By: Salah Al-Shahawi*

"These lines are not of the type of crying over ruins literature, nor regret and sorrow over spilled milk, but rather out of connection with Andalusia and righteousness to fathers and grandfathers in the land of lost glory and a reading of the history of Islamic presence in a part of d's earth which He leaves as inheritance to whom He wills, so that successive Muslim generations do not forget their history and the sacrifices of their fathers and grandfathers in defense of land and identity."

*Researcher in Arab and Islamic Heritage

On September 22, 1609, King Philip III of Spain issued an order to permanently deport what remained of the people of Andalusia. More than half a million citizens (Moriscos) were deported from their homes to outside the Iberian Peninsula, ignoring the agreement signed between (Abu Abdullah al-Saghir), the last king of Granada, and the Catholic monarchs of Spain: Ferdinand and Isabella. Under this agreement, the monarchs of Castile pledged to respect the religious beliefs, customs and traditions of Andalusian citizens in exchange for their respect and submission to the authority of the Spanish monarchs. The political and ecclesiastical authorities did not respect this agreement, and thus the deportation took place. Not even those who converted to Christianity, who were called Mudéjars, were safe, as they were always subject to doubt and suspicion.

Real causes of the fall

What is known to many is that the division of Muslims in Andalusia into Taifa states weakened them, and many rulers of these small states began to seek help from the Spaniards against other Muslim rulers. Thus began the painful story of the setting of the sun of Islam from the sky of Andalusia. While the Muslims were immersed in the depths of division and dispersion, the Spaniards took an important step in the field of unity when Ferdinand, King of Aran, married Isabella, Queen of Castile. The only concern for the Spaniards became the elimination of the last Islamic state in Andalusia, which was the Nasrid state of Granada, ruled at that time by Abu Abdullah Muhammad, whose reign lasted ten years (1482 – 1492 AD).

Surrendering the last strongholds of Islam in Andalusia.

After Abu Abdullah, the last of the Andalusian Arab emirs of Granada, became certain of the failure of his hopes, efforts and letters to urge Arabs and Muslims, especially the great powers such as the Ottomans and Mamluks, to support Granada and the Muslims in it, netiations took place between Ferdinand and Abu Abdullah's representatives, and it was agreed that Granada would be surrendered. Abu Abdullah gathered the jurists and elders of the group in the great hall of the Alhambra "Comares Hall," and after stormy discussions, the surrender treaty was approved. However, history remembers for us how the Arab knight opposing this treaty stood, Musa ibn Abi al-Ghassan, leader of the Granada cavalry. He led a defensive campaign against the enemy and urged his emir and citizens to defend to the death and warned them of the deceit and treachery of the King of Castile, saying: "Do not deceive yourselves and do not think that Ferdinand, King of Aran, and Isabella, Queen of Castile, will fulfill their promise and do not rely on their chivalry. Death is the least of what we fear. Before us is the looting of our cities, their destruction, the desecration of our mosques, the ruin of our houses, and the violation of our women and daughters. Before us is flagrant injustice, savage fanaticism, whips and chains. Before us are prisons, skinning mats and pyres. This is what at least those lowly souls who now fear a noble death will see." Then he left the council and passed through the Court of the Lions "Court of the Beasts" frowning and sad, then he went to his house, covered himself with his weapon, mounted his horse and crossed the streets of Granada leaving it, until he reached the bank of the Genil River where he met a group of Christian knights. He engaged them in a fierce fight and killed a number of them and wounded others, and feared falling into their hands so he threw himself into the river and the waves swallowed him, and no human saw him or heard of him after that. The story also says: Emir Abu Abdullah, while proceeding to his new headquarters in Alpujarras, overlooked the views of Granada, so he stood casting a final look at those dear regions in which he grew up and which witnessed the places of his glory and the authority of his fathers and grandfathers, and a tear immediately flowed and he sobbed. His mother, Princess Aisha, shouted at him: "Yes, weep like women for a kingdom you could not defend like men." That hill, which was the scene of that sad sight, is known in the Spanish novel as "The Moor's Last Sigh."

