An Incomplete History

The Muslims of Spain Post 1492 in a Global Context and its Relevance to Muslims Today

Signs of Things to Come and The Beginnings of the Persecution of Muslims

Returning to Spain, cracks began appearing in the cozy arrangement between the benign Christian rulers of Spain and their Muslim ‘flock.’ What made it worse was that these problems were apparent to Garnatan Muslims that pondered over the state of Mudajaneen in Valencia and Arghun and the steady effort of the local authorities to wear down the Muslim Fuquha of the areas and eventually begin to tamper with the religious affairs of the mudajaneen. In fact almost all criminal cases between Muslims were tried not in a Shariah court, but before a Christian tribunal and, “…in the thirteenth century the exercise of criminal justice by Mudejar courts was placed under the supervision of royal bailiffs, (Meyerson, 194). By 1329 CE, the cooperation between the qadis and Christians judges was so extensive that Alfonso IV commanded his Christian judges to “…exercise [their] jurisdiction and inflict penalties with the counsel of Sarracen judges, commonly called qadis, (ibid).” Moreover, the Christians had effectively nullified any meaningful illusion of power the Islamic courts had as they interfered with a number of verdicts and issues, as was the case with murders committed by Muslims upon Christians:

“Jaime II [King of Aragon] quashed any possible Christian complaints that convicted Muslims were being punished too leniently when sentenced according to the Shariah by ruling that, for any crimes committed by Muslims against Christians, the Muslims were to be sentenced by the law that demanded the heaviest penalty…However, it seems that during Fernando’s [King Ferdinand of Spain] reign all Muslims culpable for crimes against Christians were penalized in accordance with the Furs” (ibid, 212).[1]

Some kuffaar have mangled the issue to the extent that they claim “…Islamic justice was being administered, even if under the auspices of a Christian court [!](ibid).” I suppose next we should contact Pope Benedict and ask him to write us a fatwa on how jihad is fard ayn today! I merely jest, but sadly, neither am I far from the reality of the matter either as our own ulema now virtually follow the lead of the kuffar and speak the truth when the ulema know they, (their leaders and the kuffaar leaders that control their leaders), will be pleased.

“Muslims most often pleaded before Christian courts against their fellows in order to set in motion the executive machinery of the royal bureaucracy against recalcitrant debtors and those who lived at a distance from them. Mudejars sought the king’s justice for its relative efficiency and coercive power. Even the decisions of the qadi generally carried little weight without the backing of the bailiff general to enforce them, (ibid, 198)”

In other words, the mudajjan preferred the law of the kuffaar due to its apparent ‘efficiency.’ Moreover, wheresoever a shariah ruling was issued, it carried no weight unless the kafir judges backed it. On the first count, a majority of Muslims in the west today praise the American judicial system or the British system for its ‘efficiency’ or worse still, its ‘justice.’ This only proves their love of kufr and their inclination towards the kuffaar, when it is logically apparent that the law that Allāh has revealed is the best law and way of life that provides true and absolute justice. There are parallels in this disgusting speech and possibly the attitudes of the mudajjan in Valencia and Arghun with Muslims living in the West today. Some so called scholars and Islamic activists in the West and even in the Muslim world, state these are examples of the past, and are very different from how the governments, (and people), of the west treat us today with ‘justice,’ ‘fairness’ and ‘dignity.’ To dispel this fantasy, let us look at the ‘justice’ that was given to the mudajjan out of the ‘generosity of their kafir king, in that he appointed them attorneys if they did not have one:

“Christian procurators (procuradors), usually notaries given power of attorney, frequently represented Muslims in court. The Christian procurator might also act as a Muslim’s defense counsel, and some notaries seem to have been court-appointed public defenders. There is no evidence suggesting that the procurators were in any way negligent in the causes of their Muslim clients. For the notaries such dereliction of duty probably would have resulted in an undesired loss of clientele.

Muslims were in no way restricted from bringing charges against Christians. Thus, when the widow Axa Christelli was unable to appear in court to make the requisite formal accusations against the knight Gaspar de Monsorin and his squire for the murder of her son, the viceroy obliged her by sending an official to Algimia to record her accusations and to seize the accused for trial” (ibid, 211).

In fact, in court, when Muslims had to take oath, “the Muslims swore on the Qur’an. In the trial records the Muslims are usually described as having “made an oath … to our Lord God and to the qiblah of Muhammad, turning the face toward midday and saying the words that Moors are accustomed to swear (ibid, 210).” So how can one claim that there is a difference between these conditions and the condition of Muslim in countries such as America today?

On the second count, this is the exact state of so called ‘Shariah’ courts in ‘Muslim’ countries such as Pakistan or the Gulf states, wherein the Shariah courts have been relegated to dealing with inheritance and other issues that state finds propaganda value in.[2] In fact, some notable scholars in the Muslim world have been favorable to the desires of their rulers and have ‘manufactured’ all sorts of new ‘fiqh’ to allow them to indulge in their desires, as is the case of the ‘Islamic’ financial industry. In a strange way one kafir author hit the nail in the head when they stated, “it was in the area of commercial law that the Shariah had proven most malleable and Muslim jurists most innovative, (ibid, 199).” I would emphasize on the ‘innovative’ as scholars even then indulged in the chicanery we say over the financial capitals of the Muslim world such as Dubai with multi billion dollar financial instruments being ‘manufactured,’ (I use this verb deliberately), by kaafir specialists from Europe. I think that says enough about the state of our affairs, and enough to imagine the state of affairs of the mudajjan.

A clear example of the sorry state of affairs of Andalus occurred in 1491 in Valencia. Under the laws of the land, if a Muslim man committed adultery with a Christian woman, both were sentenced to death by burning alive, while if a Christian man committed adultery with a Muslim woman, the Christian man would receive no punishment at all, while the Muslim woman would receive the Sharia punishment of stoning to death, (Constable, 341). However, almost always this sentence was commuted by the royal authorities and the women were sentenced to become prostitutes in the royal brothel, (Ibid). One has to ask which form of twisted justice is this? Instead of death with honor, you offer a life unending with shame and dishonor to service the perverted desires of the Christian elite. On the 23^rd of June of 1491, Maryam, a Muslimah, was brought into the Valencia court and below, the Court recorded, records Maryam’s responses to the questioning in the court:

“She was asked how she came here [that is, to the city of Valencia]. She answered that it was because of her mother, for her mother had forced her to return to her husband.

She was asked with whom did she come [to Valencia]. She answered that [she came] with a procurer by the name of Cutaydal [a Muslim] whose place of origin, she said, is unknown to her.

She was asked if she is with that one [Cutaydal] freely or by compulsion. She answered that presently she is no longer with him, since he mistreated her, however, previously she was and came with him out of her own free will, for he had promised to make her his wife.

She was asked if he [Cutaydal] put her to work [as a prostitute] with her free consent or by compulsion. She answered that in the beginning she, the said defendant, traveled with the Cutaydal voluntarily, for he had promised to make her his wife.

She was asked if she, the said defendant, is in the brothel voluntarily or if the said Cutaydal was forcing her to be there. And she answered that before she, the said defendant, became a prostitute, the said Cutaydal threatened her, telling her that the agents of the Lord Cardinal [of Valencia; a major landholder in the kingdom with a reputation for mistreating Muslims] would enslave her. And therefore it was decided [by Maryan and Cutaydal], that he should be sold to the noble Don Altobello [de Centelles] and that thus she would be secure [that is safe, from the Cardinal’s men as Don Altobello’s slave, a more benign master]. And so she was led to believe that she had been sold to Don Altobello, and thus they have put her in the brothel. And thus she has had to endure being there and is there voluntarily.

She was asked if she would like to return to the custody of her husband or of her mother and return to freedom, instead of being where she is. She answered that she does not wish to return to her husband, but that she desires to return to her mother rather than being where she is.

She was asked for what quantity [of money] she was sold to the said Don Altobello. She answered that the said Cutaydal led her to believe that he had sold her for Twenty Pounds, but that the said Don Altobello has told her that it was for Thirty pounds.

She was asked what she does with her earnings [from prostitution]. She answerd that she has worked for two days, and that everything she earns she gives to Don Altobello. And that he [Don Altobello] has told her that he will take her earnings into account toward her ransom ….

[Questioning resumes two weeks later]

She was asked if she is married and has a husband. She answered yes, she was married with a letter of Sadaq [Arabic: dower], according to the custom of the Muslims. Her husband is named Muhammad Jahupi.

She was asked if she has worked [as a prostitute] and has committed adultery with any Muslim in the present city of Valencia. She answered that she has been a prostitute and has a worked in a brothel of the moreria [Muslim quarter] of Valencia.

She was asked if she had committed adultery before she was put in the brothel of the moreria of Valencia. She answered yes, that is, that she slept with the said Cutaydel in the city of Valencia.

She was asked if she was adhering to the aforesaid confessions. She answered yes, that she will always adhere to them (Ibid, 341-342).”

For those interested, the end result was that Maryam was freed to either go home to her parents or husband or practice licensed prostitution, (The Spanish approach to prostitution was not to ban it but rather to license it, regulate it and tax it).

Some interesting information is gleaned from these proceedings and that is:

1)      The Spanish authorities licensed and regulated prostitution: it would certainly seem against the title they took on as the defenders of the Catholic faith and more likely than not, they had constructed a clever Christian legal maxim or procured ecclesiastic permission at some level to do so.

2)      It can be inferred with little doubt that the Muslim society in Valencia, specifically in the moreria was becoming increasingly morally corrupt with such cases of wives running off perhaps on the rise and the fact that Maryam apparently states that she worked in the moreria as a prostitute. In addition she applies that Muslims had bought her services, which implied that moral corruption had already sunk in and perhaps the whole family structure had begun to crumble, leading to divorces, adultery and rapes. One can also safely assume that she certainly was not the only one plying her trade.

