Muslim establishments could be traced back to the AD when Berbers conquered Spain after waging war against them. Spain is a small nation that is located in South Western Europe somewhere on the Iberian Peninsula. Sometimes back in the 8th Century, the Berber Muslims conquered the Iberian Peninsula after launching a massive conquest on the inhabitants. These Berbers were from Africa and went to Spain on an expansion mission under the leadership of Umayyad Islamic Empire. Almost the whole of the whole of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered with exception of a few places that refused to succumb to the pressures from these Berbers. Though they wanted to spread their influence in the whole region, they respected Christianity and Jewish religions though not without some punishments and penalties. The main focus of this research is to intensively and extensively establish the trend the expansion of Islam in Spain as well as the challenges that if faced on its expansion route. (Reinhart D. and Francis G. S. 2001)
Sometimes back in the 711BE, Ibn Ziyad who at that time was the governor of Tangier, with his army of not less than twelve thousand troops settled in Promontory or a place whose name was changed in his honor to Gibrator. All this was in accordance with the Visgothic call for help. Visgothic called them so that they would help them in opposing King Rodoric leadership but fortunately or unfortunately this king died thus subjecting Spain to a state of no leader for some time.
In the year that followed, Musa Nasair was very determined to extend Muslim influence in that region. It did not take long before he took his army to Spain where they were to help people to observe the rule of law. Just as it is every leaders dream to expand his / her spheres of influence, Musa Ibn was not also left behind as he started to express some Interest in the far most part of the North and especially in the mountainous zones.
In the middle of the 8th century there was a war in North Africa that forced the prince of Umayyad Abdal Rahman who were escaping from being slaughtered by the Abbasid in 750 seek refuge to the Berbers. He supported the Yemenis tribe of the Peninsula Iberian. With the assistance he received from the local community he was able to defeat the Abbasid governor who had made him ran away from Al Andalus and self proclaimed himself as the Cordoba Emir. After this the Spanish Umayyad who was known as the Rahman III with a lot of determination he was able to extend his territory thereby becoming the first Caliph. The acquisition of this title was of prime important as it would make their kingdom stronger and secondly it would help them to strengthen their commercial routes in the Mediterranean region. (Wikipedia Foundation. 2008)
All this period, Muslims were very united under one leadership but the situation changed in the 11th century when they broke into Taifa Kingdoms. This gave Christians a chance to advance themselves on the areas that were already under Islam influence and this became a very big challenge the survival and the spread of Islam. (Wikipedia Foundation: April 4th 2008).
Since they entered in this region, Islam expansion steadily expanded due to their determination and hard work in spreading and converting the locals such that within a very short period, the number of Muslims in the region outnumbered both the Jews and the Christians. As a result of this, the Muslims came to be in control of a very large area unlike before this period. This was due to impact that Islam had on the local Spaniards on the Iberian Peninsula.
The expansion move was not a smooth ride as it was expected to be as these Berbers had to encounter another determined Islamic group or simply the Arabs who were against their spread but with time the Moorish people became established particularly along the river and the mountainous Granada zones. In Valencia, they came to occupy the Coastal plains of Valencia.
The Spanish moor consisted of Berbers from North Africa and the converts to Islam. These were the Arabs who were not amused to see the bureaucracy and idle sitting. They were also opposed to this government because it appeared to be so Sophiscated. Most of the Visgothic changed their religion to Islam something that helped them to maintain their status as respectable members of the society. (Reinhart D. and Francis G. S. 2001)
During this time, the capital came to be occupied by Muslims. Muslims and the Jews as well as the Elites mostly did help in the spread of Islam in Spain. This place was inhabited by the Romanized culture something that made it to have a unique and destination culture due to the complexity of the interaction. Outside the Iberian Peninsula, the areas continued to be occupied by the Spanish citizens as these Muslims rarely grabbed the lands of the local people. The expansion of Islam in Spain was not something easy as they never even possessed a piece of land. These Almohads from North Africa were very understanding people, they never mistreated the native and especially the Jews and the Christians but with time they were forced to equip themselves militarily to counteract the advances that were being made by the Christians.
After the Spanish Muslims gave birth to other units, the Christians cemented their control over the region and this could be regarded as the beginning of the end of the Muslim conquest in the region and this was marked by the emergence of the Covadonga war of 722 AD. In this war, the Christians fought with a lot of vigour and ingenuity until they pinned the Muslims down and established their Christian kingdom in Asturias. Muslims tried to move northwards to Pyrenees. Here, they had to engage in the Poitiers battle in France but they miserably failed and lost. They had no other option apart from looking for a safer place in the south at Pyrenees in a small frontier that was between the Duero and the Ebro River and both in Spain.
