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Showing posts with label Life in Hereafter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life in Hereafter. Show all posts

Sunday 21 October 2018

Muslims in Non Muslim Countries: Spain - Once the Mighty Al-Andalus

The story of rise and fall of Muslim dominance of Spain is both of glory and heart wrenching sorrows for the rise to glory was attributed to the glory of Muslims and the Ummayad Empire of the time, but their end after almost 800 years of rule was a treacherous exodus, the details of which are known but to few today.

I would here not go into the details of how Muslims came to Spain, rose to glory and many battles and the famous Spanish Inquisition that finally led to the downfall of the once thriving mighty Al Andalus empire of Spain, but would dwell more on the imprints left behind the Muslims in everything from gastronomy to music, language and architecture, which can still be felt and seen even after the 17th century brutal exodus of the Muslims, called Moriscos or simply the Moors, by the then Spanish royalties as detested aliens. 

The Arabic names distorted into Spanish and English can still be felt of their Arabic heritage like Gibraltar from Jabal al Tariq (the present Rock of Gibraltar named after the Muslim commander Tariq bin Zayyad who brought his army on ships which was a cue to Muslim occupation of Hispania), Cordoba from Qurtaba and Grenada from Gharnata. The world famous architecture of Alhambra in Grenada continues till today with its original name which the Spanish present to the world as a prideful part of their culture.

The Muslim period in Spain is often described as a 'golden age' of learning where libraries, colleges, public baths were established and literature, poetry and architecture flourished. Both Muslims and non-Muslims made major contributions to this flowering of culture.  Islamic Spain is sometimes described as a 'golden age' of religious and ethnic tolerance and interfaith harmony between Muslims, Christians and Jews. Many Christians in Spain assimilated parts of the Muslim culture. Some learned Arabic, some adopted the same clothes as their rulers (some Christian women even started wearing the veil); some took Arabic names. Christians who did this were known as Mozarabs. Although, Muslims did not explicitly hate or persecute the non-Muslims, some writers of the view that the natives lived a like of second class citizens and that the Muslim attitude toward non-Muslims is one not of hate or fear or envy but simply of contempt. [3]

Although a significant proportion of Moriscos returned to Spain or avoided expulsion through various means, and the decree never affected the country's large enslaved Muslim population, the indigenous practice of Islam had faded into obscurity by the 19th century. Nevertheless, throughout modern history there has always been a constant presence of Muslims in Spain, many of which were former slaves (known as 'moros cortados') freed in the early 18th century. Furthermore, Spain's proximity to North Africa and its small land border with the Kingdom of Morocco (as well as a colonial presence in North Africa lasting between 1912 and 1975) made Muslim presence in Spain possible. [1]

Now a few words about the rise and fall of the Muslims in Spain, though the history books are required to know the over 800 years rule of the then Umayyad Muslim Empire and their conquest of Hispania. Hispania was the Latin name given to the whole Iberian Peninsula (covering the territories of present-day Spain and Portugal). Herein under is a brief history of Muslim conquest of Hispania and their final exodus: [1]
On April 30, 711, Muslim General Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar and by the end of the campaign most of the Iberian Peninsula were brought under Islamic rule. This campaign's turning point was the battle of Guadalete, where the last Visigothic king, Roderick, was defeated and killed on the battlefield.
The Islamic rulers called the Iberian peninsula "Al-Andalus". For a time, the area that is today Spain and Portugal was one of the great Muslim civilizations, reaching its summit with the Umayyad Caliphate in the 10th century. 
The three major monotheistic religious traditions certainly did borrow from one another in Muslim-ruled Spain, benefiting especially by the blooming of philosophy and the medieval sciences in the Muslim Middle East.
However, after almost 800 years of rule, the Islamic control of Spain gradually eroded by the Christian Reconquista (The Reconquista is a name used in English to describe the period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula of about 780 years between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada to the expanding Christian kingdoms in 1491.).
The final conquest of Spain culminated by the Treaty of Granada signed by Emir Muhammad XII of Granada, allowing the Spanish crown's new Muslim subjects a large measure of religious toleration. However 1492 started the monarchy's reversal of freedoms beginning with the Alhambra Decree. This continued when Archbishop Talavera was replaced by the intolerant Cardinal Cisneros, who immediately organized a drive for mass forced conversions and burned publicly thousands of Arabic books (manuscripts). In fact almost all books in Arabic, barring the valuable medical manuscripts which are still preserved in the Escorial library.
Beginning in Valencia in 1502, Muslims were offered the choice of baptism or exile. Nowhere to go, the majority therefore were forced to accept conversion, becoming known as "New Christians" or the "Moriscos" - them being  outwardly Catholic, continued to adhere to their old beliefs in private as crypto-Muslims. Responding to a plea from his co-religionists in Spain, in 1504 Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah, an Islamic scholar in North Africa, issued a fatwa, commonly named the "Oran fatwa", saying that Muslims may outwardly practice Christianity.
The clandestine practice of Islam continued till 1567 when  King Philip II finally made the use of the Arabic language illegal, and forbade the Islamic religion, dress, and customs, a step which led to the Rebellion of Alpujarras, involving acts of brutality. In one incident, troops commanded by Don John of Austria destroyed the town of Galera east of Granada, after slaughtering the entire population. 
'Edicts of Expulsion' for the expulsion of the Moriscos were finally issued by Philip III in 1609 against the remaining Muslims in Spain. The last mass prosecution against Moriscos for crypto-Islamic practices occurred in Granada in 1727, with most of those convicted receiving relatively light sentences. By this stage, the indigenous Islam is considered to have been effectively extinguished in Spain.
The 17th century exodus was most brutal exodus of a people in the annuls of history. Read more below.




