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143-646: The Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan words muladí , muladi or muladita are derived from the Arabic muwallad . The basic meaning of muwallad is 'a person of mixed ancestry', especially a descendant of one Arab and one non-Arab parent, who grew up under the influence of an Arabic society and were educated within the Islamic culture . Muladi is the Spanish form of the term muwalladun , referring to Arabic-speaking Muslims of Hispanic origin who showed

286-890: A civil war in 739 that lasted until 743 known as the Berber Revolt . The Berbers revolted against the Umayyads , putting an end to Eastern dominion over the Maghreb. Despite racial tensions, Arabs and Berbers intermarried frequently. A few years later, the Eastern branch of the Umayyad dynasty was dethroned by the Abbasids and the Umayyad Caliphate overthrown in the Abbasid revolution (746–750) . Abd al-Rahman I , who

429-443: A herbivorous animal slaughtered in the name of God by a Muslim, Jew, or Christian, with the exception of game that one has hunted or fished for oneself. Food permissible for Muslims is known as halal food. It is indicated in these verses of Quran, guidelines for Muslims about the consumption of meat: He has only forbidden you ˹to eat˺ carrion, blood, swine, and what is slaughtered in the name of any other than Allah. But if someone

572-416: A sheikh , and can involve silent meditation or repetition and visualisation of sacred words such as the 99 names of God or Quranic phrases, and may be done at rest or with rhythmic movements and controlling one's breath. Traditional Islamic orders have developed varied dhikr exercises including sometimes highly elaborate ritual dances accompanied by Sufi poetry and classical music. Al-Ghazzali discussed

715-472: A ban of depiction of animate beings, also known as aniconism. Islamic aniconism stems in part from the prohibition of idolatry and in part from the belief that creation of living forms is God's prerogative. Although the Quran does not explicitly prohibit visual representation of any living being, it uses the word musawwir (maker of forms, artist) as an epithet of God. The corpus of hadith (sayings attributed to

858-408: A female only environment, as is often performed at celebrations, but discouraging men to engage in it. Other classical authorities including Al-Ghazzali and Al-Nawawi allow it without this distinction, but criticised dancing which is "languid" or excites carnal lusts. Most of the religious orders ( tariqa ) which dominate traditional Muslim religious life practice ritualised forms of dance in

1001-521: A great influence on music, as it united vast areas under the first caliphs, and facilitated trade between distant lands. Certainly the Sufis , brotherhoods of Muslim mystics , spread their music far and wide. Alauddin Khan , Ali Akbar Khan , and Gul Mohammad Khan were notable Bengali Muslim exponents of classical music and Runa Laila became widely acclaimed for her musical talents across South Asia in

1144-505: A hereditary trait with them; all but Sulaiman al-Zafir (God have mercy on him!), whom I remember to have had black ringlets and a black beard. As for al-Nasir and al-Hakam al-Mustansir (may God be pleased with them!), I have been informed by my late father, the vizier, as well as by others, that both of them were blond and blue-eyed. The same is true of Hisham al-Mu'aiyad , Muhammad al-Mahdi, and `Abd al-Rahman al-Murtada (may God be merciful to them all!); I saw them myself many times, and had

1287-516: A high level of religious conversion (whether voluntary or enforced), driven by historical episodes of social and religious intolerance, that ultimately led to the integration of descendants." According to historian Richard A. Fletcher , "the number of Arabs who settled in Iberia was very small. 'Moorish' Iberia does at least have the merit of reminding us that the bulk of the invaders and settlers were Moors, i.e., Berbers from Algeria and Morocco." In

1430-501: A laugh or a shudder from his audience" In Iran puppets are known to have existed much earlier than 1000, but initially only glove and string puppets were popular in Iran. Other genres of puppetry emerged during the Qajar era (18th–19th century) as influences from Turkey spread to the region. Kheimeh Shab-Bazi is a Persian traditional puppet show which is performed in a small chamber by

1573-454: A musical performer and a storyteller called a morshed or naghal . These shows often take place alongside storytelling in traditional tea and coffee-houses ( Ghahve-Khave ). The dialogue takes place between the morshed and the puppets. Puppetry remains very popular in Iran, the touring opera Rostam and Sohrab puppet opera being a recent example. The Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman . It

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1716-627: A person of African (black) and European (white) ancestry; however, the dictionary of the Real Academia Española and several authorities trace mulato (and from it, English mulatto ) to Spanish mulo ' mule ', from Latin mūlus . In Islamic history muwalladun designates in a broader sense non-Arab Muslims or the descendants of converts . In the Muslim-ruled parts of the Iberian Peninsula, parts of

1859-583: A result, their descendants and many descendants of Christian converts forgot the descent of their ancestors and assumed forged Arab genealogies . However, there were a few who were proud of their Roman and Visigothic origins. These included the Banu Angelino and Banu Sabarico of Seville , Banu Qasi of Aragon , Banu l' Longo and Banu Qabturno. Several Muwallad nobles also used the name Al-Quti , ('the Goth '), and some may have been actual descendants from

2002-513: A state that covered modern northern Morocco , western Algeria , and the Spanish cities Ceuta and Melilla . The Berber tribes of the region were noted in the Classics as Mauri , which was subsequently rendered as "Moors" in English and in related variations in other European languages. Mauri (Μαῦροι) is recorded as the native name by Strabo in the early 1st century. This appellation

2145-480: A variety of decorative figural designs. Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy , based upon the alphabet in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. It includes Arabic Calligraphy , Ottoman , and Persian calligraphy . It is known in Arabic as khatt Islami ( خط اسلامي ), meaning Islamic line, design, or construction. The development of Islamic calligraphy

2288-656: A vast but silent majority of Muladi Muslims thrived, especially in the Extremadura region of Spain . Among the Muwalladun were the free-born, the enfranchised, and the enslaved . A significant part of the Muwalladun was formed by freed slaves. These were the Saqaliba , or Slavs who became an important social group in Al-Andalus during the 10th and 11th centuries. Upon adopting the ethnic name of their patrons,

2431-533: A wide variety of Iberian Romance languages . Andalusian Arabic was a mixture of Iberian languages and Classical Arabic , though derived especially from Latin . This local dialect of Arabic was also spoken by the Berbers and Arabs from the 9th century onwards. In the process of acculturation, Muwallads may well have adopted an agnatic model of descent , but without abandoning the bilaterality of late Roman kinship . According to Abu Jafar ibn Harun of Trujillo

2574-635: Is a multicultural religion, the musical expression of its adherents is diverse. The Seljuk Turks , a nomadic tribe that converted to Islam, conquered Anatolia (now Turkey ), and held the Caliphate as the Ottoman Empire , also had a strong influence on Islamic music. See Turkish classical music . Sub-Saharan Africa , India , and the Malay Archipelago also have large Muslim populations, but these areas have had less influence than

