Urban Spaces
in al-Andalus:
Places of
Unrivaled Desire and Devastating Exile.
Beloit College
Urban structures aim at the construction of private and public spaces that will define the singular identity of its citizens. The splendid cities built in al-Andalus reflect the determined, yet universal significance of all great architectural constructions, which is to fully appropriate the conquered space and transform it into the absolute religious, military, and political symbol of power. I chose al-Andalus as the center of this discussion on the city’s role in the creation of an Iberian urban poetic discourse, for its unique cultural circumstances – as the space where Muslims, Jews, and Christians coexisted for almost eight centuries.
Urbanism provided
the necessary tools for the three cultures to coexist in Medieval Spain. By the 10th
century the Umayyad dynasty’s urban model, initiated in the previous centuries,
became the prototype for the
structural, ideological, and architectural frame of their newly-independent Caliphate
and all al-Andalus. The city represented the absolute ambitions, greatness, and
splendor of its Caliph and inhabitants. Unfortunately, not even a century
later, due to drastic changes in the
political arena, the indisputable role of the cities as images of power will become
a new symbol, that of “sites for reflection on bygone glories” (Ruggles 174).
The city, fallen into enemy hands, will now serve as the common literary topic and will be embraced by poets from al-Andalus. For them, each urban architectural space was a micro-cosmos of all al-Andalus: a maze of superimposed memories, a place where “the layers of memory and exile are thick” (Menocal 3). According to Elías Terés, the literature created by the Muslims of al-Andalus during this period is a literature of exile that shares unique traits, especially that of a certain literary patriotism that will allow them to define who they are and develop a self-awareness, or consciousness raising, of their literature (“Algunos” 446). I agree with Terés’s statement and propose that both, Hispano-Arabic and Hispano-Jewish poets created a literature of exile, best reflected in their city elegies, poems that share various similar characteristics that will be analyzed in the subsequent pages.
Urbanism provided the necessary space for the Muslim culture to exist in the Peninsula for it created a space where their identity would prevail, observes Jerrilynn D. Dodds. According to her study, the Umayyad’ dynasty use of architecture as a public space, combined with their control and strict limitation of church building, heightened the symbolic importance of the act of building and resulted in the construction of a “mythic space of desire” (83). Nevertheless, Christian and Jewish population shared the same urban ideology and considered the city part of their own unique identity.
The poems of this complex period, one marked by frequent warfare, external and internal turmoil, and constant changes in power, will reflect the unrivaled desire and devastating exile experienced by all its citizens. As this paper argues, the literary representation of the city shares certain common characteristics among the poets of al-Andalus. The foregoing analysis of the poetic discourse reflects the Hispano-Arabic and Hispano-Jewish depiction of the unequivocal role of the city in the creation of an Iberian urban elegy. First, for the Muslim and Jewish poets the urban spaces provide a Paradisiacal location for their community, a place where they could affirm the singular identity. Secondly, their poetry reveals the close symbiosis between city and individual, the strong feeling of citizenship, alienation, desperation, and isolation experienced by those exiled to foreign lands. Thirdly, the poems underline the symbolic importance of the act of building. The physical architectural presence, its appropriation or its destruction at the conqueror’s hands evokes a glorious religious and cultural past and concurrently, a changing, desolate present. Moreover, the loss of the city represents the desire to restore Islam and Judaism to their former glory in the Iberian Peninsula. The elegies written by the Andalusí poets serve as testimony of the permanent struggle that each of the groups had to face in order to reaffirm their existence, their religion, and their place in the urban spaces.
I analyze these shared topics as they are represented in the urban elegies of Hispano-Arabic and Hispano-Jewish poets, who lament their loss of the urban splendor represented by cities like Cordoba, Granada, Seville, Valencia, and Murcia, and al-Andalus/Sefarad, in general.
