THE CULT OF SPAIN AMONG THE SOUTH ASIAN MUSLIMS

MUHAMMAD KHALID MASUD

The cult of Spain is a fascinating story of how people objectify their social and historical identities.
The South Asian Muslims, especially elite, suffered from a sense of political and social loss at
the beginning of this century. The British rule, growth of scientism and description of them by
the Europeans as intellectually and culturally backward turned them to their past achievements
in science, culture and other spheres. Spain was an ideal point of reference for this purpose. It
was a country in Europe where science and humanism flourished under Muslim rule, a fact
stressed in recent. The story is also significant because there was hardly any interest in Spain in
South Asia until the middle of nineteenth century. In the twentieth century the interest grows
almost like a cult to the extent that Spain is remembered with a romantic nostalgia in Urdu
literature.

The Term and its Meaning

The term cult of Spain was first used by Aziz Ahmad. He viewed the cult of Spain
as a pan-Islamic view of history. He defined the cult as follows:
The fact that a pan-Islamic historical imagination presented to the Indian Muslims
the total history of Islam as one unique operation and all in one piece. It claimed
very forcefully the intellectual and cultural achievements of Muslim Spain as a part
of their own cultural heritage (Ahmad 1962,465).

Cantwel Smith looks at this interest in Spain as apologetic. Pride in Basra, Kufah,
Baghdad and Cairo and Qurtuba, in his view, was an apologetic argument for the
supremacy of Islamic civilization. Anything admirable that is discovered
immediately claimed as ours (Smith 1963, 60). To prove the supremacy of Islamic
civilization, its achievements were compared with its contemporary West. Europes

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progress indebted to Muslims. European renaissance was linked with Muslim Spain.
(Smith 1963, 60,61).

Aziz Ahmad disagreed with Cantwel Smith who, he believed, compartmentalized

history in geographical terms (Smith, Modern Islam 1946, 61 vide Ahmad 1962,
465).

Aziz Ahmad argued that the cultural and historical grandeur of Islamic Spain
stimulated a political and cultural attitude to their faith. This attitude represented a
sustained reaction against West when Islam was receding rapidly in 19th century
against Western civilization. The elite had two points of pride in history: Spain and
Turkey, one past and the other abolished in 1920 (Ahmad 1962, 468). He
particularly stresses that the Orientalists writings on Spain recognized generally that
the humanism of Muslim Spain was superior to the contemporary European
societies. It gave satisfaction to Muslims who were psychologically frustrated.
Particularly as the relations between Europe and the Muslim world were inverse to
those of Muslims and Christians in Spain. That was why Indian authors underlined
tolerance and chivalry. Indian Muslims also compared their minority situation with
Muslim Spain. Democracy in India meant dominance of majority who was non-
Muslim (Ahmad 1962, 469).

Jawahar Lal Nehru finds references to Spain as an attempt by the Indian Muslims to
find roots of their national identity outside (Ram Gopal, Indian Muslims, A Political
History, Lahore: Book Traders, 1976, 128).

Annemarie Schimmel notes that Indian interest in Spain was a special feature of
Muslim reformist revivalist movements. It started with Hali and culminated in Iqbal
whose poetry is the last major expression of this longing for the glorious Muslim
past of the Iberian Peninsula (Schimmel 1980, 205).

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Origins
According to Aziz Ahmad, the cult of Spain began in India with Mawlana Altaf
Hussain Hali (1837-1914). It soon developed into one of the dominant trends in
revivalist political romanticism and in Muslim historiography in India (Aziz Ahmad,
Islam dEspagne et dInde musulmane moderne, in tudes dorientalisme dedis
a memoire de Levi-Provenal (Paris 1962) ii, 461-70, Ahmad 1967,98)

In fact, the cult had its origins in Europe in the beginning of the 19th century from
where it spread to Muslim world and came to India in the middle of the nineteenth
century. Bernard Lewis traces the origin of this cult with precision to Louis Viadors
book Essai sur lhistoire des arabes et des Mores dEspagne, published in Paris in
two volumes in 1833 (Lewis 131).

M Henri Prs, in his book on Muslim travels in Spain, has dated the Muslim
discovery of Andalusia from the year 1886 (Lewis 130). He says it sprang from two
sources: First, Sultan Abdul Hamid II sent his prospectors to Spain searching for
Arabic Manuscripts. Secondly, when Muslims came to attend international Oriental
Congresses they came to know about the Orientalists works on Spain. (Lewis 130).

