Spain:Muslim Groups Demand Citizenship for Millions(Based on Law for Citizenship of Expelled Jews)

The demands are for descendants of Muslims expelled from Spain in the Middle Ages when Muslim invaders were kicked out by Christians.

Muslim groups are demanding Spanish citizenship for potentially millions of descendants of Muslims who were expelled from Spain during the Middle Ages.

The growing clamor for "historical justice" comes after the recent approval of a law that would grant Spanish citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492.

Muslim supporters say they are entitled to the same rights and privileges as Jews because both groups were expelled from Spain under similar historical circumstances.

But historians point out that the Jewish presence in Spain predates the arrival of Christianity in the country and that their expulsion was a matter of bigotry. By contrast, the Muslims in Spain were colonial occupiers who called the territory Al-Andalus and imposed Arabic as the official language. Historians say their expulsion was a matter of decolonization.

In any event, the descendants of Muslims expelled from Spain are believed to number in the millions—possibly tens of millions—and most of them now live in North Africa. Observers say that by granting citizenship to all of them, Spain, virtually overnight, would end up with the largest Muslim population in the European Union.

Much of the Iberian Peninsula was occupied by Muslim conquerors known as the Moors from 711 until 1492, when the Moorish Kingdom of Granada surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon), in what is known as the Christian Reconquest.

But the final Muslim expulsion from Granada did not take place until over a century later, beginning in 1609, when King Philip III decreed the expulsion of the Moriscos.

The Moriscos—Moors who decided to convert to Catholicism after the Reconquest rather than leave Spain—were suspected of being nominal Catholics who continued to practice Islam in secret. From 1609 through 1614, the Spanish monarchy forced an estimated 350,000 Moriscos to leave Spain for Muslim North Africa.

Today, up to five million descendants of the Moriscos are living in Morocco alone; there are millions more living in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia and Turkey.

In a recent essay published by the Morocco-based newspaper Correo Diplomático, the Morisco-Moroccan journalist Ahmed Bensalh wrote that the "decision to grant Spanish citizenship to the grandchildren of the Hebrews in Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, while ignoring the Moriscos, the grandsons of the Muslims, is without doubt, flagrant segregation and unquestionable discrimination, as both communities suffered equally in Spain at that time. The decision could also be considered by the international community to be an historic act of absolute immorality and injustice...This decision is absolutely disgraceful and dishonorable."

Bensalh then went on to threaten Spain: "Is Spain aware of what might be assumed when it makes peace with some and not with others? Is Spain aware of what this decision could cost? Has Spain considered that it could jeopardize the massive investments that Muslims have made on its territory? Does Spain have alternatives to the foreign investment from Muslims if they ever decide to move that capital to other destinations due to the discrimination against Muslims?"

Bensalh is one of many Muslim journalists, historians and academics who are demanding that Spain treat Moriscos the same way it treats Sephardic Jews.

Consider Jamal Bin Ammar al-Ahmar, an "Andalus-Algerian" university professor at the Ferhat Abbas University in Sétif in northeastern Algeria. Al-Ahmar has been engaged in a six-year campaign to persuade Spanish King Juan Carlos to identify and condemn those who expelled the Muslims from Al-Andalus in the fifteenth century. Al-Ahmar is also demanding that millions of descendants of the Moriscos expelled from Spain be allowed to return there.

In a letter addressed to the Spanish monarch, Al-Ahmar calls for a "full legal and historical investigation of the war crimes that were perpetrated on the Muslim population of Andalusia by the French, English, European and papal crusaders, whose victims were our poor miserable people, after the collapse of Islamic rule in Andalusia."

The letter speaks of "the injustice inflicted on the Muslim population of Andalusia who are still suffering in the diaspora in exile since 1492."

Al-Ahmar wants the Spanish monarch to apologize "on behalf of his ancestors" and to assume "responsibility for the consequences" this would entail. He says it is necessary "to identify criminals, to convict retroactively, while at the same time to identify and compensate victims for their calamities and restore their titles." This process would culminate with "a decree that allows immigrants to return to their homes in Andalusia, and grant them full citizenship rights and restoration of all their properties."

The Moroccan historian Hasan Aourid believes Spain has a policy of "double standards" vis-à-vis the Moriscos. Aourid—who recently wrote a novel, entitled "The Moriscos," to "remember the tragedy of those expelled from Al-Andalus"—told an audience at the Casablanca International Book Fair that Spain cannot become "reconciled with itself without recognizing its Moorish dimension" and asked if "the suffering was lower for Muslims than for Jews."

The Association for the Historical Legacy of Al-Andalus, a group dedicated to reviving the memory of the Muslim presence in Spain, says the Spanish government should treat Muslims and Jews the same way. By failing to offer Spanish citizenship to both groups, Muslims would become victims of "selective racism," said the president of the association, Bayib Loubaris.

Spain is unlikely to concede to these demands anytime soon. While few deny there are potentially millions of descendants of Moriscos living in North Africa today, the challenge lies in reconstructing reliable genealogies to determine legitimate heirs.

The issue of who is a Morisco and who is not will be a topic for discussion at a major international conference—"The Descendants of the Andalusian Moriscos in Morocco, Spain and Portugal"—to be held in Tangier from April 4-6, 2014.

But even if such genealogies could be compiled, calls to naturalize the descendants of expelled Muslims are sure to be opposed for another reason: the fact that the expulsion of the Muslims was part of a war to end the occupation of Spain by North African invaders.

