In its episode on 2023/4/10, the program "The Story Has a Rest" dealt with a nostalgia that has been increasing significantly recently by the Spaniards, for the civilization of Andalusia - which lived for centuries in the Iberian Peninsula - to search for their roots, learn the Arabic language and dive into the history of this period of the lives of their ancestors and the ancestors of the Arabs.
Many believe that it may be natural for Arabs and Muslims to nostalgia for that civilization whose glories they built and whose traces still exist today, but it is unusual for the Spaniards to nostalgize for this era, as Arab and Muslim ancestors built the capital of their country, Majrit, which means the course of abundant water, which was later known as Madrid.
The episode of the program sought to understand the dimensions of this passion in the search for Islamic roots in Spain, and to find out how dealing with this Arab-Islamic heritage has evolved in Spain. To what extent it is still present in this country and in the lives of its people, and whether this inheritance represents an opportunity for rapprochement between Arab and Western cultures.
A documentary film prepared by the program monitored various studies, research and initiatives that sought to restore the Arab and Islamic heritage that contributed to various fields of culture and knowledge in Spain, as well as highlighting models of different Spanish cities whose citizens seek to discover the Islamic impact in them, which is still present in their lives today.
Growing passion
Among them is Rafael Martínez, a Spanish researcher who dedicated himself to introducing the history of Arab Madrid and founded a project for this purpose, and who expresses a growing passion among segments of the Spanish population to search for Arab and Islamic roots in this country, as he stated that he organizes regular tours for Spanish citizens and tourists to talk about the Arab history of Madrid.
Spanish history researcher Felipe González also stressed in his speech to the program that the influence of the Andalusian identity is endless in Spanish culture, pointing out that the Spanish national anthem is Andalusian origin, pointing out that tracking the search by Spaniards for the Islamic origin in their lives has become significantly increasing.
Spanish historian, researcher and coordinator of the Center for Islamic Studies in Madrid, Daniel Gil Bani Umayyah, stressed that Madrid has an Islamic history of 750 years, and "it can be said that this period is a hidden Islamic heritage."
From Granada, Rafael Gordo, director of the waterwheels around the city's Monachil River, points out that there are more than 500 areas that use a network of central irrigation canals dating back more than a thousand years.
Domesticated art
Following the fall of Andalusia, the term "ancient Mudejar art" was applied to Islamic architecture that Muslims continued to build under Christian Castilian rule, and around it the scholar González says that this term was invented as a symbiosis between Islamic and Christian elements in a way that allows Spain not to recognize the enormous Islamic influence on Christian and Jewish culture.
In Cordoba, efforts to revive more Islamic sciences and arts continue, including the Casa Árabe Foundation in one of the ancient houses of Córdoba that dates back to the fourteenth century, where it holds craft workshops aimed at reviving the professions and architecture that prevailed during the Umayyad Caliphate.
The center also organizes Arabic courses for children and adults, and entire Spanish families are seeking to learn Arabic, said Saida Shermiti, head of the Arab Center at Casa Árib, who pointed out that there has been "great interest" in learning Arabic recently.
The film, which is included in the episode "The Story Has a Rest", monitored the journey of Spanish lawyer Miguel Medawar, who is of Morish origin, to search for his Arab roots, and what he discovered about his Muslim origins and his belonging to the Arab royal family that ruled Spain, and the history of the family prompted the daughter of Medawar to return to Islam and link with a Muslim.
Multiple links
Speaking to the program, Dr. José Miguel Puerta Flechit, Spanish academic and professor at the University of Granada, said that there are many things that feed the feeling of Spaniards towards the history of their Andalusian country, including the widespread architecture, in addition to the literary and intellectual aspect, "There is a very rich Andalusian cultural and intellectual past."
He pointed to the flourishing of Arabization in Spanish universities and scientific institutes, and everything related to Andalusian studies, and the interest in Arab civilization flourished at the popular level, but he also pointed to the need for more support to meet the interest of the Spaniards in the heritage of Andalusia, especially with regard to the study of the Arabic language, as language is the most serious way in this path.
He pointed out that interest is not only formed among Spaniards of Arab origin, but also includes all races in his country, as everyone considers himself an extension of Andalusian culture humanly and intellectually.
For his part, Dr. Amer Mamdouh Khairo, professor of Andalusian history at the Iraqi University, said that this common nostalgia between Arabs and Spaniards, which has emerged recently, is linked to the place occupied by Andalusia in the Arab mentality, which was known as Paradise Lost, and the glory and civilization it carried.
He pointed out that there has been a qualitative change in recent times, as the first generations that prevailed in Spain after the fall of Andalusia, were dominated by a state of intolerance and an attempt to obliterate the heritage of Andalusia, but the new generations were liberated from this negative view, and these achievements, which remind them of Andalusian history, are considered a station that cannot be jumped on.