On September 9, 2012, a fourteen-year-old
Pakistani Christian girl was released from jail on bail. She was imprisoned
over accusations that she had burned pages containing Quran verses. With this
is another accusation that her neighboring Muslim cleric had been accused of
planting the related evidences against the girl, in her bag. There are other stories
of persecution of Christians in Egypt, India, Indonesia, and in some other
Muslim-dominated countries.[1]
The tension between the Christians and Muslims seems to resurrect in today’s
world when inculturation and dialogue had become the songs preferred by many in
the realms of religion. The Muslims’ aggressiveness in their intention of
expanding and defending their religion in various territories goes back to the
Battle of Yarmouk in August 636 AD.[2]
They had manifested such desire event to the point of sacrificing lives, either
of Christian or Muslim alike, in the process.
In the seeming endless quarrel between
Christians and Muslims, there seem to be neither point in the history nor field
of interest where Muslims had neither live in peace nor found a common ground
with other religions and ideologies. However, a re-reading of Islam’s history in
Andalucía can provide an avenue to look for a sacred ground where Muslim can
manifest their capacity to dialogue with others, a sacred ground that can be
called art.
This paper is an attempt to present the history
of Islamic presence in the Andalucian Region of Medieval Spain vis-à-vis the
development of a unique Islamic Art in this region unparalleled from the other
Islamic territories in Northern Africa, Near East and Middle East. Furthermore,
it will attempt to illustrate a dialogue that took place between the Islamic
empires and the other religions and culture with whom they had close engagement
with, more than a millennium and a quarter ago, through art and architecture.
Islamic Caliphates and
Kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula
In order to understand the presence of Islam
and its art in the Medieval Iberian Peninsula (henceforth will be referred to as
Andalucía) knowledge of the history of the region is a pre-requisite. This is
tied to the early centuries of Islam and its caliphates and kingdoms in the
Middle East.
As the Islamic religion rose and flourished,
spiritually, from the desserts of the Middle East, in Arabia, in the 7th
century, the growth of kingdoms, sprouting from this organized religion, was
inevitable. As the people grew to spiritual maturity, they grew in their
political outlook, too. Powerful families and tribes formed caliphates and
kingdoms. In the early years of the 8th century, the flourishing
Ummayad caliphate in Northern Africa and Middle East rose as a superpower in
the Islamic world. The thought of expanding its territories was then a ripe
idea to further establish its power and capability.[3]
Due to geographical proximity of Andalucía,
it had become the natural object of the expansion of the Ummayad Caliphate
through the Islamic Tribe of Al-Andalus[4]
of Northern Africa. It was just after all across the Gibraltar Strait from the
place of their origin.[5]
Spanish Ummayad
Caliphate (756-1031)
On one account, in the beginning of the 8th
century, the Muslims began to settle in this region of the Peninsula
peacefully. They worshipped in a portion of a Roman Catholic church in the area
and lived harmoniously with the Christians. Later on, in one account, Abd
ar-Rahman I, an Umayyad émigré, asked the Christians to give the church to
them. It is presumed that Christians did so for in 785 the construction began
for the building of the Great Mosque of Cordova, with no violence recorded for
the turn over.[6]
However, on another account, historians do
not subscribe to this record of a peaceful turnover of territories and
properties of and by the Visigothic Christians. According to these accounts, in
711 the Muslims invaded the southern part of the Peninsula overrunning the
Visigothic settlements. They so desired to expand their territory that they
wanted to conquer even that which was beyond the Pyrenees, the Frankish
Kingdom. Charles Martel, a mayor of the palace, drove away the Muslims from the
Frankish kingdom. In his victory in 732 in the so-called Battle of Tour, he was
able to contain the Muslims in the south of the peninsula and prevent them from
expanding further to Western Europe.[7]
Able to occupy Andalucía either through
peaceful or trouble battles, the Muslims were resolved to make it a place they could
call their own. In 785, the Muslims began the construction of the Great Mosque
in Cordova. They observed a sense of continuity in the construction of the
Mosque. They followed the orientation of existing arcades and other structural
components, such as columns, pillars, arches, multiple-leveled arches etc. that
they inherited from the banished Visigothic Christians.[8]
The Ummayad caliphate was synergized in the
10th century when Abd ar-Rahman III proclaimed himself as a caliph.[9]
As there was an intensification of the political structure, there was the same
movement in the infrastructure of the Caliphate. This could have been a
reaction to the Caliphate’s rival the Fatimid Caliphate in the African
continent. The successors of Abd ar-Rahman III inherited his same taste and
manner of manifesting political power – improvement of the worship complex. As
years went by, the Mosque of Cordova was extended, far larger and more splendid
than its Visigothic Christian foundation. As the worship complex gained its
Islamic identity, contributed by the caliphs’ desire to display their power and
audacity, the harmonious ties with other religions and group of people
remained. In fact, one of its cupolas can testify to this.
