Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- List of Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Acknowledgments to the first edition of A History of Islamic Societies
- Acknowledgments to the second edition of A History of Islamic Societies
- Publisher's Preface
- Introduction to Islamic Societies
- Part I The Beginnings of Islamic Civilizations
- Part II From Islamic Community to Islamic Society
- Part III The Global Expansion of Islam from the Seventh to the Nineteenth Centuries
- Chapter 25 Introduction: Islamic Institutions
- The Western Islamic Societies
- Chapter 26 Islamic North Africa to the Thirteenth Century
- Chapter 27 Spanish-Islamic Civilization
- Chapter 28 Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco from the Thirteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries
- Chapter 29 States and Islam: North African Variations
- Islam in Asia
- Islam in Africa
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Annotated Bibliography from A History of Islamic Societies, 2nd Edition
- Index
Chapter 27 - Spanish-Islamic Civilization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- List of Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Acknowledgments to the first edition of A History of Islamic Societies
- Acknowledgments to the second edition of A History of Islamic Societies
- Publisher's Preface
- Introduction to Islamic Societies
- Part I The Beginnings of Islamic Civilizations
- Part II From Islamic Community to Islamic Society
- Part III The Global Expansion of Islam from the Seventh to the Nineteenth Centuries
- Chapter 25 Introduction: Islamic Institutions
- The Western Islamic Societies
- Chapter 26 Islamic North Africa to the Thirteenth Century
- Chapter 27 Spanish-Islamic Civilization
- Chapter 28 Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco from the Thirteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries
- Chapter 29 States and Islam: North African Variations
- Islam in Asia
- Islam in Africa
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Annotated Bibliography from A History of Islamic Societies, 2nd Edition
- Index
Summary
Muslim Spain from the Arab conquest to the liquidation of the last Muslim possessions in Granada in 1492 represents yet another expression of the caliphal type of early Islamic civilization. This civilization assimilated the Spanish, Jewish, and Berber populations to Arab-Islamic culture, fostering extraordinary economic prosperity. Muslim Spain bears an aura of glory. The great Mosque of Cordoba; the gardens, fountains, and courtyards of the Alhambra; the muwashshah and zajal poetry, with their Arabic verses and Romance language refrains; the irrigated gardens of Seville and Valencia; the wisdom of philosophy and science – these are the monuments of Spanish Islam. Spain was the focal point for the transmission of Greek philosophy from the Arab world to Europe. No less important was the drama of the defeat of this brilliant Muslim civilization by its European enemies, the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims, and the reabsorption of Spain into Christian Europe.
For all its brilliance, Muslim Spain was a province of the Arab caliphate. Already overrun by successive waves of Alaric and Vandal invasions from the north, Spain was conquered by Arab and Berber forces from North Africa led by Tariq, who defeated the Visigothic King Roderic at the River Barbate in 711. The Arab advance into France was checked by Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732. Whereas in the East Arab conquerors were generally forced to settle in garrison towns and villages – leaving the land in the direct control of its preconquest landlord elite and a tax-collecting bureaucracy – in Spain large territories were parceled out among Arab and Berber clans. This was both the basis of the complex integration of ethnic groups, religions, and cultures and the tumultuous political competition that would characterize Hispano-Arabic civilization.
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- Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth CenturyA Global History, pp. 382 - 405Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012