OUR MOORISH DIVINE ORIGIN

OUR MOORISH DIVINE ORIGIN

World History; Vol.
2 - New Centers of Civilization
West Publishing Company

By the first millennium C.E. civilizations distant from the core cultures of Eurasia had begun to flourish in the western hemisphere and, somewhat later, in Africa. The new culture centers varied from mostly independent to mostly derivative. The Olmec culture, which flourished in the first century B.C.E. was the archetype of subsequent Mesoamerica societies, as the Sumerian was in Mesopotamia. The Teotihuacanos, Mayas, and Aztecs, were the cultural descendants of the Olmes, just as the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, had been of the Sumerians. The Mesoamerican cultures shared the following typical elements: their cities were huge, reaching populations of 350,000 with monumental religious buildings, most notably flattened pyramids, and sacred ball courts, Their governmental systems were generally religiously based, with a single divine ruler supported by a military elite. (P.1-7 ) Our divine origin, and Ahlul-Baiyt.


The divine truth of our lineage, from the Holy Bible, the Old Testament:

Genesis 14:12-13
"And they took Lot, Abram/Abraham's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
"

Genesis 19:34 - 37
"And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, I lay yester night with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also: and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. The first-born conceived and bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
"

Genesis 21:12
"And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman: in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
"

Numbers 24:17
"I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Isaac, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and change the conditions of the peoples in the land,( star means leader ) Ruth, the Moabites, of the country of Moab, The Moors are descendant of Mauritania, man is of the dirt from whence he Descendant. Mauritania is in North Africa, the Ottoman Empire.
"

Ruth 1: 14-16,
"your house shall be my house and my house shell be your house, (house means lineage,)"

Ruth 4:13-22
"The generations of Ruth the Moabites, Obed, David, and Boaz said I thought to adverse thee, saying buy it before the inhabitants, and the elders of my people, I am before thee, and he said I will redeem it, and buy the field and of the hand of Naomi, you must buy also of Ruth, the Moabitest, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz buy it for thee, and Boaz said unto the people, you are witness this day, I have bought all that was Elimelech, of the hand of Noami, moreover the wife of the dead, Mahlon, Ruth, the Moabites, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name not be cut off from among his brethren. And the elders, said we are witness. The lord make the woman that come into thine house like Rachel and Leah, which did build the house of Isaac: and do you worthily and be like the house of Jacob, unto him Leah, did bare a son, and called his name Judah, (Jesse begat David, and he begat Suleiman/ Solomon).
"
Ottoman expansion continued during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) when the empire reached the apex of its power.


World History - Vol. 2, Pg.
393 Genesis 26:31
"and they rose up in the morning and swore one to another and Isaac, sent them away and they departed in peace.
"

Genesis 28: 10-15
"Jacob climbed the ladder: I am the lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thy liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shall spread to the north, south, west, and to the east, and I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places wither thou go, and will bring you again into this land: Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.
"

Genesis 29:29-35
"And Laban, gave to Jacob his daughter Rachel to wife, and Jacob loved Rachel more then Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. And when the lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was baron.
And Leah conceived, and bore a son and the forth son she said, now will I praise the lord: therefore she called his name Judah: "

Genesis 49:8-10
"Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee: Judah is a lion, s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until the sage/leader come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
"

The Golden Age of the Moor
Journal of African Civilizations, Vol 11, Fall 1991
Ivan Van Sertima (Editor)

Page 185: Pimienta-Bey cites Dr.
Diop

Dr. Diop, he states that the Moorish family in Mauritania, maintain manuscripts in which their genealogy is minutely traced. Dr. Diop, also goes on to say that the Moors are descendants of "post-Islamic invaders." He states: "starting from Yemen, ( the Moors ) conquered Egypt, North Africa, and Spain between the seventh and fifteenth centuries. From Spain they fell back on Africa. Thus the Moors are basically Arab Moslems whose installation in Africa is quite resent. Numerous manuscripts preserved by the principal Moorish families in Mauritania today, manuscripts in which their genealogy is minutely traced since their departure from Yemen, testify to their origin. Moors are therefore a branch of those whom it is customary to call Semites. (remember Ruth the Moabites, and their genealogy, Jessie, begat King David, and David begat Salmon/Suleiman, meaning King Solomon, and also the word house means lineage.) The reign of King Solomon, the magnificent (1520-1566).
"

