Stories from Islamic History

by Nayab Naseer

  An example of the extraordinary range of Islamic economics of the times is found in the fact that cowry shells from Maldives were used as money in Sudan and Mali, and gold from Mali turned up as currency in the Maldives, 9000 kilometers and an ocean away.

  The new wealth supported stronger armies, whose conquests in turn enlarged the tax base to include more farmers and herders; and as with other expansions of Islam, conversion brought the need for administration, for qadis, for ulema, and all administrative infrastructures which Ibn Battuta eyed.

  The first stop for Ibn Battuta’s caravan was Taghaza. The next stage, from Taghaza to Walata, was some eight hundred kilometers broken by only one oasis. The terrain was so barren and chance of becoming lost so great that a relief-convoy system had evolved. Caravan leaders would hire a local Mustafa tribesman to act as a takshif, a messenger who, for a high fee, would precede them and inform the merchants of Walata of the caravan's coming. Those merchants then equipped a convoy of water-bearers to march out four days and meet the incoming caravan. The takshif was paid only when the two groups met. Sometimes when the takshif perishes in this desert and the merchants of Walata know nothing of the caravan, most of those in the caravan also perish.

  Ibn Battuta remained in Mali for fifty days, and then took to the Niger River, which he mistook for the Nile since it flows eastward through Mali before abruptly turning south into Nigeria. He writes copiously about this region, especially its Arabic language and Islamic culture, and recounted stories about cannibal tribes in the south. Timbuktu was at Ibn Battuta’s time only emerging as a fabled center of Islamic learning and culture.

  In Dhul Hajj 754 AH (January 1354 CE) Ibn Battuta arrived back in Fez, never to leave again. His travels had became well known in his native place, and he received an enthusiastic welcome from Sultan Abu Inan, who deemed his experiences worth recording. The job was assigned to the scribe and poet Ibn Juzayy.

  Thus came out “Tuhfat al-Nuzzar fi Ghara'ib al-Amsar wa-'Aja'ib al-Asfar” (A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling), which is today known by its generic title Rihala.

  Ibn Battuta died in 770 AH (1369 CE) at the age of 65. His death came eleven or twelve years after he finished dictating the Rihala.

  At a time when the fastest humans could travel was astride a galloping horse, travelling one lakh twenty thousand kilometers in thirty years is truly remarkable. It averages eleven kilometers a day for almost eleven thousand days. Ibn Battuta, crossed more than forty countries in today's map, met about sixty heads of state and served as advisor to two dozen of them. Yet he never, not even once managed to stick on to a steady job!

  This story is derived from :

  http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200004/the.longest.hajj.the.journeys.of.ibn.battuta.part.2-from.riches.to.rags.makkah.to.india.htm

  THE SPANISH TRAGEDY

  “All clear,” the flare indicated. The cavalcade had been on the road for two days and nights, proceeding by stealth, through the rugged country, avoiding settlements, and transversing the most solitary passes of the rugged country. The hardships were severe, but none in the entourage complained.

  It was midnight when they finally left the hills and rode in pitch darkness to the city of Granada.

  The leader of the cavalcade ordered his retinue to halt and remain concealed.

  Taking four or five of his trusted lieutenants with him, he advanced to the city gates and struck on it repeatedly with the handle of his scimitar.

  "Who is it that knocks at this unseasonable hour of the night?" the warder, woken up from his slumber, demanded.

  "Your king," the visitor replied. Then in a haughty tone, he commanded, "Open and admit him."

  The warder opened a wicket and held forth a light. Recognizing the untimely visitor, he opened the gate and let the cavalier in. The entourage did not waste time, and galloped in haste to the hill of the Albaycin.

  Enroute, they banged loudly at doors, ordering tenants to rise and take arms for their lawful sovereign. Most inmates paid heed to the summons. Very soon, trumpets resounded, and the dark avenues were lit up by gleams of torches. By daybreak, a sizable army had grouped, ready to meet their foe on the opposite height of the Alhambra.