To understand this development properly, let us briefly note the growth of scholars
interest in Spain in this period.

EUROPE
A general interest in Muslim Spain grew in Europe in the nineteenth century. Several
edited volumes from Arab Spain were published under the series Bibliotheca Arabic
Hispana. (For instance, Ibn Bushkuwal, al-Sila (1883), Ibn Abbar, Al-Takmila
(1887), Al-Mujam (1886), Bughyat al-Multamas (1885) Ibn al-Faradi, Tarikh
Ulama Andalus (1891), al-Ishbili, Fihris (1894).

Several Spanish authors like Codera, Lafonte, Alcantara. Julian Robera, Asin
Placios, and Gonzales Palencia wrote extensively about the glories of Islamic Spain.
These writers wrote from diverse perspectives of history, literature and thought.

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 Some Spanish historians differed with the glorification of the Arab period. In
Western Europe, the movement for humanism was critical of religious situation in
Europe. They referred to these writings to point out that Islamic Spain was an
example of tolerance and civicness. They wrote histories of Spain from this
perspective. Among these historians Reinhart Dozy, Gayangos, Lanepool,
Washington Irving may be noted to illustrate.

Lane Pool, for instance, regrets that Muslims were expelled from Spain. Their period
was of civility and culture. No nation in Europe could be equal to Muslims...
Washington Irving, more than others, romanticized Muslim Spain in the popular
imagination.

From Europe, the cult of Spain came to the Muslim world. Without going into
details, we will briefly mention Turkey, Iran and the Arab world.

TURKEY:
Bernard Lewis suggests that this cult came from Europe first to Turkey (The Cult
of Spain and the Turkish Romantics, Islam in History, Ideas, People and Events in
the Middle East, New Delhi: Aryan Books International, pp. 129-133). The cult
emerged responding to a deep emotional need, spread widely among Muslim
intellectuals. In a time of humiliating weakness and backwardness, they could find
comfort in the spectacle of a great, rich, powerful, and civilized Muslim state in
Europethe leader and guide, as they saw it, of European civilization. In a time of
decay, they could find a melancholy satisfaction in the contemplation of the sunset
splendors of the Al hambra, in the long sad epic of defeat and withdrawal. Before
long, the rise and fall of Muslim Andalusia became favorite themes and settings of
poets and novelists; the glories of Cordoba served as a Golden Age for the romantic
and apologetic school of Islamic historiography that was growing up in the Middle
East and especially in India. (Lewis, 129).

On the authority of Peres, Lewis mentions that Sultan Abdul Hamid II sent al-
Shinqiti, an Arabic scholar of Arab origin, to Spain in 1886-87, to search for

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 remnants of the bygone glories of Andalus. (Lewis 130). It may however be noted
that Zia Pasha (1825-1880), a young Ottoman Turk leader, had already translated
Viadors book Essai ... dEspagne into Turkish and published it in Istanbul in 1863-
64 under the title Endlus Tarihi. It was reprinted in 1886-87 before the Shinqiti
mission (Lewis 132).

Interest in Spain was also evident in the writings of several Turkish poets and
dramatists. The great poet and dramatist Abdulhak Hamid (1852-1937) wrote
famous dramas Tariq (1876) Nazife (1876) Abdullah al-Saghir, Tezer, Ibn Musa or
Zat al-Jamal (1881). Tariq is a passionate defense of the glory, greatness and
nobility of Islam. In this drama of love, hate, and jealousy, of war, death, and glory,
Hamid manages to assert his conviction of the profound ethical values of Islam, to
express his ideas on patriotism and progress, and to make some comments on the
political and social problems of the Ottoman empire. The book was banned in 1879
but secretly published after the Young Turk Revolution (Lewis 132).

Tezer also called Melik Abdurrahman-i Salis is about Cordoba under the Umayyads.
A Spanish girl Tezer loved by the Malek is used in a plot against Richard, her former
lover who is the leader of an anti-Arab Spanish faction. Tezer falls in love with the
Malek the drama ends in tragedy as Tezer loses her life at the end. Tezer is said to
have been translated into Arabic and Persian, as well as into Serbian and Muslim
Bosniak. His three-year stay as Turkish consul-general in Bombay (1883-85) may
also have brought his work and ideas to the attention of Indian Muslims (Lewis
133).

