Why did Muslims lose in Spain and Portugal

Hi! Welcome to Al Muqaddimah, my name is Syawish. For almost 800 years, the Iberian Peninsula existed as a pocket of Islamic Civilization, away from the Middle East, in Europe. Islamic Civilization thrived there and connected the Islamic World to Europe, opening the way for the exchange of ideas. It created not just one but two golden ages, the Golden of the Caliphate of Cordoba and the Golden Age of the Sephardic Jews. It was an abode of tolerance and collaboration. Slowly but steadily, the Muslim polities were pushed off the Iberian peninsula and sent packing to North Africa. After this, the Muslim population was told to convert, leave or die.

This fascinating story is too often told from a religious point of view, the clash of two great religions, the victory of Christianity over Islam. However, the story is more complicated than that. Muslims often allied with Christians against other Muslims and Christians often allied with Muslims against other Christians. While religion certainly played a part, this conflict should be seen as a conflict between ambitious people coveting more and more power by any means necessary.

Another simplistic view of the collapse of Muslim Iberia is that the Muslims were too decedent, bogged down by harems full of women and chalices full of wine. But again, the story is much more complicated than that. So, let’s take a look at some of the reason behind the fall of Muslim Iberia.

Don't forget to like, comment, share and subscribe.

Disclaimer: The maps and flags in the video are not 100% accurate. Some maps and flags are difficult to find and so, are estimations.

Be sure to check out my Patreon Page. Even if you can't pledge, still visit it and check out the content I'll post there.

If you had a problem with the video, or found something to be incorrect, please send me a message, rather than being a jerk and reporting it.

[AlMuqaddimahYT]

Turn the tide of the Reconquista, save al Andalus!

BTW, I'm visiting Al Andalus. Follow me on social media to see the photos.

[arturoceballos]

As a Spanish i find this video very interesting. In high school, when we study medieval history of spain, we dedicate almost a whole year to Al Andalus, but we do not focus so much on the reasons for its decline. Rather, the emirate of Cordoba, the Caliphate, the Taifas, the Almoravides, the Almohades... their political organization and culture... are explained chronologically. But do not explain tha way. Congrats for your video and thank you from Spain

[eduardoferreiradesa]

As a portuguese I find this video very interesting and informative. Our schools don't teach these details about the reconquista period. Mostly it is thaught as a conflit between christians and muslims, and the muslims were the ones always unprepared or weak. But this video actually explains way more. The fact muslims and christains allied to fight other christains and muslims lords for power is something really impressive.

You did a great job :) Keep it up

[jsoth]

As always, my favorite content creator on Islam and its history. But in defense to al andalus not even the Roman's, Charlemagne, or anyone else found it easy to subjugate the Asturias.

[a.ferreira]

So, basically the main reason is the same why the Visigoths lost Iberia when the Muslims first invaded it: bickering and internal conflicts among the Visigoths themselves.

[florintanase]

Excellent video..I'm a history teacher from eastern europe...and sources here on islamic history are very scarce...this channel is a new goldmine for me...

[AntonioBrandao]

As Iberians, our oldest cultural identity is Celtic (Celtiberian) but we accepted Roman identity and culture gladly after the conquest. We were fully romanized and lived the Roman way for centuries. We generally even pride ourselves in having been Romans in the past and see ourselves as their cultural descendants. We don’t identify at all with the other cultures that ruled here: Carthaginian, Visigothic / Germanic or Arab / Muslim. Religiously, we completely forgot our Polytheistic past and are (at least culturally) fully Christian.

We Iberians see ourselves as distinct from North African and Northern European cultures. Most uninformed Iberians outside Andalusia don’t even know they had Germanic or Arab rulers in the past.

But every Iberian knows they were Roman in the past. We keep building residential and government buildings / architecture in Greco-Roman style, and see Italy and Greece as the closest cultures today (southern European mediterranean culture).

We also produced a lot of architecture in Germanic / Gothic style (particularly during the Middle Ages, mostly castles and churches) - most Iberians not even knowing why. While Arab architecture, as much as we like it, we never adopted it at all - the remains of it here in Iberia sit as tourist attractions in the dry south of the peninsula.

