In the year 1221 A.D. the Kingdom of Spain, also known as Al-Andalus, is under Moorish rule, as the Spaniards called the Arabs who rule the Kingdom of Spain and much of the Iberian Peninsula. Omar Hafiz, the tall, dark and handsome son of an Arabian sheikh and Somali princess accompanied his cousin, Arabian prince Khaled Hafiz, from East Africa to the vastness of Spain to inspect the Kingdom which Khaled Hafiz would one day rule. The Iberian realm was proving to be quite a challenge for even the most seasoned of Muslim warriors because of its warlike natives, the unruly Spaniards. Even after being ruled by the Arabs for centuries, the Spaniards were still a rude, brutal and mean-spirited people. For the most part, the Arabian conquerors were benevolent rulers.
The Arabian overlords didn't slaughter the Spaniards or force them to convert to Islam en masse like many Europeans feared they would once they took over Spain. Rather, they tried to understand the people they conquered and treated them with respect. That's what the socio-cultural policy of Convivia was all about. The Spaniards couldn't stomach being conquered by the Arabian overlords, no matter how benign they were. Never mind that the Arabs shared with them their knowledge of medicine, navigation and countless other priceless discoveries. The bigoted Europeans refused to admit to themselves that men from other races, other lands could be stronger and smarter than them.
The Spaniards continued to reject Islam even though the Dhimmir tax imposed upon non-Muslims in Spain by the Arabian overlords impoverished many Spaniards. What a stubborn and foolish people these Iberians were! The Arabian Kings wondered what it would take to break them. Alas, that discovery eluded them still. From time to time, the Moors had to quash down violent uprisings. Scores of Spaniards left Spain for nearby Greece and other European realms still under the control of Christendom. The Muslim armies held onto Spain but hesitated to venture beyond its borders, lest they face all of Europe in an all-out war between Christianity and Islam.
As the son of a legendary Arabian warrior prince who married a beautiful African Muslim woman from Somalia, Omar Hafiz knew he was different. At the age of twenty two, he was six feet five inches tall, with light brown skin, curly Black hair and pale brown eyes. Everywhere he went he got stared at. The Arabs were used to seeing men with dark skin, for many Africans were Muslims. There were many racists in the Arab communities back then just like today, but the clerics ordered the Arab ruffians to show respect to their fellow Muslims, especially since Europe was at war with the Muslim world in those days and the Arabs knew they couldn't win without help from Muslims of all races, including Africans.
The Arabs weren't in love with the Africans, Asians and others who made up the majority of Muslims worldwide. They needed their help, that's why they reached out to them. The Prophet Mohammed knew that the Arabs were racist as hell, that's why he told them that the Black man was not below the Arab man or the White man. He specifically wrote it down in the noble Koran itself, hoping the Arabs would get the message. Naturally, many Arabs had selective memory when it came to that particular Hadith from the Great One. Omar knew himself to be just as strong as any man on God's green Earth, and he feared no one. Born in a prince's desert citadel, Omar knew himself to be of royal blood and carried himself like a future King.
The Spaniards weren't used to seeing dark-skinned men from Africa wearing armor, riding horses and carrying weapons. The Spaniards had always been a racist bunch and like most Europeans, they considered themselves superior to other races, especially dark-skinned peoples from Africa and beyond. Omar fought many a Spanish rebel in his day, and each of these pale bastards tasted the end of his curved sword. Whenever they fought him, they constantly jeered him because of his dark skin and seemed quite surprised by his fighting prowess and stern mien. These godless racist White men were the enemies of Islam and Omar showed them absolutely no mercy.
Growing up half Black and half Arab, Omar Hafiz was used to encountering racism and intolerance. Not even his famous father's fabulous wealth, power and good name could shield him from that. The fact that his father married an African woman didn't sit too well with the rest of the Hafiz clan. Still, his father chose his mother over all the Arab women he could have had because she was beautiful, strong and fearless. All the qualities a future King would want in his queen. A man or a woman's worth, beauty or intelligence had nothing to do with their skin color. All men and women were equal in the eyes of Allah, the Benevolent One, the Merciful. The Most High created the Jew, the Christian and the Muslim, the Blackest man, the Whitest woman, the Chinese and the Arab. All human beings were worthy in the eyes of Allah as long as they obeyed His commands. Omar Hafiz sighed to himself.
When would the mundane world finally catch up to the wisdom of the Prophets? Moses tried to enlighten the Hebrews and the fools rejected his message, and he couldn't enter the Promised Land because of them. The inspiration behind Christianity, Jesus Christ, known as Isa Al Masih in Islam, tried his best to enlighten the world and shared the Word of God with them. Led by the Romans, the foolish and cowardly Jews murdered him and then, feeling guilty, began to confuse the messenger with the message, thus leading to the creation of a belief system based on the life of the messenger rather than the message itself. Fortunately, when the Prophet Mohammed came along, he fared a bit better. He wasn't murdered by his followers, nor was he deified. He simply shared the message of God with the statue-worshipping, brutal and godless Arabs, and then died and presumably went to Heaven. Although he loved Islam dearly, Omar respected both Judaism and Christianity, he just couldn't stand some of the ones he met in Al Andalus.
Omar rode his horde, a magnificent ebony stallion bred in the Saudi desert. He named his horse Marduk, an ancient word meaning Devil. The massive Black horse with the bright eyes looked devilish indeed. Riding him into battle, Omar knew they made for a fearsome sight. He smiled to himself as he thought about his darling wife. The six-foot-tall, busty, big-bottomed and heavyset but still gorgeous, blonde-haired and green-eyed White woman he encountered while lost in Germany. Hilda Hauser was something else. The blonde giantess who wielded a massive axe most men couldn't budge nearly ended his life when he led an ill-fated group of Arabian and African Muslim warriors into her village in northern Germany. The Teutonic natives swarmed over the Muslim troops, slaughtering them. Omar was able to get away, taKing the wounded female giant with him. He took her back to Al Andalus as his captive, for his pleasure. What a trophy she would make. He just never thought he would fall in love with her. This wild, fearless woman got to him like no one else would.
