Wrong picture! Not this Golden Age! That Golden Age
I am no expert when it comes to ancient history, but when I listen to folks like Abdul Faisal Rauf and Muzammil Siddiqi talk, they like to make references to the so-called Golden Age in Spain under Islamic rule. To listen to them-and a lot of politically-correct textbooks- Muslims, Christians and Jews all lived and worked together in harmony. This is a common theme you will hear at these inter-faith meetings. Far be it from me to know whether it is true or not. Here is an explanation from good old politically-correct BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml
Here is another view from one who lived in that era.
“The nation of Ishmael persecutes us severely and devises ways to harm us and to debase us. None has been able to reduce us as they have. We have done as our sages instructed us, bearing the lies and absurdities of Ishmael. We listen but remain silent. In spite of all this, we are not spared from the ferocity of their wickedness and their outbursts at any time. On the contrary, the more we suffer and choose to conciliate them, the more they choose to act belligerently toward us.”
-Moses Maimonides- 12th century Jewish scholar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides
I guess Maimonides was born just a little too late.
He was indeed. Life was much better for the previous 500 years. Maimonides was born right on the cusp of a transition in (a) Spain, and (b) Egypt. There was no unified caliphate at the time, so what he wrote about was not a unified policy.
ReplyDeleteWhy did Christians overthrow Muslims? Because they could, and because it freed them to persecute Jews as the age-old collaborators with Islamic conquest.
What if Jews had had an opportunity to overthrow Christians? You think they would have hesitated for a moment?
Maimonides escaped from the Muslim persecution under the Almohades,not the Christian.
ReplyDeleteFrom Jewish Virtual Library:
Maimonides's full name was Moses ben Maimon; in Hebrew he is known by the acronym of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, Rambam. He was born in Spain shortly before the fanatical Muslim Almohades came to power there. To avoid persecution by the Muslim sect — which was wont to offer Jews and Christians the choice of conversion to Islam or death — Maimonides fled with his family, first to Morocco, later to Israel, and finally to Egypt. He apparently hoped to continue his studies for several years more, but when his brother David, a jewelry merchant, perished in the Indian Ocean with much of the family's fortune, he had to begin earning money. He probably started practicing medicine at this time.
So much for the Islamic Golden Age.
When you are treated as a second class citizen, you have no rights, no freedom.
This is true under Islam or Christianity.
I know what thatthe Almohades were, and when they ruled. They did indeed introduce a mystical anti-Semitism, although there is no clear reason why. It was noteworthy as a marked contrast to the previous 500 years, during which Jews had a prominent and honored place in both the Umayyad and Abassid caliphates.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, the Almohades were Berber, not Arab, so they were not "Sons of Ishael at all.