2717-928: Is a notable exception in that they do not use music and dancing in the context of dhikr . In addition to these strictly religious forms of dance, colourful dancing processions traditionally take place in Muslim communities during weddings and public celebrations such as Mawlid , Eid el-Adha , and so on. Many Islamic cultures have also developed classical forms of dance in the context for instance of Mughal , Ottoman , Persian and Javanese court cultures, as well as innumerable local folk and tribal dances (for instance amongst Bedouin , Tuareg and Pashto peoples), and other forms of dance used for entertainment or sometimes healing such as belly dancing (principally associated with Egyptian culture). Although tariqas and their rituals have been an omnipresent part of Muslim life for most of Islam's history and were largely responsible for

2860-599: Is compelled by hunger, not inclining willfully to sin, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. Moors The term Moor is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim populations of the Maghreb , al-Andalus ( Iberian Peninsula ), Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages . Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defined people. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica observed that

3003-436: Is compelled by necessity—neither driven by desire nor exceeding immediate need—then surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Tell them (O Muhammad!): 'I do not find in what has been revealed to me anything forbidden for anyone who wants to eat unless it is carrion, outpoured blood and the flesh of swine, all of which is unclean; or that which is profane having been slaughtered in a name other than that of Allah. But whosoever

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3146-441: Is considered to be the first opera house linking Islamic culture with classical music. Following the independence of Pakistan in 1947, religion-based nationalism was strong and affected the theatre in both wings of the country. In East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh), playwrights emerged such as Ibrahim Khan (1894–1978), Ibrahim Khalil (b. 1916), Akbar ad-Din (1895–1978) and others. These playwrights would create plays related to

3289-429: Is constrained to it by necessity – this – neither desiring to disobey nor exceeding the limit of necessity – your Lord is surely All Forgiving, All-Compassionate. Forbidden to you is that which dies of itself, and blood, and flesh of swine, and that on which any other name than that of Allah has been invoked, and the strangled (animal) and that beaten to death, and that killed by a fall and that killed by being smitten with

3432-454: Is not as rigid as it appears. Certain religious rites are performed during and after the death of a Muslim . Those near a dying man encourage him to pronounce the Shahada as Muslims want their last word to be their profession of faith. After the death, the body is appropriately bathed by the members of the same gender and then enshrouded in a threefold white garment called kafan . Placing

3575-612: Is one earliest works of feminist science fiction . UNESCO decided to observe 21 February as International Mother Language Day . The UNESCO General Conference took the decision that took effect on 17 November 1999, From the 11th century, there was a growing body of Islamic literature in the Turkic languages . However, for centuries to come the official language in Turkish-speaking areas would remain Persian. In Anatolia, with

3718-538: Is one of the world's oldest literatures . It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day Iran , Iraq , Syria , Afghanistan , the Caucasus , and Turkey , regions of Central Asia such as Tajikistan , and South Asia , where Persian has historically been either the native or official language. For instance, Rumi , one of the best-loved Persian poets,

3861-492: Is permitted by Islam, Islam does not allow for any performances to depict God, Muhammad , his companions, the angels or matters detailed in the religion that are unseen. The most popular forms of theatre in the medieval Islamic world were puppet theatre (which included hand puppets, shadow plays and marionette productions) and live passion plays known as ta'ziya , where actors re-enact episodes from Muslim history . In particular, Shia Islamic plays revolved around

4004-622: Is strongly tied to the Qur'an ; chapters and excerpts from the Qur'an are a common and almost universal text upon which Islamic calligraphy is based. However, Islamic calligraphy is not limited to strictly religious subjects, objects, or spaces. Like all Islamic art , it encompasses a diverse array of works created in a wide variety of contexts. The prevalence of calligraphy in Islamic art is not directly related to its non-figural tradition; rather, it reflects

4147-464: Is written in Persian; works written by ethnic Persians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic , are sometimes included. At the same time, not all literature written in Persian is written by ethnic Persians or Iranians; Turkic, Caucasian, and Indian poets and writers have also used the Persian language in the environment of Persianate societies. Described as one of the great literatures of humanity, including Goethe 's assessment of it as one of

4290-652: The Reconquista ("Reconquest") soon after the Islamic conquest in the 8th century. Christian states based in the north and west slowly extended their power over the rest of Iberia. The Kingdom of Navarre , the Kingdom of Galicia , the Kingdom of León , the Kingdom of Portugal , the Kingdom of Aragon , the Marca Hispánica , and the Crown of Castile began a process of expansion and internal consolidation during

4433-493: The shaheed (martyrdom) of Ali 's sons Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali . Live secular plays were known as akhraja , recorded in medieval adab literature, though they were less common than puppetry and ta'zieh theatre. One of the oldest, and most enduring, forms of puppet theatre is the Wayang of Indonesia . Although it narrates primarily pre-Islamic legends, it is also an important stage for Islamic epics such as

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4576-731: The Abbasid Caliphate came to power in 750, Persians became its scribes and bureaucrats and, increasingly, also its writers and poets. The New Persian language literature arose and flourished in Khorasan and Transoxiana because of political reasons, early Iranian dynasties such as the Tahirids and Samanids being based in Khorasan. Persian poets such as Ferdowsi , Saadi Shirazi , Hafiz Shirazi , Attar of Nishapur , Nizami Ganjavi , Rumi and Omar Khayyam are also known in

4719-425: The Arabic language . The Arabic word used for literature is " Adab " , which is derived from a meaning of etiquette , and which implies politeness, culture and enrichment. Arabic literature emerged in the 5th century with only fragments of the written language appearing before then. The Qur'an ,(the holy book of Islam) widely regarded by people as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language , would have

4862-612: The Azawagh Arabs , after the Azawagh region of the Sahara. The authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language does not list any derogatory meaning for the word moro , a term generally referring to people of Maghrebian origin in particular or Muslims in general. Some authors have pointed out that in modern colloquial Spanish use of the term moro is derogatory for Moroccans in particular and Muslims in general. In

5005-651: The Bangsamoro "Moro Nation". Moreno can mean "dark-skinned" in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, and the Philippines. Also in Spanish, morapio is a humorous name for "wine", especially that which has not been "baptized" or mixed with water, i.e., pure unadulterated wine. Among Spanish speakers, moro came to have a broader meaning, applied to both Filipino Moros from Mindanao, and the moriscos of Granada . Moro refers to all things dark, as in "Moor", moreno , etc. It

5148-597: The Christian kingdoms of Europe , which tried to reclaim control of Muslim areas; this conflict was referred to as the Reconquista . In 1224, the Muslims were expelled from Sicily to the settlement of Lucera , which was destroyed by European Christians in 1300. The fall of Granada in 1492 marked the end of Muslim rule in Spain, although a Muslim minority persisted until their expulsion in 1609. The etymology of

5291-492: The Crusades , as a pun on the bearer's name in the canting arms of Morese, Negri, Saraceni, etc., or in the case of Frederick II , possibly to demonstrate the reach of his empire. The arms of Pope Benedict XVI feature a moor's head, crowned and collared red, in reference to the arms of Freising, Germany . In the case of Corsica and Sardinia, the blindfolded moors' heads in the four quarters have long been said to represent