In 739 AD, Santiago de Compostela the Muslims were also driven out of the Europeans most have sites that were dubbed as dubbed. As time went by, the Christians came to establish some countries in the region below Pyrenees. With time these countries gradually turned into kingdoms.
Breaking up of Al Andalus was one of the biggest mistakes that the Muslims did. They had to confront the Christians who had by then had become very strong in the region but even after encouraging the Christians in a tough battle, they were unable to have back Toledo, the central city of Spain and this marked the second conquest of the Northern city as they took central over the northern part of Spain that was before this under Islam. Over the next centuries that followed, even the Aragon kingdom tried expanding its influence upto the Barcelona a thing that they did successfully. This strengthened the Christian’s kingdom. The 12th and 13th century, the Moorish that was the Muslims stronghold as well as Cordoba and Serville were lost to the Christians thereby consolidating their power. The Jews, Roman Muslims and the Christians lived together though they sometimes disagreed with one another. (Collins R. 1989)
The Moor Berbers were agricultural farmers who practiced a lot of agriculture farming where they applied various irrigation methods to grow crops. These were Berbers who managed to cross from North Africa all the way to west Europe. The term also refers to the Berbers who had been conquered by the Arab powers in Morocco. These Muslims became very prosperous and the Jews and the Christians started envying them. In 1469, Castile and Aragon
which were by then Christian territories, were united thought they both maintained their political and economic independence. What brought these two kingdoms together was the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella.
The merging of these two Christian kingdoms became a formidable force that shook the stability of Islam in Spain. They kept on with their conquest bid to wipe out the remnant of Islam in the Peninsula. They corporated in all their works and it is for this reason that they were able to conquer Granada. The defeat of Muslim put a full stop to their existence and rule in the Iberian Peninsula. At the same period Spain sent Christopher Columbus to look for a route to the Far East but this did not happen as he ended up landing in the New World. He thought that he was already in Asia because the New World natives were Indians just like the Asians. (Derhak D. 2000)
Still the same year, the Jews in the Peninsula Iberian were under threat of the Christians who had become very strong. They had managed to control all the influence that was created by the Muslims and now the interest was on Jews who were force to either convert into Christianity or face expulsion from the region. They were not only forced to become Christians but specifically they were asked to convert to Catholicism. The rulers of the united two nations, Ferdinand and Isabella paid little to the existence of the local power to centralize their efforts and a Hispanic name Espana was used to represent the two kingdoms. Due to the numerous political reforms, military as well as some religious reforms, Spain emerged as the first world power of his time.
Though the Moor Berbers were the first to establish themselves in the Peninsula, the Christians who were very apt in capitalizing on the Muslim’s weaknesses quickly took their place. During this period the Iberian Muslims were very divided and disagreed with various groups that were after the leadership of this region. The actual deathblow was leveled when Muslims got divided into three groups and the Christians capitalized on their disunity. Divisions among them continued to widen as after breaking into three groups, the Umayyad regime was fragmented into many tiny kingdoms that were known by the Muslims as emirates.
The Christians wiped Muslims out of the Peninsula swiftly because they were already too weak to resist. Many of them emigrated to North Africa and where they went they carried the Spanish culture. (Wikipedia Foundation. 2008)
Though there were a lot of in fights among the Muslims and the same case was happening to the Christians in Spain. They had to undergo numerous fights, which led to the loss of many lives. Even though they were at war internally, they were keen of looking for new opportunities to slower the expansion speed of the Muslims. Of all these dynasties that resulted due to subdivisions among the Muslims, the only that was influential was that one which was called the Abbadids. Te fifth that was fought among the Christians was between the ordinary Christians and powerful nobles
In bid to strengthen the relationship between Muslims and the Christians, many alliances were formed and were based on mutual understanding but they proved not to be useful as the war against Muslims went on as if nothing happened. It was not an easy thing to maintain good relationship with the Muslims, Christians and the Jews. To hold all these groups together that were heterogeneous in nature, legalism and ethics were vital. Though Christians were quickly advancing their influence in this region, they faced a lot of set backs and some of these are the fact that Muslims were not ready to let them have their territories that easily. These fights led to the loss of many innocent lives and their properties. The reason for Christians expanded their influence in various regions is because at this time they were very enthusiastic to enlarge their territory while the Muslims had already reached their power pinnacle in this region so they lacked interest. After Christians drove out all the Muslims out of the Peninsula, now they turned their attention to the Jews in a move that was referred as religious purification. This did not only apply to the Jews as it also applied to the Protestants and Muslims. This movement was abolished in the 1830s, as it was a violation of the religious freedom.