Another Turkish author Muallim Naji (1850-1893) wrote a historical poem Himayet
describing the heroic Muslim defenders of Granada during the final struggle in
1492. (Lewis 133).

ARAB WORLD
In Arab countries where Arab nationalism was rising, Spain was an Arab
achievement. The glory of Arab Spain, recognized even by European historians, was

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a strong evidence for the genius of the Arab civilization. P.K. Hittis history of the
Arabs told stories of the glorious period of Arab civilization in the medieval world
including Spain. Jurji Zaydan (1906) also romanticized the Arab Spain in a novel on
the conquest of Spain. Several manuscripts from that period were edited and
published. Abdullah Inan wrote mostly about the last period of the Arabs in Spain.
There were number of books written on Spain in Arabic in 1992 to celebrate the
occasion.

Muhammad Kurd Alis Ghabir Al-Andalus wa Hadiruha (Cairo: Author, 1923)

resulted from his travels into Spain. The book epitomizes a nostalgic love for
Andalus.

In Cairo a series under the title of al-maktabat al-Andalusia was issued to highlight
the significance of the Arab thought in Spain. The purpose of the series was
explained as follows: To perform a part of our obligation to the dissemination of
the heritage of our forefathers in the Andalus, the land where the Arab civilization
blossomed, and it spread its light to all corners of the world (Introduction p. jim to
al-Khushanis Qudat Qurtuba (Cairo: al-Dar al-Misriyya, 1967).

Muhammad Abdullah Inan argued that the Islamic culture in Andalus provided the
foundation for the renaissance in Europe (Dawlat al-Islam fi al-Andalus (Cairo:
Sharika Musahama, 1955, p.6).

Abd al-Aziz Salim (Tarikh al-Muslimin wa Atharuhum fi al-Andalus (Beruit: Dar al-
Maarif, 1962) explained that Andalus was the bridge between Europe on the one
side and Asia and Africa on the other side. It helped removed the darkness in
Europe.

SOUTH ASIA

There was minimal contact between Islamic Spain and India in the medieval period.
Sind and Spain were less important for Baghdad; Sind was insignificant, and Spain
was no longer under the Abbasids. (Ahmad 1962,)

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There were, nevertheless, several similarities between India and Spain under
Muslims. Spain and India were conquered in the same year 711. These were two far
corners of the Umayyads Empire in the eighth century. Both were peripheral to the
main land. Both remained polities with a minority ruling over majority.

Indian intellectual contact with Spain developed through Western sources. The
British were fond of comparisons between the British rule and the Muslim past.
They also generated this interest among students. Sir Charles Trevelyne offered
prize on essays comparing Abbasid Baghdad and Umayyad Spain, and on the
influence of Arab literature on Europe (Graham, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, 1855, 78).
Lord Lytton compared and admired Islamic achievements in Iberian (Graham 1855,
278).

Another sense of comparison arose with the partition; Spain and India presented the
phenomenon of the shrinking frontiers of Islam. Muslims were expelled from Spain
in 1492, the question of Hijra, loyalties. In India Muslims migrated to Pakistan in
1947. The question of Hijra revisited. Minority in India.

These diverse perspectives, however, reflect the diversity of the Muslim

objectification of Spain.

We shall now briefly analyses some examples from the Urdu writings on Spain in
the four major areas of poetry, novels, history and travelogues.

POETRY

Altaf Husayn Hali

Hali wrote Musaddas (Maddo Jazar Islam, Lahore: Sirajuddin, 1955) in 1879. The
purpose of writing this impactful poem was to arouse national awakening,
admonition, and to create a sense of self-criticism. Hali was a follower of Indian
Muslim reformer Sir Sayyid. This poem also set a trend of a national sense of
migr among the Muslims. For instance, he says:

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 Adieu, O India, O Garden with no autumn,
We have stayed very long as strangers your guests
You have deprived us of the Arabs grandeur and the glory of the Ajam,
You are the destroyer of nations and devourer of peoples
The poem also offers a philosophy of history. The nations who are civilized today
were barbarians in the past and vice versa. Muslims were at the height of
civilization. They benefited from the sciences of other nations and spread to the
whole world.

