I. Pursuing "dhimmitude" in Arab-Berber - Muslim Spain 750-1492 C.E.

 This is part I of a look at Muslim expansion into Spain: to 1492. 
The Status of Dhimmitude - the Infidel in a Muslim Society

For part II, after 1492, 
see Spain Road Ways, Pursuing dhimmitude 1492 - in Christian Spain, the Reconquest 

Christians retake Spain.

Here: 


Part I. Islamic Expansion in Spain through the centuries - Arab, Berber in Spain.

This looks at the Muslim invasions and occupation of Spain 711-1492 CE.  The Visigoths had taken over in the 5th Century in Spain, following the fall of Rome.  See ://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml.  Note that the Ottomans, out of Turkey, came much later - in 1369 with the Ottomans invading Bulgaria and heading north.

Note there were not Ottomans in Spain. The Ottoman Empire spread out of Turkey into Central Europe and Europe later.

1. Arab. Berber.

Muslims in Spain were Arabs and Berbers. See this Fordham University site for Islamic history - at ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/islam/islamsbook.html. And here are a series of maps showing Islamic conquests from time to time, including in Spain, at this University of Pennsylvania site ://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~rs143/map2.jpg. More maps at ://www.al-bab.com/arab/maps/maps2.htm.

Gibraltar, Mosque

.

The invaders were also known as "Moors," and included Arab, Berber and African persons, with the largest genetic group now being identified as Berber, from North Africa - see ://sjohn30.tripod.com/id4.html. For Berber history, see ://www.adrum.com/history.htm. Their language was spoken from the Canary Islands to Egypt, now mostly in the mountains of Algeria. Fierce fighters.

2. Ottomans. These are not the same. 

The Ottomans were a a different Muslim Empire from the one that conquered Spain. Spain's conquerors were Arab-Berber Muslims, not Ottoman. Ottoman means the Turkish Muslims of a later era, that began their expansion out of Turkey in about 1300. See map at ://www.naqshbandi.org/ottomans/maps/default.htm.

The Ottomans do appear to have taken areas around Algiers. by its greatest extent in about 1699, but they then stopped. That map site also shows the extent of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, leaving only Turkey itself by 1924. Scroll down.

3. The status of Dhimmi. Dhimmitude. Dhimmis.

Regardless of which group or branch is Islam is the topic, our understanding is that each imposed a particular status on Christians and Jews after conquest by Muslims. From Arab- Berber entry at Spain, probably near Gibraltar, and then extending briefly to Poitiers, France; to the Ottomans from Turkey later knocking on the doors of Vienna, the Balkans, Asia, Central Europe.

The meaning of Islam has not been a focus of our education of ourselves or our children, to our demonstrated peril in terms of decisions we make and conclusions we draw in a vacuum as to that heritage. So, we look here at Dhimmitude.

Hot topic. Search for "dhimmi" or "dhimmitude" and you will find invective as well as objective assessment. See Hello, Fodder - Dhimmi status posts; or Europe Road Ways Themes - Kosovo I and II posts. And Joy of Equivocating, Fear of Fog, Facts before Conclusions.

4. Jewish History in the Islamic Empires.

Go here for a timeline on Jewish topics from their history in Spain. ://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8636/History.html.

What was life for a Jew or Christian in the Spain experience, who chose not to convert to Islam in Spain in those years, we will let you know. So far, we see a kind of "chastened subservience" applied, see see ://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/. A legal status with overtones of humiliation? And, the element of forbidding arms to be used against Muslims - see ://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1022035. Need to see all the cites. Still looking. Complex area.

Christian retribution against Jews after the Christian reconquest.

Dhimmi status looks benign compared to the fate of the Jews in 1492- the Reconquest, when the Christians finally drove out the Muslims, from Granada at that late date. The Christians expelled the Jews - no-one could remain who would not convert. See the Edict of Expulsion itself at ://www.sephardicstudies.org/decree.html.

So any discussion of dhimmitude, stay with restrictions; has to be seen against its Christian counterpart - get out. This sourcebook from Fordham University lets you read all about it, from original texts: ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1492-jews-spain1.html.

The invective sites in looking up Islamic law that you will find, may or may not be found to be supported by history. You need to check up on each site you find. Please do not rely on conclusions from talking heads or neighbors at the coffee shop without finding facts. Good idea.

We should criticize others, when our own Crusades were holy wars, and offensive, not just defensive, see overview of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the rationales at Spain Road Ways, Castles, Crusades.

5. The meaning of the Koran.

Where did dhimmi come from. Is it written. For those of us with an interest in what the Qur'an says, note that it cannot be translated - all is phrased as interpretation or meaning. I understand that these versions are among the best,

• "The Meaning of the Glorious Koran," 1930, by Marmaduke Pickthall, see ://www.al-sunnah.com/call_to_islam/quran/pickthall/; and
  
• "The Koran Interpreted," by A. J. Arberry ://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/koran/koran-arberry10.html.
  

Arberry looks more poetic, as the Christian King James version reads more poetically than later versions. Pickthall may be easier to understand.

Status of research so far:

It looks like the conditions of dhimmitude for the conquered - second class status, no political say, no ownership of land, deference to Muslims, and pay a special tax (reducing income available) is nothing more than what good Christian men rejoiced in doing to their Christian women for several thousand years.

See next section, looking at after 1492's Edict of Expulsion of the Jews, at Spain Road Ways, Pursuing dhimmitude 1492 - in Christian Spain, the Reconquest.