Page 20
February 1998
TTie AC Phoenix
Islam’s Hidden Gift to the World;
The History of the Biack Muslims in Spain
by Darryi Muhammad
Black History month is good and mean
ingful, but it seems to leave muslims out of
the equation. In addition, it should not be
restricted to the historical accomplishments of
Black slaves in America.We need to go
beyond Malcolm and Martin.The Hon. Elijah
Muhammad was one of the first leaders in
America to direct the minds of the people
back towards the east Because of his coura
geous stand in a time when it was unheard of
and almost ludicrous to promote “Black
History,” today a profusion of research has
been done to prove that the Black man is at
the root of civilization. Scholars and histori
ans alike have presented overwhelming evi
dence that proves the Teachings of the Hon.
Elijah Muhammad to be right and exact He
correctly cited the Black man as the source
and the basis of Western civilization. Let us
explore the contributions of North African
Muslims, more commonly known as Moors.
Being reared in America has certainly
had its limited advantages, but one of the
greatest tragedies is the complete removal of
the accomplishments of the Moors in Spain
from Western history books. It is however
vaguely mentioned in the history of Islam,
which attributes most of the magnanimous
accomplishments to the Arabs. It is true that
the Arabs received the Divine Revelation
called the Qur’an that revolutionized the
known world at that time. However, in the
early Eighth Century Islam came to North
Africa and the Moroccans laid hold to it and
forged ahead to Spain and, for six centuries,
ruled it in splendor and glory.lt became
known as Al-Andalus(Islamic Spain). North
Africa and Southern Spain are connected by a
small body of land called the Iberian
Peninsula. In 711 A.D., Tarik ibn Ziyad, a
North African muslim, led 10,000 troops to
the tip of Spain and seized the Visigoth capi
tal. Many modem historians have attempted
to play the “name game” by referring the
Moors as “Berbers,” which of course means
something other than Black. Nevertheless, a
general of Alfonzo X (meaning the 10th) stat
ed, “Their faces were as black as pitch, the
handsomest amongst them was as black as a
cooking pot.”
By 937 A.D., the Moors had occupied
Sicily, Maghrib, Messina and Palermo. The
Umayyad dynasty came to Spain in the Tenth
Century. Though the Umayyad family were
Arab by descent, the two main figures in
establishing its dynasty in Spain were from
Africa.
In fact, Abd-al-Rahaman I{lst) recruited
40,000 well trained troops directly from
Africa to assist in the settling of Spain.
Around the Seventh, through Tenth
Century Europe was in the Dark Ages. There
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was no form of civilization coming from the
Europeans. In fact the rulers of Europe at that
time had trouble spelling their names. It’s
true. It was not until the conquest of Spain by
the Moors that bathing became a regular
practice in Spain. The Enlightenment Age in
Europe is something that every American stu
dent is familiar with. Western textbooks
floods the minds of its pupils with magnifi
cent scientific achievements in astronomy
and physics by such famous scholars as,
Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galileo
Galilei and Isaac Newton. It always puzzled
me when I studied world history in college
that most of the credit for meaningful human
development was linked to Europeans, fur
thermore most of the textbook was dedicated
to them. Napoleon said that “history was a set
of lies agreed upon.” Agreed upon by
whom?! And for what?!
The west has achieved great heights in
all fields of human endeavor. Its existence is
due to discoveries by previous generations
and it owes it allegiance to Moorish culture.
As the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and the Hon.
Louis Farrakhan teach, Islam is the nature of
the Black man. When Islam reached Africa, it
re-generated the natural expression of God
inside. And with Islam Africa made great
strides in many feilds of endeavor. Some
Afrocentric scholars may beg to differ with
the above statement Just remember, if Africa
was fully awake at the emergence of Islam,
then the religion would not have germinated
in the culture. Africa had been conquered by
outside forces prior to the coming of Islam.
The last great leap into science prior to
America’s emergence came from the emana
tion of Islam. And the west is built on the
basis of what Islam opened up to the world.
Now let’s see if this is true.
Ivan Van Sertima writes, “Nearly all
major universities in Europe sprung up
around the same time, beginning in the sec
ond half of the 12th century right up through
the 13th, a period which coincides with the
flowering of Moorish science and the estab
lishment of centers in Europe to translate
Moorish treaties from Arabic to Latin. In
Italy we have Bologna, in France,
Monqjelier in England, Oxford Several
Moorish works in math, astronomy and medi
cine became standard texts at these universi
ties. For example, Judwal, a Moorish work in
astronomy, became standard text at Oxford.”
John G. Jackson writes, “They introduced the
silk industry to Spain....they introduced rice,
sugar cane, dates, ginger, cotton, lemons, and
strawberries etc The Spanish city of
Continued on page 21
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