Once Upon a Time in Andalusia-PART V
Who Killed Islam in Andalusia
The scientific and philosophical learning of the Andalusians
was channelled off beyond the Pyrenees, to irrigate the
dry pastures of European intellectual life. Students from Western Europe
flocked to the libraries and universities set up by the Muslims in Spain.
This decisively changed the European mind, and it is no exaggeration to say
that Western civilization owes its regeneration to the intellectual energy
released by the dynamo that was Islam. The period of regeneration, which
started in Florence in sixteenth century Italy,
is referred to by the West as the Renaissance. It was a direct result of
another European Renaissance which began at the university
of Cَrdoba in ninth century Spain.
This profound truth of our common history becomes clear when we know how to
listen to the music of the stones of Cَrdoba. There is, however, a
fundamental difference between the two 'renaissances': the one which started in
Cَrdoba was based on faith and was conscious of the universality of the
divine; the one which began in Florence
was made against God with its essential project of secularising all aspects of
life.
The reasons leading to the death of the Cَrdovan-type
renaissance generated by Islam, can be understood best by reference to the
causes of its success. Islam owed its spectacular success entirely to the
teachings of the Qur'an and the example (Sunna) of the Prophet Muhammad (s).
The active vigour of the system was neutralized as soon as the Muslims
relegated the Qur'an to the status of a treatise on dogmas, and the Sunna
became a mere system of laws and a hollow shell without any living meaning. In
his Muqaddima, Ibn Khaldun condemns the methods of education practised by some
of the fuqaha' of Andalusia when, he says that, instead
of helping the student to 'understand the content of the book on which he is
working', they force him 'to learn it by heart'.
The Maliki school of thought (madhhab) was so dominant in Andalusia
to the point that no other madhahib were taught, and knowing by heart the
Muwatta' of Imam Malik and its commentaries was enough to make a faqih a
renowned scholar. This closure of the door of ijtihad (independent judgement),
which would have been condemned by Imam Malik himself were he to witness it,
was encouraged by most of the rulers of Andalusia for it implies an
unconditional obedience to the established power. It led to an intellectual
degeneration, the treatment to those spiritual giants mentioned before
illustrates this best. Ibn Massara was forced to exile; Ibn Hazm was evicted
from Majorca; al-Ghazali's books were burned; the
universal library of al-Hakam II was thrown into the river; Ibn Tufayl and Ibn
Rushd were expelled; and Ibn Arabi evicted. All these acts were not performed
by Christians, but by fellow Muslims! These were but signs that this grand
structure represented by Islam which had weathered many a storm, had reached a
stage when its inner vitality had been slowly sapped away and one powerful
blast might well uproot it from the soil on which it has been thriving for
centuries.
The early Muslim conquerors in Spain
had a mission which made it impossible for them to be selfish, cruel or
intolerant. The moment this was lost on their successors, their clannish spirit
replaced their unity of purpose. At one time there were as many as twelve
Muslim dynasties. That was a signal for collapse. The Muslim society came to
represent a decadent social order incapable of dynamic growth and with no
capacity for effective resistance. Under such circumstances, it is difficult
for any society to survive a serious external threat. The Muslim rule over the
Iberian Peninsula started to shrink on account of the treachery of the
different Muslim Princes until Granada
fell to the hands of the Crusades on 2 January 1492.
When Abu Abdullah the last king of Granada,
looked at the Alhambra for the last
time, tears came into his eyes. At this, his aged mother Aisha said: 'Abu
Abdullah Cry like a women for a kingdom you could not defend as a man.' But our
history should play a more inspiring and guiding function than to reminisce
about the past. When one sees all these marvels, and all these palaces left in
Andalusia-one wonders: Surely, there must have been injustice, there must have been
oppression. As Abu Dharr said to Mu'awiya: '0 Mu'awiya! If you are building
this palace with your own money, it is extravagance and if with the money of
the people, it is treason'. We should not glorify our past and our ancestors
regardless of their mistakes. Our study of the history of Islam should be more
objective, and not a mere justification of all acts by our predecessors.
