Al-Andalusia … Decline of a Plural Culture

...& there's a surname 'Andaluci' among Moroccans now...

Re: # 107
According to historians most resettled in morocco, their culture survived for some centuries but, they couldn’t recreate the glory and the majesty of Moorish Spain but, ofcourse spain went on to become the superpower of its days with the discovery of Americas because of the knowledge it had learned from the moors.

aslam, once the moorish were driven out, what happend to them? did they try to recreate the great cordoba in tunis or somewhere? i guess its not that easy to recreate something this big but any idea what happend to them?

Re: # 105 oh wonderful. so beautiful... but full of pain!

The last sigh of the moor
At length the weeping train reached the summit of an eminence about two leagues distant which commanded the last view of Granada. Here they paused for a look of farewell at the beautiful and beloved city, whose towers and minarets gleamed brightly before them in the sunshine. While they still gazed a peal of artillery, faint with distance, told them that the city was taken possession of and [148] was lost to the Moorish kings forever. Boabdil could no longer contain himself.
"Allah achbar! God is great!" he murmured, tears accompanying his words of resignation.
His mother, a woman of intrepid soul, was indignant at this display of weakness.
"You do well," she cried, "to weep like a woman for what you failed to defend like a man."
Others strove to console the king, but his tears were not to be restrained.
"Allah achbar!" he exclaimed again; "when did misfortunes ever equal mine?"
The hill where this took place afterwards became known as Feg Allah Achbar; but the point of view where Boabdil obtained the last prospect of Granada is called by the Spaniards "El ultimo suspiro del Moro," or "The last sigh of the Moor."
As Boabdil thus took his last look at beautiful Granada, it behooves us to take a final backward glance at Arabian Spain, from whose history we have drawn so much of interest and romance. In this hospitable realm civilization dwelt when few traces of it existed elsewhere. Here luxury reigned while barbarism prevailed widely in Europe. We are told that in Cordova a man might walk ten miles by the light of the public lamps, while centuries afterwards there was not a single public lamp in London streets. Its avenues were solidly paved, while centuries afterwards the people of Paris, on rainy days, stepped from their door-sills into mud ankle-deep. The dwellings were marked by beauty and luxury, while the people of Europe, as a rule [149] in that semi-barbaric period, dwelt in miserable huts, dressed in leather, and lived on the rudest and least nutritive food.
The rulers of France, England, and Germany lived in rude buildings without chimneys or windows, with a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape, at a time when the royal halls of Arabian Spain were visions of grace and beauty. The residences of the Arabs had marble balconies overhanging orange-gardens; their floors and walls were frequently of rich and graceful mosaic; fountains gushed in their courts, quicksilver often taking the place of water, and falling in a glistening spray. In summer cool air was drawn into the apartments through ventilating towers; in winter warm and perfumed air was discharged through hidden passages. From the ceilings, corniced with fretted gold, great chandeliers hung. Here were clusters of frail marble columns, which, in the boudoirs of the sultanas, gave way to verd-antique incrusted with lapis lazuli. The furniture was of sandal- or citron-wood, richly inlaid with gold, silver, or precious minerals. Tapestry hid the walls, Persian carpets covered the floors, pillows and couches of elegant forms were spread about the rooms. Great care was given to bathing and personal cleanliness at a time when such a thought had not dawned upon Christian Europe. Their pleasure-gardens were of unequalled beauty, and were rich with flowers and fruits. In short, in this brief space it is impossible to give more than a bare outline of the marvellous luxury which surrounded this people, recently come from the deserts [150] of Arabia, at a time when most of the remainder of Europe was plunged into the rudest barbarism.
Much might be said of their libraries, their universities, their scholars and scientists, and the magnificence of their architecture, of which abundant examples still remain in the cities of Spain, the Alhambra of Granada, the palace which Boabdil so reluctantly left, being almost without an equal for lightness, grace, and architectural beauty in the cities of the world. Well might the dethroned monarch look back with bitter regret upon this rarest monument of the Arabian civilization and give vent, in farewell to its far-seen towers, to "The last sigh of the Moor."