1. The
11th century: Cordoba in Hispano-Arabic
poetry
The eleven-century
poetry of loss, displacement, and exile is a direct result of the historical
events experienced when Cordoba, the self-sufficient capital of the Caliphate, collapsed
at the hands of the Berbers. (1) Cordoba, the “Ornament of the World”,
had already
reached the height of its glory in mid-10th century when it became the city that “crushed in radiance all the
royal predecessors”, as Eulogius proudly described it in his Memoriale
Sanctorum (citation in Dodds 83).
The outstanding aesthetic achievements of the architects and
craftsmen who constructed this city mirrored and embodied the Umayyad dynasty’
desire to create unimaginable places of lavishing beauty and unsurpassed power.
Before its fall, Cordoba rivaled Baghdad and was the epicenter for prosperity, commerce, and intellectual energy in
the Western world (Elinson 6-8).
For Ibn Zaydūn (1003-1070)
Cordoba represented Paradise and ultimately, Paradise Lost. According to
Rubiera Mata, Ibn Zaydūn belonged
to the generation of poets called “the
Nostalgics”, who born into aristocracy,
lived an opulent life, acquired an exquisite education, but who as young men
experienced the disintegration of their extraordinary world. (2) Exiled from Cordoba, he writes nostalgic verses from his jail cell in
Seville: (3)
¿No está mi corazón
gritando por tu lejanía?
The poet’s heart screams from
intense pain and preoccupation caused by being so far away from Cordoba, the
“beautiful girl”, who personifies beauty, pleasure, and sweetness. (4)
Ibn Zaydūn remembers
Cordoba’s natural beauty and its perfect climate, considering it the Garden of
Eden through which runs the River of Paradise. As he confesses his separation
anxiety and the impossibility to live
without her, the poet affirms his own Identity. He defines himself as an urban
creation, a direct product of
The topic of merciless Destiny is
also present in Ibn Zaydūn’s
verses as he laments his adverse Fortune and present misery: “pero la fortuna
es adversa y la miseria llega”. He finds himself in this desperate situation
because he had to defend his oppressed freedom. (7) Exiled and
incarcerated in a worthless country that despises him, he finds himself trapped
but defiant and restless. On the verge of agony, he is ready to retaliate and
describes himself as a saber hiding in its heath, as a lion in his cage, as a
falcon in his nest, as the musk in its sac. He is without consolation and the
last vivid image that he shares with us is that of his wine turning into
vinegar, leaving us with the sour taste that mirrors his exile. (8)
Another
essential characteristic of the city elegies is to evoke its illustrious past and
its significant presence as a Muslim city in al-Andalus. Writing two centuries later, Al-Saqundi finds it necessary to remind its readers about Cordoba’s glorious past
and its impressive architectural physical presence acquired throughout
Caliphate era. In Elogio del Islam
español (9) he reveals and remembers the magnificence of the palatine cities built outside Cordoba
-Medinat al-Zahra and Al-Zahira, now in ruins, and the Great Mosque constructed in consecutive stages by the Ummayd rulers. He underlines the
image of power that the Umayyad Caliphs and Almanzor brought to the city. He includes Almanzor’s
great victory over the Christians at
Tocante a la Mezquita mayor, ya habrás oído que sus
lámparas han sido fundidas con las campanas de los cristianos, y que la
ampliación que hizo en su fábrica Ibn Abi Amir (Almanzor) fue construída con
tierra que transportaron los cristianos sobre sus hombros, de las iglesias que
aquel destruyó en sus regiones. (Elogio
del Islam 105)
Al-Saqundi’s memories of the past
re-construct the images of a glorious Muslim city. The transformation and destruction of specific urban places and the
appropriation of its physical remnants by the conqueror was a powerful
architectural tool that carried an imposing cultural, political, and religious
statement. In al-Andalus, the act of violence against churches, mosques, and
synagogues, depending on the enemy, marked the city’s final conquest.
2a.
The Almoravids. Granada in Hispano-Jewish Poetry.
In the last decades of the 11th century al-Andalus experiences more warfare and defeats at the hands of the North African Berber army, (10) the Almoravids (Elinson 18). During this period, Granada becomes one of the urban spaces whose loss will be lamented by various Hispano-Arabic and Hispano-Jewish poets.
It is during the Almoravid conquest of
Granada in 1090 that the Jewish community suffers great losses and
will have to abandon the city in order to save their lives. Moseh ibn Ezra takes refuge in the
Northern Christian territory, (11) where surprisingly, he finds himself
misunderstood by all its inhabitants, especially by the Jewish communities. His
verses reflect his bitter Destiny and reveal his desire, his yearning to return
to
His poetry of exile is filled with
very personal and tormented images. For example, in La huida de Granada
he describes himself as wandering without aim, “errante” in foreign lands where
he is shaken by fear and is not able to understand its inhabitants of babbling
lips and impenetrable language, “una gente de labios balbucientes y habla
impenetrable”. He considers the Christian North a place without culture and
accuses Christians and Jews all together to being ignorant (12). In an
another poem, En el destierro, he provides the reader with clear images
of pain and mourning as he remembers his happy past in Granada, among his
family and friends. Exemplary of his poems is his deeply-rooted feeling of
belonging to a specific urban group, that of the city of Granada. His exile, a
horrible twist of Destiny, (13) reflects the idea of a shared literary
patriotism and the development of a
unique Iberian consciousness rising.
2b.
The Almoravids. Seville in Hispano-Arabic Poetry.
During the Taifa period, under the Banū ‘Abbād, Seville replaced
Cordoba as the principal poetic and literary
capital of al-Andalus and it flourished as such until its conquest by the
Almoravids in 1095 (Rubiera Mata 86-87). The conquest of the city was very
harsh and ended with Al-Mu‘tamid and his family’s exile to North Africa. (14)
His departure from Seville is best expressed by poets of his court, but as
Rubiera Mata notes, the most sincere songs of desperation are offered by
Al-Mu‘tamid himself, “son cantos desesperados del prisionero que lo tuvo todo y
tal vez los más sinceros de la poesía hispanoárabe” (95). From his exile to
Agmāt, he composes his last verses and writes his own epitaph. As Moseh ibn Ezra before him, Al-Mu‘tamid
also feels to be a stranger and a captive among people of the same religion and
language. He believes that his exile will be wept by the closest inanimate
objects that defined his political, religious, and military power: the throne
platform, the mosque pulpit, the sharp swords and spears, respectively. Not
surprisingly, he mentions that the dew, the aroma, and his palaces in
3a. The Almohads. Valencia in Hispano-Arabic Poetry.
But the story of harsh exile
doesn’t end with the Almoravid’s conquest of al-Andalus. Their domination was
short-lived and their successors, the Almohads (16), enter the Peninsula
in 1147 and soon after another Muslim Paradise will fall: Valencia.
Al-Rusafi’s
(17) ultimate
expression of personal suffering is shared in
his emotionally-charged verses. In poem #35, exiled, he begs his friends who
are on their way to
But it is not only the urban
arquitectural memory that affects Al-Rusafi. His deepest feelings of loss
emerge from his delicate verses that capture our olphactory sensibility. For
him, the act of pronouncing the name of his beloved
Friends, what
happened to the desert that is now impregnated with perfume? What happened with
the horsemen in the caravan
that they are shaking
their heads as if they are drunk?
Has the musk
crumbled in Zephyr’ way,
or has someone
pronounced the name of
The
burning pain of exile that the poet feels in his core has been caused by the
harsh exile and it can only be extinguished with the remembrances of Valencia,
with memories that function as fresh water. The burning displacement of his
being has no other remedy but the soothing calling of the city’s name and the
memories of his past life.
3b.
The Almohads. Elegies for Sefarad.
The city also continues to remain a
constant presence in Hispano-Jewish poetry. In his elegies, Abraham
Ibn Ezra Qinah (1089-1164) (22)
describes the devastation of Al-Andalus (or better said, Sefarad)
at the hands of the Almohads. In the next poem the motif of the city as a woman
parallels the images adopted by already discussed poets from al-Andalus. The
difference is that for Ibn Ezra, the city of
The
intolerance towards the Other continues in the subsequent Christian conquests
of the cities of al-Andalus, who win Badajoz in 1230, Cordoba in 1236, Valencia
in 1238, and Seville in 1248.