The Spring that you see today in the world

Its trees were all planted by them (p.28)
There is no continent in the world
Where you do not find their buildings existing
Their glory reflects Granada
Valencia, their ingenuity
Batalyus, their greatness
and Cadis, their laments (hasrat) (p.30)
The poem became very popular. Although it was a sad account of Muslim decline,
yet it created bonds with Islamic Spain in the minds of Indian Muslims. It
popularized Spain in such a manner that people began to name their houses after
Spanish cities and villages mentioned in the poem (Ahmad 1962, 467).

Cantwel Smith finds Hali conservative compared to Sir Syed. Hali refers to the
glories of Muslim Spain and compares it with the Muslim present, not with the
contemporary Europe, as Sir Syed and others did (W.C. Smith, Modern Islam in
India, Lahore: Ashraf, 1963, p.34).

According to Aziz Ahmad, Musaddas laments lethargy of contemporary Islam. Islams

real role in history was spiritual and cultural rather than political. Islam encouraged
development of sciences which were inherited in Europe (Aziz Ahmad 1967, 98).

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Hali differed for Sir Syed in the reconstruction of Muslim past, for Hali it was
glorious and source of pride. Musaddas laments lethargy of contemporary Islam.
Islams political expansion a historical process, but Islams real role in history was
spiritual and cultural rather than political. It spread to distant lands. Spanish ruins
are an evidence. Sciences developed then transmitted to Europes other parts
(Ahmad 1967, 98).

Iqbal

Musaddas had a strong pessimistic message (Ahmad 1967, 99) but the Muslim
reformist movement used the image of Spain to revive self-esteem. Other Urdu
poets romanticized it further. Among these poets, Iqbal stands out as the most
influential promoter of the cult. His interest in Spain led him to travel to the country
and deliver a lecture in Madrid University in January 1932, on Spain and the
Intellectual World of Islam (Durrani 1985, 178) under the auspices of Asin
Palacios, another admirer of Islamic Spain. (Letters and writings of Iqbal, pp. 77-
79).

The lecture presented an overview of Muslim Spain, its culture, philosophy, and
mysticism. Iqbal recalled that The educated class now begins to express pride in
their Arab origins. Every good thing is called Moorish. The hatred against Islam is
decreasing. Interest in the study of Islamic civilization and philosophy is growing.
The Arab civilization in Spain is totally lost. Toledo is a living example. The
possibilities of the revival of Islam in Spain are imminent.

Iqbal felt a natural bond as he remembers, I found myself at home in Toledo. I

enjoyed Pulao here as I do in Lahore

Schimmel mentions that Iqbal admires and compares the Mosque of Cordoba with
the Qutb Minar (Gabriels Wing, Iqbal Academy, 1989, p. 145).

More powerful was the influence of Iqbals poetry on the cult of Spain. Iqbal wrote
several poems on Spain. In Bali Jibril: Dua, Masjid Qurtuba, Qayd khana men

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Mutamid ki Faryad, Abdurrahman Awwal ka boya huwa Khajur ka Darakht,
Hispaniya and Tariq ki Dua, all refer to Islamic Spain.

Among them Masjid Qurtuba stands out as the most beautiful example. Its general
theme is passage of time and the role of Ishq, Love against the instability of time. He
visited Masjid Qurtuba in 1932. According to Aziz Ahmad, the cult of Spain that
began half a century ago with Hali reached its culmination in Masjid-i Qurtuba
(Ahmad 1962, 467).

The poem begins with abstract images, defining time as creator, examiner,
eliminator, and destroyer. Survival is possible for the human creation only if based
on faith. The Masjid is such a creation. The poem stresses on the creative genius of
Muslims (Ahmad 1962, 468).

Iqbal says:

O the Haram of Cordoba, you owe your existence to Love

Only Ishq is eternal, it has no past and present
Your foundations are enduring, countless pillars
as if forming a crowd of date trees in a desert
You are the Kaba of the Artists,
You are the Glory of the pure religion
You have rendered the land of Andalus sacred
The Andalusians are those who supervised the training of the East and the West
In the darkness of Europe their wisdom was the beacon of light
Today as well you find common in this land the dear eyed (chashm Ghazal)
The eyes pierce through the heart today as well.

Masjid Qurtuba also analyzes the intellectual and political developments in Europe,
Iqbal offers a critique of the Reformation and the French Revolution.

