| History of al-Andalus |
|---|
| Muslim conquest (711–732) |
| Umayyad state of Córdoba (756–1031) |
| First Taifa period (1009–1110) |
| Almoravid rule (1085–1145) |
| Second Taifa period (1140–1203) |
| Almohad rule (1147–1238) |
| Third Taifa period (1232–1287) |
| Emirate of Granada (1232–1492) |
| Related articles |
TheGolden Age of Jewish culture in Spain refers to a period (roughly from the 10th to the 12th century) during which Jewish life flourished under Muslim rule inAl-Andalus (Muslim-ruled Iberia). During this time, Jews experienced relative tolerance, prosperity, and cultural integration within the broader Islamic society. Notable figures from this era includeMaimonides,Hasdai ibn Shaprut,Samuel ha-Nagid,Solomon ibn Gabirol, andJudah Halevi.
Under Muslim rule, Jews were designated asdhimmi ("protected people")—non-Muslim subjects granted religious freedom and legal protection in exchange for paying aspecial tax and accepting certain social restrictions. Although they held a second-class status, this framework allowed for a relatively stable coexistence that enabled Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life to flourish. Jews occupied prominent positions in government, medicine, philosophy, science, and diplomacy, and played a key role in the transmission of classical knowledge from theIslamic world toMedieval Christian Europe. The period also saw remarkable achievements inHebrew poetry, religious scholarship, grammar, and philosophy.
The nature and length of this "Golden Age" has been debated, as there were at least three periods during which non-Muslims were oppressed. A few scholars give the start of the Golden Age as 711–718, theMuslim conquest of Iberia. Others date it from 912, during the rule ofAbd al-Rahman III. The end of the age is variously given as during the times of invasions and persecutions of the Almoravid and Almohads or with theexpulsion of Jews from Spain.
Having invaded southern Spain and coming to rule in a matter of seven years, Islamic rulers were confronted with many questions relating to the implementation of Islamic rule of a non-Islamic society. The coexistence of Muslims, Jews, and ChristiansConvivencia during this time is revered by many writers.Al-Andalus was a key center of Jewish life during theearly Middle Ages.
María Rosa Menocal, a specialist in Iberian literature atYale University, claims that "tolerance was an inherent aspect of Andalusian society".[1] Menocal's 2003 book,The Ornament of the World, argues that the Jewishdhimmis living under the Caliphate were allowed fewer rights than Muslims but were still better off than in the Christian parts of Europe. Jews from other parts of Europe made their way toal-Andalus, where in parallel to Christian sects regarded as heretical by Catholic Europe, they were not just tolerated, but where opportunities to practise faith and trades were open without restriction save for the prohibitions onproselytisation and, sometimes, onsynagogue construction.
Bernard Lewis takes issue with this view, calling it ahistorical and exaggerated. He argues that Islam traditionally did not offer equality or even pretend that it did and argues that it would have been both a "theological as well as a logical absurdity."[2] However, he also states:
Generally, the Jewish people were allowed to practice their religion and live according to the laws and scriptures of their community. Furthermore, the restrictions to which they were subject were social and symbolic rather than tangible and practical in character. That is to say, these regulations served to define the relationship between the two communities, and not to oppress the Jewish population.[2]
Mark R. Cohen, Professor of Near Eastern Studies atPrinceton University, in hisUnder Crescent and Cross, calls the idealized interfaith utopia a "myth" that was first promulgated by Jewish historians such asHeinrich Graetz in the 19th century as a rebuke to Christian countries for their treatment of Jews.[3] This myth was met with the "counter-myth" of the "neo-lachrymose conception of Jewish-Arab history" byBat Ye'or and others,[3] which also "cannot be maintained in the light of historical reality".[4]
The notable Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135–1204) was forced to flee from Al-Andalus to avoid conversion by the Almohads. InLetter to Yemen, Maimonides wrote:
Dear brothers, because of our many sins Hashem has cast us among this nation, the Arabs, who are treating us badly. They pass laws designed to cause us distress and make us despised.... Never has there been a nation that hated, humiliated and loathed us as much as this one.[5]
Prior to 589, the Jewish population of Spain was tolerated by itsArian Visigoth rulers and placed on equal footing with the other ethnic and religious communities of the region. The Arians may have preferred the Jewish population to the Catholic one, as they did not fear political enmity from the Jews.[6] TheVisigoths were mainly indifferent towards Jews and allowed them to grow and prosper. After the Visigoths joined theCatholic Church, they placed ever greater economic burdens on the Jewish population, and later persecuted them severely. It is possible that Jews welcomed theMuslimArab and mainly-Berber conquerors in the 8th century.