Matthew Carr, the author of Blood and Faith, explains the harrowing details of the plight of the Moriscos, driven from their home country as detested aliens.
La Expulsión en el Puerto de Denia, painted by Vicente Mostre in 1613. 
Photograph: Public Domain

Matthew Carr in his book writes: [2]
I first heard about the expulsion of the 17th-century Spanish Muslims known as Moriscos back in 1992. I was familiar with the expulsion of the Jews by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, but I knew nothing of the tragedy of the Moriscos – known as “little Moors” – that took place more than a century later.
I was moved by the tragic fate of these forced converts to Christianity. They were marginalized and persecuted before the Spanish state decided they were incapable of becoming “good and faithful” Christians.
I read the key primary documents pertaining to the expulsion, and the often genocidal texts written by 17th-century anti-Morisco writers, like the sinister Dominican monk Jaime Bleda. I went to the imposing castle of Simancas, where the Spanish state archives are kept, where I was shown a file of letters to Philip II written by local mayors and magistrates during the brutal transportation of Morisco rebels from Granada to Castile in the winter of 1570. Most of these short messages described the appalling physical condition of the sick and starving men, women and children who passed before their eyes that harsh winter, and the impossibility of feeding or even clothing them. 
I visited with the local historian Miguel Aparici Navarro, who showed me the ruins of Morisco villages, and the great ridge known as the muella – where Morisco women had thrown themselves to their deaths with their children, rather than leave the country they considered their homeland.
The battles at Cortes de Pallás were celebrated in one of the triumphal paintings commissioned by Philip III to mark the occasion; today these paintings are kept in a bank in Valencia and not open to the public. These paintings were intended to glorify what many statesmen even then regarded as a crime. Like most documents pertaining to the expulsion.

Writing specifically on the events of actual exodus of the Muslims from Spain, here is how he paints the events of the grim days:
Poignant and often tragic scenes unfolded as the Moriscos were brought to the waiting ships. One old man arrived in Valencia declaring his wish to be buried on Muslim soil but dropped dead while boarding his ship. Other Moriscos died of hunger and exhaustion before leaving the shore. Some parents became separated from their children in the confusion; others left their children behind with local Christians. 
There were many such farewells as the exodus continued. Even as the Moriscos were boarding their ships, priests, monks, and zealous Christians pleaded with them to leave their children behind so that they could be brought up as Catholics … Doña Isabel de Velasco, personally persuaded many parents to leave their children behind – or had them kidnapped – for their spiritual salvation. Some Moriscos gave in to these opportunities because they felt unable to care for their children, but others defiantly refused, such as the Morisca who gave birth on the docks and then “embarked with the infant in her arms on a harsh, windy and very cold day,” according to a report by the Valencia Inquisition, and ignored the Christians who begged her to leave her baby with them.
This then is the very brief tail of the rise and tragic fall of the Muslims in the once mighty Al Andalus. You may read from the reference given below of Wikipedia which speaks volumes of the Muslims rule of Spain and Portugal and the gory details of their forced convictions and conversions.

Today, nearly two million Muslims in Spain make up over 4% of the population. The majority are from Morocco; other sizable Muslim communities include Pakistanis, Algerians, Senegalese and Nigerians. The Autonomous Communities with a higher Muslim population are Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid and the Valencian Community. As per a survey, 59% of Muslims claimed that there is no particular hostility to their community within the country.