5434-852: The Inquisition in Spain . The Muslim population of Granada rebelled in 1499 . The revolt lasted until early 1501, giving the Castilian authorities an excuse to void the terms of the Treaty of Granada (1491) . In 1501, Castilian authorities delivered an ultimatum to the Muslims of Granada: they could either convert to Christianity or be expelled. The Inquisition was aimed mostly at Jews and Muslims who had overtly converted to Christianity but were thought to be practicing their faiths secretly. They were respectively called marranos and moriscos . However, in 1567 King Philip II directed Moriscos to give up their Arabic names and traditional dress, and prohibited

5577-466: The Iranic , South Asian ( Pakistani and Indian ), Caucasian , Turkic , Malay , Somali , Berber , and Indonesian cultures. Owing to a variety of factors, there are variations in the application of Islamic beliefs in different cultures and traditions. Arabic literature ( Arabic : الأدب العربي / ALA-LC : al-Adab al-'Arabī ) is the writing, both prose and poetry , produced by writers in

5720-631: The Isma'ili rulers of the Fatimid Caliphate . Four years later, the Fatimid governor was ousted from Palermo when the island declared its independence under Emir Ahmed ibn-Kohrob. The language spoken in Sicily under Muslim rule was Siculo-Arabic . In 1038, a Byzantine army under George Maniakes crossed the strait of Messina. This army included a corps of Normans that saved the situation in

5863-687: The Mevlevi Order founded by Jalaluddin Rumi , which was the main Sunni order of the Ottoman Empire , and its sama ritual (known in the West as "the whirling dervishes "). The Mevlevi order, its rituals and Ottoman classical music has been banned in Turkey through much of the 20th century as part of the country's drive towards secular "modernisation", and the order's properties have been expropriated and

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6006-728: The Mosque , the Tomb , the Palace and the Fort . From these four types, the vocabulary of Islamic architecture is derived and used for other buildings such as public baths , fountains and domestic architecture. Islamic architecture may be identified with the following design elements, which were inherited from the first mosque built by Muhammad in Medina , as well as from other pre-Islamic features adapted from churches and synagogues. Whilst theatre

6149-626: The Philippines , a former Spanish colony , many modern Filipinos call the large, local Muslim minority concentrated in Mindanao and other southern islands Moros . The word is a catch-all term, as Moro may come from several distinct ethno-linguistic groups such as the Maranao people . The term was introduced by Spanish colonisers, and has since been appropriated by Filipino Muslims as an endonym , with many self-identifying as members of

6292-893: The Qutb Shahi dynasty ) and the Mughal Empire . Persian artistic forms in literature and poetry such as ghazals have come to significantly affect Urdu and other Indian literature. More Persian literature was produced in India than in the Iranian world. As late as the 20th century, Allama Iqbal chose Persian for some of his major poetic works. The first Persian language newspaper was also published in India, given that printing machines were first implemented in India. In Bengal , Muslim writers were exploring different themes through Islamic narratives and epics such as culture, cosmology, love and history. Starting from Shah Muhammad Saghir in

6435-697: The Strait of Gibraltar onto the Iberian Peninsula , and in a series of raids they conquered Visigothic Christian Hispania . Their general, Tariq ibn Ziyad , brought most of Iberia under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. They continued northeast across the Pyrenees Mountains but were defeated by the Franks under Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732. The Maghreb fell into

6578-557: The Umayyad conquest of Hispania . The Iberian Peninsula then came to be known in Classical Arabic as al-Andalus, which at its peak included most of Septimania and modern-day Spain and Portugal . In 827, the Aghlabid Moors occupied Mazara on Sicily , developing it as a port. They eventually went on to consolidate the rest of the island . Differences in religion and culture led to a centuries-long conflict with

6721-874: The battle of Alhandega against the Zamorans in 938 was a neo-Muslim Slavic general named Najdah . The 10th century Muwallad historian Ibn al-Qūṭiyya was descended directly on the maternal side from the Visigothic King Wittiza . In about 889 a ship carrying twenty Berber Muwallad adventurers from Pechina near Almería established a fortress in Fraxinet , on the Gulf of Saint-Tropez in Provence. They spoke both Latin and Arabic . Several Muwalladun became rich and powerful magnates by means of trade, agriculture, and political activity. The Muwallads of

6864-479: The 14th century, Muslim writers began to enrich the Bengali language for over 600 years, often being actively supported and promoted by the rulers themselves. The early 20th century brought a new era for Bengali Islamic literature, with its most notable poet Kazi Nazrul Islam espousing intense rebellion against colonialism and oppression, in addition to writing a highly acclaimed collection of Bengali ghazals . Sultana's Dream by Begum Rokeya , an Islamic feminist ,

7007-401: The 7th and 8th centuries. Further east, it was also influenced by Chinese and Indian architecture as Islam spread to the Southeast Asia . Later it developed distinct characteristics in the form of buildings, and the decoration of surfaces with Islamic calligraphy and geometric and interlace patterned ornament. The principal Islamic architectural types for large or public buildings are:

7150-647: The Algarve ". The Moorish Kingdom of Granada continued for three more centuries in southern Iberia. On 2 January 1492, the leader of the last Muslim stronghold in Granada surrendered to the armies of a recently united Christian Spain (after the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragón and Isabella I of Castile , the " Catholic Monarchs "). The Moorish inhabitants received no military aid or rescue from other Muslim nations. The remaining Jews were also forced to leave Spain, convert to Roman Catholic Christianity, or be killed for refusing to do so. In 1480, to exert social and religious control, Isabella and Ferdinand agreed to allow

7293-440: The Arab ethnic groups. The Shu'ubiyyah movement demanded equality of power, wealth and status for non-Arab Berbers and the Muwalladun from the Arabs. Some judges of Huesca upheld the cause of the Muwalladun in the beginning of the 10th century, and a literary epistle of the middle of the 11th century repeated arguments of Eastern Shu'ubite writers. In Al-Andalus, the large numbers of Christians adopting Islam prompted concern among

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7436-455: The Arabic dress code, customs, and language. The Muwallads were also called Muslima ('Islamized'), and elches ( ilj , plural: ulus ), in reference to the society from which they sprang. They later were denominated Aljamiados because of their non Arabic-tongue, that is, the Mozarabic languages . Through the cultural Arabization of muladies and their increasing inter-marriage with some Berbers and Arabs present in Iberia,

7579-463: The Arabs and Berbers in social status. Prominent positions in government and society were usually not available to individuals of Muladi descent. In spite of the Islamic doctrine of equality and brotherhood of Muslims, the Muwalladun were often looked down upon with the utmost contempt by the Arab and Berber aristocrats and were usually pejoratively referred to as "the sons of slaves". The Muwallads, in turn, in spite of their profession of faith, despised

