When the Visigoths moved from barbaric tribes (from France, Germany, etc.) to Spain, they
found many Jews living there already, for Judaism had existed in Europe before Christianity had spread.
In Cordoba, Granada, Toledo, etc., many Jews had lived there since 476 A.D. and was a minority living in
relative freedom in cities reported to have been founded by refugees from Jerusalem. After the advent
of Islam, when the Berbers invaded the Visigoth peninsula ruled by Rodriguez, the Muslims treated the
Jews as believers of the same book and had the attitude that they “…should be treated with respect.”
And afterwards, the Muslim conquerors tended to treat Jews and Christians with respect except during
times of war. After the founding of Al-Andaluce, when the refugee prince from Damascus took control,
cultural fusion took place and the prince was able to quell the tensions among the Berbers and North
African tribes because of his political status as a potential unifier and leader.
During the 900s, after the death of the third descendent from the prince from Damascus, civil
turmoil broke out in which the “Christians and Jews turned against each other…” and the Berbers and
Arabs, leaving a broken land into smaller states. I expected to find the Muslims and Christians to be at
constant war with one another, but they “didn’t square off” except when the Christian, Typhic Kingdoms saw
Muslims as a threat to themselves. It seems that the
Muslims held no inherent dislike of Christianity at that time. However, the Jews were at a disadvantage
from the Christians, who entertained prejudices against them (a mindset that eventually led to Nazism).
I expected Islam to be more adamant about maintaining itself in its followers, but with the onslaught of
was left of it during the existence of Typhic Kingdoms) a Crusading zone, and not as Holy as Jerusalem.
But when King Alfonso laid down his code of laws, he was tolerant of both Muslims and Jews.
The Islamic world constructed through its own advanced architectural techniques many
buildings, mosques, and palaces in Al-Andaluce, which later, due to the eventual demise of the land of
light, were converted into Christian buildings. Another contribution of Al-Andaluce was the recording
of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman texts into Arabic during the time of the European Dark Ages, when
much knowledge was being forgotten or neglected, including medicinal texts in Greek with regards to
botanical plants. Furthermore, as an architectural contribution, the Muslims enhanced the existing
Roman aqueducts by adding water wheels, which was possible because of the abundant rivers in Al-
Andaluce. Finally, astronomically, the advent of the Astrolabe “allowed” navigators to travel the seas,
such as Columbus.
