Western Constructions of Islam after the Fall of Al-Andalus: A Historical, Intellectual and Civilizational Analysis

انحطاطِ اندلس کے تناظر میں مغرب کا تصورِ اسلام: تاریخی، فکری اور تہذیبی تجزیہ

Abstract

This paper critically investigates the reconfiguration of Western perceptions of Islam in the aftermath of the decline of Al-Andalus, situating this transformation within a comprehensive historical, intellectual, and civilizational framework. During the centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia, Islamic civilization played a pivotal role in shaping Europe’s intellectual and cultural landscape through significant contributions in science, philosophy, medicine, and the arts. However, the collapse of Al-Andalus marked not merely a political transition but a profound epistemic shift in the nature of Muslim Western relations. The study argues that Western representations of Islam increasingly transitioned from modes of intellectual exchange and coexistence to ideologically constructed narratives shaped by religious polemics, ecclesiastical authority, and emerging aspirations of political and civilizational dominance. It examines how the institutional role of the Church, the legacy of the Crusades, and the gradual emergence of proto-orientalist thought contributed to the systematic reimagining of Islam as the “Other” a civilization portrayed as inferior, regressive, and antithetical to progress. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the selective appropriation and marginalization of Islamic intellectual heritage within Western historiography, highlighting how Andalusian contributions were often absorbed into European narratives while their origins were obscured. It also considers the internal fractures within Muslim political and social structures that facilitated the decline, thereby enabling the West to assert ideological supremacy. By offering a critical reassessment of these historical processes, this study challenges reductionist and Eurocentric interpretations and underscores the enduring yet underacknowledged impact of Islamic civilization on the making of modern Europe. It concludes that many dominant Western perceptions of Islam are deeply rooted in historically contingent power structures, cultural contestation, and inherited intellectual biases rather than objective scholarly inquiry.