  ***

  Boabdil, the son of Muley Abul Hassan, had rebelled against his father. So serious had hostilities escalated that a bloody battle ensured in the streets of the city, ending only when the old king was forced to flee outside the city walls. Boabdil’s ensuing reign was so corrupt and despotic that people gathered around the old Muley Abdul Hassan once again. Boabdil, to show his prowess to the people, marched over the border to attack the city of Lucena. This was a foolhardy move, for he was assailed, his army put to the rout, and he himself taken prisoner by the forces of Ferdinand of Aragon.

  To regain his liberty Boabdil acknowledged himself a vassal of the Spanish monarch and agreed to pay tribute. On his release he made his way to the city of Granada, but was so violently assailed by the people that the streets of the city ran blood.

  Boabdil the Unlucky, as he was now called, found it advisable to leave the capital and fix his residence in Almeria, a city just as splendid as Granada, and whose residents, for some strange reason remained devoted to Boabdil.

  As the years went on Muley Abul Hassan became stricken with age. He grew blind and bed-ridden with paralysis. His brother Abdullah, known as El Zagal, or "The Valiant," the commander-in-chief of the Moorish armies, assumed duties as the sovereign and zealously took up the quarrel with his nephew Boabdil. He surprised the young king at Almeria, drove him out as a fugitive, and took possession of that city. At a later date he endeavored to remove him by poison, and this attempt forced Boabdil to undertake the enterprise mentioned above.

  ***

  The bugle sounded and the encounter took place in the square before the principle masjid. Hand to hand, the two kings fought till they were separated by their followers. The followers took over the conflict, and spilled it to the streets. For days the violence went on, such hatred existing between the two factions that neither side gave quarter. All this while, Ferdinand was close by, observing the spectacle with glee.

  Boabdil was the weaker in men. Fearing defeat, he sent for assistance to Don Fedrique de Toledo. Ferdinand had instructed the Don to give what aid he could to the young king, the vassal of Spain. He responded to Boabdil's request by marching with a body of troops to the vicinity of Granada.

  Ferdinand was not too far behind, and with a large army marched upon the seaport of Malaga. El Zagal sought to ally with Boabdil to unite their forces against the common foe. Boabdil however spurned the overtures with disdain.

  El Zagal marched against the enemy all by himself, hoping to surprise them in the passes of the mountains and perhaps capture King Ferdinand himself. The enemy however came to know of his well-laid plan, attacked and defeated him.

  The news of this disaster preceded El Zagal to Granada. Victory has a thousand friends, but defeat is an orphan. The people closed their gates on El Zagal, the disgraced. The position of Boabdil and El Zagel were now reversed – Boabdil was firmly in seat at Granada, El Zagal had to make do with Almeria.

  In 897 AH (1492 CE) Ferdinand set out for the end game. His nobles however did not share his exuberance, for they knew Fort Granada was very difficult to take and could be subdued only with great loss of life and expenditure.

  As Ferdinand’s troops reached the broad and fertile vega (plain) surrounding Granada, he gave the order “Destroy it”.

  It was a cold-blooded and cruel strategy adopted by the Spanish monarch. The region, marvelously productive in grain and fruits and rich in cattle and sheep was thoroughly destroyed. The Moors gave stiff resistance, but the Spaniards persisted day after day until at last the fruitful paradise became a hopeless desert. They then marched away, leaving the citizens to a winter of despair.

  The winter of desolation gave way to bright summer, and crops grew again.

  Ferd
inand came again, camped near the city and employing the same tactics destroyed what little verdure remained near the city walls.

  The crowded city held out desperately while the summer passed and autumn moved on to winter's verge, and then, with famine stalking through their streets and invading their homes, only one resource remained to the citizens—surrender.

  On 4 Safar 898 AH (25 November, 1492 CE) articles of capitulation were signed. The Moors of Granada become subjects of the Spanish monarch, but retained all their possessions, were to be governed by their own laws, and had freedom to practice their religion. Boabdil secured all his rich estates and the patrimony of the crown in addition thirty thousand gold coins. Excellent terms, one would say, in view of the fact that Granada was at the mercy of Ferdinand, and might soon have been obliged to surrender unconditionally.

