Analysis of “The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain: Full documentary”

             When the Visigoths moved from barbaric tribes (from France, Germany, etc.) to Spain, they

found many Jews living there already, for Judaism had existed in Europe before Christianity had spread.

In Cordoba, Granada, Toledo, etc., many Jews had lived there since 476 A.D. and was a minority living in

relative freedom in cities reported to have been founded by refugees from Jerusalem. After the advent

of Islam, when the Berbers invaded the Visigoth peninsula ruled by Rodriguez, the Muslims treated the

Jews as believers of the same book and had the attitude that they “…should be treated with respect.”

And afterwards, the Muslim conquerors tended to treat Jews and Christians with respect except during

times of war. After the founding of Al-Andaluce, when the refugee prince from Damascus took control,

cultural fusion took place and the prince was able to quell the tensions among the Berbers and North

African tribes because of his political status as a potential unifier and leader.

           During the 900s, after the death of the third descendent from the prince from Damascus, civil

turmoil broke out in which the “Christians and Jews turned against each other…” and the Berbers and

Arabs, leaving a broken land into smaller states.  I expected to find the Muslims and Christians to be at

constant war with one another, but they “didn’t square off” except when the Christian, Typhic Kingdoms saw

Muslims as a threat to themselves. It seems that the

Muslims held no inherent dislike of Christianity at that time. However, the Jews were at a disadvantage

from the Christians, who entertained prejudices against them (a mindset that eventually led to Nazism).

I expected Islam to be more adamant about maintaining itself in its followers, but with the onslaught of

was left of it during the existence of Typhic Kingdoms) a Crusading zone, and not as Holy as Jerusalem.

But when King Alfonso laid down his code of laws, he was tolerant of both Muslims and Jews.

                The Islamic world constructed through its own advanced architectural techniques many

buildings, mosques, and palaces in Al-Andaluce, which later, due to the eventual demise of the land of

light, were converted into Christian buildings. Another contribution of Al-Andaluce was the recording

of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman texts into Arabic during the time of the European Dark Ages, when

much knowledge was being forgotten or neglected, including medicinal texts in Greek with regards to

botanical plants. Furthermore, as an architectural contribution, the Muslims enhanced the existing

Roman aqueducts by adding water wheels, which was possible because of the abundant rivers in Al-

Andaluce. Finally, astronomically, the advent of the Astrolabe “allowed” navigators to travel the seas,

such as Columbus.

"The Eastern European lady"

Based on a dream I had early in the morning,
I was nonexistent--a ghost traveling to-and-fro
Like a camera in a movie with no person seeming
To run it, but I saw everything and did nothing
Until it was too late.
Either I or my sister was skiing because I remember...
But I couldn't tell, because I was in her place, like Azazel the devil
Though she was in her swimsuit,
I saw the girl who called the police on me water skiing,
She had on a bikini and a beautiful, wet face,
That no man would not fall for, and in the distance,
Her shirtless, thin fiance was sitting on the stern of the boat,
His face was turned away for the brief time I looked at him--
His chest was bare revealing some hair like a sailor's,
But anyway, when I stared at Her
It was as though she knew I was there,
I proceeded to leave as the Judge decreed but time stood still,
And she gave me no eye contact as expected
But the tinge of what she said to me still was like an expression
Upon her face, that I'm an annoying, arrogant, creep.
As my sister and I were coming to the dock,
With an excitement and enthusiasm to see me again like old,
He had just bought a boat which looked new. 
And I can't remember if I went with him or not.