7722-456: The Arabs whom they viewed as colonialists and foreign intruders. This mutual feeling of hatred and suspicion provoked frequent revolts and led the Muwallads to support the Abbasid political agents, the preachers of Shu'ubiyya (a non-Arab movement), and subversive activities against the Umayyad rule in Iberia. The Shu'ubiyyah of Al-Andalus were active like the Arabs in promoting Arab-Islamic culture and language and claimed their integration with

7865-488: The Emir's forces were routed by the Toledans and Asturians on the Guadacelete in 854. Many minor rebels from among the Muladi leadership took possession of various sites, their descendants eventually becoming semi-independent Emirs. These included: On the western frontier of Al-Andalus, the Muwalladun and Berber families divided control of the region containing Mérida, Badajoz, and their environs. Muslim culture Islamic cultures or Muslim cultures refers to

8008-434: The Islamic lunar calendar was supplemented by the local solar calendar, which was more useful for agricultural and navigational purposes. Like the local Mozarabs (Iberian Christians under Muslim rule in the Al-Andalus who remained unconverted to Islam), the Muslims of Al-Andalus were notoriously heavy drinkers. The Muslims also celebrated traditional Christian holidays, sometimes with the sponsorship of their leaders, despite

8151-487: The Islamic history of the subcontinent and Middle East, glorifying past Muslim rulers as well as the history of the Pakistan Movement . Many forms of dancing arts are practised in Muslim cultures, both in religious and secular contexts (such as folk and tribal dances, court dances, dances of celebration during weddings and festivals, belly dancing , etc. ). Some scholars of Islamic fiqh pronounced gender based rulings on dance, making it permissible for women within

8294-625: The Islamic prophet Muhammad ) contains more explicit prohibitions of images of living beings, challenging painters to "breathe life" into their images and threatening them with punishment on the Day of Judgment . Muslims have interpreted these prohibitions in different ways in different times and places. Religious Islamic art has been typically characterized by the absence of figures and extensive use of calligraphic , geometric and abstract floral patterns. However, representations of Muhammad (in some cases, with his face concealed) and other religious figures are found in some manuscripts from lands to

8437-403: The Islamic territory in Iberia fell under the rule of the Almohad Caliphate in 1153. This second stage was guided by a version of Islam that left behind the more tolerant practices of the past. Al-Andalus broke up into a number of taifas (fiefs), which were partly consolidated under the Caliphate of Córdoba. The Kingdom of Asturias , a small northwestern Christian Iberian kingdom, initiated

8580-549: The Magnificent , developed an interest in the plays and watched them a great deal. Thus shadow theatre found its way into the Ottoman palaces. In other areas the style of shadow puppetry known as khayal al-zill – an intentionally metaphorical term whose meaning is best translated as 'shadows of the imagination' or 'shadow of fancy' survives. This is a shadow play with live music .."the accompaniment of drums, tambourines and flutes...also..."special effects" – smoke, fire, thunder, rattles, squeaks, thumps, and whatever else might elicit

8723-616: The Middle Ages. The term ascribed to them in Anglo-Norman blazon (the language of English heraldry ) is maure , though they are also sometimes called moore , blackmoor , blackamoor or negro . Maures appear in European heraldry from at least as early as the 13th century, and some have been attested as early as the 11th century in Italy , where they have persisted in the local heraldry and vexillology well into modern times in Corsica and Sardinia . Armigers bearing moors or moors' heads may have adopted them for any of several reasons, to include symbolizing military victories in

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8866-404: The Middle East, as well as the more recent style of calligraffiti . Islamic architecture is the range of architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam . It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. Early Islamic architecture was influenced by Roman , Byzantine , Persian and all other lands which the Muslims conquered in

9009-430: The Moors ( Mauri ) as the native Berber inhabitants of the former Roman Africa Province ( Roman Africans ). In medieval Romance languages , variations of the Latin word for the Moors (for instance, Italian and Spanish : moro , French : maure , Portuguese : mouro , Romanian : maur ) developed different applications and connotations. The term initially denoted a specific Berber people in western Libya , but

9152-614: The Moors were dominant between 711 and 1492. The best surviving examples of this architectural tradition are the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba and the Alhambra in Granada (mainly 1338–1390), as well as the Giralda in Seville (1184). Other notable examples include the ruined palace city of Medina Azahara (936–1010) and the Mosque of Cristo de la Luz , now a church, in Toledo , the Aljafería in Zaragoza and baths such as those at Ronda and Alhama de Granada . Moors—or more frequently their heads, often crowned—appear with some frequency in medieval European heraldry , though less so since

9295-459: The Turkish people emigrating from Central Asia. Other scholars claim that shadow theatre came to Anatolia in the 16th century from Egypt . The advocates of this view claim that when Yavuz Sultan Selim conquered Egypt in 1517, he saw shadow theatre performed during an extacy party put on in his honour. Yavuz Sultan Selim was so impressed with it that he took the puppeteer back to his palace in Istanbul. There his 47-year-old son, later Sultan Suleyman

9438-408: The West and have influenced the literature of many countries. For a thousand years, since the invasion of India by the Ghaznavids , the Persian–Islamic culture of the eastern half of the Islamic world started to influence the Indian culture. Persian was the official language of most Indian empires such as the Ghaznavids , the Delhi Sultanate , the Bengal Sultanate , the Deccan Sultanates (such as

9581-421: The advent of the Seljuks, the practise and usage of Persian in the region would be strongly revived. A branch of the Seljuks , the Sultanate of Rum , took Persian language, art and letters to Anatolia. They adopted Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans , which can "roughly" be seen as their eventual successors, took this tradition over. Persian was the official court language of

9724-421: The adventures of Amir Hamzah (pictured). Islamic Wayang is known as Wayang Sadat or Wayang Menak . Karagoz , the Turkish Shadow Theatre has influenced puppetry widely in the region. It is thought to have passed from China by way of India . Later it was taken by the Mongols from the Chinese and transmitted to the Turkish peoples of Central Russia. Thus the art of Shadow Theatre was brought to Anatolia by

9867-481: The authorities about the weakening of the tax base and further inflamed resentment towards the Muwallads. The Muwallads were in almost constant revolt against the Arab and Berber immigrants who had carved out large estates for themselves, farmed by Christian serfs or slaves. The most famous of these revolts were led by a Muwallad rebel named Umar ibn Hafsun in the region of Málaga and Ronda . Ibn Hafsun ruled over several mountain valleys for nearly forty years, having

10010-399: The basis of a common Muslim identity. The earliest forms of Muslim culture, from the Rashidun Caliphate to the Umayyad Caliphate and the early Abbasid Caliphate , was predominantly based on the existing cultural practices of the Arabs , the Byzantines , and the Persians . However, as the Islamic empires expanded rapidly, Muslim culture was further influenced and assimilated much from