The Message of Moroccan Jurists

Moroccan Muslims did not stop supporting their Muslim brothers by sending money and religious books and broadcasting letters to the kings of the Islamic world to rise to support their brothers in Andalusia and rescue them from the horror of the famous Spanish Inquisition massacres. But these letters did not find anyone to respond to them at that time. Among them is what Shihab al-Din al-Khafaji mentioned – Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Umar Shihab al-Din al-Khafaji al-Misri – Chief Justice and author of works in literature, language and religion who translated for his contemporaries in his book (Rayhanat al-Alba wa Zahrat al-Hayat al-Dunya) where he said: "That Al-Qurtubi sent a poem mourning the Muslims in Andalusia to the kings of the Romans and their famous greats, but he did not find anyone to say to him: 'You would have been heard had you called out to someone alive.'" One manifestation of the Moroccans' support for their Muslim brothers in Andalusia is this letter sent by the jurists of Morocco to their brothers in Andalusia. The story of this letter is the story of the suffering of the Andalusian Muslims themselves. After the catastrophe occurred and the persecution of the Andalusian Arabs took place, and then the deportation of the remaining Arabs from their places and cities, and the sanctity of their properties, culture and library treasures was violated, what was looted was ne and a large part of the manuscripts and books were burned. Some libraries were sold at auction and the precious books available were moved to some libraries. Among these libraries is the library of the Escorial Monastery in the capital, Madrid. This library could have possessed the largest amount of Arabic and Islamic manuscripts in the world if Cardinal Cisneros and others had not burned thousands of manuscripts in the Bib-Rambla square of Granada after the exit of the Arabs from Spain in 1492 AD.

How did the letter reach the Escorial?

One of the copies of this letter was in the Zaydanid Moroccan library. When Moulay Zaydan was forced under the pressure of sedition and the strengthening of his opponents to leave his capital Marrakesh and carry with him his money, treasures and his precious library, which contained about three or four thousand precious Moroccan, Andalusian and Eastern books in several ships he rented to carry him with his treasures north towards the port of Agadir, the Spanish fleet led by Pedro de Lara surprised it in the open sea and seized it in 1021 AH - 1612 AD. This precious library was carried as booty to be deposited in the Royal Library at the Escorial Palace. Thus, the number of Arabic manuscripts in the Royal Library rose to about ten thousand manuscripts. It was the greatest and most valuable collection of its kind as it consists of a valuable selection of chosen books, whether collected from the conquered bases of Andalusia, especially Granada, or what was contained in the Zaydanid library, most of which was collected by the choice of the learned literary Sultan Moulay Zaydan al-Hasani, who was a lover of precious books. The pursuit of Arabic books continued, and during the first half of the sixteenth century, other great quantities were collected as the Moriscos and Christianized Arabs had large collections of them, but they were not executed or burned this time, but rather found their way to the Royal Library in the Escorial during the days of King Philip II. In 1656 AD, the highest number of Arabic and Islamic manuscripts was recorded in this library before a fire in 1671 AD came and consumed a large number of them. Tales say the number of burned manuscripts reached four thousand manuscripts, while Moroccan attempts continued until recently to recover what remained of Moulay Zaydan's library, but all attempts failed as the Spaniards consider these precious rare manuscripts part of their heritage.

