By Alexander Kronemer
Wed Aug 22, 4:00 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070822/cm_csm/ykronemer
Washington - The past sometimes provides examples of
glory and success that serve as models. Other times,
as the philosopher George Santayana said, it warns of
impending calamity for those who do not learn from it.
For the past several years, I've been immersed in a
history that does both. As one of the producers for an
upcoming PBS documentary on the rise and fall of
Islamic Spain, I've witnessed its amazing ascent and
tragic fall countless times in the editing room, only
to go home and watch some of the same themes playing
out on the nightly news.
Islamic Spain lasted longer than the Roman Empire. It
marked a period and a place where for hundreds of
years a relative religious tolerance prevailed in
medieval Europe.
A model for religious tolerance
At its peak, it lit the Dark Ages with science and
philosophy, poetry, art, and architecture. It was the
period remembered as a golden age for European Jews.
Breakthroughs in medicine, the introduction of the
number zero, the lost philosophy of Aristotle, even
the prototype for the guitar all came to Europe
through Islamic Spain.
Not until the Renaissance was so much culture produced
in the West. And not until relatively recent times has
there been the level of pluralism and religious
tolerance that existed in Islamic Spain at its peak.
Just as the vibrancy and creativity of America is
rooted in the acceptance of diversity, so was it then.
Because Islam's prophet Muhammad founded his mission
as a continuation of the Abrahamic tradition, Islamic
theology gave special consideration to Jews and
Christians. To be sure, there were limits to these
accommodations, such as special taxes levied on
religious minorities. But in the early Middle Ages,
official tolerance of one religion by another was an
amazingly liberal point of view. This acceptance
became the basis for Islamic Spain's genius. Indeed,
it was an important reason Islam took hold there in
the first place.
When the first Muslims crossed the straits of
Gibraltar into Spain, the large Jewish population
there was enduring a period of oppression by the Roman
Catholic Visigoths. The Jewish minorities rallied to
aid the Arab Muslims as liberators, and the divided
Visigoths fell.
The conquering Arab Muslims remained a minority for
many years, but they were able to govern their
Catholic and Jewish citizens by a policy of
inclusiveness. Even as Islam slowly grew over the
centuries to be the majority religion in Spain, this
spirit was largely, if not always perfectly,
maintained.
Pluralistic though it was, Islamic Spain was no
democracy. After years of enlightened leadership, a
succession of bad leaders caused the unified Muslim
kingdom to fragment among many smaller petty kingdoms
and fiefdoms.
Though they competed and fought, the spirit of
pluralism continued. Indeed, it thrived as rival kings
sought the best minds in the Muslim, Christian, and
Jewish worlds for their courts. This was just as true
in the Christian petty kingdoms, as the Muslim ones.
Christian and Muslim armies even fought alongside each
other against mutual rivals of both faiths.
It is at this point that the darker parallels to our
time begin. Into the competition for land, resources,
and power, some leaders on both sides began to appeal
to religion to rally support for their cause. Wars
became increasingly religious in nature. Into this
tinderbox a match was thrown: the Crusades - the same
term that many Arabs use today when referring to
America's adventure in Iraq.
The Crusades deepened Spain's religious divide.
Minorities in both Christian and Muslim kingdoms
become increasingly suspect. Persecutions, expulsions,
and further warfare ensued. Nothing could stop it, not
even the black plague.
Ultimately, Christian kingdoms gained the upper hand
as the Muslim kingdoms of Islamic Spain fell. Spain's
Muslims and Jews were forced to either leave or
convert. This led to the rise of the Inquisition,
whose purpose was to verify the loyalty of suspect
converts. The expulsions and inquisitions racked Spain
economically, culturally, and morally. Its power was
severely compromised. The fall of pluralism in Spain
was the fall of Spain itself.
Dark parallels with today
This fall directly links to events today and raises
many of the same stakes. Though few Americans note it,
one of Osama bin Laden's justifications for the 9/11
attacks was to avenge the "tragedy" of Islamic Spain.
So far, the post-9/11 world and the policies it has
spawned seem to be heading in the same dangerous
direction as witnessed before. The religious
intolerance that engulfed and overwhelmed medieval
Spain threatens the increasingly beleaguered pluralism
of our own time.
At its best, the history of Islamic Spain is a model
for interfaith cooperation that inspires those who
seek an easier relationship among the three Abrahamic
faiths. At its worst, it's a warning of what can occur
when political and religious leaders divide the world.
It reminds us what really happens when civilizations
clash.
* Alexander Kronemer is a writer, lecturer, and
documentary producer focusing on religious diversity,
Islam, and cross-cultural understanding. His film
"Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain "
premieres on PBS Aug. 22.
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