An Islamic Civilization in Europe: Andalusia – 6
■ Ibrahim Sediyani
– continued from last chapter –
■ IS ANDALUSIA, AN ARAB CIVILIZATION, OR A BERBER CIVILIZATION?
Now let’s look at the real identity of the Andalusian Islamic Civilization (711 – 1492).
In the religious history written by Arabs and Islamic historians who considered Arab worship as the “foundations of faith” and in the official history that repeats what they wrote, is the Andalusian Islamic Civilization that is presented to us as if it were an “Arab civilization”, is it really so? Or is it actually a “Berber civilization” built by Berbers, founded and maintained by Berbers?
Is Andalusia an Arab civilization or a Berber civilization?
Now let’s examine this interesting issue…
Today, nations that are left without a state or status have lost not only their freedom and right to govern, but also their history to dominant nations. Because the logic of occupation and colonialism works like this: Destroy the identity of the nations you have subjugated! And the most urgent and primary way to destroy the identity of a nation is to destroy its history, to erase its place in history and the traces it has left.
Today, nations that are left without a state or status, primarily the Berbers, Kurds, Laz, Baluch, Rohingya, Uyghur, Lapps, Frisians, Basques, Catalans and Corsicans, are suffering greatly from these denial and assimilation policies. Because when you are left without a state or status, you lose not only your present but also your past.
For example, many civilizations and states founded by Kurds in the past, and the traces they left in history, were usurped by the Turkish and Persian dominant minds and appropriated for themselves. They make you read them in history books as “Turk” or “Persian”. Similarly, the civilizations and states founded by Berbers in the past, and the traces they left in history, were usurped by the Arab dominant minds and appropriated for themselves. They make you read them in history books as “Arab”.
Today’s – so-called – “modern science” is also done with this colonialist mindset, and today’s – so-called – “historians” write history in this way. Whichever nation is dominant today, whichever language is the official language, they write the entire history of humanity accordingly. For example, if they come across a word that is commonly used in Kurdish, Persian, Baluch and dozens of languages in any historical record, they would note it as “Persian” without doing any research or questioning. They never think that the word might not be Persian but Kurdish or Baluch, they never even think of such a possibility. So why? Couldn’t that word from a thousand years ago belong to another language among dozens of other languages where the same word is currently used in common? No, it can’t; it’s immediately “Persian”. Why? Because Persian is the dominant official language right now. In other words, they look at the political structure of the world today and write and speak completely with this subconscious. The logic of thought of the circles we call “scientists” and accept as “historians” is that simple.
The most basic common feature of scientists, all scientists without exception, is this: They do not fear God, but they are very afraid of states.
Because of this, I don’t know if you have ever noticed it, but if you pay attention, scientists in every country have ideologically adopted the official ideology of that country. For example, scientists living in Turkey and citizens of the Republic of Turkey are generally Kemalist. Why? Because this is the dominant official ideology in Turkey. Greek scientists living in Greece and citizens of that country have generally adopted the official Greek ideology. This is also the case in Italy, France, England and all other countries.
Have you ever seen a scientist who opposes the official ideology of the country he lives and is a citizen of, who makes statements that refute the false history imposed by the state? It is very rare, you cannot find it easily.
For example, they write a scientific article about Göbeklitepe (Xrabe Reşk). This article is published in a most respected academic journal. When you read the article, you see the word “Turkey” 7 – 8 times, the word “Turkish” 3 – 4 times, but nowhere in the article do you see the words “Kurdistan” and “Kurdish”. They tell the story as if the name of this place was “Turkey” 12,000 years ago and as if there was no Kurdish people in the past, as there are today.
For example, they write a scientific article about the Achaemenid Empire. This article is published in a prestigious academic journal. When you read the article, you see the word “Iran” 15 – 16 times, the word “Persian” 8 – 9 times, but nowhere in the article do you see the words “Kurdish” or “Baloch”. They explain the subject as if it was Persian territory 2,500 years ago and everyone spoke Persian.
They write a scientific article about the Viking invasion of Britain. This article is published in a prestigious academic journal. When you read the article, it is as if there were no Scots, Welsh or Irish there and that 1300 years ago everyone spoke English as they do today.
