this is the dean
show alhamdulillah peace be with you
today we're going to be taking a look
back in history and we're going to show
you how when Muslims ruled a certain
part of the world how they were living
in peace with Muslims Jews Christians
how they were at the Pinnacle of Science
of invention
of
knowledge how there was truly peace when
the Muslims ruled according to the
Divine Law that was sent down the Quran
and the authentic sayings traditions of
the last and final messenger sent to
mankind the prophet Muhammad peace be
upon him it was definitely a time where
you didn't have to lock your doors crime
was almost
eradicated and so many other wonderful
things were going on but there was truly
peace so when we come back back here on
the dean show we're going to learn more
about this with Dr Gerald Dirks we'll be
right back sit
tight
the this is
the this is the D this is
the is
the this is
the this is the
the
this is
the this is
the this is the
the
the is
the is thean show peace be with you
assalam alaykum how are you Dr Gerald
Dirks I am fine and peace be upon you
brother thank you for finding the time
to be with us here again on the dean
show my pleasure now you have your own
section on the Deans show.com people can
go there to read about you to know about
about you they can log in
www.thedeenshow.com we've done several
shows you have your own personal section
there okay all right today we're going
to be talking about when Muslims ruled a
part of the world and the peace that
came with that time can we get into this
topic and talk to us about this please I
think probably the best example of this
would be Muslim Andalusia Andalusia yeah
which uh you know Andalusia refers to
the I Peninsula or what today Spain and
Portugal uh and this was really a
remarkable period in the world's history
but before we journey into Muslim
Andalusia we probably ought to take a
step back and look at why there even was
a Muslim Andalusia because a lot of
people say Muslim Andalusia oh my
goodness there's Islam conquering By The
Sword again yeah but we need to take a
look at the actual history of what was
involved at that point in
time in the Iberian Peninsula at that
point in time in the um
600s and early
700s we had a population that was
comprised of Jews Unitarian Christians
and trinitarian Christians this is
before the Muslims came yeah before the
Muslims are even there yes what was
going on was that the Jews were being
persecuted by the Christians
because of their religious beliefs okay
so we got Jews being persecuted by
Christians in that area of andelo Spain
right we have trinitarian Christians and
Unitarian Christians persecuting each
other okay so this is a a place of
tremendous religious Strife who was the
king there at that time was it well the
King was uh whitez or W wiza yeah was
the the king
um who was uh
right before the Muslims moved into
Andalusia I heard there was very high
taxes crime was also very uh uh rampid
well I I think the one thing I want to
focus on though is is this religious
persecution yeah that people were not
free to practice their religion they
weren't okay no so in this cauldron of
religious persecution what happened is
that in the year
710 a Jewish delegation was sent from
from the Iberian Peninsula to North
Africa a Christian delegation was also
set Unitarian Christian
delegation and uh they came to the
Muslim rulers in North Africa and they
said come into the Iberian Peninsula you
know we need you to come in and take
over as a result of this in the year
711 a small Muslim Army under the
command of tar uh Tark Ian
zad
invaded what is today Spain now the key
thing to remember is as soon as they
landed they were immediately joined up
with by Jews and Unitarian Christians so
this was not simply a Muslim Invasion
yes this was an
Allied assault by Jews Unitarian
Christians and Muslims all fighting
against uh a persecuting uh Christian
group now in fact one of the the
Christian rulers of uh of cuta uh joined
the Muslim Alliance at this time so you
know this is brand this is conquest by
the sword is is really misleading this
is a myth to well certainly there was
fighting but it's a myth to say that the
Muslims simply came in of their own
initiative and took over they were asked
to come in by the indigenous population
because they knew that under the Muslims
under Islam there is guaranteed freedom
of religion can you force someone by the
sword to become a Muslim no Absolut
that's absolutely against Islam
absolutely against Islam we're told in
the second chapter of the Quran let
there be no compulsion in religion
period This is a flat absolute statement
so no as a Muslim I am not allowed to
try to force someone to to become a
Muslim absolutely not yeah as a Muslim
in fact I bear the responsibility of
guaranteeing someone else's freedom of
religion you this I have to do to live
up to the Quran so the Jews and and the
Unitarian Christians in the Iberian
Peninsula very definitely wanted the
Muslims to come in because then they
would have freedom of religion so this
sort of sets the stage in 711 Muslims
did invade and by
714 they had uh almost all of the
Iberian Peninsula under their control so
how was it now Muslims come in was there
Havoc was it
hell well what happened was the Iberian
Peninsula enter entered its golden age
Golden Age golden age so that's the
antithesis now of havoc in hell I mean
gold age you're talking about like more
like uh heaven on Earth well you know
the rest of Europe is looking at the
Dark Ages
okay but the meantime in in Muslim
Andalusia we're seeing never before seen
progress in agriculture in architecture
in literature in
science um the Greek Classics are being
studied in Muslim Andalusia in fact this
this is an interesting thing if you go
to college today and you take a course
in Plato and you read uh you know
Plato's Works you're reading an English
translation of a Greek trans translation
of an Arabic translation of the Greek