Gold textured mosaics decorate the cupola in the mosque of Cordova, covering the center of the maqsura. It is a splendid work of art deemed by the caliph as something fit to adorn the worship complex dedicated to Allah. In an account of Ibn Idari, Hakam II ordered the Byzantine emperor to send him a mosaicist and the requisite material to decorate the cupola. Whether it is a command or a request, that is another thing, but what matters is the fact that can be drawn out of it; the caliph wanted something to decorate his worship complex, something beautiful, something pleasing to Allah. Caliph Hakam II thought the Christian mosaic art can do such task, though how foreign it is, even if it comes from the Byzantine culture, from the Christian culture.
At the completion of the mosque in the term
of al-Mansur the caliphate had a clear message: the greatest mosque in the
nation, ennobled by a building tradition of two centuries’ standing, had
achieved the status of role model worthy of emulation. Furthermore, such great
mosque manifested the great force behind it, the caliphate and the power it
possesses. At the prime of the caliphate, its territory extended over Zaragosa,
Toledo, Merida, Badoz, Medina al-Zahra, Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, Cordoba,
Seville, Granada, Malaga, and Almeria of the Iberian Peninsula. It boasted also
territories in Northern Africa, that included Ceuta, Tangier and Fez.[10]
It also took pride for its exemplary textiles, iron and ivory works, beside
achievements in the field of architecture and socio-political structures.
Taifa Kingdoms
(1012-1090)
The gradual reconquest of Andalucía, undertakenby
the Spanish Catholic Kings, caused the gradual fall of the Ummayad caliphate in
1031. This brought forth the division and creation of parties in the Islamic
caliphate, and to its eventual disbandment. These parties were known as Muluk
al-Tawa’if or Taifas(1012-1090).[11]
There were twenty six (26) chief-taifa kingdoms, formed out of the Spanish
Arabs, Berbers, and Slavs.[12]
Intensified forces by the reconquering kings, particularly that of King Alfonso
VI of Leon and Castile, forced the divided Muslim kings to call the Almoravids
from Western Sahara .
Almoravids (1100-1147)
The Almoravids[13]
were asked by the Taifas’ Kings to unite the remaining Muslims of the Taifa
kingdoms of Granada, Seville and Badajoz. They were able to merge, politically
and culturally the Muslims of Andalucía in the remaining Islamic territories.
In the reigns of the Almoravids, the progress and development in the areas of
Islamic art and architecture, started during Umayyads’ caliphate, was
continued.
The Almoravid leader Yusuf ibn Tashfin led
the building of magnificent structures in his kingdom, particularly in
Marakush, modern day Morocco. The great Mosque of Tlemcen (1082), of Nedroma
(1086), and of Algiers (1096) were some of the complexes built in Morocco
through his initiatives. As he penetrated Andalucía in 1086, Yusuf ibn Tashfin
was able establish himself as ruler of both Andalucía and the Northern African
state of Maghreb, with Marakush as the capital. This gave him the chance to
extend the Moroccan Islamic Architecture into the Andalucían Region, and vice
versa. The architecture developed in Andalucía, exemplified in the great Mosque
of Cordoba, influenced the buildings in Maghreb. Thus both architecture of
these states, governed by the Almoravids, influenced one another.
