Dear Editor:
“Muslim Spain was a perfect example of a flourishing society in which Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in mutual respect and cooperation.”
Muslim Spain was Christian Spain for over 400 years before being conquered by Islamic Armies in the 8th Century. That is the way the Islamic Religion has been historically spread, though military invasion and occupation. Treatment of conquered people has the same goal, the minimizing of other religions and conversion of the indigenous people. Among other rules for non Muslims in Muslim Spain; Christians and Jews could not bear arms — Muslims could; Christians and Jews could not ride horses — Muslims could; Christians and Jews had to get permission to build or fix places or worship — Muslims did not; Christians and Jews had to pay certain taxes which Muslims did not; Christians could not proselytize — Muslims could; Christians and Jews had to bow to their Muslim masters; Christians and Jews had to live under the laws set forth in the Koran, not under either their own religious or secular law; Christian’s and Jew’s word in a court of law was not equal to a Muslim’s Word; Christian and Jewish families had to give up a son for conversion and military service in Muslim armies and the most beautiful and largest Christian Churches were converted to Mosques. And the list goes on.
Today, 1300 years later, a Christian or Jew living in an Islamic country will still have to live nearly under these very same laws. I can see why the head of the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations would want us all to do “our part” to create such a world.
Regards,
2banana
Islam spread largely through conquest. Children of Muslim fathers and non-Muslim mothers became Muslims, and Christians and practitioners of older religions were pressured to convert to Islam.
Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt were all primarily Christian from the time of the Roman Empire, but were conquered by Arab and Islamic armies.
The situation non-Muslims faced also occurred in many Christian countries. Jews were treated in similarly in Christian countries as Muslim countries, as far as paying extra taxes and not being allowed to do certain things. I Great Britain, those who did not conform to the Church of England were under all sorts of restrictions, and this included Ireland, where almost everyone was Catholic. It is true that Catholic Spain became Muslim Spain, but after the reconquest, Islam, Judiasm and protestantism were brutally repressed by the Inquisition.
The situation in Iraq now is very chaotic, as the US occupiers and the official Iraqi government do not entirely control the country.