[DilbeardAlbeard]

Glad Portugal and Spain regained Christianity.

[bobettethedestroyerthebuil]

Many Jews were actually left for the north during the Almohad and Almoravid times, as the two dynasties were too intolerant for many of them, and the Christian kingdoms were not actually that intolerant (yet).

[wargriffin]

"Ever since starting his reign, Mohammed had to put out fires left, right, and center."

- Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down when talking about Islamic history? 😂

[bobettethedestroyerthebuil]

I’d argue too, the Christian kingdoms always had the aid of the larger Christian European world, while the Muslim sultanates could really only see aid from Northern Africa, as they were far removed from most other Islamic kingdoms.

[ericsandrade]

As a Portuguese person, obviously, i'm glad Muslim Iberia fell. Learning about how Catholics survived in the mountains in Asturias and never fell to the great Muslim empires and kingdoms and then went on to reconquer the whole peninsula after centuries of Muslim occupation was always one of the most fun parts of our history curriculum. Sadly it was never in detail and it was slightly biased against Muslims when we learned it in school but thankfully we have the internet to get different sources. Appreciate the video about my land, always nice to see

[ptlemon]

Just came from a video of Kings and Generals about how that Umayyad Prince fled to Iberia but the channel forgot that there are more contries in Iberia than just Spain but you, a smaller channel, remembered. Thank you. Also, great video btw, your channel helped me a lot in my Medieval Islam History in college!

[antoniodefreitas]

My man, one thing most history comentators do undermine the Portuguese contribution to the conquest of the territoy from the Arabs to which is Portugal today within the Iberia peninsula. Further. We where the gratest navigators, the first global power (1500/1570) we lead and others follow. Somehow, most of the westren world make very little mention of this fact...

[Yakaru]

Excellent summary of a complex subject. Thanks for your great channel!

[yuriborges]

Nice video. But it's also important to understand that most of Iberia were not under moslim control this long. "For almost 800 years the Iberian Peninsula existed as a pocket of Islamic Civilisation" is a huge overstatement. To name a few more realistic periods: it seems in 720 all Iberian was in moslim control. The Battle of Covadonga in 718 or 722 marks the beginning of the Kingdom of Asturias. Asturias was under moslim control since around 715 as well as most of Northern Iberia. This means that moslims stayed in control there for only 7 years. Porto was reconquered in 868, so 153 years of moslim control and not 800. Coimbra in 1064, so around 349 years of muslim control, counting from 715. If the whole of Iberia was under moslim control for 800 years, there probably wouldn't have been any christianity left. The reconquista took as long as there were muslims in Iberia because they were foreign rulers. "Historian Joseph F. O'Callaghan says the remnants of the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy still played an important role in the society of Hispania. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring at a fast pace. Their nobility had begun to think of themselves as constituting one people, the gens Gothorum or the Hispani." "During the Umayyad period, the majority of people living within the caliphate were not Muslim, but Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, or members of other small groups. These religious communities were not forced to convert to Islam but were subject to a tax (jizyah) which was not imposed upon Muslims." Iberia was under moslim control for a long time, but it has never been truly moslim.

[gabyelcom]

The reason that the reconquista was a sucess in Spain and Portugal, was that were a great number of catholics in this countries, and this cristians moçarabs supported the cruzaders, but in Syria and Egypt because of the cism monophysite, the Christians prefere maintained in the muslin domain that support the cruzaders, and loose his religious indentity

[monokumaxd]

From what I understand the average Iberian peasant was Christian and both Islam and the Muslim Renaissance on the Iberian peninsula were limited to the elite, mostly because, as you said, the Muslim states were against active conversion. This might have played a role in the decline of Islam on the peninsula.

[djallalnamri]

therefore the Muslims trapped themselves in a system of hereditary transmission of power (dynasties) and thereby alienated the populations who were nevertheless also Muslims.
this seems to continue even today except that the form of government has little or nothing to do with Islam.
thank you for your effort and for sharing and good continuation.
greetings from Algeria.

[Herman]

*Could it possibly be that over the course of centuries, the Spaniards came to prefer Christ's Compassion over Muhammad's belligerence* ?