A period of tolerance dawned for the Jews of theIberian Peninsula. Their number was considerably augmented by immigration from North Africa in the wake of the Muslim conquest.[citation needed] Immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East bolstered the Jewish population and made Muslim Spain probably the largest centre of contemporary Jews. Nevertheless, their numbers were comparably low to the other ethnic groups on the Iberian peninsula and Eliyahu Asthor estimates their number at a little over 0.5% of the total Iberian population, but with a presence of up to 15-20% in some towns and cities.[7] Especially after 912, during the reign ofAbd al-Rahman III and his son,Al-Hakam II, the Jews prospered culturally, and some notable figures held high posts in theCaliphate of Córdoba. Jewish philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers, poets and rabbinical scholars composed highly-rich cultural and scientific work. Many devoted themselves to the study of the sciences and philosophy, composing many of the most valuable texts ofJewish philosophy. Jews took part in the overall prosperity of MuslimAl-Andalus. Jewish economic expansion was unparallelled. In Toledo, after the Christian reconquest in 1085, Jews were involved in translating Arabic texts to the romance languages in the so-calledToledo School of Translators, as they had been previously in translating Greek and Hebrew texts to Arabic. Jews also contributed to botany, geography, medicine, mathematics, poetry and philosophy.[8]
'Abd al-Rahman's court physician and minister wasHasdai ibn Shaprut, the patron ofMenahem ben Saruq,Dunash ben Labrat and other Jewish scholars and poets. In following centuries, Jewish thought flourished under famous figures such asSamuel Ha-Nagid,Moses ibn Ezra,Solomon ibn Gabirol andJudah Halevi.[8] During 'Abd al-Rahman's term of power, the scholarMoses ben Hanoch was appointedrabbi ofCórdoba, and as a consequenceal-Andalus became the center ofTalmudic study, and Córdoba the meeting-place of Jewish savants.
It was a time of partial Jewish autonomy. As "dhimmis", "protected non-Muslims", Jews in the Islamic world paid thejizya, which was administered separately from thezakat paid by Muslims. The jizya has been viewed variously as a head tax, as payment for non-conscription in the military (as non-Muslims were normally prohibited from bearing arms or receiving martial training) or as a tribute. Jews had their ownlegal system andsocial services.Monotheist religions of thePeople of the Book were tolerated but conspicuous displays of faith, such as bells and processions, were discouraged.[9]
Comparing the treatment of Jews in themedieval Islamic world and medievalChristian Europe, the Jews were far more integrated inthe political andeconomic life of Islamic society,[10] and usually faced far less violence from Muslims, but there were some instances of persecution in theIslamic world as well from the 11th century.[11] The Islamic world classified Jews and Christians as dhimmis and allowed Jews to practice their religion more freely than they could in Christian Europe.[12]
With the death of Al-Hakam II in 976, the caliphate began to dissolve, and the position of the Jews became more precarious under the various smaller kingdoms.[citation needed] The first major persecution was the 1066 Granada massacre, which occurred on 30 December in which a Muslim mob stormed the royal palace inGranada,crucified the JewishVizierJoseph ibn Naghrela and massacred many of the Jewish population of the city. According to one source, "more than 1,500 Jewish families, numbering 4,000 persons, fell in one day".[13][14] It was the first persecution of Jews on thePeninsula under Islamic rule.
Beginning in 1090, the situation deteriorated and Muslim religious attitudes hardened further with the invasion of theAlmoravids, a puritan Muslim dynasty fromMorocco.[15] The Jewish community of Granada, barely re-established following the massacre, was destroyed during the sack of Granada by the Almoravids that same year.[14] Jews were slowly pushed out from civil and political positions,[16] though there were some exceptions and some Jews even held the title of "vizier" ("nasi") such as the poet and physicianAbu Ayyub Solomon ibn al-Mu'allam,Abraham ibn Meïr ibn Kamnial,Abu Isaac ibn Muhajar andSolomon ibn Farusal.[citation needed] Nevertheless, Andalusian religious scholarship was still ongoing and the art of Hebrew poetry reached a highpoint with the verses ofJudah ha-Levi.[16] However, from that time onwards, Jews were sometimes safer in northern Spain under Christian rulers.[17]
In 1146, the fundamentalists BerberAlmohad dynasty begun their conquest of al-Andalus, defeating the Almohads and bringing almost all of Islamic Spain under their control by 1172.[17][18] The Almohads tolerated neither and Christians nor Jews and, having already extinguished the indigenous Christian communities that had existed in North Africa for a millennium, the Almohads also put the Jews before the choice between conversion and death.[17][18] Many Jews, and even Muslim scholars,[citation needed] fled the Muslim controlled portion of Iberia either to more tolerant Muslim countries such asAyyubid Egypt and Syria or fled over the frontier into Christian Spain.[18]
There were also mass conversions of Jews to Islam, but similar to under the Visigothic rulers, they often practised their religion secretly and were mistrusted by Muslims.[17][19] Questioning their sincerity, the CaliphYaqub al-Mansur still treated the new converts to Islam as if they were dhimmis, not only limiting their civil rights but also having them wear distinguishing clothing consisting of blue-black garments, ludicrous caps and theshikla.[17][19] Yaqub's son changed the colours later to yellow garments and turbans, a colour that the Muslim in general frowned on since the times of Muhammad himself.[19]
Thus, the Almohad persecutions ended the flourishing Jewish settlements in Muslim Spain at the end of the twelfth century.[17][18] The Jewish presence in Iberia continued in the Christian territories until the Jews were forced to leave or to convert to Christianity in theAlhambra Decree of 1492 and asimilar decree byPortugal in 1496.
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