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Traditional Islamic theology holds that any land that has once belonged to the House of Islam belongs to it forever. That is the ultimate impulse behind the efforts to eradicate Israel, and a growing parallel movement in Spain. "Andalusia's connection," from the Toronto Star:
At the Jamal Islamiya mosque in this seaside town, a Muslim lament of historic proportions is proclaimed in large letters on a framed poster: "In 1492, we lost everything."For the mosque's leader, and much of the Muslim world, the year marks the traumatic conclusion of Islam's golden age, a time remembered like a collective wound.
It's a period when the last piece of Muslim-held territory in Spain fell to Catholic monarchs, ending almost 800 years of Moorish rule on the Iberian peninsula.
Centuries when poetry, science and architecture flourished under Islamic caliphs expired with bonfires of Arabic manuscripts, mass expulsion and extermination in the Inquisition.
To the east, the Muslim empire of the Ottomans would reign for another four centuries. But many would trace its long decline to the fall of Al Andalus, the Moorish name for Andalusia.
The result is a yearning that today makes Spain, more than any other
European country, a battleground in the name of Islam."They stole 500 years of history from us," says Omar Checa Garcia, who heads the Jamal Islamiya mosque and cultural centre. "We want it back, but we don't want revenge."
What does it mean to want it back without wanting revenge? Just restore the Islamic state and there will be no reprisals?
Others are not so accommodating. Osama bin Laden uses what he calls the "tragedy of Al Andalus" as a rallying cry for his deadly brand of Islamic jihad against "the crusaders and Jews."After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman al Zawahiri, drew a parallel between the loss of the Iberian peninsula and the struggle of Palestinians.
"We will not accept that the tragedy of Al Andalus be repeated in
Palestine," he said....On March 11, 2004, a cell of mainly Moroccan extremists, calling themselves "the brigade situated in Al Andalus," detonated 10 bombs that killed 191 people on Madrid commuter trains....
Read it all.
Posted by Robert at March 25, 2005 7:20 AM
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OT
A muslim convention on THE HOLIEST WEEKEND OF THE CHRISTIAN CALENDAR (and they say they want to attract non-muslims for outreach - to distract them from their religious observances, I'm sure). Shades of the Christmas convention in Canada.
Posted by: CGW![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 25, 2005 7:44 AM
Muslim lies again. 1492 saw the expulsion of the Jewish community. The last moors did not leave until 1605. But for muslims any tawdry clap-trap will do.
Posted by: iconoclast at March 25, 2005 7:44 AM
They "lost everything"? They invaded and conquered and stayed for 700 years. What's to be said of those cultures and lands on the Iberian Peninsula that were lost to Islam for all that time? What about all those civilizations and cultures that were invaded and conquered and lost to Islam over the last 1300 years? They must not count!!!!
This is not so much a matter of lies and discounting the cultures and civilizations that THEY conquered. All others are less and held in disdain. Thus, when the mosque leader (and others) makes this complaint or accusation, remind them of their own history of conquest and abuse. Be ready for a rejoinder using taqiyya and kitman,holy lying, misinformation, and misdirection.
Posted by: epg at March 25, 2005 8:06 AM
This article is a keeper; so many pearls:
"We want it back, but we don't want revenge."
"We will not accept that the tragedy of Al Andalus be repeated in Palestine"
"We will continue our jihad until martyrdom in the land of Tarik Ben Ziyad"
"Spain is considered an apostate country that must be reconquered for Islam. It's a sacred duty"
"My responsibility here is to make sure that Andalusia returns to being an Islamic country"
"This is terrible," he says. "We ask that everything goes back to how it should be."
Maza says victory is only a matter of time.
"Islam's time has come again, whether people like it or not. We can predict that Andalusia will once again be Muslim."
Any questions, Senior Zapatero?
Posted by: Charles Martel at March 25, 2005 8:10 AM
Evidently the ENTIRE world is a mosque:
It was narrated in a saheeh report from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that he said: “All the earth is a mosque except for graveyards and bathrooms.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, al-Salaah, 291; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Sunan al-Tirmidhi, 262).
http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=eng&ds=qa&lv=browse&QR=14506&dgn=4
Kind of makes one want to live in the bathroom
Posted by: USAgirl at March 25, 2005 8:37 AM
"...year marks the traumatic conclusion of Islam's golden age..."