However, there are problems too to live life as per Islamic laws. As per a report published in 2016, it read that Spanish authorities were considering Islamic funerals incompatible with local laws that prohibit corpses being buried in direct contact with the soil. This issue and the allocation of more cemeteries for the community has become imperative for the almost two million Muslims living in Spain. “The only places in Spain where we are allowed to bury our dead according to our rituals are the regions of Andalucia and the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla (in North Africa),” said Riay Tatary, head of the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain. When progressive Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmona recently requested 10,000 square meters allocated to Muslims in a cemetery in the Spanish capital, the answer from the central government was “No.” The reason was that bureaucrats considered Islamic burial rituals as illegitimate. [6]

As per one report published in 2003 in The Telegraph, the Spanish Muslims after a wait of more than 500 years, have finally succeeded in building a mosque of their own in the shadow of the Alhambra, once the symbol of Islamic power in Europe. Though, many Spaniards are quietly unhappy. "Everybody is opposed to it, but they know it's politically impossible to voice their objections," said one local journalist. However it is resulted in graffiti such as "Moros fuera" ("Moors out!"). "Ignoring their promises to tolerate the Muslim faith, the Spaniards indulged in a wave of forced conversions, expulsions and killings. Mosques were demolished and churches built, often on the same spot," the report adds. 

Christians still convert to Islam despite Islam not being a welcome religion in Spain anymore. Looking out across the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Alhambra, Abdul Haqq, 42, a Basque who converted to Islam 12 years ago, said: "Granada has historically been the capital of European Islam. Some people convert because of their search for their roots - others like me joined as a matter of faith."

Recently there was a heart wrenching video of Adan that went viral, but later removed, on YouTube in the Alhambra palace, Grenada by a vising Syrian young man Mouaz Al-Nass which went viral on social media. When asked why he did so, he replied beautifully: "I felt that ‘the walls had missed hearing the call to Allah‘. And this sentiment is especially touching when you consider the tragic history of Islam in Spain." It may be added that the Alhambra palace, which was built by Muslim rulers in the 1330s, had not witnessed the Islamic call to prayer in nearly five centuries.

Recently there has been an emerging trend of Sufism among the Muslims of Spain. There are around 1,200 Spanish converts to this mystical form of Islam The biggest communities are in Granada and Cáceres. Most Spanish Sufis belong to the Naqshbandi order, which traces its spiritual lineage back to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, the first Caliph and a companion of the prophet Muhammad. One Sufi convert has been quoted as saying: We converts are seen as strange. Islam isn't what people think it is. Islam is peace.”  Mansur, formerly José Carlos Sánchez, explains that Sufis live in the world without necessarily being of this world. “Every day I ask Allah to help me convert my ego into my prayer mat,” says the 41-year-old university graduate. “There is an undoubted rejection of Muslims in our society.” [7]

Recently there has been a UAE funded programme to help arrange and bear the expenses for Hajj from Spain to Saudi Arabia. The UAE embassy in Spain announces the offer of such grants at mosques, and each year it receives around 500 applications. And from this a slelected number of pilgrims are chosen this year - picked randomly. The main requirements for application are being a convert to Islam, over 40 years old and a low-income earner. The travel package of around 4,000 euros includes food, guides and even the sacrifice of a lamb, which every Muslim must partake in after the month of pilgrimage. [8]

You may now like to watch a very informative video titled "In the search of spirit of Al Andalus" which recounts the glory of Islam in Spain:
                                                                                             
And before I end this rather long history of Islam in Spain, allow me to share a historical photo of Dr Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the national poet and dreamer of a separate homeland for Muslims of British Indian subcontinent. This photo was taken in 1933 when Dr Iqbal visited Cordoba and offered prayer in one of the Ummayad's time masjid in Cordoba. He then wrote a beautiful poetic work on this spiritual experience in the form a poem "Masjid-e-Qartaba (The Masjid of Cordoba)."
O’ sacred place of Cordoba, you exist because of Ishq
Ishq that’s wholly eternal, which does not come and go

Read the poem "Masjid-e-Qartaba (The Masjid of Cordoba)"with its English translation here.

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 34 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
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Tuesday 16 October 2018

Surah Naziat (Those Who Pull Out): Summary of 79th Chapter of the Holy Quran

Sūrat an-Nāziʻāt's theme centers on the truth the End Day / Resurrection and the life hereafter. Since it being one of the chapter revealed in Makkah, it also warns of the consequences of belying the Messenger of Allah,  a clear message to the pagans and nonbelievers of Makkah who mocked the Prophet of Allah whenever He called upon them to listen to the truth and words of salvation that if heeded to, may save them from the fire of hell awaiting when the final whistle is blown to mark the end of the world.