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 Iqbals fascination with the Iberian Peninsula begins and ends with Cordoba. He
fancies neither Granada nor Sicily. In his poem HISPANIYA he says:

Hispaniya you are the custodian of the Muslim blood

You are sacred like Haram in my eyes
I also visited Granada but
This traveler was had no solace travelling or staying
A poem on Sicily is also Ibrat and nostalgia ends with
The sorrowful Iqbal was fated to mourn for you

Similarly, in his BILAD ISLAMIYYA he again recalls Cordoba.

The land of Cordoba is also the light of the Muslim eyes

That kindled in the darkness of Europe like the candle of Tur

When it was extinguished this enlightened nation was dispersed

but it enlightened the modern civilization (p. 146)

If the Jews have a claim on Palestine

why not the Arabs claim Hispaniya
The English Imperialism has some other objective
It is not the story of oranges, Honey and drinks. (p. 618)
Spain, you are the trustee of the Muslim Blood
You are as pure in my eyes as the Haram

NOVELS

Besides poetry, Urdu Novels also contributed to the popularization of the cult of
Spain. Quite a considerable number of novels chose Muslim Spain as the backdrop
of their stories. Abdul Halim Sharar wrote in 1890 Shahid-i Wafa and Ferdinand
and Isabella depicting the decadence of Muslim society in Granada during its fall.
Flora Florinda (1896) describes tension between Christians and Muslims.

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 Fatih Maftuh (1896) is the story of a battle between Charles Martle and Abdur
Rahman. He also wrote Alfanso, Fatih Andalus, Muqaddas Nazinin. These novels
lacked in character, they were romantic and used history for story telling. They
stressed on the tragic dignity and fatality of history.
Among the several Novelists who wrote on Muslim Spain, Nasim Hijazi (d. 1990?)
Is worth mentioning among the recent ones. His Yusuf b. Tashufin (1952) tells the
story of another period of decline in Muslim Spain.

TRAVELOGS:
There are numerous travelogues of Spain. More than 12 Urdu travelogues have been
published in recent years. First Urdu travelogues (like Nawab Muhammad Umar Ali
Khan Qand Maghribi, Kanpur: Matba'a Nizami, 1898) are not cultic as they are
simply travel accounts. Nevertheless, they fall in the category of admonition. The
book stresses on the need of history of Andalus. At the end a poem on the Fall of the
Muslims.

Generally, there are two perspectives in these travelogues. First, we may call Ibrat
category. They mostly lament the decline of Muslims and the absence of Islam in
this country. The land where Takbir echoed for 800 years were unfamiliar with
adhan and prayer I performed the first prayer in the land of Andalus with the
feelings of Ibrat and hasrat. Remarks like these are filled with admonition. They
still underscore a bond with the land.

In the second category fall travelogues which invokes nostalgia, Mustansar Hussain
Tarr, Undlas men Ajnabi, (Lahore: al-Tahrir, 1976) begins with the phrase Return
of a Pakistani Moor to his homeland 477 years after exile from Granada
Muhammad Hamzah Faruqi, Aj bhi is Des men (Karachi: Uslub, 1982) shows
Iqbals influence in its chapter headings. They are titles from Iqbals verses. The
author attempts to find traces of Muslim past in the present Spain.

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HISTORY
The interest of Muslim Indians in the Iberian Peninsula as their lost increased
gradually. Several books, original compilations as well as translations appeared on
the subject (Islamic Culture XV, no. 1, Jan 1941). To highlight the superiority of
the Islamic civilization, its high period was compared with the then Europe. The
advancement in Europe due to Europes benefiting from the Muslims. Schimmel
suggests that Karamat Ali Jawnpuri (d. 1873) associated with Sir Syeds movement
wrote Makhadh al-Ulum in 1865. In this book he developed the idea that sciences
from Greeks came to Arabs and from them passed to Europe through Spain. The
idea was later popularized by Sir Syed and Iqbal (Schimmel 1980, 181).