In other words, they look at the political structure of the world today and write and speak completely with this subconscious. Today, whichever nation is dominant, whichever language is the official language, they write the entire history of humanity accordingly.
Because, as I said, this is the general characteristic of scientists: They do not fear God, but they are very afraid of states. They are brave enough not to fear God, but they are also cowards enough to fear the prison of the state and the rifle butts of the soldiers.
I did not say it in vain just now: When you are left without a state and status, you lose not only your present, but also your past.
As you know, there was a “religious world” in the past. In Christian Europe, scientific works were written in Latin and scientists used Latin names in accordance with the fashion of the time. Whether that scientist was Italian, Spanish, German or French, he would use Latin names. He would have a Latin name and write his works in Latin. During the same period, in the Islamic world, scientific works were written in Arabic and scientists used Arabic names in accordance with the fashion of the time. Because Arabic was the language of Islam. Whether that scientist was Kurdish, Berber, Turk or Persian, he would use Arabic names. He would have an Arabic name and write his works in Arabic.
Today’s Europe has no chance of using this situation to try to make everyone “Latin”. Because Latin is a dead language today and is not used anywhere except the Vatican. But this is not the case in the Islamic world. Arabic is still a living language and there are 22 Arab states. This situation presents a great opportunity for Arab racism and nationalism to distort history and historical figures in the name of “Religion” and using “Islam” and to make everyone “Arab”.
After all, what could be easier than calling a scientist who used the pseudonym “Abu” or “Ibn” and wrote his works in Arabic as “Arab”? Let that person be a Kurd, Turk or Persian in reality! It is not difficult to describe a state / civilization whose official language is Arabic and where Arabic is spoken as “Arab”. Let that state be a Berber civilization in reality!
At the forefront of these is the magnificent historical heritage of the Andalusian Islamic Civilization.
Today, Andalusia, which is described to us in history books as “an Arab civilization” (both Muslim historians and Western Christian historians describe it this way), is not actually an Arab civilization, but a Berber civilization. It is a magnificent civilization founded and sustained by the Berbers.
As we explained in the last section, the pioneer of this civilization was Tariq ibn Ziyad al- Layti (670 – 720), who was originally a child of a Kurdish family who had been taken as slaves from the city of Hamadan in Iran and brought to Algeria. The Islamic army that conquered the Iberian Peninsula, which included all of today’s Spain, Portugal and Andorra, and the southwestern part of France, was an army of Berber raiders under the command of the Kurdish commander Tariq ibn Ziyad. (345) In 711, the famous Islamic commander Tariq ibn Ziyad landed in Gibraltar with a total of 7,000 mujahideen and defeated the Visigothic King Rodrigo (688 – 712) in Guadelate in the same year. The Visigothic State collapsed and in 712, the arrival of Abu Abdurrahman Musa ibn Nusayr ibn Abdurrahman Zayd al-Bakri al-Lakhmi (640 – 716), the Governor of Ifriqiya, with 18,000 Muslims accelerated the Islamic conquest. In 716, the Muslims conquered all of Spain. (346)
The Muslims who conquered the Iberian Peninsula in 711 were mostly Berbers and were led by Tariq ibn Ziyad. (347) With Tariq ibn Ziyad, for the first time, a general from among the Berbers (or born and raised among the Berbers) who later converted to Islam was commanding an “Islamic conquest” movement. (348)
Tariq ibn Ziyad’s family was taken as slaves by Arab forces and brought to North Africa after the Arab Islamic armies conquered Iran and Hamadan in 636 – 645. Tariq ibn Ziyad’s parents were enslaved by Muslim Arabs and brought from Hamadan to Algeria, only 25 years later Tariq was born in Algeria. Born in Algeria, Tariq bin Ziyad was born and raised among Berbers, and although he was a Kurd, he was raised as a Berber. His parents were not Muslims, but Zoroastrians. He himself was not Muslim at first, but lived as a Zoroastrian for a period of his life. He later became a Muslim, and after becoming a Muslim, he was freed by Musa ibn Nusayr. (349)
It is even debatable whether Tariq ibn Ziyad – as we are told – really set out to conquer Spain on Musa ibn Nusayr’s orders and assignment, or whether Tariq acted on his own, without listening to Musa or obeying his orders, by gathering a few warriors around him, even though Musa ibn Nusayr did not want such an operation and even tried to prevent Tariq. There are debates among different sources on this important issue, and many historians say that Tariq ibn Ziyad acted on his own. According to historians, Tariq ibn Ziyad took on tasks that were never given to him, and let alone conquering Spain upon Musa ibn Nusayr’s orders, did not even inform Musa ibn Nusayr while he was conquering Spain. When he learns about the conquest of Spain, Musa ibn Nusayr becomes very angry and starts to feel a grudge against Tariq ibn Ziyad. Musa ibn Nusayr is thinking of arresting Tariq ibn Ziyad and chaining him up, and even killing him. (350)