Its name derived from the word wan-nazi‘at with which it opens. The root (n-z-‘) roughly means “to yank out with great force.” [3]

Let us now see explanation of segmented portions of Sūrat an-Nāziʻāt for easy understanding:

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ 
"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful"

In the opening nine verses of the surah, Allah has taken a solemn pledge of His angels that on the End Day when the final whistle is blown, they would tear open the graves and draw out from the depth the dead, some gently who had had exhibited good deeds and listened to the Divine commandments, and others with rather harshly for they negated the messengers and prophets who tried to convey to them the divine commandments.
[1-9] By those (angels) who tear out from the depths, and draw out gently, and by those (angels) who glide about swiftly (through space), then hasten out (to carry out Commands), then conduct the affairs (in accordance with Divine Commands). The Day when the quake shall cause. a violent jolt, which is followed by another jolt, some hearts on that Day shall be trembling with fear, their looks struck with awe.
These verses have been specifically to tell the audience that the Resurrection is a Divine reality and that it will certainly come to pass and the second life after death will certainly take place. For the angels who are employed to pluck out the soul today can also be employed to restore the soul tomorrow, and the angels who promptly execute Allah's Commands and conduct the affairs of the universe today can also upset the order of the universe tomorrow by orders of the same God and can also bring about a new order. And when the End Day comes, those who sinned and wronged, they shall be trembling with fear, their looks struck with awe.

But while the pleasures of life go on and the wealth makes life easy going, one cannot fathom the Divine commandments unless one hears sincerely to the prophets. 
[10-14] They say, "Shall we really be restored to our former state? What, when we shall have become hollow, rotten bones?" They said, "It would then be a return with sheer loss!" Whereas it will only need a single shout and they will forthwith appear in an open plain.
And when they, the unbelieving, are told that a day will come when all dead will be raised from their graves, they mock the prophets and pull their legs for telling them that dead could raised again. It is for those to know that it will be no hard task of Allah who first created the world from nothing and would reassemble what is contained in the bosom of the earth to question them of their deeds while they were alive. And then the reality would be revealed that what prophets and messengers told them was the truth they refused to accept.

In the verses 15-26, the nonbelievers are taken back to the times of Prophet Musa (Moises, peace be upon him) when he too was mocked by Pharaoh, the all powerful self proclaimed lord of the world, to caution them that even the strongest and mightiest could not escape the wrath of Allah when they mocked the messenger of Allah.
[15-26] Has the story of Moses reached you? Recall when his Lord called out to him in the sacred valley of Tuwa, (saying), "Go to Pharaoh: he has become rebellious, and say to him: Will you mind to adopt purity that I may guide you to your Lord, so that you may have fear (of Him)?" Then Moses (went to Pharaoh and) showed him the great Sign, but he belied it and disobeyed. Then, he turned back to devise plots, and gathering the people together, proclaimed, "I am your Lord, the highest." Consequently, Allah seized him for punishment both in the Hereafter and in the world. Indeed, there is a lesson in this for him who fears.
According to general opinion among the commentators "the sacred . valley of 'Tuwa" means "the sacred valley which was named Tuwa". But, besides this, two other meanings of it also have been given: [1]
  • "The valley that was blessed and made sacred twice" . for it was first made sacred when Allah spoke to Moses in it for the first time, and it was blessed and made sacred for the second time when the Prophet Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and brought them into it; 
  • and "called out to him in the sacred valley in the night," and this is according to the meaning of Tuwa in the Arabic idiom. 
The instruction given to Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) was: "Go, you and your brother Aaron, to Pharaoh for he has transgressed all bounds. Talk to him gently; maybe that he is convinced by admonition or is imbued with fear." (Ta Ha: 44). One model of the gentle speech has been given in these verses, which shows what right method a preacher should adopt when preaching to a perverted man. Other models are given in Surah Ta Ha: 49-52, Surah Ash-Shua`ra': 23-28, and Surah Al-Qasas: 37. These verses are of those in which Allah has taught the correct methods of preaching Islam in the Qur'an. [1]

And when the defiant Pharaoh refused to listen to the messenger of Allah and tried to show his might by asking his subjects to tell Prophet Musa as to who could be more powerful than he, Allah punished him for his pride. And he was drowned with his entire army when chasing the followers of Prophet Musa. And that was not all, as if that was not all, Allah promised to save his body as sign of caution for those who refused to obey Allah and His messengers and prophets.

