WHAT happened to the Spanish Muslims after the conquest of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom of Spain, by the armies of the Catholic kings in 1492? Why is the Muslim community of the Spanish peninsula today mainly composed of recent immigrants? These are questions often asked by visitors who are impressed by the rich cultural heritage left behind by the Islamic civilisation which flourished in Spain for nearly eight hundred years. The four hundredth anniversary of the expulsion of the Moriscos (Muslims who were forcibly converted to Catholicism after the fall of Granada) from Spain gives us an opportunity to write about the tragedy that befell the Spanish Muslims.
During the heyday of Muslim domination (the conquest started in 711), the new aristocracy who took over the land owned by the Christian nobles was composed of Spaniards of Arab and Berber descent. Many army commanders, administrators and top civil servants also came from this ethnic group. Therefore, the upper crust of the society was basically composed of the conquerors and their descendants.
The vast majority of the population however was composed of the Muallads, the descendants of Christian serfs (bound to the soil without any rights to move freely), who because of their precarious economic and social conditions abandoned Christianity and became Muslims. The conversion gave them considerable advantages. They were no longer serfs but freed men. It gave them opportunities for upward social mobility. They could pick and choose their trade, profession or occupation.
Over the centuries there were, of course, lots of intermarriages between the new Muslims and successive waves of settlers from North Africa, particularly because these soldiers and adventurers often came without their womenfolk. There were sizeable communities of Christians and Jews who could freely practise their religions and work in their respective trades and professions.
The Christian nobles, after losing most of Spain to the Muslim invaders took refuge in the mountains of the extreme north and started organising resistance as early as the year 722. The Church played an important role in uniting the defeated Goths under the banner of a common cause, which was to save Christianity.
On the other hand, the Muslims, after their initial unity of purpose and military success, soon went back to their favourite pastime, which was to wage fratricidal wars among themselves. It was mainly because of this reason that the Muslims gradually started losing ground to the Christian counter offensive. It was a slow process. As the Christian "Reconquista" progressed towards the south, adding one kingdom after another to the Christian fold, most members of the upper crust of the Muslim society either got killed in battle or took refuge in other neighbouring kingdoms to fight another day. In order to maintain their power and position some converted to Catholicism.
The ordinary people had no other option but to stay on and go about their daily business. In the early centuries of the "Reconquista," because of social and economic reasons, many of them voluntarily abandoned their Muslim ways, converted to Christianity and were assimilated into the rest of the population. The fall of Granada marked the end of Muslim military power in Spain and the beginning of Catholic hegemony over the peninsula.
Initially, the terms of surrender were generous. The Muslims could not only practise their religion but also keep their land and work in their respective trades and professions as long as they were loyal subjects of the Catholic Kings. But the Church soon started implementing a policy of repression to eradicate everything that could be identified with Islam.
Muslims were asked to give up their faith, which eventually led to mass conversions into Catholicism by force. They were forced to accept Christian names, give up Muslim dress, ordered not to use Arabic and forced to live in specially designated areas (ghettos), very much like slaves.
In spite of all this, most of them kept on practising Islam in private. The process continued for over a century. In the ordinary Christian mind a Morisco became irredeemably "the other" -- an inferior being (because he had been defeated militarily), a sub-human to be despised and if necessary be destroyed without compassion. There was no need for any compromise.
In 1569, goaded beyond endurance, the Moriscos rebelled. The rebellion was cruelly suppressed by the king's troops, but it took nearly four years for a complete surrender. The surviving Moriscos were dispersed in small groups all over Spain. Even that was not enough for some hard-liners in the Church. They advocated extermination, castration or deportation to newly colonised territories of America.
The debate continued until 1609, when a suitable excuse was found for their definitive expulsion. The Moriscos were accused of secretly plotting with the Turks to restore Islam in Spain. On April 9, 1609 the king ordered the expulsion of all the Moriscos from Spanish territories and on September 2, 1609, the authorities started executing the order by driving them to southern ports and herded them into boats leaving for North Africa. Most of their meagre belongings were confiscated to pay for their passage.
No accurate figures are available, but historians estimate that although already quite decimated, the Morisco population at that time was between 500,000 and 750,000 (between 7% and 9% of the total Spanish population). This was ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.
Today, most historians agree that instead of being enemies of king and country "most of these Moriscos were poor farmers, agricultural labourers or small tradesmen and hucksters." Although poor, they led their lives according to a simple but strict code of conduct. According to the German chronicler Munzer and the Jesuit scholar Pedro de Leon, they were hardworking, frugal and very knowledgeable about their trade or profession. Even the widely respected modern Spanish historian Julio Caro Baroja wrote: "They were excellent workers and very frugal in their lifestyle. All they wanted was to be allowed to practise their religion."

Chaklader Mahboob-ul Alam is a Daily Star columnist.