Nice links indeed by brother Shuaib . I will download all of those. Yes Shuaib, the end was Very Very BAD. Abu Abdullah (BoAbdel in spain) did very bad by just handling the keys to Ferdinand.
His decendents have seen living in Fez, living on those given by people in charity.
Amir of spain: Im from pakistan. Since i have read abt spain and the glory muslims established there, i have become fond of going there.
You are absolutely right about Caliph "Waleeb bin Abdul Malik" . He was a beleiver in Jihad. He sent out armies in all directions. Mohammd Bin Qasim at Sindh, Qutebah Bin Muslim Bahli was there at Kashghar ( which u have mentioned) and Tariq Bin Ziyad with Musa Bin NAseer at Spain.
It has been said that they have reached till Leon, when they were called back. the reason for calling back was just personal jealousy by Suleman bin Abdul Malik, with Musa Bin NAseer. Had they been allowed to move forward, the map of europe must have been different.
I have read a small boook about Abdur Rehman 3. He was a MAN. During his times, radical christians continued spreading fuss and they had planned for spreading a big fuss with france attacking afterwards. The king of France, Loius was backing them up. Abdur Rehman 3 went on attack at France. When christians saw that, they immediately raise that mutiny which they did plan for some other time.
Now, Abdur Rehman stopped the attack. Sent a part of its army to clear that mutiny and with his remaining army, he kept patroling between france and that place where fuss was raised( i have forgot its name) in such a way that France couldnt attack.
He has also led spain to heights of glory in the fields of education and research. Libraries, literature,science and tech.,arts etc were well developed. Basically he was the one who continued the work of Abdur Rehman1 and gave the muslims, their glory. I have to read more about him.
Oh yeah, the Ummiyad Caliphate did bring a lot for muslims. Ummiyad mosque is the one where Jesus is going to land near Qiyamah. Now a days, that mosque has been so silent. Not much activities as it has used to be.
Mosque of Cordoba has excellent interior. It has approximately 1400+ slender pillars. Allama Iqbal (a.k.a the poet of East) has written a whole poem on it. Have you read that?
He was living an ignorant life untill he went to Mosque of Cordoba. He went in with special permissions. He closed the door and called "Azan". He kept crying there, after 2 nafil. That was the point where he turned towards ALLAH and boy o boy. Read his poetry. The way he has persued us to work for Muslims Renaissance, the way he has described our glorious past.
Christians have tried to tear its beauty away by making a church in between. They have also pulled out the Quraan written on roofs. They were so racist that they couldnt bear it. You know why Spain has still been preserved ? I have read that some where that when muslims see it, they feel pain in the their hearts. Thats we always feel, dont we?
Which books have you read so far?
Here is more stuff for you
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/history.htm