Al-Andalus:A History of Islamic Spain

It was during the end of the Middle Ages that Islam was involved in the process of being eliminated from Europe. The historical tension between Christian and Muslim forces dates back to this period. The European crusades accounts for a portion of this hostility. Yet in the Iberian Peninsula this hostile tension was intensified and lingered even longer. By the middle of the thirteenth century two distinct categories of Muslims could be found in the Iberian Peninsula. The first dwelled in the small but densely populated independent Muslim kingdom of Granada while the other was scattered in the midst of such Christian kingdoms as Castile, Aragon and Navarre. Muslims living in the Iberanian Peninsula were often deeply divided even during the great era of Caliphate of Cordova during the tenth century. Yet from a very early date these same people were quite conscious that they shared an underlying religious and cultural unity, a common inheritance which they identified as jazirat al-Andalus. Andalusians living in countries as diverse as Tunsia, Algeria and Morocco trace their common ancestry back to Islamic Spain. This essay will focus on Andalus' alternating periods of centralization and decentralization.

What is striking is the amount of information which is available. The history of Islamic Spain or Al-Andalus is vastly richer than those available for the preceding Roman and Visgothic periods. The eleventh century

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ead across rugged terrain was difficult to supervise. The pockets of Muslim culture spread across the population of al-Andalus "created a vacuum of power" for the Castilians who would have liked to oversee this area with more rigor. The early history of al-Andalus is one of stability followed by chaos, of attempts to centralize government followed by periods of decentralization and regrouping which followed the relatively stable periods. Early history is difficult to trust since it relies too heavily upon tradition or the hadith for its narrative structure. History, from this perspective, must be subordinated to the religious culture of the Koran and other Muslim strictures. Additionally, in the earliest phase of conquest in al-Andalus, it is unlikely that "tidy administrative arrangements" were "implemented uniformly." Conquerors tended to take more spoils than were actually rightfully allotted to them. During the governorship of Al-Samh (718-21), he first conducted a census of the lands situated near the Pyrenees. According to the tradition of the time, a census was not conducted to enumerate the population but to create an appropriate or reliable structure for taxation. Abuses could follow as was the case during t
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1346
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)