, the work of many Islamic scholars, that previously could have only be accessed by Muslims, especially inAl-Andalus and Islamic Sicily, finally found its way into European science. These scholars most translated newscientific and philosophical texts from Arabic into Latin.
One of the most productive translators in Castile was Gerard of Cremona, who translated 87 books from Arabic to Latin, including Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi’s On Algebra and Almucabala, Jabir ibn Aflah’s Elementa astronomica,al-Kindi’s On Optics, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farghani’s On Elements of Astronomy on the Celestial Motions, al-Farabi’s On the Classification of the Sciences,the chemical and medical works of Razi, the works of Thabit ibn Qurra and Hunayn ibn Ishaq, and the works of Arzachel, Jabir ibn Aflah, the Banu Musa, Abu Kamil Shuja ibn Aslam, Abu al-Qasim, and Ibn al-Haytham (including the Book of Optics).
With the fall of the Emirate of Granada in 1492, the scientific and technological initiative of the Islamic world wasinherited by Europeans and laid the foundations for Europe’s Renaissance and Scientific Revolution. Music A number of musical instruments used in classical music, particularlyin Spanish music, are believed to have been derived from Arabicmusical nstruments used in Al-Andalus: the lute was derived from theal’ud, the rebec (ancestor of violin) from the rebab, the guitar fromqitara, naker from naqareh, adufe from al-duff, alboka from al-buq,anafil from al-nafir, exabeba from al-shabbaba (flute), atabal (bassdrum) from al-tabl, atambal from al-tinbal, the balaban, thecastanet from kasatan, sonajas de azofar from sunuj al-sufr, the conicalbore wind instruments, the xelami from the sulami or fistula (fluteor musical pipe), the shawm and dulzaina from the reed instrumentszamr and al-zurna, the gaita from the ghaita, rackett from iraqya oriraqiyya,the harp and zither from the qanun, canon from qanun,geige (violin) from ghichak, and the theorbo from the tarab. It isalso commonly acknowledged by flamenco performers that the vocal,instrumental, and dance elements of modern flamenco were greatlyinfluenced by the Arab performing arts. Pottery
Hispano-Moresque ware was a style of Islamic pottery created inAl-Andalus, after the Moors had introduced two ceramic techniques toEurope: glazing with an opaque white tin-glaze, and painting inmetallic lusters. Hispano-Moresque ware was distinguished from thepottery of Christendom by the Islamic character of its decoration. The tin-glazing of ceramics was invented by Muslim potters in 8thcentury Basra, Iraq. The earliest tin-glazed pottery thus appears tohave been made in Iraq in the 9th century. From there, it spread to Egypt, Persia and Iberian Peninsula, before reaching Italy in the Renaissance, Holland in the 16th century, and England, France andother European countries shortly after.
Lusterware was invented by Jabir ibn Hayyan, who applied it toceramic glazes in the 8th century. After the production of lusterware became popular in the Middle East, it spreadto Europe—first to Al-Andalus, notably at Malaga, and then to Italy, where it was used to enhance maiolica. An albarello is a type of maiolica earthenware jar originally designed to hold apothecaries’ ointments and dry drugs. The development of this type of pharmacy jar had its roots in the Islamic Middle East. It was brought to Italy byHispano-Moresque traders by the 15th century. Calligraphy Muslim scribes in Spain developed calligraphy into art form. Islamic art is known for its repetitious patterns, a constant reminder of the uniqueness of God.
Calligraphical, floral, arabesque, and geometric designs flourished in the Muslim world. Cites of Muslim Spain Granada The city of Granada finds her equal not in Cairo, nor Damascus, nor Iraq. She is the Bride Unveiled While the others are just the dowry. ” The “Alhambra” meaning the “Red Fort” or “Red Palace” is located in the city of Granada (‘Gharnatah’). It is called the “Red Fort” because of the red of the surrounding landscape. Alhambra comes from the Arabic word, “Al-Hamra” meaning “the red. ” The construction was begun in the Nasrid period, and completed in the fourteenth century. Muhammad al-Ghalib built the foundations of the Alhambra while further construction was made by his son, Muhammad II.
Inside and around the Alhambra are inscriptions of Arabic writing like “Kingdom is for Allah” and “Wa La Ghalib illa Allah,” which means, “There is no Conqueror (Victor) except Allah. ” king Abu Abdullah (Boabdil) was called by his people as, “Al-Ghalib” (The Conqueror). Yet, when recognizing his imminent defeat, he exclaimed otherwise proclaiming that none other than God was the Greatest. Hence, “There is no Conqueror except God,” became the motto of his descendents. Among other verses and poetry inscribed on the Alhambra walls are poems by Ibn Zamrak who was also the chief minister to King Muhammad V, and Ibn Al-Khatib who was also a historian, and a physician.
The splendor of the Alhambra and its gardens have inspired many musicians, artists, and authors. Among them was renowned author, Washington Irving, who took up residence in the Alhambra and wrote Tales of the Alhambra. The artist M. C. Escher’s interest began when in 1936 he visited the Alhambra and was fascinated with its tile patterns, and spent days sketching them. The inspiration here lay the foundation for his work – for which he is most famous for. He based his work on these intricate Arabic designs, and repetitive floral and mathematical patterns. Cordoba Emirate and Caliphate of Cordoba Under the orders of the Great UmayyadCaliph Al-Walid I, Tariq ibn-Ziyad led asmall force that landed at Gibraltar on April30, 711.
