Page 9 - Pakistan Link - October 20, 2017

OPINION OCTOBER 20, 2017 – PAKISTAN LINK – P9

Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam

35. The Fall of Granada, History Turns to the West – Part 1

n By Prof Dr Nazeer Ahmed, PhD ides, Zayyanids, Hafsids and Granada on the
Concord, CA Muslim side. The tribe of Banu Hilal in the
t is said among Muslims that the hills of south joined this fray from time to time. Politi-
El Pujarra around Granada still weep for cal alliances shifted back and forth and it was
Ithe sound of the adhan every morning not uncommon for a Muslim emir to side with
and the mosque of Cordoba stays awake all a Christian king against another emir, or for a
night waiting for the sajda of Christian chief to support a Muslim against a
a single momin. To this day fellow Christian. Meanwhile, the power strug-
Andalus evokes among Mus- gle between the Merinides, the Zayyanids and
lims nostalgia for a golden the Hafsids continued. The Merinides gradual-
age when it resonated with ly gained the upper hand over the other two. In
the sound of prayer every 1269, the Merinide Yakub took Marrakesh and
morning and the name of followed it up with the capture of Sijilmasa in
Prophet Muhammed (p) was honored every 1274. Granada was under pressure from Castile
day. and appealed to the Merinides for assistance.
No other country was contested between Yakub crossed over the Straits of Gibraltar and
Muslims and Christians as bitterly as was Spain. inflicted a defeat on the Christians at the Battle
The struggle went on for 500 years. When the of Ecija in 1274. In 1279, the Merinide navy
battles had ended and the last adhan was said won a battle against a combined naval squad-
from the ramparts of Granada in 1492, Mus- ron of Castile and Portugal. While Yaqub was
lims had lost the crown jewel of the Maghrib. busy helping Granada, the Zayyanids were at
Soon, they would be tortured and expelled, the throat of the Hafsids. The emir of Granada,
along with the Jews, from a land they consid- in a thankless rebuff to the Merinides, joined
ered the garden of the west. Their monuments forces with Castile and occupied the city of
were razed, their mosques destroyed, their li- Tarifa in 1291. In 1295, the Granadans incited a
braries burned and their women were sent as dith took part in the battle. Over 150,000 fell on merous attempts of Louis IX to conquer North revolt in Ceuta against the Merinides. Disgust-
slaves to the courts of Europe. It was a turning the battlefield. When we consider that the en- Africa were repelled and he died during a siege ed with the thankless emirs in Spain, the Me-
point, a milestone and an event that profoundly tire population of the Maghrib at the time was of Tunis in 1270. rinide Yaqub turned his attention more towards
and fundamentally changed the flow of global about three million, it follows that practically The defeat at Las Novas de Tolosa (1212) North Africa. By 1307, he had conquered all of
events. every able-bodied man took part in the battle was a result of several interrelated political, re- the Maghrib except the easternmost province
Granada did not fall in a single day, nor and one fourth of them lost their lives. The Al ligious and economic factors. There was deep of Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia).