In the great Mosque of Tlemcen, the concept
of emphasizing the central aisle to the mihrab, which gives the direction of
prayer towards Mecca, is observed. This was inspired by that of Cordoba,
especially in its use of a horseshoe-shaped opening, its polygonal niche, and
the dome above the mihrab. The use of vegetal ornamentation (of fine leaf and
flower paintings) in Tlemcen’s dome manifests the influence of other art
developed in the peninsula, particularly from Saragossa. Kubisch states:
The fine leaf
and flower paintings (in Tlemcen’s dome) are reminiscent of comparable motifs
on the stucco panels of the Aljaferia of Saragossa (1049/50-1082/83), that
famous palace which, with its outstanding art decoration, is exceptional
example of 11th century Spanish Taifa art. The building of the
Aljaferia of Saragossa was completed at roughly the time when work on the great
mosque of Tlemcen was begun. As a result of this we can infer that Andalusian
artists moved into the Maghreb after the local taifa courts could offer them no
further appropriate commission. [14]
Through the emigration of the craftsmen, who
were considered as the repository of purified Ummayad art traditions, from the
peninsula to Morocco and Marrakesh, Islamic art developed in Andalucía was
transmitted to the Almoravid region in Northern Africa. On the contrary, very
few art techniques from the latter had been conveyed to the former. This is so
because the Almoravid empire treat Maghreb and the rest of their Northern
African territory as the center of their empire. Andalucía was only an
extension of the empire.[15]
There was a tendency to move all that is valuable in the periphery to the
center, though in the southeast of modern day Spain, in Murcia, stand several
medieval Islamic buildings characterized by the Almoravid elements. With the
then continuous struggle for dominance and control of Andalucía against the
reconquering Catholic Kingdoms, art and architecture was focused on fortresses
and fortifications, vis-à-vis worship complexes.
Thus, in the final years of the Almoravid empire,
one can characterize the art and architecture that it had developed as a
harmonious incorporation of both Ummayad and Taifa art, from Andalucía, with
the art from the Eastern territories particularly those promoted in Iraqi
Abbasids and Egyptian Fatimids.[16]
The Almoravids were able to unite not just the quarreling party kingdoms, but
also the art and architecture from West (Andalucía) and East (Northern
Africa).
Almohads (1130-1229)
In 1130, the Almohads took over the
territories governed by the Zirids, Hammadids, and Almoravids in Northern
Africa and in Andalucía, respectively, though it was not until 1148 that the
empire was annexed to Andalucía. Known as religious traditionalists, the
Almohads took as their mission, the purification of the prevailing beliefs, art
and architecture from elements that they saw as something offensive to them.[17] The growth of this empire can be
characterized by two phenomena in the field of art, namely first, the rise of
art developed in Andalucía, influencing other territories of the empire, and
second, the unqualified imposition of an official style.[18]
There are two buildings in Marrakech that
exemplify the Almohads’ art and architecture, namely the Kutubiyah, completed
in 1158, and the monument in Tinmal, built in honor of Ibn Tumart, the founder
of the Almohads movement, commissioned in 1153-1154.
In Andalucía, the Almohad architecture is
evident in the mosque built in Seville, which was converted into the Cathedral
of the place, after the Reconquisita period. It is patterned out of the plan in
Kutubiyah at Marrakech. Its famous minaret, La Giralda, is comparable with
those in Marrakech and Hassan Mosque in Ribat.
The Almohads saw the propagandistic
dimension of the religious and secular complexes. Each mosque built showcased
Islam’s tawhid or divine unity. It is a truth that Muslims held with great esteem.
Each fortress would like to communicate their readiness to defend their faith
and society whenever challenged.
One novelty that the Almohad empire
contributed in the development of the Islamic art and architecture in Andalucía
is the distillation of the use of vegetation and plants as art ornamentations,
an art originating from the Ummayads. The purist framework of the Almohads
demanded for stringent and traditional artistic and religious expressions,
based on rationalized norms. One could not simply use anything out of his whims
and fancy. In such atmosphere, a tension between reason and freedom of artistic
expression had developed that time. Such pressure from the purist Almohad lords
encouraged the development and use of the Eastern art in Andalucía, such as the
use of simplified plant ornamentations. This simplified type of ornamentation
can be traced back to the earlier Abbasid period. It is used in Samara, a
palace outside of Baghdad. From hence forward, the digitations of plant
elements as art ornaments had become an acceptable form of art in Almohad-run
Andalucía. The plant ornamentations facilitated the exercise of the so-called
artistic freedom without sacrificing the desired discipline and purity that the
Almohad purist wanted. The Almohads plant ornamentation, after distillation
from its Ummayad and Abbasid predecessors, is typified by the use of elongated,
curved palms set on a smooth ground. Each leaf used advanced the purist belief
of the new empire.
As the Almohads grew in wealth and power, in Northern Africa and in the Peninsula, the desire of the Spanish kings to reconquer the entire Andalucía also grew. In 1229, accumulated defeats gained by the Almohads from the advancing Christian reconquering forces broke the backbone of the Islamic empire in Andalucía, ending the century-old rule of the Almohads in the Iberian Peninsula.
