Ebook The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise Muslims Christians and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain Dario FernandezMorera 9781610170956 Books
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A finalist for World Magazine’s Book of the Year!
“Essential reading.” —
Antonio Carreño, Brown University
“A watershed in scholarship.” —Raphael Israeli, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“Desperately, desperately needed as a counter to the mythology that pervades academia on this subject.” —Paul F. Crawford, California University of Pennsylvania
“An intelligent reinterpretation of a supposed paradise of convivencia.” —Julia Pavón Benito, University of Navarra
“A splendid book . . . Must-reading.” —Noël Valis, Yale University
“I am in awe of The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise.” —FrontPage Magazine
“A bracing remedy to a good deal of the academic pabulum that passes for scholarship.” —Middle East Quarterly
“An exhilarating and unput-downable read.” —Standpoint
Scholars, journalists, and even politicians uphold Muslim-ruled medieval Spain—“al-Andalus”—as a multicultural paradise, a place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in harmony.
There is only one problem with this widely accepted account it is a myth.
In this groundbreaking book, Northwestern University scholar Darío Fernández-Morera tells the full story of Islamic Spain. The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise shines light on hidden history by drawing on an abundance of primary sources that scholars have ignored, as well as archaeological evidence only recently unearthed.
This supposed beacon of peaceful coexistence began, of course, with the Islamic Caliphate’s conquest of Spain. Far from a land of religious tolerance, Islamic Spain was marked by religious and therefore cultural repression in all areas of life and the marginalization of Christians and other groups—all this in the service of social control by autocratic rulers and a class of religious authorities.
The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise provides a desperately needed reassessment of medieval Spain. As professors, politicians, and pundits continue to celebrate Islamic Spain for its “multiculturalism” and “diversity,” Fernández-Morera sets the historical record straight—showing that a politically useful myth is a myth nonetheless.
Ebook The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise Muslims Christians and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain Dario FernandezMorera 9781610170956 Books
"A most excellent book. Very readable, and heavily end-noted/documented. 240pages of well-organized information, 95 pages of notes, and an 11 page (selected) bibliography that lists many primary sources as well as secondary. He is a bit repetitive, but he built a robust case for his argument, which I think he made solidly. Some of his end-notes are long, much more than mere citation of a source, and well worth reading.
The quotes from modern sources of "scholarship" at the beginning of each chapter appear to accurately capture the general vie of many academics, but the ensuing chapter material thoroughly cut down such rose-colored views.
The book itself is well-constructed, with a tough binding, quality paper, readable font, and margins sufficiently wide to make some notes in (I've put in dozens for future easy finding of references)."
Product details - Hardcover 376 pages
- Publisher Intercollegiate Studies Institute; 1 edition (February 22, 2016)
- Language English
- ISBN-10 1610170954
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Tags : The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain [Dario Fernandez-Morera] on . <DIV><P><B><I>A finalist for </I>World<I> Magazine’s Book of the Year!</I></B></P><DIV><I>“Essential reading.” </I>—<B>Antonio Carreño</B>,Dario Fernandez-Morera,The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain,Intercollegiate Studies Institute,1610170954,General,Andalusia (Spain) - Ethnic relations - History,Andalusia (Spain) - Politics and government,Andalusia (Spain);Ethnic relations;History.,Andalusia (Spain);Politics and government.,Christians - Spain - Andalusia - History,HISTORY / Medieval,Islam and politics - Spain - History,Jews - Spain - Andalusia - History,Muslims - Spain - Andalusia - History,Myth - Political aspects - Spain - History,Religious tolerance - Spain - Andalusia - History,Social control - Spain - Andalusia - History,Spain - History - 711-1516,Spain;History;711-1516.,711-1516,Andalusia (Spain),Ethnic relations,Europe - Spain Portugal,European history,General Adult,HISTORY / Europe / Medieval,HISTORY / Europe / Spain Portugal,History,History - General History,History/Europe - Medieval,History/World,History World,Inspirational/Devotional,Islam and politics - Spain - History,Jews - Spain - Andalusia - History,Medieval,Muslims - Spain - Andalusia - History,Myth - Political aspects - Spain - History,Non-Fiction,Politics and government,RELIGION / General,Religion/Christianity - History,Religion/Islam - History,Religion/Judaism - History,Religion/Religious Intolerance, Persecution Conflict,Religious tolerance - Spain - Andalusia - History,Social control - Spain - Andalusia - History,Spain,Spain - History - 711-1516,Spain;History;711-1516.,United States,Western Europe,Europe - Spain Portugal,HISTORY / Europe / Medieval,HISTORY / Europe / Spain Portugal,History/Europe - Medieval,Medieval,RELIGION / General,Religion/Christianity - History,Religion/Islam - History,Religion/Judaism - History,Religion/Religious Intolerance, Persecution Conflict,History - General History,711-1516,Andalusia (Spain),Ethnic relations,Politics and government,Spain,History,History World,European history