The Kurdish commander Tariq ibn Ziyad, who was a magnificent man, carried out this conquest independently with his own mind and the Berber warriors he gathered around him. He did not even inform Musa ibn Nusayr, in fact when Musa and the Umayyads heard about this they became very angry, they considered arresting Tariq ibn Ziyad and chaining him, and even killing him. In other words, the conquest of Spain in 711, the conquest of Andalusia, was not an achievement of the Umayyads, on the contrary, it was an achievement that was achieved despite the Umayyads. (351)
We have presented all of these historical facts in detail, with evidence and sources in the previous section of this book.
There are so many interesting things in the sources that one is truly amazed as one researches, reads and learns.
According to the sources, in the first phase of the conquest of Spain, the Islamic army consisted of Berbers from the northern regions of North Africa and groups from Western Asia. These peoples, clustered under the banner of Islam, did not mix with each other, staying in separate cities and villages. The Berbers, who had recently been suppressed and superficially “Islamized”, were responsible for the most difficult tasks and the most rugged terrain, similar to those found in their North African homeland. The people who came from Western Asia settled in the softer plains of Southern Iberia. (352)
What they call “Western Asia” is today’s Anatolia, Kurdistan and Iran. So who are these “people coming from Western Asia”?
Historians and scientists who “do not fear Allah but are very afraid of states” have hesitated to write their names, but since there was no other Muslim people in Western Asia other than the Kurds in the late 600s and early 700s, they are of course Kurds.
From these historical sources, we understand that the Muslims who conquered Spain were a Berber army led by a Kurdish commander. After the conquest, a large Berber population and a partial Kurdish population settled in the Andalusian lands. After moving to the European side, which is today’s Spanish lands, these first settlers, the Berbers and the Kurds, did not mix, but settled in separate cities and villages. Just like in the places they came from, just like their lives in their homeland, the Berbers inhabited the rugged terrain, while the Kurds settled in the soft plains of Southern Iberia.
Now I will give you some very interesting information: Did you know that during the time of the Andalusian Islamic Civilization (711 – 1492), not all cities in Spain had Arabic names, and some cities had Kurdish names?
Yes, you heard right. During the time of the Andalusian Islamic Civilization, the names of some cities were Kurdish, and I had mentioned and explained them one by one in my first book, “Adını Arayan Coğrafya” (Geography Calling Its Name), published in 2009. Here are the cities in Spain, which we have just described and which are also mentioned in scientific sources, are the cities where the first settlers after the conquest, the Kurds, settled. For example, the name of the city of Cáceres in southwest Spain, near the Portuguese border, during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Kaniya Reş. The name of the city of Comares in the south of Spain, near the Mediterranean coast, during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Koma Reş. Apart from these, the name of the city of Bobastro in southwest Spain, during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Bubeştrû. The name of the city of Fiñana in southern Spain, during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Finyâne. The name of the city of Alhendin in southern Spain, during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Hemdan. The name of the city of Caracuel in southwest Spain, during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Kêrekû. The name of the city of Ronda in southwest Spain, during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Rûnde. The name of the city of Coria in western Spain, near the Portuguese border, during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Kûriye. The name of the city of Daroca in eastern Spain during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Derawka. The name of the city of Barbastro in eastern Spain and near the French border during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Berbeştrû. The name of the city of Narbona in southwestern France and near the Spanish border during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization was Arbûne. All of these are Kurdish and during the Andalusian Islamic Civilization, these cities had Kurdish names. I have stated and explained these one by one in my book “Adını Arayan Coğrafya”, which was published in 2009 and is my first book. (353)
I know it is hard for you to believe, but all of this is true. Since historians and scientists who “do not fear Allah but are very afraid of governmens” do not tell you such things, when you hear them you are shocked and cannot believe them. But believe what I say and write, my brothers and sisters. Because unlike them, I am a historian and scientist who “fears Allah but is not at all afraid of governments.”