The merging of Caste of states such as the Aragon, Castile, Leon and also Navarre was a pre-requisite step to the creation of the Spanish Empire. Spain continued to be the leading super power in Europe and the extensive trade that was conducted and the gains that accrued from it further strengthened this.
Andalusia was the term that was used by the Muslim population who were the residents of Iberian Peninsula to refer to the Muslim territory from the beginning of its conquest of 711 CE upto the time they were defeated by the Christians or the Nasvid fan in 1492. The Muslims were in control of the Iberian Peninsula but with exception of some regions especially those on the south of the Peninsula. They never ruled in the South of Pyrenees, as the Christians were able to resist the Muslims. The final straw came to Muslims when Toledo, Visigothic capital that was part of their conquest ceased to be theirs and exchanged hands to the Alfonso VI who was the Castile’s king.
The Al Andalus conquest happened during the times of the Umayyad Caliphate and had its center at Damascus. Later Al Andalus was replaced by the new dynasty that emerged. It was forced to change its headquarter from Damascus to Baghdad and this is when Al Rahman went on exile but later with the help of Umayyad followers, he was able to establish himself in power. His capital was at Umayyad emirate. The Umayyads did all in their power to keep Berbers and the converted locals. In 912-961 B.E. the 8th ruler Al Rahman of the Umayyad managed to regain control over al Andalus. He declared himself the ruler so as to strengthen his rule and at the same time shunning the dangers that were caused by the North African Fatimid Caliphate establishment. The tenth century was represented by political unity, the stability of the government, economic prosperity and cultural progress though some reforms that were carried by Umayyad Caliph on military precipitated to the civil war.
Due to the difference in background the leaders of these units that emerged started engaging themselves in war and especially to interrupt the Christians who were advancing against them. Their submissiveness to the Christian authorities led them to be paying their tribute to these authorities. This was in contrary to what Muslims have lived in Peninsula and in other regions. They had a history of racing but not being submissive to the Christian kingdom. Though they paid their tribute to the Christian authorities, it was not a guarantee that their territories had a future life in their kingdom as even Barbastro and Cormbra were victims of the same despite the fact that they had paid their tribute did not guarantee to them that their territories would not be conquered. (Inter-Islam, 1998)
Islam does still exist in Spain today even after it faced a lot of challenge from the Christians. Currently there are about thirty thousands of them in the whole country. Today the Iberian Peninsula is known by many as Andalus and there are so many Islam revival movements in Spain. They are trying to put life to this religion that lost its influence to the Christians when they started having in fights. Today, there are movements that are trying to bring the influence of the past back to life. They have even gone back to their past strongholds who’s much influence was much felt during the 15th century. These are cities such as the Moorish. They have e even formed some movements that proving to be very useful when it comes to restoring the pasts influence. An example of these movements is the International tribune Herald that trace its origins or roots in the hippies and the beat generation as opposed to the austere fundamentalism which is a culture that is very popular in Spain.
Islam in Spain traces its origin from North Africa but it slowly it crossed the sea up to the Western world and especially in Spain this was sometimes back in 711BE. Spreading it was not an easy task as they met some resistance on their way. After sometime, Christians occupied their place especially after the Muslims became disunited. They spread Christianity in the Peninsular and at the same time getting rid of Jews and Muslims. There have been very movements that try to revive Islam in Spain but the road is not always as smooth as it may be thought as Christianity had squarely established itself.
Reference
Reinhart D. and Francis G. S. 2001. Spanish Islam: History of the Muslims in Spain. Goodword Books;
Collins R. 1989. The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797. Blackwell.
Wikipedia Foundation. 2008. Spread of Islam. Accessed at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_of_Islam on April 21, 2008.
Wikipedia Foundation: April 4th 2008. Islam in Spain. Accessed at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Spain on April 21, 2008.
Inter-Islam, 1998. Muslim Spain. Accessed at
http://www.inter-islam.org/Pastevents/andalus1.htm on 21-Apr-08
Derhak D. 2000. Muslim Spain and European Culture. Accessed at
http://www.xmission.com/~dderhak/index/moors.htm on Monday, April 21, 2008.