3)      It is highly likely that Muslims were in on the act of trapping Muslim women by luring them into marriage, committing adultery with them, and then, knowing that subsequently that neither their parents nor their husbands, (if married previously), would take them back due to their adultery and infidelity, they proceeded to blackmail them into prostitution. The owners of the brothels were usually Spanish nobles who provided procurers such as Cuytadel a steady stream of revenue while the Muslim procurers would give them a steady flow of Muslim women for their brothels. This mechanism still goes on today in poorer Muslim countries in the Maghrib, Iraq and Afghanistan, (whereas the trade in women from Eastern Europe is well documented and the mechanism by which they are lured and forced to work in places such as Dubai).

4)       Though not included in the trial transcript, if the qadis of the city were to have gotten hold of Maryam, or others like her, before the Spanish courts had, (it is not clear if they did or not), They would have sentenced her to be stoned to death and would then present this ruling to the Governor of Valencia to be ratified. Almost always the sentence was commuted and the woman was made into a prostitute in the Royal Brothels. In other words, sharia word was established, but only in word since the rulers could, at any time, interfere, abridge or annul a ruling by qadis. This certainly didn’t bode well for the Garnatans.

To put this ruling in perspective we must look at the state of the Mudajjan prior to the fall of Andalus. Of the many things that the Mudajjan of Aragon and Valencia had to endure were to be humiliated by way of clothing:

“The IV Lateran Council of 1215 had demanded that all Christian monarchs force Muslims and Jews within their dominions to wear distinctive clothing, so they could be easily identified, and these demands were repeated by Honorius III and Gregory IX. Spanish monarchs acceded to these without protest, and even added to them. Between the early thirteenth century, when the laws were enacted, and the mid- fourteenth, there were certain modifications in the efforts to make the Muslims distinctive. Originally Muslims and Jews had had to wear a distinctive outer garment like a cleric’s cape, round and gathered, with a hood, and not striped, green, or bright red. They could not wear rings of gold or precious stones, and had to grow their beards long and cut their hair round rather than in Christian fashion” (Boswell, 330-331).

Moreover, there was no security for the person of the Mudajjan of Argun and Valencia as they could be kidnapped and held for ransom by anyone, and there was nothing Muslims could do about it:

“It was extremely common throughout the fourteenth century for Muslims to be seized and held for ransom, either by officials or civilians, and for any of a hundred reasons (or for virtually no reason at all). During an inquisition in Atzuena royal officials began seizing Muslims at random and forcing them to redeem themselves at terrific expense; they were forced to desist by the Crown only when the lord of the community complained that Mudéjares were beginning to emigrate in droves out of fear of being held for ransom. The alcayde of Aranda seized the daughters of local Mudéjares and forced their fathers to ransom them until ordered to stop by the king, who professed to be “astounded” at the practice, but imposed no penalty on the alcayde [Qa’id].

During the war, Christians often made “citizens arrests” of Moors, whom they then held for ransom. The pretext for such arrests was usually that the Muslim involved was a “rebel,” but the real motive was transparent: rather than shady or unknown Muslims who might indeed have been in the service of Castile, those arrested were nearly always prominent, well-to-do Mudéjares, of unquestioned loyalty but great ransom potential. Personal retainers of the king were twice detained thus and held for ransom, and each time the king came to their rescue. Far from punishing the Christian captors, however, he actually allowed them to keep the portion of the ransom already paid (500s in one case; 600s in the other), even though he admitted that in each case the Muslim had been falsely accused” (ibid, 333-334).

However, worst of all, the Christian rulers of Arghun and Valencia enacted laws that affected the morals of the Muslims and allowed the Christians to do as they wanted with Muslim women in the areas of the Mudajjan:

“A Christian man who slept with a Muslim woman was liable to no penalty at all, but the Muslim woman was invariably sold into slavery (unless she was already licensed as a prostitute). In short, those members of the society with no power, i.e., Muslims and women, were penalized for unions which were permissible for the members with power, i.e., Christian men. That Muslim women seem to incur a lighter penalty than Christian ones is probably an indication that Christian men did not want to erect barriers to their own recreation. (On the other hand, a Jewess of the period found to have had relations with Christian men [as well as Muslims] was ordered by the king to be exiled or dismembered, (ibid, 344-345).”

As a result of making the Shariah irrelevant and pointless, and imposing the supremacy of the law of the kings of Arghun and Valencia, strange legal outcomes occurred. Muslim women that had committed adultery opted to be slaves and prostitutes in the Royal Brothels (‘whore houses’), to avoid stoning:

“All of the women who appear in the documents of the fourteenth century opted for slavery, and the trade in sarracenas [Muslim women] thus enslaved was very brisk. In fact, so many women became the property of the Crown in this way that there was lively competition among royal favorites to receive the “rights” over Saracen [Muslim] women caught sleeping with Christian men. The women were either sold, with the proceeds going to the king, queen, or the lord of the scene of the crime, or were granted as rewards to favorites. The Crown seems to have preferred the cash to the person, and since the enslaved women would naturally tend to be young, the profits were considerable…Pardons were extremely rare, and granted only at the insistence of a prominent Christian” (ibid, 346-347).

In fact according to some, “Indeed, of the prostitutes officially registered with the Maestre Racional of Valencia, the ‘majority were Muslim…’ (ibid, 350).” Naturally, as we are discussing adultery, rape of Muslim women was common in the Mudajjan territories:

“Rape of Mudéjar women was not uncommon, but the cruellest aspect of the situation was the potential for abuse in the law of enslavement. A gentleman of the king’s Court was granted as a slave a Muslim woman whom he had himself induced to violate the law, and this double exploitation occurred to others as well: in 1356 Peter granted the monastery of Roda the “rights” over all Saracen women under its jurisdiction caught sleeping with Christians; i.e., they were to have them as slaves, either for their personal use or to sell, and the monarch instructed the General Bailiff of Aragon to honor this. In the following year, however, he had to alter his original grant, and specify that the monks could not have as slaves those women who had been convicted of sleeping with the monks themselves.

This sexual exploitation of Mudéjar women, with its horrible consequences for them, seems even more deplorable in view of the fact that the lands under the Crown of Aragon abounded in prostitutes, both Muslim and Christian. Fourteenth-century Aragonese monarchs licensed prostitutes throughout Aragon-Catalonia-Valencia, assigned them neighborhoods or specific houses for their practice, and considered them such a natural part of life that they provided in considerable detail for the quartering of prostitutes kept by mercenaries during the war. Although such women were generally quartered in Muslim homes…” (ibid, 347-349).

There was a double standard at play at the same time as Jews were treated more leniently, (in this case, alleged adultery):

“It was common for Jews accused of the same crime to get off with a fine, even when charged under the same inquisition as Muslims who did not get off. Anyone could bring charges against a Muslim for this crime, including a Christian prostitute who had voluntarily slept with him, and such accusers enjoyed complete immunity. Abuses of this and the dire consequences for the Mudéjares eventually prompted them to demand that a Muslim be convicted of sleeping with a Christiana only on the testimony of two or three witnesses, one of them a Muslim” (ibid, 345-346).

An additional injustice was that Muslims were never safe in their person from the violations of the Christians:

“Sometimes prominent Christians terrorized whole communities of Muslims with acts of wanton violence and cruelty. The knight En Francesch d’Alos and his sons wreaked such havoc on the aljama of Jabut that the local Hospitallers finally felt constrained to intercede with the king on behalf of the Mudéjares. They had insulted Muslims viciously, struck them if they replied, beaten them without provocation, punished them for grooming their animals on holydays (while they did precisely the same themselves), beat and crippled a Muslim for pasturing animals on their lands, and one son even broke into the home of a female Muslim and raped her, causing her to move to another town” (ibid, 356-357).

If that were not enough, the Muslims had to pay a series of taxes to the Christian kings which was the equivalent of non-Muslims paying jizyah:

“Jews, Christians and Muslims all paid regular annual taxes: the peyta (= tributum, trahut, tallia, questia), the cena, and the censal (or censualia)…The cena had originally been a feudal duty for the provisioning of the king when he visited a town (cena de presencia) or traveled elsewhere (cena de absencia), but by the mid-fourteenth century it was merely a standard tax. The censualia, often referred to in the documents as exaccions, were an aggregate of annual taxes on property and business operations such as ovens, baths, shops, mules, etc….There were a number of minor annual taxes as well, such as the lezda, imposed on meat, the cabecagium (head tax) for the walls of the city, etc. These varied widely from city to city and can best be appreciated by examination of the records of the individual aljama. Cavallerías were collected in most towns during war time on a regular basis… Some aljamas were liable for cavallerías in peace as well as war, and under such circumstances they were simply additional taxes. Royal Mudéjares paid a small property tax called the besant…” (ibid, 196-199).

What was the besant? In the words of one author,

“Each Muslim household paid a tax known as the besant, a tribute symbolic of their subject and inferior status in a Christian society. In this way it was similar to the jizyah , or poll tax, paid by the dhimmis in Islamic societies” (Meyerson, 146).

The humiliated state of these mudajjan knew no bounds. In spite of all these depredations, the Muslims chose to stay and were compelled into military duty and payment for military campaigns to the Christian kings, (against both Muslim and Christian foes): 

“Their duties — whether owed to the Crown, to nobles, or to the Church — were the standard duties of Aragonese vassals or serfs. Muslim vassals of the king in Ricla, for instance, owed him [the king] six days [of military] service per year, with oxen or goats if they owned them, on foot if they did not; the king was to feed them during this time. For the most part, however, feudal duties in the fourteenth century took the form of payments, either in cash or kind, and military service. Military duties are discussed below; the question of payments is addressed in a separate chapter. There is no reason to believe that, apart from one or two special taxes of little consequence, and the two exceptions noted below, Mudéjar serfs were in any way distinct from Christian ones” (Boswell, 166-167).

The Mudajjan even went as far as paying to support the reconquest of Garnata in 1491, (the campaign was almost two decades long), and in essences paying the Christians, and aiding them to fight the free Muslims of Garnata. “…From 1484 through 1487 the Jews and Muslims were paying “some quantities” for the Granadan campaigns” (Meyerson, 170).