Conclusion
We must aim to ensure that the tragedy of Andalusia
is not repeated. To do that we must not address our children: Once upon a time
in Palestine... Once upon a time in
Bosnia... We
need a true Islamic Renaissance that will lead us to the eternal and universal
Islam. An Islam that is the constant appeal for resisting all oppression
because it excludes any submission other than to the will of God and holds man
responsible for the accomplishment of the divine order on earth. An Islam, in
the words of Roger Garaudy, whose principles are:
in the economical field: God alone possesses,
in the political field: God alone commands,
in the cultural field: God alone knows.
It is for us to respond to this eternally living call:
without imitating the West and without imitating the Past.
References:
*The Holy Qur'an, Translated and Commented by Abdullah Yusuf
Ali.
*Ibn Rushd, On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy,
trans. by George F. Hourani, 1960.
*Roger Garaudy, 'For an Islam of the XXth Century', Report
presented at the 1st International Conference of Muslims of Europe, Seville,
18-21 July, 1985.
*Roger Garaudy, L' Islam, en Occident, Editions l'Harmattan,
1987.
*Khola Hassan, The Crumbling Minaret of Spain,
Ta- Ha Publishers, London, 1988.
*Pamphlet about the Calahora Tower
in Cordoba, 1988.
*Ali Shariati, And Once Again Abu Dharr, trans. by Laleh
Bakhtiar and Hussain Salih, The Abu Dharr Foundation, Tehran, I 985.
*Titus Burckhardt, Art of Islam, World of Islam
Festival Trust, London,
1976.
*J. D. Dodds (ed), Al-Andalus, The Art of Islamic Spain, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1992.
*W. Montgomery Watt, A History of
Islamic Spain, Edinburgh
University Press, Edinburgh,
1967.
__________________
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Allah! There is no God but He,
the Living, the Self-subsisting, the Eternal.
No slumber can seize Him, nor sleep.
All things in heaven and earth are His.
Who could intercede in His presence without His permission?
He knows what appears in front of and behind His creatures.
Nor can they encompass any knowledge of Him except what he
wills.
His throne extends over the heavens and the earth,
and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them,
for He is the Highest and Most Exalted.
[Quran 2: 255]
Islam Guide: A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding
Islam
http://www.conflictingviews.com/society/history/once-upon-time-andalusia-3713.html
Join Date: Mar 2007
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Re: Once Upon a Time
in Andalusia
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN ISLAMIC HISTORY OF
EUROPE : BBC Documentary Film
February 2007
Watch the BBC Documentary Film here:
An Islamic History of Europe
التاريخ
الإسلامي في
أوروبا
In this 90-minute BBC documentary, Rageh Omaar uncovers the
hidden story of Europe's Islamic past and looks back to
a golden age when European civilisation was enriched by Islamic learning.
Rageh travels across medieval Muslim Europe to reveal the
vibrant civilisation that Muslims brought to the West.
This evocative film brings to life a time when emirs and
caliphs dominated Spain and Sicily
and Islamic scholarship swept into the major cities of Europe.
His journey reveals the debt owed to Islam for its vital
contribution to the European Renaissance.
This documentary looks at the civilisation that was
established in Spain
under Muslim rule and how this society, inspired by Islam, was far advanced
from any European society, that was going through the ‘Dark Ages’. It also
establishes a fact that is rarely acredited to Muslim history, that the basis
of intellectual and cultural revival in Europe known as the Renaissance came
about only because of the intellectual advancement of Muslim Spain and its
willingness to share knowledge and wisdom with wider Europe.
__________________
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Allah! There is no God but He,
the Living, the Self-subsisting, the Eternal.
No slumber can seize Him, nor sleep.
All things in heaven and earth are His.
Who could intercede in His presence without His permission?
He knows what appears in front of and behind His creatures.
Nor can they encompass any knowledge of Him except what he
wills.
His throne extends over the heavens and the earth,
and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them,
for He is the Highest and Most Exalted.
[Quran 2: 255]
Islam Guide: A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding
Islam
http://www.conflictingviews.com/society/history/once-upon-time-andalusia-3713.html
