Page 4 - Pakistan Link - November 15, 2019

P4 – PAKISTAN LINK – NOVEMBER 15, 2019 OPINION
Pakistan Link What Andalusia Teaches Us about Muslims & Non-Muslims Living Together

Advisory Board n By Dr Akbar Ahmed
Dr Sohail Masood American University
Washington DC
President
Arif Zaff ar Mansuri
ArifMansuri@PLpublications.org Th e loss of Andalusia is like
losing part of my body,” HRH
Editor “Prince Turki al-Faisal told me.
Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui I had asked him what the loss of
afaruqui@pakistanlink.com Andalusia meant to him as an Arab.
Th e son of King Fais-
Editor Urdu Link & Bureau Chief (Pakistan) al, widely celebrated
Shabbir Ghori in the Muslim world,
urdulink@yahoo.com Prince Turki heads
Resident Editor Urdu Link Th e King Faisal Cen-
& Director Video Operations ter for Research and
Anwar Khawaja Islamic Studies in Ri-
akhawaja@pakistanlink.com yadh, Saudi Arabia’s
preeminent think tank, and has been
Manager Sales & Advertising Saudi ambassador to the US and the
sales@pakistanlink.com UK. Th e question had excited the
normally taciturn prince. Th e mask
Regional Offi ces
of cultural and royal impassivity de-
veloped over a lifetime of diplomatic
YKKB dealings had dropped as his body
ykkb03@gmail.com and voice expressed high emotion.
Th e image of Andalusia had struck a He described the lure of An- hotel, when it opened fi rst thing in it was not seen as a religious building.
Sacramento, CA
Sacramento@plpublications.com nerve: “Th e emptiness remains.” dalusia in his desire to pray in the the morning -- and then again dur- History became an exercise in
When I asked him what Andalu- mehrab of the Grand Mosque of Cor- ing the day. She appeared to be in a self-deception. For example “El-Cid,”
San Fransisco/Bay Area, CA sia meant to him, he replied, “I have doba. As the Spanish authorities very trance, and I saw that Andalusia was and the prince smiled when he men-
Sanfrancisco@plpublications.com a passion for Andalusia because it consciously claim the building to be a already working its magic on her. As tioned the fi lm about the Spanish
contributed not only to Muslims but cathedral, Muslim prayers are specif- a father, I nonetheless worried that hero starring Charlton Heston, was
New York, NY
Newyork@plpublications.com to humanity and human understand- ically banned. Yet the mehrab has at- she may try to say her prayers and get nothing more than a “mercenary.”
ing. It contributed to the well-being tracted Muslim visitors like moths to in trouble with the security people. “He fought for money,” he said.
Houston, TX of society, to its social harmony. Th is a fl ame. It was here that Allama Iqbal Th ankfully, there was no untoward Around the time when Muslims
Houston@Plpublications.org is missing nowadays.” For the prince visiting from British India could not incident. were facing defeat in Spain, the Mon-
“Andalusia was the exact opposite of resist sitting down to pray. His im- Around that time, Amineh in- gols erupted from the East to attack
Phoenix, AZ Europe at that time -- [then] a dark, age at prayer in the Grand Mosque terviewed an educated young, mar- the heart of the Muslim world. He
Phoenix@Plpublications.org
savage land of bigotry and hatred.” is known throughout the Muslim ried woman with a Syrian back- talked of the destruction of the li-
Ontario, Canada At its height, Andalusia pro- world. Iqbal’s famous Urdu poem, ground and asked her what the loss braries and books in Baghdad when
Ontario@Plpublications.org duced a magnifi cent Muslim civili- “Mosque of Cordoba,” which hangs of Andalusia meant to her. Th e Arab that city was captured in 1258. “Cen-
zation -- religious tolerance, poetry, in the offi ce of the mayor of Cordoba, woman could not control her emo- turies of civilization was razed to the
Letters to the Editor music, learned scientists and schol- was written aft er his visit. tions. She burst into tears. Amineh, ground.”
