Medieval Spain and the Middle East History Research Assignment (Essay Sample)

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Medieval Spain and the Middle East
In the year following the death of Prophet Mohammed, Arab Muslims embarked on a mission to expand their territory, an endeavor that would see the spread of Islam from India in the East to as far as North Africa in the west. During this time, Muslims made contact with western forces, among them Spain. The North African barbarians, an army led by a Muslim general Tariq, facilitated the spread of the Islamic culture to Spain. By 712, the Moors had already placed a foot in Spain, evidence of this interaction is still present in modern Spain, an important result of the interaction is Spain becoming an part of Middle Eastern history (Watt 15).
Several factors played a role in this first wave of interaction. The Romans had created a tightly knit Spanish community that gave the Moors a formula to approach governance. The Moorish consequent events represent a significant period of history for both Spain and the Middle East (Fletcher, 3-7). An area of interest is the relationship between the Muslim government, Arabs, North African Barbarians, Christianity and periods of conquest. The entry of Islam into Europe through Spain sparked times of conquest that remain important to the Middle Eastern understanding of Europe. The Reconquista war between Muslims and Christians would be one of the many religious conflicts between the two dominant religions of the time (Carlos). This explains why Spain continues to be of interest to Middle Eastern history classes.
Hispania, the Latin name for the entirety of the region under Western Roman covering modern-day Spain and Portugal fell under the rule of Visigoths after the fall of the empire in 476. Islamic conquest forced out one of the Teutonic tribes, the Vandals, and conquered the other, the Suevi. These regions highly Romanized regions facilitated in the growth of the Latin language and culture. In the battle at the Guadalete market at the onset of Islamic influence in the region, the last Visigoth king lost the battle to general Tariq ibn-Ziyad. With the defeat of King Roderick, Iberian Peninsula fell apart, and large chunks of it came under Islamic rule. Most of these areas are modern-day Southern Spain (Watt 7-14). Historians believe that Islamic forces did not focus on Spain, but political divide among the Visigoth kingdom created an opportunity for Islam to prevail. Some Visigoth kings also aided Islamic forces in return for favors. The Islamic crusaders’ attempts to move north ended in vain with their defeat by Christians at the Battle of Tour. Humiliated by the defeat, Islamic forces abandoned the quest that focused on the conquered region (Watt 13). This explains the minimal Arabic influence in north Iberian Peninsula. Stability in the Arab occupied south came with the establishment of Andalusian Umayyad dynasty. During this time, southern Spain transformed in all aspects. These were the “golden ages” where learning, libraries, literature, poetry, and architecture flourished.
Both Islam and Christianity contributed to the emergence of a new landscape. There was religious tolerance with Christians and Jews free to practice as long as they observed certain rules. However, interfaith harmony and religious tolerance of the “golden ages” is not similar in standards to the 21st century Europe. The atmosphere was complicated with respect to practicing religion. Although the freedom retained by Christian and Jews under Islamic governance would seem to be unacceptable by modern standards, they were adequate for the religious climate of the time. Members of religions others than Islam lived in a state of 'dhimmitude' meaning that while they were not slaves, they did not have the same rights as Muslims. The non-Muslim group was treated as second-class citizens (Wietzke, 23-24). The reason for tolerance as opposed to massacre ranges from the fact that Christians and other sects outnumbered Muslims to the fact that Quran grants tolerance to non-Muslims if they observed certain rules. Many Christians and Jews in southern Spain embraced their master’s culture and traditions (Wietzke, 7-13). Some learned Arabic, adopted names and clothing brought by the ruler while others went as far as converting to Islam. Nevertheless, not all Muslims rulers upheld the same religious tranquility and tolerance. For instance, Almanzor looted churches and imposed strict rules. These stringent directives and treatment as second-class citizens sparked Christian resistance (Wietzke, 17-24).
For a long time, southern Spain and Portugal witnessed significant Muslim civilization which peaked in the 10TH century under the Umayyad Caliphate. During their time in Spain, the Arabs introduced momentous cultural shifts. Southern Iberian Peninsula had previously been a Christian region, but sudden shifts in culture demanded Islamic domination. One of the notable effects of this interaction was a move to use Arabic numbers instead of Roman numerals. Muslim presence in the region also influenced Spanish music, instruments and melodies which incorporated Arabic elements. These changes formed the foundation for guitars, flamenco and music with great similarity to traditional Moorish notes. Of all the Arabic influences in southern Spain, North African cultures contributed the most. Spanish cooking embraced northern African styles. While garbanzo bean is a rare product in Europe, its use in Spain which is characteristic of the Arabic influences.
Linguistically, the arrival of the Arabs had a significant impact on Spanish words. Arabic words adopted in Spanish share the characteristic of being noun heavy. Very few verbs or adjectives are used. For instance, Spanish word pairs depict Arabic impact in word pairs that mean the same thing, aceituna and oliva, aceite and óleo, alacr...