15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
__NOTOC__
[[File: Muslim Three.jpg|200px250px|thumbnail|left|A Muslim and a Christian warrior greeting from an illuminated manuscript]]
One of the greatest periods of Islamic history was that of Muslim Spain or Al-Andalus, as it was known in Arabic. Muslim Spain was undoubtedly one of the great civilizations in the Medieval world and its culture influenced both Europe and the Arab world. Spain was conquered by the Muslims in the 9th century and it is commonly held that they transformed Spanish society. For example, there are those who argue that the Muslims changed the language, religion, and society of Spain. This article will discuss how in the early centuries of Islamic rule there was much continuity with the past in Spain and that at least initially the Arabs did not drastically change Medieval Iberian society. It will demonstrate that there were many changes but also many continuities after the Muslim invasion of Spain in the period from 720-900 AD.
====Background to the Muslim invasion and conquest====
[[File: Muslim Spain One.jpg|200px250px|thumbnail|left|A Muslim and a Christian musician]]
Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal) had been occupied by Germanic invaders after the fall of the Roman Empire. The Visigoths emerged as the most powerful group and they established a kingdom that ruled all of Spain and Portugal except for the mountainous northern regions. The Visigoths established a centralized administration and they became the dominant political and military elite in Iberian society.<ref> Collins, Roger. The Conquest of Spain (John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1995), p. 67 </ref> However, the kingdom was never stable and was constantly disturbed by civil wars which seriously weakened it by the start of the 8th century. This happened at the same time as the Arabs inspired by the Prophet Muhammad and their new religion had burst out of the Arabian Peninsula and had conquered much of the Byzantine Empire. By the early 8th century they had spread out across North Africa and after a long conflict had subdued the Berbers of North Africa. In 712 AD an Arab force landed near modern Gibraltar. It appears that it was initially a raid but soon became an all-out invasion.<ref> Collins, p. 15 </ref>
====Socio-Economic changes after the invasion====
[[File: Muslim Spain 2.jpg|200px250px|thumb|left|Muslim soldiers from a Spanish Medieval manuscript]]
Islamic Spain was under the control of one religious group, namely the Muslims, who ruled Iberia in their own interests and who frequently exploited the population. To maintain their position, they had to dominate the other groups especially the majority Christian population. <ref> Roth, Norman, The Jews in the Muslim Conquest of Spain. Jewish Social Studies, 38, 2, (1986) 145-158</ref>. Christians and Jews were expected to pay a poll tax that was used to support the Muslim army and administration. It also seems that the Arabs appropriated many of the lands of Christians and they seemed to have taken over the vast estates of the Visigoths.
Religion was central to medieval life. The invaders brought with them a religion that was a polytheizing faith and this greatly complicated the religious situation in Iberia. Traditionally the Muslim Conquest of Spain was believed to have resulted in many conversions from Christianity to Islam. However, these were not as numerous as many have believed and it was mainly members of the Visigoth elite who converted in the first decades after the Muslim invasion and this was done to retain their lands.
The majority of the Christian population did not convert to Islam. This was in part because they were strongly attached to their faith but also the simple fact was that the Muslims did not really seek to convert them. The traditional view is that the Arabs forcibly converted the populations they ruled. This has been proven to be untrue. It was often hard for a Christian to convert. The Dhimmi paid a poll tax, and this was essential for the treasury and this gave the Arab overlords every incentive to dissuade conversions <ref> Kennedy, p. 114</ref>. It seems that in the first few centuries of Islamic rule that there were relatively few conversions. There were only mass-conversions during the 9th and especially the 10th century and these were all voluntarily conversions. The Muslim invasion changed the religion of Spain, but it did so over time. This was once again similar to the situation in Persia, where the conversion of Zoroastrians to Islam which was also a gradual process .<ref> Kennedy, p. 79</ref>.
====Conclusion====
The Muslim Civilization in Spain is rightly regarded as one of the world’s great cultures. It enriched both European and Middle Eastern civilization and this makes it unique. This diverse and cultured society was very slow to emerge. The Arabs did not simply sweep away the existing Christian civilization. Rather they sought to exploit the prevailing culture and administrative system to maintain their rule, this is understandable as they were a minority in Spain. There was simply not enough Arabs or their Berber allies to make significant changes to the existing ways of life of the people that they had conquered. Rather we should see the influence as creeping slowly over time over the Iberian Peninsula. The Muslims even influenced those who remained Christians, as seen in the emergence of the Mozarabs, these were Spanish Christians who adopted many Arabic practices. The evidence shows that while Iberia was conquered by the Muslims in a short space of time that it took centuries for them to change the lives and thinking of the indigenous peoples. This was also the case in the other lands that they conquered. Then there is the issue of religion. The Muslims did introduce a new religion, but it was many decades before there were a great number of conversions to Islam.
====References====
<references/>