4. Christian Conquest. Elegies for al-Andalus.
In the 13th century,
al-Andalus rapidly falls to the hands of the Christians. As expected, Christian architectural ideology
reveals a great desire to control the powerful visual image of Islam and
Judaism. The reinforcement of Christian identity and cultural purity started
with the transformation of the urban space. The city and its arquitectural
structures were destroyed, erased, or replaced by something that would separate
even more the already fractured identities in the
Ibn
Al-Abbar of Valencia (1199-1260) witnessed
the fall of his city at the hands of Jaime el Conquistador. Exiled to Tunez, Ibn al-Abbar provides another example of the city as
Worldly Paradise, as a young woman, and as the place that defines him as an
individual. Using the topic of UbiSunt,
he asks: Where is Valencia? Where are her houses, her doves, her Rusafa, her
Bridge, her gardens, and her green trees? Everything that represented
¿Donde
está
In another elegy we see a specific relation between
the urban space and the poet’s sense of great loss.
The
loss of the great cities of al-Andalus in such a short time is lamented by many
Muslim poets. In his elegy, Abu-l-Baqa de Ronda (1204-1286) employs the topic
of Ubi Sunt, (25) as Ibn Al-Abbar and Abraham Ibn Ezra before
him. In his despair, he says: Ask Valencia what happened to
To
conclude, the literary and architectural manifestations of the urban space are
two approaches used in the creation of urban discourse and visualization. The
poetic as well as the physical construction or destruction of the city
represents the defiant or defeated cultural identity of its citizens, and as
Dodds suggests, today’s urban spaces are a reflection of “a cultured shared, a
culture born of tensions and dialogue, of resistance and admiration” (95). The Hispano-Arabic
and Hispano-Jewish texts studied serve as another example of the importance of
the city among the three cultures of al-Andalus in their struggle to create
their own urban heterotopias: places of unrivaled desire and devastating exile.
Notes
(1). Cordoba’s total defeat in 1010,
caused by Berber uprising and dynastic struggle, ultimately lead to the
dissolution of the Umayyad Caliphate as a whole into Taifas petty kingdoms. The
Umayyads were rulers of al-Andalus from 756. The city’s construction continued
with Abd al-Rahman III al-Nasir (912-961) in 929 when he proclaimed himself
Caliph, independent from the Abbasids in Baghdad. For the next century Cordoba
“served as a symbol of Andalusi strength and prosperity” (Elinson 6).
(2). This 11th-century
generation of Hispano-Arabic poets lived in a privileged, lavishing, refined
world, built and fashioned according to their imagination. Within the natural
beauty of the Heavenly-garden motif, dominated by aromatic perfumes, abundant
light, running crystal-clear waters, fertile lands, and singing birds, they
build breathtaking palaces, gardens, fortresses, and cities (Rubiera Mata
77-84). Unfortunately, the same poets will be the ones who will live to see
their world collapse. As Ibn Hazn
expressed in his Tawk al-Hamma,
I-227-228, they had to abandon the palace-cities their great-grandfathers had
construced when “the hand of exile dispersed them and the claws of displacement
ripened them to bits” (Ormsby 244).
(3). Ibn Zaydun (1003-1070) was exiled from Cordoba for different political
reasons, one being his love affair with Princess Wallada and other courtly
intrigues. Cordoba city and the palace-city Medinat-al-Zahra were destroyed at
the hands of the Berbers, during the civil war for dynastic succession in 1010.
(4). “La belleza era tu rostro, el
placer, tu oído, / Toda la dulzura del mundo, tu morada./ ¿No es
asombroso que pueda vivir lejos de ti?/ Como si pudiera olvidar el aroma de tus
calles,/ como si no estuviese separado de tus linderos,/ como si no fuese mi
cuerpo criatura de tu polvo,/ como si me rodeasen los muros de mis lares” (in
Rubiera Mata 83-85).
