The Eternal Glass Ceiling :: The Neo-Reconquista

Ascending The Temple

The army marched from sunrise till sunset, forsaking any desires of sleep, pressing forward through the obscure wilderness. Ashiq had his journal in his hand writing down every piece of event that took place in vivid details. He even drew a few sketches of the various plants and animals that he encountered along the way. This adventure was the wanderlust that the young Moor yearned for. He began to think, If only there were some natives around to tell him the indigenous names of such intriguing plant life and wild animals, he would be able to label them as specified by the local population. But they came across no natives along the path they took. "The Conquistadors must have showed them the same hostility they showed us." Ashiq thought as he began to have flashbacks to the time when the conquistadors came to their house in Spain displaying so much aggression on the day of the revolt.

They demanded that his father leave Spain or convert to christianity and live by their rules or be executed. Masarra wasn't pleased with the terms and conditions of the new laws but he decided to do what was best for his family. So they lived as the Spanish lived, putting on a facade pretending that they were christian to abide under the mercy of the Spaniards. Many of their muslim brethren refused to convert to christianity and stood their ground protesting the evictions and extortions of the Spanish. Ashiq watched as the Spaniards dragged Muslims and Jews out of the comfort of their homes, slaughtering their family while setting Torahs, Qurans and Treaties ablaze.

These were the cruel acts that made Ashiq's mother garner the impression she had of the Spaniards. His father was displeased with what had taken place hence he formed group of many muslims that would assemble underground to congregate and worship Allah in secrecy, giving zakat and fellowshipping. They pooled their resources to help out other muslims in need, provide housing in undisclosed locations and to employ the best trained assassins [hashīshīn] from the Alamut mountains. These assassins were used to protect the Jewish and Muslims community by executing the Western European aristocrats that sent crusaders after them.

The Spaniards suspected that something like this was taking place behind their backs. As the rotten corpses of noblemen that funded the church began to grow in numbers. The nobles of the christian diocese became furious. Arresting Masarra Zamora and trying him before the Imperial Court even though they had no hard evidence of the wrongdoings that they accused him of. Masarra denied the accusations making a proposal to the Spaniards requesting that they allow him and his family to leave Spain since the mere presence of the Moriscos would always breed suspicion. For a long time the Spaniards coexisted with the Moriscos allowing them to work contracts building castles and fortresses using Moorish architecture due to liking that Queen Isabella expressed towards buildings such as the Alhambra.

However, since the Spaniards could not trust the Moriscos anymore. Their contracts were marked as void and they were provided a grace period to leave Spain. So the family did as they were allowed, leaving Spain and sailing across the ocean to a land that Masarra was very familiar with due to the conquest of the Almoravids. This land was called Morocco located in North Africa. Ashiq's mother hated the fact that they had to leave such a luxurious lifestyle of comfort in Spain, and for this reason she despised the Spaniards.

Ashiq instantly snapped out of his nostalgia as he noticed something that he had seen before. He wasn't aware of Déjà vu but it was obvious that this jungle seemed very repetitive. Tree after tree, it began to feel like they were walking around in a maze of some sort. Ashiq could have sworn he saw and took note of those specific trees awhile ago as they stood in the exact spot. It felt as if the Moorish army was going around in circles. Ashiq's head began to ache with a sharp pain that made him feel dizzy. He stopped walking as his vision began to become blurry. Razin saw him and patted him on the back asking, "Are you alright, Ashiq?" Ashiq then looked up replying, "Hm?...uhm . . . Yes I am." Continuing the journey Ashiq looked at Razin saying, "Hey, I'm sorry for blowing our cover and forcing everybody to lose sleep by having to find another camp site." Razin laughed responding "No worries Ashiq. This is the kind of stuff that our caliphate is built for. Do you think we came here to sleep? We can sleep when we're dead."