On the morning of December 24, we had a flight to Malaga, Spain. This flight was also packed to the gate. We had to go from Malaga to Granada. Malaga is an airport city in the province of Andalusia, Spain. In his time, it was called Malacca. Islam and Muslims were brought to Spain in 711 by Tariq bin Ziyad. The Umayyad prince Abd al-Rahman I reached Andalusia saving his life, settled the city of Cordoba and laid the foundation of a Muslim state in Europe.
Later, until 1492, Muslims ruled the city of Talos in France and Barcelona in Spain for seven and a half hundred years. Today’s Portugal was also a part of this state. “Madrid was also settled by Muslims” Its Arabic name was Medard “People of Spain still call it Madrid” “Muslims also settled in Murcia” Ibn Arabi was born in Murcia Cordoba was the most modern city of its time, this city also gave the world the tie and suit, soup, parachute and the industry of crystal vessels.
It was associated with the caliph’s court, he invented the suit and tie for the royal servants, made soup for the king and made it mandatory for dinner, and he collected master glass artisans from all over the world. Make crystal vessels out of it’ He thought that man could easily fly by tying wings to his arms, so he made parachutes and put people on them and threw them down from minarets and they landed safely’ Parachute was the origin. Perhaps it is the respect of the tradition of Zaryab Qurtubi that today the most paragliding in Europe takes place in Cordoba and Granada. This style of architecture is called Moorish. The Christians of Europe used to call the Muslims of that time Moors.
The reason for this was very interesting. At that time, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mali, Niger and Libya were one country and it was called Mauritania. The people of Mauritania were called Moors. were and the majority of them consisted of Berbers and Arabs, so the local people started calling them Moors. These Moors later introduced the Moorish style of architecture in Europe. Streets were paved ‘Stone and lime work was done more’ The outer walls of the houses were spotty and solid and had a dull color ‘No window in the house opened to the street’ All doors and windows opened into the courtyard The doors were made of wood or iron, these houses looked plain and humble from the outside.
As soon as you entered the house, you were greeted by a marble fountain in the courtyard, maltese trees on the right and left, vines and bougainvillea, and thrones and tables between them. There used to be ‘the sound of water in the courtyard of every house and the smell of Malta’s flowers and fruits’ this style of architecture is still alive in Morocco today, Moroccans call such houses riyads.
There are thousands of riyads in Soya, Cordoba and Granada, and every house captures your heart. Books were bought and sold by giving a regular bid. At one time, there were one and a half million books in the city and all of them were manuscripts. Famous people like Ibn Rushd and Ibn Arabi used to teach and teach, while the al-Hamra and the streets of Granada made the whole world feel inferior.
We decided to spend Christmas Eve and the last week of December in Granada and so arrived in Malaga on the evening of December 24th. Malaga airport is medium in size but still has 42 conveyor belts. Guess when we have only seven conveyor belts at Islamabad Airport, you can see the difference between the two yourself. Sohail Maqsood came to pick us up. This is my dear friend and fellow Sikh. May Allah bless him very much. He opened a small shop in Granada twenty years ago and it has now expanded to become a huge cash and carry.
Today they are considered among the happiest people of Granada. They are very simple but very sincere people. Their children know only two languages, Punjabi and Spanish. Especially the language of the girls is purely rural Punjabi. “They say, ‘Dil Khush Ho Jae’, ‘Granada is an hour and a half’s drive from Malaga.’ Granada is forced to make a detour. Our hotel was near the city center. A straight street led to the exact spot where, on January 2, 1492, the last Muslim king, Abu Muhammad Abdullah, handed over the keys to the Al-Hamra to the Christian king Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. were
There is now a fountain-like manu-minute in this place, which probably shows Columbus explaining America to the Queen, while a pictorial description of the incident of the keys is shown in a painting, the “Royal Chapel of Grenada”. In the entry hall of ‘K’, the painting shows Abu Abdullah Muhammad riding a black horse dressed in a black gown, with a white shawl wrapped around his neck, holding keys while behind him his The servants and courtiers stand sullenly.’ On the other hand, Ferdinand is black, while Queen Isabella sits on a white horse and looks at him with pride, and his triumphant companions stand back and look down on the defeated army. “The Pillars of Al-Hamra in the painting” watchtowers and turrets are visible behind the defeated sultan.
This painting was created by reading the letters and diaries of Christopher Columbus “Columbus witnessed the exchange of the keys and the conquest of Granada” He came to the aid of the Queen “He believed he could discover the shortest route to India” While the queen had no interest in the new route to India, her greatest ambition in life was the conquest of Granada, the complete expulsion of the Muslims from Spain, and a few minutes at the Court of Lions at Al-Hamra. She made numerous attempts to dissuade Columbus, but when he did not stop, the queen got fed up and made a bet that if Granada is conquered, I will finance you for a new route to India.
Columbus had no option but to accept the condition, so he joined the Queen’s army and saw with his own eyes Abu Abdullah Muhammad hand over the keys of the Al-Hamra to the Queen. After this change of ownership, Columbus moved on. kissed the queen’s horse’s shoe and reminded him of his promise. The queen was so happy at that moment that she tossed two bags of gold to Columbus. With the help of these two bags, the new world will be discovered and only four hundred years later that world will rule the old world under the name of America. Built and perfected’ Ferdinand was the ruler of the then Christian state of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.
Both of them got married to conquer Granada. They gathered the armies of both countries and laid siege to Granada. The conquest of Granada was such a big achievement in their lives that both of them announced that they would be buried in Granada after they died. For this he built a huge church in Granada called the Royal Chapel of Granada. This church is located near the Victory Monument and is really worth seeing. Ferdinand and Queen Both Isabella and Isabella are buried in this church, the tombs are in the underground basement, while the tombs are above and are very beautiful, but the tombs of the King and Queen can be seen by descending the stairs.