(5). I provide my own translations of all the
poems cited in Spanish in Rubiera Mata.
(6). “Qué lugares para el alma, jardín y agua, / Qué lugares para la juvenil
locura!” (in Rubiera Mata 83-85).
(7). “¡Oh amigos míos, a dónde hemos llegado! /No hay principio al que el fin
no siga. /Miro cómo contentar a la suerte, /pero la fortuna es adversa y la
miseria llega, /dicen que acaba, pero el odio sigue. /Me fui porque la libertad era oprimida; /intenté consolarme cuando
estaba triste, /pero siguió desesperado mi corazón, /pues un país donde soy
despreciado, es despreciable /y no estoy dispuesto a envilecerme. /Los enemigos
no lograrán borrarme con la cárcel, /pues he visto al sol oculto entre las
nubes. /No soy sino sable oculto en su vaina, /león en su cueva, sacre en su
nido /o almizcle en su saquillo” (in Rubiera Mata 85).
(8). “Estoy triste, sin alegría:
el vino se avinagra; / no puedo tocar las cuerdas aunque suenen dulcemente, /
no dejo de suspirar, aunque me censuren, / no encuentro otro consuelo, lejos de
vosotros” (in Rubiera Mata 83-85).
(9). Al-Saqundi
(dies in 1231) describes Cordoba in his Elogio
del Islam español. He considers
Cordoba the seat of science and kings. Among the description of its
inhabitants, natural beauty, and climate, he names the palatine cities
built outside Cordoba, Medinat al-Zahra (by Abd al-Rahman III) and Al-Zahira (by Almanzor). They were so populated, he says, that
one could have walked for 10 miles and be illuminated by the light of its many
candles (Elogio 105).
(10). The Almoravids (1086-1146) first
enter al-Andalus in 1086 in order the stop Christians advances. A few years
later they invade and conquer the main cities, where Jewish, Muslim and
Christian communities alike, suffer during these political changes.
(11). For more Moseh ibn Ezra
(1055-1135/38?) see Scheindlin 252-265.
(12). “El Destino me ha conducido a una
tierra en la que/ mis pensamientos y deseos tiemblan de temor,/ una gente de
labios balbucientes y habla impenetrable;/ al ver sus caras decae mi rostro,/
hasta que el Señor me anuncie la liberación/ de ellos, salvándome con la piel
de mis dientes” (in Sáenz-Badillos, La
huida de Granada 130).
(13). Cuando me viene a la memoria,/
mientras camino errante, mi juventud,/ se turban mis ideas, se confunden/ mis
pensamientos y mi mente (in Sáenz-Badillos, En
el destierro 131).
(14). Ibn al-Labbāna de Denia writes beautiful poems about the tragic moment
of Al-Mu‘tamid’s departure on the river Guadalquivir. He ends one poem with the
verses: “¡Ay, cuántos corazones se iban rotos / en aquellas galeras
insensibles!”, qualifying as insensible the galley?” (Rubiera Mata 87-88).
(15). Extranjero y cautivo en tierra de africanos, / llorarán por él el estrado y
el mimbar; /llorarán por él las espadas cortantes y las lanzas, /y derramarán
lágrimas abundantes; /llorarán por él el rocío y el aroma, sus palacios, /al-Zāhi
y al-Zāhir, que antes le buscaban y ahora le ignoran; /cuando se diga: en
Agmāt ha muerto su generosidad /y no se puede esperar que vuelva hasta la
Resurrección. /Pasó el tiempo, y con él, aquel reino amable, /llegó el hoy, que
es huidizo. /Fue un dictamen del malvado destino, pero /¿ha sido alguna vez
justo con los justos? /El tiempo fue injusto con los Banu Mā’l-Samā’,
/los hijos de la lluvia del cielo, que fueron humillados (Rubiera Mata 89).
(16). The Almohads’ domination lasted
from 1147 to 1230.