Nastrids of Granada
(1232-1492)
As the Almohad rule was banished from the
peninsula and contained in their African territories, the power to rule the
remaining Islamic territories in Andalucía dangled to local rulers and
governors. It was reminiscent of the Taifa-Kingdoms-setup. Out of these disputing provincial princes rose
the Nastrid family as a ruling class capable of uniting, once again, the
Muslims of the remaining Islamic Andalucía. Indeed, the Nastrids will be put
into history books as the last Islamic kingdom in the Western Europe, having
Granada as their last foothold.
The Nastrid kingdom of Granada had been in a
defensive mood for the 250 years of its existence, keen to protect their
kingdom from the advancing Catholic troops. Remarkably, despite the combative
atmosphere, the kingdom was able to progress in art and architecture, becoming
the last bastion of refined cultured of Andalusian-Arab culture.[19]
The kingdom was founded by Muhammad ibn
Yusuf ibn Nasr. In 1229, as the Almohads fell, he ceased the opportunity to
establish his own kingdom, as the other members of nobility did that time. In
April 18, 1232, he instituted the kingdom of Nasrid with himself as the sultan.
He took ‘Muhammad I’ as his new name. What followed then were series of
conquest en route to the expansion of his kingdom. He was able to conquer Jaen,
Guadix, Baza, and Granada, making the latter the capital of his kingdom.
Muhammad I deemed it to be necessary to
create allegiance to the reconquering Catholic Kings, to secure his kingdom in
Andalucía, and expand it further. He also entered into a pact with the Merinids
of Morocco, for the purpose he had before with the Catholic Kings. Thus he was
able to neutralize the forces outside his kingdom. Notable among the Catholic kings with whom he
had an agreement was King Fernando III of Castile. He accepted the latter as
his sovereign and even helped him in the latter’s capture of Seville. Muhammad
I’s son, Muhammad II, proved to be the rightful successor to the throne of his
father. In his watch, the kingdom of Nastrid entered to various alliances with
the Catholic kingdoms enabling him to expand his territories in some parts of
Castile, though in the beginning of his term, he thought of destroying these
kingdoms by uniting the Muslims in Northern Africa and Morocco. Their
successors to the throne faced a lot of challenges in securing their
territories from the Catholic Kings and other Moroccan Kings who were all
desirous of enlarging their territories.
The Nastrid kingdom reached its peak during
the rule of Yusuf I and Muhammad V. These two great sultans built the famous
Alhambra on the hills of Granada. Yusuf I sealed several peace treaties with
Castile and Morocco in 1336. The relatively peaceful air enabled the sultan to
focus to his passion for building. He initiated the extension of Alhambra. It
was in the time of Muhammad V that the construction and adornment of Alhambra
went in full-blast. It was through him that Alhambra attain the magnificence it
has until today.
After Muhammad V, Granada was invaded by
Castilian forces. What followed then was series of disputes and political
crisis among the emirs fighting for the succession to the throne. The discord
between Muslims was seen by the reconquering forces as a seam from the rip of
destruction was possible. The marriage of Fernando of Aragon and Isabella of
Castile marked the beginning of the Islamic presence in Andalucía. Their
marriage implied the merging of the two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile, thus
positing a great threat to the trodden Islamic kingdom. The Nastrid continued
to hold the center of Islamic forces in Andalucía until 1491, when the siege
was so violent for the Muslims. The last sultan, eventually capitulated in
exchange for a safe passage to Morocco, only to die in that place in 1527,
fighting for another King.
On January 2, 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella,
the Catholic Monarchs, entered the Alhambra without any experience of struggle
at the head of their military entourage, signaling the end of the Islamic
presence in Andalucía.
