The Wrappings of Gratitude

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

The Beautiful Alhambra Palace, Granada

What can we describe to you is Al-Andalus and its extraordinary spirit, history, character and its immense contribution to the development of modern civilisation?  Al-Andalus or Spanish Islam represented an idea, a period, an epoc of great cultural sophistication, intellectual, scientific, civil and religious achievement, for over eight centuries, by the Muslims of Al-Andalus. It represented a golden age, not only in the history of Islam, but is described by a Spanish Christian historian, as no less than “a goldern age of humanity”. Although almost entirely absent from Western academia, this eight hundred year period of Islamic rule and nine hundred year presence in Spain, their knowledge and achievements, lead directly to the Renaissance and Enlightenment in Europe, and directly contributed to the achievements of modern Europe as we recognise it today. We cannot begin to underestimate the influence and impact Spanish Islam had on Western civilisation, which before the knowledge of the Muslims, was described as the ‘dark ages’. A period characterised by one-thousand years of ethnic and religious intolerance and persecution, as Shaykh Hamza Yusuf describes, was a period when:

“Christianity ruled Europe with its iron hand, knowledge was not promoted and when it was it was only promoted amongst the priestly class, common people were not allowed to learn. The standard of living was never promoted, the early Christians in Europe believed that, among other things, taking a bath was ungodly, that it was better to be an ascetic” (900 years: Reviving the Spirit of Andalusia (2006))

As Shaykh Hamza goes on to say further, “whilst Al-Andalus was flourishing econmically, culturally and intellectually, Europe was gripped by such religious persecution that even other Catholic and Christian doctrines that did not accord with the Church were, not only not tolerated, but eliminated altogether”. However, this was not the situation for eight centuries of Islamic rule in Spain, which gave rise to, amongst other great ideas, the idea of La Convivencia, or Conviviality, which means ‘living together’, but denotes much more to include tolerance and acceptance of the values and views of others, whose views may well have differed and even contradicted that of the Muslims, but were respected and given autonomy with regards of governing themselves according to their own laws within the Islamic State. This is something that cannot be conceived in modern Europe today in allowing minority groups to operate under their own legal system within the overal system, and yet this idea was common practice by the ruling Muslims. It was this spirit and understanding that came directly traceable from Andalusia into Europe and gave birth to modern European standards through the encouragement of the compatibility between faith and reason, between religion and sciencific learning, and between groups of religious and ethnic diversity. And yet given that for such a long period of European history such an open and tolerent society flourished in Islamic Spain, after the end of Islamic rule Europe regressed considerably to the point of giving rise to two catestrophic world wars that claimed millions of lives, the use of the atom bomb and several cenuries of the persecution and slaughter of minority groups. Even as speak, and although Europe has progressed considerably there still exists an uneasy truce with regards to the status of minority groups in Europe. This is in contrast to the period of several centuries where Islam had shown that there was no contradiction in the existence of different faiths existing in harmony, based on respect and understanding, living alongside each other and governing their communities under their own religious laws.

There was thus no contradiction in the Islamic State between faith and learning for one critical reason which was that Islam began with the injunction to gain knowledge as the critical component for understanding the precepts of religion and as a means of increasing in ones faith. What this injunction meant was that it was not enough to simply profess faith in God but that faith had to be supported with knowledge and understanding, the greater the knowledge the greater the understanding of the ideas contained within the Qur’an and the principles God had commanded people to understand and abide by. In contrast one of the primary reasons why cultural, social and scientfic development has entirely ceased under Christian rule in Europe for a thousand years was due to the Church’s inability to accept any challenge to its beliefs about the nature of existence even when those beliefs were found in contradiction to newly discovered knowledge such as the earth orbiting the sun as opposed to the sun orbiting the earth which was the Church’s interpretation of the Bible. The Qur’an on the other hand was explicit to its reader to not take its statements for granted by rather to explore and understand them further through learning and science which gave rise to the development of almost every brach of learning we are familiar with in modern Europe today, including amongst others, mathematics, engineeering, medicine, astronomy, environment, sociology, chemistry, physics, art, literature and architecture. In each one of these subjects Muslims were the pioneers of knowledge, knowledge which directly transferred into Europe and gave rise to modern technological Europe. To give on such example of the extent of the intellectual and scientific advancement of Europe, the Muslim scholar and physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna), his Canon of Medicine was for five centuries, well into the 17th century, the main textbook for medical education in Western universities. In other words it took five centuries of learning and development before the medical knowledge of Ibn Sina could be exceeded.