“Mudéjares were also held liable for duties of hospitality. These included accommodating not only the royal family, or a local lord and family, but also soldiers and their mistresses, even when the latter were Christian. The fact that the mistresses alone could not stay in Muslims’ homes and had to be relocated when the soldiers were away implies that Mudéjar homes were filled first and Christian ones only when the Mudéjar homes did not suffice…Mudéjares were also responsible, in many locales at least, for providing the bedding and linens for the local castle and the troops garrisoned there…the obligation to provide hospitality was dispensed within the later fourteenth century, and the early fifteenth even saw the termination of dues owed the  municipal walls” (Boswell, 169-171).

To pile on the ignominy, the Mudajjan had to provide housing, and other items required by the army if they quarter in a Muslim area during the early 14^th century CE:

Some may argue due to the sparse reading on the topics of Andalus and its Muslims, that the Mudajjan were not liable to be called up for military service but that is incorrect:

“It has long been assumed that the Muslim communities under the Crown of Aragon were not liable to military service. Both Circourt and Macho y Ortega state or imply this, the latter quite positively: “It is certain that Aragonese Moors were exempt from military duties…” It is patent, however, that this was not in fact the case — either in Aragon proper or in any of the realms under its Crown — in the fourteenth century. While it is true that many of the origina1 treaties of capitulation between Muslim communities and their Christian conquerors included provisions exempting the Muslims military duties (for obvious reasons), such provisions were almost universally ignored in succeeding centuries…There can be no doubt that, prior to the fifteenth century, the custom of using native Muslim troops to assist in the king’s military exploits was widespread and unopposed. Burns discusses this for the thirteenth century at some length. The great-grandfather of Peter the Ceremonious, during a war with the French in 1283, set a precedent when he demanded a company of “well-appointed” archers and lancers from each of the aljamas [Al Jama’/community of Muslims] of Valencia designated by the faqi Samuel. According to Zurita, during Peter IV’s struggle with the Union, “Don Pedro de Exerica, and Don Gilabert de Centellas, who was the qa’id Játiva, gathered a great number of Moors of the realm of Valencia and other areas” to come to his aid…” (ibid, 171-173).

In fact some Muslims actually felt it was their duty to fight on behalf of the Christian king against his enemies:

“…Even without royal duress, however, the Mudéjares seem to have felt that a certain share in the defense of the realm was incumbent upon them. Christians and Saracens of Valencia voluntarily operated a sort of vigilante guard against Castile at the start of the war. This was prohibited by the king, however, and those found guilty engaging in such operations were fined, Muslims more than Christians” (ibid, 173-174).

In fact, the community leaders would step up and provide troops for the king:

…The aljamas, however, were not the only source of Muslim cavalry. Numerous outstanding individual Mudéjares furnished one or more cavalrymen at their own expense, either voluntarily or under obligation. Faraig de Belvis kept at least one knight “continually in the service on the borders of Aragon and Valencia” and was reimbursed for the horseman’s salary by monies allotted the king at the Corts of Monzón (l365). Mahoma Ayudemi Ballistarius served personally as a cavalryman for the king from the outset of the war, but was nonetheless compelled by suit of his aljama to contribute with them for the war effort, not only toward the upkeep of the walls and other similar works, but even toward the salaries of the aljama’s other equites. Çaat Alcafaç, on the other hand, a prominent and wealthy Valencian, received compensation for his outlay in maintaining cavalcadura for fifteen days in Játiva in 1362… (ibid, 185).

Although in quite a few cases, the Muslims conscripted to fight for the king were coerced to do so by the authorities by them taking their families hostages:

“…To ensure the loyal performance of men employed under these terms, wives and children of the Mudéjares were held as hostages, and unmarried men were therefore unacceptable for the position” (ibid, 182-183).

With these numerous disgraceful events and acts accounted, we must be fair and recount some of the more praiseworthy acts of the mudajjan. Although quite a few Muslims paid a tax to fund the Christian reconquest of Garnata, there were many Muslims who sent money to the Muslims of Garnata to aid them in their time of need, as:

“In December 1486, it was reported that all the morerías of the kingdom, seigneurial as well as royal, were providing the sultan [of Garnata] with annual subsidies equaling the value of the hides of all the animals they had slaughtered, probably during the ^cid al-kabir, the festival commemorating the sacrifice of Abraham. Five months later the report was more detailed. Apart from their embassy to the Turks [Uthmanis], the Mudejars had been sending financial support to the Nasrids [government of Garnata] since 1481. In each morería the faqih was charged with the responsibility of collecting funds from every Muslim. In addition to proffering financial aid, the Mudejars were doing what they could to turn toward the sultan the favor of the Divine. The faqihs were leading their congregations in a prayer that beseeched God to exalt the sultan of Granada and to destroy the Catholic Monarch and his hosts…” (Meyerson,72).

The righteous among the Mudajjan participated in the naval ghazawaat [raids] upon the Spanish coast and its vessels, (that were carried out by mujahideen in the Maghrib as individual groups or by the Uthmani navy), either as actual crew members or by forming intelligence networks in the coastal cities to aid the mujahideen. In fact, “One captive corsair [naval mujahid] told how his party was guided from Guardamar inland to Rojales by a Mudejar of Albatera. It is also possible that when the corsairs [naval mujahideen] left behind their own spies, the latter were hidden by Mudejar communities. Even more striking is the information received by the jurates of Valencia, that Bablaguer, a Mudejar of Oliva, was piloting a corsair [naval mujahideen] squadron of six ships sailing out of Oran, (ibid, 79).” The informant networks not only provided intelligence to the mujahideen, but also allowed for the escape of Muslims taken captive to the Maghrib/Dar al Islam:

“According to the bailiff general, the Mudejars of the coastal towns were the most troublesome. Those possessing fishing boats would, under the pretense of fishing, lead to the kingdom’s shores the galleys of corsairs intent on capturing Christians. These “fishermen” would also help Muslim slaves to escape in their boats” (ibid).

Sticking to the topic of freeing slaves, the mudajjan communities, (or Jamaa’a),

“…often aided and harbored runaway slaves…This suggests that some sort of network was organized between the morerías [Muslim areas/neighbourhoods] for the purpose of abetting escaped slaves…For example, Muslims of the morería of Valencia participated in the jailbreak of a Muslim slave. Another aljama received a female runaway and married her off to one of its members. Muslims of Denia provided fugitives with a seaworthy boat and provisions for making the journey to North Africa” (ibid, 83).

The mudajjan communities also ransomed Muslims that had been taken captive either by the desire of the Christians or through war. They,

“…became especially active in this regard in 1488 and 1489, when 385 Muslim prisoners from recently conquered Málaga were brought to Valencia for sale. For example, in one large sale the aljama of Valencia purchased nineteen Malagan captives, all at least sixty years of age. Apparently, the Mudejars wished to prevent these elders from suffering the indignity and hardship of slavery. Many of these ransomed captives stayed in Valencia permanently…(ibid).”

In any case, with the stated fact about the mudajjan, (both positive and negative), it has to be said that their apparent state was that of an oppressed minority, and of people that willingly chose to be oppressed and stay that way, (upto the forced conversion that were to follow in Arghun and Valencia in the 16^th century CE). In the Shariah sense, they knew that they should not have been in in dar al kufr, and thus those, (who had the capability to leave), people are extremely blameworthy.

By any measure, the Muslims of Garnata, should have known better by way of stories that originated from Arghun and Valencia about the Christian authorities and from Muslim that were from those areas either living or visiting Garnata. In the Mudajjan, the Muslims of Garnata should have seen the ‘blueprint’ of their own destruction, and they should have taken heed and left to the Maghrib, but yet they stayed. If you are a Muslim living in the west, ask yourself why you do not leave your residence in dar al kufr right now? Predictably, there will be a variety of reponses, but the response that would be of the majority and would be hardest to declare, is that you are attached to the land and actually like it. This is truly a dangerous predicament and the love of kufr and its people is unacceptable. The same reason is perhaps the only logical explanation for Muslims not leaving Garnata.

Moving from the mudajjan onto macro analysis, we need to put events into context by way of numbers. The population of Muslims in Andalus from 1491 till the final expulsion in 1609, is estimated to have been somewhere in between 300,000-400,000. Professor L.P. Harvey says that there are many estimates including:

“…Lapeyre (1959), adopts a figure of 275,000 for those who were finally expelled. This was the number of those officially known to have left the country at the end…perhaps an adjustment of 10 per cent will compensate for, among other things, clandestine emigration and those lost in fighting and give a figure of some 300,000 to 330,000…These figures are substantially in line with global estimates of Morisco populations reached by Dominguez Ortiz and Vincent (1978, 82-83), who give 321,000 for period 1568-1575 and 319,000 for the eve of the expulsion in 1609” (Harvey, 2005, 12-13).

In spite of the low numbers in terms of as a percentage of the total population of Spain, and their resulting vulnerability, Muslims were not forcibly converted until the beginning of the 1500’s, beginning with Castille from 1500-1502, while Navarre was 1515-1516 and the Crown of Arghun, (Arghun, Valencia, Catalonia), was 1523-1526, (Ibid, 14). However, the question still remains, how did it all begin?

During 1497, in the Kingdom of Portugal, (which remained independent till 1580), King Manuel of Portugal had married Isabel, (daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain). Although in light of our topic this may not seem to have any relevance, but as we shall see, the negotiations prior to this marriage are important milestones in understanding the beginning of the process of the crimes committed by the Christian kings such as the forced conversions and eventual expulsions. Isabel’s Castillian negotiation team put a condition in the marriage agreement that, if the two are to be wed, Manuel must expel all the Jews and Muslims from his kingdom. It must be remembered that in 1492, all the Jews of Garnata were officially expelled without exception and, although many went to the Maghrib and elsewhere, a large number came to Portugal to what they thought would be a safe haven from Spanish oppression. The same was done by the Muslims of Garnata. Little did they know five years later, they would get expelled from Portugal as well. It is interesting to note that the negotiator for the Spanish was Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros, the same Ximenes that was the replacement for Hernando Talavera as the Archbishop of Garnata. He had, “…added in the course of negotiations the further stipulation that the Muslims of Portugal should be eliminated at the same time as the Jews, (Ibid, 16).” It is not hard to imagine that Ximenez was testing the waters to see if the Portuguese sovereign would implement the edict, but more importantly, it was seen as a practice run of the same action in Spain with Spanish Muslims. It can be seen that these conditions imposed on Manuel in 1497, are “…the first indication that Castile envisaged putting an end within its own territories to the medieval Mudejar [mudajjan], dispensation… (Ibid, 17).”

Subsequently at the time of implementation of the marriage agreement and its clauses, Manuel opened the borders to allow Muslims to leave Portugal to settle in Castile where only three years later they would be given a choice to be expelled out of Spain or be forced to convert to Christianty! However, there was more in store, as the Portuguese had given the Jews the choice of expulsion or conversion, (the same choice offered in 1501 to Muslims), with several ports embarkation provided. In usual Christian fashion, at the last moment, the Portuguese reneged on this provision at the last moment and made Lisbon the only port of embarkation. It was known that any one caught after the deadline for expulsion, that had not converted, would be caught and made into slaves. Logically, it was never possible that there would be enough ships to carry the entire Jewish population of Portugal from only the port of Lisbon nor logistically would it be possible to board all the ships with passengers and cargo before the deadline. The Portuguese would have known this and so it can be assumed, or at the very least contemplated, the Portuguese deliberately made the decisions they did. And as for Jewish children, they were not allowed to leave with their parents, and were taken from them and raised as Christians, (which was not the case with Muslim children, but nevertheless Muslims were suspicious). Muslims, therefore, thought it wise not to depart from Lisbon and instead become Mudajjan along with their brothers in Garnata. In any case, even if they had wanted to depart from Lisbon it was highly unlikely all the Muslims could have been able to secure transport to leave towards, most likely, the Maghrib. This certainly is an important fact to consider, in the case of these Portuguese Muslims at least, when we decide whether there was ikrah [compulsion] at play in their situation, and of their not leaving towards Dar Al Islam, (i.e. the Maghrib). The glaring fact that Muslims today reading this should take in is that Muslim children were not taken away from their parents while Jewish children were. Why is that? Damião de Góis, a 16^th century Portuguese philosopher, stated that, (underlining is mine):

“…it must be borne in mind no harm could result to Christians if they took away the children of the Jews. Jews are scattered all over the earth, and have no country of their own…and so they lack the power and authority to execute their will against those who do them harm and injury. The Moors [Muslims], on the other hand, have…been permitted by God to occupy the greater part of Asia, Africa, and a good part of Europe too, and in these places where the Moors [Muslims] have empires, kingdoms and great lordships, there live many Christians who are subject to their tribute…It would have been very prejudicial [harmful] to all these peoples [Christians in Muslim lands] to take away the Moors’ [Muslims] children, because those subjected to this harm (agravo) would clearly not fail, after expulsion had been inflicted on them, to seek to execute revenge on those Christians who lived in Moorish (Muslim) territory, and above all to take revenge on the Portuguese, (Ibid, 19-20).”

So it was the fear or real, (and not imagined), retaliation that stopped the Portuguese from abusing the Muslims, whereas the Jews who had no power to retaliate, were abused at will. As we proceed, at about the time of the expulsion, the state of the Muslim Ummah was like that of the Jews, or certainly was approaching that (as Spain and Portugal’s combined wealth and naval power easily matched up with the Uthmanis and the fact that the Christians, at least in the Iberian peninsula, were united also served as a factor), and as for today, well, that is something apparent which people of understanding understand and need not enquire about.

The Portuguese Muslims had to pay an exit toll to leave Portugal across the land border towards Spain. In effect, this migration had the effect of increasing the overall population of Muslims in Castile who were all Ahl Al Dajn. This policy would not make any sense, on the part of the Spanish Crown, unless there, “…was some understanding among the Christian rulers that the anomaly thus created would be a temporary one, soon to be rectified by the implementation of the policy of expulsion by where Castile’s Muslims are concerned—as did in fact happen, (Ibid, 20).” So clearly, Portugal’s policy was perhaps not entirely from the kindness of their hearts, but rather an attempt of gathering all the Muslims in one location, with the understanding of the rulers of Spain, to allow for a more complete and easier expulsion of Muslims from the Iberian peninsula.

With Ximenez’s arrival in 1499, things took a turn for the worst for the Muslims in Garnata as Ximinez, not satisfied with the slow speed of progress of converting Muslims by Archbishop Talavera, (and was most certainly against the use of Arabic in Church proceedings), decided to speed up events by torture, destruction of Islamic knowledge and forced conversion. Here, Alvar Gomez de Castro, a humanist, historian and the writer of Ximenez’s biography in 1569 says:

“…Cisnernos [Ximenez] sought to extirpate all Mahometan [Islamic] error from their [Muslims] souls, and did not allow himself to be deflected by those advocating the prudence of proceeding little by little when seeking to eradicate such a deeply ingrained habit. Cisneros considered that such an approach might have its place in matters of little moment, but not when the salvation of souls was at stake. Thus without difficulty, and with no need for decrees or force, he managed to get all the alfaquies [Fuqaha] (who were prepared to do him all manner of favors) to bring out into the street the copies of the Koran, that is to say of the most important book of their superstition, and all books of the Mahometan [Islamic] impiety, of whatsoever author or kind they might be: more than five thousand volumes[3] with oranamental bindings, even of gold and silver and of admirable artistry…all were burned together in a great bonfire with the exception of certain works on medicine, a study to which people of that race had always devoted themselves to great effect. These works, rescued from the flames by the merits of the healing art, are to this day kept in the library at Alcala, (Harvey,1992, 333)”

Ximinez’s love of works of medicine didn’t stop him from harassing elches, (Christian converts to Islam), and compelling them to convert. Many writers, such as Alonso De Santa Cruz, stated that Ximinez, “With kind words he persuaded them [elches] to return to our holy Catholic faith, (Ibid, 330).” However this account is only partially true, in so far as it applied to prominent Muslim converts, (Ximinez thought if the prominent converts were to convert, their communities would too), but however the majority of his ‘handywork’ was more like this:

“…those converted in this way [the way described above] were given assistance by him, and he bestowed gratifications on them: those who refused, he had put in prison, and kept locked up until they were converted…(Ibid).”

It is safe to assume that Ximenez, with his Crusader zeal, wanted the expulsion of Muslims from Spain and wanted to expunge Spain of anything Islamic, starting from the marriage negotiations for Manuel and Isabel to, now, his provocation and harassment of Muslims. He succeeded in provoking a response and Muslims in Ribad Al Bayyazin [Muslim quarter of Garnata] were incensed at these blatant violations of the Treaty of Garnata signed in 1491.

Ximinez had attained permission from the Inquisitor General, Don Diego Deza, to use more aggressive methods to start persecuting and pressuring the elches to become Christian by arguing that since the elches were Christian once and had converted to Islam, (overwhelmingly before the 1491 Treaty of Garnata), therefore they fell under the authority of the Spanish Inquisition, which had been authorised by Pope Sixtus IV in 1478, (whereas the mudajjan who were born Muslim had yet to come under the jurisdiction of the Spanish Inquisition). The results of such persecution were clear, in that, one historians estimate places 300 reverts to Islam  in Garnata in 1500, and of them 101 of them were, “…induced to admit their errors and become Christians again, (Harvey, 2005, 27).” In other words, according to the material available, at least a third of reverts had been forced to convert while others ‘willfully’ converted and of their, “…free will desired to become Christians.[4]”

The event that sparked the violence and the first Al Bushra revolt of 1499 occurred when Sacedo, (a servant of Ximenez), along with Bellasco de Barrionuevo, a royal administrator, arrested a young daughter of an elche [Muslim convert].

“They were dragging her through the plaza of Bib[5]-el-Bonut[6] [one of the main city gates of Garnata]…she cried out that she was to be forcibly baptized…a crowd collected and commenced to insult the alguazil [royal administrator], who was hated by reason of his activity in making arrests; he answered disdainfully, passions were heated and in the tumult he was killed with a paving-stone Sacedo would have shared his fate had not a Moorish [Muslim] woman rescued him and hidden him under a bed until midnight, (Lea, 2001, 32-33).”

The revolt[7] built momentum and Muslims blamed Ximinez as violating the Spanish side of the commitment under the Treaty of Garnata and selected a forty man shura to administer the area, (Harvey, ‘Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614: 1500 to 1614,’ 30). They then besieged Ximinez’s house, after barricading their areas to close avenues of entry. Ximenez had a guard of 200 men and the fighting went till the next morning, (Lea, 2001, 33). Fighting continued for three days until the Governor of Garnata, Tendilla, had to come to his and Al Bayyazin’s rescue. For ten days, Talavera, Ximinez and Tendilla negotiated with the Muslims of Al Bayyazin, with the Muslims arguing that “they had not risen against the sovereigns but in defence of the royal faith, that it was the officials who had caused disturbances by violating the capitulations[8] and that everything would be pacified if these were observed, (Ibid).” Archbishop Talavera and Tendilla, through lengthy negotiations, achieved a ceasefire with the Muslims of Al Bayyazin by stating that the Muslims would be pardoned for their actions, (which would be considered as a defense of the capitulations). Tendilla promised to honor the treaty capitulations in the future. As a show of good faith by Tendilla, he placed his wife and children in the house next to the main masjid of the area while the Qadi in charge of the area, Sidi Ceibona, “…promised to surrender to justice those those who had slain the alguazil, which was accordingly done, (Ibid, 34).” Four of those handed over are hung by the Spanish while the others are released, and the Muslims in Al Bayyazin put down their arms. However, it soon became clear that this was solely a means of restoring order and that Spain did not intend to abide by this promise. In fact, Ximinez manufactured the pretext he had needed to bring not just the Muslim converts under the control of the Inquisition, but also the remainder of the Muslims that were born Muslims.  Ximenez explained to the Spanish rulers the Al Bayyazin uprising as a rebellion, (and this reasoning would apply to all other uprisings around Spain during the period upto 1502), and claimed that by this the Muslims had forfeited all their rights under the terms of capitulation. They should therefore be given the choice between baptism and expulsion. Isabella and Ferdinand agreed with Ximinez and he began the mass baptism of the population of Granada.

