When thinking of Islamic states, the contemporary world lists countries like Iran, Pakistan and Jordan. Yet in he history of the world, there is an almost forgotten Muslim state- al Andalus, the great empire of the Muslims from North Africa that lasted from the year 711, the date of the first Muslim invasion in Spain, to the year 1492, when the last independent Muslim power in Granada was destroyed. .
The history of al-Andalus is somewhat patchy. At some periods there is a great deal of information about the political events and government operations, yet in other periods there is almost no written history and only a bare outline can be pieced together. For example, one can find the entire history of the reign on al-Razi's court (961-976) because of the survival of his court records; however the years from 1184-1210 are almost completely blank. There is one chronically, however, that has the most thorough history of al-Andalus on the market- "Muslim Spain and Portugal" by Hugh Kennedy. A professor at St. Andrews in London, Kennedy has taught generations of students about Christian and Muslim Spain and has written the authoritative history of al-Andalus. Therefore, a great deal of information found herein comes from his sources. .
The conquest of Spain by the Muslims began in the year 711, while the area was controlled by the Germanic Visigoths. Beginning in 569, the Visigoth monarchy held a century of stable power in which the kings exercised effective power over the country (Kennedy 1). However, the Muslim invasion of Spain and Portugal was a logical extension of its takeover in Northern Africa. Before coming to Spain, the Muslim had taken the areas of Libya, Algeria and Morocco and occupied the areas with two groups, the Byzantines and the Berbers. It was many of the Berbers who became the warriors for the Muslim conquests and who made deals with the Arabs to forge war alliances in the name of Islam (4, 5).