The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise Muslims Christians and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain Dario FernandezMorera 9781610170956 Books Reviews :
The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise Muslims Christians and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain Dario FernandezMorera 9781610170956 Books Reviews
- Of the one star reviews of this book, only one (Reza R. Smith) attempted to actually engage the substance of the book. Rather than addressing that review (which is itself highly tendentious), I will offer my own assessment of the substance of the book. Dr. Fernandez-Morera demolishes any notion that al-Andalus was a halcyon period of religious harmony that can be a model for current relations between the Abrahamic faiths. Instead of convivencia, the status of affairs among the religions during the period of Islamic dominance in Spain was, at best, precaria coexistencia. Perhaps the most revelatory aspect of the book is the opening discussion of the state of Islamic historiography in Western academia. Fernandez-Morera exposes the misrepresentation and ignorance of the historical record, particularly in view of the primary sources, of much of the extant scholarship in the West, which indeed portrays Islamic Spain as an Andalusian Paradise. And, he discusses the reasons for the sad state of affairs, which include not only nonsensical postmodern ideology (my characterization), but also the desire to obtain and maintain funding of academic programs from well-heeled Middle Eastern sources. Thus, the seamy aspects of the period are almost entirely ignored by current scholars, thereby creating a myth of a golden age of harmony of religions accompanied by an efflorescence of Islamic generated learning and culture.
Fernandez-Morera shows that instead of bringing tolerance, learning and culture, the Islamic conquest of Spain (carried out as jihad) initially brought death and slavery to all who opposed it, destruction of churches and a Romano-Visigothic civilization, and dhimmitude to its Christian and Jewish subjects. Far from being a harmless tax on persons of other religions, the jizya was imposed to permit the conquerors to live off the subservient population, and to intentionally humiliate non-Muslims. The applicable juridical status of non-Muslims was inferior to Muslims, and even those who converted were on unequal social terms with their Muslim co-religionists, above only slaves on the social hierarchy. For ordinary Christians and Jews, the marks of subservience were pervasive and obvious, including identifying marks on their clothing (does that sound like some place in the 1930s?) and restrictions on the practice of religion (including, for Christians, the inability to publicly display crosses). For those who wish to see, Fernandez-Morera lists instance after instance (fully footnoted with references to Islamic sources) on pages 210-12 of the impositions and discrimination endured by Christians in al-Andalus. Of course, certain useful Jews and Christians attained relatively high positions, but these were the exception, not the rule. In addition, although most educated people in the West are aware that Isabella and Ferdinand ordered the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, the Almohad Muslims had previously ordered both Catholics and Jews to convert or suffer expulsion to Africa. For those "ungrateful" Christians who revolted from their dhimmitude status in Granada in 1164, none were left after the revolt. Yusuf subsequently boasted that not a single church or synagogue was left in al-Andalus.
Interestingly, Dr. Fernandez Morera also demonstrates that the status of women was not elevated by the Islamic occupation of Spain. Muslim women were expected to remain home and be veiled when out in public. The legal punishment for a married Muslim woman guilty of adultery was stoning. And, by citing primary Islamic sources, Fernandez Morera demonstrates that female circumcision was indeed practiced in Islamic Spain. Although some women became poets and scholars, these were largely non-Muslim women who had been enslaved. The more likely position of non-Muslim slave women of al-Andalus, however, was to satisfy the sexual desires of their masters, i.e. to be sexual slaves.
