In the Islamic east, the artistic and intellectual center would gravitate from Damascus and Baghdad to Cairo, as the toll from incursions by Seljuq Turks, Christian Crusaders, Berbers, Arab nomads, and Mongol armies mounted. In the west, the al-Maghrib, the most glorious centers of Islamic culture were to be found on the Iberian peninsula. It was in Spain and particularly Toledo (reacquired by “Christendom” in 1085 after more than 300 years of Muslim rule) that the work of translation was concentrated.

Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making o…, loc. 485