Ximinez arrived in Garnata and offered the inhabitants of Al Bayyazin the alternative of conversion or punishment, (Ibid, 35). Along side him, a royal judge (pesquisidor), came along to execute the most active ‘insurgents’ and imprisoned others. However, thankfully for those Muslims in Spain, the speed with which the baptisms were carried out, (and the fact that Ximinez deemed that using Arabic, the only language the inhabitants knew, in preaching was like ‘casting pearls to swine [pigs]’[9]), meant that there was no time in which to instruct Muslims of the fundamentals of Christianity, so that inevitably most of the new converts became Christian only in name. The Muslims of Andalus sent a plea for help in the form of a qaseedah (which is almost the same, save a few changes, as the qaseedah sent to the Uthmani Khalifa Bayazid in 1502, included in Appendix P), to the Mamluke Sultan in the early half of 1500, (Koningsveld & Wiegers, “An appeal of the Moriscos to the Mamluk sultan and its counterpart to the Ottoman court: Textual analysis, context, and wider historical background,” 187). However prior to this letter, Ibn Al Azraq, the Chief Qadi of Garnata had visited Cairo as part of an official delegation to the Mamluke sultan, Qa’it Bey toward the end of the 15^th century, (the date is not certain, but can be ascertained between 1492-1496, prior to Ximines’ reign of terror). Imam Maqri refers to Ibn Al Azraq’s mission as something totally unattainable, (or in Arabic Bayd Al Anuq which refers literally to an egg of a type of vulture, for some reason, proverbial for its rarity, but figuratively, as something that is practically unattainable), (Manuela, ‘Handbuch Der Orientalistik,’205).

At around the same time, the Muslims that remained in Andalus were faced with tough choices. They could, if they were able to, leave the land of their birth and ancestors to flee kufr rule and oppression, or they could stay and fight and resist till the death while asking for diplomatic intervention by the Uthmani and Mamlukes on the part of the oppressed Andalusi Muslims, while the remainder opted for the approach of hiding their deen while appearing to be Christian. Contemporary Moroccan author Muhammad Al Talib Ibn Al Haaj Al Sulami in his book Riyaad Al ward fima’ ntima ilayhi hadha l-jawhar al fard, a book about his ancestors, commented (emphasis are my comments):

“Allāh Almighty had ordained that after they [Andalusi emigrants] had arrived at Fes [Fez], the people were afflicted by severe starvation, a rise in prices, and the plague. Some of them even returned to their country [Andalus]. They informed [those who had stayed behind] about the hardship, so that those who had wanted cross [the sea] became reluctant to do so. When the Tyrant saw that, he started to break the capitulations, one after another, until he had broken them all. The inviolability of the Muslims had come to an end and they were subjected to disgrace and humiliation. Heavy fines were enforced upon them and they were deprived of the prayer–call [adhaan] from the minarets. He ordered them to leave Granada for the outlying districts and villages. So they left, in degradation and abasement. Then, in the year 904 [1498] he gave the choice between conversion to Christianity or death. He gave them a month [to make their choice]. On this occasion, they split up into three groups. One group said: ‘We shall defend our children to the death.’ Another group said: ‘We shall leave with our children for a high mountain [Al Bushra] where we shall fortify ourselves. We shall send our messengers to Sultan Abu Yazid Khan Sulayman Al-Uthmani to ask him for help.’ A third group said: ‘We shall hide our religion and take care of the [proper education] of our children.’ Then these groups were separated [from each other]. The first group fought until all of them died. They were exterminated and their women and children were taken captive. The second group committed apostasy outwardly, while hiding their Islam until they died. Their children grew up in Unbelief [Kufr]…(Koningsveld & Wiegers, “An appeal of the Moriscos to the Mamluk sultan and its counterpart to the Ottoman court: Textual analysis, context, and wider historical background,” 162-163).”

Although Ibn Al Haaj is not entirely correct in some places, (i.e. royal pressure to convert or be punished/executed began in 1499/1500), he lays out the main factions in Andalus at the time and their motivations. By 1500, it is estimated that between 50,000 and 70,000 Muslims were forcibly baptized in the mass baptism of Granada by Ximenez, (Lea, 2001, 36). It is not known how many were deported to Africa, but more likely than not, it was low due to the difficulties in procuring transport and reaching port, but also because the Muslims were not prepared to relinquish their kingdom so easily. While this crisis brewed, the Spanish Crown continued the Archbishop Talavera’s approach to handling the crisis by writing to Juan de Andres, a murtad who had been a faqih in Jativa, to compose a work by which they could convert the Muslims of Garnata to Christianity by exposing the apparent fallacies and weak points of Islam, (which they believed Juan could do since he was, after all, a faqih). Ferdinand and Isabella wrote to him thus:

“You will be aware that the Moors [Muslims] of the city of Garnata have converted to our holy catholic faith. Because very few of them can speak any language except Arabic, and because there are no churchmen who know Arabic, the said converts cannot be well instructed in the matters of our faith, and there exists a great need, especially now at the outset, of churchmen who know Arabic, so as to instruct the newly converted. Because we are aware that you know Arabic, and that with your learning and preaching and good example you could be of great benefit to them, we therefore ask you, and charge you, that, seeing how much thereby Our Lord will be served, you should prepare to come and stay some time in the said city, so as to render service in the aforementioned way, (Harvey, ‘2005,’ 34).”

As other conquerors before them, the Spanish hoped that converting the elite of the conquered society, they would be able to control and defeat the vanquished population. Although this attempt was, for the most part, unsuccessful, it does indicate that not only were the Spanish in synchronization with what was required to win their war, (i.e. Islamic justification for obedience to a Christian ruler, and eventual apostasy to Christianity), but that Muslim scholars and nobles were collaborating with the Spanish. If one were to divide these traitors into categories, you would find in most cases:

1. Traitors and collaborators who were part of the Muslim Nobility of Garnata, (before it capitulated)
2. Opportunists who would do anything to gain power and/or money.

One such group was the Mora family, who were from Tulaytola, (Toledo), and were mudajjan. One of their group, Yusuf Mora, was appointed as amin[10] of the government controlled silk market in Garnata in 1497. Subsequently he was listed as having converted to Christianity in Garnata in 1500, and continued at his post, (Ibid, 39). It has to be assumed that he was used by the Spanish government to persuade others of his community to convert, due to his stature and that he was a Muslim previously. Another of the same variety is the example of Yahya Bin Ibrahim Al Fishtali who was a trader and a financier and converted arouned 1499/1500, and was renamed Fernando de Morales, (Ibid). Yahya was a tax collector for taxes placed upon the Muslims by and for the Spanish crown, but also ran side business such as property, money lending and import-export. In 1508, in partnership with Spanish luminaries such as Hernando de Zafra[11] and Francisco de Cobos, he was involved in importing leather from Morocco, (Ibid). In fact overt support by the Spanish government of this man did not cease, and when Christians, that were incensed that a former Muslim had attained such a high government post, tried to get rid of him, who came to his aid? None other than the King of Spain himself, as he issued a document that confirmed Fishtali’s position and reaffirming his place on the city council!, (Ibid, 39). The Christians continued to unemploy Fishtali, but he remained getting support from the Spanish King, as was the case in 1511, where the King threatened to fine the city government of Garnata 1,000 Doblas, (which is an immense amount), if they attempted to remove Fishtali! (Ibid). Truly, in the midst of the inquisitorial courts, forced conversions and Christian suspicion of Muslim converts to Christianity, Yahya Fishtali, (or rather Fernando de Morales), was being aided by the King of Spain himself and Spanish nobles! That too against old Christians![12] Certainly, at least in this case, we can easily assume that the Spanish government valued the cooperation of this collaborator and, as one scholar said about his relationship with the Spanish Crown:

“It is unlikely these were exclusively financial, and perhaps his role as spokesperson for the new converts was understood as providing a desirable channel through which new convert opinion could be monitored and controlled, (Ibid, 41).”

Yahya’s role is much the same as our Muslim elite and rulers of today who serve to dictate the agenda of the western crusader forces through a more easily acceptable Muslim face and name, (one needs only look towards Pakistani, Indian and Saudi ulema who are now issuing decisions that, if a Christian had said it, the people would have been incensed by it). Another fact it indicates is that Muslims had to increasingly rely on these traitors for leadership and a ‘voice’ at the decision-making table. Their desire of the ‘voice’ at the table was a result of their oppression and slavery to the Christians, which took away their weapons and right to resist, and in the end they had to ask and beg their torturers and enemies for concessions and favors. Only those Muslim traitors who were high enough traitors, and thus part of the city and province leaderships, were available to the Muslims. This is a warning to Muslims in the West, (especially to those in America and Britain), that joining the political system will get you a voice at the ‘table,’ but have you ever asked what the criteria is to join that ‘table’? and what state do you, as Muslims, have to be in to be asking the very same people that gleefully bomb your brothers in the deen in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, to stop bombing? Is it not like one who asks rapists who are raping your wife and daughter in front of you, in a polite way, “please, I would like it if you could stop raping my wife and daughter and if you decided you don’t want to stop, that is alright as well.” May Allāh guide you and us away from this calamity and this perverse mindset.