Page 4, section 3:
Who are these Moors? The Moors are black people indigenous to Mauretania. "Mr. Chandler tells us of a different race of Moors who were known as Garamantes/Caucasians, they intermarried with the Black Moors, thus became the 'tawny Moors' or 'white Moors'.
"

Page 5:
According to Dana Reynolds, the original Black Berbers, who were called Moors, were the North African ancestors of the present day dark-brown and dark-black peoples of the Sahara and the Sahel, mainly those called Fulani, Tuareg, Zenagha of Southern Morocco, Kunta and Tebbu of the Sahel countries as well as other black Arabs now living in Mauretania and throughout the Sahel, they include Trarza of Mauretania and Senegal, the Mogharba as well as dozens of other Sudanese tribes, the Chaamba of Chad and Algeria. Apart from her very detailed study of the origins and affiliations of the various tribes, she points out that the Africans involved in the Moorish occupation of Iberia did not just build remarkable things in Europe but also in their native lands. They founded and constructed many industrious and prosperous towns all over the north of Africa and as far south as Timbuktu. The ruins of their many castles can be seen as much in Northern Africa as in Andalusia.


Section 4:
The evidence Reynolds presents to establish the Africoid base of the Berbers is challenged by Wayne Chandler who insists that the Berbers were already heavily mixed with a Caucasoid element before the Moorish invasion. They were classified as the "tawny Moors." They are the result of a mixing of black Africans (the Garamantes of the Sahara) with a race of white Libyans. This clash of views has led to a stimulating debate.


Chapter 9, Page 392 -

Immediately following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Sultans moved to extend their control over the Balkans. Aided by the rugged terrain in the region. In the sixteenth century, Papal called for crusades against the Ottomans were ignored as Europeans, more interested in economic gains than religious confrontations with the Muslim Ottoman government, sought to establish commercial and political relations. Ottoman sultans, particularly Selim I, who routed the Mamluks in Egypt and gained control of Palestine and Syria in 1517. The defeat of the Mamluks gave the Ottomans control over most of the Arab world, including the key Muslim cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. The Ottoman rulers moved the Caliphate to Istanbul and assumed leadership over the Sunni Islamic world. They now viewed themselves as the guardians of Islam and the military might of their Empire as the Sword of Islam.


Ultimately, the sultans also took the title of Caliph. Ottoman expansion continued during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) when the empire reached the apex of its power. Suleiman, brilliantly led his armies against rulers in central Europe and in 1521 seized the Serbian capital of Belgrade. In an age of mighty kings, Suleiman was arguably the most powerful and dynamic. He was a successful military commander and a clever diplomat. Competing European powers, such as France, sought and secured his protection. By exploiting the rivalry between the Austrian Habsburg emperors and the French Valois kings, Suleiman's forces conquered most of Hungary. His political alliance with the French soon expanded into mutually beneficial economic relations. In 1529 Suleiman laid siege to Vienna, but over-extended communication lines and heavy rainfall made transporting heavy cannon difficult, and the Ottoman forces failed to take the city before the onset of winter. Since the Janissaries (the elite, professional soldiers of the Ottoman army) and the cavalry refused to campaign during the winter months, Suleiman was forced to retreat without taking the Habsburg capital. It is said that the Ottoman army left behind sacks of coffee, a new product that soon gained popularity among the Europeans.


