This piece was originally published as an editorial in Dalit Voice in May 1985. We are republishing it as a tribute to the author’s legacy and in honor of his unwavering voice in championing the social justice movement in India.

Muslims ruled over Spain from 712 AD to 1492 AD for 780 years, yet today there are no Muslims in Spain, though every aspect of Spanish life has a touch of Islam. Spanish language has many Arabic words, its music has an Arabic tone, its culture has more Arabic influence than the European, and proper nouns in Spanish often have the Arabic prefix al. From 1492, when the last bastion of Muslim political strength, Grenada, fell, the Muslims of Spain were on the decline, culminating after 120 years when the last batch of Muslim diehards left Spain in 1612. From that year, Islam vanished from the Spanish horizons.

A particularly noteworthy point is that during this period of Islamic decline in Spain, the entire civilized world was ruled by Muslims. The Ottoman Turks had conquered Constantinople in 1453 and were ruling the entire Balkan Peninsula. Egypt was ruled by the powerful Mamlukes, Persia was at its political pinnacle under the Abbasi rulers, and India was ruled by the Mughals. Still, Islam vanished from Spain, and none of these great Muslim armies did anything to protect the Muslims of Spain.

How Islam was ejected from Spain has been a subject of keen study by India’s Hindu Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s. They studied this aspect to be copied in India, and to counter this possibility, Muslim leaders also studied it to prevent a repetition of the Spanish methods. India’s Muslims, forming 11.35% of the population as per the 1981 census, are the single largest minority and have become the biggest headache for the upper-caste Hindus. However, the present-day Muslims are totally ignorant of the history of Islamic decline in Spain and hence of the designs surrounding it.

Through this, we intend to shed a little light on this subject so that the thinking section of the Muslims and their sympathizers may do some more research on this subject. As in India, Spanish Muslims had three categories: (i) descendants of the original Arabs, (ii) descendants of Arab fathers and Spanish mothers, and (iii) Christian converts to Islam.

Immediately after the fall of Grenada, many of the original Arabs, to save their lives (not property, as they were not permitted to carry their wealth), left Spain for Tunisia and Morocco. Many died on their journey due to attacks by Christian hordes. The rest of the original Arabs who opted to live in Spain itself were subsequently branded as “foreigners” (as in India) and destroyers of Spain.

The other category of Muslims, viz. the descendants of Muslim fathers and Christian mothers and converts from Christianity, opted to live in Spain, believing in the declaration of King Ferdinand that complete religious freedom would be guaranteed. (In India also, we are told that Muslims enjoy full religious freedom and minority rights). The attacks by Christians on their lives and property during the earlier years were pardoned as a temporary phenomenon.

Compare this with the development that took place in India after the partition in 1947. But these attacks on Muslim life and property in Spain did not abate but continued for about 50 years with lesser intensity in a sporadic manner, just as it is happening in India today. In the earlier years, Indian Muslims resisted and fought back. There were mini-battles in the streets, but gradually there were one-sided attacks, and every time, Muslims were the losers. Of late, the Hindu police itself has been let loose to kill Muslims in India.

While the organized Christian groups were committing such massacres, Ferdinand’s government in Spain adopted the policy of eliminating Muslims from the services and adopting the following measures:

1. Arabic was removed from administration.
2. Schools attached to mosques were debarred from teaching academic and secular subjects like science, history, mathematics, and philosophy. Only religious teaching could be imparted.
3. Lessons in history were faked, dubbing Muslim rule as barbaric and avoiding mentioning their contributions to Spain’s development.
4. Muslim houses were constantly searched by police on allegations of arms hoarding and secret meetings.
5. Original Arab Muslims were projected as enemies of Christians and destroyers of Spain.
6. Christian converts were persuaded to reconvert to Christianity on the grounds that their ancestors were forced to become Muslims, and now there was no more coercion.
7. Muslims of Muslim-Christian parentage were branded as bastards, ridiculed, and persuaded to revert to Christianity.
8. Marriages performed in the Islamic manner were directed to be registered with judicial officers.
9. Islamic law was declared illegal.

Every method followed in Spain is being experimented with in India with better precision and timing. Thus, Muslims in Spain were made objects of ridicule, condemnation, and continuous attack. Burning of Muslim houses and shops was encouraged to destroy their economy. Mock ceremonies of reconversion of Muslims to Christianity were held and publicized.

In India, Hindu Nazis of all hues—Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, etc.—are doing the same. The first two generations of Spanish Muslims adopted passive methods to save their religion by teaching Arabic to their children at home and in mosques, and orally passing down the realities. Gradually, however, they lost the zeal.

When marriages were ordered to be celebrated only through government agencies, Muslims in the early stages performed dual marriages—one with the government authorities and another privately in their homes in the Islamic manner. Gradually, the second ceremony was given up as even such private ceremonies were banned.

During this period, Muslim masses gradually fell out of the grips of the Muslim leadership, and Muslim elites started flocking to Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt, where they were received with sympathy. Poor Muslim masses were left uncared for. This is exactly what is happening in India. The richer, English-educated Muslims are getting “Brahminized.” They have become imitators of upper-caste Hindus, living not in Muslim localities but in Hindu areas. The poor Muslims (95% of the Muslim population), being better followers of Islam, are left high and dry, making them more vulnerable during anti-Muslim riots.

The seeds sown in the first half of the century in Spain started yielding results in the second half. Without political leadership, organizational protection, or enlightened personalities to save the situation, the Muslim masses in Spain joined the “mainstream” of Spanish life. Eventually, even theologians left Spain, with the last batch leaving in 1612.

In India, the political leadership of Muslims has become subservient to Hindu parties led by the upper castes. Only theological leadership, like that of Moulana Hasan Ali Nadvi, has tried to maintain the cultural identity of Indian Muslims. The “Spanish experiment” is being tried with greater energy and efficiency in India. Urdu, as Islamic in India as Arabic was in Spain, is being eased out. Muslims are voluntarily holding on to madrasas, and English-educated Muslims are distancing themselves from the masses.

Mass killings of Muslims are considered natural by some Muslim leadership itself, while international Islamic platforms call it interference in India’s internal affairs. Muslims’ history is being deleted from syllabi, and contributions to India by Muslims are deliberately ignored. A great martyr like Tippu Sultan is unknown to many youngsters, while figures like Tantia Tope and Jhansi Laxmi Bai are celebrated.

The systematic anti-Muslim policies in India—closing doors of opportunities in defense, police, and government services, eliminating Urdu schools, and rewriting history to glorify Hindu culture—bear stark resemblance to Spain’s strategies. The Brahminical psychological warfare is amplified by narratives like the common civil code, idolizing anti-Muslim figures, and economic suppression of Muslim professions.

Unless the Muslim intelligentsia rises to counter these designs, India may witness a repetition of the history of Spain. Religion does not protect its followers; followers protect the religion. If Islam has to be saved in India, Muslims have to be saved.