As I write these words in the garden of the Cordoba Mosque in Spain, the centuries-old memory of Andalusia goes through my mind. Andalusia was the scene of the remarkable experience that medieval Spanish scholars called “convivencia,” or coexistence. Embracing diversity as a constructive challenge of fulfillment was the hallmark of Islamic Spain and the Andalusian culture embodied this spirit in the widest sense of the term.
Cordoba was home to three great minds over the centuries: Seneca (d. 65), the great Roman philosopher and Stoic thinker, Ibn Rushd, known in the West as Averroes (d. 1193) and one of the pillars of Islamic Aristotelianism, and Ibn Ma’mun or Moses Maimonides (d. 1204), probably the greatest Jewish theologian of the Middle Ages. These three figures embodied the spirit of convivencia in different ways: Seneca as a humanist, Ibn Rushd as a Muslim philosopher, and Maimonides as a Jewish theologian. While their different views on religious and philosophical issues make them unique in their own ways, they all make Cordoba a meeting place of great minds.
It is not only Cordoba, however, that embodies this spirit. The whole of Andalusia (what is southern Spain today) with its illustrious cities of Granada, Seville, Toledo and Murcia (where the great mystic Ibn al-’Arabi was from) testifies to how embracing diversity brings out the best in humanity. Some of the greatest works of philosophy, science and art of the Middle Ages were produced in Andalusia.
There is no need to romanticize history. But the facts speak louder than our narrow political agendas of today. Muslims lived and ruled in Andalusia for over seven centuries. During this period extending from the eighth through to the 15th centuries, Muslims, Christians, Jews and everybody in between worked together to create a remarkable ethics and culture of coexistence.
Yes, the Muslim and Christian armies continued to fight. Internal strife was to be seen in both communities. The two great minds of the 12th century, Ibn Rushd and Maimonides were both forced to leave their beloved city of Cordoba and take refuge in Morocco, where Ibn Rushd settled, and Egypt, where Maimonides died. There were periods of persecution, forced migration and strife for all religious communities.
Yet the overall achievement of the Andalusian convivencia was nothing short of historic proportions. The point is that the political conflicts and wars did not prevent the people of Andalusia to continue their work of building a pluralistic society where Jews, Christians and Muslims sat together, read the great works of science and philosophy side by side, and worked together in designing some of the most beautiful gardens and building some of the most beautiful buildings in Medieval Europe. Maria Rosa Menocal’s “The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain” chronicles the shared history of these communities and is a must read for those interested in diversity and pluralism before the modern period.
Discrimination and racism against minority communities across the world is a painful reminder of our urgent need to recover the spirit of convivencia today. The rising tide of Islamophobia, the persistence of anti-Semitism and the widespread demonization of Christians and other communities all call for taking up the issue of discrimination at both social and political levels.
It is encouraging to see that some European countries and institutions are involved in a number of programs and projects to promote tolerance and understanding among diverse communities and prevent discrimination and racism against Muslims. The efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with its 55 member countries, institutions of the European Union and the Council of Europe, and the governments of Spain and United Kingdom, among others, are all extremely positive steps in the right direction.
The Cordoba Conference organized b