The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision

Henry Kamen

Henry A. Kamen (born 1936 in Rangoon) is a British historian. He studied at the University of Oxford, earning his doctorate at St Antony’s College.

This renowned historian here presents a new view of the notorious Spanish Inquisition, arguing that there was less terror, bigotry, and persecution associated with it than has been previously believed. Based on thirty years of research, the book will revolutionize further study in the field.

This is one of the best studies on the subject is by Henry Kamen, Professor of History who has taught at numerous U.S. Universities, including UCLA and the Univ. of Chicago. He is a Jewish-British citizen and is currently a research fellow in Spain and his analysis support the fact that the Spanish Inquisition, as understood by most today, is based on urban legends.

I suggest folks here at a minimum go to amazon.com and examine his work on the Spanish Inquisition. I am surprised by the lack of intellectual honesty with some individuals on this board with respect to this subject. It seems deconstructionisism, which at its core is a Marxist and relativistic ideology, is rampant.

The Spanish inquisition was designed to confront Catholic heresy, which was seen as being a threat to the state. Specifically, it was targeting conversos, i.e. persons who had converted from Islam and/or Judaism for political gain.

There is a growing consensus among scholars that indeed many of the conversos lived double lives and conspired with the Moslems during the Spanish Catholics war of reconquest. It is true that torture as used and some were put to death by the state, if convicted twice which Catholic Historian Warren Carroll, in his Volume 3 of History of Christianity: The Glory of Christendom notes can’t be defended.

However, he notes that torture and being put to death were not unique to Spain. Most sources today document that some 15,000 persons were found guilty by the Inquisition and about 2,000 were put to death during Isabella’s reign.

Many Catholic Saints were in fact charged in the inquisition and cleared, including St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, and ST. THeresa of Avila. As Carroll notes (p. 608) in Volume 3 of his work, “The Glory of Christendom”, the Inquisition had no jurisdiction over practicing Moslems or Jews, only over professed Christians who were still living as Jews or Moslems.

Shortly after the Spanish Inquisition was commenced in 1480, the war of reconquest of Spain began again as on December 26, 1481, the Moslems attacked Granada. Isabella responded with and all out military effort which finally ended what was a 759 year struggle!!! to drive the Moslems out. In addition, shortly after the reconquest, Isabella in March 1492 issued a decree to expel all Jews from Spain.

Historian Warren Carroll (p. 681 fn) writes “Much has been made of in recent years of Isabel’s decree in March 1492 expelling all Jews from Castille as showing that she was not always good and just. None but God is always good and just. This was the one definitely unjust act in Isabel’s thirty-three year reign; though some Jewish subjects had been proved to be, or could reasonably be expected to be traitors, and some had been proved by the inquisition to have enticed conversos to betray and blaspheme the Christian Faith, the edict of expulsion covered all without exception, the innocent majority along with guilty minority.

Those exiled were not otherwise harshly treated; they were given four months to wind up their affairs and take all they wished with them except precious metal, an their persons were under royal protection throughout that time. Yet, the expulsion was still unjust (See Carrolls Isabel of Spain, pp. 207-210 for more detail).

It seems, based on the scientific evidence, that many Jews of the times adopted Catholicism and married Spanish Catholics, rather than leave Spain. In summary, the Spanish Inquisition should be seen in the context of the 15th century and in the context of Spain’s 759 year conflict to retake their Land from the Moslem invaders. All other attempts, IMO, are nothing more than Marxist Deconstuctionism.

Further, the Spanish Inquisition was no different from any other courts during its time, and in fact, the criteria for evidence was among the best in the era. Also, non-Catholic never were tried under the inquisition, so this nonsense that all non-Catholics, which you seem to imply in your post, were wound up and tried in the Inquisition is a fairy tale.

Neither the Jews nor the Moors were under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. The Inquisition dealt with heresies among Catholics and those converted to Catholicism. The Catholic Kings, Isabella and Fernando ruled over different Christian kingdoms each of them with their own laws and privileges.

In the end, Isabella and Fernando used the Inquisition as an instrument of the state for the unification of the country establishing the first modern European state. The Spanish Inquisition’s jurisdiction superseded the regional laws in religious matters and was not under the control of the Supreme Pontific in Rome but under the Spanish Kings.

After 700 hundred years of Islamic domination the Christians regained power in Spain. It was a bloody struggle that lasted 700 years. During the Muslim invasion, many Jews living in the Christian Goths Kingdoms allied themselves with the invaders. After such long years of travails, Kings Isabella and Fernando, in order to consolidate the unity of their kingdom, decreed the expulsion of Moors and Jews that did not want to convert to Catholicism. Many prelates and Saints in Catholic Spain were converted or descendants of converted Jews. Those who choose to remain in their Jewish faith were not killed, they were allowed to sell their properties and leave the country with their possessions.

“The Tree of Hate” by American historian Philip Wayne Powell is another seminal scholar book for those in search of the truth behind the infamous Black Legend. Dr. Powell was Emeritus professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

According to R.C. Padden, Professor of History, Brown University, this is “An extraordinary book to be read and pondered by lay-men, teachers, scholars, Latin American policy makers – in short, anyone with a serious interest in the diminishing of racial and national prejudice.”

As stated by Dale Van Every, American historian and novelist, “With a masterly marshalling of detail and a firm grasp upon the significance of his subject, Powell has drawn an unforgettable picture of what must surely rank as the most flagrant and successful propaganda feat of all time.”

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