Tell us more about "Islam's golden age" -- when and where was it, exactly? Does the writer's information come, by any chance, from Maria Rosa Menocal's "The Ornament of the World"? Does it come from having read, again and again, the phrase "Islam's golden age" and simply repeating it, because if one keeps seeing it, it must be true?
"...ending almost 800 years of Moorish rule on the Iberian peninsula."
But Christians began their counterattack after the initial Muslim invasion, and the "Iberian peninsula" or much of it, came back into Christian hands within a few hundred years; the Kingdom of Granada was the last to be recaptured, but long before that, most of Spain was again freed of Islamic rule.
"Centuries when poetry, science and architecture flourished under Islamic caliphs..."
Kindly list the Muslim poets, scientists, and architects of Islamic Spain. Then kindly list the non-Muslim poets, scientists, and architects (or churches and synagogues either destroyed, or appropriated) by Muslims. Be sure to list, as well, the translators into and out of Arabic, of classical texts. And just who were those enlighted "caliphs" of Islamic Spain to whom reference is made?
"To the east, the Muslim empire of the Ottomans would reign for another four centuries."
How does an "empire....reign"?
"...the fall of Al Andalus, the Moorish name for Andalusia."
Al-Andaluz is not the "Moorish name for Andalusia" but the name given to Islamic Spain, period.
Why was there no attempt to relate this story to the theory and practice of Islam, to the uncompromising division of the world between dar al-Islam and dar al-harb, and to the doctrine of Jihad?
What sources were consulted by way of understanding this matter? The Qur'an? The Hadith? They are on-line. What about Majid Khadduri's "War and Peace in Islam"? Was Levi-Provencal consulted, or just the slim pickings of Maria Rosa Menocal's schoolgirl gush? What duty do journalists owe their readers -- what homework should they do before presuming to write, on this or any other subject?
And what duty do they owe the poor, long-suffering English language? For what can one say about the author of such phrases as a "lament of historic proportions" or a "time remembered like a collective wound" except that there has been a dereliction of such duty.
Posted by: Hugh at March 25, 2005 9:20 AM
Spain needs another leader in the spirit of El Cid, and France needs another Leader in the spirit of Charles Martel.
Posted by: Mackie at March 25, 2005 10:04 AM
"In 1492 we lost everything"
That is amusing to say the least. After the battle of Navas de Tolosa the Moors lost their thrust. After the battle of Salado, they became little more than a vassal state of Castille.
We also should stop saying that "the Iberian Peninsula was under Moorish rule for 800 years". Parts of the Peninsula were actually never conquered, while most of it didn't stay occupied for more than 200 years.
Another reminder: one thing is Zapatero and his propaganda, the other is what the ordinary folk sees with his own eyes. I honestly can't imagine anywhere in the Iberian Peninsula what we are starting to witness in Britain or in Scandinavia.
Lastly, some of you people should stop hailing Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (El Cid) as some sort of anti-Islamic Iberian crusader. The very name "El Cid" is a corruption from the Arabic "Al Sayid", which isn't surprising considering that the nickname was given to him by his own Moorish troops. He was an aristocrat who had the uncommon diplomatic talent of finding allies even amongst some Iberian Moors to fight off the Almoravids from North Africa. Needless to say, he isn't quite suited for what we are presently witnessing anywhere in the world.
Posted by: alex221166 at March 25, 2005 11:23 AM
Based on the example of these Spanish Muslims, can India (and much of the rest of the world) then expect the British to come back pining for their lost Empire?
Gee, so sorry to see the 'Golden Age' of a non-democratic, military-based empire come to a close.
Posted by: kali at March 25, 2005 11:40 AM
Far-Left/Far-Right Nexus Alert
From the article:
"Having adopted Islam 20 years ago, he says many of the 7,000 Spanish converts in the Almeria area are, like him, leftists who rediscovered their true Andalusian roots."
Posted by: ted at March 25, 2005 12:16 PM
In 1492, we lost everything"
more lies!!! unfortunatly some of them managed to keep their head
at March 25, 2005 12:48 PM
Alex 221166:
It is true that Rodrigo Diaz De Bivar was given the name El Cid by Moors that he had befriended. and there is evidence that his allegiances where misplaced at times, But the Moors have tried to claim him as their hero and have treaded on some of his Christian allegiance history.
