In search of the spirit of Al-Andalus

behind me is the Alhambra part of the great legacy of al-andalus Islamic Spain the last Muslims were actually booted out four hundred years ago along with the Jews but Islam is resurgent in Spain as it is throughout Europe only in Spain a group of Muslims are drawing on the legacy of our under loose to create a distinctively Iberian variant of the religion Spain was under Islamic rule for 800 years in that time it flourished as a center for learning in the arts Islam was the dominant religion but other faiths were tolerated that phenomenon is known in Spanish as convivencia which means living together though historians disagree about the degree of Tolerance I went to meet professor Mustapha acolyte to ask him about this my master haunte j0r convey the una manera creole de la revista jack back cara una de las mejores convivencia Cayuga in europe ira allen da-eun respeto en el sentido que tu Padilla's tener derecho a hacer tu cuto y una sociedad Karamu semana pero que acceptable Cassiano are julio lo que da Huang booty sonogram escrito kaki su freemore de Munna amnezia storica no colosimo's la memoria this was a mixed area before the Reconquista there was a Jewish area here but also there was a Muslim cemetery where they found bodies that were buried facing east so this was a multicultural City before the reconquest after the Kingdom of Granada fell in 1492 Muslim rule in Spain came to an end the country was fiercely Catholic exporting the religion to its colonies and deeply intolerant of both Jews and Muslims with the death of General Franco and the end of the dictatorship in 1974 a small number of Spaniards became interested in the country's Islamic past Zachery Amasa converted to Islam in 1981 I asked him how he came to his decision yes a esto esto mucho mucho FDR the tertulia come miss amigo alrededor de la mezquita the cordova p.m. significant Oh grand Estes el-naggar lo undiluted notions solo Piedras no David si availa spiritual Tempe el Islam is tongue algo tomato de para poner en práctica kita bersatu Collazo alleged de la soomi-gol creed or telepath interpreted well miss tranquilo estos lo primero de una serie a priori dar al-islam pony or demon to vida loca Lantis a don't kow the Muslim converts are known in Spanish as conversos on a hill overlooking the Alhambra a group of conversos has put up the first purpose-built new mosque in Spain for five centuries I met Muneera Mendonca who was involved in the project the design is based on the magrav of the mosque of Cordoba actually the mosque is a cathedral I don't go anymore have a fuse we are trying to establish the deen of islam the way of islam here and this mosque which is going to be 8 years old since it's been open we've been working on it for over 20 in nearly 30 years and it's incredible what's happening because it's like first of all the barrier of the body of the neighborhood everybody was against it everybody in the minaret was supposed to be higher didn't one you'd have the minarets higher than couldn't have it higher that was a mosque you see every church you see here was a mosque and y'all by sin and you see that it has a minaret which now they put made it less deeper well for a handful of Spaniards embracing Islam signifies a historical return the bulk of the country's 1.5 million Muslims are from North Africa grappling with issues of integration some have mixed feelings about the conversos if you are a Spanish or for your illness of your german and you're converted to Islam doesn't mean that your presents do really smart some of them they fill it'll be lost and they try to have new experiences I know many converted to Islam just because they had bit.i and they want to have to have a new experience with a new thing and after change everything change well because they cut their culture they grokken is not an Islamic culture exactly exactly and that's a source of strength too because then they they understand to world they can operate in two worlds so they can be a bridge between our buddy but believe in a Christian country but so do you yes but I am I am I am NOT either as I say hi I'm Maura this is my it's May this is my no you're an outside exactly while the number of converses is tiny around 10,000 they wield a disproportionate influence these are members of the hunter Islamic er an organization that promotes civil rights for Muslims in Spain it was founded by the late Mansoor Escudero my father marsala's Quintero he was the president of the Islamic on the Muslim community really acknowledged his work before his death in 2010 Mansu Escudero asked the Vatican to let Muslims worship at the Catholic cathedral in Cordoba a former mosque why don't use using this symbol the cathedral mosque as a symbol of destroy existence and this shame between civilizations and religions as a way to cooperate and to show the world how it is possible that the different the news communities live together the cathedral in Cordova was built as a mosque in the 8th century it's one of the glories of Islamic architecture and for almost 500 years was a place of Islamic worship and intellectual excellence but the church's response to Mansour's request was a firm no padilla el oso de la catedral como templo compartir doe católicos musulmans el habla bidet templo ecumenical le cumin is mo na cidade entre católicos eerily Sione's muscle man azhagu Dios le cumin is masa da entry Iglesias crystianna's so you would like to have the right to pray in the more in not a question of right no we don't have right we don't want any right to pray there we want to show the world that Muslimin Christians can pray together and can join together celebration for goods it's a way of recovering a lost history of of being in Spanish also no because Spanish nationalism it has been wrote it in a very hearty history of exclusion and we have to surpass this reality and to propose a new paradigm of understanding Acoma ventures this word means tolerance since being tolerance means more than coexistence more than that means cooperation and collaboration between and is that a key part of your interpretation of Islam of course it's central part of the Quranic message today Muslims are expressly forbidden from any act of worship here and it seems very unlikely that this policy will change yet the building's mixed heritage is clear to every visitor and it's hard not to sympathize with Mansur Escudero desire to turn a symbol of conquest into a symbol of convivencia

Channel: The Guardian

Views: 199,959

Keywords: spain, travel, tourism, muslims, islam, europe, al-andalus, interview, marcel theroux

Id: qHaX0agdRsk

Length: 8min 19sec (499 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 08 2011