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Muslim influence in Spain still felt in daily
life - ii
By Habeeb Salloum
 Besides
the food crops, the Muslim brought to the Iberian Peninsula the cotton
plant, which in Spanish is called algodon from the Arabic alqutn. They
also developed the silk industry, to make Al-Andalus one of the major silk
manufacturing countries of the medieval world. The fine fabrics of which
Europe was to be proud in later centuries had their origin in this land of
the Moors.
The wealth generated by agriculture would have been insignificant were it
not for the excellent irrigation system the Muslim constructed throughout
Al-Andalus. When these former sons of the desert first came to the
peninsula, they found a primitive form of a Roman irrigation network.
After making a scientific study of the land, they improved this network
greatly, completing many hydraulic projects for irrigating their whole
domain.
There is little doubt that the intricate canal network was responsible for
producing the thriving crops in the Muslim era. The lush huerta
surrounding Valencia has fascinated engineers and historians for
centuries. The Moorish irrigation system, which made this garden full of
orchards and rice fields possible, is still regulated by a
thousand-year-old tribunal established by the Moorish khalifah Al-Hakam
II. Every Thursday at midday it holds its sessions to adjudicate land
disputes among the farmers. The code laid down by the Muslims is still the
basis of judgement by this Tribunal of the Waters.
The Valenican huerta was only one of the areas in Spain which benefited
from the agricultural techniques of the Muslims. In the southern part of
the country, they created what some historians have called an earthly
paradise. M Defourneaux in his book, Daily Life in Spain in the golden
Age, wrote: The most admirable area is around Granada, where the Moors for
a long time occupied the kingdom. They brought water from the snowcapped
Sierras, by means of canals and tunnels, to fertilize the plains and the
blossoming hills which surround them to make it one of the most beautiful
sights in the world.
The excellent land-watering system constructed by the Muslims throughout
Al-Andalus is attested to by the Spanish language, rich in Arabic loan
words in the field of irrigation from names of the waterways to the laws
and administration of the system irrigation ditch (acequia-al-saqiya),
pool (alberca-al-birka) and irrigating duty (alfarda or farda-alfarda).
More than the pen of any historian, these words tell the story of the Arab
impact on the irrigation system in Spain. They are a living testimony to
the Muslims' technical achievement in the agricultural field.
The introduction of new crops with the accompanying irrigation generated a
great deal of wealth. This gave rise to an affluent society which
appreciated the beauty of nature and that created by man. The forests were
protected, new types of trees and flowers were cultivated and number of
wild flowers, grasses and shrubs were identified and named. Many of these
still carry their Arabic-derived names: safflower (alazor-al-asfur),
alfalfa (al-fasfasa) and acorn (bellota-balluta).
The famous botanists of Muslim Spain, Ibn Bassal, Ibn al-Wafid, Ibn al-Hajjaj
and Ibn al-Awwam, have left us a great deal of material on the
productivity and fertility of plants and general agricultural practices.
In the twelfth century Ibn al-Awwam wrote a treatise on agriculture which
was translated into the Romance languages of the Middle Ages. It lists 584
species of plants and gives precise instructions regarding their
cultivation and use. He also wrote about methods for grafting trees and
how to produce hybrids, stop the blight of insects, and create floral
essences of perfume.
With flowers, shrubs and trees, the Muslims built gardens to a grand
artistic perfection. The passion for gardens and flower-filled courtyards
was a deep love in the heart of every Muslim. This is reflected in the
words of chroniclers who have left us first hand and precise knowledge
about the Moorish courtyards during the Muslim era. As a result of this
legacy, Spain today has some of the most charming homes and gardens in the
world. Flowers dripping down from window-boxes against walls which
beautify the streets and plazas are a true leftover form the days when the
sons of Islam ruled.
Next of importance to the produce of the land in the Muslim age was sheep
raising and the wool industry it generated. The head-shepherd (rabadan-rabb
al-da'n), a flock of sheep with different owners (rehala-rahata), a head
of cattle (res-ra's), and a young shepherd playing his flute (zaga playing
his alboque-zaghlul playing his al-bug ) are Spanish words directly taken
form the Arabs.
Perhaps even more interesting are the names and words derived form Arabic
which permeate Spanish rural life. These tell their own story of how great
the imprint the Muslims left in the land of EI-Cid (Al-sayyid). From the
8,000 basic Spanish words derived from Arabic, a large number relate to
farming and the countryside: village aldea-al-day's), flour-mill (tahona-tahuna)
and mule-driver (almocrebe-al-mukari), for example.
Of all the facets of country life in which one sees the mark of the
Muslims, the home is the place where they left their greatest imprint. The
beauty and comfort of the Andalusian abode of today is no different than
that of the Muslim home in Arab Spain. A Spanish housewife goes about her
tasks (tarea-tarihah) cleaning the tiles (azulejos-al-zulayj) and
door-knocker (aldaba-al-dabba. As the masons (albaniles-al-banna toil,
they drink from a water-jug (jara-jarrah) by letting a stream from the
spout fall through the air into their mouths- a method of drinking brought
into Spain by the Muslims.
The Spanish words of Arabic origin relating to rural life and the home are
only one side of the coin. The countryside, especially in southern and
eastern Spain, is dotted with place names of Arab origin: Medinas
(medina-city), Alcalas (al-qasr-the palace). There are well over a
thousand names of Arab origin found in every part of the country. They
have become as Spanish as bullfighting, which is also believed to have
been initiated by the Moors.
The expulsion of the Muslims from Spain deprived the land of its
prosperity and led to a huge drop in agrarian production. This was
especially true in the Valencia region and the last Moorish heartland of
the Alpujarrs Mountians edging Granada. According to A Boyd in The Road
from Ronda, when Philip II expelled the Moriscos (Muslims forced to
convert to Christianity) from the Alpujarras, and repopulated it with
Christians from the north, he ordered that two Morisco families must stay
in each village to show the newcomers how to irrigate the land. In the
Valencian huerata, after the expulsion of the Muslims, the cultivation of
sugarcane was almost extinguished and the yields of citrus fruits declined
drastically.
Muslim Spain, which covered a little more than 50 percent of the Iberian
Peninsula, by its advanced farming techniques supported a population of 30
million-more than the inhabitants of all the European countries in that
era. It was many years before that remainder of Europe reached the
affluence once found in AL-Andalus. In that earthly paradise the Muslims
had created the flower of the medieval world. Today what they left behind
tells its own story. Not only the flourishing, rich Spanish countryside of
our times, but the magnificent Mosque of Cordova, the Alcazar of Seville,
and the majestic Alhambra of Granda all still stand-glorious examples of
visual splendour attesting to the greatness of the Muslim civilization of
Spain. q |
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