A further example of these treacherous criminals was when, in September 1500, the leaders that led Muslim fighters in the eastern region around Almeria were in talks with the Spanish to lay down their arms on their conditions. Zulema [Sulayman] ‘el Baho,’the leader of the rebels stated that in return for him being made the administrator of Almeria, (a position which would be inherited by his children) and an annual payment of the whopping sum of 12,400 Murabits[13] in return he agreed to, not only end hostilities, but “…agreed himself to become a Christian (with a change of name at baptism—he became Francisco de Belvis), but, what was more, he backed the policy of conversion of all peasant cultivators in the surrounding countryside, (Ibid, 37).” Some may argue that they were only pretending to convert, and although it is entirely possible, one has to wonder why, (if he is indeed clear of wrongdoing and an Allāh fearing Muslim), he asked for a giant annual payment and control over Almeria? Similar deals were struck with the administrators/governors of the villages of Pechina, Benahadux, Rioja, Tabernas,[14](Ibid, 38). However, unfortunately for these traitors, the Muslim youth, those firm pillars and protectors of the Ummah, who had been fighting the Spanish, and were at that time in their villages, were outraged at the treachery of these men, (when these leaders arrived back in their villages at the end of September), and decided to go back to the mountains to continue the guerilla war, (ambushes and raids), in spite of their treacherous leaders orders not to, (Ibid).

It is not too different in comparison with today, where numerous Muslims scholars on a variety of Arabic entertainment channels and news networks, (and even government scholars, if it is even possible to be called a scholar after having pledged to uphold the rule of the ruler over the Truth), have prominent slots on these channels to give rulings justifying the ‘modernization,’(synonymous with westernization), of the ummah and the cessation of ‘wrongful use of violence in the name of religion,’ (synonymous with jihad).

As the resistance to conversion continued primarily in the mountainous Al Busharaat [alpujara] region, King Ferdinand decided to speed up the process by “…issuing a general pardon to all conversos [apostates from Islam] for crimes committed prior to baptism…(Lea, 2001, 37),” thus giving people incentive to become Christian. In addition, on January 27^th 1500, (the pardon for the conversos was given a month later in February 26^th), King Ferdinand wrote to Muslim notables that all reports of forced conversions were false and that none of them would be baptized under compulsion if they surrendered, (Ibid, 38). The Muslims finally understood that Christian proclamations were worth less than the paper on which they were written on and ignored Ferdinand and continued their resistance.  In turn, Ferdinand gathered a large army to put down the revolt in March 1500. In the rugged terrain, whenever one uprising was suppressed, another started elsewhere, (a lesson that they would learn once more in the Al Bushra Jihad in 1568), and Ferdinand spent almost a year, wherein, by January of the following year, did the uprising quell and his army was disbanded.[15] Alongside military operations, Ferdinand sent his equivalent of ‘psychological operations’ teams to the subdued areas in the form of missionaries to teach the Muslims, now officially Christian, Christianity. However, that does not mean Ferdinand was in any way gentle, as in the town of Andarash (Andarax):

“…the principal mosque, in which the women and children had taken refuge, was blown up with gunpowder. At the capture of Belfique [Billifiqa] all the men were put to the sword [killed] and the women were enslaved, while at Nijar and Guejar [Waljar] the whole population was enslaved, except children under eleven,who, however were delivered to good Christians to be brought up in the faith—energetic proceedings…led to the baptism of ten thousand moors [Muslims] of Seron, Tijola and other places, (Ibid, 38-39).”

In fact, Alonzo de Santa Cruz, states that in the main masjid of Andarash, “…there died more than six hundred women who had taken refuge there…(Manuela, ‘Handbuch Der Orientalistik,’ 209),” in which, the number given also includes within it, children, (Harvey, ‘Muslims In Spain: 1500 to 1614,’ 36). In addition, at Andarash 3000 prisoners were taken and were all summarily slaughtered, (Ibid).

By January 14^th, 1501, the revolt was suppressed and Ferdinand disbanded his army. However, the Muslims of Randa, (Ronda), and Sierra Bermeja, (a mountain range in the southwest part of Maalaqa), heard the news of the massacres at Billifiqa and Andarash rightly assumed that they would be forced to become Christians if they were captured, and thus decided to rise up and fight Spanish forces in their areas while resisting the local Christians who had been raiding their lands since the fall of Garnata. Ferdinand issued a proclamation that “all who would not be converted must leave the Kingdom [of Castille] within ten days, and care was enjoined that converts should be well treated and that emigrants should be protected from harm, (Lea, ‘2001,’ 39).” In spite of the offer, the Muslims of Randa and Sierra Bermeja did not surrender and retreated towards the mountain to fortify defensive positions. The Muslims of Randa were the first to fall, and February 23^rd, Ferdinand’s army departed Randa towards Sierra Bermeja under the command of Captain Alonso De Aguilar, one of his most distinguished commanders. It was assumed that the Muslims would give a fight, (due to their mountainous defensive positions), but that the battle would be quickly won and thus on March 16^th, Spanish forces stormed the Muslim stronghold. In spite of the overwhelming size of the Spanish force, there were not able to take it due to the greed of Spanish soldiers, who, for the most part, volunteered for this mission to attain spoils from the Muslims. In fact after the soldiers had attained their share of the spoils, “…the pillagers fled leaving Aguilar with a handful of men at nightfull to be surrounded and slain…(Ibid, 40).” Ferdinand and his court were shocked at the defeat of their force by such a small force, and the death of one of their best generals and attempted to increase the pressure on the Muslims of Sierra De Bermeja, knowing full well that overwhelming military force could not negate the advantage of the mountainous terroritory controlled by the Muslims. One is reminded of Allāh (سبحانه و تعلى) saying:

(كم من فئة قليلة غلبت فئة كثيرة باذن الله والله مع الصابرين)

How often has a small group overcome a mighty host by Allāh’s leave And Allāh is with  As-Sabirin (the patient) [17]

In a position of strength, the Muslims opened up negotiations to allow themselves to leave Andalus to the Magrhib or wherever else they chose. Ferdinand, in a calculated move, offered “…that all might go who could pay ten doblas for the passage, while the rest, who constituted the majority, should stay and be baptized, (Ibid, 40).” Thus in May of that year, Muslims from Randa and Sierra de Bermeja laid down their arms, and those that could afford to leave, left unharassed. However those that could not afford to leave, stayed behind, waiting to be converted by force and to come under the authority of the Spanish inquisitorial courts. To take away the legal right of bearing arms and to avoid any further resistance, the Spanish Crown issued a royal edict on September 1^st of 1501 which forbade the Muslims from bearing arms publicly or secretly with the first offense resulting in two months imprisonment, while a second offense led to a death sentence, (Ibid, 41-42).[18] In terms of the capitulation agreements that were being signed with rebel villages and towns, they are very interesting to study because they reveal the seismic changes that were taking place in Muslim society in Spain. Here is an example, (in summary), from February 26, 1501 for the village of Balsh Rubio, (Velez Rubio) with commentary, (comments are marked with italics):

“

1. The townsfolk were to be freed[19] from ‘Moorish dues[20]’ (derechos Moriscos), meaning those set out in Islamic law, on condition that they agree to pay standard Christian tithes[21] and first fruits[22] (diezmo y primicia)…
2. The people of the town are subject to the laws of the kingdom. The object of this clause is obviously to bring an end to Islamic law, although that is not mentioned explicitly. It seems also to be intended as a protection against vexatious litigation (“so that they are not to be troubled [fatigados] with lawsuits”). There is no conflict of jurisdictions. The old is replaced by the new.
3. Travelers are to seek accommodation in lodging houses, (mesones), and not in the houses of the alguaciles[23] nor ‘in the houses of those who were converted against their will.’
4. The income from Charitable foundations should all be devoted to relief for the poor, ransoming of captives, and highway repairs. This clause is clearly dealing with what had been the important Islamic institution of pious endowments[24]…It is intended to make sure that such local charities were to continue to be available for local use and not misappropriated for private benefit.
5. Crimes (culpas e escesos), committed before this capitulation that were committed before this capitulation came into force were to be pardoned.
6. To call anybody ‘Moor’ or ‘renegade[25]’ (tornadizo), became a punishable offense.
7. The townsfolk may have their own butchers and fishmongers as before, but they were to slaughter in the Christian fashion.
8. They were not to be forced to buy new clothes until the old ones had worn out…
9. They were to be allowed ‘without any impediment’ to move elsewhere in Christian territories. (This, ofcourse,is not permission to emigrate to North Africa).
10. Clergy were to be appointed to teach them the Catholic faith
11. All legal documents drawn up in Arabic by their alfaquis [Fuqaha] and cadis [Qadi’s] were to be regarded as just as valid as documents drawn up by their ‘our notaries public.’(On careful scrutiny, this clause says nothing on the subject of the use of Arabic in the courts in the future, when, of course there would be no Islamic officials available to elucidate these ‘equally valid’ legal instruments).[26]
12. The townsfolk would not be obliged to perform labor on public works unpaid; they were to receive the same daily rates as Christians.
13. Baths were permitted. (Ibid, 70)  ”

It would seem from these documents, the only choices the Muslims had were:

1. Remain in Spain and apostatize to Christianity
2. Remain in Spain and refuse baptism and become a slave
3. Or leave to the Maghrib or elsewhere in the Muslim world, (which was extremely hard, if not impossible, and made those who left leave all their possessions behind, or that which they could fit in a small boat, which was barely anything).

As proof of the enormous danger and obstacles in the path of potential muhajireen, (emigrants) from Spain, records survive of two small fishing villages, Turre and Teresa, near Almeria who, in 1501, decided that the time had come for them to leave the country. They had made arrangements with Berbers across in Morocco to provide transportation across to Morocco. However, both villages decided to strike the neighbouring Christian village of Mojacar, (who were naturally their enemies), prior to leaving. “With the aid of their Berber rescuers…the people of Turre stormed Mojacar’s fortifications, but the assault ladders…were cast down from the walls by the…defenders. In consequence, the planned embarkationin boats brought acrossfrom Africa by the Berbers became a rout and massacre, (Ibid, 48-49).” The local Christian Militia killed or enslaved the raiding party and the villagers of Turre. However the villagers from Teresa were more fortunate, and managed to escape.