ars like Averroës, great libraries (the Following Iqbal and that iconic who was already pent up, also began History seemed to have stopped
Readers are welcome to express their opinion
in these columns. Please keep your letters main library at Cordoba alone had image, I prayed on the same spot in to cry, and as the two put their arms for the Arabs aft er the destruction of
brief and to the point. Letters without full 400,000 books), public baths, and the early 1960s when I visited Cordo- around each other and sobbed, the Baghdad in the 13th century. Th ere
name, complete address, and a daytime
phone number will not be published. splendid architecture (like the pal- ba as an undergraduate. Th e security guests in the lobby wondered about would be great Muslim empires in
Also, copies of letters sent to other news- ace complex at the Alhambra and the guards were few in number and dis- the source of the bereavement. Later, the future -- the Ottomans, the Sa-
papers are not encouraged. Letters can be
mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the Editor at Grand Mosque of Cordoba). Th ese interested in the visitors. Th ey merely Amineh was able to excitedly point favids and the Mughals -- but they
the Pakistan Link Headquarters address great achievements were the result looked away. Th e scale of both the to Iqbal’s famous poem hanging just would not be Arab. Th ey would be
listed below.
Pakistan Link (ISSN 1074-0406) is pub- of collaboration between Muslims, Muslim achievements and the Mus- behind the mayor in his offi ce when Turk, Persian and Indian. In contrast,
lished weekly for $85 a year by JAZ LLC, Christians and Jews -- indeed the lim loss weighed heavily on me even we called on him. She introduced the Andalusia was a civilization brought
DBA PL Publications, LLC. work of the great Jewish Rabbi Mai- then as a young man not quite 21 topic of Andalusia to her students in to Europe primarily by the Arabs. Ar-
Periodical postage paid at Anaheim, CA monides was written in the Arabic years in age. Andalusia made me feel Lahore and was able to help them abic was its lingua franca and Islam
and additional mailing offi ces.
POST MASTER: Send address changes to language. It was a time when a Mus- that there was a special part of my think about how to live with those of its dominant religion. Th e founder of
Pakistan Link, P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA
92815 lim ruler had a Jewish chief minis- history in Europe that was not known other religions and cultures. the greatest of the dynasties of Cor-
The management has the right to refuse ter and a Catholic archbishop as his and yet I found it so compelling. Th e Th e question of why and how it doba was Abdur-Rehman, known as
to print any advertisement, news, article,
letter or any other material. In case of foreign minister. Th e Spanish had a prince recounted saying his prayers all ended for Muslims still remained. the “falcon of the Quraysh,” a prince
any errors in advertisement the manage- phrase for that period of history -- La on that very spot at the mehrab, too, When I asked the prince the eternal with kinship ties to the prophet of Is-
ment will not be liable for more than the
amount paid for the advertisement to the Convivencia, or co-existence. during his visit in the 1980s when the questions -- What went wrong? Why lam himself.
Link. Th e civilization of Muslim Spain authorities gave him special permis- did Islam collapse so soon aft er the Once the destruction began in
Advertisements in Pakistan Link are
placed in good faith. The newspaper is not was the embodiment of the Islamic sion. “You cannot help yourself,” he fall of Andalusia? -- he blamed it on the West and the East, it could not
responsible nor endorses the contents of compulsion to seek ilm, or knowl- said soft ly, as if to himself. the loss of Andalusia itself and then be stopped. It spread like the apoca-
any advertisement. In case of a frivolous
lawsuit, the plaintiff will bear the total cost edge. Andalusia produced many Security was much more strict the sustained assaults by the Crusad- lypse. Mosques, libraries and baths --
of the suit, including but not limited to the fi rsts, the fi rst person to fl y, Ibn Fir- in the 1990s when I was fi lming “Liv- ers from the West and the Mongol anything that reminded people of Is-
Link’s costs and the attorney’s fees.