In its early phase, histories of Spain in Urdu mostly consisted of translations of

European and Arabic works on the subject. For instance, Hamid Ali Siddiqi,
Karnamai Moor ya Musalmanon ki Hazar Sala Hukumat Yurap men yani Tarikh
Andalus, is a translation of Lane Pools work 1898 (Lahore Tajiran Kutub Qawmi,
n.d.)
The translator compares Spain with Delhi and says Those who weep for the late
Delhi with their eyes should dedicate one eye now for Andalus. Nothing lives except
changes in the world. (p.238, introduction). Even though Andalus was several times
higher and superior in scientific achievements and civilization than Delhi, but
regrettably few people know about it. Need for Urdu translations (p.240). Today,
after nine hundred years we their relative (ham jadd) brothers in Islam in India are
enjoying a just and merciful government as that was in Andalus. (Siddiqi, 244).

A second category of Histories of Spain consists of original writings. Most of them

were using materials from the translations. Among them Amir Alis work is
outstanding. His work is not specifically focused on Spain. But his writings fall in
the category that promoted the cult of Spain.

AMIR ALI

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 Amir Ali (d. 1928) wrote Muslim history (A Short History of Saracens 1899) for the
Western readers (Aziz 1967,87). He even called Muslims by a name mostly used in
the West. Amir Ali presented Spain was a model of civilization. He wrote a
(Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Brill, 1980, 205, ref Ahmad, Self
Statement 109).

Amir Ali and Chiragh Ali stressed humanism, and that Muslim were the vanguard
and the Europeans followed. Traditional approach different. Deoband no interest in
Spain or Europe. Spain part of Arab Islam history, Ibrat, no apologetics, Shibli
closer to Deoband. Nadwa, Maarif showed interest and published original research
on Andalus but as a cult?

20th century

Muhammad Siddiq Hasan, Translation of Conde history of Spain 1917-1919

According to the translator Conde an Islam friend Spanish historian. Revision by

Abdul Halim Shrar. First serialized in the periodical Muarrikh from 1916 to 1917.
The reason: non-availability of authentic and detailed histories of Spain in India.
(Sidddiq 1917).

Munshi Muhammad Kahlilur Rahman, Translation of Maqqari 1921

____________________, Akhbar al-Andalus, Tarikh Moor, Translation of SP Scot
1921.

Qazi Wali Muhammad (Bhopali)Safar Nama Andalus (Lucknow: Nami Press 1927)
Travel 1924 Written for those elders of the nation who sometimes feel sorry for the
Muslims in Andalus? Passionate description. The impact of Islam on civil life of
Spain

Riyasat Ali Nadwi, Tarikh Andalus (Azamgarh Maarif,1950), p.1.

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 Muslims ruled in Europe in two countries: Spain and Sicily. Urdu books on the
History of Islamic Spain mostly translations.

p.2. Sayyid Sulayman Nadwi: History of Islami in east and West. First history of
Islami in West, i.e. Andalus be written. Christian authors, though appreciating
progress in Spain yet misunderstandings and misstatements about Muslims in Spain
hence the need of an authentic history.

Mawlawi Muhammad Zakariyya Mail, translation of Akhbar Majmua (Delhi:

Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu 1942)

Andalus a glorious past of Muslim nation. Islami conquest a blessing for population
in Spain

Rashid Akhtar Nadwi, 1970

Inayatullah s/o Mawlana Zakaullah, Ibrat nama Andalus (Reinhart Dozy) Inayatullah
Ibrat Name Andalus 1939 (Trans of Dozys history) (Lahore: Bustan Adab [Original
edition 1935] Edited; Shaykh Muhammad Ismail Panipati 1933

The purpose of the work: Editor: The Indian Muslims love for Andalus. Various
histories of Islamic Spain translated in Urdu: Scot, Lane pool, Marrakashi (Al-
Mujib), Maqqari (Nafh al-Tib). Misunderstanding about Muslims and Islam
Christian bias, crusade. Dozy work translated into English in 1913, Urdu Trans
completed in 1929. (Intro. p. 7).

Inayatullah explains that he had interest in Spain. No comprehensive history in Urdu

to rebut the Orientals objections against Islam and Muslims.

Qudratullah Khan, Islami Hispaniya Karachi, 1978

Ibrat, history for learning lessons, the reasons for decline: indulgences in luxuries of life,
sinful life, and dissentions
Sayyid Ahmadullah Nadwi, translation of Ibn Khatibs al-Ihata (Karachi: Nafis Academy,
1963)

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Rashid Akhtar Nadwi, Musalman Andalus men (Islamabad: Ihara Maarif Millie, 1970)
Ibrat. chapter headings Ah Qurtuba. Concluding chapters: high civilizational
achievements in Spain in education, sciences, agriculture, industry, art and
architecture

Aziz Ahmad, Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan (Karachi: Oxford, 1967).

