Al Andalus, Between Myth and History-Rubiera Mata, Maria Jesús, Epalza, Mikel de

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Al‐Andalus: Between Myth and History
Maria Jesús Rubiera Mata & Mikel de Epalza
Published online: 03 Dec 2007.
To cite this article: Maria Jesús Rubiera Mata & Mikel de Epalza (2007) Al‐Andalus: Between Myth
and History, History and Anthropology, 18:3, 269-273, DOI: 10.1080/02757200701393339
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History and Anthropology,
Vol. 18, No. 3, September 2007, pp. 269–273
Al-Andalus: Between Myth and History
Maria Jesús Rubiera Mata & Mikel de Epalza
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The myth of Al-Andalus, which has been revived in Spain, has had an ironic history.
The myth’s origins are literary and can be traced to the work of Al-Maqqari of Tlemcen
(1577–1632), a descendant of Muslims from Granada. This work attracted the attention
of European orientalists, who discovered the forgotten history of that civilization, a history
quickly expanded by studies of other Arab manuscripts. Spanish Arabists, equally influenced by Orientalist concerns, contributed to the rebuilding of the history of Al-Andalus.
Their task, not shared by other European Arabists, was to incorporate the (Arab) history
of Al-Andalus (which had hitherto been rejected as a foreign element) into Spanish history;
to change the “history of the Arabs in Spain” into “the Arabic history of Spain”. Their work
provoked a reaction among right-wing intellectuals—known as “the generation of 98”—
against the “regenerationists” of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries who maintained
that it was necessary to “lock with seven bolts the tomb of the Cid,” that is to say the tomb
of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the champion of the fight against the Arabs in the 11th century.
These latter-day “conservatives” have revived the skeleton of the Cid (as other right-wing
Europeans have made a symbol out of the battle of Poitiers). By 1992, the 500th anniversary
of the end of Muslim political power with the Christian conquest, the fall of Granada, most
Spaniards had come to proudly accept Al-Andalus as part of their history—particularly
important in Andalusia, the region that inherited the name of Al-Andalus and its most
important architectural works. A new facet of Al-Andalus then became prominent: the
symbol of tolerance, the original Islamic medieval paradigm. The authors point out,
however, that the Al-Andalus type of tolerance would be unacceptable today: Christians
and Jews were in fact second-class subjects in the Muslim kingdoms, burdened with very
heavy taxes. And we must recognize that in the Middle Ages this tolerance was in itself quite
unusual. In addition, the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula would, later on, in
their own fashion, repeat this model of tolerance: some Muslims and some Jews did stay on
in these regions, as second-class subjects, with very heavy tax burdens, but with the possibility of preserving their religion, customs and laws. They conclude by pointing out that
Maria Jesús Rubiera Mata is at the Universidad de Alicante, Spain. Mikel de Epalza is Professor of Arab and Islamic
Studies at the Universidad de Alicante, Spain. Correspondence to: Universidad de Alicante, Apdo. Correos, 99
03080 Alicante, Spain.
ISSN 0275–7206 print/ISSN 1477–2612 online/07/030269–05 © 2007 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/02757200701393339
270
M. J. Rubiera Mata and M. de Epalza
because of that tolerance, Al-Andalus has been very useful to the Spaniards as a broad platform for dialogue with the Arabs—and, in a more general way, with Muslims who (except
for a few fundamentalists) no longer take into account the fact that it was Christian Spain
which put an end to the reality of Al-Andalus.
Downloaded by [Johns Hopkins University] at 08:10 30 December 2014
Keywords: Myth of Al-Andalus; Orientalism; Historiography; Nation-State Formation
The myth of Al-Andalus,1 that is to say the myth of the Arab-Islamic civilization which
once existed in the Iberian peninsula, was probably born among the exiled Muslims of
Al-Andalus, massively spread all along the Mediterranean coast after the Christian
conquests of the 13th century. Indeed, after the conquest of Toledo (end of the 11th
century) and of the Ebro and Tagus valleys (12th) by the kingdoms of Castile and Leon,
Aragon and Catalonia, Navarre and Portugal (it is often forgotten that, in addition to
Spain, Portugal was also part of Al-Andalus), the Christian kingdoms made an enormous effort to conquer, all through the 13th century, most of the Muslim territories of
Al-Andalus: the Balearics, Valencia, northern and western Andalusia (the Guadalquivir
Valley), Portuguese Algarve and Murcia. Of the huge Almohad Empire of the Muslim
Occident, there remained only the kingdom of the dynasty of the Nasrids of Granada,
in the high range of mountains of western Andalusia (alongside the “allied” postAlmohad Maghrebean kingdoms of Marrakech and Fez, Tlemcen and Tunis-Bejaïa).
