Spain was not under Islamic influence for eight centuries, only the very southern part was. Depending on which parts of Spain we are talking about, the muslim control lasted between a few decades and five centuries.

The so-called "reconquista" lasted between 722 and 1492, but the states that partook in it and their borders varied immensely throughout those centuries. Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria, and the Basque Country were under muslim control for only a few decades, and by the year 800 those regions were firmly under christian control. The North side of the Duero valley was taken by the christian states in the 9th century. By the year 1085 they had secured the zone between the Duero and the Tagus river, controlling Toledo for good. By 1260, the Crown of Castile had advanced so far as to take control of Murcia and Cádiz, and the Crown of Aragon had secured Valencia and Alicante. The last remaining elements under muslim control were the current provinces of Granada, Almería, and Málaga, taken by the christians in 1492.

This advance led to the penetration of romance languages into those territories, mostly thanks to the christian settlers that kept moving South, and the presence of the royal administration of the different kingdoms. This resulted in the recession of the muslim practices and the Arab dialects. Those Arabic dialects survived until different points in time due to the heavy morisco presence in the Alpujarras and in parts of the territories of the Crown of Aragon. In 1609, the moriscos were expelled from the realms of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon, with some exceptions, making the last remnants of Arabic dialects basically disappear from the Iberian Peninsula.