Being a Muslimah: March 2012

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

Al-Andalus Islamic Legacy

“Mathematics astronomy, botany, history, philosophy and jurisprudence were to be mastered in Spain, and Spain alone. Whatever makes a kingdom great and prosperous, whatever tends to refinement and civilization, was found in Muslim Spain.”

Stanley Lane-Poole, The Moors in Spain: Introduction

l-Andalus, which means, “to become green at the end of the summer” is referred to the Spanish Islamic state, a period, an epoch of great cultural sophistication, intellectual, scientific, civil and religious achievement, for over eight centuries, by the Muslims of Al-Andalus. It represented a golden age, not only in the history of Islam, but is described by the Spanish Christian historian, as no less than “a golden age of humanity”.

Although almost entirely absent from Western academia, this eight hundred year period of Islamic rule and nine hundred year presence in Spain, their knowledge and achievement, lead directly to the Renaissance and Enlightenment in Europe, and directly contributed to the achievements of modern Europe as we recognize it today. We cannot underestimate the influence and impact Spanish Islam had on Western civilization, which before the knowledge of the Muslims was described as the ‘dark ages.’

Muslims ruled over Spain from 710 AD to 1491 AD for 780 years, yet today there are no Muslims rulers in Spain though every aspect of Spanish life has a touch of Islam. Spanish language has many Arabic words, its music has Arabic tone, its culture has more Arabic influence than the European, and proper nouns in Spanish often have the Arabic prefix ‘al.’

Features	Time period
Conquest	710-756
The Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba	756-929
The Umayyad Caliphate	929-1031
Political fragmentation	1031-1130
Decline and submission to Christian rule	1130-1481
Castile-Aragon conquers the kingdom of Granda	1481-1491

A particular noteworthy point is that during this period of Islamic decline from Spain, the entire civilized world was ruled by Muslims. The Ottoman Turks had conquered Constantinople in 1553, and were ruling the entire Balkan peninsula, Egypt was ruled by the powerful Mamiukes, Persia at its political pinnacle under the Abbasi rulers, and India was ruled by the Moghals. Still Islam vanished from Spain and none of these great Muslim armied did anything to protect the Muslims of Spain.

In the words of Ibrahim Madkour:

“In any society, culture is the off spring of many factors: human potential, creative consciousness, intellectual and spiritual vitality, real achievement and progress and freedom, among other.”

In the following pages, the meritorious achievements of the Spanish Muslims will be briefly discussed. If was, in fact, the achievements of the Muslims and their transmission to Europe through Spain which became responsible for the renaissance of Western Europe.

Society:

The society of Al-Andalus was made of three main religious groups:

I) Christians

II) Muslims

III) Jews

The Muslims, though united on the religious level, had several ethnic divisions, the main being the distinction between the Berbers and the Arabs. Mozarabs were the Christians that long lived under Muslim rule and so had adopted many Arabic customs, art and words, while still maintaining their Christian rituals and their own Romance language. The Berbers, who made up the bulk of the invaders, lived in the mountainous regions of what is now the north of Portugal and in the Meseta Central, while the Arabs settled in the south and in the Ebro Valley in the northeast. The Jews worked mainly as tax collectors, in trade, or as doctors or ambassadors.

Treatment of Non-Muslims:

The non-Muslims were given the status of ahl al-dhimma (the people under protection), adults paying a “Jizya” tax, equal to one Dinar per year with exemptions for old people, women, children and the disabled, whenever there was a Christian authority in the community. When there was no Christian authority, the non-Muslims were given the status of majus.

María Rosa Menocal, a specialist in Iberian literature, has argued that “tolerance was an inherent aspect 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 part of Europe.

Southern Iberia became an asylum for the oppressed Jews of other countries. Under the Almoravids and the Almohads there may have been intermittent persecution of Jews, but sources are extremely scarce and do not give a clear picture, though the situation appears to have deteriorated after 1160.

Philosophy:

Andalusian philosophy:

The historian Said Al-Andalusi wrote that Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III had collected libraries of books and granted patronage to scholars of medicine and “ancient sciences.” Later al-Mustansir (Al-Hakam II) went yet further, building a university and libraries in Cordoba. Cordoba became one of the leading centers of medicine and philosophical debate.

Numerous scholars emerged, including Abu Uthman Ibn Fathun, whose masterwork was the philosophical treatise “Tree of Wisdom.” Another outstanding scholar in astronomy and astrology was Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majrati (died 1008), an intrepid traveler who journeyed all over the Islamic world and beyond, and who kept in touch with the Brethren of Purity. He is also quoted as the one to who brought the 51 “Epistles of the Brethern of Purity” to al-Andalus, although it might have been added later by another scholar named al-Majrati. Al-majrati wrote another book Ghayat al-Hakim “The Aim of the Sage,” a book which explored a synthesis of Platonism with Hermetic philosophy.