This brief summary of the eye-opening (at least, for most of us that have heard the "golden age" trumpeted loudly and repeatedly by American academics and the media) expose` should be sufficient to demonstrate that Dr. Fernandez-Morera has exploded the myth of an Andalusian paradise. Far from being characterized by tolerance, Andalusia and its non-Muslim inhabitants suffered under the full weight of Islamic hegemony. He has dropped the gauntlet to those who wish to take issue with the well documented and careful conclusions of this study. The supporting footnotes, which are both copious and extended, are well worth close attention inasmuch as they fully substantiate the statements made in the book. I commend Dr. Fernandez-Morera for his courage in publishing this book, inasmuch as, for the sake of the integrity of the historical record, he discredits the multicultural shibboleths that have attained iconic status in today's cultural environment. Such an effort is and will be most unwelcome in a society that wishes to fashion its own truths.
Finally, I wish to briefly respond to one reviewer (Charles) who, while admitting the validity of the historical assertions in the book, lamented the fact that Dr. Fernandez Morera was not more "balanced" in his assessment of al-Andalus. The reviewer bemoans the fact that none of the good aspects of the period are referenced or otherwise offered to provide context to the work. I would suggest, however, that the thesis of the book (as demonstrated by its title) did not lend itself to such an approach. The book was intended as a necessary corrective to a fawning and false historical narrative offered by Anglo-American academia that has distorted public discourse and resulted in a misinformed general public. The book certainly achieved this objective, and both scholars and others who are interested in the subject should be grateful for Dr. Fernandez-Morera's contribution. - A most excellent book. Very readable, and heavily end-noted/documented. 240pages of well-organized information, 95 pages of notes, and an 11 page (selected) bibliography that lists many primary sources as well as secondary. He is a bit repetitive, but he built a robust case for his argument, which I think he made solidly. Some of his end-notes are long, much more than mere citation of a source, and well worth reading.
The quotes from modern sources of "scholarship" at the beginning of each chapter appear to accurately capture the general vie of many academics, but the ensuing chapter material thoroughly cut down such rose-colored views.
The book itself is well-constructed, with a tough binding, quality paper, readable font, and margins sufficiently wide to make some notes in (I've put in dozens for future easy finding of references). - Author Fernández-Morera is Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In this book he subjects to a withering critique a widespread superstition that Islam, during the “middle ages,†created a superior civilization characterized by interfaith harmony (convivencia) and “tolerance,†as that concept might be understood by today’s ideological multiculturalists. The habit of fostering agenda-driven approaches to history is, of course, not new, but to the extent that the so-called “Golden Age of Islam†is used in contemporary discourse and education as a hedge to counter “Islamophobia,†this book offers an important clarification.
The myth, stated succinctly, holds that while Europe was mired in the ignorance of its “dark ages,†Islam flourished as an enlightened civilization which not only preserved classical learning but passed it on to the West, making possible the greatness of the European Renaissance. The essence of this myth has been stated publicly by president Barack Obama, and in many elementary and secondary schools throughout America. Colleges and universities also foster it through programs of “multicultural understanding†or programs of Islamic Studies (most of which are heavily funded by Saudi Arabia).
