MY commentary on Moors


During the medieval period, Moor became a common term to refer to the Muslims of Islamic Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, who were of Arab or Berber descent. The name remains associated with the Muslims of Spain even today, despite being archaic and inaccurate, as it lumps Muslim and non-Muslim Arabs, Berbers and other Africans together, sometimes even with Iberian Muslims. In Spanish, the continued use of the cognate, moro, is considered by many to be racist; in English, the term has only historical contexts, with no proper present-day referent.