Although thwarted at Vienna, by 1566 the Ottomans had extended their control over much of North Africa and the strategic islands of Crete and Rhodes. At its height, Suleiman's empire incorporated Hungary and the Balkan Peninsula, extensive territory around the Black Sea, the entire Anatolian Peninsula, Arab territories bordering the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, Egypt and the northern Sudan, most islands in the eastern Mediterranean, nd the costal areas of North Africa east of Morocco. Like many ancient Roman emperors, Suleiman failed to leave a worthy successor to his throne. ("The Joyous One"), made her son his successor, Suleiman had his favorite and more able son killed. Following Suleiman's death in 1566, Hurrem Haseki's son succeeded to the throne as Selim II, but his alcoholic, nicknamed "The Sot," proved no match for his capable and abstemious father. Ottoman military and naval supremacy waned under his rule, and at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the navies of the Habsburgs and the Italian city-states crushed the Ottoman fleet. The defeat marked the beginning of a military decline that lasted more than two hundred years.


Outline of History by H. G.
Wells

We can only tell very briefly here of the particulars of the Second and Third Punic Wars. We have told how Hamilcar began to organize Spain, and how the Romans forbade him to cross thee Ebro. He died in 228 B.C., and succeeded by Hannibal, who was now twenty-six. The actual war was precipitated by the Romans making a breach of their own regulations, and interfering with affairs south of the Ebro. Whereupon Hannibal marched straight through the south of Gaul and crossed the Alps.( 218 B.C.) into Italy. The history of the next fifteen years is the story of the most brilliant and futile raid in history. For fifteen years Hannibal held out in Italy.


The Golden Age of the Moor
Journal of African Civilizations, Vol II, Fall 1991
Ivan Van Sertima (Editor)

Moorish Militarism

Page 45:
According to Graham Webster, The discussion of Moorish militarism begins distinctly with the ancient martial conflicts between Rome and Carthage. Moorish soldiers are mentioned as early as the expedition to Sicily in 406 B.C., in a revolt by a certain Hanno (circa 350 B.C.) and the Roman invasion of Africa in 256 B.C. 46 They are similarly mentioned in Livy's account of the second Punic War ( 218-201 B.C. ) 47 In their bitter, prolonged and increasingly desperate struggle for national independence and control of the western Mediterranean, the Carthaginians utilized Moorish troops as integral elements in all of their battle campaigns. With the Numidians, the Moors fought on the side of the Carthaginians against the Romans. These redoubtable Moorish warriors greatly aided the Carthaginians, and were particularly beneficial to Hannibal Barca- the illustrious African general. Indeed, Hannibal, "who had over 6,000(Moors) at his disposal, suffered his only defeat when they were no longer available.
"

Page 47, Section 3:
An original brass military diploma which dates from the middle of the second century A.D. mentions Moorish soldiers in Moesia, which is modern Serbia. Another military diploma of A.D. 158 speaks of Moorish soldiers from Africa in Dacia, or modern Rumania, and also of auxiliary troops of the Dacian Moors. A Roman document, Notitia Dignitatum, which dates from the beginning of the fifth century A.D., mentions several Moorish Battalions in the Balkans and the Moorish Military colony Ad Mauros which was located on the Inn River near Vienna; and in what is modern Besarabia, there was a city called Maurocastrum. According to the document Notitia Dignitatum, 2500 to 5000 Illyrian Moorish Soldiers, in five separate military units, had served in the Near East. From this document we must deduce that at the beginning of the fifty century at least 100,000 descendants of Moors lived in Illyricun, which was located in the present-day Balkans.


Page 187, Section 1:
Pimienta Bey tells us: "I was a bit disappointed with Dr. Diop on his brief assessment of the Moors. For a man who so often analyzed words and their significance, Dr. Diop failed to address the etymology of the word "Moor." Wayne B. Chandler in his essay: "The Moor: Light of Europe 's Dark Age," informs us that the English word "Moor" originally comes from the Greek adjective "Mauros," which literally means "black" or very dark in color. The Romans would later adopt the word as a reference for the black-skinned inhabitants they encountered in Africa. Again, we recall that it was the ancient Romans who called the entire region of northwestern Africa Mauretania. Needless to say, this translates from the Latin as "the land of the black-skinned people".