Abu al-Hakam al-Kirmani was a prominent follower of al-Majrati. And then al-Kirmani’s follower was the great Abu Bakr Ibn al-Sayigh, usually known in the Arab world as Ibn Bajjah, “Avempace” The Andalusian philosopher Averroes (1126-1198) was the founder of the Averroism school of philosophy, and his works and commentaries had an impact on the rise of secular though 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, transited into Latin as Philosophus Autodidactus in 1671, developed the 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.

Jewish philosophy:

Al-Andalus became the center of Jewish intellectual endeavors. Poets and commentators like Judah Halevi (1085 – 1145) and Dunash ben Labrat (920 – 990) also contributed. A stream of Jewish philosophers, cross-fertilized with Muslim philosophers.

Science Legacy:

Astronomy:

In the 11^th-12^th centuries, astronomers in Al-Andalus took up the challenge earlier posed by Ibn al-Haytham. To develop an alternate non_ptolemaic configuration that evaded errors found in the Ptolemaic model. The anonymous Andalusian work, al-Istidrak ala Batlamyus (Recapitulation regarding Ptolemy), including a list of objections to Ptolemic astronomy. And this gave rise to the Andalusian school’s revolt against Ptolemaic astronomy.Al-Zarqali (Latinized aas Arzachel) discovered that the orbits of the planets and elliptic orbits are not circular orbits, though he still followed the Ptolemaic model.

Ibn al-Baiter published the kitab al-jami fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada which contained details on atleast 1,400 different plants, foods and drugs, 300 of which were his own original discoveries.

Ibn Bajjah (Avempace) proposed the planetary model. He also proposed the Milky Way galaxy to be made up of many stars but that it appears to be a continuous image due to the effect of refraction in the Earth’s atmosphere. His successors Ibn Tufail and Nur Ed-Din Al Betrugi (Alpetragius) were the first to propose planetary models without any equant, epicycles or accentrics. Al-Betrugi was also the first to discover that the planets are self-luminous.

Earth sciences:

Abu ‘Abd allah Muhammad ibn Ma’udh, wrote a work on optics later translated into Latin as Liber de crepisculis which was mistakenly attributed to Alhazen. This work contained an estimation of the angle of depression of the sun at the beginning of the morning twilight and at the end of the evening twilight, and an attempt to calculate on the basis of this and other data the height of the atmospheric moisture responsible for the refraction of the sun’s rays. Through his experiments, he obtained the accurate value of 18º, which comes close to the modern value.

Andalusian-Arabian biologist Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati developed an early scientific method of botany, introducing empirical and experimental techniques in the testing, description and identification of numerous material medica, and separating unverified reports from those supported by actual tests and observation. His student Ibn al-Baitar published the Kitab al-jami fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada, which is considered one of the greatest botanical complication in history and was a botanical authority for centuries. It contains details on at least 1,400 different plants, foods, and drugs, 300 of which were his own original discoveries. This book 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 often provided the information to achieve the task. Muslims mainly travelled for Hajj and Commerce. Muslims came to Mecca from Islamic Iberia, Persia, Africa, and India. The origins of the caravel ship, used for long distance travel by the Portuguese after the beginning of their overseas expansion in the 15^th century, date back to the designs of the Cog, the hold and the Dromon, but also possible to the qarib used by explorers from Islamic Iberia in the 13^th century.

Medicine:

Major figures of this period include Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), author of the Kitab al-Tasrif (“Book of Concessions”), a 30-volume medical encyclopedia, and Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), who made advances in surgery.

Psychology and sociology:

Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), the father of modern surgery, developed material and technical designs which are still used in neurosurgery. Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) gave the first accurate description on neurological disorders, including meningitis, intracranial thrombophlebitis, and mediastinal germ tumors, and made contributions to modern neuropharmacology. Averroes suggested the existence of Parkinson's disease and attributed photoreceptor properties to the retina. Maimonides wrote about neuropsychiatric disorders and described rabies and belladonna intoxication.

Said Al-Andalusi (1029–1070) stated that people in all corners of the world have a common origin but differ in certain aspects: "ethics, appearance, landscape and language". He treated the history of Egypt as part of the universal history 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 of Ismail (Ishmael), the patriarch of the Arabs, thus making Hajar the mother of the Arabs.

Agriculture:

As early as the 9th century, an essentially modern agricultural system became central to economic life and organization in the Arab caliphates, replacing the largely export-driven Roman model. It started with Zakat, an Islamic tax on large land holdings, which slowly broke the land monopoly of the nobility that had smothered the rural 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.