10153-407: The birth, the words of Adhan is pronounced in the right ear of the child. In the seventh day, the aquiqa ceremony is performed, in which an animal is slaughtered and its meat is distributed among the poor. The head of the child is also shaved, and an amount of money equaling the weight of the child's hair is donated to the poor. Apart from fulfilling the basic needs of food, shelter, and education,

10296-457: The body on a bier , it is first taken to a mosque where funeral prayer is offered for the dead person, and then to the graveyard for burial. Many practices fall in the category of adab , or Islamic etiquette. This includes greeting others with " as-salamu 'alaykum " ("peace be unto you"), saying bismillah ("in the name of God ") before meals, and using only the right hand for eating and drinking. Islamic hygienic practices mainly fall into

10439-402: The bride, as stipulated in the contract. With Muslims coming from diverse backgrounds including 49 Muslim-majority countries, plus a strong presence as large minorities throughout the world there are many variations on Muslim weddings. Generally in a Muslim family, a woman's sphere of operation is the home and a man's corresponding sphere is the outside world. However, in practice, this separation

10582-558: The castle Bobastro as his residence. He rallied disaffected muwallads and mozárabs to his cause. Ibn Hafsun eventually renounced Islam with his sons and became a Christian, taking the name Samuel and proclaimed himself not only the leader of the Christian nationalist movement, but also the champion at the same time of a regular crusade against Islam. However, his conversion soon cost him the support of most of his Muwallad supporters who had no intention of ever becoming Christians, and led to

10725-503: The category of personal cleanliness and health. Circumcision of male offspring is also practiced in Islam. Islamic burial rituals include saying the Salat al-Janazah ("funeral prayer") over the bathed and enshrouded dead body, and burying it in a grave . Muslims are restricted in their diet. Prohibited foods include pork products, blood, carrion , and alcohol . All meat must come from

10868-401: The centrality of the notion of writing and written text in Islam. Muhammad is said to have said: "The first thing God created was the pen." Islamic calligraphy developed from two major styles: Kufic and Naskh . There are several variations of each, as well as regionally specific styles. Islamic calligraphy has also been incorporated into modern art beginning with the post-colonial period in

11011-473: The children of Muslim fathers and foreign mothers. According to Dozy, Muwallad means "anyone who, without being of Muslim origin, is born among the Muslims and has been raised as an Arab". The word, according to him, does not necessarily imply Arab ancestry, either paternal or maternal. According to the dictionary of the Real Academia Española , muladí means "Christian who, during

11154-405: The context of dhikr ceremonies. Dhikr , "recollection" (of God) is a meditative form of worship different from ritual prayer where the seeker focuses all of his senses and thoughts on God in the hope of attaining maarifat (experiential knowledge of God) and triggering mystic states within him- or herself. Dhikr can be performed individually or with like-minded followers under the direction of

11297-685: The continuation of further conquest, but an Arab assault took Carthage and held it against a Byzantine counterattack. Although a Christian and pagan Berber rebellion pushed out the Arabs temporarily, the Romanized urban population preferred the Arabs to the Berbers and welcomed a renewed and final conquest that left northern Africa in Muslim hands by 698. Over the next decades, the Berber and urban populations of northern Africa gradually converted to Islam, although for separate reasons. The Arabic language

11440-457: The control of the Umayyad dynasty of Córdoba and turn from a semi-autonomous governorship to an independent taifa . The Muwalladun were the mainstay of the economic framework of the country. Together with the Mozarabs they constituted the productive classes which were craftsmen and small tradesmen in the towns, and farmers and labourers in the rural countryside. However, they were inferior to

11583-714: The country's mosques put out of its control, which has radically diminished its influence in modern Turkey. In 2008, UNESCO confirmed the " Mevlevi Sama Ceremony" of Turkey as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity , and the practice is now regaining interest. In Egypt and the Levant , the Mevlevi form of sama is known as tannoura and has been adopted (with some modifications) by other Sufi orders as well. The Chishti order, traditionally

11726-639: The depiction of human and animal figures, especially in painting and small anonymous relief figures as part of a decorative scheme. Almost all Persian miniatures (as opposed to decorative illuminations ) include figures, often in large numbers, as do their equivalents in Arab, Mughal and Ottoman miniatures . But miniatures in books or muraqqa albums were private works owned by the elite. Larger figures in monumental sculpture are exceptionally rare until recent times, and portraiture showing realistic representations of individuals (and animals) did not develop until

11869-419: The distinctions between the different Muslim groups became increasingly blurred in the 11th and 12th centuries. The populations mixed with such rapidity that it was soon impossible to distinguish ethnically the elements of foreign origin from the natives. Thus they merged into a more homogeneous group of Andalusi Arabs, generally also called Moors . The Muwallads primarily spoke Andalusian Arabic , along with

12012-623: The dominant Islamic institution in Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent and the most ancient of the major Sufi orders, also practices forms of sama similar to the Mevlevis, as well as other forms of devotional dance. The order is strongly associated with the development of Hindustani classical music and semi-classical devotional genres such as qawwali through famed pioneer figures such as Amir Khusrow . The Chishti order remains one of

12155-402: The domination of the Arabs in Spain, converted to Islam and lived among the Muslims", while Bernards and Nawas say the plural form of the word seems to be restricted to al-Andalus, almost exclusively to the areas of Mérida , Granada , Seville and Jaén . Muladí has been offered as one of the possible etymological origins of the still-current Spanish and Portuguese term mulato , denoting

12298-458: The east of Anatolia, such as Persia and India. These pictures were meant to illustrate the story and not to infringe on the Islamic prohibition of idolatry, but many Muslims regard such images as forbidden. In secular art of the Muslim world, representations of human and animal forms historically flourished in nearly all Islamic cultures, although, partly because of opposing religious sentiments, figures in paintings were often stylized, giving rise to

12441-763: The emancipated slaves gradually forgot their own ethnic origin. The Muslim slaves were the Saqaliba , led by Ali ibn Yusuf , who profited from the progressive crumbling of the Umayyad Caliphate's superstructure to gain control over the province of Denia . The Saqaliba managed to free themselves and gain dominion over the taifa , which extended its reach as far as the Balearic Islands , and their capital, Madina Mayurqa (now Palma de Majorca ). The intermarriage of foreign Muslims with native Christians made many Muwallads heedless of their Iberian origin. As

12584-461: The empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire, though the lingua franca amongst common people from the 15th/16th century would become Turkish as well as having laid an active "foundation" for the Turkic language as early as the 4th century (see Turkification ). After a period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish had developed towards a fully accepted language of literature, which

12727-526: The end of the 11th century, the Muwalladun held distinctive posts in the judicial departments. The Caliph of Córdoba , Abd ar-Rahman III , once bestowed the post of chief qadi of Córdoba on a Christian convert, whose parents were still Christian, and the Fuqaha found much difficulty in dissuading him. The secretary of the Córdoban emir, Abd Allah , was a Muwallad. The commander of the Córdoban force in

