Highlights on the religious tolerance of Muslims with Christians in Andalusia during the era of the emirate and the Umayyad Caliphate (138 AH - 422 / 756 AD - 1031

Abstract

    Since they entered the Iberian Peninsula as conquerors in the year 92 AH / 711 AD, Muslims began to adopt an approach of tolerance towards its Christian population, and they integrated with them to a great extent, to the point that they married many Spanish women, most of whom were allowed to remain in their Christian religion. An example of this is the widow of Rodrigo (King of Spain). Who was defeated by Commander Tariq bin Ziyad, Euglena, Princess Aila, who married the governor Abdul Aziz bin Musa bin Nusayr and who converted to Islam and took the name of Umm Asim (95 - 97 AH / 714 AH - 716 AD), who is considered one of the first Muslim governors of Andalusia after He opened it.

After the end of the era of the governors, which lasted for more than forty-two years, the Umayyad emirate appeared in the year 138 AH - 755 AD at the hands of its founder, Abdul Rahman bin Muawiyah bin Hisham bin Abdul Malik, known as Abdul Rahman Al-Dakhil, and that emirate and then the caliphate remained in place until the year 422 AH / 1031 AD. As the Christians of Andalusia lived in complete freedom and enjoyed the rights and privileges that they did not obtain during the period of Gothic rule in Spain, and among those rights was that the Muslims allowed the Christians to preserve all of their religious property such as churches, monasteries, etc., and also to preserve their private property represented by various funds and real estate.

As for the religious aspect, we note that the Islamic authority in Andalusia allowed Christians many privileges, the most important of which is the ringing of bells and the passage of processions through the streets of cities during their religious celebrations carrying the cross, and also the building of new churches on the basis of what is permitted by Islamic law, as well as allowing them to use the Latin language in their hymns. Celebration in church.

It is important to mention that the Islamic presence in Andalusia contributed greatly to making the Catholic Church in Spain free from the control of the Church of Rome. Christians also got rid of the pressure of the clergy on them due to the protection provided by the Islamic authority in Andalusia. What is noted is that Christians are in all parts of the Andalusian country. They enjoyed conditions that their peers did not enjoy in many areas of the Christian world at that time.