Islamic Spain: Model of Peaceful Coexistence
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Phillips: Islamic Spain: Model of Peaceful Coexistence Islamic Spain: Model of Peaceful Coexistence rian Peninsula and was soon able to conquer the Iberian cities of By Gabriela Profeta Phillips Cordoba, Guadalajara, and To- ledo. By 719 the invading forces (known as the Moors), ruled from the Gibraltar strait, to the coast, and The Islamic world of pre- and to the Pyrenees. Judging by the early medieval Spain has elicited names they gave to places and cit- the interest of many religious ies, one can conclude that many of and secular scholars because of the Berbers who arrived with the the peaceful coexistence by di- Arabs were still Christians. verse ethnic and religious com- Why the Muslims did not oc- munities. The Moorish presence cupy the entire Iberian Peninsula in Spain is still a subject of de- from the beginning is a question bate. Was Islam beneficial to that remains unanswered. Even Spain? What course would history more intriguing is the fact that the have taken without the Muslim Muslims apparently had no inten- presence? What are the lingering tion of occupying it later. Apart results of Spain’s relationship from the Battle of Rio Barbate, the with Islam? Why did the Moors Muslims proceeded unchecked stop short of occupying the en- across Spain with an army of only tire peninsula at the height of about 25,000 and with only a few their expansive campaign? How towns resisting. were they able to depart so el- Prior to the Muslim arrival, the egantly at the end of the 16th cen- Christian Visigoths ruled a Spain tury? Answers to these questions that was totally falling apart. depict one of the most glorious Many of the idle aristocracy op- chapters in Spain’s history with a posed the Crown, the peasants civilization far superior to any- lived in alienation, and the Jew- thing Spain had ever known. ish community (whom the Visigoths had persecuted through A Historic Overview of Islam In harsh and restrictive anti-Jewish Spain legislation), had no loyalty for the In 711 a Berber and Arab Mus- rulers (Kennedy 1996, 14-15). The lim army of 7000 men, under the Iberic peninsula was helpless be- leadership of Tariq ibn-Ziyad, fore the invasion. Christians and crossed the Straits of Gibraltar Jews could no longer tolerate the from northern Africa to the Ibe- rule imposed by the Visigothic oli- Published by Digital Commons @ Andrews University, 2005 1 1/2005 95 Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, Vol. 1 [2005], No. 1, Art. 9 garchy, so both groups welcomed ers began to emerge as fully inde- the Arabs and Berbers as libera- pendent principalities. The collapse tors. It is more appropriate to re- of centralized rule opened the door fer to the native people as accom- for Christian kingdoms to emerge, plices rather than as conquered which forced the many Islamic in- people. dependent kingdoms to pay tribute “Part of the greatness of Moorish before finally conquering them. culture in Spain,” says Burckhardt, The Arabs were forced to retreat bit by bit until by the thirteenth lay in the harmonious co-existence century, their once extensive do- of the Muslim, Christian and Jew- ish communities under Arab rule. main was reduced to a few scattered The tolerance shown by Islam both kingdoms deep in the mountains here and elsewhere appears to be in of al-Andalus, where they not only marked contradiction to the violence survived but flourished for the next with which it extended its hold . two hundred years. However, on It is all the more remarkable that January 2, 1492 Ferdinand and once the fighting ceased the Mus- Isabella hoisted the banner of Chris- lims treated the Christians and tian Spain above the last Muslim Jews with a tolerance which on the kingdom. Boabdil, the last Moorish whole neither the Christians nor the Jews displayed under their own king rode weeping into exile with jurisdiction (1972, 23). the bitter words from his aged mother, Ayxa, ringing in his ears, Muslims began to focus their “You do well to weep as a woman attention on what they called al- over what you could not defend as Andalus (southern Spain, a man (Irving 1991, 835)” Andalusia) and develop a civiliza- tion far superior to anything Spain Tolerance in a multiracial cul- had ever known. As Chejne de- ture scribes it, “these processes of con- During the Islamic rule in Spain, quest and reconquest, lasting al- Jews, Christian Ibero-Romans, most eight centuries, had enor- Muslims Berbers, Almohads and mous repercussions on the two Almoravids from North Africa, Ar- contending societies, affecting at- abs (Syrian warriors), slaves re- titudes, religious affiliations, lan- cruited from non Muslim Europe guage, customs—indeed a whole and eventually freed, mercenary identity and way of life” (1983, Slavs, Muwalladun (Christian and 2).Under the Umayyad dinasty, al- Jewish converts