nas, aft er whom a moon crater was ing Islam” for BBC TV, and I noted eruptions from the East. lam -- were systematically destroyed
named in present-day Cordoba, as that there was a thick silken rope “Europe destroyed Andalusia,” in Andalusia. It was the same in the
Information for well as a bridge in present-day Cor- which acted as a partition to block off the prince explained. “With the loss East. Th e Mongols did not stop at the
of the spirit of Andalusia was lost the
doba and the fi rst philosophical
destruction of Baghdad. Prince Turki
entrance into the mehrab. Our Eng-
Subscribers novel, by Ibn Tufail. Th rough Spain, lish producers, however, managed to idea of service to humanity. Th e cir- especially regretted the destruction
The printing of Pakistan Link is unfail- Europe received models for univer- convince the guards with that mix- cle of European ignorance and bigot- of Samara, a city patterned on the
ingly completed by Wednesday every
week and its copies are handed over to sities (Oxford and Cambridge are ture of bravado and arrogance they ry was now complete.” But Muslims legendary Madinat al-Zahra in An-
the mailing house for prompt dispatch examples), philosophy and literature reserve for the continent. I was thus and Jews who would be eventually dalusia. Visitors from Spain would
to the subscribers. The Link should (for example the work of Th omas able to pray in the mehrab, which was expelled from the Iberian Peninsula describe the marvels of that city to
reach its destination on time if there is
no delay at the post offi ce. If a delay is Aquinas), and the study of medicine recorded by the BBC for the section were not the only victims. “Nobody the court in Baghdad and the caliph
occasioned it is in no way attributable originating from the work of Avicen- on Andalusia. Our attempts to pray was spared,” he said. “Christians
to the performance of Link’s manage- ANDALUSIA, P26
ment. In case of delayed receipt of Pak- na and Abulcasis. there failed miserably in the summer themselves now faced the horrors of
istan Link or missing issues, please con- Prince Turki connected Anda- of 2014 when we were there to con- the Inquisition.” Views and
tact your local Post Offi ce and submit a opinions ex-
“Publication Watch” form. lusia with the earliest days of Islam duct a study of Islam in Europe. Not Spanish rulers were obsessed
and talked excitedly about the char- only had the authorities built high with erasing Muslim history or re- pressed by
ter of Madina, which he said was the ugly steel railings to prevent anyone placing it. Charles V was shocked to authors and
PAKISTAN LINK fi rst written constitution for society coming close to the mehrab, the se- see the travesty that was the doing of contributors
articles,
in
his offi cials in converting the Grand
curity guards and church offi cials
providing a social framework for the
Headquarters state itself. He underlined the impor- hovered around inside the mosque. Mosque in Cordoba to a cathedral. letters, opin-
P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA 92815 tance of the concept of knowledge Th ey were on high alert as rumors of He uttered his immortal words to the ion pieces,
Tel: 714-400-3400 reports, advertisements, etc
Fax: 714-400-3404 or ilm in this vision. Ilm, he pointed Muslims determined to reclaim the eff ect that they had taken something appearing in Pakistan Link
E-Mail: Editor@PakistanLink.com out, meant studying the Qur’an, fi qh, mosque for Islam were circulating. unique in the world and made it a
or Islamic law and hadith, or the Every time we came near the mehrab, commonplace available everywhere. and Urdu Link are their own.
sayings of the Prophet. But ilm also the guards would close in and ask us Charles would himself attempt a Th e paper neither shares
Pakistan Offi ce included the learning of non-reli- to move along. similar exercise at the Alhambra in a nor endorses them and thus
42 Rehman Court gious subjects such as mathematics Dr Amineh Hoti, a member of palace that still stands inside the his- should not be held responsi-
Plaza Square, Off M. A. Jinnah Road and science. “Andalusia,” the prince the research team, made it a habit of toric site. Th ankfully the damage to ble for the views/opinions of
Karachi-74400, Pakistan the writers & advertisers.
sighed, “transcends space and time.” visiting the mosque, just opposite our the Alhambra remained minimal as
www.PakistanLink.com