original wow because these Greek Works
were preserved in Arabic and that was
really about the only place they were
preserved let's take a break hold on off
that note we'll be right back with more
on the dean show whatever Allah commands
you to do you need to do it Islam has
tolerance and mercy and
compassion to know that Allah you know
will forgive you as long as you do what
you need to do as long as you turn back
to him Islam is a system of mercy and
compassion and it is for the best
benefit of all of the people that's
around it Muslim and
non-muslim back here on the dean show
with Dr Gerald Dirks we're talking about
the Golden Ages you said it yes heaven
on Earth oh well I don't think we can
classify anything as heaven on Earth
nothing can compare to the the the
Delights that are waiting the paradigm
and of receiving when you when you do
God's will and you live a righteous life
and then God gives you his mercy and
Grace and you get that paradise but it
was a good time it was overall peace oh
compared to the rest of Europe it was it
was tremendous it was tremendous I mean
here you had
universities uh operating you had
intellectual advancement taking place
you had advancement in so many different
areas whereas the rest of Europe was
basically uh still in the Dark Ages now
let me ask you this was God's law
according to Islam implemented at that
time in Spain in many places it was yes
and you know we always have to
acknowledge that there's always
exceptions yes you know and that some
individual uh may be the
exception a general rule yes so we had
freedom of religion yeah and in fact um
about 5 years ago Harvey Cox M
celebrated Christian theologian
wrote a short article in the Harvard
Divinity
bulletin in which he talked about Muslim
Andalucia and held it up as the shining
example of interfaith dialogue that that
this was the crowning Pinacle of
interfaith dialogue amongst other things
Cox talked about what he calls the
convivencia this period of conversation
going on
and he notes that Muslim
Scholars bearded
rabbis Christian priests and monks all
sat around a table
together studying and reading over old
manuscripts under the offices of Bishop
Raymond of Seville so I mean this is one
classic example you know put together
your your Jewish rabbis your Muslim
Scholars your Christian priests and
monks they're all sitting around this
huge table jointly studying mhm you know
this is uh where where do we have this
really happening even today so you
mentioned that that at that time science
was really at its Pinnacle also and tell
us now because a lot of time when you
mention religion and then people feel it
conflicts with science but when we study
here we see that there's no persecution
of scientists at that time no no no no
just the
opposite um you know Islam has always
encouraged the development of both
religious knowledge and secular
knowledge uh has been a champion of the
Sciences you had early Muslims
accurately figuring out the
circumference of the earth when most of
Europe was still convinced that the
Earth was flat MH uh so science was
always been important in
Islam another example of this inner
Faith Co hesion that we see in Muslim
Andalusia is under Abdul Rahman III the
khif or ruler of Muslim Andalusia
between around 9 12 and
961 here's a the ruler of Muslim
Andalusia and he goes and appoints haai
iban shapira a Jewish rabbi to be his
foreign minister so again we see this
inner faith
um working together that is taking place
in Muslim
Andalusia uh a far cry from what we
often see
today other examples um Dante's Divine
Comedy heavily influenced Harvey Cox
would argue by uh Arabic sources that
were from
Andalusia and one of the most famous of
Christian Mystics St John of the cross
according to Cox heavily influenced in
Andalusia by Muslim mysticism so we have
this cross talk going on with some
influence uh taking place perhaps one of
the the most exciting examples of that
is to turn to Cordoba the city of
Cordoba and Muslim Andalusia in the
first half of the 12th
century and we have two
giants intellect ual Giants living in
Cordoba at the same time one of them is
mades probably the most famous Jewish
rabbi of uh the Middle
Ages um and also living at the same time
iben Rashid Muslim scholar scientist
thinker known in the west as avaros but
ibben
Rashid these two giants intellectual
Giants living in Cordova at the same
time it been Russia 9 years older than
myones and if we look at
my's 13o Creed of Judaism which Orthodox
Judaism to this day says this is what
you have to believe in to be a
Jew we can look at these 13 points and
see how they were heavily
influenced by ibben rashid's prior
8-point Creed of Islam M so we have this
cross talk this cross influence going on
where with respectful Interfaith
dialogue Jews are pushing Christians and
Muslims to refine their thinking
Christians are pushing Jews and Muslims
to refine their thinking Muslims are
pushing Christians and Jews to refine
their thinking and all of it being done
in a collegial way you know not a debate
to Bam Bam I'm going to score points on
you m but a general advancement of
religious knowledge as well as
scientific knowledge so there's a
healthy dialogue going on a very healthy
and how are the rest of the the lay
people how how are they functioning in
society is there Justice for All Is is
are they are they safe yes they are they
are safe uh again there are always
exceptions but yeah as a general rule it
was a period of great safety it was a
period of wealth compared to the rest of
Europe much higher standard of living
than the rest of Europe again the rest
of Europe's in the Dark Ages but here we
have huge universities being built huge
libraries being built uh and all of this
available uh to the people whether they
be jew Christian or Muslim wow this is
amazing we're going to take a break and
we'll be right back with more here on
the dean show you think these things are
going to bring you happiness you know
why you keep going back to the club and
