A review of the second 50 pages

The author starts this section of the book back with the rule of Abd Al-Rahman, who through ingenuous ruling, brought peace and prosperity to Al-Andalus while keeping the enemies at bay. He built the magnificent mosque of Cordoba merging the Ummayad Syrian architecture with the local Christian "doubled-up" red-and-white arches. Towards the end of his life, he wrote a famous little "ode to a palm tree" that speaks of his separation from his birthplace further East. The poem, in itself simple, is of very important meaning to the power of the Arabic language. At a time when Latin was used solely as a liturgical language and when modern-day European languages had not yet developed, only Arabic could so eloquently express the inner feelings of the poet while remaining the language of God. This freedom and flexibility in the language would soon inspire literature, culture and civilization itself which it would then spread to the rest of Europe.

Arabic was so prized that Paul Alvarus, "widely respected Christian luminary of Cordoba" complained that the Christian youths would "read and study with enthusiasm the Arab books; they gather immense libraries at great expense" while despising the Christian literature as "unworthy of attention". Arabic appealed to the Christian and Jewish communities as the language of love and emotional expressions, something that Latin could not deliver. Thus, the term 'Mozarabs', meaning "wanna-be Arabs" came into being to mean Christians living in the Andalusian Muslim polity.

By 949, Cordoba had become such a successful and tolerant cultural model that non-Muslims were occupying important positions in the Caliph's court. Hasdai ibn Shaprut, a Jew, was made vizier of Abd Al-Rahman III. Hasdai, himself no ordinary Jew, was a prince of his people and was dedicated to re-uniting the Jews in exile.

Under the Muslim rule, the Jewish community flourished. They benefitted from Islam's preferential status for the People of the Book and "assimilated into the Islamo-Arabic culture". And while Hasdai represented the Caliph in foreign negotiations, the bishop of Elvira, Racemundo, was part of the Caliph's diplomats to Constantinople.

At the same time, Cordoba was beautified. The Caliph built the famous Madinat al-Zahra and decorated it with riches. However, with riches, the succeeding Caliphs continuously distanced themselves from the populace. They continued living exclusively in Madinat al-Zahra and al-Hakam built a separate royal enclosure in the great Mosque. These moves towards "kingship" ended up being costly for the ruling Umayyads. With dissatisfaction and discontentment rampant among the people, the Caliph was deposed and Madinat al-Zahra sacked with the help of Berber fighters in 1013. Cordoba will never again recover and fell after almost 300 years after the arrival of Muslims in the land. Satellite cities turned into local city-states or taifas and Andalusia was shatterred.