Section 2:
Diop says that "When Mohammed was born, Arabia was a black African colony with Mecca as its capital."He adds: "The entire Arab people, including the Prophet, are mixed with black African blood." All these facts compel us to reevaluate the significance of Diop's initial inference that the Moors and Berbers are unequivocally one and the same.


Richard Brace sheds additional light upon the origins of the Moors, and the apparent synonymy of the term "Moor" with Berbers. Although Brace doesn't specifically say whether he considers "Berber" to be Synonymous with "Moor," one can see the correlation when Brace writes: "The Berbers come to the Maghrib at least as early as the second millennium B.C. ("Aurignacian, Solutrian and Magdalenian stages") sixteen centuries before the Arab conquest... it is judged that they came from the east, perhaps the Red Sea or Egypt, (emphasis mine) possibly further.
"

Brace also maintains that their language was "Hamitic" and is related to the ancient Egyptian.


In discussing the ethnic foundations of Morocco, Brace says nothing of "Moors," preferring to use only the term "Berber." But Brace's designation of the "Berber" language as "Hamitic," is most telling. It is significant to note that the term " Moabitarum" is very frequently used by medieval-era European writers to describe the "Moorish" inhabitants of northwest Africa or Mauretania.


Those who are familiar with both the Koran and the Bible would recognize the reference "Moab / Moabite." The descendants of Moab, the Moabites, were an ancient people who occupied a significant portion of Palestine. (see Genesis: 36:35 & Exodus 15:15.
)

The Moorish Occupation of Spain
Independent Sovereigns of Moorish Descent

Section 4:
In the invasion of Rome, Pope John VII agreed to pay an annual tribute of 25,000 marks of silver to the Saracens to retreat. Frederick II (1197-1250), of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, developed especially close relationships with the remaining Blacks in Sicily, and retained a Moorish chamberlain who was constantly in his presence. While admittedly breaking the Islamic power base, he also solicited the aid of the Moors from Palermo in his intense struggle with the papacy. After resettling conquered Muslims on the Italian mainland at Lucera, the monarch recruited an elite guard unit of 16,000 Black troops.


One of the independent sovereigns of Moorish descent with whom Frederick II came into contact was Morabit, a name whose attachment may be found with the Sanhadja Berber tribes, known as murabit. Growing conflicts and rebellion against the expansionist policies of Frederick II eventually led to the death of Morabit. In 1239, however, another Black man, Johannes Maurus, attained a position of considerable authority at the Hohenstaufan royal court." In South Italy and Sicily," writes Paul Kaplan, " dark-skinned Moslems had already been visible for several centuries.


Page 57:
Among the most substantial Berber groups to occupy Spain were the Hawwara, Luwata, Nafza, Masmuda, Zanata, and Sanhadja. Before participating in the eighth century invasion of Spain, the Hawwara Berbers in Africa occupied the province of Tripolitania and the deserts of southern Tunisia. They worshiped the Libyan sun god Amun, who was depicted as a bull or ram. After the invasion of Spain, they settled in Cordoba, and established a fortified city near Jaen. A wealthy group of Hawwara also settled in Morida and Medellin. Abd-al-Rahman ibn Musa al- Hawwari was a judge in Ecija during the reign of Abd-al-Rahman III.


The golden age of the Umayyad dynasty in Spain came during the tenth century. Under the reigns of Adb-al-Rahman III (912-61) and Hakam II (961-76), the Umayyad dynasty established sovereignty over the most substantial portion of the Iberian Peninsula. At the pinnacle of the Umayyad dynasty the great city of Cordoba possessed 200,000 residences, 600 mosques, and 900 public baths that were patronized by all social classes. Among his many accomplishments, Hakam II added twenty-seven schools for the free instruction of the poor.