Re: # 101 thx dear!

Re: # 99 Dear Laddu should Mahabharta be read as a love story but not as a war between kaurawas and Pandwas?

Ramayna should not mention when Hanuman fired up Lanka?

Ashoka's Kalinga war?


Getting the point or....?

Its section VI and not section IV

Re: # 98

Laddu;

So much hatered has compromised your faculties to differentiate between right and wrong. Your country is a signatory to the Geneva convention along with 200 others. Please go through at least Section 1: Article 18 and Section IV: Article 58 - 68 and then read the verses that you posted again with an open eye. Both lay down the code of conduct of an Occupying Army in a captured land and with a minor difference in terminology both laws accord similar treatments to the captives or conquered population. What you refer to as "dhimitude" is referred to as "ceasure of hostilities" in the body of convention.

Here is the text of Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949;

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/deploymentsconflicts/l/blgenevaconv.htm

"All that mahmood mahmood bhai is asking is that the rest of us read and read till we get it. Like he has. And if you still don't get it, examine your own heart, pray to God for truer understanding, ask Him for forgiveness, and read again.

I am told the Buddha too taught that."

Mr. Eklavya khan ,

Please read something about Buddhism before you come out with these nonsense gems that exposes your ignorance and your true muslim identity in praising dhimmitude to hindu idolators.

Buddhism is actually a Nastik world view........it does not postulate a cruel despot like God whom you 'pray' by banging your head 5 times a day!!

Come on you 'moderate' muslims...........ban these verses....flag them red......

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It is not fitting for an apostle that he should have prisoners of war until he has thoroughly subdued the land. You look for the temporal goods of this world; but God looks to the Hereafter: And God is Exalted in might, Wise.
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Had it not been for a previous ordainment from God, a severe penalty would have reached you for the ransom that you took.
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But now enjoy what you took in war, lawful and good: But fear God, for God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
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O Messenger, say to those who are captives in your hands: "If God finds any good in your hearts, He will give you something better than what has been taken from you, and He will forgive you: For God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

[8:42] And know that whatever you take as spoils in war, a fifth thereof is for Allah and for the Messenger and the kindred and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer, if you believe in Allah and what We sent down to Our servant on the Day of Distinction, - the day when the two armies met - and Allah has power to do all that He wills.
[8:43] When you were on the nearer bank of the Valley, and they were on the further bank, and the caravan was below you. And if you had to make an appointment between you, you would have certainly differed with regard to the time of the appointment. But the encounter was brought about without appointment that Allah might accomplish the thing that was decreed, so that he, who had already perished by a clear proof, should perish, and he, would had already come to life by a clear proof, should live. And certainly Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

[8:14] That is because they have opposed Allah and His Messenger. And whoso opposes Allah and His Messenger, Then Allah is surely Severe in retribution.
[8:15] That is your punishment, taste it then; and remember that for disbelievers there is the punishment of the Fire.
[8:16] O ye who believe! when you meet those who disbelieve, advancing in force, turn not your backs to them.
[8:17] And whoso turns his back to them on such a day, unless manoeuvring for battle or turning to join another company, he indeed draws upon himself the wrath of Allah, and Hell shall be his abode. And an evil resort it is.
[8:18] So you slew them not; but it was Allah Who slew them. And thou threwest not when thou didst throw, but it was Allah Who threw, that He might overthrow the disbelievers and that He might confer on the believers a great favour from Himself. Surely, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.
[8:19] That is what happened; And know that Allah will weaken the design of the disbelievers.

[8:13] When thy Lord revealed to the angels, saying, 'I am with you; so make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Smite them above their necks, and smite off all finger-tips.'

Re: # 87

Hey, some one got offended by my mentioning Chapter 8 of Quran.

I am sure you should flag all the verses of Chapter 8 as OFFENSIVE that I am going to post right in my next posts.

Indeed Quran is offensive to me and to all idolators like me.

It is as threatening to me as Osama Bin Laden's threats to America.

Come on 'moderate' muslims - ban this book of hate before it consumes you!!