The Muslims who entered Iberia in 711 were mostly Berbers and were led by Tariq ibn Ziyad, a Kurd. A second mixed army of Berbers arrived a year later, in 712. Berbers are said to have made up about 66% of the Islamic population of Iberia. According to one claim, they even helped Abdurrahman I ibn Muawiyah ibn Hisham ibn Abdulmalik ibn Marwan (731 – 88), the founder of the Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba, the first form of the Umayyad State of Andalusia, because his mother was Berber. (354)
Tariq ibn Ziyad led a small army in the first conquest, consisting mostly of Berbers, while Musa ibn Nusayr’s largely Arab force of over 12,000 soldiers was accompanied by a group of “mawali,” or non-Arab Muslims. The Berber soldiers who accompanied Tariq were garrisoned in the center and north of the peninsula, in the Pyrenees (355), while the Berber conquerors who followed them settled in many parts of the country, north, east, south, and west (356).
However, there are honest and upright historians and scholars who do not think and write according to the dominant cultural codes. These honest historians and upright scholars have clearly stated, as I am trying to explain now, that the role of the Berbers has been underestimated in the existing sources due to the later hostility between Arabs and Berbers and the fact that most of the history of Andalusia has been written from an Arab perspective. (357) Indeed, the reliable source that these honest historians rely on in this regard is the biographical dictionary of the world-famous Kurdish historian, jurist, writer and poet Ibn Khallikan or with his full name Shamsaddin abu Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Abubaker ibn Khallikan al-Barmaki al-Arbili (1211 – 82). The Kurdish historian Ibn Khallikan, in his introduction to Tariq ibn Ziyad, clearly recorded and wrote about the Berber supremacy in the conquest of al-Andalus in 711. (358)
A second mixed army of Arabs and Berbers arrived a year later, in 712, under Musa ibn Nusayr himself, as mentioned above. Since his mother was Berber, it is assumed that the Berbers assisted the Umayyad Caliph Abdurrahman I in al-Andalus. (359)
English historian and medievalist Roger John Howard Collins (1949 – still alive) suggests that if the forces that conquered the Iberian Peninsula were predominantly Berber, it was because there were insufficient Arab forces in Africa to maintain control of Africa and simultaneously attack Iberia. Thus, although North Africa had only been conquered about 12 years earlier, the Arabs used the forces of the defeated Berbers to launch their next invasion. (360) This explains the Berber superiority over the Arabs in the initial conquest. Collins also argues that Berber social organization enabled the Arabs to include entire tribal units in their armies, making the defeated Berbers excellent military auxiliaries. (361)
Berber forces in the conquest of Iberia came from as far away as Ifriqiya (today’s Tunisia) or Tripolitania (today’s Libya). (362) The Arab governor of Al-Andalus in 719 – 721, As-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani (? – 721), apparently distributed the lands to the conquering forces according to tribes, but this is difficult to determine from the few historical sources available. (363) It was during this period that the positions of Arabs and Berbers were organized in the Iberian Peninsula. Berbers were stationed in many of the most mountainous regions of Spain, such as Granada, the Pyrenees, Cantabria and Galicia. Roger Collins suggests that this may have been because some Berbers were familiar with the mountainous terrain, while the Arabs were not. (364) In the late 710s there was a Berber governor in León or Gijón (Xixón). (365) For example, when Pelayo (685 – 737), the founder and first king of the Kingdom of Asturias, rebelled, it was against a Berber governor. This rebellion challenged the plans of Samh to settle Berbers in the mountains of Galicia and Cantabria, and by the middle of the 8th century there seemed to be no Berber presence in Galicia anymore. (366) The expulsion of Berber garrisons from Central Asturias following the Battle of Covadonga (Summer 722) eventually contributed to the establishment of the independent Kingdom of Asturias. (367)
Many Berbers were settled in the borderlands near Toledo, Talavera de la Reina and Mérida at that time. (368) Mérida became an important Berber stronghold in the 8th century. (369) The Berber garrison at Talavera de la Reina would later be led by Amrus ibn Yusuf al-Muwallad al-Laridi (? – 813) and would participate in military operations against the rebels in Toledo in the late 700s and early 800s. (370)
