1. When the moors ruled Spain
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

2. Moorish Spain
The Moors built magnificent cities in Spain. Cordoba, in the tenth century was much like a modern metropolis. The streets were paved, and there were sidewalks for pedestrians. At night it was said that one could travel for ten miles by the light of lamps along a continuous strip of buildings. This was several hundred years before there was a paved street in Paris or a street lamp in London. The population of the city was over one million. There were 200,000 homes, 800 public schools, a number of colleges and universities, and many royal places surrounded by beautiful gardens. .
The Tanneries of Cordoba and Morocco City were the best in the world. Cordoba was the most wonderful city of the tenth century. It was served by 4,000 public markets and 5,000 mills. Public baths numbered in the hundreds. This amenity was present at a time when cleanliness in Europe was regarded as a sin.
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

3. When the moors ruled Spain
Education was universal in Moorish Spain, available to the most humble, while 99% of Christian Europe was illiterate—not even the kings could read or write. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, public libraries did not exist in Christian Europe, while Moorish Spain had more than seventy, of which the one in Cordoba contained over six hundred thousand manuscripts. There were more than seventeen great universities in Moorish Spain, while Europe had only two universities of any value. .
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

4. When the moors ruled Spain
Finally, let me illustrate Muslim culture by a few lines from the historian James Burke about Córdoba in the 9th Century – ‘At a time when London was a tiny mud-hut village that could not boast of a single street lamp, in Córdoba there were half a million inhabitants, living in 113,000 houses. There were 700 mosques and 300 public baths spread throughout the city. The streets were paved and lit. The houses had marble balconies for summer and hot-air ducts under the mosaic floors for winter. They were adorned with gardens with artificial fountains and orchards. Paper, a material still unknown to the west, was everywhere. There were bookshops and more than seventy libraries.’
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

5. When the moors ruled Spain
"My brothers, the enemy is before you, the sea is behind you.  Follow your general; I am resolved either to lose my life or to trample on the prostrate king of the Romans."
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

6. When the moors ruled Spain
The Spanish occupation by the Moors began in 711 AD when a Berber Muslim army, under their leader Tariq ibn-Ziyad, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Northern Africa and invaded the Iberian peninsula. Roderick, the last of the Visigoth kings of Spain, was defeated at the Battle of Río Barbate and by 719 AD the Moors had conquered the entire area from the coast to the Pyrenees
Moorish warrior
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

7. When the moors ruled Spain
In 711 A.D., General Tarik, accompanied by 100 horses and 400 African soldiers, crossed over into Spain on an exploratory mission. Tarik's small army ravaged several Spanish towns and returned to Africa laden with spoils. Later that same year, Tarik took an army of 7000 Africans, crossing from Africa to Gibraltar (named after him), defeating King Roderic and conquering most of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus began the Moorish domination of Spain, which was not fully ended until 1492.
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

8. When the moors ruled Spain
The Moors built magnificent cities in Spain. Cordoba, in the tenth century was much like a modern metropolis. The streets were paved, and there were sidewalks for pedestrians. At night it was said that one could travel for ten miles by the light of lamps along a continuous strip of buildings. This was several hundred years before there was a paved street in Paris or a street lamp in London. The population of the city was over one million. There were 200,000 homes, 800 public schools, a number of colleges and universities, and many royal places surrounded by beautiful gardens. .
The Tanneries of Cordoba and Morocco City were the best in the world. Cordoba was the most wonderful city of the tenth century. It was served by 4,000 public markets and 5,000 mills. Public baths numbered in the hundreds. This amenity was present at a time when cleanliness in Christian Europe was regarded as a sin.
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

9. When the moors ruled Spain
Education was universal in Moorish Spain, available to the most humble, while 99% of Christian Europe was illiterate—not even the kings could read or write. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, public libraries did not exist in Christian Europe, while Moorish Spain had more than seventy, of which the one in Cordoba contained over six hundred thousand manuscripts. There were more than seventeen great universities in Moorish Spain, while Christian Europe had only two universities of any value. .
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

