A History of Islamic Societies

Muslim Spain from the Arab conquest to the liquidation of the last Muslim possessions in Granada in 1492 represents yet another expression of the caliphal type of early Islamic civilization. This civilization assimilated the Spanish, Jewish, and Berber populations to Arab-Islamic culture, fostering extraordinary economic prosperity. Muslim Spain bears an aura of glory. The great Mosque of Cordoba; the gardens, fountains, and courtyards of the Alhambra; the muwashshah and zajal poetry, with their Arabic verses and Romance language refrains; the irrigated gardens of Seville and Valencia; the wisdom of philosophy and science – these are the monuments of Spanish Islam. Spain was the focal point for the transmission of Greek philosophy from the Arab world to Europe. No less important was the drama of the defeat of this brilliant Muslim civilization by its European enemies, the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims, and the reabsorption of Spain into Christian Europe.

For all its brilliance, Muslim Spain was a province of the Arab caliphate. Already overrun by successive waves of Alaric and Vandal invasions from the north, Spain was conquered by Arab and Berber forces from North Africa led by Tariq, who defeated the Visigothic King Roderic at the River Barbate in 711. The Arab advance into France was checked by Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732. Whereas in the East Arab conquerors were generally forced to settle in garrison towns and villages – leaving the land in the direct control of its preconquest landlord elite and a tax-collecting bureaucracy – in Spain large territories were parceled out among Arab and Berber clans. This was both the basis of the complex integration of ethnic groups, religions, and cultures and the tumultuous political competition that would characterize Hispano-Arabic civilization.