The Court of Lions inside the Nasiri Palace within the Alhambra

Cordoba: The Ornament of the World

The religious and cultural tolerence of the Andalusians was one aspect of its highly cultured, educated and sophisticated society, which was well known throughout Europe in the middle ages, and  it was for this reason attracted scholars throughout Europe to intellectually flourishing cities such as Cordoba, Seville, Granada and Toledo. If one wanted to flourish as an architect, writer,  engineer, artist, painter, physician, thinker, teacher or almost any other profession would come to Islamic Spain, to Andalusia. Even those that were unable to come were astounded by the possibility for such luminous cities in what was otherwise a dull and ark Europe. One such person was a German Christian nun by the name of Hrosvitha who was part of the diplomatic circle in the court of Otto I in Germany. Hence she would quite often come into contact with emmisaries from the Cordoban Caliphate on behalf of the Caliph Abdul Rahman III and hear accounts of life in Cordoba, which she described as “The Ornament of the World”. This was quite a glowing reference from a nun living in 10th century Europe, and yet it is also an indication of the profound effect Andalusia had on all those that came into contact with her, and all those that were so proud to belong to her. As Hrosvitha wrote, “The brilliant ornament of the world shone in the West, a noble city newly known for the military prowess that its Hispanic colonisers had brought, Cordoba was its name and it was wealthy and famous and known for its pleasures and resplendent in all things, and especially for its seven streams of wisdom [the trivium and quadtrivium] and as much for its constant victories” (Menocal 2002: 32).

This certainly was a glowing account but what was it based on, what did Hrosvitha hear that even as a Christian, compelled her to want to describe this city in such terms to others? Well if we consider the conditions in Europe at that time in terms of cultural and intellectual stagnantion, dogged with endless conflict and persecution, Cordoba was an unimaginable place of beauty, described by Menocal as “an astonishing place” (Menocal 2002:32). Here are some of the facts that indicated the florurishment of the City in 950 .

Cordoba’s population was 600,000, which by medieval standards was extraordinary, enabled by the considerable wealth of the city. What was even more extraordinary was that for a population of this size the city contained some 92,000 shops and trade establishments, which meant that most people were self-employed.

There were also some 300 public baths and 50 hospitals.

Cordoba was truly a city of learning with one university of 20,000 full-time enrolled students which was apart from those people that were allowed to audit courses before deciding which courses to undertake.

In a city that apparently adored books so much there were some “seventy copyists in the bookmarket that worked exclusively on copying the Quran”.

There were also 300 colleges and at least 72 libraries.

The Caliphal library which by one account “contained some four hundred thousand volumes”, was at a time when the “largest library in Christian Europe probably held no more than four hundred manuscripts” (Menocal: 2002:33). Similarly, by another account, ‘”there were more books in the average Cordoban household than there were in the whole of Europe combined”. (Yusuf (900 Years)).

The Muslims had brought paper from China, and in order to fuel the city’s insatiable appetite for learning, a paper factory in Jativa, a town outside the prosperous costal city of Valencia, provided a constant supply of high quality paper. There were also hundreds of public baths, paved and well-lit streets, whose lights could be seen for 40 miles. And later indoor plumbing was introduced.

All of these achievements according to Menocal, qualified Islamic Spain as a “genuine, foundational European cultural movement”, that according to Scott F. Fitzgerald, would be defined as “first-rate”, which according to him, “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time” (Menocal 2002:10-11). Cordoba, the Capital of the Caliphate much like the other cities of Islamic Spain was very much a place that represented acceptance over rejection, of accepting people and ideas no matter who they were or where they were from, of a place that could hold several competing ideas in its mind at the same time without losing any idea of what it was. Its identity was strong and unshakeable precisely because it drew its strenght from knowledge that transcended it beyond colour, religion or race. Hence no matter who you were or whether you were a Muslim from Baghdad or a Christian from London, when you arrived at the shores of Andalusia you became its citizen and were welcomed as part of this glorious land of learning and tolerance.