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. Spain received what she in turn transmitted to the rest of Europe; many agricultural and fruit-growing processes, together with 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 exported from Spanish coastal areas to the Spanish colonies in the New World. Also transmitted via Muslim influence, a silk industry flourished, flax was cultivated and linen exported, and esparto grass, which grew wild in the more arid parts, was collected and turned into various articles.

Culture legacy

Architecture:

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 influential in the Iberian Peninsula after the Reconquista. Some examples of the lasting architectural contributions under the taifa include the Great Mosque of Córdoba and the Cordoban palace estate al-Rustafa. Christians and Jews adopted Arabic 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 horseshoe arch in the Islamic style, and the use of the column as support, with a capital decorated with vegetable elements.

Cuisine:

Restaurants in medieval Islamic Spain served three-course meals, which were introduced in the 9th century by Ziryab, who insisted that meals should be served in three separate courses consisting of soup, the main course, and dessert.

Linguistics and literature:

In the 12th century, the Andalusian-Arabian philosopher and novelist Ibn Tufail (known as "Abubacer" or "Ebn Tophail" in the West) first demonstrated Avicenna's theory of tabula rasa as a thought experiment in his Arabic novel, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, in which he depicted the development of the mind of a feral child "from a tabula rasa to that of an adult, in complete isolation from society" on a desert island. The Latin translation of his work, titled Philosophus Autodidactus, published by Edward Pococke the Younger in 1671, had an influence on John Locke's formulation of tabula rasa in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which went on to become one of the principal 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 well-educated girl in the court of an unnamed Hajib (vizier or minister) of Al-Andalus who is referred to as the lady. The Hadith Bayad wa Riyad manuscript is believed to be the only illustrated manuscript known to have survived from more than eight centuries of Muslim and Arab presence in Spain.

Translations:

Toledo School of Translators was established after Toledo was reconquered by the Christian forces in 1085, the work of many Islamic scholars, that previously could have only be accessed by Muslims, especially in Al-Andalus and Islamic Sicily, finally found its way into European science. These scholars most translated new scientific 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 Mūsā al-Khwārizmī's On Algebra and Almucabala, Jabir ibn Aflah's Elementa astronomica, al-Kindi's On Optics, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathīr al-Farghānī'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 Banū Mūsā, Abū Kāmil Shujā ibn Aslam, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, 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 was inherited by Europeans and laid the foundations for Europe's Renaissance and Scientific Revolution.

Music:

Some musical instruments are believed to have been derived from Arabic musical instruments used in Al-Andalus: the naker from naqareh, adufe from al-duff, alboka from al-buq, anafil from al-nafir, exabeba from al-shabbaba (flute), atabal (bass drum) from al-tabl, atambal from al-tinbal, the balaban, the castanet from kasatan, sonajas de azófar from sunuj al-sufr, the conical bore wind instruments, the xelami

Spain as described by Non-Muslims

ž “The Arabs suddenly appeared in Spain like a star which crosses through the air with its light, spreads its flames on the Horizon and then vanishes rapidly into naught. They appeared in Spain to fill her suddenly with their activity and the fruit of their genius, and endowed her with a glorious glamour which enveloped her from the Pyrenees to Gibraltar and from the oceans to the Barcelona.”

Conde as quoted in Prescott, Philip II of Spain, Vol. III.

ž “To Cordoba belong all the beauty and ornaments that delight the eye or dazzle the sight. Her long line of Sultans form her crown of glory; her necklace is strung with the pearls which her poets have gathered from the ocean of language; her dress is of the banners of learning, well-knit together by her men of science; and the masters of every art and industry are the hem of her garments.”

Stanley Lane-Poole, The Moors in Spain: Introduction.

ž “Roger Bacon, Leonard, Erno Al Felquni, Raymond Lot, San Thoma, and Azfonish X Qashqani have solely depended on Arabic Books.”

Gustav Lebon

ž "Albert, the Great, is indebted to Ibn Sina and San Thoma owes it all to Ibn Rushd (Averroes)."

Renan

ž "During the middle ages, the Arabs alone were the standard – beaters of a civilization.”

Sideo

from the sulami or fistula (flute or musical pipe), the shawm and dulzaina from the reed instruments zamr and al-zurna, the gaita from the ghaita, rackett from iraqya or iraqiyya, the harp and zither from the qanun, canon from qanun, geige (violin) from ghichak, and the theorbo from the tarab. It is also commonly acknowledged by flamenco performers that the vocal, instrumental, and dance elements of modern flamenco were greatly influenced by the Arab performing arts.

Pottery:

Hispano-Moresque ware was a style of Islamic pottery created in Al-Andalus, after the Moors had introduced two ceramic techniques to Europe: glazing with an opaque white tin-glaze, and painting in metallic lusters. Hispano-Moresque ware was distinguished from the pottery of Christendom by the Islamic character of its decoration.

