Spain's Islamic era can teach us plenty about
tolerance
By Sarah-Ann SmithSarah-Ann Smith
Dec. 11, 2004 11:10 a.m.

http://www.citizen-times.com/cache/article/editorial/72183.shtml

My recent trip to Spain has prompted some thoughts
about our post-Sept. 11, 2001, relationship to the
Islamic world. A wonderful book, "The Ornament of the
World" by Maria Rosa Menocal, had excited my interest
in Spain's medieval Islamic period, and I had to see
the relics of that beautiful culture for myself.

The highlight of my visit was the awe-inspiring
Cordoba mosque. Now a Christian cathedral, it is so
vast that its mysterious Islamic flavor still
dominates. This immense space, the equivalent of about
four city blocks, reflects the best in the religious
tradition of Spain's Islamic rulers.

The structure's history symbolizes the universality of
the human need to connect with the divine. The Islamic
- and now once again Christian - edifice rests on and
incorporates the remains of a Roman temple which had
been converted into a Christian church by the
Visigoths who ruled that part of Spain until they were
defeated by the invading Muslims in the 8th century.

The mosque's dominant feature is a forest of
horseshoe- shaped arches of alternating red brick and
white stone which define and separate the aisles. They
go on and on, seemingly into an endless space.
Standing in the midst of them, one is caught up in the
timelessness and universality of the spiritual
impulse, deeper than any specific religious tradition.

The experience recalled my visit to the only living
mosques I've ever entered, in Indonesia. The tall,
open architecture, punctuated by columns, filled with
kneeling worshipers, shoeless to show respect for the
space and the God beyond it, evokes a sense of calm
and peace that is quite extraordinary in contrast to
the dominant idea we have of the Muslim religion,
based on political events of the past several years.

It is often difficult to reach beyond those events to
recognize the human, and even religious, bonds that
connect us to the best in the Islamic tradition. In
this respect, perhaps we can learn something from
Spain's experience.

The other great remnant of the Islamic Spanish culture
is the Alhambra, the collection of palaces, gardens
and fortresses that stands high above the city of
Granada. The buildings' open style, peaceful spaces
and still-working fountains, Muslim hallmarks, reflect
the style and underlying philosophy of the
architecture of the mosques themselves.

More important than the remains of the buildings is
the culture they recall. In Islamic Spain adherents of
all the three great Western religions - Judaism,
Christianity and Islam - coexisted under a government
that recognized their common biblical foundations. The
Islamic system protected and gave each a place in the
society as a whole - a place more tolerant by far than
that accorded Jews and Muslims in the succeeding
Christian era, dominated by the horrors of the Spanish
Inquisition.

As Menocal notes, "This was the chapter of Europe's
culture when Jews, Christians and Muslims lived side
by side and, despite their intractable differences and
enduring hostilities, nourished a complex culture of
tolerance ... it found expression in the often
unconscious acceptance that contradictions ... could
be positive and productive."

The era ended in 1492, with the Spanish Christian
monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand conquering the
Alhambra, the last Muslim stronghold, and also
expelling the Jews from Spain (as well as financing
Christopher Columbus's journey of discovery).

Some Jews remained, perhaps as many as half the total
number, along with an Islamic remnant, both being
required to convert to Christianity. But, for the Jews
at least, as contemporary Spanish writer Antonio Munoz
Molina notes, "those who stayed behind ended up as
alien in their homeland as those who left ... scorned
not only by those who should have been their brothers
in their new religion but also by those who remained
loyal to the abandoned faith."

Thus, Molina demonstrates, present-day Spain continues
to struggle with a past characterized by a diversity
that its Christian rulers spurned 500 years ago. The
Muslim issue has again become one that must be dealt
with, and not only in terms of the terrorist threat
demonstrated so tragically in last spring's train
bombings that killed 192 people.

Spain currently has an active Islamic population,
reaching close to a million, whose needs the Spanish
authorities realize they must consider. Spanish Prime
Minister Zapatera has called for "an alliance of
cultures" between the West and the Islamic world, to
isolate the violent fringe.

In 2003 a new mosque was opened in Granada to serve
the city's estimated 15,000 Muslims. It was financed
in large part by a United Arab Emirates sheik, to
show, in the aftermath of Sept. 11, he reportedly
said, "that Islam is fundamentally moral rather than
political in nature." At the opening ceremony
Granada's deputy mayor expressed the hope that the
mosque would promote the religious tolerance that
characterized the city in the past.

This event was far from free of controversy. The
mosque's construction was delayed for years, partly by
the opposition and lawsuits of local residents. And
since the March bombings, many Spaniards have been
even more nervous about the increasing numbers of
North African Muslim immigrants, since the main
suspects in the bombings are Moroccans. Others,
however, recognize the importance of a dialogue with
moderate Muslims. Spaniards' ambivalence is currently
being played out in the trial of suspected terrorists,
at which the former and current prime ministers are
testifying.

From the point of view of an ordinary traveler, it
appears that the understandable nervousness in the
wake of the March bombings has not resulted in a
paranoid anticipation of repeated terrorist acts. And
the tourist industry at least is more than happy to
highlight the magnificence of the remains of Spain's
Islamic past.

Back home, I keep thinking of Spain's experience,
contemporary and historical, in all its complexity,
and realize that, for better or worse, we're all in
this post- Sept. 11 world together - Christian,
Muslim, Jew and, yes, secularist.

And the only way to genuine peace and security, and
freedom from fear, is through tolerant acceptance and
appreciation of our differences and mutual
encouragement of the best in all our traditions. We
could do far worse in this respect than imitating
Spain's Islamic era at its best.

Sarah-Ann Smith, a former diplomat, holds graduate
degrees in international politics and in theology. She
is currently a community member of the Citizen-Times
editorial board.
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More on Spain at:
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Park/6443/Europe/Spain/






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