Contents

The Vivid Memories of Al-Andalus

in the Discourse on Dialogue among Civilisations

Mr. Mohamed Larbi Messari(*)

The issue of al-Andalus emerges almost spontaneaously in the undertaking of dialogue among civilisations as a highly symbolic paradigm appealing to the minds and hearts alike. Al-Andalus is seen from different perspectives depending on the context in which it is set. It is sometimes a subject of polemic, most often a subject of meditation, and always a cultural and historical phenomenon which is regarded not as a chapter in history but as a human experience that brings a wealth of valuable lessons for the present.

My aim is to draw attention to the misapprehension among Spaniards about al-Andalus whenever the Arabs think back to it with nostalgia. In his videotaped statement, shot by Aljazeera Satellite Channel on 7 October 2001, Osama Bin Laden made a reference to the "fall of al-Andalus". He said that Muslims would never accept that the tragedy of al-Andalus repeats itself in Palestine. This was sufficient reason for a heated debate in Spain to rage about the statement of Al-Qaida’s leader.

Tens of columnists, politicians and academics engaged in the debate. They argued that what Al-Qaida's leader thinks of as a loss was in fact totally the opposite as it brought about Spanish national integrity by the immediate expulsion of Arab intruders.

Deliberate indoctrination

The expression "al-Andalus Lost” gives rise to misconceptions and misunderstanding, out of which hard-line stances grow which subsequently draw the issue into biased indoctrination and have it strung as a banner of war. This is what we find in a newly printed book by Cesar Fidel who compiled every possible piece of evidence to his claim that Spain has forever been in a head-on confrontation with Islam.

Eleven chapters of the said 574-page book cover the period of al-Andalus. Throughout these chapters, the author denies the existence of any relations between Spain and Islam aside from lasting animosity. He also argues that the incessant confrontation during the reconquista wars swelled, after 1492, into a prolonged warfare across Gibraltar. He is referring to the military and political action led by Spain on Moroccan lands starting from the possession of Ceuta and Melilla, through the battle of Tétouan in 1860, to the incident of the islet of Tura which he describes as a military dispute.

Aznar: War began since the VIII Century

Without any doubt, the lecture Spanish former Prime Minister, José Maria Aznar, delivered at Georgetown University, 21 September 2004, is the most eloquent political pronouncement on the matter. Mr. Aznar said that Spain's long battle against terrorism started as early as 711, when Muslims, led by Tariq Ibn Ziyad, invaded Spain. He further argued that the terrorist acts which struck at Madrid on 11 March 2004 did not begin with the Iraqi crisis, but with the fall of al-Andalus.

Trauma of al-Andalus

In his book “Islamism and Islam”, Gustavo de Arístegui, says that Islam is a religion which brought freedom for large numbers of peoples. He defined Islamism as a radical ideology that is incompatible with democracy. According to him, there is a feeling of nostalgia among the Arabs for al-Andalus. He related that he met, upon a visit to the Umayyad Mosque in 1984 in Damascus, with the Grand Mufti, who was an Islamist. They talked about al-Andalus, and, at a moment in their conversation, the Mufti said he was confident that Islam would be back to redeem al-Andalus from Western wickedness and depravity.

On page 309 onwards, Aristegui maintains that the fall of al-Andalus has been a scar carried by all Muslims. On their part, Islamists regard Spain as Dar al-Harb (literally Household of War), since it is no longer under Muslim rule. Islamists are reputed to have first introduced the idea of "reconquista" as encompassing each province lost by Muslims, including al-Andalus.

Links between the Arabs and Spain

Ahmed Zaki Pacha, who was in Spain in 1892, is said to be the first Arab in modern history to think of al-Andalus as “Paradise Lost”. Earlier in 1887, Ali Bin Salim Al-Wardani, a Tunisian writer, had travelled to Spain, and he set an itemised list of Arabic books there. In his account, the author made a reference to the expression the “Paradise Lost”. So what does al-Andalus mean to us?

In October 2004, (Al-Arabi) featured a selected choice of historical and literary works on al-Andalus, which showed that there was a change in the way Arabs look at al-Andalus, moving "away from eulogizing and self-criticism", as mentioned in the preface by Suleiman Ibrahim al-Askari.

Moroccan researcher Dr. Mohamed Sherif went to the heart of the matter. He pointed out that “nationalism” was a prime mover in the development of Spanish reconquista, which, over eight centuries, was more of a liberation war than a religious battle for the expulsion of Arab Muslims.

History points out that there lived two opposing worlds on Spanish lands. In areas under Muslim rule, distinct ethnic and religious groups and minorities were tolerated within the same society. On Christian lands, however, pluralism was not allowed, which culminated in the triumph, in 1492, of one-sidedness.

A page is turned

More than five centuries have elapsed since Queen Isabella and King Fernando took Granada in 1492 and Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453. The two events are looked at, just like the Pharaoh civilisation, as a chapter in history. The way they are viewed in modern times is not as charged with the same overwhelming emotions as during the period that followed immediately after.

Muslim reconquest of modern Spain cannot be thought of as being possible, by analogy with Zionist return to Palestine. Spain exists as an independent, sovereign state. But the outstanding civilizational experience in the history of Spain under Arab rule is something that belongs to human history.

The theory of the "Reconquista" was thoroughly revisited through the outstanding works of Spanish critics like Américo Castro. On his part, Prof. Pedro Martinez Montavez claims that researchers hold different viewpoints concerning the legacy of al-Andalus. Some consider it as a static material, others look at it as a common legacy which belongs to Arabs and Spaniards, while the majority regard it as a Spanish property. For Montavez, the strangest thing is when you have to establish the truth about something which is universally acknowledged, such as having to evidence that al-Andalus is part of the history of Spain.

On the side, arabist Ceraven Vanjol devoted himself to the publication of research works that strip al-Andalus of any of its attributes. In this he joins with Fidel Cesar and the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, and, to a certain degree, with Italian political scientist and writer Giovanni Sartori, the 2005 prince of Asturias Award Laureate for Social Sciences.

The legacy of al-Andalus is meaningful to Spanish Muslims, especially, as shown by Yusuf Fernández, of the Spanish Federation of Islamic Groups, pluralism in Islam. He explained, following the terrorist acts that struck Madrid in 2004, that “in al-Andalus, Jews, Christians, Arabs and Muslims enjoyed a certain degree of cohabitation that was unprecedented.”

Our memories of al-Andalus are of a model of impressive creativity in poetry, architecture and ways of living. A number of contemporary Arab poets formed into a group they called the “league of al-Andalus”. The pluralism and freedom of thought they enjoyed in America conjured up in their minds a feeling of nostalgia for the pluralism and coexistence which were tolerated in al-Andalus. They found themselves in a different culture which inspired them to genius, and in a new form of verse, adapted to their immediate surrounding, they could express what they thought of as an incarnation of al-Andalus. The name they chose for their league was inspired by this culture.

We need, in our drive to build alliance of civilizations, to take an objective approach to the legacy of al-Andalus which transcends past rancour.

(*) Former Minister of Information and Communication in Morocco.

- This paper was distributed in the symposium

Publications of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

-ISESCO- 1428H/2007 A.D