Among the attempts of the Kings of Morocco to recover Andalusian books, specifically the books of the Zaydanid library, was that the great Moroccan monarch Moulay Ismail sent his ambassador Minister Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Ghassani to Charles II, King of Spain, in 1102 AH - 1690 AD to perform a dual mission: to agree on the exchange of prisoners and to work on the recovery of Arabic books. The Spaniards claimed to the Minister that the fire had consumed all Arabic books and hid from him the truth of what remained of them. When the Minister visited the Escorial and saw the traces of the fire in the library, he was convinced of what the Spaniards mentioned and settled for the agreement to release the prisoners. About eighty years after that, Moulay Muhammad ibn Abdullah, King of Morocco, in 1179 AH - 1766 AD sent his scribe Ahmad al-Mahdi al-Ghazal on a similar embassy to Charles III, King of Spain, concerning the release of prisoners and the recovery of Arabic books. The Moroccan ambassador was able to reach an agreement with the Spanish vernment to release the prisoners and also obtained a few Arabic books collected for him from Madrid and Granada, but the Spaniards hid from him, as they had hidden from his predecessor Minister al-Ghassani, the truth of the matter regarding the Escorial collection.

The Message and its Language

Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Enan found a translation of this letter in the "Aljamiado" manuscripts in the History Library in Madrid and included it in his book The End of Andalusia. *Language of the Sermon: The Moriscos were left for an era speaking their Arabic language, dealing in it and writing in it secretly the Quran, Hadith, supplications and prayers until a law was issued in 1526 AD prohibiting the Moriscos from speaking in Arabic. The summary of this law is: "The Moriscos are granted three years to learn the Castilian language, and then no one among them is allowed to speak or write in Arabic or communicate in it, and Arabic books of any material must be handed over to be read and examined, then the non-prohibited among them returned to stay with their owners for the duration of the three years only." At that time, the Moriscos found in the Castilian language itself a vent for their old thinking and literature and invented a new language derived originally from Castilian and mixed with various Arabic and non-Arabic words from old and contemporary dialects, especially Romanic, and called it Latin – and this language is known historically as (Aljamiado), which is a Spanish corruption of the word "Al-A'jamiyyah." It remained after the exile of the Moriscos from Spain in 1609 AD a deep secret known to no one until some Spanish scholars stumbled upon a group of their manuscripts in the early nineteenth century and learned that it was (the Romanic Castilian language written in Arabic letters). When the letter arrived from Morocco to the Moriscos, they translated it into Aljamiado where it was found in this form: "Praise be to d and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his family and companions. Our brothers holding onto their religion like holding onto coal... from its writer to you from the slaves of d, the smallest of His slaves and the most in need of His forgiveness and more, Ahmad Bu Juma'a al-Maghrawi then al-Wahrani... and know that the idols are carved wood and solid stone that do not harm or benefit... prayer even by nodding and Zakat even if given to your poor or as hypocrisy because d does not look at your images but at your hearts... wash from Janaba even by swimming in the seas... and if you are prevented then prayer at night to make up for the right of the day... and use Tayammum even by wiping with hands on walls... if you are forced at the time of prayer to prostrate to idols or attend their prayers then enter Ihram with intention and intend your legitimate prayer and point to what they point to of an idol and your destination is d... if they force you to drink wine then drink it not with the intention of using it... and if they force pig on you then eat it while hating it with your hearts... and if they force you to a word of disbelief then if possible use double entendre and riddles otherwise be at peace in your hearts with faith... and if they say insult Muhammad they call him Mamad so insult Mamad intending that he is the devil... and if they say Jesus is the son of d say it if forced and intend dropping a possessive i.e., slave of Allah... and if they say Jesus died by crucifixion intend from death, perfection and honor... and what is difficult for you send to us about it and we will guide you if d wills... I ask d to return the turn to Islam... by the shock of the noble Turks... we testify before d that you were truthful to d and satisfied with Him... peace be upon you all on the first of Rajab year nine hundred and ten... reaching the strangers if d the Almighty wills." It remains to remind the Spaniards, whose vernment apologized a few years a to the Jews who migrated from the Iberian Peninsula at the hands of the old monarchs, of the duty to apologize to the Arabs and Muslims, especially the descendants of the Moriscos in the Arab Maghreb. It is also necessary for the Church of Rome to make a similar apology because its leadership in that era was the primary mover for the kings of the Iberian Peninsula to commit all the crimes they committed in the name of religion in most cases.