  After handing over the keys of the city, Boabdil and his retinue reached a summit two leagues distant which commanded the last view of Granada. Here they paused for a look of farewell at the beautiful and beloved city, whose towers and minarets gleamed brightly before them in the sunshine. While they still gazed a peal of artillery, faint with distance, told them that the city was taken possession of and was lost to the Moorish kings forever. Boabdil could no longer contain himself.

  "Allahu Akbar! God is great!" he murmured, tears accompanying his words of resignation. His mother, a woman of intrepid soul, was indignant at this display of weakness. "You do well," she cried, "to weep like a woman for what you failed to defend like a man."

  Others strove to console the king, but his tears were not to be restrained. "Allahu Akbar!" he exclaimed again; "When did misfortunes ever equal mine?" The hill where this took place afterwards became known as “Feg Allah Achbar;” but the point of view where Boabdil obtained the last prospect of Granada is called by the Spaniards "El ultimo suspiro del Moro," or "The last sigh of the Moor."

  ***

  There was no treaty with the Jews. On 11 Jumadhul Akhir 898 AH (30 March 1492 CE) Ferdinand and Isabella decreed at Granada that all non-baptized Jews, without regard to sex, age or condition, should leave Spain before the end of next July, and never return under penalty of death and confiscation of property. Every Spaniard was forbidden to give aid in any form to a Jew after the date. The Jews might sell their property and carry the proceeds with them in bills of exchange or merchandise, but not in gold or silver.

  At a tyrant's word they were to go forth as exiles from the land in which they and their forefathers had dwelt with peace and honor for eight centuries, break all old ties of habit and association, and be cast out helpless and defenseless, marked with a brand of infamy.

  Under the unjust terms of the edict they were forced to abandon most of the property which they had spent their lives gaining. It was a hopeless situation. With the marketplace glutted with property of the Jews, a house was exchanged for an ass and a vineyard for a suit of clothes.

  ***

  Eight years is sufficient time for promises to be forgotten – so says Cardinal Ximenes who, in 905 AH (1500 CE) began to blatantly violate the terms of capitulation of Granada. A series of edicts were issued against the Moors. They were forbidden to employ African slaves, forbidden to possess arms except under license, forbidden to use the Arabic language or wear the Moorish dress, and even forbidden to bathe themselves except under direct supervision of Spanish maids! Women were required to go about with faces unveiled, weddings were to be conducted in public following the Christian rites, all Muslims prayers were made illegal, and on Fridays, they were to keep the doors of their houses open so that Spanish soldiers could enter any house at will to check if any subterfuge (read prayers) were going on!

  The severity drove people to insurrection. This was suppressed and punishment began. All the people of Granada were marked to be condemned as guilty, and in mortal dread many of them made peace by embracing Christianity, while others sold their estates and migrated to Barbary. The name ‘Moors,’ which had superseded that of Arabs, changed to ‘Moriscos,’ by which these unfortunate people were afterwards known.

  But a million Muslims still remained elsewhere in Spain. They too were encouraged to join the “mainstream” and most of them promptly did. Many still managed to stay put in Granada remaining Muslims in heart and outwardly professing Christianity. The few true Muslims who remained fled to the mountains and started their jihad.

  The rebellion started in Granada, but attempts to regain the city failed. The leader of rebellion, a descent from the Umayyad line – Ibn Humeya, known in Castle as Don Fernando de Valor was under hot pursuit. He cut the hamstrings of the animal to render it useless to his pursuers, and sought refuge in the depths of the Sierra Nevada, where the rebels henceforth based themselves.

  Ferdinand deployed Don John of Austria, the victor at Lepanto, but he had a difficult task, for the opposition he encountered here were those pushed to the wall - it was all or nothing for them now. Very soon the rebels established their autonomous principality in the mountains, making frequent raids to Granada.

  The life in this word is but goods and chattels of deception – mainly women, wine and wealth, and people attracted to such vices were many among those in the hills. One fine night, one of them led a Spanish expedition straight into a house in the skirts of the sierras, where Ibn Humeya and two of his most trusted companions were asleep.