12870-453: The establishment of the Ottoman Empire , Ottoman Turkish grew in importance in both poetry and prose becoming, by the beginning of the 18th century, the official language of the Empire. Unlike India, where Persian remained the official and principal literary language of both Muslim and Hindu states until the 19th century. Public Islamic art is traditionally non-representational, except for

13013-462: The fact that such fraternisation was generally opposed by the Ulema . The Muslims also hedged their religious devotions through the use of Roman Catholic sacraments . Many Muwallads held key posts in the departments of civil administration, justice, and the armed forces. Amrus ibn Yusuf , a Muwallad who was originally from Huesca , was appointed governor of Toledo by Hakam I in 797. Towards

13156-570: The family of the Visigothic King of Hispania , Wittiza . The conversion of the native Christians to Islam did not mean the total erasure of previous beliefs and social practises. There is some evidence of a limited cultural borrowing from the Christians by the Muwalladun and other Muslims in Al-Andalus. For instance, the Muslims' adoption of the Christian solar calendar and holidays was an exclusively Andalusí phenomenon. In Al-Andalus,

13299-458: The field of modern music . Nazrul Sangeet is the collection of 4,000 songs and ghazals written by Kazi Nazrul Islam . See articles on Jari gan , O Mon Romzaner Oi Rozar Sheshe , Bhawaiya and Bhatiyali . See articles on Eid ul-Fitr , Eid ul-Adha , Ashurah (see also Hosay and Tabuik ), Mawlid , Lailat al Miraj and Shab-e-baraat . In a Muslim family, the birth of a child is attended with some religious ceremonies. Immediately after

13442-459: The first clash against the Muslims from Messina. After another decisive victory in the summer of 1040, Maniaces halted his march to lay siege to Syracuse . Despite his success, Maniaces was removed from his position, and the subsequent Muslim counter-offensive reconquered all the cities captured by the Byzantines. The Norman Robert Guiscard , son of Tancred, invaded Sicily in 1060. The island

13585-501: The former lower or untouchable castes) to Islam or descendants of a marriage alliance between a Middle Eastern individual and an Indian woman. Within the context of Portuguese colonization , in Sri Lanka ( Portuguese Ceylon ), Muslims of Arab origin are called Ceylon Moors , not to be confused with "Indian Moors" of Sri Lanka (see Sri Lankan Moors ). Sri Lankan Moors (a combination of "Ceylon Moors" and "Indian Moors") make up 12% of

13728-466: The four Moorish emirs who were defeated by Peter I of Aragon and Pamplona in the 11th century, the four moors' heads around a cross having been adopted to the arms of Aragon around 1281–1387, and Corsica and Sardinia having come under the dominion of the king of Aragon in 1297. In Corsica, the blindfolds were lifted to the brow in the 18th century as a way of expressing the island's newfound independence. The use of Moors (and particularly their heads) as

13871-477: The four main bodies of world literature, Persian literature has its roots in surviving works of Middle and Old Persian , the latter of which date back as far as 522 BCE, the date of the earliest surviving Achaemenid inscription, the Behistun Inscription . The bulk of surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the times following the Muslim conquest of Persia c.  650 . After

14014-515: The gradual erosion of his power. There were also other Muwallad revolts throughout Al-Andalus. In the Elvira region, for instance, discord sprang up between the Muwallads and Moors, the latter being led by Sawar ibn Hamdub, and the poet, Sa'ad ibn Judi , both of whom fluctuated between insurrection against Abd'Allah and submission to him. In Seville , the second largest city after Córdoba , there

14157-567: The greatest lasting effect on Arabic culture and its literature. Arabic literature flourished during the Islamic Golden Age , but has remained vibrant to the present day, with poets and prose-writers across the Arab world, as well as rest of the world, achieving increasing success. Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in Western Iranian languages , particularly Middle and New Persian , and it

14300-415: The heartland on the various traditions of Islamic music. For South India , see: Mappila Songs , Duff Muttu . All these regions were connected by trade long before the Islamic conquests of the 7th century and later, and it is likely that musical styles travelled the same routes as trade goods. However, lacking recordings, we can only speculate as to the pre-Islamic music of these areas. Islam must have had

14443-623: The heritage associated with Sufism and tariqa was physically destroyed by the state in the 1930s). Wahhabi militant groups such as ISIS and the Taliban are repeatedly targeting dhikr ceremonies in terrorist attacks, notably in Egypt and Pakistan . Many Muslims are very familiar to listening to music. The classic heartland of Islam is Arabia as well as other parts of the Middle East , North Africa and Central Asia . Because Islam

14586-405: The historic cultural practices that developed among the various peoples living in the Muslim world . These practices, while not always religious in nature, are generally influenced by aspects of Islam , particularly due to the religion serving as an effective conduit for the inter-mingling of people from different ethnic/national backgrounds in a way that enabled their cultures to come together on

14729-485: The honour of being received by them, and I remarked that they all had fair hair and blue eyes. The languages spoken in the parts of the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule were Andalusian Arabic and Mozarabic ; they became extinct after the expulsion of the Moriscos , but Arabic language influence on the Spanish language can still be found today. The Muslims were resisted in parts of the Iberian Peninsula in areas of

14872-411: The horn, and that which wild beasts have eaten, except what you slaughter, and what is sacrificed on stones set up (for idols) and that you divide by the arrows; that is a transgression. This day have those who disbelieve despaired of your religion, so fear them not, and fear Me. This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion; but whoever

15015-399: The incentives put in place by Fredrich II. Some Muslims from Lucera would also later convert due to oppression on the mainland and had their property returned to them and returned to Sicily. During the reigns of Frederick II as well as his son, Manfred , a large amount of Muslims were brought, as slaves, to farm lands and perform domestic labor. Enslaved persons in Sicily were not afforded

15158-526: The indigenous until-then Christian population (basically a mixture of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula , ancient Romans , Visigoths and Suebi ) converted to Islam in the 8th and 9th centuries. In the 10th century a massive conversion of Christians took place, so that muladies comprised the majority of the population of Al-Andalus by the century's end. However, the majority of Muwallads had converted to Islam early, but retained many pre-Islamic customs and characteristics. Conversion to Islam

15301-472: The largest and strongest Muslim religious orders in the world by far, retaining a vast influence on the spirituality and culture of around 500 million Muslims living in the Indian subcontinent. Other examples of devotional dance are found in the Maghreb where it is associated with gnawa music, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. The Naqshbandi order, predominant among Iran 's Sunni minority,

15444-596: The last Arab strongholds, fell to the Christians. Islamic authors noted the tolerance of the Norman kings of Sicily. Ali ibn al-Athir wrote: "They [the Muslims] were treated kindly, and they were protected, even against the Franks . Because of that, they had great love for King Roger." The Muslim problem characterized Hohenstaufen rule in Sicily under Holy Roman Emperors Henry VI and his son, Frederick II . Many repressive measures were introduced by Frederick II to appease