It should be pointed out that, at least during this era of Islamic Spain, girls as well as boys went to school, and numerous Moorish woman became prominent in the literary and artistic fields. Other Moorish women were involved in education, law, medicine and library science. Both Tarik ibn Ziyad and Abd-al-Rahman I - the founder of the Umayyad dynasty in Spain in 756, are said to have belonged to the Nafza Berbers. In fact, one of the most important keys to Adb-al-Rahman's success as a monarch was his recruitment, directly from Africa, of a well-trained army of more than 40,000 Berbers. Many of the Nafza settled in Spain. Rich and numerous, the Nafza Berbers of Osuna, Spain, become civic leaders, writers and theologians. The Nafza also constituted a significant part of the population of Takurunna.


The Masmuda Berbers were described as Blacks by Abu Shama in his Kitab al-ravdatayn. They settled in several parts of Spain, including Mawrur, Cordoba, Valencia, Guadalajara, and Santaver. Masmuda Berbers also settled in southern Portugal. Neither did wealth and prestige escape the Masmuda. The previously mentioned of the powerful Almohad dynasty, Adb al-Mumin, was a Masmuda Berber.


THE EMPIRE OF THE MOORS
John G.
Jackson
Compiled, with an Appendix, by Runoko Rashidi

Page 85, Section 1:
The Moors were people who lived in Morocco. That's the reason they called it that. The word Moor meant Black. It meant Black people. In ancient times all Africans were called Ethiopians or Kushites. And in Middle Ages the Africans were called Moors. The word Moor literally means Black, so the Moorish people were the Black people. In medieval times the name Moor was not restricted to the inhabitants of Morocco, but it was customary to refer to all Africans as Moors.


By Brunson and Rashidi

Page 56, Section 2: The Moorish Occupation of Spain
The occupation of Palermo was followed by the occupation of Messina in 842 and Syracuse in 878. In 937, Ibn Hawkal noted that Blacks were very common in Palermo. Regarding one of the city's main entrances, Hawkal wrote that it was called the "Bab es Soudan," or "Gate of the Blacks," so named after its ebony-hued residents. 65 Pope Leo III referred to these Blacks variously as Moors, Agareni, and Saracens.66 Islamic encroachment on the European mainland took place around 846, when "Saracens" landed at the mouth of the Tiber River and besieged Rome.


By John G.
Jackson

Page 86, Section 2:Foundations of a New Civilization

The Moors went into Spain and there laid the foundations of a new civilization. The country was immeasurably enriched by their labors. They, for instance, introduced the silk industry into Spain. In the field of agriculture they were highly skilled, and introduced rice, sugar cane, dates, ginger, cotton, lemons, and strawberries into the country.


The Spanish city of Cordova, in the tenth century, was very much like a modern city. Its streets were well paved and there were raised sidewalks for pedestrians. At night, one could walk for ten miles by the lights of lamps, flanked by an uninterrupted extent of buildings. This was hundreds of years before there was a paved street in Paris, France, or a street lamp in London, England. The population of Cordova was over a million. There were 200, 000 homes, 800 public schools, and many colleges and universities. Cordova possessed 10,000 palaces of the wealthy, besides many royal palaces, surrounded by beautiful gardens. There were even 5,000 mills in Cordova at a time when there was not even one in the rest of Europe. There were also 900 public baths, besides a large number of private ones, at a time when the rest of Europe considered bathing as extremely sinful, and to be avoided as much as possible. Cordova was also graced by a system of over 4,000 public markets.


