The 'Mustard Seed' that Grew to Liberate Christian Spain from Muslim Rule

American Thinker.com ^ | May 28, 2020 | Raymond Ibrahim

[Eleutheria5]

Spain was the poorer for it. At the same time, the New World was discovered, and Columbus arrived there with a contingency of Novocristos who were secret Jews, and when he was declared Archduke of the Island of Jamaica, they settled there with him. But without the literate, professional class that was largely Jewish at that time, Spain’s empire was fragile at best, and beset by British and...believe it or not...Jewish pirates.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

I live in Almunecar, Spain. This is the view from my terrace. If you look to the left of that hill you will notice a fortress and to the right some rocks jutting out to sea. Those rocks are where the harbor used to be and the fortress has been there in one form or another since Phoenician times. That harbor is where the Arabs landed in 755 to establish the kingdom of Andalusia. That fortress was their first stronghold. There is a cross on top of the rocks to commemorate the expulsion of the Arabs from the same area after they surrendered Granada in 1489.

[Ancesthntr]

The Spanish Inquisition was DIRECTLY related to the Expulsion. Jews were given a choice: leave (the place where their families had lived for hundreds of years), convert or die. Many left, many converted and many were killed. Of those who converted, quite a number continued to practice the faith that their ancestors had maintained for 3,000 years in secret. It took the authorities a while to catch on, but when they did, they went after people with a vengeance. Also, as is part of human nature, many individuals and many in the Spanish government did not “let the crisis go to waste” and used the opportunity to get rid of business or personal rivals/enemies.

Without the necessary prerequisite if the Expulsion, there could have been no Inquisition.

[katana]

As usual, Cronos, your response is exactly correct. The Moors employed Jewish dhimmis in many government positions. They were far better educated than their rulers and formed a managerial and business class, albeit still as Dhimmis. And to be honest, they were more tolerantly treated under Moorish rule than under the Gothic Christians.

So 1492 represents the year of final expulsion of Jews and Muslims by Ferdinand and Isabella from Spain. The former became the Sephardi Jewish diaspora. Those who managed to remain were the later subjects of the Inquisition and forced conversions. Some actually emigrated to Spanish America to avoid the worst of it. Centuries prior, King John expelled the Jews from England. They were only permitted to legally return under Cromwell around 400 years later.

I had business dealings with some descendants of the Spanish Sephardi in Istanbul, where their ancestors no doubt settled after the Turks' conquest and three days massacre of 1453.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Interesting photo.

I was amazed that after getting rid of the Moors, and remembering it, that the Spaniards essentially folded after the commuter train attacks of 2004, electing a soft on Islam socialist government.

[citizen]

What an amazing bit of courageous history! bttt

[Oshkalaboomboom]

If you like to play 6 degrees of separation I can see the birth of America from my terrace. The Moors left Almunecar in 1489 after surrendering to the Spanish forces led by Ferdinand. Ferdinand and Isabella took over the Alhambra in Granada and made it their palace. It was in Granada where they granted an audience to and agreed to fund an expedition led by Christopher Columbus. And the rest, they say, is history.

[RightGeek]

[Albion Wilde]

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[Oshkalaboomboom]

This is a statue in my town. t is there to commemorate when in 755 Umayyad Abd ar-Rahman I of Damascus, the founder of the Emirate of Cordoba, arrived from North Africa and landed in Almunecar to establish his kingdom.:

That statue is at the base of the Peñones de San Cristóbal, the entrance to the old harbor. At the top of the largest rock is a huge cross that lights up at night and can be seen far out to sea. That was put up to commemorate the expulsion of the Moors from the same harbor 700 years later:

Towns around here have annual celebrations of Tres Culturas, the three cultures: Christian, Muslim and Jewish. If there is any guilt at all about the expulsion of the Jews from Spain you won't see it around here. Throughout history, from the expulsion to the Inquisition to the treatment of people in the conquered New World right up until Franco the Spanish haven't exactly been the people you would look to for the qualities of mercy, compassion, sympathy, etc. toward anyone, not even themselves. Spain has the 2nd largest number of unmarked mass graves in the world and as recently as a couple of years ago the government still refused to release details to relatives of the slaughtered. If you ever get a chance to see a documentary called The Silence of Others it's an interesting look on how to this day people still seek justice for the latest round of Spanish atrocities.

[RightGeek]

Thank you - very interesting!