There never was an 'Islamic Spain'

SORRY OSAMA: There Was Never An ‘Islamic Spain.’ That’s Just Another Dumb Leftist Myth



“Islamic Spain” (Al-Andalus) has been presented as some realm of tolerance and respect, where learning burgeoned — nurtured by “ludic,” or genial, Islam. (The word “ludicrous” is related). It’s a soothing fairy tale to lull any card-carrying leftist to sleep. Meanwhile, back with historical reality…

We know little about “Islamic Spain.” The Arabic documents are late (written 400 to 700 years after the so-called “Islamic invasion” in 711 A.D.). They are also unreliable because Islamic history is not concerned with facts, but with the imagined triumphs of the faith.

Then, there are the Visigoths, who ruled Spain and parts of North Africa in the early eighth century. They were mostly Arian Christians, that is, heretics who rejected the Trinity and believed Jesus to be a special kind of human being, but not the Son of God. Much of Iberian history at this time is the ongoing struggle between Trinitarian (Catholic) and anti-Trinitarian Christianities, with the Byzantines (the Eastern Roman Empire) playing the dominant role.