The Great Mosque of Cordova, another grand structure, had a scarlet and gold roof, with 1,000 columns of porphyry and marble. It was lit by more than 200 silver chandeliers, containing more than 1,000 silver lamps burning perfumed oil. Education was universal in Moorish Spain, being given to the most humble, while in Christian Europe ninety-nine percent of the people were illiterate, and even kings could neither read nor write. You had Moorish women who were doctors and lawyers and professors. Jewish scholars studied under the Moors, and then went to England and set up a scientific school at what later came to be Oxford University. The Moors were a very tolerant people. The Moorish rulers lived in sumptuous palaces, while the monarchs of Germany, France, and England dwelt in big barns, with no windows and no chimneys, and with only a hole in the roof for the exit of smoke.


Page 88, Section 1: The Mahdi Appeared in Morocco in 1147
After the conquest of Morocco in 1147, when the last Almoravide king was dethroned and executed, the Almohades seized the reigns of government, and then invaded Europe. By 1150 they had defeated the Christian armies of Spain and placed an Almohade sovereign on the throne of Moorish Spain; and, thus, for the second time a purely African dynasty ruled over the most civilized portion of the Iberian Peninsula. Under a great line of Almohade kings, the splendor of Moorish Spain was not only maintained but also enhanced; for they erected their Castile of Gibraltar in 1160 and began the building of the great Mosque of Seville in 1183. The Geralda of Seville was originally an astronomical observatory constructed in 1196 under the supervision of the mathematician Geber. The Almoravides had established a Spanish court in Seville. The Almohades set up an African court in the city of Morocco; and Ibn said in the thirteenth century describes Morocco as the "Baghdad of the West," and says that under the early Almohade rulers, the city enjoyed its greatest prosperity.


THE STORY OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN
Stanley Lane-Poole & Arthur Gilman also John G.
Jackson
Black Classic Press of Baltimore MD.


ALHAMBRA
During this period of comparative tranquility, Granada had taken the place of Cordova as the home of the arts and sciences. Its architects were renowned throughout Europe; they had built the marvelous "Red Palace," Alhambra, so called from the color of the ferruginous soil on which it stands, and they had covered it with the splendid gold ornament and Arabesque moldings, which are still the wonder of artists of all countries. Granada itself, with its two castles, was a pearl of price. It stands on the border of a rich plain, the famous " Vega," lying at the feet of the snowy " mountains of the moon," Sierra Nevada. From the heights of the city, and still better from the Alhambra, which stands sentinel over the plain like the Acropolis of Athens, the eye ranges over this beautiful Vega, with its streams and vineyards, its orchards and orange groves. No city in Andalusia was more favored in site or climate; the breezes from the snow mountains made the hottest summer tolerable.


Page 222:
And the land was fertile beyond compare. The site chosen by the Moors for their celebrated Red Palace is a terrace bounded by precipitous ravines, at the foot of which, to the north, flow the waters of the river Darro. Solid walls of stone covered with stucco, and strengthened at frequent intervals by towers, surround the terrace. The enclosed space is somewhat of the form of a lanceolate leaf lying on the tableland, with its greatest length (about half a mile) from east to west. The visitor finds his way into the enclosure through a massive embattled tower of orange and red pierced by the Gate of Justice under which the khalifs, like the judges of the Hebrews, would want to sit in judgment. Twenty-eight feet above the pavement, over the horseshoe arch, a cabalistic key and a gigantic hand are carved on two stones. Once inside the walls, the visitor finds himself in a square, on one side of which is an unfinished palace designed by Charles the Fifth. The corridor through which entrance is now gained to the Alhambra crosses an angle of this ruined structure and admits the visitor to the Court of the Myrtles, so called from the profusion of those shrubs which adorn its sides.


Page 225, Section 3:
We stop before the window looking over the Darro to think how Ayesha once let Boabdil down in a basket from it five centuries ago; how Charles the Fifth said of the unfortunate Moor, " Ill-fated was the man who lost all this!" We bring up before us the discoverer of America, as tradition paints him pleading in this place with the good Isabella for gracious permission to add another jewel to her crown - the bright gem of a New World.


Peace
Bro. M.
Moore-Bey