At around this time, the Spanish government hearing rumours of preparation of retaliation[27] on behalf of the Muslims of Andalus by the Mamlukes, (Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri), thus sent Peter the Martyr[28] as an emissary to ease tensions and seek assurances that Christians in Mamluke lands would not be harmed in retaliation. During the discussions, the violations of the Treaty of Garnata were discussed, especially the articles concerning the promises by the Spanish not to compel people into Christianity. Peter the Martyr replied by saying that those allegations were not true as:

“…the Moors [Muslims] of their own free will desired to become Christians. They had disturbed the peace (alborotado) of the whole kingdom of Granada, and had risen against the Christians among whom they were living, killing many of them. For this reason they deserved the death penalty, and the Catholic Monarchs conquered them for a second time, and brought them to such a pass that they had been obliged to sue for mercy. This had been granted to them on the condition that those who wished to continue to reside in the kingdom should become Christians, and those who did not wish to do so should cross to Africa, (Manuela, ‘Handbuch Der Orientalistik,’ 206).”

Peter continues by explaining to the sultan that the contrary was true, that Spain took care of its mudajjan population:

“most of the Moors [Muslims] lived quite peacefully among the Christians, having their own mosques, riding their own horse with their own lances and other arms. They were dealt with as justly as were the Christians, (Ibid, 207).”

Due to the political volatility in Mamluke Misr, and its weakness, the Mamelukes dropped any pretense of retaliation. The Muslims in a last ditch effort to attain aid, (in the wake of Peters visit to the Mameluke’s), and save themselves from the clutches of the Christians and the Spanish inquisition, wrote to Bayazid, the Uthmani khalifa[29]:

سلام عليكم من بنات عواتق               يسوقهم اللباط قهرا لخلوة

سلام عليكم من عجائز أكرهت              علي أكل خنزير ولحم لجيفة

“Peace be upon you on behalf of some young girls whom the priest drives by force to a bed of shame;

Peace be upon you on behalf of some old women who have been compelled to eat pork and flesh not killed according to ritual prescriptions.”

The Andalusis disagreed with Peter d’Anghiera’s assessment that Muslims had of their “…free will desired to become Christians,” by pleading to the Khalifa:

غدرنا ونُصِّرنا وبُدِّل ديننا             ظلمنا وعُوملنا بكل قبيحة

“We have been betrayed and converted to Christianity; our religion has been exchanged for another; we have been oppressed and treated in every shameful way.”

And that:

وقد بلغت ارسال مصر إليهم          وما نالهم غدر ولا هتك حرمة

وقالوا لتلك الرسل عنا بأننا            رضينا بدين الكفر  من غير قهرة

وساقوا عقود الزور ممن أطاعهم            ووالله ما نرضى بتلك الشهادة

لقد كذبوا في قولهم وكلامهم              علينا بهذا القول أكبر فرية

• “ The envoys of Egypt reached them and they were not treated with treachery or dishonor[30]
• Yet [the Christians] informed those envoys on our behalf, that we had voluntarily accepted the deen of kufr.
• And they brought out some [token] conversations to idolatry, of those who had submitted to them; yet, by Allāh, we wil never accept that declaration of faith!
• They have lied about us with the greatest of falsehood in their words and arguments in saying that.”

The poet continued listing out the violations of the Christians, in case the Khalifa was in any way in confusion about the state of the Muslims in Andalus:

فلما دخلنا تحت عقد ذمامهم  بدا               غدرهم فينا بنقض العزيمة

وخان عهودا كان قد غرَّنا بها               ونصًرنا كرها بعنف وسطوة

وأحرق ما كانت لنا من مصاحف          وخلًطها بالزبل أو بالنجاسة

وقد أمرنا أن نسبَّ نبينا                  و لا نذكرنه في رخاء وشدة

وقد بدِّلت أسماؤنا وتحولت                  بغير رضا منّا وإرادة

فآها علي تبديل دين محمد                بدين كلاب الروم شر البرية

وآها علي تلك المساجد سوِّرت              مزابل للكفار بعد الطهارة

• “When we came under their treaty of protection, their treachery toward us became apparent for [he] broke the agreement.
• He broke the compacts he had deceived us with and converted us to Christianity by force, with harshness and severity,
• Burning the copies of Quran we had and mixing them with dung or with filth.
• And they ordered us to curse our Prophet and to refrain from invoking him in times of ease or hardship.
• Our names were changed and given a new form with neither our consent nor our desire.
• Therefore, alas for the changing of Muhammad’s religion for that of Christian dogs, the worst of creatures.
• Alas for those mosques that have been walled up to become dung heaps for the infidel after having enjoyed ritual purity.”

He pleads the Sultan to ask the deceptive Spanish envoys:

فسل وحرا عن أهلها كيف اصبحوا           أسارى وقتلى تحت ذل ومهنة

وسل بلِّفيقا عن قضية أمرها              لقد مُزِّقوا بالسيف من بعد حسرة

ومنيافة بالسيف مُزِّق أهلها                 كذا فعلوا أيضا بأهل البشرة

وأندرش بالنار أحرق اهلها                بجامعهم صاروا جميعا كفحمة

• “Then ask Wahraa [Huejar][31] about its inhabitants: how they became captives and slaughtering under [the burden] of humiliation and misforture.
• And ask Billifiqa what was the outcome of their affair: they were cut to pieces by the sword after undergoing anxiety.
• As for Munyafa, its inhabitants were surrendered by the sword. The same was done to the people of Al Bushra.
• As for Andarash, its people were consumed by fire. It was in their mosque that they all became like charcoal.”

Yet, nothing of this response came in terms of action. The Spanish continued their vicious cleansing of Castile, (soon to be followed by the rest of Spain). May the mothers of those that sat and watched and did nothing to aid their Muslim brothers, be bereaved for the day they were born! In fact, may our mothers be bereaved for our cowardice, our perverted impulses to alter the deen of Islam according to our desire, and our inability, nay! Our desire to help our Muslims brothers, not just in a country or a specific area of the world, but rather, around the world, that are oppressed day and night!

The final blow was struck by the Spanish royals when they issued, on February 12, 1502, an edict which stated that all Muslims in Castille, (i.e. those remaining who had not been forcefully baptized already), remaining in Castille, (which consisted of the province of Castille and Leon), were to be forced to convert to Christianity. Those wishing to leave the kingdom had until the end of April 1502 to leave the kingdom, (either overseas or to, in quite a few cases, Arghun). However the criteria for who could leave betrayed Christian plans as “males over the age of fourteen and females over twelve…(Lea, 2001, 44),” were allowed to leave while male children under fourteen and females under 12 were to be retained in Spain to be raised as Christians. Muslims were allowed to take freight with them, (which included their possessions), with the exception of gold and silver and other prohibited items, (such as weaponry). So, not only did the Christians expel the Muslims from their own land, kill them, torture them and forced them to become Christians, but they also took away their children to raise them as Christians while robbing them of their wealth at the same time. However there was more in store for the Muslims, as the expulsion order was a farce in all but form, since:

a)      They could only sail from the ports of the Bay of Biscay, (which, as I will illustrate below, was an absurd demand that would only be done to facetiously claim Spanish freedom of exit for the Muslims while in reality it was nothing but a ruse).

b)      They could not go to the neighboring kingdoms of Navarre or Arghun

c)      And since the Spanish were at war with the Muslims of the Maghrib and the Uthmanis, the only realistic place offered for them to leave to was Misr[32], or any land other than that

In other words the Muslim had to travel an approximate 650 kilometers over land in approximately 72 days, while then traveling an arduous, and totally needless, 5500 kilometers by sea to Misr, (couldn’t the Spanish Crown have allowed Muslims to leave from Murcia? Or perhaps Al Meria, (Almaria))? After calculation, that would mean the required speed for anyone wanting to leave Spain, especially those in the south near Garnata and Qurtuba, was 9km a day (walking without any breaks, with baggage, and no sleep!). More realistically, if we were to suppose, that an average human could march for 18 hours, then the required pace would come up to approximately 14 km a day! This was a pace that most people without children or luggage could not manage, let alone people trying to, quite literally, move their lives from Spain, elsewhere.

An interesting note is necessary here concerning the province of Arghun. As was discussed earlier, the order for the forced conversion of the Muslim Mudajjan came in 1523-1526, almost 25 years after the order to convert Muslims in Castile. So, one has to ask, ‘why did it take that long to implement the order to convert Muslims in Arghun?’ The reason was probably two fold. Firstly, it would seem that Ferdinand realized, that through extensive contact with Christians and mingling with them had the Muslims Arghun become loyal subjects of Spain and weaker in their Islam. Therefore, it was unnecessary to convert them, yet. Ferdinand rightly believed that the Ahl Al-Dajn in Arghun, (who had already been living under the Christians under their protection for over 100 years or more), would not rebel as the Garnatans did, and thus Ferdinand could focus his efforts on extending his crusade into the Maghrib against the coastal Muslim states, (which they did when the Spanish attacked Algiers first in 1529 among multiple campaigns that would follow over the decades). Some Arghuni Muslims were suspicious of Ferdinand’s promises of not interfering with their dhimmi status and prudently decided to leave to the Maghrib in 1502. However, since open emigration was forbidden, they choose to use private ships, that either belonged to the Uthmanis or Maghribi Muslim privateers. An example of this is found in Valencia when “…170 inhabitants of Altea fled in ‘Turkish’ ships one night in 1502, (Harvey, 2005, 88).”

