Jihadists and Andalusian History

Commenting on Spain’s recent recognition of a Palestinian state, Israel’s foreign minister- Israel Katz- furiously commented that “if this ignorant, hate-filled individual [Spain’s deputy prime minister] wants to understand what radical Islam truly seeks, she should study the 700 years of Islamic rule in al-Andalus- today’s Spain.” The comment itself was met with much derision as reflecting ignorance of the history of Muslim Spain (al-Andalus). It does, however, afford an opportunity to explore in more detail how jihadists (who are equated with ‘radical Islam’) view and understand the history of al-Andalus, spanning the time of the initial conquest in 711 CE until the fall of Granada in 1492 CE.

On the basic level, there is no doubt that jihadists view the Iberian Peninsula as ‘Muslim land’ in the sense that it was at some point in the past a land in which the ‘rule of Islam’ prevailed, and once any part of that land was reclaimed under Christian rule, it became ‘usurped’ land that should be reconquered as part of ‘defensive jihad’, in that the end of Islamic sovereignty over the land constitutes a transgression against the abode of Islam that should be repelled. Thus, al-Qa ‘ida in the Islamic Maghrib’s designation of its media wing as ‘al-Andalus’ is a reference to the idea that Iberia must be reclaimed for Islam. In fact, the loss of al-Andalus is seen as a basis for why jihad is an obligation on all Muslims today. A notable example of this thinking comes from the Islamic State of Iraq’s amir Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who outlined the group’s basic worldview in an audio speech entitled "Say: I act on the basis of clear proof from my Lord." The ninth article was as follows:

"Ninth: we believe that jihad in God’s path is an obligation on every Muslim since the fall of al-Andalus in order to liberate the Muslims’ land- to be pursued in cooperation with every pious Muslim and every immoral Muslim. And the greatest of sins after disbelief in God is prohibiting jihad in the path of God at a time when it is made an obligation on every Muslim. Ibn Hazm [NB: a renowned Andalusian Islamic scholar] said: 'There is no sin after disbelief that is greater than forbidding jihad against the disbelievers and ordering to abandon the Muslims’ abode to them, just because of the gross immorality of a Muslim man for whose gross immorality no one else is to be held to account.'"