(17). For more on Al-Rusafi’s poems (dies
in 1177) see Elías Terés 293-294 and Teresa Garulo 75-76.
(18). The bridge Ma’an is located next to the garden of Rusafa. “Amigos, que partís, hermanos/ De mi pasión,
¡benditos seáis!/ Llevad mi corazón a la lejana patria,/ El corazón
donde el recuerdo guardo de Valencia./ Como amnistiados de un
exilio os creo, /que vais a relatar, cuando lleguéis,/ Las penas de
un nostálgico que sufre/ Mas cómo os despedís / Sin cargar las sandalias
con mis besos/ Para ofrecérselos al Puente de Ma’an?” (#35, in Garulo 75).
(19). Al-Rusafi’s
description of the city as a young girl who has seduced him when he was a
younger, as the Paradise and the bride to whom God has given beauty and eternal
youth (# 45 Elegia valenciana, in Garulo
76) follows the poetic trends also employed by aforementioned poets. See Ibn Zaydun, “Cordoba, la bella” (p. 2 in this
article). Another example is Safwan Ibn
Idris (1165-1202) who cultivates the
elegy for the lost cities. His homeland is Murcia. He compares Zanaqat to a
beautiful young woman: “¡Oh Zanaqāt la bella!” Murcia (Tudmir) is
Paradise, the river Segura is the Milky Way, and the flowers are the stars. It
is a magical place where the breeze is wine that intoxicates you. He mentions
the Alto Escarpe, the high cliff, the Seca, who are also personified as young
women jealous of each other when the other is courted. He says: If you ask Murcia for her hand, she
gives you the coins of her flowers, but it is not a custom of beautiful young
ladies to talk about dowry. The metaphor
of the marriage (engagement) between the poet and the city continues with the
participation of the birds whose song makes the branches dance and the river
who has dressed the fish in armors for the celebration (in Rubiera Mata 121).
(20). “Pedid la lluvia en el Puente y en la Rusafa;/ Seguro que la lluvia regará
la Rusafa y el Puente./ Es mi patria: allí se encañoraron de
pluma mis alas” (#45 Elegía
valenciana, in Garulo
90-93).
(21). “Amigos míos: ¿Qué tiene el
desierto/ que está impregnado de perfume? / ¿Qué tienen las cabezas de los
hombres de caravana/ que se tambalean como ebrios?/ ¿Se ha derramado almizcle en el camino de la brisa/ O es que alguien ha pronunciado el nombre de
Valencia?/ Amigos míos: Deteneos conmigo y hablemos de ella,/ Pues su
recuerdo es como frescor del agua/ En las entrañas ardientes (# 45 Elegía
valenciana, in Garulo
90-93).
(22). Abraham Ibn Ezra Qinah
was born in Tudela, a Muslim city at the time. His spent his youth
in al-Andalus and lived in Toledo, Cordoba and other Andalusian cities. In 1146
when the Almohads enter the Peninsula and eradicate the Andalusian communities
who do not convert, Abraham Ibn Ezra
laments the end of the great époque of the Hebrew culture in al-Andalus
(Saenz-Badillo 149-154).