15587-506: The late 16th century in miniature painting, especially Mughal miniatures . Manuscripts of the Qur'an and other sacred texts have always been strictly kept free of such figures, but there is a long tradition of the depiction of Muhammad and other religious figures in books of history and poetry; since the 20th century Muhammad has mostly been shown as though wearing a veil hiding his face, and many earlier miniatures were overpainted to use this convention. Some interpretations of Islam include

15730-778: The meantime, Spanish and Portuguese expeditions westward from the New World spread Christianity to India, the Malay Peninsula , Indonesia , and the Philippines . By 1521, the ships of Magellan had reached that island archipelago, which they named Las Islas Filipinas , after Philip II of Spain . In Mindanao , the Spaniards named the kris -bearing people as Moros or 'Moors'. Today this ethnic group in Mindanao, who are generally Filipino Muslim, are called "Moros". The first Muslim conquest of Sicily began in 827, though it

15873-562: The name acquired more general meaning during the medieval period, associated with " Muslim ", similar to associations with " Saracens ". During the context of the Crusades and the Reconquista , the term Moors included the derogatory suggestion of "infidels". Apart from these historic associations and context, Moor and Moorish designate a specific ethnic group speaking Hassaniya Arabic . They inhabit Mauritania and parts of Algeria , Western Sahara , Tunisia , Morocco , Niger , and Mali . In Niger and Mali, these peoples are also known as

16016-683: The name moor is applied to unbaptized children, meaning not Christian. In Basque , mairu means moor and also refers to a mythical people. Muslims located in South Asia were distinguished by the Portuguese historians into two groups: Mouros da Terra ("Moors of the Land") and the Mouros da Arabia/Mouros de Meca ("Moors from Arabia/Mecca" or "Paradesi Muslims"). The Mouros da Terra were either descendants of any native convert (mostly from any of

16159-586: The names " Ceylon Moors " and " Indian Moors " in South Asia and Sri Lanka , now official ethnic designations on the island nation, and the Bengali Muslims were also called Moors. In the Philippines, the longstanding Muslim community, which predates the arrival of the Spanish, now self-identifies as the " Moro people ", an exonym introduced by Spanish colonizers due to their Muslim faith. In 711, troops mostly formed by Moors from northern Africa led

16302-521: The next several centuries under the flag of Reconquista. In 1212, a coalition of Christian kings under the leadership of Alfonso VIII of Castile drove the Muslims from Central Iberia. The Portuguese side of the Reconquista ended in 1249 with the conquest of the Algarve ( Arabic : الغرب – al-Gharb ) under Afonso III . He was the first Portuguese monarch to claim the title " King of Portugal and

16445-740: The northwest (such as Asturias , where they were defeated at the battle of Covadonga ) and the largely Basque Country in the Pyrenees . Though the number of Moorish colonists was small, many native Iberian inhabitants converted to Islam . By 1000, according to Ronald Segal , some 5,000,000 of Iberia's 7,000,000 inhabitants, most of them descended from indigenous Iberian converts, were Muslim. There were also Sub-Saharan Africans who had been absorbed into al-Andalus to be used as soldiers and slaves . The Berber and Sub-Saharan African soldiers were known as "tangerines" because they were imported through Tangier . The Caliphate of Córdoba collapsed in 1031 and

16588-406: The parents or the elderly members of family also undertake the task of teaching moral qualities, religious knowledge, and religious practices to the children. Marriage , which serves as the foundation of a Muslim family, is a civil contract which consists of an offer and acceptance between two qualified parties in the presence of two witnesses. The groom is required to pay a bridal gift ( mahr ) to

16731-478: The popes, who were intolerant of Islam in the heart of Christendom . This resulted in a rebellion by Sicilian Muslims, which in turn triggered organized resistance and systematic reprisals and marked the final chapter of Islam in Sicily. The complete eviction of Muslims and the annihilation of Islam in Sicily was completed by the late 1240s when the final deportations to Lucera took place. The remaining population of Sicilian Muslims converted to Catholicism due to

16874-751: The population. The Ceylon Moors (unlike the Indian Moors) are descendants of Arab traders who settled there in the mid-6th century. When the Portuguese arrived in the early 16th century, they labelled all the Muslims in the island as Moors as they saw some of them resembling the Moors in North Africa. The Sri Lankan government continues to identify the Muslims in Sri Lanka as "Sri Lankan Moors", sub-categorised into "Ceylon Moors" and "Indian Moors". The Goan Muslims —a minority community who follow Islam in

17017-423: The region. After an interlude, during which the Muslims fought a civil war , the invasions resumed in 665, seizing Byzantine North Africa up to Bugia over the course of a series of campaigns, lasting until 689. A Byzantine counterattack largely expelled the Arabs but left the region vulnerable. Intermittent war over the inland provinces of North Africa continued for the next two decades. Further civil war delayed

17160-494: The same behaviour patterns as rebels of Arab and Berber origin who had rebelled against Arab rule, such as during the Great Berber Revolt of 739/740–743 AD. Muwallad is derived from walad ( ولد ), which means 'descendant, offspring, scion, son'. Muwallad referred to the offspring of Muslim men and foreign, non-Muslim women. The term muwalladin is sometimes used in Arabic to this day to describe

17303-590: The same privileges as the Muslims in mainland Italy. The trend of importing a considerable amount of slaves from the Muslim world did not stop with the Hohenstaufen but was amplified under the Aragonese and Spanish crowns , and was in fact continued until as late as 1838 The majority of which would also come receive the label 'Moors' Moorish architecture is the articulated Islamic architecture of northern Africa and parts of Spain and Portugal, where

17446-486: The spread of Islam throughout the world, their following and influence has sharply declined since the late 19th century, having been vigorously opposed and combated in turns by the French and British colonial administrations and by Muslim modernists and secularists like Kemal Atatürk , and in recent decades have been the target of vocal opposition by the fundamentalist Wahhabi sect promoted by Saudi Arabia (where most of

17589-528: The term had "no real ethnological value." Europeans of the Middle Ages and the early modern period variously applied the name to Arabs , Berbers , and Muslim Europeans . The term has also been used in Europe in a broader sense to refer to Muslims in general, especially those of Arab or Berber descent, whether living in al-Andalus or North Africa. During the colonial era, the Portuguese introduced

17732-455: The town the Christians called Elvira (nowadays Granada), after the former Iberian name Ilbira , had become so powerful during the reign of Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi that they rose under a chieftain called Nabil and successfully drove the Moors out of the city. The Banu Qasi dynasty which ruled the upper Ebro valley in the 9th and 10th centuries, became strong enough to break free from

17875-709: The usage of the collective term. The term has been applied at times to urban and coastal populations of the Maghreb , the term in these regions nowadays is rather used to denote the Arab-Berber populations (occasionally somewhat mixed-race) living in Western Sahara , and Hassaniya -speaking populations, mainly in Mauritania , Western Sahara , and Northwestern Mali . In 711 the Islamic Arabs and Moors of Berber descent in northern Africa crossed