10. Scientific progress in astronomy, chemistry, geography, mathematics, physics, and philosophy flourished in Moorish Spain. Scholars, artist and scientists formed learning societies, while scientific congresses were organized to promote research and to facilitate the spread of knowledge. A brisk intellectual life flourished in all Islamic dominated societies.
Mezquita in Cordoba
The Moors also introduced the manufacture of gunpowder into Europe, which their enemies later adopted, using this explosive to drive them back to Africa.
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

11. When the moors ruled Spain
"Arab Spain nurtured scores of poets. Many of its rulers-- al-Mutamid and Abd-al-Rahman I, for instance--were poets in their own right," Professor Hagerty said. "Strict Islamic tradition discourages the making of 'graven images,' so painting and sculpture never flourished among the Moors. Instead they channeled creative energy into language. With its wealth of vocabulary, its sonorous sounds, its flowing calligraphy, Arabic is well suited to the task.
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

12. When the moors ruled Spain
The Moors left a lasting legacy for Spain – they did not simply occupy the country; as portrayed by some western historians, but were a real source of knowledge and development and helped plant the roots of the European Renaissance. Obviously the great palaces, castle and mosques of Moorish times are amongst Spain’s greatest tourist attractions – and rightly so – but also, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, aubergines, artichokes, cumin, coriander, bananas, almonds, saffron, sugar-cane, cotton, rice, figs, grapes, peaches and apricots were all introduced by the Moors. So too were the irrigation systems that enabled the dry plains to be efficiently farmed. So too were the narrow, labyrinthine street plans of many of the old towns. Even the flamenco itself has clear Islamic origins. The Spanish language is similarly full of words of Arabic origin – arroz (rice), alcalde(mayor), naranja(orange), azúcar(sugar) being just simple examples
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

13. When the moors ruled Spain
The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella sealed the fate of the faltering Granada sultans. Catholic Spain, finally united, continued to force the Muslims toward the sea, town by town. In 1492, the same year they launched Christopher Columbus on his historic voyage, Their Catholic Majesties rode into Granada to preside over the abdication of the last Moorish ruler, Muhammad Abu-Abdullah--Boabdil, as the Spanish call him.
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

14. When the Moors rules Spain
In 1085 AD the Spanish city of Toledo was reconquered by Christian crusaders. During the next hundred and fifty years, much of the accumulated Arab knowledge was translated making it available to the rest of western Europe.
Ironically, a lot of this knowledge could have been available much earlier since in Toledo, Christians continued to thrive even under Muslim occupation and were in fact actively studying the Arab works.
Their legacy perhaps enabled the revolution of Europe
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

15. When the moors ruled Spain
Finally, let me illustrate Muslim culture by a few lines from the historian James Burke about Córdoba in the 9th Century – ‘At a time when London was a tiny mud-hut village that could not boast of a single street lamp, in Córdoba there were half a million inhabitants, living in 113,000 houses. There were 700 mosques and 300 public baths spread throughout the city. The streets were paved and lit. The houses had marble balconies for summer and hot-air ducts under the mosaic floors for winter. They were adorned with gardens with artificial fountains and orchards. Paper, a material still unknown to the west, was everywhere. There were bookshops and more than seventy libraries.’
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

16. When the Moors rules Spain
The Moorish civilization enlightened Europe and brought it out of the dark ages to usher in the Renaissance period. The roots of European culture can be traced back to the Moors whose civilization was not only artistic, scientific and commercial, but also incredibly tolerant of other races and cultures. Many of the Moors' cultural and intellectual influences are still in evidence today. The Rock of Gibraltar owes its name to a man of valor, Tarik ibn Zeyad, a man of extraordinary courage and a true leader.
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

17. Taoufiq Cherkaoui

18. When the Moors rules Spain
The Moorish civilization enlightened Europe and brought it out of the dark ages to usher in the Renaissance period. The roots of European culture can be traced back to the Moors whose civilization was not only artistic, scientific and commercial, but also incredibly tolerant of other races and cultures. Many of the Moors' cultural and intellectual influences are still in evidence today. The Rock of Gibraltar owes its name to a man of valor, Tarik ibn Zeyad, a man of extraordinary courage and a true leader.
Taoufiq Cherkaoui

19. When the moors ruled Spain
Taoufiq Cherkaoui