Arab battles in Andalusia

Author's name: Boutros Al-Bustani

Andalusia, the country ruled by Muslims for nearly eight centuries, established an enduring civilization, evidenced by the remains of the palaces and cities they left behind, the works of their scholars, and their role in enriching the foundations of European civilization. So why did Andalusia fall?

A surprising question, but when we read “The Battles of Andalusia,” our surprise disappears. In this book, Butrus al-Bustani traces the battles fought by the West to seize Andalusia, presenting the reasons for the weakness of the Andalusians. Andalusia lost its unity when the minister, Abu al-Hazm ibn Jahwar, announced the fall of the state and its disintegration into 22 small states. This paved the way for the West to seize it, one state after another. The last of these states was Granada, which fell in 1492 AD without the Muslims taking action. The Mamluk and Ottoman states preferred to play the role of spectators, allowing the Arab kingdom, the center of Islamic cultural influence in the West, to fall.