Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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MuslimsandChristians
in Spain
as SeenbyIhnKhaldoun
RobertSimon
OrientalResearchInstitute,
Budapest
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JL HE MAIN ENEMY OF
Mediaeval ChristianEurope was Islam, especially afterthe
occupation of Sicily and VisigothicSpain, and after the
raids upon SouthernFrance.The toposof the image of the
new enemy was soon to take shape. It was based, of
course, on hearsay and distorted accounts of Byzantine
writerswho were hostiletowardsIslam.1
As a peculiar paradox of history,these clichs not
mirroringthe historicalrealitywere not modified significantly even by the seven Crusades lasting for about two
centuries. Islam itselfwas considered,even by the Byzan-
21
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22
tine Fathersof the Church,2as a degeneratedsect of Christianity. On this basis Islam was accused of the following
things3:
a. Islam is a falsehood and deliberatedeformation
of the truth;
b. Islam is the religionof violence and the sword,
and it aims throughits jihd forcefulconversionof
Christians;
c. Islam is the religionof sensual pleasures;
d. at the beginningMuhammad was consideredas
founderof a hereticsect,but later,when Islam was
interpretedas paganism, he was regarded as the
Antichrist
himself. (It is worthnotingthatin Mediaeval Englishthe word Mahound served to denominate the Devil, the false god.) The sum-totalof all
this wickednessis embodiedin the Qur'n.
This was summed up by the FlorentineDominican
fatherRicoldus de Monte Crucis (d. 1320) in the 14thcen-
Saracenorum
Alcorani. His work proved to be more effectual because it was translatedinto Germanby Lutherhim-
in 1542. According
anno 1300, and publishedin Wittenberg,
to Ricoldusde Monte Crucis:
a. All the refutedheretictheses regardingGod,
Christ,and the Trinityare embodiedin the Qur'an;
b. it does not contain miracula confirmingits
authenticity;
c. it lacks all objectiveand logical order;
d. it is full of contradictions,
especially regarding
the natureof God and Christand the Bible;
2 For the
problemof Byzantineanti-Islamicpolemics C.H. Becker's
"ChristlichePolemik und islamische Dogmenbildung" Zeitschrift
fr
26 (1912),pp. 175-195is still relevant. It is to be emphasized
Assyriologie
that these polemicswere based on actual factsratherthe later European
debates.
3 Cf. Watt, cit.,
op.
pp. 73-77.
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in Spain
Simon: Muslimsand Christians
23
Pfanmiiller,
op. cit.,pp. 139, 143-4.
5 See
is also given in
Southern,op. cit.,pp. 25-7 (a usefulbibliography
the above work,pp. 76-7,Notes 26-7).
6 This was first
questionedby the appearanceof the Mongols whose
attackwas directedagainst the Muslims,too. It is known that Western
Europe under the firstshock conceived the Mongols as Christiansand
thoughtof their countryas PrsterJohn's. To verifythe case, Pope
InnocentIV sent the Italian FranciscanFriarPiano Carpini in 1246 to the
MongolianCourt. The FlemishFranciscanFriar,WiilhelmRuysbroek,had
a similarcommissionfromLouis IX in 1254. Cf. Southern,op. cit.,pp. 3740.
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27
cess has been best and most clearlyexpounded in an anecdote from 1532: when a scholar from the Low Countries
inquired from a distinguishedSpaniard about the Arabic
language, the latter answered: "What concern have you
with this barbaric language, Arabic? It is sufficientto
know Latin and Greek. In my youth I was as foolishas
you and took Hebrew and Arabic; but I have long since
given up these two last and devote myself entirelyto
Greek. Let me advise you to do the same."11
Following the Arabic conquest of the Peninsula for a
few centuriesthe situationwas quite different. Without
much exaggerationwe may say that in this period Muslim
Spain (Christians,Muslims and Jews alike) lived in a
peaceful harmonynever seen beforeor after. Between the
eighth and eleventh centuries people following different
religions were free to mix among themselves. They
produced an originaland flourishingcommon culture,and
oftenwe find in one familyadherentsof both Christianity
and Islam. Although this common culture was basically
Muslim in character,it was not religiouslydetermined. It
was ratheran urban culture inclined to serve a so called
"gracious living." For this reason the Iberian reconquista
itselfcould have not been religiouslydetermined,ratherit
was politicallymotivated. The political determinationof
the gradually increasingreconquistachanged its character
with the emergenceof the cult of St. Jamesof Compostella,
throughwhich it became religiouslyarticulated. This led
to a pejorativejudgementof the Saracens. The same phenomenonwas responsibleforthe change in the Andalusian
Muslim attitude towards the Galicians, that is Christian
treatedthemonly politically.
Spaniards,since theyformerly
Now, in responseto Spanish militantreligiosity,
theystarted to take the jihd seriously. However, this has never
been so severe as the anti-Islamicattitudeof the Christians.
The much greateropenness and toleranceof Classical Islam
and the urban characterof Muslim civilization had not
induced a false or distortedimage of Christianity.They
provided shelter and an acknowledged status for the
Christiancommunities. This was the case even during the
11
Quoted by M. Watt, Influenceof Islam, p. 80.
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28
12
263).
Q II, 36-40 (Ros. 42^6); Q II, 91 (Ros. II, 101); Q II, 226-7 (Ros. II,
13
Rosenthal, op. cit., "TranslatorsIntroduction,"v. I, p. XXXVI.
14Ibn
Haldn, at-Taerifbi-Ibn Haldn wa-rMati-hlgarff1zoasarg*,d. by
Muh. Twt at-Tangi (al-Qhira 1951), pp. 4-55. (abbreviation: Ta'rif).
15The ancestral name Hlid was
augmented with the Spanish suffix
-on (cf. for example hombre-hombron;
perre-perron). Further Arabic examples are Hafsn, Zaydn, Badrn, etc.
16 One of his
ancestors, Kurayb ibn^Khaldoun at the end of the 9th
century,gained mastery over Sevilla (Ta'rif,p. 7).
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27Ta'rif, 74-5.
p.
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