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Just finished. Review incoming... 🧵
For those unfamiliar, the "Andalusian Paradise" refers to the vaunted reign of tolerance and multicultural flourishing that the Moors brought to Spain for several centuries after their conquest in 711.
For those unfamiliar, the "Andalusian Paradise" refers to the vaunted reign of tolerance and multicultural flourishing that the Moors brought to Spain for several centuries after their conquest in 711.
Dario Fernandez-Morera’s book is a takedown of this narrative. He aims not so much at the Spanish Moors as much as the historians who fantasize about this wonderland. Every chapter opens with a few gushing remarks by scholars, which DFM then exposes.
Like:
Like:
Lewis words suggest the underlying purpose of the myth: it seeks to discredit the Western Christendom and the religion that energized it by offering the clear superiority of the Spanish Moors.
The author elaborates:
The book serves as a nice companion piece to explain a movie like Kingdom of Heaven, in which the Christians tend to be backwards and bloodthirsty and the Muslim characters the superior men.
One of the most puzzling aspects of the movie is Liam Neeson’s feverdream of pluralism in the Holy Land. This is the kind of character who these intellectuals would dream up.
Back to the book: in reality, the Moors were a lot like other conquerors. They did what their task of conquest required of them. But they could only hold on to their conquest for so long before the tide turned and Iberian heroes arose to retake their peninsula.
Fernandez-Morera highlights a few key parts of the myth:
- That the Muslim conquest of Spain was mostly peaceful.
- That the Visigothic kingdom which the Moors overthrew was backwards.
- That the Muslim conquerors had a superior culture.
- That the Muslims were uniquely tolerant of other “people of the Book.”
- That women were doctors and lawyers and professors Al-Andalus and enjoyed a high degree of freedom compared to their Christian counterparts.
- That the Muslim conquest of Spain was mostly peaceful.
- That the Visigothic kingdom which the Moors overthrew was backwards.
- That the Muslim conquerors had a superior culture.
- That the Muslims were uniquely tolerant of other “people of the Book.”
- That women were doctors and lawyers and professors Al-Andalus and enjoyed a high degree of freedom compared to their Christian counterparts.
If the book has a major weakness, it’s that the narrative drags a bit with all the evidence Fernandez-Morera marshals. Five different block citations from legal treatises considering when it was appropriate to stone women in al-Andalus, for instance, is more than enough.
Even at 240 pages, the book feels a little long.
Nevertheless The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise does its job: making the case that al-Andalus has become a canvas onto which scholars can project all sorts of ideological fantasies.
Nevertheless The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise does its job: making the case that al-Andalus has become a canvas onto which scholars can project all sorts of ideological fantasies.
If you're big into Reconquest history, this book is well worth your while. If you're not, you might be better off finding a lecture from the author which makes the case in brief.
Sorry for the typos but you know what I mean:
* Lewis'
* Lewis'
https://twitter.com/ChivalryGuild/status/1701291743327485998
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