Aziz Ahmad is reminded of Moorish architecture in Spain while mentioning Indian

monuments (Aziz Ahmad, An Intellectual History of Islam in India Edinburgh
1964), p. 129, and 131-32.

Qutb Minar in Delhi and La Giralda in Seville were built about the same time.
[Giralda built in 1195]. These two towers at the opposite ends of Dar al-Islam in
the 12th century have more in common than the other Indian towers (p.129)

This enthusiasm for Islamic Spain continued until 1947 Aziz? Islamic Culture Xv ,
1, Jan. 1941, 136).

Aziz Ahmad, The Shrinking Frontiers of Islam, International Journal of Middle

Eastern Studies, Vol.7 (1976), 145-159

Islamic frontiers; Spain, Sicily and the Balkans in Europe; the Qipchaq steppes,
Crimea, and Central Asia, Sub-Saharan and Tropical Africa, and the Indian sub-
continent, Malaysia, Indonesia and Mindanao in South and South-east Asia (Ahmad
1976, 145). The frontier exposed to dangers. Some of these frontiers totally or partly
collapsed. In some Islam as religion disappeared after the collapse of political
power. Africa gradually securing. South East Asia Muslim face challenge in
Mindanao. The frontiers where Islam totally disappeared or faces a threat after the
collapse of Muslim political power have some common patterns of cause and effect.
1. Muslim state disintegrates yielding place to smaller, often mutually warring,
principalities unable to stand a rising hostile power. 2. Muslim doctrine of Hijra
leads the elite to emigrate leaving masses at the mercy of hostile elements. They are
converted to the faith of the hostile political power.

16
 The Muslim community did not suffer much under the British. In fact, after 1870s
it developed a sense of political community (Ahmad 1976, 152).

Pakistan, the Granada of the South Asian subcontinent, came into being, at least
ideological, as the state of Muslims of India (Ahmad 1976, 159).

CONCLUSIONS

1. Not before 19th century. Emerged under British colonial rule as a nostalgia
2. Historically no poetical contact between Spain and India as with Baghdad and other
cities.
3. No mention or comments on the Fall and loss of Spain before 19th century.
4. Contact between Ancient India and Spain: Translation of Panjatantara and Siddhanta
5. Contact in Muslim Period: Ibn Battutta, Ibn Arabi, Maliki, and Ibn Rushd

British Period

Sir Charles Trevelyne prize for writings on Umayyad Spain 1860

Phases of Cult
1.Ibrat
Hali Musaddas 1868
Ibrat, Pan Islam, roots of Muslim nation
2. Romanticism Nostalgia, Glorification
Amir Ali, Hitti, Iqbal, Sharar, Nasim Hijazi

3. Nostalgia Travelogues Tarr, Ashfaq, Hamzah Faruqi

4. Scientism: Karamat Ali Jawnpuri, Maakhidh al-Ulum 1887

Greek-Arab-Spain-Europe
History of Philosophy by De Boer
History of Science Hitti, Liban, Bilgirami Tamaddun Arab
5. Europeanism
6. Shrinking Frontiers: Aziz Ahmad, Bosnia Akbar S Ahmad, Bosnia, and Khalid Duran

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 Calid Duran, Bosnia, La Otra Andalucia, Encuentro Islamo-Cristano (Madrid:
Bajo Ptrocinio de la Comicion Episcopal de Relaciones Interconfesionales, 1993)

Akbar S. Ahmad, Bosnia, Its Re-enactment of Another Andalusia, Dawah

Highlights, Vol. IV (1993), 32-34.

Five centuries after the fall of the Muslims in Spain we are witnessing the re-
enactment of another Andalusia. The Crusaders were generous in comparison to
what the Serbs are doing to the Bosnian Muslims. In this turmoil Muslims should
read their great contemporary thinkers. Iqbal was one of the first modern Muslim
thinkers pointing the inter-connectednesss of our worldthe past and present, the
East and West. His poem at Cordoba is moving because it tells us of Muslim glory
and grandeur and its loss (Akbar Ahmad 1993, 34)

Iqbals References to Tariq in Persian

Why not Turkey

Appendix 1: Travelogues
Allama Iqbal ka Safar Andalus 1933
Saeed Akhtar Durrani, Hispaniya men Allama Iqbal ke Naqshi Qadam par in
Iqbal yorap men Lahore Iqbal Academy, 1985.
Suhayb Hasan, Undlas ka safar nama Urdu Digest July September 1988

Dhakiyya Arshad Hamid, Suraj ke Sath Sath Karachi: Hamzuban, 1988

Captain Abid, Madrid ki ek sham Ismat Karachi July 1958, pp. 153-159.