Conclusion
Muslims of Andalucía in the Medieval Ages
had a penchant in observing continuity and attaining legitimacy.[20]
The exposition of the historical and aesthetical development presented above
provides an inkling on how Muslims live the aforementioned inclination. They
were able to manifest the observance of continuity of ideologies and belief of
their predecessors, whether Christian or Muslim predecessors, through art and
architecture. Through the development of worship complexes for Allah, from the
ground of Roman temples and Catholic churches and the utilization of the existing
structures and technologies, they had showed their ability to see that which
may be pleasing to the eyes of their God, regardless of its origin, whether
originating from the pagans or from the Catholics. The Almohads greatly
illustrated this sense of continuity, though with caution and reservation.[21]
One of the concrete evidences of the
observance of continuity is a cupola in the Great Mosque of Cordova, built
during the time of the Umayyads. The cupola, as mentioned above, was decorated
by the caliph using the techniques employed by the mosaicists from the
Christian Byzantium empire, even asking the Christian emperor to send
mosaicists to do the work of decorating his Islamic worship complex. Thus, it
had been a part of their subsistence as an empire to use non-Islamic methods,
techniques, knowledge, and the likes in order to put forward their desired ends,
regardless of their pagan and Christian origins, however, leaving enough space
for the infusion of Islamic identity.[22]
Some buildings and arts, in the Middle Ages
in Andalucía, represent the leading political and religious currents. [23]
The vast worship and palace complexes of the Ummayyads showcase the vastness of
their power in the region. The graceful and purified plant ornamentations of
the Almohads communicate their religious ideology of purism. And the fortress-like palace complex of
Alhambra in Granada demonstrates the perilous atmosphere in which the last
Islamic Kingdom in Andalucía lived. There is hairline distinction between the
Islamic religious and secular art and architecture developed in Andalucía,
especially under the Almohads. There is
an imprecise borderline between religious and civil architecture. It was all
embracing capable of absorbing all aspects of their life.[24]
Thus, the preservation, utilization, and development of some forms of Christian
arts and architecture by the Andalucían Muslims, during this era, either in
religious or secular buildings complexes, may suggest the religious current
pervaded throughout the region between the Muslims and Christian, more so the
religious attitude of the Muslims towards the Christians.
[1]
Bobby Ghosh/ Sana’a, The end of Al-Qaeda?,
TIME, September 17, 2012 p 18
[2]
www. http://muslim-academy.com/role-of-khalid-bin-waleed-in-the-battle-of-yarmouk/
date accessed September 31, 2012.
[3]
William Shepard, Introducing Islam
(New York: Routledge, 2009), 38.
[4]
From a Visigothic word meaning ‘homeless.’ It is from the name of this tribe
that the region is named after, a name given most probably by the Visigothic
tribes who were the original settlers of the region.
[5]
Christian Ewert, “The Presence of Islam and Islamic Art; the caliphate of
Cordova and its wake,” in Art and
Architecture of Spain, ed. Xavier Barral Altet (Spain: Bulfinch Press book,
1998), 203.
[6]
Ibid.
[7]
Daniel Medley, The Moorish Invasion of
Spain and the Christian Reconquest (http://staff.esuhsd.
org/balochie/studentprojects/moorchristian/index.html
accessed September 2, 2012)
[8]
Ewert, The Presence of Islam and Islamic
Art; the caliphate of Cordova and its wake, 204.
[9]
The word means a ruler of the Islamic world.
[10]
Markus Hattsein, “Spain and Morocco,” in ISLAM:
Art and Architecture, ed. Markus Hattsein and Peter Delius (Cologne:
Konemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2000), 210.
[11]
Richard Ettinghausen, Oleg Grabar, and Marilyn Jenkins-Madina, Islamic Art and Architecture 650-1250
(Singapore: Yale University Press, 2001) 269-288.
[12]
Markus Hattsein, “Almoravids and Almohads,” in ISLAM: Art and Architecture, ed. Markus Hattsein and Peter Delius
(Cologne: Konemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2000), 245.
[13]
From the word Al-murabitum meaning ‘The men of the Ribat’
[14]
Natascha Kubisch, “Architecture of the Almoravids and Almohads,” in ISLAM: Art and Architecture, ed. Markus
Hattsein and Peter Delius (Cologne: Konemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2000), 255-256.
[15]
Fernando Valdes Fernandez, “Moorish Art, from the time of the Almohads to the
fall of Granada,” in Art and Architecture
of Spain, ed Xavier Barral I. Altet (Spain: Bulfinch Press book, 1998),
225.
[16]
Fernandez, 226.
[17]
Ewert, The Presence of Islam and Islamic
Art; the caliphate of Cordova and its wake,, 221.
[18]
Fernandez, 231.
[19]
Markus Hattstein, “Nastrid Kingdom: History,” in ISLAM: Art and Architecture, ed. Markus Hattsein and Peter Delius
(Cologne: Konemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2000)
[20]
Fernandez, Moorish Art, from the time of
the Almohads to the fall of Granada, 231.
[21]
Ibid. 231.
[22]
Ibid. 226.
[23]
Ewert, The Presence of Islam and Islamic
Art; the caliphate of Cordova and its wake, 203.
[24]
Ibid. 221.
