Author Kübra Çakar
I am Andalusia. A fresh breath, a new step towards humanity's salvation. I speak to you from a different land. I endured all this hardship, all this captivity, to become Andalusia. Such a victory would not have been possible without loving these lands, these mountains. I wrote the motto of my conquest on every rock and mountain: ‘lagalibe illallah!’ In all my palaces, wherever you turn your head, it says, ‘Victory belongs to Allah!’ When Tariq ibn Ziyad came for me, the first thing that came to his mind was not to return until Islam prevailed in this land. He had participated in many campaigns and had hundreds of battles under his belt. This campaign, however, was his first experience as a commander.
That is why he burned all the ships. Thus, he extinguished any hope of return for those who came, should things not go as expected. Córdoba was Islam's first gateway to Europe. The name Andalusia was engraved on Europe like a seal. For centuries, the call to prayer rang out in my streets, and the most beautiful form of art lived in people's souls. My name, Andalusia, is still the most mysterious word. For me, preserving this civilisation for Islam was not a goal, but an ideal. It was not easy to be a place where people of all nations lived freely. This civilisation, which lasted eight centuries, ended with a betrayal in its last stronghold, Granada.
"Thirty books remained to us from Muslim Andalusia, and we were able to split the atom. If half of the million books that were burned had survived, we would already be travelling among the galaxies in space." After my library was burned in Granada, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Pierre expressed his sorrow with these words, but I had already left these lands. My place in people's minds will always remain.
Al-Andalus was a civilisation that experienced a golden age, not only for Muslims but also for Jews. I left behind a history where art reached its peak. My writers, poets, and scholars changed the course of history. In the 11th century, a voice echoes within me: a child is growing up in Seville. Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi will always keep me alive with his name and his writings. And so it was. His words guided the next thousand years, his teachings found a place in people's hearts. Despite the establishment of so many principalities, the resistance continued. Despite all the torture endured, for a long time, no one left. Even when everyone was exiled and it was said that nothing would come of this place, this civilisation continued for another 250 years. Today, Europe owes so much to Andalusia!
After being forcibly torn from my lands in the last Moriscos, I had nothing left to do. In Granada, the last place I had left, they buried me in a castle. I neither died nor lived; I wait somewhere in limbo to become Andalusia once more. O Alhambra Palace! Do you know why they call you the ‘Red Palace’? Because the blood of Muslims, tortured a thousand times over, flows like water, mixing with the rain and pouring down your walls in torrents with every storm.
Editor: Çağlar Didman