These 11–13th century conquests, along with that of the kingdom of Granada (end
of the 15th century) would result in a large number of Muslims living on in Christian
societies, which nevertheless recognized their right to stay Muslim in various domains
(Muslim religion, local communities or aljamas, Arab language and culture, Muslim
laws and traditions). Later on, however, from the beginning of the 16th century to the
general expulsion from Spain between 1609 and 1614, the Mudejars lost these rights
and were forced to convert to Christianity (to become known thenceforth as “Moorish
New Christians” or Moriscos). All this is well known to historians, and has been the
subject of many studies, especially in the last few decades, in Spanish and other
international research centres, including the University of Alicante, with its scholars
(Arabist, medievalist, or modernist professors), its publications and specialized
reviews, its virtual library.
We believe then it was these Andalusian migrants who created the Al-Andalus myth.
As a matter of fact, they often refer, in their writings and through different images, to
the idea of Al-Andalus as a lost paradise.
That myth was particularly collected and amplified by Al-Maqqari of Tlemcen
(1577–1632), a descendant of Muslims from Granada. This scholar, born in Algeria,
collected historical information on Al-Andalus all through his life, especially in
Morocco, where he studied, and finally in Cairo, where he died. He wrote many books
among which the most important one, the Naf-al-Tîh, covers all the history and culture
of Al-Andalus and became the keystone of the creation of the myth.
Indeed this work attracted the attention of European orientalists, who published the
first part with the title Analèctes sur l’histoire et la littérature des Arabes d’Espagne; it was
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History and Anthropology 271
at that time the most important known source for the history of Al-Andalus. This was
how European orientalists discovered the forgotten history of that civilization, a
history quickly expanded by the studies of Arab manuscripts from two important
European libraries: the one of the Escorial Monastery and the one of Leyden.
The Spanish Arabists were not insensitive to this recuperation of a civilization that
had risen in Spanish territory. They too went to work rebuilding the history of AlAndalus. They had a task which other European Arabists did not have: they had to get
the history of Al-Andalus incorporated into Spanish history, which had hitherto
rejected it as a foreign element. In other words, the “history of the Arabs in Spain”
had to become “the Arabic history of Spain”. It was necessary to enter into the myth
of Al-Andalus in order for Spaniards to feel proud of this part of their collective
history.
Here we will not enter into the details of the very different intellectual and political
strategies of this small group of Spanish scholars, but we must admit that their constant
and rigorous work, during a century and a half, has paid off. At the end of the 20th
century (let us fix an emblematic date, the year 1992, the 500th anniversary of the end
of Muslim political power with the Christian conquest, the fall of Granada), most
Spaniards had come to accept Al-Andalus as part of their history—a part of which they
could, in addition, be proud. This is particularly important in Andalusia, the Spanish
region that inherited the name of Al-Andalus and its most important architectural
works, such as the Alhambra palace in Granada, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, and the
Giralda Tower in Seville.
The success was so obvious that it provoked a reaction among right-wing intellectuals—what is known as “the generation of 98” (1898 was the date of the loss of the
principal rump of the Spanish Empire, from Cuba to the Philippines) against the
“regenerationists” of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries who maintained that it was
necessary to “lock with seven bolts the tomb of the Cid”, that is to say, the tomb of
Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the champion of the fight against the Arabs in the 11th century
(who even in his lifetime represented an obsolete mentality in opposition to the
modernization which King Alfonso VI wished to impose in Castile). These latter-day
“conservatives” have revived the skeleton of the Cid (as other right-wing Europeans
have made a symbol out of the battle of Poitiers) and want to win battles with his
mummy (legend tells us that it was used after his death in the same way, and with the
same results.)
It is well known that myths have many facets, which reflect different paradigmatic
levels. In this way, Al-Andalus has always been a myth of cultural splendour. But
another of its aspects appeared precisely at the moment when the Spanish people were
heading for democracy, seeking for new codes of social behaviour based on their collective past, after having endured two military dictatorships in the 20th century. A new
facet of Al-Andalus then became prominent: the symbol of tolerance, the original
Islamic medieval paradigm. As a matter of fact, Islam accepted coexistence with other
beliefs, concretely with the “peoples of the revealed book”, the dhimmis or ahl aldhimma [the protected ones], Christians, Jews and majdus [Normans], who also had
their place in the civilization of Al-Andalus. This tolerance was very real in the history
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272
M. J. Rubiera Mata and M. de Epalza
of Al-Andalus until the arrival of the Almoravids, towards the end of the 11th century;
thus, one can find cases of Christians and Jews holding important positions at the
courts of Al-Andalus.