The tin-glazing of ceramics was invented by Muslim potters in 8th century Basra, Iraq. The earliest tin-glazed pottery thus appears to have 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 and other European countries shortly after.

Lusterware was invented by Jābir ibn Hayyān, who applied it to ceramic glazes in the 8th century. After the production of lusterware became popular in the Middle East, it spread to Europe—first to Al-Andalus, notably at Málaga, 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 by Hispano-Moresque traders by the 15th century.

Technology legacy:

Infrastructure:

Industrial water mills were built in Al-Andalus between the 11th and 13th centuries. Fulling mills, steel mills, and other mills, spread from Al-Andalus to Christian Iberia by the 12th century. The first windmills were built in Sistan, Afghanistan, sometime between the 7th century and 9th century, as described by Muslim geographers. These were horizontal axis windmills with rectangle shaped blades, geared to long vertical driveshafts. These were introduced to Europe through Spain. The bridge mill was a unique type of water mill that was built as part of the superstructure of a bridge. The earliest record of a bridge mill is from Córdoba in the 12th century. The first forge to be driven by a hydropowered water mill rather than manual labour, also known as a finery forge, was invented in 12th century Al-Andalus. Stamp mills were used by miners in Samarkand from as early as 973. They were used in medieval Persia for the purpose of crushing ore. By the 11th century, stamp mills were in widespread use throughout the Islamic world, including Al-Andalus.

Many Damdams (or dams), acequias, and qanat water supply systems, and "Tribunal of Waters" irrigation systems, were built during the Islamic Golden Age and are still in use today in Islamic countries and in formerly Islamic Provinces in Europe such as Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula, particularly in the Andalusia, Aragon and Valencia Provinces of Spain. The Arabic systems of irrigation and water distribution were later adopted in the Canary Islands and Americas due to the Spanish and are still used including in Texas, New Mexico, Mexico, Peru, and Chile.

Muslim cities such as Córdoba had advanced domestic water systems with sanitary sewers, public baths, drinking fountains, piped drinking water supplies, and widespread private and public toilet and bathing facilities. The first street lamps were built in the Arab Empire, especially in Córdoba, which also had the first facilities and waste containers for litter collection.

Aviation:

In 9th century Al-Andalus, Abbas Ibn Firnas (Armen Firnas) invented a primitive version of the parachute. John H. Lienhard described it in The Engines of Our Ingenuity as follows:

"In 852, a new Caliph and a bizarre experiment: A daredevil named Armen Firman decided to fly off a tower in Cordova. He glided back to earth, using a huge winglike cloak to break his fall. He survived with minor injuries, and the young Ibn Firnas was there to see it."

Ibn Firnas was also the first to make an attempt at controlled flight, as opposed to earlier gliding attempts in ancient China which were not controllable. Ibn Firnas manipulated the flight controls of his hang glider using two sets of artificial wings to adjust his altitude and to change his direction. He successfully returned to where he had lifted off from, but his landing was unsuccessful. According to Philip Hitti in History of the Arabs:

"Ibn Firnas was the first man in history to make a scientific attempt at flying."

Ibn Firnas' glider was possibly the first hang glider, though there were earlier instances of manned kites being used in ancient China. Knowledge of Firman and Firnas' flying machines spread to other parts of Europe from Arabic references. Ibn Firnas' hang glider was also the first to have artificial wings, though the flight was ultimately unsuccessful.

Genetic legacy of Muslim rule:

A number of studies have tried to find out the genetic impact of non-European Muslim populations on the modern Spanish and Portuguese populations, through comparison of genetic markers in Spain and Portugal with North Africa and the Near East. The most recent and thorough study about Moorish influence in the Iberian Peninsula by Capelli et al. 2009 reported that North African male haplogroups, especially E1b1b1b (E-M81), E1b1b1a-b (M78 derived chromosomes showing the rare DYS439 allele 10, or E-V65) and a subset of J1 (M267 derived), represented, on average, 7-8% of the current Iberian male lineages.

Historically introduced NW African types in Iberia (Capelli et al. (2009))

Sample	N	E1b1b1b (M81)	E1b1b1a-b (V65)	J1 (subset)	Total %
Spain	717	5.2	1	1.5	7.7
Portugal	659	5	0.3	1.8	7.1
Iberia	1376	5.1	0.7	1.7	7.4

وَلَا تُخْزِنِي يَوْمَ يُبْعَثُونَ
يَوْمَ لَا يَنفَعُ مَالٌ وَلَا بَنُونَ
إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ

“And let me not be in disgrace on the Day when (men) will be raised up; The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail,
But only he (will prosper) that brings to Allah a sound heart”
(Qur’an, ash-Shu’raa 26:87-89)

Being a Muslimah

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