18018-529: The use of Arabic . In reaction, there was a Morisco uprising in the Alpujarras from 1568 to 1571. In the years from 1609 to 1614, the government expelled Moriscos. The historian Henri Lapeyre estimated that this affected 300,000 out of an estimated total of 8 million inhabitants. Some Muslims converted to Christianity and remained permanently in Iberia. This is indicated by a "high mean proportion of ancestry from North African (10.6%)" that "attests to

18161-572: The use of music and dancing in dhikr and the mystical states it induces in worshippers, as well as regulating the etiquette attached to these ceremonies, in his short treatise on Islamic spirituality The Alchemy of Happiness and in his highly influential work The Revival of the Religious Sciences . Al-Ghazzali emphasized how the practices of music and dance are beneficial to religious seekers, as long as their hearts are pure before engaging in these practices. Notable examples include

18304-619: The western Indian coastal state of Goa —are commonly referred as Moir ( Konkani : मैर ) by Goan Catholics and Hindus . Moir is derived from the Portuguese word mouro ("Moor"). In the late 7th and early 8th centuries CE, the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate , established after the death of Muhammad, underwent a period of rapid growth. In 647 CE, 40,000 Arabs forced the Byzantine governor of northern Africa to submit and pay tribute, but failed to permanently occupy

18447-426: The widespread use of plant forms, usually in varieties of the spiralling arabesque . These are often combined with Islamic calligraphy , geometric patterns in styles that are typically found in a wide variety of media, from small objects in ceramic or metalwork to large decorative schemes in tiling on the outside and inside of large buildings, including mosques . However, there is a long tradition in Islamic art of

18590-533: The word "Moor" is uncertain, although it can be traced back to the Phoenician term Mahurin , meaning "Westerners". From Mahurin , the ancient Greeks derive Mauro , from which Latin derives Mauri . The word "Moor" is presumably of Phoenician origin. Some sources attribute a Hebrew origin to the word. During the classical period, the Romans interacted with, and later conquered, parts of Mauretania ,

18733-514: Was a second revolt of Muwallads in Corboba, and this time the revolt was put down with the utmost severity, and resulted in the expulsion of 9,500 Muwallads from Córdoba, with over 1,500 going to Alexandria and 8,000 to Fez . In 858, there was a Muwallad revolt in Mérida , led by Ibn Marwan. The Muwallads complained of the taxation of their lands as if they were still Christian. The revolt's outcome

18876-457: Was a vicious feud between the two Arab aristocratic families, Banu Hajjaj and Banu Khaldun, and two Muwallad noble families, Banu Angelino and Banu Sabarico, which finally left Ibrahim ibn Hajjaj as the ruler of an independent city-state. In 805, the Muwallads of Córdoba, incited by certain theologians, revolted against the Umayyads under Hakim I, but the uprising was suppressed. In 814, there

19019-587: Was also adopted into Latin, whereas the Greek name for the tribe was Maurusii ( Ancient Greek : Μαυρούσιοι ). The Moors were also mentioned by Tacitus as having revolted against the Roman Empire in 24 AD . During the Latin Middle Ages, Mauri was used to refer to Berbers and Arabs in the coastal regions of Northwest Africa. The 16th century scholar Leo Africanus (c. 1494–1554) identified

19162-448: Was also adopted. Initially, the Arabs required only vassalage from the local inhabitants rather than assimilation, a process which took a considerable time. The groups that inhabited the Maghreb following this process became known collectively as Moors. Although a Kharijite rebellion would later push out Umayyad rule from the western Maghreb and form temporarily independent Arab, Berber and Persian dynasties, that effort failed to dislodge

19305-519: Was also used as a nickname; for instance, the Milanese Duke Ludovico Sforza was called Il Moro because of his dark complexion. In Portugal, mouro (feminine, moura ) may refer to supernatural beings known as enchanted moura , where "Moor" implies "alien" and "non-Christian". These beings were siren-like fairies with golden or reddish hair and a fair face. They were believed to have magical properties. From this root,

19448-792: Was born in Balkh (in what is now Afghanistan) or Vakhsh (in what is now Tajikistan), wrote in Persian, and lived in Konya , then the capital of the Seljuks in Anatolia. The Ghaznavids conquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from Iran, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan , the wider Transcaucasus , Anatolia, western parts of Pakistan , Bangladesh , India, Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia. Not all Persian literature

19591-560: Was encouraged by the Umayyad caliphs and Emirs of Córdoba but it was not directly forced. Many Christians converted to Islam to avoid the jizya tax which they were subjected to as dhimmis . Conversion to Islam also opened up new horizons to the native Christians, alleviated their social position, ensured better living conditions, and broadened their scope for more technically skilled and advanced work. Some christians who converted to Islam became Mawali , or clients attached to an Arab tribe, and as such, were thoroughly Islamized, adopting

19734-513: Was even able to satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. However, Turkish was proclaimed the official language of the Karamanids in the 17th century, though it did not manage to become the official language in a wider area or larger empire until the advent of the Ottomans. With

19877-604: Was much interest in blondes in al-Andalus amongst the rulers and regular Muslims: All the Caliphs of the Banu Marwan (God have mercy on their souls!), and especially the sons of al-Nasir , were without variation or exception disposed by nature to prefer blondes. I have myself seen them, and known others who had seen their forebears, from the days of al-Nasir's reign down to the present day; every one of them has been fair-haired, taking after their mothers, so that this has become

20020-514: Was not until 902 that almost the entire island was in the control of the Aghlabids , from their capital Kairouan ( Tunisia ), with the exception of some minor strongholds in the rugged interior. During that period some parts of southern Italy fell under Muslim control, most notably the port city of Bari , which formed the Emirate of Bari from 847 to 871. In 909, the Aghlabids was replaced by

20163-659: Was of Arab-Berber lineage, managed to evade the Abbasids and flee to the Maghreb and then Iberia, where he founded the Emirate of Córdoba and the Andalusian branch of the Umayyad dynasty. The Moors ruled northern Africa and Al-Andalus for several centuries thereafter. Ibn Hazm , the polymath, mentions that many of the Caliphs in the Umayyad Caliphate and the Caliphate of Córdoba were blond and had light eyes. Ibn Hazm mentions that he preferred blondes, and notes that there

20306-468: Was split between three Arab emirs, and the Christian population in many parts of the island rose up against the ruling Muslims. One year later, Messina fell, and in 1072 Palermo was taken by the Normans. The loss of the cities, each with a splendid harbor, dealt a severe blow to Muslim power on the island. Eventually all of Sicily was taken. In 1091, Noto in the southern tip of Sicily and the island of Malta,

20449-416: Was the defeat of Ibn Marwan. Mérida was subdued, but the centre of revolt soon moved to Badajoz . The Muwallads were sometimes assisted by the local Mozarab population, and occasionally by the Christian powers in their revolts. For instance, when the Muwalladun of Toledo revolted, aided by the large Mozarabic population of the city, Ordoño I of Asturias , promptly responded to their appeal for help, but

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