Posted on 03/13/2004 3:41:42 AM PST by Eurotwit
New forensic evidence on the bombings has raised an uncomfortable question for Spaniards. Is Osama bin Laden dreaming of exacting revenge for the loss of Al-Andalus, the ancient Moorish kingdom in Iberia?
A group close to bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network, the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, sent a message to a London-based Arabic newspaper explaining the reasons for attacking Spain.
"This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader and America's ally in its war against Islam," the statement said.
While the authentiticy of the message is open to doubt, there is no question that it reflects the thinking of Islamists, who hold that any land which has once been part of the Muslim community should forever remain under Muslim rule.
At the beginning of the 11th century, three quarters of Spain's population was Muslim but, as soon as the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella completed the reconquest of the country for Christianity, the Muslims were ordered out.
The humiliation has never been forgotten in the Arab world.
The sense of hurt has grown since Spain, for decades a friend of the Arab world, backed the US-led war on Iraq, despite vast domestic opposition.
A dozen al-Qa'eda-linked suspected terrorists have been arrested in Spain from among its burgeoning community from North Africa.
Bin Laden has identified Spain as a worthy target, and the "settling of old accounts" will send a tingle down many an old Spaniard's spine. Bin Laden gave warning that Spain would be singled out for attack in a taped message released last October through al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel.
He said Spain would be among six nations considered "special" targets for its role in the Iraq war. Bin Laden has also spoken of Al-Andalus, regarded with nostalgia by Islamists as the halcyon age of Muslim power and artistic achievement.
The tale of the "Moor's last sigh" is recounted to epitomise the loss of one of the Islamic world's great jewels.
When King Boabdil fled the city of Granada, the last bastion of Moorish rule, he looked back and wept. His mother chided him with words that have sent a painful message down through the ages to Muslims: "Do not weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man."
Moorish armies from North Africa conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century and transformed the region into an integral part of the Muslim umma, or nation.
The year 1492, when Granada was ceded to Ferdinand and Isabella, is a talismanic date for some Islamist scholars who consider it as the beginning of the decline of the Muslim world which continues to this day.
Most Europeans see the years of Islamic rule in Spain as a period of scholarship, leisured lifestyle and inspired architecture, though Islamists would focus on the vibrancy of the faith which allowed the Muslim armies to force their way deep into Christendom.
The jewels of Islamic Cordoba and Granada are still claimed by some who resent the expulsion of the Muslims from the peninsula. None of this proves that bin Laden was behind the bomb attacks on Thursday. An emotional attachment to a place does not automatically mean readiness to blow up innocent commuters.
If there is an Islamic connection, it may owe more to the availability of active cells and explosives.
But there is no doubt that the mere suggestion of an Islamist connection has sent a shudder through Spaniards.
Last year after a wait of more than 500 years, Spanish Muslims succeeded in building a mosque in the shadow of the Alhambra, once the symbol of Islamic power in Europe.
Perhaps Thursday's attacks were another return to the past, in this case a revival of Spain's ancient animosities.
Sadly, unless radical changes are made by muslims...perhaps one day America will do the same!!!
Everyone should visit Grenada sometime. It's like visiting a fairyland.
And they're incenced the Spaniards drove them back out. Waaaa.
Spaniards had been fighting against the Muslims for over 700 years at that point. By the time of Isabel and Ferdinand ("los Reyes Católicos"), Moorish possessions had been reduced to only Granada and a couple of other points in that area. (3/4 of Spain was NOT Muslim at that time, no matter how you put it.)
Initially, after the fall of Granada, los Reyes offered to permit at least one of the Muslim leaders to remain. However, he proved to be untrustworthy and was also expelled after trying to gather forces to fight against the Spanish again.
One of the reasons the Jews were expelled was that there was wide popular suspicion that they were helping the Muslims. I think that in most cases, this was simple bigotry and suspicion egged on by the fact that some people had much to gain by getting rid of the Jews. Many members of the court of Isabel and Ferdinand were Jews, and there was considerable jealously among lower ranks of non-Jewish courtiers. However, in at least one town, it did appear to be the case that Jews were helping the Muslims rearm.
No matter how you look at it, Islam has been a problem and a force for violence and disruption since the day of its founding.
I guess we are going to have to open a can of Whoop As$ on them if we are going to play historical tit for tat.
That is an obvious but un-PC/Leftist point.
From the Koran:
2.191 [concerning Jews and Christians] And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter,There are many passages that command the killing of Jews and Christians until there is a one world dictatorship of Islam.4.89 therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.
9.5 then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
9.14 Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people.
9.29 Fight against such of those to whom the Scriptures were given ... and do not embrace the true Faith, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued.A mainstream Muslim has been taught since birth that Jews and "followers of the Cross" are to be killed. Other religious people are to be slaves that pay tribute for the privilege of staying alive.8.39 Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and Allah’s religion shall reign supreme
A radical Muslim might say that maybe all this killing and enslavement isn't very nice and Islam would be better off without it. But I wouldn't know, I've never heard a Muslim say anything or write anything remotely like that.
In the US, the Muslim representatives decry racial profiling while avoiding saying anything apologetic about Muslim hatred of Christians and Jews. Abroad, they dance in the streets with glee at the news of killed Christians and Jews.
The extreme view would be along the lines of 'the only peaceful Muslim is a dead Muslim.' Extreme but sadly fitting. The reference of course from the frontier clash with the Indian tribes. Cold fact that is when two fundamentally and completely different cultures clash, only one will survive, the other will be destroyed and its remnants assimilated.
Conservatives grasp this unfortunate historical occurrence.
Leftists have yet to realize that there is no 'celebration of cultural diversity' in an Islamic world.
The Ottoman empire once extended to Vienna. Spain isn't alone in this category.
Kind of puts the Spanish Inquisition in a different light, doesn't it?
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