Brig. Gulzar Ahmad, Masjid Qurtuba ki Id, Afaq December 1951.

Rahim Bakhsh Shahin, Spain Urdu ke Safar Namon ke Aine men, Fikro Nazar
November 1991.

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 , Rafiq Dogar, Andalus ki Talash, Ashfaq Ahmad, Safar Mina. (Lahore
1983)

Muhammad Taqi Uthmani (Judge Federal Sharia Court). Undlus men Chand
Roz (Karachi, Idarat al-Maarif, 1993). A travelogue of 1989. Starts with a
verse from Iqbal

Appendix 1: Survey of books on Spain

History of Spain written on Spain in Urdu 14

Translation from Arabic 4

Translation from European languages 8
Written in Urdu 24
Translation of Spanish authors 39
Articles on Spain 101

References

Shirwani: Tarikh Andalus 1895

Sayyid Muhammad Khan Bahadur, Urdu translation of the History of Spain by
Maria Calicut 1898

Hafiz Ahmad Ali Khan Shawq, Translation of Ibn Jubayr 1900

Aminullah Wasir, Arbon ka Andalus Thaqafat Sep-Oct 1967

Waqar Azim (Trans) Alhamra ki Dastanen Lahore Aina Adab, 1959

Khalida Tabassum (Tr.) Jamil Bayham, Asr Andalus

Musalman Yorap men Qawmi Kutub Khana, 1954.

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Muhammad Inayatullah, Jughrafiya Andalus Hyderabad, 1927.
Ibn al-Qutiyah, Iftitah al-Andalus Ilahabad: Imperil Press, 1940.
Sher Muhammad Akhtar, Sarzamin Andalus, Lahore Shahin Matbuat, 1955.
Khalilur Rahman (tr.) Scot Amrican, History of the Moorish Empire in Europe
(Akhbar al-Andalus) Lahore: Din Muhammadi Press, 1340

Akbar Shah Khan Najib Abadi, Musalmanan Andalus Lucknow: United Press, 1921.

Khalilur Rahman (Tr.) Charles Lee Henry, Tarikh Andalus, Lahore 1340

Khalilur Rahman (Tr.), Muwalladin (Moriscos) Lahore: Cooperative Press, 1923.

Hamid Ali Siddiqi, Tarikh Andalus, Lahore Tajiran Qawmi Kutub

Nawab Dhul Qadr Jang, Khilafat Andalus, Hyderabad, 1904

Sayyid Riyasat Ali, Tarikh Andalus, Azamgarh, Maarif, 1950 (text book)

Mufti Intizamullah Shihabi, Salatin Andalus, Karachi: Pakistan Historical Society,

1956.

Abd al-Qawi Ziya, Tarikh Andalus, Hyderabad Sind 1957.

Zafar Umar Zuberi, Andalus ki Umavi Khilafat, Karachi: Ilmo Fikr, 1963.
Muhammad Naimur Rahman, Khilafat Muwahhidin (Al-Mujib), Madras, 1922.
Muhammad Siddiq Hasan (Tr.) J.A. Conde, Dawlat Hispaniya Arab, Lucknow,
1917.
Sighed Abdul Ghani Warisi, (Tr.), Lanepool, Musalman Andalus men, Lucknow
1919.
Muhammad Zakariyya Mail, Akhbar Majmuah, Delhi 1943.
Abul Fadl Muhammad Abbas Shirwani, Tarikh Andalus, Delhi 1313H

Muhammad Khalilur Rahman Saradhawi, (tr.), Nafh al-Tib, Aligarh, 1921.

Sayyid Muhammad Ahmad (Tr.) Mariia Calicut, Tarikh Spain, Lucknow, 1898

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Inayatullah (Tr.) Reinhart Dozy, Ibrat nama Andalus Lahore 1939.

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