did its collapse come with a sudden stroke. Muhaddith Emir al Nasir who had assumed the distrust between the Spanish emirs and the Al The Merinides in Morocco reached their
Rather, it was the last breath of a decaying soci- title of Emir ul Muslimeen, returned distraught Muhaddith of North Africa. This led to poor greatest strength under the Emirs Ali and Abu
ety, which had lost the capacity to defend itself from the battle, locked himself up in his palace coordination on the battlefield. Within the Al Inan (1331 to 1357). It was the Merinide Emir
against a sustained offensive from Christian in Marrakesh and died soon thereafter (1213). Muhaddith court, there was infighting between Abu Inan who was the patron of Ibn Batuta, the
Europe. Long before church bells replaced the Sensing an historic opportunity, Castile, Ara- the religious establishment and the vizier. The celebrated Muslim world traveler. There was a
call of the muezzin and Boabdil (Abu Abdal- gon and Portugal carved up Muslim Spain for Al Muhaddith ulema had a running quarrel resurgence of Islamic solidarity in the Maghrib
lah, the last emir of Granada) stood on the hills conquest. The major towns were overrun one with the Grand Vizier Jami and demanded his during this period. In 1340, the Moroccans
of El Pujarra, looked down on his lost capital by one. In 1236, Cordoba, the capital of the removal. The detrimental effect of this quarrel (Merinides) defeated the Castilian navy and
and wept, Spain had spent itself politically, Omayyad Caliphate in Spain, fell. Seville was can be appreciated from the structure of the laid siege to Tarifa. For a change, there was
militarily and culturally. There was warfare be- lost in 1248. Only Granada remained. Mu- Al Muhaddith court. The emir was the head of close cooperation between Granada and the
tween competing emirs, intrigues within each hammad Ibn Ahmar of the Nasirid dynasty, state. In the discharge of his responsibilities, he Merinides in Morocco. The Granadan Yusuf
dynasty pitting father against son, tension be- who had captured Granada in 1238, managed delegated the administrative and military af- I cast off the Castilian yoke and turned to the
tween the religious establishment and corrupt to maintain his position by becoming a vassal fairs to the grand vizier and the judiciary affairs Merinides across the Straits for support. How-
administrators, murder, mayhem and external of the Castilian monarch. Granada remained a ever, in 1341, a Castilian force assisted by Cru-
aggression. The surrender of Granada was only vassal of Castile until 1333, when the Nasirid It is said among Muslims that saders from France, Italy and England defeated
the final curtain in a drama that had played it- Emir Yusuf I, abrogated the annual tribute to a combined force of Granadans and Merinides.
self out. Castile and made an attempt to carry the war the hills of El Pujarra around This was an indication that the balance of pow-
The Maghrib was a vast area, which in- into Christian territories. Granada still weep for the er in the western Mediterranean had turned in
cluded the modern nations of Morocco, Alge- In North Africa, the Al Muhaddith territo- favor of the Christians.
ria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Sene-Gambia, Spain ries disintegrated into three emirates: the Me- sound of the adhan every After the Crusades ended in Palestine
and Portugal. It was separated from Egypt and rinides in Morocco, the Zayyanids in Algeria morning and the mosque (circa 1190), the balance of power in the Medi-
the Nile Delta by the Libyan Desert, from Eu- and the Hafsids in Tunisia. The Al Muhaddith terranean moved counter clockwise, with the
rope by the Pyrenees Mountains and from the capital of Marrakesh faded away and in its place of Cordoba stays awake all Turks advancing upon Anatolia and southeast-
Sudan by the great Saharan desert. The high sprang up three regional capitals - Meknes, ern Europe while the Christians gained the up-
Atlas, which branched off into the Andalusian capital of the Merinides; Tlemcen, capital of the night waiting for the sajda of per hand in Spain and North Africa. The Span-
Peninsula, tied together the topography of the Zayyanids; and Tunis, capital of the Hafsids. a single momin. To this day iards, sensing blood, followed up their victory
region. The hinge for this geographic entity lay Nostalgia for the Al Muhaddith Empire was so and captured Algeciras (in Morocco) in 1244.
in Morocco. Andalus (Spain) and Ifriqiya (Tu- great that all three attempted at one time or the Andalus evokes among Muslims Emir Ali was hampered in his efforts at the con-
nisia) served as its extremities. other to recreate an empire that included all of nostalgia for a golden age when solidation of the Maghrib by two factors. The
This vast region was inhabited by a diverse the Maghrib. The first to make an attempt were first was the Black Plague, which engulfed his
group of people. Andalus was a composite of the Hafsids. In 1236, the Hafsid Emir Yahya I, it resonated with the sound of kingdom much as it did West Asia and Europe
Hispano-Muslims, Christians, Arabs and im- claiming his descent from Omar ibn al Khattab prayer every morning and the (1346-1360), causing widespread death and
migrants from North Africa. The Atlas Moun- (r), declared himself Emir ul Muslimeen. When economic dislocation and the second, the re-
tains were home to the Berbers. A sedentary he died, his son al Mustansir succeeded him. name of Prophet Muhammed current uprisings of the Banu Hilal tribe. Four
Arab layer, resident primarily in the coastal cit- Events in far-away Baghdad presented an (p) was honored every day year later, the Banu Hilal at the Battle of Kair-
ies, existed side by side with the Berbers. To the historic opportunity to al Mustansir. When Hu- ouan defeated Emir Ali himself and his dream
south, the historically important tribes of the lagu Khan occupied and destroyed Baghdad in of a Maghribi Empire came to an end.