The purpose of mentioning Prophet Musa and his discussion with the Pharaoh is to warn the people to the effect : “You know full well what fate the Pharaoh met in consequence of belying the Messenger and rejecting the guidance brought by him and endeavoring to defeat his mission by trickery and deceit. If you do not learn any lesson from it and do not change your ways and attitude accordingly, you also will have to meet the same fate." [3]

It may be added here the Prophet Musa had not been sent to Pharaoh only for the deliverance of the children of Israel as some people seem to think but the primary object of his appointment was to show Pharaoh and his people the right way, and the second object was that if he did not accept the right way, the children of Israel (who in fact were a Muslim people) should be taken out of his slavery and from Egypt. [1]

Verses 27-33 show what Allah can do and would do. If He had made this universe, and adorned it pastures and crops so that people could eat and have their cattle fed, it would be no wonder that He destroys everything He created and then recreate it to take stock of everyone's deeds:
[27-33] Are you (O men,) harder to create, or is the heaven? Allah built it: He raised its vault high and gave it balance, and covered its night and brought forth its day. After that He spread out the earth from within it. He brought out its water and its pasture, and set the mountains in it, as a mesas of sustenance for you and your cattle.
This same argument for life after death has been given at several places in the Qur'an. For example, in Surah Ya Sin it has been said: "Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like of them (again)? Why not, when He is the skillful Creator." (v. 81) And in Surah Al-Mu'min it was said: "Surely the creation of the heavens and the earth is a greater task than the creation of man, but most people do not know. (v. 57) [1]

In the verses 34-41, the End Day has been painted. In the first the for 'great disaster' the words at-Taammat alkubra have been used. Taammah by itself is a grievous calamity which afflicts everybody. Then it has been further qualified by the word kubra (great), which shows that the mere word taammah is not enough to describe fully its intensity and severity. 
[34-41] Then, when the great Disaster befalls the Day when man shall remember whatever he had striven for and Hell shall be laid open for everyone to see, then the one who had rebelled and preferred the life of the world, Hell shall be his home. As for him who had feared to stand before his Lord and restrained himself from evil desires, Paradise shall be his home.
On that day, every man will come to remember what good or bad has he done while lived his wordily life. That is, "When man will see that the same Day of accountability of which he was being foretold in the world, has come, he will start remembering each one of his misdeeds done in the world even before his records are handed over to him. Some people experience this even in the world. if at some time they come across a dangerous situation suddenly when death seems to be staring them in the face, their whole life-film flashes across their mind's eye all at once. [1]

In fact in these verses, in a few words, it has been told briefly what shall be the criterion of the final judgment in the Hereafter. One kind of the conduct of life in the world is that transgressing all bounds of service man should rebel against his God and should make up his mind that he would seek only the benefits and pleasures of this world in whatever way they could be sought and achieved. The other kind of conduct is that while man passes life in the world he should constantly keep in view the truth that ultimately one day he has to stand before his Lord, and should refrain from fulfilling the evil desires of the self only for the fear that if he earned an unlawful benefit in obedience to his self, or enjoyed an evil pleasure, what answer he would give to his Lord. The criterion of the judgment in the Hereafter will be which of the two kinds of conduct he adopted in the world. If he had adopted the first kind of conduct, his permanent abode would be Hell, and if he had adopted the second kind of conduct, his permanent home would be Paradise.

And the last verses of the Sūrat an-Nāziʻāt prove that no one but Allah knows when the End Day would come. The pagans of Makkah would ask endless questions from the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) to an extent to leave him answer-less: 
[42-46] They ask you, "When will the Hour come to stay?" (But) it is not for you to tell its time. Its knowledge rests only with your Lord. You are only a warner to him who fears it. The day these people see it, they will feel as though they had stayed (in the world or in the state of death) only for the afternoon of a day or its forenoon.
Thus in order to save the Prophet from any uneasiness for not being in knowledge of, Allah has told his messenger that His task is only to convey the audience what He has been told to covey.  And that "Your warning will benefit only him who fears the coming of that Day."  For those who have faith and have clean hearts have nothing to fear as to when the final bugle will be blown for they are all ready to meet their Creator to be rewarded and sent to the Paradise. 

It is only those who have sinned and know that they would be one day taken to task are fearful of day they are ready to believe. Besides asking questions from the Prophet of Allah questions He did not have answers was in fact to mock Him for not in knowledge of things He was making them afraid of.

You may now like to listen to Arabic recitation of Sūrat an-Nāziʻāt with English subtitles:



You may refer to our post "114 Chapters (Sūrahs) of the Holy Qur'an" for translation, meaning and summary of other chapters (Though not complete but building up from 30th Part backwards for chapters in 30th Part are shorter and easier to understand)

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 |
An effort has been made to gather explanation of the surahs of the Holy Qur'an from authentic souses and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. However, those wanting detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to sites the references of which are given above.

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