Clots of blood

February 8, 2015

 

The Umayyad Empire

When the Umayyad’s came into the political picture, it was time for further Islamic expansion,in fact, the seat of Islam was moved from Mecca to Damascus, which had been a Byzantine Christian stronghold up until 635 AD. Damascus’ surrender actually set the pattern for all future surrenders/conquests. The Umayyad’s had taken over the reins of power from Alis’ sons, Al-Hasan, and Al-Husayn

The formal terms of surrender read “In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate, this is what Khalid ibn al-Walid would grant to the inhabitants of Damascus… He promises to give them security for their lives, property, and churches. Their city shall not be demolished; neither shall any Muslim be quartered in their houses. Thereunto we give to them the pact of Allah and the protection of His Prophet, the Khalife and the believers. So long as they pay the tax. Nothing but good shall befall them”

There have been many things said and written about the evil hordes of Muslims invading Spain, like the 1963 movie The Castilian. 

 This attitude could not be more wrong, I do not even like admitting crap like this exists. The plain truth of it is, without Islam being invited to come to Spain in 711 AD, Europe might never have started to climb out of the cesspool of ignorance, and scientific stagnation that the Holy Roman Church held it in.

The Spanish Empire

as we know it today, it is ruled by King Juan Carlos I, and did not really come into being until 1474 AD, some 150 years after Scotland regained our independence at the battle of Bannockburn. Spain had originally been part of the Roman Empire before falling to the Vandals, and again to the Visigoths in the fifth century AD. Toledo had been the Visigoth capital before it fell to the Moors in 711 AD. Part of the reason it fell was because that they should and would travel and trade freely throughout the empire. Catholicism had been imposed on the Jews, they had been threatened with death and slavery if they didn’t conform to the “Christian” catholic faith. It is important that we remember that at that time, more Jews lived outside of Judaea. than in it, even during Christ’s time. I find it to be an odd twist that the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar who died in 44 AD declared the Jews friends of the Roman Empire and decreed it.

he Visigoths were a powerful Germanic people who played a significant role in the late Roman Empire and the early Middle Ages. They were known for their military prowess, their sack of Rome in 410 AD, and the establishment of a Visigothic Kingdom in Iberia (present-day Spain and Portugal).  Germanic Origins, The Visigoths were a branch of the broader Gothic people, a Germanic group that migrated from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. The Visigoths initially interacted with the Roman Empire as foederati (allies), but later clashed with the empire, ultimately defeating them at the Battle of Adrianople in 378  AD.  Sack of Rome: 

In 410 AD, the Visigoths, led by Alaric I, sacked Rome, a significant event in the decline of the Western Roman Empire. After the sack of Rome, the Visigoths established a kingdom in Gaul (present-day France) and then in Iberia, where they ruled for several centuries. The Visigoths were Arian Christians, a theological sect that was not recognized as orthodox by the dominant Christian church.  The Visigoths left a lasting cultural and linguistic influence on the Iberian Peninsula, contributing to the development of Spanish and Portuguese languages and customs.  

Their way of of royal succession was a bit different, after King Witiza died, his son Prince Agilla thought that he should inherit the throne by right of primogeniture, as was the way of most of the rest of Europe but Visigoth royal succession was not hereditary, but elective. The Visigoths elected a guy named Rodrigo to be king, so Agilla invited the Islamic Moors of North Africa to side with him in what amounted to a civil war. North African involvement in Spanish affairs really should not come as a surprise; both areas had traded, and had been part of the Roman Empire. North Africa had been conquered by Islam, when the exarchate of Carthage, now in Tunisia succumbed to the Umayyad’s in 698 AD. The Moors were quick to answer the call; they sent the governor of Tangiers Tariq ibn Ziad with crack troops.

The Jews of Spain were grateful for his arrival, as stated earlier, Islam recognizes Judaism and Christianity as equals. By 732 AD the Umayyad Empire stretched for over 4000 miles, and trade flourished. However not all of Visigoth Spain followed suit, yes Catholicism was entrenching itself as was Islam, but, the Celtic Church was also entrenched in Gallicia, 

and had at least two sees functioning in Bretona, and Santiago de Compostella as well as Sintra in Portugal. The Roman Catholic Church claims that it had wiped out the Celtic Church by 662 AD but, thanks to independent Spanish church records, we find that the Celtic Church operated until at least 800 AD. Fascinatingly the Islamic hierarchy saw the Celtic Church as far more acceptable than its Roman Catholic cousin. Why? Well the answer is twofold.

The first is because the Celtic Church sprung from the Syrian Church and its proper Hebraic hierarchy answered to the Church of Jerusalem, which had been essentially founded by James, Jesus’ brother. The second of course was Alexandrian – Egyptian which, was influenced by the Hellenistic trend of worship. We also find that, as with Islam, the Celtic Church was vehemently anti Rome, it gave equal rights to women, and that the priesthood was hereditary.

All this aside for a moment, the one thing that gets me about religion especially Christian is, not once have we ever been shown a document that Christ himself wrote. Every page of the Bible has been written at least 200 years after Christ’ death. The Koran, in some ways, is worse because it wasn’t wrote until roughly 632 years later, however, I do believe that the Koran seeks to be far more honest with its followers. I really don’t like to broach this topic however; here seems a good place to do so. As terrifying as the events of September 11 2001 were, that event was the responsibility of religious fundamentalists, not an entire population of believers. In many ways Islam is/was going through simply what Christianity did from its conception till now even. As you will recall these articles are full of the brutality that the Christian church perpetrated on other Christians, Jews, Catholics vs. protestants, and church leaders spewing vitriol against Muslims in churches now. We here at Kristuzac profoundly reject any/all type of religious fundamentalism, it’s not a contest of who’s God is bigger and badder, it’s about understanding where we came from, who God really is, and appreciating Him for this gift of life. We are beings of light and energy, we do not need to enslave ourselves to a God, He is in every one of us. ENKI & Ninharsag, they started it all from as the Koran says “from clots of blood”.