you keep going back to these
desires cuz you never find
satisfaction it's going to end up up
causing you if it hasn't already a lot
of pain you think you're happy you're
kidding yourself you really
are what we are offering in Islam what
we have found in Islam for ourselves is
a means by which our hearts are at peace
they're at rest they're not discontent
we are pleased with what we
[Music]
have back here on the dean show we're
talking to Dr Gerald Dirks and we're
giving a great example from history when
Islam was implemented that there was
Justice that there was peace that Jews
Christian and Muslims were having
healthy dialogue they were collaborating
science was at his Pinnacle other people
you had mentioned were in darkness yeah
throughout Europe talk to us a little
bit about this yeah throughout Europe
this this was the Dark Ages this was a
period where knowledge was being lost
not gained it was a period of of losing
intellectual um knowledge not advancing
intellectual knowledge but Muslim
andalusi was was very different and
continued that
way for several centuries though
eventually under What's called the
Reconquista of the reconquering you saw
you know various uh Christian kingdoms
Castile Aragon Leon Etc beginning to
push the Muslims back primarily because
the Muslims began to frag
yeah and establish their own little
petty foms as opposed to remaining a
unified
force and so finally by the late 1400s
you know the Muslims were practically
driven out of the Iberian
Peninsula and the Spanish under um
Ferdinand and Isabella instituted uh the
Spanish
Inquisition which is probably one of the
history's great examples of the horrors
of religious intolerance yeah in which
Jews and Muslims were systematically
tortured in an effort to make them uh
convert to Christianity or
systematically killed if they didn't
this was terrorism oh absolutely but St
sponsored state sponsored yeah state
sponsored
terrorism
um we're told that between somewhere
between
100,000 and
170,000 Jews refused to convert and
1492 by proclamation of Ferdinand and
Isabella uh any Jew who did not convert
to Christianity was expelled from Spain
so this left 100,000 to
170,000 Jews in the Iberian Pula that um
simply had to leave
boom um so what do they do how did they
manage to
survive the answer is the
sultan bazid II who is the Sultan the
ruler of the Ottoman Empire Muslim
Kingdom sent his naval fleet under the
command of Admiral Kamal rice to
evacuate the oppressed Jews and Muslims
now the musliman peninsula are sending
their Fleet to go and help the Jews yeah
to evacuate the Jews from Spain very
interesting and resettle them in North
Africa and in Turkey uh Etc and give
them to stay food and shelter yes yes
yes Muslims are doing this absolutely
Muslims are doing this uh in fact um you
know the sultan is is quoted as saying
they meaning ferdinan and Isabella
impoverished their Kingdom and enriched
mine referring to the Jews who left uh
Spain and and came to live in the
Ottoman Empire and in the Ottoman Empire
they were granted religious freedom
which they didn't have in Christian
Spain
and they were granted limited
self-government which they certainly
didn't have in Christian Spain mhm so
there was always amongst the the Jews or
Christians living under Muslim rule
there was Justice there was dialogue
healthy dialogue and people weren't now
scared of their life or being you know
cut by the sword right exactly oh
exactly that uh you know especially for
the Jews this was a a great uh point of
religious freedom you know it's
unfortunate that we tend to look at
Jewish Muslim relationships only through
the prism of the last 60 70
years and we failed to see that up until
that time we have this centuries long
history of working together yeah where
Muslims were rather consistently
befriending Jews yeah uh granting them
religious freedom Etc that they did not
have uh in Christian countries why do
you think now in the last few minutes
that we have there's this sensationalism
that's created you know and there's this
hype in the media that you know Islam is
coming Islam's going to get you and then
if it comes that's it all your freedom
everything that you know uh good you
have is going to be gone and they create
this fear frenzy and the people why do
you think this is well it sells sells
business sure it sells you sell
newspapers this way you saw magazines
this way you saw advertising on TV
because your TV ratings are going up
because you're giving a sensational
story you know it's it's the old thing
um uh dog bites ban you're not going to
put it on the the news man bites dog
you're going to headline yeah you know
turn on your local news what headlines
it it's fires and autoc crashes and you
know murder in Mayhem because this sells
uh
unfortunately you know the golden
age doesn't sell yeah and how important
was that golden age I mean it's is
crucial Harvey Cox going back to that
article I I referred to
earlier looking down the road after the
end of Muslim Spain looks at Miguel D
cervantes's classic book Don kote and
sees Don kote as being a nostalgic
wish to recapture what was lost with the
fall of Muslim Andalusia this is Spain's
greatest literary
work a nostalgic wish for the return of
what was lost when Muslim Andalucia
fell wow
amazing this is very um enlightening
thank you again for being with us and if
somebody wants to get a hold of you to
have you come down to get your books to
invite you for a lecture how can they do
that uh they can go to my website which
is Dirks online books.com Dirks
onlinebooks all one word thank you very
much my pleasure brother reward you for
being with us thank you and thank you
for sitting through another episode of
the dean show continue to tune in every
week to learn more about the Muslims to
learn more more about Islam and you can
also catch our new radio show at the
Deen show.com blog section and we hope
to see you again next time same time
same channel until then peace be unto
you