The Berbers were initially settled in the Pyrenees and Catalonia. (371) They did not settle in the major cities in the south and were generally kept in the border regions far from Córdoba. (372)
According to the research and writing of the French historian, archaeologist and medievalist Pierre Guichard (1939 – 2021), the Berber groups in Iberia have preserved their distinctive social organization. (373) According to this traditional view of Arab and Berber culture in the Iberian Peninsula, the Berber society was culturally quite strong against external influences, while the Arabs assimilated and became “Hispanic” (Spanishized). (374) Some evidence supporting the view that the Berbers were less assimilated comes from an archaeological excavation of an Islamic cemetery in northern Spain, which revealed that the Berbers who accompanied the first conquest brought their families from North Africa. (375)
This is very important information. From this, we learn that the Berber communities that settled in Spain after the conquest preserved their strong culture, but the Arab communities failed to do so and assimilated and over time became “Hispanic” (Spanishized). This shows that the “Islamist propaganda” imposed in the religious algorithm of the Muslim world, especially in religious education and theology, that “Arabic is a very powerful language, Arab-Islamic culture is very rich” does not reflect the truth and is empty rhetoric.
In 731, the Pyrenees was under the control of Berber forces garrisoned in large towns under the command of the Berber commander Munnuza or in his real name Uthman ibn Nisa (? – 731). Munnuza attempted a Berber uprising against the Arabs in Spain, citing the mistreatment of the Berbers by the Arab rulers in North Africa, and formed an alliance with the Odón the Great (650 – 735), Duke of Vasconia and Aquitaine. However, the Arab Umayyad commander and governor Abdurrahman ibn Abdullah al-Ghafiqi (? – 732) attacked Munnuza before he was ready, besieged him and defeated him at La Cerdanya. Because of the alliance with Munnuza, Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi wanted to punish the Odón the Great, and the punitive expedition ended with an Arab defeat at Poitiers (Tours). (376)
During the reign of Uqba ibn Hajjadj al-Saluli (? – 741), the Ifriqiya General, and probably as early as 714, the city of Pamplona was captured by a Berber garrison. (377) A cemetery dating from the 8th century has been discovered through archaeological excavations, containing 190 burials according to Islamic tradition, testifying to the existence of this garrison. (378) However, it is recorded that in 798 Pamplona was under the rule of Mutarrif ibn Musa ibn Fortun ibn Qasi (? – 799), the governor of Bani Qasi. Mutarrif ibn Musa lost control of Pamplona to a popular uprising. Pamplona declared allegiance to the Franks in 806 and became the independent Kingdom of Pamplona in 824. These events put an end to the Berber garrison in Pamplona. (379)
During the conquest of al-Andalus, the Berbers formed their own military units based on tribal loyalties, having had little contact with the Arabs. Uthman ibn Nisa, a Berber commander based in La Cerdanya (Eastern Pyrenees), signed an alliance with the Duke of Vascony and Aquitaine, Odón the Great, seceded from the central government of Córdoba (Kurtuba), and soon established a kingdom. However, he was suppressed in 731 by the Arab Umayyad commander and governor Abdurrahman ibn Abdullah al-Ghafiqi. At this point, the Berbers had been superficially “Islamized” and maintained their religious assimilation to Islam and, to varying degrees, their traditions. Berbers who left their al-Andalusian outposts to join the Berber Revolt (740 – 42) and were stationed in Galicia reportedly converted from Islam to Christianity in response to racist and assimilationist Arab impositions. Accounts of the sieges of Mérida make it clear that they were not Muslims at the time. (380)
During the Taifa period, petty kings came from various ethnic groups. The Taifa period ended with the conquest of Andalusia by the Almoravid dynasty. They were replaced by the Almohad dynasty from Morocco, and during this period Andalusia developed. In the hierarchy of power, the Berbers were located between the Arab aristocracy and the Muladi people. Ethnic rivalries were one of the factors of Andalusian politics. After the fall of the caliphate, the Taifa kingdoms of Toledo, Badajoz, Malaga and Granada had Berber rulers.
