Granada - Place of the Pomegranate

The seal of the city of Granada displays a pomegranate.  Scroll down and see it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Spain.  French for pomegranate is grenade.  The Romans had thought that the best pomegranates came from Carthage, and named it punicum, their name for Carthage.  The shape of the pomegranate perhaps inspired the grenade -- a hand-tossed explosive.  Apparently, when the pomegranate is tossed onto a hard surface, its seeds explode as the skin bursts. 

Its medicinal, wound-healing, indigestion and heart issue remedies, culinary and other health uses, are described at Natural Remedies of Arabia, Saudi Aramco World magazine September-October 2006, online at http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200605/natural.remedies.of.arabia.htm

Its stain is indelible. 

Muslim Spain - Contributions. Saracens. Fatimids. Granada.

Vast architectural structures. Islamic influence in so many places.

I believe this is in the town of Granada, not the palace, Alhambra, there. See where a later Christian influence (the Christians liked rigid squares and rectangles; or Gothic pointed arches) changed the original fluid, arched Moorish windows.

They made them look more Gothic, except for a few on the right that remained Moorish, with an Arab look if you scrunch up your eyes- see the flaring just at the arch, the scimitar shapes?

At this site, click on the main Islamic cities in Spain during the Muslim Occupation, and get overviews that help put the era into perspective - at ://lexicorient.com/spain/index.htm.. The main cities were Seville, Cordoba, Jaen, and Granada.

But who were the Saracens? The same as the Islamic conquerors of Spain? This site says the term was used generally for Muslims in the Middle Ages - see ://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9065721/Saracen.

Same as Fatimids?

No, the Fatimids were Shi'a, and this site has a fine, short history ://i-cias.com/e.o/fatimids.htm/ This is of interest because we learn of the Shiites in Iraq.

Note the focus of their history there, apparently in Egypt.

For a review of the Sunni - Shi'a divisions, see ://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm.

Looked up Catholic - Protestant in the same vein - and found a confusion of quasi-dogma and big words that would mean nothing to an outsider without a glossary and authority to support, at ://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/catholic_protestant.htm.

Presenting another culture's beliefs. Trouble.

Perhaps Muslims feel the same way about how their divisions are represented. This historical view, from the Tudor period, was far more informative. Take a look at ://www.historyonthenet.com/Tudors/protestant_catholic.htm.

Remember, that is from the Tudor period, 1500-1700 or so, but deep roots are there.

Here is a map of the Fatimids, and Wikipedia's note that information needs brush-ups, at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatimid.The Fatimids were Shi'a, of an Ismaili branch (?). Wikipedia notes a high degree of religious tolerance to non-Ismaili, Coptic Christian, Jew, or other Islamic persons.

Granada, Alhambra Palace. Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus is the name of the old Arabic name for the overall Iberian peninsula, now Spain.  It then became associated only with the southern portions under Muslim control, that control extending some 800 years.  For the first 300 years, the nearby city of Cordoba and its caliphate dominated.  See Saudi Aramco World magazine, Granada's New Convivienca Sept-Oct 2003, article by Tor Eigeland, at http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200305/granada.s.new.convivencia.htm,
Granada was known for its mutual tolerance of other religions, with restrictions that those others could tolerate.
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Then factions weakened Cordoban control, and by the 14th-15th Centuries, the smaller kingdom of Granada represented the remainder, was the capital, and it remained glorious in its smaller geographic setting. It finally surrendered to Christian forces of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492.

• SaudiAramco World is an excellent resource, photos, reviews, articles, heavy glossy paper, and also online. At the end of articles is a section for other related materials in other issues.  This Sept-Oct 2003 issue is especially fine for its overview of the Muslim religion, see it at Islam FAQ's, http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200305/islam-faqs.htm.

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Granada is the city in southern Spain where the Sultan's Palace, the Alhambra, is located - see http://lexicorient.com/spain/alhambra.
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Granada, Spain. Alhambra garden courtyard
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The guidebook may say that you have to have advance tickets to do the Alhambra palace. Not so. If you get there later in the afternoon, you can see it all, and avoid the tour buses. We spent the night in town, and went back the next day to fill in anything we missed.




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Alhambra, Granada, Spain, Lion Fountain

While the Moors ruled, there was an extensive flowering of architecture, culture, mathematics, architecture, etc. See http://www.home.att.net/%7Ea.f.aly/renaissance; and http://www.andalucia.com/cities/granada.



There is a new mosque at the Albaicin, the first in 500 years. 
.Albaicin, Arab Quarter, Old Grenada, Spain (view from the Alhambra)


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There is a fine view to old Granada from the Arab Quarter, The Albaicin is the area where the Christians, upon retaking Granada in 1492, forced the Arab Muslims to live.  It became known as the Arab Quarter, and is located on a steep hillside, now the Old City. See http://www.vivagranada.com/, fine photos and notes by Lorenzo Bohm. Details for tourists at http://www.andalucia.com/cities/granada/albaicin.htm. Take time at the spice market in the Albaicin, heaps of turmuric, others, and take time to wander and get totally lost. You will find your way back.
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In the cathedral here are Ferdinand and Isabella, and our favorite, Juana la Loca, see this site and read every word, at http://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madmonarchs/juana/juana_bio.htm. There she is, in stone, with her fingers lightly tented over her chest, moving ever so slightly, and her head turned just a tad away from her husband, Philip (handsome but....) beside her, as her mind still wanders. Or doesn't, or never did.
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Read her story in James Michener's extensive novel, "Iberia" - see http://www.longitudebooks.com/find/p/1804/mcms.html. We are looking for the pages about Juana now. La la la. But not all is necessarily as it seems....