MUSLIMS IN SPAIN: Europeans And The Dawn Of Civilization
'THE DAY THE UNIVERSE TURNED'??
When the Moors entered Spain in 711 AD, they did not arrive as destroyers but instead came as consensus builders.? The Jews and the Moors worked together and in some instances the Jews were viewed as collaborators with the Muslims.? In Moorish Spain “thousands of Jews and Christians lived in peace.” The Moors may have carried into Spain, some of the lessons learned from Rome’s occupation in North Africa 100 AD.
During the eighth century, Europe was still knee-deep in the Medieval Period.? In his book, The Day the Universe Changed, the historian James Burke describes how the typical European townspeople lived:
The inhabitants threw all their refuse into the drains in the center of the narrow streets. The stench must have been overwhelming, though it appears to have gone virtually unnoticed. Mixed with excrement and urine would be the soiled reeds and straw used to cover the dirt floors.
This squalid society was organized under a feudal system and had little that would resemble a commercial economy. Along with other restrictions, the Catholic Church forbade the lending of money - which didn't help get things booming much. "Anti-Semitism, previously rare, began to increase. Money lending, which was forbidden by the Church, was permitted under Jewish law." (Burke, 1985, p. 32) Jews worked to develop a currency although they were heavily persecuted for it. Medieval Europe was a miserable lot, which ran high in illiteracy, superstition, barbarism and filth. ...
In his article on Muslim Spain and European Culture in Real History, Ancient Man and His First Civilizations, Dean Derhak penned:
When you think of European culture, one of the first things that may come to your mind is the renaissance. Many of the roots of European culture can be traced back to that glorious time of art, science, commerce and architecture. But did you know that long before the renaissance there was a place of humanistic beauty in Muslim Spain? Not only was it artistic, scientific and commercial, but it also exhibited incredible tolerance, imagination and poetry. Moors, as the Spaniards call the Muslims, populated Spain for nearly 800 years. ?As you will see, it was their civilization that enlightened Europe and brought it out of the dark ages to usher in the renaissance. Many of their cultural and intellectual influences still live with us today….
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The phenomena of European Christianity, foraying into the New World is one that witnessed moments of extreme religious and philosophical perversion. This perversion defied the spiritual message of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.
?In this story, we will see periods within which these invaders displayed a deprave indifference for human life. And yet, the justification given for this endeavor was to provide the New World heathens with much needed knowledge of the Christian religion. The real question from the reader should be who is the real heathen in this scenario? Who really needed this knowledge? Journey through these pages for the real answer; it is ironic.
When we look at the historical behavior of the Anglo Saxon towards the other races of people he encountered in the New World, it is difficult to avoid a conclusion that his attitude was one of aggression. ?His desire was to dominate and to relegate them to a sub human status and treat them as criminals. What other conclusion can we deduce from Christopher Columbus’ reaction to the inhabitants of Hispaniola, as they came bearing gifts to nourish these strangers after their long voyage? ?Columbus instead, chose that moment to conclude that these people were to be enslaved.
What is it that compels these – so called – messengers of Christ’s gospel, to treat other race of people like common (and convicted) criminals?