In light of all our historical readings, when we examine all sources, whether biased or impartial, a clear picture emerges, and that is this: The Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Berber raiders under the command of the Kurdish commander Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711, and the Andalusian Islamic Civilization on the European continent was founded by the Berbers who conquered it. The Berbers, who were left stateless and under the yoke of the Arabs even in their homeland of North Africa, carried out such a tremendous conquest movement. However, the Arabs, who had subjugated them in their homeland of North Africa and left them stateless, did not leave them alone in Spain, which they had just conquered, and a year later they went and usurped their conquests.
The Arabs and the Umayyad Arab administration in North Africa were against such a “crazy” conquest movement from the very beginning. Because they saw it as “suicide”. However, when the conquest movement was successful, they were shocked and quickly marched on Spain to usurp this historic conquest of the Berbers.
This is exactly what happened.
Let’s explain it in order: The 7,000-man Berber army under the command of Kurdish commander Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar (Djabal-i Tariq) and conquered Spanish territory. With the support of Julián (? – ?), the Byzantine governor of Septe (Ceuta; then known as Septem), they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Septe.
The date is April 711.
Immediately after the conquest, Tariq ibn Ziyad established a headquarters in Gibraltar, which would later be named after him.
The date is April 28, 711.
Later, after receiving another 5,000-man Berber reinforcement, he decisively defeated the Visigoths under Rodrigo in the Battle of Río Guadalete, which lasted a week.
The date is July 19 – 26, 711.
The Arabs, who were astonished to hear of all these successes, and the Umayyad administration in North Africa took action at that time. The Arab Umayyads made preparations for this for a year. After a year, the Governor of Ifriqiya, Musa ibn Nusayr, marched on Spain (Andalusia) with an army of 18,000, mostly Arabs.
The date is June 712.
14 months, 1 year and 2 months, have passed since the conquest.
Almost a year and a half after Tariq ibn Ziyad conquered Spain, this time the Arab Umayyads attempted to conquer Spain. (381)
The “crucial” question here is: From whom did the Muslim Arabs try to “conquer” (!) Spain in 712?
Answer: From the Muslim Berbers who had conquered it a year earlier, in 711. From their own – supposedly – co-religionists.
Although Tariq ibn Ziyad was punished for disobeying Musa ibn Nusayr’s orders, both continued to conquer the country, advancing as far as Zaragoza and Navarre. (382)
The first conquest party, led by Tariq ibn Ziyad, consisted mainly of Berbers who had recently converted to Islam. It is possible that this army represented a continuation of the historical pattern of large-scale conquests in Iberia dating back to the pre-Islamic period (383), and it has therefore been suggested that the conquest was not planned from the outset. Both the “Mozarabic Chronicle” (384), also known as the “Chronicles of 754” or the “Chronicles of Spain”, and later Islamic sources mention raiding activities in the previous years, and it is possible that Tariq’s army was already present some time before this decisive victory. The fact that the army was initially a Berber army led by a Kurdish commander, and that Musa ibn Nusayr, who later became the governor of the Umayyads in North Africa, did not deign to lead a “small plunder” at first, but joined the conquest the following year when the unexpected victory was certain. This is such a definite historical fact that even many Arab historians mention that Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar without informing the Umayyad governor Musa. (385) The fact that the “Mozarabic Chronicle” mentions that the people of the city fled to high ground instead of defending the city supports the idea that this was initially thought to be a temporary conquest rather than a permanent change. (386)
Since the conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom by the Berber Muslims under Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711 – 714, Muslim Andalusia has hardly ever experienced peace. Wars and conflicts have broken out between the Arabs and the Berbers and among the Arabs themselves. The reason for this was, on the one hand, the dissatisfaction of the Berbers, who, as warriors, bore the brunt of conquering Southern Spain but were not taken into account in the distribution of positions and lands, and on the other hand, the tribal relations between the tribes. There were also disagreements between the Arab garrisons (djound) in various military regions of the empire. (We will cover the uprisings that took place in Spain after the conquest of Andalusia, and the wars and conflicts between the Arabs and the Berbers in detail in the next section of this book.)
