" Nobody expects the Spa....oh bugger!"
Posted on 06/04/2009 3:40:53 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
In his Cairo speech, Obama made the following statement:
Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition
Can anybody explain precisely what Obama was referring to?
On first glance, it looks like a reference to the so-called ‘Golden Age’ in Al Andalus. During the Golden Age, Jews - and Christians - were subject to a certain degree of formal discrimination, but largely prospered. Life was certainly better than in places like England, where Jews were repeatedly massacred and ultimately expelled.
That “golden” period definitively came to an end by the close of the 11th Century, and the invasion of the less tolerant Almoravids from North Africa.
But why Cordoba? What happened there?
In 1011, there was a massacre of Jews in Cordoba: which was followed by other slaughters in other parts of Al Andalus, notably in Granada in 1066. The famous Jewish scholar, Maimonides originally lived in Cordoba in the early 12th century, until the Almohades dynasty took the city, and threatened to kill any Jews who did not leave or convert to Islam. Maimonides’ family relocated to the more tolerant university city of Fes, in Morocco.
But, in any case, this was long before the Spanish Inquisition, which started in 1478. Cordoba had been reconquered by Spain in 1236. The city was not under Muslim rule during the Inquisition.
Some of my friends have suggested that Obama was referring to “Muslims who protected and sheltered Jews from the Spanish Inquisition”. Certainly, many Jews who fled or were expelled from Spain went to Muslim ruled lands: but not to Cordoba, as far as I know.
In Spain, Muslims might conceivably have tried to protect Jews between the beginning of the Inquisition in 1478, when Muslim power in Spain came to an end. Muslims continued to be tolerated for seven years after the edict expelling the Jews in 1492 and so there might have bene some ’sheltering’ going on then. However, I’m not aware of any specific examples of such protection taking place during those 21 years.
So, what happened in Cordoba during the Inquisition? What are the acts of tolerance to which Obama was referring?
Or was this a boo-boo by Obama’s speech writer?
I love how he has to reach all the way back to the Inquisition to find an example of Muslims being tolerant.
The author may be unaware there was a Papal Inquisition that preceded the Spanish Inquisition by several hundred years.
It was established in the 1230s, about the time Cordoba was reconquered. It had absolutely nothing to do with the Jews, as it was aimed exclusively at Christian heretics such as the Cathars.
The writer of Obama’s speech probably thinks of all “medieval” events as happening roughly simultaneously. He therefore lumps the golden age of Cordoba, which ended well before 1100, in with the Papal Inquisition, starting in the 1230s and the Spanish Inquisition, starting in the 1470s.
May be a reflection of his education as a child growing up in Indonesia?
More garbled, anti-Christian blather for his Moslem audience. Just like his anti-American blather for his tour of Europe. And his anti-business blather for his tour of NBC. His speech writers must get high before they start work. Everything he says has the air of an improvised, tall story told by a seven-year-old—even though these are all prepared, scripted speeches.
“He therefore lumps the golden age of Cordoba, which ended well before 1100, in with the Papal Inquisition, starting in the 1230s...”
If 2nd class citizenship, special taxes, lack of equal legal protection under the law and slavery are a “golden age”, then the Pre-Civil War South was a “golden age” as well.
Maybe Barry borrowed back LAWRENCE OF ARABIA from the boxed set of videos he gave Gordon Brown and dug the part where Alec Guiness lectures Peter O’Toole about “the lost street lamps of Cordoba.”
Or maybe he was just channeling Ricardo Montalban.
It sounds like a teleprompter hiccup. I think an ingenious prankster could get some incredible things out of Zero’s mouth if he got his hands on the wordfeed.
Thanks for the history lesson.
I hope the Teleprompter takes note.
It was indeed a golden age for Cordoba, or rather for the elite class of that city.
It wasn’t a particularly golden age for their serfs and slaves, or for the non-elite Jews and Christians or indeed Muslims, ruled by the elite.
But that was true everywhere at the time. Life for a non-elite Christian was probably no worse in Cordoban Spain than in the Germany or Poland of the time. And it was a good deal better for the non-elite Jew.
Chief Justice Taney announced in the Dred Scott decision that all persons of African descent weren't just second-class citizens, they were incapable of being citizens of the US at all.
He was of course wrong both factually and legally, and was comprehensively overruled by the war and constitutional amendments his ruling did so much to promote.
First a little history of why the muslims conquered Spain:
By 710AD, Jews and Christians had been in the Iberian peninsula for a few hundred years and the Visigoth king Rodrigo ruled from the capital Toledo.
Emir Musa ruled North Africa from Kairouan in Tunisia. He saw that Spain was ripe for plunder with great financial wealth, and beautiful girls aplenty for the Harems in Kairouan and Damascus. Musa then received permission from the Caliph Walid who ruled from Damascus, and then chose Tariq, a Berber, who was a former Algerian slave, but now a fierce warrior and a recent convert to Islam, to lead his army. They sent a small force of a few hundred men on a raid, and when they returned loaded with riches and pretty girls, Musa was much impressed. So the invasion of Al-Andalus (valley of Vandals) was not so much about converting the infidel to Islam, but the focus was on booty, women and slaves to be delivered back to Damascus.
The first major battle was against the Visigoth king Rodrigo, and took place near the river Rio Barbate, which is in the Xeres district, now famous for its sherry.
Rodrigo and his army was no match for the fierce Berbers and were easily defeated, with casualties in the tens of thousands. Rodrigo himself is believed to have drowned in the river attempting to escape. His horse, robes and diadem were found on the river bank.
