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Islam in Spain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Islam has had a relatively long presence in the history of Spain. The religion was dominant from 711 AD until 1492 AD under the rule of the Moors of Al-Andalus. Today, as of December 2005, an estimated 3% of Spaniards are Muslim.[1]
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In 711 AD, Muslim forces invaded Spain and completed their conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by 718 AD. In 711, the Moors conquered Visigoth Christian Spain. Under their Berber leader Tariq ibn-Ziyad, they landed at Gibraltar on April 30 and brought most of the Iberian Peninsula, (except for small areas in the north-west Asturias and the Basque territory), under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. They attempted to move north-east across the Pyrenees Mountains toward France, but were defeated by the Frankish Christian Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732. The Moors ruled in North Africa, parts of Spain and Portugal regions in the Pyrenees) for varying periods, usually measured in centuries, ranging from just 28 years in the Spain's north-west (Galicia), but up to 781 years in Spain's mountainous south-east, around the city of Granada. Although unproven, it is commonly held that the relative ease with which the Arab/Berber armies conquered the Iberian peninsula was due to the centralised nature of government under the rule of the Visigoths. After the defeat of Roderick, the Visigoth dominion over the Iberian peninsula folded and apart from the Northern coast of Spain, and the province of Septimania (an area of France going from the Pyrenees to Provence), all areas previously under the rule of the Visigoths were under Islamic rule.
For a time, Spain was one of the great Muslim civilisations, reaching its summit with the Umayyad Caliphate in the tenth century. Muslim Spain was typically regarded as having five discrete phases:
The Dependent Emirate (711-756); The Independent Emirate (756-929); The Caliphate (929-1031); The Almoravid Era (1031-1130); Decline (1130-1492)[2]
Christians and Jews who lived in Spain during this time faced restrictions, but the era is generally regarded as one marked by tolerance although there was a period of Christian persecution in the 8th century. [3]
Islamic control of Spain was slowly eroded by the Spanish Reconquista. The Reconquista (Reconquest) was the process by which the Christian Kingdoms of northern Spain eventually managed to succeed in defeating and conquering the southern Muslim states of the Iberian Peninsula. The first major city to fall to Christian powers was Toledo in 1085.[4] However, it was not until 1492, when Granada, the last Muslim city, fell to the Christians at the hands of Queen Isabel of Castile and her husband Ferdinand of Aragon.[5]. The majority of non-Catholics were forced to leave or to convert to Catholicism, or otherwise face torture or death.
In recent decades, immigration has resulted in a resurgence in the presence of Muslims, with over 1 million Muslims currently residing in Spain of which the majority are Moroccans who come for work. While they have the right to reside and work, some are not citizens.
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1 Has significant territory in Asia. 2 Entirely in West Asia, but considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons. 3 Only recognised by Turkey.
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