This information shows that they have been teaching us a history full of lies for nearly a thousand years.
There are so many interesting things in the sources that when one researches, reads and learns, one is truly astonished. And we painfully understand how they have made up and told us lies for a thousand years, and what kind of lies they have put us to sleep with, whether in schools, mosques, official education or religious education.
As I said above, the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Berber raiders under the command of the Kurdish commander Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711, and the Andalusian Islamic Civilization on the European continent was founded by the Berbers who conquered it. The Berbers, who were left stateless and under the yoke of the Arabs even in their homeland of North Africa, carried out such a tremendous conquest movement. However, the Arabs, who had subjugated them in their homeland of North Africa and left them stateless, did not leave them alone in Spain, which they had just conquered, and a year later they went and usurped their conquests.
The Arabs and the Umayyad Arab administration in North Africa were against such a “crazy” conquest movement from the very beginning. Because they saw it as “suicide”. However, when the conquest movement was successful, they were shocked and quickly marched on Spain to usurp this historic conquest of the Berbers.
The Berber civilization that the Arabs usurped was such a great civilization that its positive impact is still felt throughout the European continent.
Following the arrival of the Berbers, Spain (Andalusia) also experienced a spectacular “agricultural revolution”. This agricultural revolution was of great importance to both society and the economy. The combination of new crops such as rice, hard wheat, bananas, watermelons, oranges, and more, and new and more widespread irrigation techniques such as the use of norias (a type of water wheel), meant that agricultural output was greater, more consistent, and occurred over a longer period of the year. This made the population healthier and less vulnerable to famine. It stimulated demographic growth. Farmers earned higher incomes and were able to diversify their production. (387) Some crops, such as figs, were also grown as cash crops. (388)
Andalusian society was composed of three main religious groups: Muslims, Christians and Jews. Although Muslims were united on a religious level, there were various ethnic divisions, the main one being the division between Arabs and Berbers. The Arab elite viewed non-Arab Muslims as “second-class citizens” and were particularly racist and condescending towards Berbers. (389)
After the Arab invasion (invasion against the Berbers), the ethnic structure of Andalusia began to consist of Arabs at the top of the social scale, followed by Berbers, Muladis, Mozarabs and Jews. (390) Each of these communities lived in different cities or in different neighborhoods within cities.
The Berbers, however, played a leading role in the Islamic expansion movement. The Taifa kingdoms that emerged after the end of the Córdoba Caliphate in 1031 were mostly in the hands of Berber dynasties. The Almoravids, Almohads and Merinids, who dominated the Maghreb and partly Andalusia from the 11th to the 13th centuries, were all Berber dynasties.
But the reward for all these superior services the Berbers rendered to Islam was credited to the Arabs.
After all, whoever had the religion, had the sovereignty.
And whoever had the sovereignty, wrote history as they wished
– will continue –
FOOTNOTES:
(345): See the previous section of this book titled “Was Tariq ibn Ziyad, the Conqueror of Andalusia, whose Arab or Berber Status has been Debated for a Thousand Years, Actually a Kurd?”
(346): İbrahim Sediyani, Adını Arayan Coğrafya, p. 37, Özedönüş Yayınları, Istanbul 2009 / İbrahim Sediyani, Die Verlorenen Länder Europas, p. 31, Koschi Verlag, Elbingerode 2022
(347): Roger John Howard Collins, Arab Conquest of Spain (710 – 797), p. 97, Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 1994
(348): Edgar Sommer, Kel Tamashek – Die Tuareg, p. 50 et seq., Cargo Verlag, Schwülper 2006
(349): See the previous section of this book titled “Was Tariq ibn Ziyad, the Conqueror of Andalusia, whose Arab or Berber Status has been Debated for a Thousand Years, Actually a Kurd?”