On the way Cordoba was captured, and Toledo was easily taken. The booty was fabulous and included a gold and emerald table from the Temple of Solomon.
Musa returned to Damascus with tons of booty, Visigoth dignitaries as prisoners and 3,000 Spanish virgins.
From 756AD to 1031AD, there was a series of Islamic leaders of Cordoba (Umayyads of Cordoba). Some of their highlights include:
Hisham I (788-796) called for Holy War against Asturias and France, and assembled 100,000 warriors from even Syria, Arabia and Algeria, and attacked Narbonne and Carcassone and won enough booty to fund a new mosque in Cordoba.
Al-Hakam (796-822) became known for the “Day of the Ditch” where he beheaded 5,000 converts to Islam in Toledo on suspicion of treachery.
Almanzor (967-1002) He beheaded 4,000 Christians after taking Zamora. He won the battle near Simancus and again beheaded about 4,000 Christians. Almanzor also razed the Christian shrine city of Santiago de Compostela which was to the Christians like the Kaaba was to the Muslims.
Conversion to Islam was encouraged by the Ummayad caliphs and Emirs of Córdoba. Many Christians converted to Islam to avoid the Jizya tax which they were subjected to as Dhimmis. Apostasy, however, for one who had been raised as a Muslim or had embraced Islam, was a crime punishable by death.
From the point of view of the Muslim rulers, jizya was a material proof of the non-Muslims' acceptance of subjection to the state and its laws. Non-Muslims were also not allowed to build any new places of worship.
In Al-Andalus, the large numbers of Christians adopting Islam to escape the Jizya tax and treatment of Dhimmitude prompted concern among the authorities about the weakening of the tax base and further inflamed resentment towards the Muwallads.
The Muwallads were in almost constant revolts against the Arab and Berber immigrants who had carved out large estates for themselves, farmed by Christian serfs or slaves.
The Berbers, who held strictly to Islamic teachings, terrorised and looted Cordoba until the city fell and the Umayyad dynasty came to an end in 1031AD.
When Toledo was recaptured in 1085AD, and Seville had become the centre of Moorish culture, they sought help from North Africa. However the Almoravids were horrified when they entered Seville and noticed Jews and Christians trading freely in the markets, selling musical instruments and wine. A Fatwa was obtained and the Almoravids gained control of all Muslim lands and even taking back Valencia from the Christians.
This was followed by the even stricter Almohads who in turn fought and defeated the Almoravids in bloody Jihad.
But the Reconquista proved unstoppable and soon only the southern Taifa of Granada was left in Muslim hands.
Eventually Ferdinand and Isabella forced Mohammed XII (Boabdil) to surrender and he even gave them the keys to the palace before fleeing to Fez in Africa. Islam no longer controlled any part of Spain.
Was there a Golden Age of tolerance that Obama is talking about?
What can be concluded is that under the Umayyads of Abdul Rahman III, civilization flourished for only about 100 years because true Islam was not practised, and indeed :
■Jews and Christians Dhimmitude was not as severe, and they mixed with Muslim scholars ■Literature, Medicine, Science and Astronomy advanced ■Poetry and Music flourished (not banned) ■ Wine was drunk for pleasure (not banned) Indeed, it could be said that:
“the Golden Age happened in spite of Islam, NOT because of Islam”.
When Cordoba was sacked, the scholars moved base to Toledo after 1085AD where science and literature flourished under Christian rule, NOT Islam. Scholars came from Europe to embrace new ideas then spread this throughout Europe.
“It was indeed a golden age for Cordoba, or rather for the elite class of that city.”
Hmmm, interesting. My reading says that many jews were bankers and finance guys because of the restrictions on charging interest in the Koran.
I suppose every day is a golden age if you’re the rich elite in a given society.
They invented rich, Corinthian leather?
Every school kid in Spain knows this sentence makes no sense. Almoravids were the most fanatic sect in Islam. In the year 1212, they gathered an army of 300,000 soldiers to convert Europe by force, but they were repelled by a Christian army of 50,000 at the Battle of Navas de Tolosa (Spain). That was the largest battle in Europe until D-Day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8uVevYY88M
Another little point that Mr. Obama seems to forget, is that Muslims were big in the black slaves trade. In fact, at the above referred battle Caliph Al-Nasir chained thousands of black slaves around his tent to fight for him till their death.
Call that tolerance, Mr. Obama? I call it ignorance, if not worse.
They invented rich, Corinthian leather?
A few years ago, I saw a program about some of the classic automobile advertising campaigns. They did a segment on the Chrysler Cordoba commercials with Ricardo Montalban extolling the virtues of "fine Corinthian leather." They interviewed one of the guys behind the ad campaign. He admitted that nobody had any idea what "fine Corinthian leather" was, or if such a thing even existed. They just thought it sounded impressive, so they used it in the commercial.
At least until the Almoravids and then the Spanish Inquisition show up.
" Nobody expects the Spa....oh bugger!"
As usual with premodern armies, the numbers involved are debatable. Here's a link that references 125,000 for the Muslim side. http://www.nmhcpl.org/uploads/The_Crusade_of_Las_Navas_de_Tolosa_1031.pdf
It is very unlikely any premodern army could have invaded with a force of 300,000. No way to transport sufficient food for men and, especially, the animals to haul that food.
Even with railroads the armies of the Civil War faced great difficulty in provisioning armies that seldom much exceeded 100,000 men.
The thing that creeps me out is that Obama and his speechwriters apparently consider the Cordoba Caliphate (900s) and the Spanish Inquisition (1400s) contemporaneous.
This is the rough equivalent of thinking Bloody Mary is still ruling England.
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