Additional conditions were that the Muslims were never to return to Spain under penalty of death, and if after the deadline, (end of April 1502), people were found to be harboring Muslims, they would have all their belongings confiscated, (Ibid). The illusion of choice presented to the Muslims justified the forced conversions of Muslims as, the Christians claimed, that Muslims were offered the option to leave (however unrealistic), and thus anyone converted to Christianity after the April deadline would have converted willingly. On September 17^th 1502, Queen Isabella issued an edict ordering, those Muslims that remained in Spain, that they could not sell their property for two years or leave the kingdom of Arghun, Valencia or Portugal except by land, wherein they would have to leave a security, (e.g. sum of money) as guarantee to return as soon as they are finished with their business, (which made them leave Castile), (Ibid, 46). The intent of not allowing transport by sea and asking them for security deposits was to stop and discourage Muslims escaping from Spanish tyranny to the Maghrib or elsewhere. This event marked the end of an official and apparent presence of Islam in the Iberian Peninsula after a presence of 791 uninterrupted years. A student of knowledge recounted, in a text written in Ajamiyya, (aljamiado), that Yusuf [Yuce] Benegas, a Muslim scholar and a Morisco who lived in Spain during the 16^th century CE, said to him:

“My Son I am aware that you know nothing of the affairs of Granada, so, if I call them to mind, do not be shocked by what I tell you, for there is not a single moment when they do not reverberate within my heart. There is not time, no hour, when I do not feel the pain deep within me. I have read the timola [Talmud?] of the Jews, and Faraida [Eneida?] of the pagans, and other accounts of great losses and sufferings. It was all very affecting, and they all wept for what they had lost, but in my opinion nobody has wept over such misfortune as the Sons of Granada. Do not doubt what I am saying, because I am one of them, and I was an eyewitness. With my own eyes I saw the noble ladies mocked, widows and married women alike, and I saw more that three hundred maidens put up to public auction.[33] I do not want to tell you any more about it all, for it is more than I can bear. I lost three of my sons, who all died in defence of the faith [deen], two of my daughters, and my wife…(Manuela, ‘Handbuch Der Orientalistik,’ 309-310)

He continues his lament by explaining, (emphasis indicated my comments):

“Son, I do not weep over the past, for there is no way back, but I do weep for what you have yet to see, if you are spared, and live on this land, in this peninsula of Spain. May it please Allāh, for the sake of the nobility of our Koran, that what I am saying be proved empty words. May it not turn out as I imagine. Even so, our religion will so decline that people will ask: What has become of the voice of the muezzin? What has become of the religion of our ancestors? For anybody with feelings it will all seem bitter and cruel. What troubles me most is that Muslims will be indistinguishable from Christians, accepting their dress, and not avoiding their food. May Allāh [Allāh] grant that at least they [Muslims] avoid their [Christians] actions, and that they do not allow the [Christian] religion to lodge in their hearts…

…If now after such a short space of time we appear to have difficulty in keeping our footing, what will those in years to come do? If the fathers scant the religion, how are the great grandchildren to raise it up again? If the King of Conquest [King Ferdinand] fails to keep faith[34], what are we to expect from his successors? I tell you more, my son that our decline will continue. May His Holy Goodness direct His pity towards us, and support us with His divine grace, (Ibid, 310).”

---

[1] Christian law

[2] Read: Taqi Uthmani’s ‘historic’ ruling on Interest being Haram (forbidden). First of all we all knew it was haram, so it really isn’t historic or groundbreaking. Secondly, after this ‘historic’ ruling, how are interest based banks such as Standard Chartered, ABN AMRO, Citibank, Royal Bank of Scotland and others operating in Pakistan uptil this day (might I add, with Pakistan Government Bank Licenses to boot)? The fact is that the rulings of the Shariah courts can be overruled by the secular Supreme court of Pakistan. Due to the fact that neither was this ruling overruled, nor repealed by the government, while at the same time interest based banks are still operating, this ruling is nothing more than simply a very well organized deception of the Muslim masses, (which has subsequently drove thousands of Muslims into putting their hard earned money into ‘Islamic’ banks and other ‘Islamic’ institutions), to make them believe that their country, (in this case Pakistan), is an ‘Islamic’ country, (nowadays the government is fond of the oxymoron, ‘Islamic democracy’)

[3] This number is deliberately low. Two other Christian authors have cited different figures ranging from 80,000-1,005,000 volumes burnt, (Prescott, 414).

[4] Peter d’Anghiera stated this ludicrous lie to the Mamluke Sultan and perhaps his colleagues repeated this lie to the Uthmani Sultan as well.

[5] Even today, Maghribis pronounce Baab, (or gate in Arabic), as Bib.

[6] Actually it was “Baab Al Bunood” which is the ‘Gate of Banners’ and it was one of the many gates that led into Garnata.

[7] I deliberately do not call it a jihad due to its non-religious nature, (from the perspective of known facts), which contrasts with the second Al Bushra revolt which was a veritable jihad. That is not to say that all that were present and fighting during this revolt were not fighting fee sabil Allah, as some were indeed fighting fee sabil Allah as is the case with modern conflicts, (i.e. Mujahideen fighting alongside the Pakistan army to fight the Hindus)

[8] Ximinez’s actions were in violation of clause(s) 26 and 27.

[9] Ximinez meant by this that, as Henry Lea explains, “…it was the nature of the vulgar to despise what they could understand and to reverence what was occult and mysterious, (Lea, 35).” He meant that Muslims were lying about not understanding preaching in Castilian.

[10] Or Muhtasib or market regulator

[11] The former secretary of Isabella and Ferdinand, whose name can be found at the bottom of the Treaty of Garnata which is included in the appendices

[12] Those that had been Christian before the fall of Garnata.

[13] Gold dinars that were first minted by the Murabitun, but were in wide circulation in Western Europe, (by that I don’t mean the actual coins minted by the Murabitun, but rather the gold purity ratio used by the Murabitun was applied by quite a few western European countries),  The approximate rate of exchange of was 1 Spanish Real= 34 Murabits

[14] These were all villages in the vicinity of the Al Bushra mountain range.

[15] It must be remembered that the concept of a large permanent standing army is a relatively recent concept, wherein, uptil the 17^th Century CE, European armies especially relied on conscription. Armies were created for campaigns as opposed to making soldiery a profession in European feudal society.

[17] Surah Baqarah, Verse 249

[18] This edict was repeated in 1511 and 1515 which indicates that Muslims were not giving up their weapons and that the Spanish were, until at least 1515, unsuccessful in their attempts to confiscate arms.

[19] In other words they repealed the shariah based economic code that had functioned more or less till that point. It is interesting that the ‘freed’ was used instead of just getting to the point and saying, ‘deprived,’ or perhaps “The Muslims taxes are abolished and in its place, Christian laws will be implemented”

[20] i.e. Shariah ordained, (and other taxes that are not shariah ordained that were relics left from the Nasrid  government of Garnata’s tax code), land taxes and  zakat  among others,  due to the Bait Al Maal, (or in this case the spanish treasury).

[21] taxes

[22] Usually a portion of the profits from the first harvest of the season.

[23] Town or village governor/administrator. From the Arabic: Wakeel.

[24] Awqaaf

[25] Converts to Islam. i.e. former Christians.

[26] In other words, old legal documents that had been in force prior to capitulation of Garnata, were to continue to be in force till there were no qadis or fuqaha to interpret them. This implicitly is the ban on Arabic in official documents.

[27] The Mamlukes had sent an envoy to Spain in 1501 to inquire about the condition of Muslims under the control of the Spanish

[28] Peter Martyr d’Anghiera was an Italian-born historian of Spain and of the discoveries of her representatives during the ‘Age of Exploration.’ He wrote the first accounts of explorations in Central and South America in a series of letters and reports, grouped in the original Latin publications of 1511 to 1530 into sets of ten chapters called “decades.” His De Orbe Novo (published 1530; “On the New World”) describes the first contacts of Europeans and Native Americans.

[29] The whole Qaseedah/Ode is in Appendix P

[30] Some emissaries from Mamluke Egypt were sent to Spain in 1501 after the Egyptian Sultan had been urged to interfere on behalf of the Moriscos. They informed the Spanish monarchs that if the Moriscos were forced to convert to Christianity, the Mamluke Sultan would retaliate by persecuting the Christian populations of his realm.

[31] Wahra was a town where rebellion was suppressed by Christians in 1501. All inhabitants were massacred

[32] Egypt

[33] as slaves

[34] i.e. keep his word

• The Book

  • About the Book
    • DID YOU KNOW…?
  • Why the book in a blog?
  • Maps
    • Map of Al-Andalus
    • Map of Granada and Surrounding Areas
  • Foreword
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1
    • Muslims in The Maghrib & Spain from 711-1492
    • The Muluk Al Tawaif and The Rise of the Murabitun
    • The Fall of the Murabitun, Muwahiddun and The Christian Crusade Upon Garnata
    • The End of Islamic Garnata
  • Chapter 2
    • Muslims in Spain from 1492-1568
    • Global Events and Legal Developments in Christendom
    • Global Events in the Lands of the Muslim Ummah
    • Signs of Things to Come and The Beginnings of the Persecution of Muslims
    • Events in Andalus after 1502
    • The End of the Muslims of Arghun and the Germania Revolt
  • Chapter 3: The Al Bushra Jihad 1568-1571
    • Maps of the Conflict Zone
    • The Al Bushra Jihad: Simmering Tensions Rising to the Surface
    • The Beginning Of The Al Bushra Jihad
    • The Appointment of Don John of Austria and The Death of Ibn Ummaya:
    • The Reign of Emir Abdullah Ibn Abu:
    • The End of the Jihad And The Relocation Of The Muslims
  • Chapter 4
    • The Relocation and Expulsion: The Endgame Unfolds
    • The Expulsions Begin in Valencia
    • Expulsions in Arghun, Catalonia, Andalucia and Castile
  • Chapter 5: Setting Down New Roots: Andalusi Muslims After The Expulsion
  • Chapter 6: Connecting The Past To The Present:How Does Andalus Apply To Us Today?
  • Appendicies
    • Appendix A
    • Appendix B
    • Appendix C
    • Appendix D
    • Appendix E
    • Appendix F
    • Appendix G
    • Appendix H
    • Appendix I
    • Appendix J
      • J-1
      • J-2
      • J-3
    • Appendix K
    • Appendix L
    • Appendix M
    • Appendix N
    • Appendix O
    • Appendix P
    • Appendix Q
    • Appendix R
    • Appendix S
    • Appendix T
    • Appendix U
    • Appendix V
    • Appendix W
    • Appendix X
    • Appendix Y
    • Appendix Z
  • Bibliography

• Categories

  Categories Select Category Uncategorized

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