(350): See ibid
(351): See ibid
(352): Roger John Howard Collins, Arab Conquest of Spain (710 – 797), p. 49 – 50, Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 1994
(353): İbrahim Sediyani, Adını Arayan Coğrafya, p. 78 – 83, Özedönüş Yayınları, Istanbul 2009
(354): Roger John Howard Collins, Arab Conquest of Spain (710 – 797), Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 1994
(355): ibid, p. 8 – 9
(356): Abdulwāhid Dḥanūn Ṭāha, Early Muslim Settlement in Spain: The Berber Tribes in Al-Andalus, p. 166 – 177, Routledge Library Editions: Muslim Spain, Taylor & Francis Publishing, Abingdon & New York 1989
(357): Roger John Howard Collins, Arab Conquest of Spain (710 – 797), p. 97, Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 1994
(358): Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat’ul-Āyān we Anbā-u Abnā’iz-Zaman Mimmā Shabata bi’n-Naql awi’s-Semā aw Ashbatah’ul-Āyān, Nashriyat’al- Najjar, Cairo 1972
(359): Roger John Howard Collins, Arab Conquest of Spain (710 – 797), Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 1994
(360): ibid, p. 98
(361): ibid, p. 99
(362): Roger John Howard Collins, Caliphs and Kings: Spain (796 – 1031), p. 9, Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 2014
(363): Roger John Howard Collins, Arab Conquest of Spain (710 – 797), p. 48 – 49, Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 1994
(364): ibid, p. 49 – 50
(365): ibid, p. 149
(366): ibid, p. 49 – 50
(367): ibid, p. 63
(368): ibid, p. 195
(369): ibid, p. 201
(370): ibid, p. 210
(371): ibid, p. 88 – 89 and 195
(372): ibid, p. 207
(373): Pierre Guichard, Tribus Arabes et Berbères en al-Andalus, Édition De Gruyter Mouton, Paris 1973 / Pierre Guichard, Al-Andalus: Estructura Antropológica de Una Sociedad Islámica en Occidente, Barral Editores, Barcelona 1976
(374): ibid / ibis / see also Roger John Howard Collins, ibid, p. 90
(375): Philippe Sénac, Villes et Campagnes de Tarraconaise et d’Al-Andalus (VIe-XIe Siècle): La Transition, p. 114 – 124, Presses Universitaires du Midi, Toulouse 2007 / Roger John Howard Collins, Caliphs and Kings: Spain (796 – 1031), p. 9, Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 2014
(376): Roger John Howard Collins, Arab Conquest of Spain (710 – 797), p. 88 – 90, Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 1994
(377): age, s. 205 – 206
(378): Philippe Sénac, Villes et Campagnes de Tarraconaise et d’Al-Andalus (VIe-XIe Siècle): La Transition, p. 97 – 138, Presses Universitaires du Midi, Toulouse 2007
(379): Roger John Howard Collins, Arab Conquest of Spain (710 – 797), p. 206 – 208, Wiley & Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 1994
(380): Roger John Howard Collins, Early Medieval Spain, p. 165, St. Martin’s Press, New York 1983
(381): William Montgomery Watt – Pierre Cachia, A History of Islamic Spain, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1965 / Emilio González Ferrín, Historia General de Al Ándalus, Editorial Almuzara, Córdoba 2006
(382): ibid / ibid
(383): Hugh Nigel Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus, Longman Publishing, London 1996
(384): Mozarabic Chronicle, Córdoba 754
(385): Abd al-Wahid Dhannun Taha, The Muslim Conquest and Settlement of North Africa and Spain, p. 85, Routledge Publishing, London & New York 1989
(386): Mozarabic Chronicle, Córdoba 754
(387): Richard Alexander Fletcher, Moorish Spain, p. 62 – 64, University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles 1992
(388): ibid, p. 63
(389): ibid, p. 27
(390): Ana Ruiz, Medina Mayrit: The Origins of Madrid, p. 57, Algora Publishing, New York 2012
SEDİYANİ HABER
15 OCTOBER 2024