The Cordoba Mosque

Unique for its double-arches that enabled the Cordoban engineers and architects to create much higher ceilings and spans than had ever been previous built in Europe

There are numerous other achievements of the Andalusian Muslims in the fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, physics, philosophy, sociology, economics, agriculture, engineering, art and architecture which directly entered and influenced Europe, ideas which we continue to benefit from today in Europe. Each one of these fields requires its own detailed attention. But what I want to describe to you is the spirit that gave rise to this most extraordinary period of human history, which besides the high achivements, created a type of person with the most extraordinary character and spirit, imbibed with a sense of place and purpose, of high-learning, sophistication and high-character. This period of history, this place, has captured my own heart and imagination like no other outside of the Hijaz. What is particularly inspiring is the high culture and sophistication of the Andalusian, which included not only the books they read, but the food they ate, the clothes they wore, the buildings they designed, the homes they lived in and so on. Every single aspect of their culture spoke of refinement and sophistication. However, what’s extraodinary is that 500 years after the fall of Granada, that spirit still exists in the environs of Andalusia and amongst its contemporary inhabitants, even if not all of them are aware of where it originated. The regions, the hills and mountains, the trees, winds, the land, all tell their own story and bear witness that something extraordinary happened there, and it happened there for a very long time. Even today it is possible to find remnants of this spirit everywhere in Andalusian society especially in the belief of the difference, uniqueness and specialness of the Andalusians as compared to the rest of Spain. What’s also quite apparent is the strong passion of the people, their romance towards their land, towards each other, of a different type of love not comparable to the cities of Rome or Paris.

When I was in Granada it was easy to detect a distinctly held, unconsciously transmitted belief, of a specialness of the place they lived and hence a specialness they acquired by being part of that place. But this distinctly differs from Rome or Paris in that this belief was understated and modest, it was there, and if you wanted to find it, grasp it, then it encouraged you, invited you to go beneath the surface and do so for yourself. So even after several centuries after the presence of Islam the same spirit that characterised Islamic Spain is still evident today, which was sophistication with modesty, and if any peoples had a right to exult in their culture, it was the Andalusians given that there was no equivalent anywhere in Europe or the World at that time with the exception of the Islamic Abbasid Empire towards the East.

There is much to be gained from learning about Al-Andalus in an age of great cynicism about the possibility and even the existence of noble ideas, noble virtues and high character. The same character and virtues that the Andalusians went to great lengths to preserve so that even now we are still enchanted, inspired and intrigued about what what they left behind for us, what they were trying to tell about what they knew, about who they were. And if we gain even a mere glimpse into the the spirit of Al-Andalus it will transform us from the ordinary citizens we are, of ordinary cities, living ordinary lives, to belong to everything that the Andalucians believed was precious, sacred and extraordinary. For Muslims and non-Muslims alike, today without doubt, Al-Andalus provides a true opportunity to be genuinely inspired by the achievements of Andalusia. And if anyone seriously examines and studies this period, they cannot but have the spirit of Al-Andalus imprinted on their hearts.

Part of what remains at Medinat Az-Zahra, (Cordoba 930-1010)

One thousand years after the the City-Palace was first built by Abdal-Rahman III, one can only imagine what it must have looked like as a functional city with streets paved with white marble, and vast acres of gardens, whose unfortunate demise came, not from the Christians, but from rival Muslim factions

Finally, what we must endevour to remember, lest we repeat the same mistakes of history, is that whilst Allah can bless us with the most extraordinary success, the like of which no other peoples have seen before us, such splendor, success, high-culture, sophistication and so on is not granted for itself, but as a sign of His existence. These achievements do not represent our abilities but His, not our artistry but His, not our glory but His and not our power but His, and if we repeatedly forget our blessings, forget to show true gratitude, He shows us that whilst He is ar-Rahman, the Most-Merciful, and Al-Kareem, Most-Generous, He is also Al-Jabbar, the One, that nothing happens in His Dominion except that which He wills, and what He wills, will happen.

حِيطَ بِثَمَرِهِ فَأَصْبَحَ يُقَلِّبُ كَفَّيْهِ عَلَى مَ ا أَنفَقَ فِيهَا وَهِيَ
خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا وَيَقُولُ يَا لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أُشْرِكْ بِرَبِّي أَحَدًا

“So his fruits (and enjoyment) were encompassed (with ruin), and he remained twisting and turning his hands over what he had spent on his property, which had (now) tumbled to pieces to its very foundations, and he could only say, “Woe is me! Would I had never ascribed partners to my Lord and Cherisher!” (Quran, Al Kahf 18:42)