The Andalusian Spring

Radical Muslims in North Africa and Spain are calling for an “Andalusian Spring”. They are playing on the venerable Muslim nostalgia for the legendary land of Al-Andalus, which was their name for the Iberian Peninsula when it was under Islamic rule between the 8th and the 15th centuries.

Regaining the “lost paradise” of Al-Andalus is one of the great dreams of Islamic fundamentalists all over the world.

Many thanks to Hermes for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling of this Spanish news video:


Note: the subtitles in the embedded version of this video are quite small. If you have difficulty reading them, you may watch the full-sized version of the video at MRC TV. Or, see the transcript of the video below, in article format:

Radical Islamist groups have called through the internet for an Andalusian spring. Jihadi forums and websites demand the introduction of the Islamic law in Spain, and accuse the West of trying to erase the remaining Islamic features in Spain.

He calls himself imam Al-Andalus, and distributes through jihadi websites messages calling for the revival of Islamic Spain from before the 15th century.

His demands join those previously made by the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and also by some Moroccan intellectuals, such as an Algerian professor who has been calling for three years for the king of Spain to apologize in the name of his ancestors for the expulsion of Muslims in 1492. They use sentimental arguments to gain followers. One of them is the story of a group of elders from Tetuan who still keep the keys of their ancestral homes in Andalusia in the hope of a future return.

The Al-Qaeda terrorists in the Maghreb keep among their followers the obsession to regain Al-Andalus through circulated messages and communiques. The last and most spectacular was that of 2009 when the terrorist organization decided to give the name of Al-Andalus to their broadcasting service.

They justified their step in a long statement in which they explained that Al-Andalus is the lost paradise of the Muslims. The Islamist statement ended with a warning to Muslims that it’s their duty to wage jihad to regain the land of Islam.