Granada Quotes

“Whoever believes in the myth of ‘peaceful coexistence that marked the relationships between the conquered and the conquerors’ should reread the stories of the burned convents and monasteries, of the profaned churches, of the raped nuns, of the Christian or Jewish women abducted to be locked away in their harems. He should ponder on the crucifixions of Cordoba, the hangings of Granada, the beheadings of Toledo and Barcelona, of Seville and Zamora. (The beheadings of Seville, ordered by Mutamid: the king who used those severed heads, heads of Jews and Christians, to adorn his palace). Invoking the name of Jesus meant instant execution. Crucifixion, of course, or decapitation or hanging or impalement. Ringing a bell, the same. Wearing green, the colour of Islam, also. And when a Muslim passed by, every Jew and Christian was obliged to step aside. To bow. And mind to the Jew or the Christian who dared react to the insults of a Muslim. As for the much-flaunted detail that the infidel-dogs were not obliged to convert to Islam, not even encouraged to do so, do you know why they were not? Because those who converted to Islam did not pay taxes. Those who refused, on the contrary, did.”
― Oriana Fallaci, The Force of Reason

“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.”
― I. M. Pei

“Suyla yıkanmak ne kadar Müslümanlıksa, yıkanmamak da o kadar Hristiyanlıktı. Trajikomikti, çünkü Hristiyanlığın hamiliğine soyunmuş Katolik Isabel, 'İç çamaşırlarımı Granada düşene kadar değiştirmeyeceğim' demişti. Eh, kraliçeleri öyleyse ordunun geri kalanını siz düşünün. 1492'de Granada düştüğünde, Elhamra yakınlarında kimse bulunmak istemezdi heralde!”
― İlker Özünlü, Endülüs

“You foreigners, you're all the same! You come here to find out about Fredrico's death, yet you don't know a damn thing about what really happened in Granada in 1936." - Gerardo Ros”
― Ian Gibson, Death of Lorca

“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?”
― Heena Singhal, Songs of the Reed

“Mientras el sultán Abu Abdullah contemplaba por última vez el reino que había perdido, se echó a llorar, y entonces su madre, , la dama Ayesha le dijo : "Si, llora como una muejer, lo que no supiste defender como un hombre".”
― Tariq Ali, A la sombra del granado (13/20)

“... solo al que dice: "Mirad, to soy el hombre" en lugar de "mi abuelo o mi padre era", se le puede considerar verdaderamente nombre u valeroso”
― Tariq Ali, A la sombra del granado (13/20)