After a decisive victory at theBattle of Guadalete on July 19, 711, Tariqibn-Ziyad brought most of the IberianPeninsula under Muslim occupation in aseven-year campaign. They crossed thePyrenees and occupied parts of southernFrance, but were defeated by the FrankCharles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in732. However Poitiers did not stop theprogress of the Berber Arabs and in 734Avignon was conquered, Arles was attackedand the whole of Provence was overrun. In737, the Muslims reached Burgundy, wherethey captured a large quantity of slaves totake back to Iberia. Berbers of the Maghrib,in 739, revolted against their Arab masters;before a year’s time, the revolt spreadthrough Iberia. Berbers had lost their independence and their rebellion caused complete chaos that caused economicdislocation.
Charles Martel responded with continuous campaigns against the Muslims in the south of Gaul between 736and 739 and twenty years later, in 759, the Franks under the leadership of Pepin the Short expelled the Muslims from Septimania which was one of the five administrative areas of Al-Andalus. The Iberian peninsula, except for the Kingdom of Asturias, became part of the expanding Umayyad empire, underthe name of Al-Andalus. The earliest attestation of this Arab name is a dinar coin, preserved in the ArchaeologicalMuseum in Madrid, dating from five years after the conquest (716). The coin bears the word “al-Andalus” in Arabicscript on one side and the Iberian Latin “Span” on the obverse.
At first, al-Andalus was ruled by governors appointed by the Caliph, most ruling for periods of under three years. However, from 740, a series of civil wars between various Muslim groups in Iberia resulted in the breakdown ofCaliphal control, with Yusuf al-Fihri, who emerged as the main winner, effectively becoming an independent ruler. In 750, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads for control of the great Arab empire. But in 756, the exiled Umayyad prince Abd-ar-Rahman I (later titled Al-Dakhil) ousted Yusuf al-Fihri to establish himself as the Emir of Cordoba. He refused to submit to the Abbasid caliph, as Abbasid forces had killed most of his family.
Over a thirty year reign,he established a tenuous rule over much of al-Andalus, overcoming partisans of both the al-Fihri family and of the Abbasid caliph. For the next century and a half, his descendants continued as emirs of Cordoba, with nominal control over the rest ofal-Andalus and sometimes even parts of western North Africa, but with real control, particularly over the marchesalong the Christian border, vacillating depending on the competence of the individual emir. Indeed, the power ofemir Abdallah ibn Muhammad (circa 900) did not extend beyond Cordoba itself. But his grandson Abd-al-RahmanIII, who succeeded him in 912, not only rapidly restored Umayyad power throughout al-Andalus but extended it intowestern North Africa as well.
In 929 he proclaimed himself Caliph, elevating the emirate to a position competing inprestige not only with the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad but also the Shi’ite caliph in Tunis—with whom he wascompeting for control of North Africa. The period of the Caliphate is seen as the golden age of al-Andalus. Crops produced using irrigation, along with food imported from the Middle East, provided the area around Cordoba and some otherAndalusi cities with an agricultural economic sector by far the most advanced in Europe. Among European cities, Cordoba under the Caliphate, with a population of perhaps 500,000, eventually overtookConstantinople as the largest and most prosperous city in Europe. ]Within the Islamic world, Cordoba was one of the leading cultural centres.
The work of its most important philosophers and scientists(notably Abulcasis and Averroes) had a major influence on the intellectual life of medieval Europe. Muslims and non-Muslims often came from abroad to study in thefamous libraries and universities of al-Andalus after the reconquest ofToledo in 1085. The most noted of these was Michael Scot (c. 1175 toc. 1235), who took the works of Ibn Rushd (“Averroes”) and Ibn Sina(“Avicenna”) to Italy. This transmission was to have a significantimpact on the formation of the European Renaissanc First Taifa period The Cordoba Caliphate effectively collapsed during a ruinous civil warbetween 1009 and 1013, although it was not finally abolished until1031. Al-Andalus then broke up into a number of mostly independentstates called taifas.
These were generally too weak to defendthemselves against repeated raids and demands for tribute from the Christian states to the north and west, which wereknown to the Muslims as “the Galician nations”,[18] and which had spread from their initial strongholds in Galicia,Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque country and the Carolingian Marca Hispanica to become the Kingdoms of Navarre,Leon, Portugal, Castile and Aragon and the County of Barcelona. Eventually raids turned into conquests, and inresponse the taifa kings were forced to request help from the Almoravids, Islamic rulers of the Maghreb. Their desperate maneuver would eventually fall to their disadvantage, however, as the Moravids they had summoned from the south went on to conquer many of the taifa kingdoms. Almoravids, Almohads and Marinids
In 1086 the Almoravid ruler of Morocco Yusufibn Tashfin was invited by the Muslim princes inIberia to defend them against Alfonso VI, Kingof Castile and Leon. In that year, Yusuf ibnTashfin crossed the straits to Algeciras and inflicted a severe defeat on the Christians at theaz-Zallaqah. By 1094, Yusuf ibn Tashfin had removed all Muslim princes in Iberia and annexed their states, except for the one at Zaragoza. He regained Valencia from the Christians. The Almoravids were succeeded in the 12thcentury by the Almohads, another Berberdynasty, after the victory of Abu Yusuf Ya’qubal-Mansur over the Castilian Alfonso VIII at theBattle of Alarcos.
In 1212 a coalition of Christian kings under the leadership of the Castilian Alfonso VIII defeatedthe Almohads at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. The Almohads continued to rule Al Andalus for another decade,but with much reduced power and prestige; and the civil wars following the death of Abu Ya’qub Yusuf II rapidlyled to the re-establishment of taifas. The taifas, newly independent but now weakened, were quickly conquered by Portugal, Castile and Aragon. After the fall of Murcia (1243) and the Algarve (1249), only the Emirate of Granadasurvived as a Muslim state, but only as a tributary of Castile. Most of its tribute was paid in gold from present-day Mali and Burkina Faso that was carried to Iberia through the merchant routes of the Sahara.
