"The other 1492" from Saudi Aramco World

"Al-Andalus is remembered on another level as the one area that was once - but is no longer - part of the Muslim world. Until the middle of this cen­tury, Muslims have withstood Mongols, Crusaders, empire-builders and settlers and still emerged with their Islamic identity intact - except in Spain. Even the Communist regimes of present-day China and the former Soviet Union failed to root out Islam, failed to deracinate their Muslim populations, despite vast expenditures of time, of treasure and of blood in attempts to build "the new socialist man" (See Aramco World, January-February 1990). The fact that the rest of the Muslim world has retained its religious identity over some fourteen centuries rife with political, social, cultural and technological change makes the exception of Spain that much more painful to Muslims."

I know it's from Saudi Aramco, but they do write some interesting articles sometimes!