Heritage - Boabdil the last Muslim King in Spain

Abu `Abd Allāh Mohammed XII, the Spanish name him Boabdil, is the last Muslim king in Spain and at the very end of a 700 year lasting, most fruitful realm.
Based on original research, and drawing attention to the connections between the medieval Moorish king Boabdil, actually Abu `Abd Allāh Mohammed XII, and current social and political concerns in Europe today, Cambridge academic Elizabeth Drayson presents the first full account in any language of the Moorish sultan of Granada, and head of the Nasrid dynasty.

As historian I am fascinated by the once liberal cultur of al-Ándalus. It was once a thriving center of cultural exchange between christian Europe and the Arabian world and knowledge, that Arabian cientists, doctors, astronomers, historians and intelectuals saved from ancient times and developed further on.

by Earl of Cruise

Especially the knowledge and developments in navigation, shipbuilding and rigging, made it possible for the comming age of discovery. As well the exploitation of the new found lands and people ... colonisation. There is evidence found, that Arabian cartographers allready knew that there was the new world existing, that Columbus found in 1492.

The Capitulation of Granada by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz, 1882: Muhammad XII surrenders to Ferdinand and Isabell - Source: Wikipedia

Despite believe, a vast number of our western cultural achievements are original Arabian achievements - the numbers we use - first developed in India, the invention of the "0", to name only two! Further Arabian art influenced our western culture as well, and the one or the other cultural and cientific push came back with the crusaders and did improve the lives back then. More so, it was a foundation of technological push in medieaval times in Europe.
For linguists it may be known, but not commonly, the Spanish and Portugese language is influenced by the Arabian language in grammar and pronounciation, despite it is a roman language.
Based on original research, and drawing attention to the connections between the medieval Moorish king Boabdil, and current social and political concerns in Europe today, Cambridge academic Elizabeth Drayson, "The Moor´s Last Stand" (Amazon), presents the first full account in any language of the Moorish sultan of Granada, and head of the Nasrid dynasty.

The academic’s research has also uncovered a potential mystery regarding the final resting place of the last Muslim king in Spain. Long thought to have died in Algeria in 1494, experts are now hoping to exhume and DNA test what they believe to be the remains of the sultan beneath a derelict mausoleum in Fez, Morocco.

In the ten years before Boabdil’s fall in 1492, his kingdom of Granada was the theatre of one of the most significant wars in European history. The sultan’s territory was the last Spanish stronghold of a Muslim empire that had once stretched to the Pyrenees and beyond - including the cities of Barcelona, Pamplona and Cordoba, which had been home to paved roads, street lighting and more than 70 libraries at a time when London and other European cities were backwaters of disease, violence and illiteracy.

The fortress and chateau of Granda, the Alhambra - Source: Spanisches Fremdenverkehrsamt

“How did Boabdil change the course of Spanish history? Does he now represent what he stood for in the past? And how significant is he as a figure of resistance to the forces of western Christendom?” asked Drayson, who spent three years working on her new book – The Moor’s Last Stand: Thelife of Boabdil, Muslim King of Granada.

“That Boabdil was a key figure at a crucial moment in world history cannot be doubted: the current tensions between Islam and the West have their roots in his reign and in the kingdom he lost. Christian posterity has treated him with scorn and pity – viewed from the perspective of the victors. But my account presents the other side of the coin, revealing that issues of violence, tension and compromise between Muslims and Christians were as pressing then as they are now.”

The central court of the Alhambra, water was a key element in al-Ándalus - Source: Spanisches Fremdenverkehrsamt

Betrayed by his family and undermined by faction and internal conflict, Boabdil’s defeat at the hands of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (the parents of Catherine of Aragon) symbolised the epoch-changing transition of Granada from Islamic state to Christian territory – a moment which set Spain on course to becoming the greatest power in early modern Europe.

The Christian victory marked the completion of the long Christian reconquest of Spain and ended seven centuries in which Christians, Jews and Muslims had for the most part lived peacefully and profitably together.
Loosing this European stronghold in 1492 combined with the crusades starting end of 11th century caused a padlock of the Arabian culture and world. As long as the christian Europe and the islamic world, influenced by eastern worlds too, had been more or less open for influences on each other, especially the islamic world was thriving and furtile. This despite the occurance of fundamentalistic tendencies, like the ending of the Umayyaden (Omajad) dynasty, or the Almohaden in al-Ándalus.

“Five centuries after his death, it’s timely to consider the impact of his defeat then and now,” added Drayson. “Boabdil was a man of culture and war: a schemer, rebel, father, husband and brother. He was a king, yet also the pawn of the Catholic monarchs. I wanted to show why his life matters – and the meanings it now has at this time of extreme tension between the west and the Islamic states.”

The end of Muslim rule at the heart of Spain came to an end on January 2, 1492 when Abu `Abd Allāh Mohammed XII relinquished the keys to the Moorish capital to King Ferdinand II. (1452-1516) and Queen Isabella I. (1451-1504). “These are the keys to paradise,” he said before leaving the city with his mother Aixa.

Legend has it that as Boabdil retreated into exile, he turned around for one final, distant look at Granada – sighed, and burst into tears. His mother, betraying little sympathy for her vanquished son, is said to have told him: “You do well, my son, to cry like a woman for what you couldn’t defend like a man.”

The ‘last sigh’ has long been used by historians to belittle and diminish Boabdil’s legacy, ignoring - according to Drayson - the immense sacrifice he demonstrated in saving his people from certain slaughter at the hands of Ferdinand and Isabella’s irrepressible armies which encircled Granada.

“The fall of Granada was of such magnitude that a mythical story was needed to explain, accept or legitimise the immense upheavals the conquest brought about,” said Drayson.

According to her, Boabdil’s heroism, long repudiated by most historical commentators, is evident in his ability to recognise the futility of further resistance, and the choice he made in rejecting the further suffering, starvation and slaughter of his people. Instead, he bargained for the best terms of surrender possible, rejecting martyrdom and willingly sacrificing his reputation for the greater good.

“The loss of Granada is viewed by modern writers as a prelude to the repression of the Muslim world,” added Drayson. “At a time when Europe is seeking a way of addressing issues of racial and religious intolerance, equality and freedom, we might look closely at the Spanish Muslim society of which Boabdil was the final heir, which successfully tackled some of these problems. Today, Boabdil represents a last stand against religious intolerance, fanatical power, and cultural ignorance; his surrender of the city and kingdom of Granada symbolised the loss of the fertile cross-cultural creativity, renewal and coexistence born out of the Muslim conquest of Spain.”
Some years later the Spanish Inquisition (Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición) started in 1478 and lasted till 1834 ... The cultural heritage, once build up by Muslim, Jews and Christian together, ended drastically and caused a deathtoll we will not really know. It was too an opression that lay on top of the society and nearly drowned each development and forthcomming in science and culture. This inquisition was nothing else than another fundamentalism, that is still existing in some backward oriented stoned heads of so called christians, which as back then use god to hide their hypocracy.