Posted by: Mackie at March 25, 2005 12:51 PM
According to Moslems land conquered by Islam is considered eternally Islamic. What is the word for that concept? I can't for the life of me remember it.
Posted by: sonofwalker at March 25, 2005 1:30 PM
sonofwalker...INSANITY?
Posted by: Carolyn2 at March 25, 2005 2:39 PM
El Cid was a renegade (Christian mercenary who fought for the Moors). If you are looking for a hero of the reconquista, try Pelayo of Asturias.
Posted by: Hulegu Khan at March 25, 2005 2:41 PM
When land is conquered by the Muslim horde it becomes part of the dar al-Islam. Like personal conversion, it is a one-way trip. A similar concept is that there are no "former" Marines or ex-Mafioso. This doctrine is also what makes claims on any land by Muslims so dangerous. Once territory is incorporated into the dar al-Islam all Muslims are obligated to participate in its recovery by jihad if it falls under the jurisdiction of non-Muslims. There are even some claims on all of North and South America in the belief that Muslims accompanied the European explorers during the Age of Discovery. Thus, the Muslims claim canonical justification for waging perpetual jihad against the inhabitants of the claimed land. This is something to think about when you see that big neighborhood mosque under construction around the corner from your home.
Posted by: Hulegu Khan at March 25, 2005 3:02 PM
This is why Islam has to be destroyed. There can be no peaceful co-existance with this religious ideology.
Posted by: Voltaire at March 25, 2005 3:43 PM
Thanks Hugh for the rejoinder. I seem to recall in my research that some Muslims from the early centuries considered themselves Gothic and wished for the Arab occupation to end. I believe it was Ibn al-Qutiyya (son of the Gothic woman) who claimed descent from the last Rex Gothicorum.
A better book would be Richard Fletcher's "Moorish Spain"
Posted by: Ibn Rushd at March 25, 2005 10:24 PM
I forgot to add, at the Spanish FFI, we've been discussing the Spanish situation as regards to Zapatero. {FYI: Zapatero means "shoemaker."}
We've been talking about how he is anti-Christian, and would like to do anything to make Spain seem more like France. To this effect, he has toned down its Christian heritage and upped the Muslim, as well as giving special benefits to Muslims. That's why they're teaching Islam in schools, and the lefties seem to love this. :O
Posted by: Ibn Rushd at March 25, 2005 10:26 PM
Oops again, here is the Spanish FFI: http://spanish.faithfreedom.org/forum
Posted by: Ibn Rushd at March 25, 2005 11:10 PM
Long ago, the Spanish Left used to bait the Right and impugn its patriotism over Franco's use of Moroccan troops in his initial assault on the Republic. Does the Islamicizing Spanish Left dare to remember such things?
As for the loss of Andaluz, I, as a spiritual heir of the Puritans, note that in 1604, King James VI and I told Dr. Reynolds, a Puritan spokesman from Cambridge, "I will harry you from the land." The Puritans lost an island, but gained a continent, where they put into practice some of the political ideas they'd been nurturing for a while.
The lament over lost Andalus confirms my suspicion that Islam is incapable of doing anything truly creative or exercising any positive self-criticism.
Posted by: Kepha at March 25, 2005 11:49 PM
ISLAMOTHOUGHT:
We lost Spain in 1492, and want it back.
HUMANTRANSLATION:
We stole IMMENSE swaths of land during 850 years of rapine, pillage, warfare and terror, got caught, thrown off, and now we have to think of some clever way to steal it back again.
Their CODE reads like the Cosa Nostra's lingo.
Islam 'belongs' in Saudi Arabia, preferably confined to the cities of Mecca and Medina.
Period.
And then we can only hope a meteor gives them the same treatment the Yucatan dinosaurs received.
(Watch Out for Muslim strategists to start trying to distract the West by waving the "China Problem" flag... as if we have much to worry about from a basically broad-minded people who have no central religious dogma demanding that they convert the globe... but it makes a good camouflage and diversionary move for the Islamic invasion... using Sun Tzu's own cunning methods as told in 'The Art of War': "Big noise in east; attack in west".)