(23). I include the entire poem, from Sáenz-Badillos, 150: “¡Ay! sobre
Sefarad ha caído del cielo la desgracia;/ Mis ojos, mis ojos
vierten aguas”. /Mis ojos lloran, cual manantiales, por la ciudad de Lucena;/
Libre de tacha, sola, allí vivió la comunidad exiliada/ Sin
cambio alguno durante mil setenta años./ Más le llegó su día,
huyó su población, se quedó viuda,/ Sin Ley, sin Escrituras,
sellada la Misnah,/ Estéril el Talmud, perdió toda su Gloria. /
Sicarios y hombres vilentos van de acá para allá;/ El
lugar de oración y de alabanza se convirtió en casa de orgía./ Por
eso lloro y gopleo las manos; en mi boca hay perpetua elegía./ Sin
cesar repito: “¡Oh si mi cabeza se tornara aguas!”/ “¡Ay! sobre
Sefarad ha caído del cielo la desgracia; /Mis ojos, mis ojos
vierten aguas”./ Mi cabeza rasureré y gemiré amargamente por la
aljama de Sevilla,/ Por sus príncipes muertos y por sus hijos
cautivos,/ Por sus delicadas hijas, a religión extraña
entregadas./ ¿Cómo fue abandonada Córdoba y convertida en
desolado mar?/ Allí sabios y poderosos murieron de hambre y sed./
Ningún judío, ni uno solo ha quedado en Jaén ni en Almería,/ Ni
en Mallorca ni en Málaga resta refrigerio alguno:/ Los judíos que
sobrevivieron cruelmente fueron heridos./ Por eso me lamentaré
amargamente, y mucho plañiré,/ Y mis gemidos a causa de mis
dolores fluirán como aguas./ “¡Ay! sobre Sefarad ha caído del
cielo la desgracia;/ Mis ojos, mis ojos vierten aguas” (also in Alvar, 37-39).
(24). On Ibn al-Abbar de Valencia’s
(1199-1260) poems, see Rubiera-Mata
123-124. The topic of Ubi Sunt and the total destruction of
religious sites has already been analyzed in Abraham Ibn Ezra’s elegy about Sefarad, destroyed at the hands
of the Almohads. I include Ibn al-Abbar’s entire poem: “Oh
Valencia! Recordándote mis lagrimales/ Vierten sangre en
lugar de agua./ ¿Cuál es el camino para llegar a unos lugares,/ Ahora campos de
batalla de los extranjeros?;/ a unas colinas y a unos valles que no se
despojan/ De sus vestidos de primavera, ni en invierno, ni en verano./
Era agradable detenerse allí y sestear, a veces,/ Allá donde se
cumplían todos mis deseos./ Por mi padre! Aquellas escuelas coránicas en
ruinas/ Donde las campanas han borrado la llamada a la oración!/ Maravilla
es que las gentes del Fuego estén en el Paraíso/ Y que su sombra se
extienda sobre ellos” (in Rubiera Mata 124).
(25). For more on Abu-l-Baqa de Ronda,
see Rubiera Mata, 124-126. The topic of UbiSunt
discussed in Abraham Ibn Ezra and Ibn Al-Abbar of
Valencia’s poetry.
(26). See the religious aspect of the
city’s destruction for the Jewish community in Abraham Ibn Ezra Qinah’s
poems analyzed on page 10, in this paper.
(27). My translation of the Spanish
verses, in Rubiera Mata 124-127.
(28). “Hay a veces consuelo para las
desgracias,/ Pero ahora el Islam no tiene consuelo ,/ Por lo que sucedió a la
Península,/ Por lo que se abatió sobre ella, derrumbó montañas,/ Alcanzó al
propio Islam y fue menoscabado,/ Al quedar, regiones y países, vacíos de él./
¡Preguntad a Valencia lo que le sucedió a Murcia!/ ¿Dónde están Játiva y Jaén?
/ ¿Dónde está Córdoba, sede de las ciencias,/ De la que el mundo se
enorgullecía?/ ¿Dónde está Sevilla y los placeres que contenía,/ Su dulce río,
desbordante y caudaloso?/ Eran capitales columnas del país./ ¿Qué puede quedar
si faltan las columnas?/ Llora la noble Ortodoxia de dolor/ Como llora el
amante a su amor,/ Por las casas vacías Y convertidas en viviendas de paganos;/
Las mezquitas se han convertido en iglesias/ Y no hay en ellas sino campanas y
cruces;/ Hasta los mihrabes lloran, y son de piedra,/ Hasta los mimbranes
lloran, y son de madera./ Oh tú que estás descuidado ! En el destino hay
moraleja; No te duermas, que el destino vela;/ Alegría de la patria, pero
perdida Sevilla,/ Ya no tenemos patria./ Esta desgracia no puede olvidarse/ Y
no tiene olvido en el transcurso del tiempo (in Alvar 38-39 and in Rubiera Mata
125-127).
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