The author begins with a clarification of an issue that is tediously and dishonestly muddled by politicians and fashionable academics—the notion that the concept of jihad is mis-applied as a description of the “shock and awe†tactics of conquest seen in the expansion of the Islamic empire in the century following the death of Muhammad. Islamic texts reveal clearly that jihad is, however nuanced it may be, a device of religiously motivated warfare. Fernández-Morera cites the legal texts of the Maliki school of Islamic law prevalent in al-Andalus. “They do not talk of a ‘spiritual inner struggle,’ or of some kind of ‘self-perfecting exertion’ they talk of war against infidels—a Sacred Combat, or Holy War, or Holy Struggle, or whatever other name one may choose to give this religiously mandated war against infidels.â€
Indeed, the Maliki school of Islamic “jurisprudenceâ€â€”the most rigid of the four major schools—prevailed in the alleged paradise of Andalusia (the Arabic re-named designation for Spain). The historical commentaries, both Islamic and Christian/Jewish, testify to widespread depredations carried out by the conquerors of the nascent and creative Hispano-Roman-Visigothic civilization emerging in Spain. One Muslim chronicle characterizes the conquest as so absolute that he describes “not a conquest, but the Judgment Day.â€
Nor did the ongoing administration of life in Islamic Spain represent the multicultural harmony today’s myth-makers envision. Jews and Christians were allowed to “practice†their faiths so long as it was not publicly expressed or shared. New churches could not be built, nor older ones renovated, and the special protection tax (jizya) imposed on non-Muslims was meant, specifically, to symbolize their state of humiliation. These are just a few of the many features of the institution of dhimmitude that is central to Islamic law. Fernández-Morera vividly defines what the system of dhimmitude really was (and is, where it may be applied today) “A basic fact is lost in discussions and arguments about the details of the life of the Christian dhimmis of Spain . . . and about how much or how little they benefited from Islamic ‘toleration’—namely, that they were by definition a subaltern group, a fourth-or fifth- class marginalized people in a hierarchical society, and that they were the victims of an extortion system, the dhimma, that gave them the choice that gangsters give to their victims pay to be protected, or else.†[italics in book’s text]
Culturally, the Islamic “golden age†was heavily dependent on the achievements of the prior, and superior, civilizations conquered by the Islamic armies. Contrary to the popular characterization of civilization being “saved†by the glories of Islamic enlightenment, most of the intellectual achievements of Islamic civilization were derived from Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian scholars. The sustaining and recovery of classical learning would have taken place without, and perhaps even more powerfully, without the spread of Islam. “The Visigothic kingdom had functioned as a preserver of classical culture in the difficult centuries after the disintegration of the Western (Latin) Christian Roman Empire, and was in the process of creating a new Visigoth-Hispano-Roman civilization of its own, in part by drawing upon the classical legacy of the Roman Empire preserved in the Christian Greek Roman Empire [with its center in Constantinople].â€
Many other cultural “innovations†attributed to Islam, it turns out, have their origins elsewhere, including the famous so-called “Arabic numerals,†which originated in India. Citing scholar of Islam Dominique Urvoy, even the Arabic script so noted for its beauty and power “may have been invented by Christian missionaries from the Christianized Arab city of Hira in ancient Iraq.†Also significant is the Maliki school’s prohibition on musical instruments and songs (a prohibition that is embraced by other schools of Islamic “jurisprudence†to this day).
Of special interest to this reviewer is the author’s citation of how Islamic art and architecture depended on Muslim “cannibalization†of previous classical and Christian art forms, concepts, and techniques. Interestingly, even the typical “Islamic†horseshoe arch with its alternating striped decoration was known and employed in Visigothic Spain prior to the Muslim presence. [To this day, the archetypal Islamic mosque reflects dependency on Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, the greatest architectural structure in the Christian world in ancient times.]
Instead of representing a convivencia, Fernández-Morera sees Islamic Spain as more a situation of precaria coexistencia between Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities, all of which were suspicious of outsiders and acted to protect their intra-community authority. Nor was Islamic Spain without its periodic massacres and revolts by groups who chafed under the institution of dhimmitude.
The author gives significant attention to the Reconquista, the centuries-long efforts of Spanish people to reclaim their land from the Islamic program of colonialization and destruction of cultural memory (through the Arabizing of names of towns, regions, architectural destruction, etc.). The result of the Reconquista, in which ultimately Islam was expelled from the land (and therefore viewed negatively by conventional academic culture), was the flourishing of Spanish lyric and narrative poetry, the presence of such historical figures as Saint Teresa of Avila, Miguel de Cervantes, painters like Diego Velasquez and El Greco. One is led to meditate on what would have been the effect of subsequent European civilization had Charles Martel not gathered an army to meet and defeat the Muslim colonialist armies at Tours in 732, or if Poland’s John Sobieski had not acted similarly to defend the gates of Vienna in 1683 against the rampaging jihadists of the Ottoman Muslims. Given what we know of Islamic law, we would not, today, have the art of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and countless others, nor the Louvre or Vatican museums among others.
“Ideas,†as Richard Weaver observed so powerfully in his book of that title, “have consequences.†In this regard, Darío Fernández-Morera presents and defends his thesis that “few periods in history have been more misrepresented than that of Islamic Spain.†It is sad to reflect that in today’s atmosphere of threat (in response to “offensive†ideas) and multiculturalist ideological tyranny, the author earns and deserves the designation of “courageous.†One would hope that the book would have an impact in the educational world, but, as they say, don’t hold your breath.