to Islam), all coex- Andalus flourished and reached isted together. “Foreigners were at- its peak by 1031, but from then tracted to al-Andalus both by the on, Islamic Spain gradually permeability of its society and by plunged into a state of division its wealth, and Christians, among and chaos because of both inter- others, established themselves nal and external enemies. more or less easily in society there” In 1031 the caliphate was offi- (De Epalza 1992, 151). By 770 cially abolished and regional lead- people of many races from North https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/jams/vol1/iss1/9 2 96 Journal of Adventist Mission Studies Phillips: Islamic Spain: Model of Peaceful Coexistence Africa and Arab countries had emi- ligious and ethnic matters than are grated to al-Andalus, and had in- most of the rulers in the world today termarried with the various nation- (Jackson 1972, 30-31). alities including the native popula- The large community of Chris- tion, resulting in a fairly heteroge- tians, like the sizeable minority of neous country, and all within a few Jews, had been granted the same generations. This became the junc- protected religious minority status tion point where “Western Eu- (dhimmi) as Christian and Jews rope, the Byzantine Empire and elsewhere in Islamic lands. As the Islamic world formed an in- “People of the Book”, they were al- terdependent economic system” lowed a substantial amount of au- (Glick 1979, 21). tonomy (O’Callaghan 2003, 12). Reigning with wisdom and jus- They were free to worship God and tice, Muslims treated Christians follow their own beliefs. “In accor- and Jews with tolerance and respect dance with Muslim tradition, the with the result that many embraced Christian and Jewish Communi- Islam (Jackson 1972, 32). Though ties retained their own organiza- scholars still do not agree how fast tion under their own priests and the Christian population converted rabbis. They had separate law to Islam, it is very likely that, as in courts for their family and busi- other areas of the Islamic world, as ness affairs. They controlled their many as two centuries passed be- own religious buildings and com- fore the majority of the population munity schools. The special lump- became Muslims. In Whishaw’s sum taxes which were levied on words, “the Christian hierarchy, all non-Muslims in lieu of military Christian worship, and Christian service were apportioned within monasticism continued practically the community and collected by without interference for something their own officers (Jackson 1972, like two hundred years after the 25). The cultural prominence of Moslem conquest” (2002, 17). Jews in the civilization of al- Muslim Spain has been de- Andalus was accompanied by a scribed as surprising Jewish prominence in high culture and political instabil- the political affairs of the land. ity, characteristic of the Muslim Under Abd-er Rahman II states. The emirs patronized, with (Umayyad period), however, a discriminating judgment, all as- change of attitude occured and pects of the arts and of technology. persecution ensued, during which They were tolerant and supple in many Mozarab Christians were relation to the large Mozarabic put to death for abusing the (Christian) and Jewish communi- memory of Mohamed and con- ties in their cities. They were sophis- ticated in their diplomatic and spiring against the government trade relations with Europe, (Jackson 1972, 31). While the po- Byzantium and North Africa . The litical rulers of al-Andalus never emirs were far less prejudiced in re- fully overcame the ethnic and re- Published by Digital Commons @ Andrews University, 2005 3 1/2005 97 Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, Vol. 1 [2005], No. 1, Art. 9 ligious pluralism of the peninsula, Christians, and were strongly en- the multiculturalism of Islamic couraged to convert. Muslim men Spain gave birth to a distinctive were forbidden to marry Christian new culture that lived on in Spain women, though Christian men even after Muslim rule ended, and could marry Muslim women. Mus- is still present today not only in lims were subject to burdensome Spain but also in the Americas. taxes, and required to wear distinc- The Christian Reconquest of tive clothing to indicate their infi- lower Andalusia took place delity. Tailors were not allowed to quickly, because of the strong al- make garments nor silver-smiths liance between the Catholic kings jewels according to their Moorish and because the geography made style; their purification baths were it easy. After more than 700 years, prohibited, and all births were to al-Andalus ceased to exist as a po- be monitored by Christian midwives litical division. The treaty of to ensure that no Muslim rites were Granada, ending Muslim rule, performed. Disarmament was to be guaranteed religious tolerance to enforced by a rigid inspection. In the remaining Muslim population.