Thanks to Kati Fund manuscripts stored in the mythical town of Timbuktu, we know the exile home of a Muslim named Ali Visigothic Quty Ben Ziyad al. The Arabs called the Goths "Qut", "al-Quty" son of the Goth, "al-Qutiyya" son of the Gothic, and we're talking about Ben Ziyad Ali, the son of the Goth.
Witiza ruled the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo until the year 710, after his death and leaving aside the minor children of the king died, some influential officials in the court chose Roderick, known as Don Rodrigo, who installed Toledo fought Witiza son Agila II, which accounted to be the legitimate king and occupied the provinces of the Tarraconensis and Narbonensis.
Oppas Witiza brother and bishop of Toledo, asked Gov. Don Julian Septem (Ceuta), occupied by the Berbers, the support of Muslims to defeat Roderick.
Muslims with boats provided by Don Julian, crossed the strait led by Tariq bin Ziyad, came in Spain on April 27 in 711 and won the battle of Guadalete Roderico killing July 17 of that year. Tariq bin Ziyad
the Berber general, instead of naming Witiza king's son who had helped him to cross the strait, proclaimed the Caliph of Damascus, and so the domain just Godo in Spain.
Alamundo (or Almundo) Witiza eldest son had a daughter called Sara La Goda who married in Seville with Isa ibn musuluman Muzahim Qutyya and their descendants, were a family of prestige in the kingdom and the kingdom of al-Andalus of Toledo, where they lived and professed the Muslim faith, among the most prominent of a family we can mention:
- Muhammad ibn al Qutiyya, who lived in Medina Zahara, and died in 977 was a historian of the early days of the Muslims in the peninsula and wrote the "History of the conquest of Al Andalus", was also a scholar and lover of poetry .
- Hafs ibn Albar to Quty, son of Muhammad lived in Cordoba and is known for translating into Arabic the Psalms of David.
- Harit the Quty Suleyman ibn, physician and author of a treatise on ophthalmology, which was translated into Catalan and that there is a copy in the National Library of Catalonia. Toledo
remained under the Caliphate of Cordoba until its decline in 1035, that was organized as a independent Taifa Caliphate, paying tribute to the kings of Castile until Alfonso VI reconquered the city in the year 1,085.
During the following centuries Quty lived in peace in the conquered city of Toledo, in 1460 the main family descended from Ali bin Ziyad al-Quty serving as judge and authority among Muslims in the city.
The coexistence between Christians and converts old passed peacefully until the nobles and clergy were against King Henry IV and deposed in the courts held in Avila, the day June 5, 1465, naming his brother King Alfonso XII of such only twelve years old, dominating the noble young king began religious persecution.
In Toledo on July 22, 1467 began the disputes between Old Christians and converts, the latter entered the cathedral and killed two canons and some faithful Christians finally got converted to expel the temple, the incident ended with the fire district of Magdalena, the leader of the converts Fernando de la Torre was hanged in the tower of Santa Leocadia and her brother Alvaro Seco in the square, and that was the end of tolerance for Moorish and Jews to which thereafter was excluded from all public offices.
Ben Ali Ziyad al Quty seeing the persecution suffered by Christians Toledo decided to leave in mid-June, 1468 (22 Dhul-Qa'dah 872), carrying the books in his library, 400 volumes, marched with other converts Mudejar and undertaking the long journey to the south. Among his books were treated in astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and philosophy, were first to Seville and from there marched to the Nazari kingdom of Granada where they stayed for a month's time. Possibly
crossed the strait from Algeciras to reach Septem (Ceuta).
Ceuta had been Carthaginian, Byzantine, Visigothic, Muslim and when I get there ben Ali Ziyad al-Quty was being conquered by Portuguese by John R on 21 August 1415, captivating the Berber dynasty of Benimerines.
Like Ali bin Ziyad al-Quty, many Jews and Muslims would have to go way to Africa. As a good fan of books, on their way to the African country seems to have acquired numerous copies of religious texts, lives of the Prophet and the Koran, some of whom took the habit of making notes in the margins. These notes contain his remarks to read, news of the day and prints of his life.
on the attached map indicates the route to Al Quty and his family traveled across the desert and helped by Tuareg tribes, reaching to Mali.
View Ben Ziyad Ali Road in a larger map
The son of Ali bin Ziyad al Quty married a niece of the Emperor of Songhai dynasty in Timbuktu exercised by the government on that region of Niger. Despite being a relative of the Emperor were always looked down upon with other Moriscos "laluyyi" or renegades, as they were known among Africans.
To avoid segregation changed its name to "Katy" and went to live in the small town of Tindirma near the river Niger, the tenacity of their descendants has made more than three thousand manuscripts that make up the family background have still collected and stored in the city of Timbuktu with the name "Kati background, a wonderful testament to the Iberian exile.
Links:
Video : Report Weekly Report on the Fund Kati. Literature
: Kati Fund begins to be publicly available through the translation and publication of a set of historical notes that relate to the life of Mohamed Abana, patriarch of the nineteenth century Quti responsible for the reunification of the family library.
Sources: http://www.fundacionmahmudkati.org/