  The Spanish captain led his men with the greatest secrecy towards the house, and in a minute more the house would be surrounded and its inmates secured; but at this critical moment the gun of one of the Spaniards accidentally discharged, the report echoing loudly among the hills, warning the lightly sleeping inmates.

  El Zagal was one of those asleep. He at once sprang up, leaped from the window of his room and made way with all haste to the mountains. His nephew was not so fortunate. Running to his window, in the front of the house, he saw the ground occupied by troops. He hastily sought another window, but his foes were there before him. Bewildered and distressed, he knew not where to turn. The house was surrounded; the Spaniards were thundering on the door for admittance; he was like a wolf caught in its lair, with little mercy to hope from his captors.

  By good fortune the door was well secured. Hastening downstairs, the prince stood behind the portal and noiselessly drew its bolts. The Spaniards, finding the door give way, and supposing it had yielded to their blows, hastily rushed in. The prince slipped out concealed by the darkness outside. He hastened away, seeking refuge in the mountains.

  The third inmate was not lucky. He remained in the hands of the assailants, who vainly questioned him as to the haunts of his kinsmen. On his refusal to answer they employed torture, but with no better effect. "I may die," he courageously said, "but my friends will live." He then quoted the ayah of Sura Al Imran: “Those who have left their homes, or been driven out there from – Verily I will blot out from them all their iniquities, and admit them to gardens, with rivers flowing beneath, A reward from the presence of Allah, and from his presence is the best of rewards!”

  So severe and cruel was their treatment, that in the end they left him for dead. Aben Aboo, however did not die. He lived on to play a leading part in the war.

  The Spanish soldiers raged through the mountains, committing the foulest acts of outrage and rape. In Granada a large number of Moors - men, women and children had been imprisoned, held as hostage for the good behavior of their friends in the mountains. One fine night a body of Spaniards entered the prison, arms in hand, and began an indiscriminate massacre. The prisoners fought desperately for their lives, and for two hours the unequal combat continued, not ending while a single Moor remained alive.

  Hitherto the rebellion was by and large peaceful. Ibn Humeya was reconciled to them leading their own life in the mountains. Now, he started taking terrible reprisals by treating with atrocious cruelty the Spaniards captured by him.

  From Barbary a considerable body of Moors who had earlier fled Spain crossed over to help Ibn Humeya carry on guerilla wa
rfare. They made forays from the mountains into the plains, penetrating into the Vega and boldly venturing even into the walls of Granada.

  The Moors could have taken back Granada had they continued in the same spirit. However Ibn Humeya started displaying traits of character which lost him support. He started leading a voluptuous life and struck down without mercy those whom he feared, no less than three hundred and fifty persons falling victims to his jealousy or revenge. His cruelty and injustice at length led to a plot for his death, and his brief reign ended in assassination.

  Aben Aboo, had by now fully recovered from his injuries, and the mantle of leadership fell on him. He lacked the dash and love of adventure of Ibn Humeya, but had superior judgment in military affairs and full courage in carrying out his plans.

  Aben Aboo started off by importing a large quantity of arms and ammunition from Barbary and reinforcements from Algiers. Orgiba, a fortified place on the road to Granada was besieged and this soon fell to him.

  The capture of Orgiba roused the enthusiasm of the Moors to the highest pitch, and from all sides the peasantry, even Christians flocked to the standard of their able chief, and the war began resembling that of the century before, when the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella invaded Granada. From peak to peak of the sierras beacon-fires flashed their signals, calling the bold mountaineers to forays on the lands of the enemy. Pouring suddenly down on the lower levels, the daring marauders swept away in triumph to the mountains the flocks and herds of their foes. The fortunes of war fluctuated, and for a brief period Aben Aboo even managed to wrest back Granada.

  Like this, life went on for many years, until one day, one of the few insurgent prisoners who escaped death from their Spanish executioners named the two persons on whom Aben Aboo most relied - Abu Amer and El Senix. The Spaniards first made an effort to win over Abu Amer. On hearing of this, Abu Amer however rose to intense indignation. El Senix, however had a private grudge against his master. He sent word by the messenger that he would undertake, for a suitable recompense, to betray Aben Aboo to the Spaniards.