Four centuries ago, the great civilization Muslims built in Spain essentially vanished. Known as Al-Andulus, it was renowned for religious tolerance, cultural sophistication and scientific achievement. This remarkable Islamic society ended with the expulsion of Spain's Muslim population between the years 1609-1614. The story of “this monumental historical crime” is the subject of Matthew Carr's new book, “Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain” (The New Press, 2009). Matthew Carr is a noted British writer, broadcaster and journalist. He is the author “The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism” (2007) and “My Father's House” (1998). Muslims ruled Spain for nearly 800 years through various states and dynasties. Cordoba was the jewel in the crown of Muslim Spain. “At its peak in the tenth century,” Carr writes, “ Cordoba was a metropolis without parallel in the Christian world, boasting paved roads and streetlights, hospitals, schools, public baths, and libraries. At a time when the largest library in Christian Europe had no more than six hundred volumes, a cottage industry of Arab calligraphers in Cordoba was churning out some sixty thousand handwritten books every year.” Despite the splendor of Al-Andulus, Christian political rivals in Spain sought its destruction and the burial of its memory. Muslim power and influence in Spain ended in 1492 with the conquest of Grenada by the Christian forces of the Reconquista. It was a religious crusade to impose “a single homogeneous Catholic identity” on all of Spain. The Christian victors presented their Muslim and Jewish subjects with two options: convert or face punishment. Most Jews fled in exile. However, thousands of Muslims – known as the Moriscos – converted to Christianity under duress and without conviction. The Moriscos endured humiliating assaults on their true faith and culture: Islamic and Arabic books were burned, mosques became churches, and they were forced to live in segregated areas, change their Arabic names, and abandon their distinctive customs. “The suppression of Spanish Islam,” Carr notes, “was not merely aimed at religious belief: it was intended to eliminate an ethnic minority whose customs and traditions were not necessarily religious in origin.” The tragic fate of the Moriscos was sealed when King Philip III ordered their expulsion from Spain in April 1609. They were ordered to leave Spain with only the possessions they could carry. Carr states that 350,000 Moriscos – four percent of the country's population – were forcibly removed from Spain to North Africa by 1614. Carr notes that the purging of Muslim Spain “was intended to change the course of history and usher in a new and glorious era in Spain's fortunes – and win prestige for the monarchy that had achieved this purification.” Four hundred years after the expulsion of the Moriscos, Spain has acknowledged regret, but has offered no apology for its dark history. It is apparent, Carr states, that “Spain is still not entirely comfortable with its Muslim past – or present.” Spain is not alone in its ambivalence towards Islam and Muslims. Other European countries have not embraced the multicultural nature and the religious diversity in their societies. Such resistance is one of the major stumbling blocks in their social progress. The tragic story of the Moriscos offers an important lesson for the twenty-first century. As Matthew Carr writes, “the destruction of the Moriscos is an example of what can happen when a society succumbs to its worst instincts and its worst fears in an attempt to cast out its imaginary devils.” Ethnic cleansing is a contemporary reality, and it requires constant vigilance. It may wear many cunning disguises, but it has the same core identity. Matthew Carr's excellent book on the Moriscos should be widely read and studied. It is a haunting and original account of one of the most disturbing episodes of religious persecution in Spanish history. “Blood and Faith” will be a work of enduring significance. - SG Joseph Richard Preville is an American writer living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia __
