At the peak of the Islamic empire, Muslims from North Africa crossed the Mediterranean to establish one of the most successful and tolerant cultural environments of all time. They called southern Spain al-Andalus, meaning “land of the Vandals.” For eight centuries, the Muslim rulers ensured that Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived together in peaceful coexistence. Scholarship and the arts flourished.

Some minority groups and the common population welcomed the Muslims who entered the region of Andalusia because Muslim rule brought more freedom and rights for non-Christians. The Jewish people, persecuted in Christian Europe, had the opportunity to participate in the government and academia of Muslim Spain. Indeed, there has never been a society where the three Abrahamic faiths lived together in such peace and tolerance.

Architectural Wonders

In the tenth century C.E., the city of Cordoba was the most sophisticated city in Europe. There, wisdom and learning flourished under Muslim rule, while the rest of Europe was steeped in the ignorance of the Dark Ages. While most Europeans remained illiterate, Cordoba boasted seventy libraries with more than 500,000 manuscripts. There were more than 600 mosques in the city, as well as hospitals and public baths. The city also provided Europe's first streetlights and paved streets.

In the eleventh century C.E., Christian armies began forcing the Muslims out of northern Spain. The Muslim leaders retreated south and set up a beautiful refuge in southern Spain, their last stronghold in the region. At Granada, Muslim culture continued to flourish. Muslims built one of their most glorious structures, the Alhambra — a network of courtyards, gardens, and buildings that is still hailed as one of the most beautiful examples of Islamic architecture.

Aftermath: The Inquisition

When the Christian rulers re-conquered Spain, the multicultural and tolerant attitudes of the Muslim rulers disappeared. The Catholic royalty dismissed the Muslims as heathen Africans. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled the remaining Muslim rulers from Spain the same year that Columbus set sail for America. Eventually, the Jewish and Muslim communities were left with two options: convert to Christianity or leave Spain.

The Christian conquerors attempted to eradicate any Muslim influence from Spain, destroying thousands of libraries and converting mosques into Catholic churches. Those that did convert were called Moriscos — a derogatory term for baptized Christians of Muslim origin who were not considered “real” Christians by the Spanish rulers. Many of the new converts held on to their Muslim faith in secret. If they were discovered practicing their faith, they were punished or killed. Despite converting, they too were expelled from Spain, in 1605 C.E.