It is, however, clear, as we have analysed it in other works, that the Al-Andalus type
of tolerance would be unacceptable today: Christians and Jews were in fact second-class
subjects in the Muslim kingdoms, burdened with very heavy taxes. And we must recognize that in the Middle Ages this tolerance was in itself quite unusual. In addition, the
Christian kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula would, later on, in their own fashion,
repeat this model of tolerance: some Muslims and some Jews did stay on in these
regions, as second-class subjects, with very heavy tax burdens, but with the possibility
of preserving their religion, customs and laws. This allowed the Toledo School of
Translators to exist; it also allowed the city of Toledo, stigmatized over the centuries as
an intolerant city, symbol of the dark legend of the Inquisition, to think of itself as a
“city of three cultures” (or of three religions) and to have shown itself as notably
generous during the recent war in Bosnia by chartering a train to help the victims of a
war between conflicting cultures.
Because of that tolerance, Al-Andalus has been very useful to the Spaniards as a
broad platform for dialogue with the Arabs—and, in a more general way, with Muslims
who (except for a few fundamentalists) no longer take into account the fact that it was
Christian Spain which put an end to the reality of Al-Andalus. Both sides share this
myth.
Here, we have to come back to al-Maqqari, because a definitive edition of his
fundamental work, the Nafh at-Tîb, was published in Cairo in 1962 by the Bulaq
printing house: this work has been made available to educated Arabs who have
discovered—as the Europeans had—the splendour of Al-Andalus, comparable to that
of 9th-century Baghdad but with a fundamental difference: its geographical location
was in Europe.
Discovering the great Al-Andalus figures (like the Cordoban Averroes, whose
thought influenced European scholasticism) and Al-Andalus’s important scientific
development, Arabs and Muslims have not hesitated to conclude that Europe owes
much to Arab civilization and that Al-Andalus had been the golden gate through which
this civilization entered.
Thus Spain became, towards the end of the 20th century, the meeting-place of two
civilizations, where Spaniards and Arabs share a common past which both can appreciate. A cultural and political dialogue has thus been possible, in this framework, for
many decades. This dialogue has even reached the man in the street, thanks to books
studied in secondary school and to the audiovisual media in Spain and in Arab and
Muslim countries. Shortly before the US and allied attack on Iraq, Spanish journalists
in Baghdad were surprised at being so well treated by people in the streets, who would
utter the word Al-Andalus, forgetting the allies’ media show in the Azores. Unfortunately, someone had the bright idea of giving the name Al-Andalus to the Spanish
troops’ military camp.
Al-Andalus, with its highs and lows (we have mentioned several of the numerous
facets of the myth) was—and we must hope that it will continue to be—a useful myth
History and Anthropology 273
for a positive and beneficial dialogue in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean, and
the whole world, has a great need for this kind of myth.
Translated by Olivier Renault and Paul Sant Cassia
Note
[1]
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1
At the start, we must make a small philological and onomastic precision. Al-Andalus, of Arab
origin, is the historical name of the Iberian peninsula when it was under Muslim Arab political domination: it designated at that time the territory of pre-Islamic “Hispania” (at present
the nation-states of Spain and Portugal). This name is often used in French in the form of
“Andalousie” (with its adjective “andalou”) which creates a confusion with the Spanish region
of “Andalucia,”, which includes only the eight southern provinces of this country (Seville,
Granada, Cordoba, Malaga, Jaén, Almeria, Cadiz and Huelva). The current Spanish language,
which makes much use of both denominations, is forced to differentiate between them: “AlAndalus” and “Andalucia,” with the respective adjectives “andalusi” and “andaluz.
The Arabic language also distinguishes “Al-Andalus” and “Andalusísya,” but uses
indiscriminately the adjective “andalusîy.” The Turkish language—and with it the Ottoman
historians—generally suppresses the initial article and thus contributes to the aforesaid
confusion by using the single word “Andalusia.” The French language, especially among the
Mediterranean specialists, should perhaps keep “Andalousie” and “andalou” for the region
and “AlAndalus”, “d’Al-Andalus” and maybe the adjective “andalus,” for the medieval Arab
realities.