Granada Alhambra Quotes

It is remarkable that circumcision, which is invariably practiced by thE Mahometans, and forms a distinguishing rite of their faith, to which all proselytes must conform, is neither mentioned in the Koran nor the Sonna. It seems to have been a general usage in Arabia, tacitly adopted from the Jews, and is even said to have been prevalent throughout the East before the time of Moses. It is said that the Koran forbids the making likenesses of any living thing, which has prevented the introduction of portrait-painting among Mahometans. The passage of the Koran, however, which is thought to contain the prohibition, seems merely an echo of the second commandment, held sacred by Jews and Christians, not to form images or pictures for worship. One of Mahomet's standards was a black eagle. Among the most distinguished Moslem ornaments of the Alhambra at Granada is a fountain supported by lions carved of stone, and some Moslem monarchs have had their effigies stamped on their coins.

At the beginning, I thought the best Islamic work was in Spain - the mosque in Cordoba, the Alhambra in Granada. But as I learned more, my ideas shifted. I traveled to Egypt, and to the Middle East many times.I found the most wonderful examples of Islamic work in Cairo, it turns out. I'd visited mosques there before, but I didn't see them with the same eye as I did this time. They truly said something to me about Islamic architecture.

Alhambra Welcome, the water’s voice To one whom black sand overwhelmed, Welcome, to the curved hand The smooth column of the marble, Welcome, slender labyrinths of water Between the lemon trees, Welcome the melodious zéjel, Welcome is love, welcome the prayer Offered to a God who is One, Welcome the jasmine. Vain the scimitar Against the long lances of the host, Vain to be the best. Good to know, foreknow, grieving king, That your courtesies are farewells, That the key will be denied you, The infidels’ cross eclipse the moon, The afternoon you gaze on prove your last. Granada, 1976.

The traveler wishing to observe Islamic Spain has his choice of two cities, Granada with its Alhambra or Córdoba with its Great Mosque (in Spanish Mezquita). Of the two former is be a considerable degree the more exciting and also the easier to absorb for its buildings, gardens and geographic settings are immediately recognizable as significant. It would take a dull man to miss the point of Granada, for its Alhambra is a museum of Islamic memories.

Was the tragedy of a Hindu in the twentieth century Kashmir any different from the agony of the Muslims or Jews of Granada, hundreds of years ago?

Nadie ha sido más cruel en Barcelona que Almanzor en 985 que la quemó por completo. Pusieron sus mezquitas y giraldas, y un rey como Fernando III de Castilla no las destruyó. Tampoco los Reyes Católicos tocaron la Alhambra de Granada. En cambio, los invasores musulmanes demolieron en el siglo xii el monumento fenicio a Hércules y cuando cayó el califato de Córdoba destruyeron Medina Azahara. También desterraron a Averroes por considerar su obra peligrosamente heterodoxa. Y en contra de la visión ingenua que convierte a los moriscos en víctimas y a los españoles en verdugos, no hay que olvidar que está históricamente probada la colaboración entre los moriscos de la costa española y los piratas argelinos (desde su base del centro corsario de Cherchel) que golpeaban continuamente a nuestra flota, y que albergaban intenciones de reconquistar al menos parte de España. La España reconquistada podía luchar contra el islam (que la había invadido) pero tenía tiempo para la Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, una tierra de las tres culturas, un Arcipreste de Hita o un Francisco de Rojas.

After your Highnesses ended the war of the Moors who reigned in Europe, and finished the war of the great city of Granada, where this present year [1492] on the 2nd January I saw the royal banners of Your Highnesses planted by force of arms on the towers of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of the said city, I saw the Moorish sultan issue from the gates of the said city, and kiss the royal hands of Your Highnesses …