Sanhaja, Zanata and Nafzawa roamed the pas- 1258, the Islamic world looked to North Africa to the chief Kadi. A fight between the admin- Events now flowed inexorably in favor of
turelands. Powerful tribes such as the Banu Hi- for leadership. For a brief period of one year, istrative-military wing and the judiciary wing the Crusaders. In 1355, the Genoese briefly
lal completed the landscape. The relative isola- from 1260 to 1261, al Mustansir was recog- was a disaster. occupied Tripoli (Libya). In 1390, the French
tion of the Maghrib meant that this region had nized as the Caliph by the world of Islam. The In modern terminology, it is like two se- attacked Mahdiya (Tunisia). In 1399, Tetuan
to face its political destiny on its own, more or Khutba was read in his name all over the Mus- nior vice presidents of a corporation fighting (Morocco) was sacked by Castile. In 1415,
less isolated from the rest of the Islamic world. lim world. The title was short lived because the with each other before launching a new prod- Ceuta (Morocco) was captured by Portugal.
To understand the events of 1492, we must Mamluke Sultan Baybars of Egypt resurrected uct line. The economic condition of the empire One may juxtapose these losses with the Ot-
take an historical perspective of events dating the Abbasid Caliphate in Cairo in 1261, in part was precarious. Inflation was rampant, which toman victories in Europe where Bayazid I de-
back to the beginning of the 13th century. The to provide an ideological boost to his troops in turn led to corruption. On his way to Spain feated the Serbs at the Battle of Kosova (1389),
Crusades in Palestine ended with the victory of who were on their way to Palestine in a desper- to fight the Christians in 1210, the Al Muhad- captured Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, Skopje and
Salahuddin at the Battle of Hittin (1186). This ate attempt to stop the Mongols at the Battle of dith Emir Al Nasir stopped off in Fez and Ceu- smashed a combined Crusader army at the Bat-
was also a period when Al Muhaddith power Ayn Jalut (1261). ta and had the governors of the two provinces tle of Nicopolis (1396). With both Ceuta and
was at its zenith in the Maghrib. The Al Mu- With the move of the Caliphate to Cairo, beheaded for corruption. Lastly, the Al Mu- Algeciras in the hands of the Christians, com-
haddith Abu Yusuf won a major victory over the center stage of Islamic history moved back haddith doctrines, heavily influenced by the munications between Granada Morocco across
the Crusaders at the Battle of Alarcos (1196). east. Al Mustansir paid the price for his Caliph- Mu’tazilites, were deeply suspect in the eyes of the Straits of Gibraltar were cut. The noose
The Crusaders regrouped and came back with a ate of one year. In 1260, Louis IX of France, in the ulema, who tolerated the Al Muhaddith as around Granada tightened.
vengeance. At the Battle of Las Novas de Tolosa the mistaken belief that defeating al Mustansir a shield against the aggression of the Crusaders, (The author is Director, World Organiza-
(1212) a powerful army of the Crusaders over- would deal a deathblow to all Islam, invaded but otherwise offered them no support. tion for Resource Development and Education,
whelmed the Al Muhaddith. The magnitude of and briefly occupied the city of Tunis. During For the next eighty years (1248-1328), a Washington, DC; Director, American Institute
this defeat can be understood from the sheer this period, there existed a de-facto alliance political equilibrium developed in the western of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member,
number of soldiers involved. Muslim chroni- between the Crusaders and the Mongols to Mediterranean involving Castile, Aragon and State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and
clers record that as many as 600,000 Al Muhad- conquer the Muslim world. However, the nu- Portugal on the Christian side and the Merin- Chairman, Delixus Group)
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