Posted by: BigSleep at March 26, 2005 12:46 AM
Dear BigSleep: 我是半個華人,所以拜託你注意我的E置入:
(I'm partly Chinese myself, so please pay attention to my posting)
The Chinese may be broad-minded about religions that originate in places where they speak Semitic and Indo-Aryan languages (at least until they convert to them; whereupon they become quite committed); but don't for a moment think that official Beijing is any friend to the democratic way of life. In some ways, its techonological sophistication coupled with a strong committment to preserving 20th century totalitarianism makes it a more dangerous enemy than a group of overly emotional, unstable Islamic peoples.
One advantage of a government-controlled academy and media is that it is clear to know the mind of the state. Beijing allows people to publish frightening things about the supriority of the Han race or even wider yellow race and things that discuss even the Russian Far East and Korea as legitimate targets for Chinese irredentism (還我江山-- huan wo jiang shan)after Taiwan; but anybody who talks about tolerating more political parties or plebiscite for Turkistan, Tibet, and recognizing Taiwan as even de facto separate gets laogai. About a decade ago, when a small group of people wanted to get their ethnicity reclassified to "Jewish" (猶太人)and this recognized as one of China's minority nationalities, Beijing's first reaction was to deny. They were very nervous because they remembered what happened when the world asked questions about the situation of the "Big Brother" Soviets' Jews. Unlike America, where minorities are really citizens and there is a real effort to teach respect, China's minorities are either like museum pieces or dangerous.
Chinese civilization is still very much geared to authoritarian structures. And never say their periodic fits about "spiritual pollution" represent xenophobia over the century of humiliation. If you are a foreigner and speak Chinese, you will meet no more hospitable people than those of Taiwan, Mainland China, Singapore, or Chinese diaspora areas (even the Golden Triangle, where a notable minority of the Chinese are Muslim). Still, though, many Chinese people have no deep, respectful curiosity about the thought and tradition of the West; and can be very racist towards black people (especially in the Mainland).
There has been a very active democratization movement in China since the late 19th century, but it has always lost its struggles. And there are reasons inside Chinese culture (especially after 1949) for this, too.
Posted by: Kepha at March 26, 2005 5:49 AM
Please if you want to visit my blog http://durahistoria.blogspot.com/, I have to do a english version, I am new in these things of blogs, respect 1492, Second of January, the Catholic Kings ocuppy Granada, sacred spanish and christian land ocuppied by muslims, the multicultural experiment with arabic cathecisms and forgiveness to the moriscos with baptisms didn´t work, they have to be removed from Spain, this year was also the discovering of America by Spain, other times, other happy times, but soon we will come back.
Posted by: Franze at March 26, 2005 8:34 AM
Kepha:
Interesting what you say about China. I visited China and North Korea last Summer. Though they both have horrible regimes, particularly North Korea, my (admittedly very superficial) impression is that they would be more tolerable places for a woman to live than an Islamic country, with the exception of Turkey.
Perhaps, though, they are just equal opportunity oppressors. To my mind it is only Western societies where women are genuinely seen as equal, partly because of the emphasis on individual rather than the community.
I've now strayed right off the point and gone into the realm of generalisations, so I think it's time for bed.
Posted by: Interestd at March 26, 2005 9:59 AM
Thanks Franze for your blog. Unfortunately, it had a comma (,) in it, so it didn't work. However, I will type it in manually and take a peak.
To return the favour, here is my blog: http://ibn_rushd2.blogspot.com
I haven't updated it much since Jan. but I will have time after April.
Posted by: Ibn Rushd at March 27, 2005 11:54 AM
Ibn Rashud here
http://durahistoria.blogspot.com/ I hope it goes
at March 28, 2005 4:55 AM
Hulegu,
Another great Western hero: James I the Conqueror, king of Aragon, son of Catalonia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_I_of_Aragon
He recovered Majorca, Valencia and Murcia (and, besides, battled against the always treacherous French).
His extraordinary life is narrated in the paramount Book of the Deeds, which has an English translation from Catalan:
>
http://tinylink.com/?Dja8l7PmRu (link to Amazon.com)
("Crusade Texts in Translation" Series) translated and edited by Damian J. Smith and Helena Buffery (2003)
Posted by: Joel CatalĂ at March 29, 2005 9:15 AM
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