The recent tragic bombings in Madrid are more than just another violent headline in the news. More than part of a nasty chain of reprisals and revenge wrought by the twisted thinking of Al Qaeda or other fanatics. More than a coincidence that took place in a country supporting the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. It is a tragedy with a silver lining that could make a major contribution to understanding more deeply and responding more effectively to the enormous rift between the Eurocentric, culturally Christian industrialized nations and the Muslim world. That silver lining is Spain’s own history- not its recent history, but one largely forgotten or unknown beyond Spain's own borders. It is a history that needs to be reexamined and from which we have much to learn.

Most people are familiar with the infamy of the Holy Office of the Inquisition- that frightening bureaucracy of storm trooper Catholicism that, though originating in Rome, found its darkest and most thorough expression in Spain. Indeed- most people only know of it as the Spanish Inquisition. Its memory is intrinsically linked to names such as Ferdinand and Isabella and Torquemada. Fernando de Aragón was in fact the model for Machiavelli's The Prince- a monarch embodying the notion that the end justifies the means. The end, in Fernando and Isabel’s thinking may have been a unified Spain with a strong central government. In the realities of those empowered to implement the principles of the Inquisition, however, the end was clearly as much about appropriating the wealth of affluent Jews and Muslims as it was assuring political stability or religious “purity”. There are certainly interesting and important questions to raise concerning the Iraq war, and the political motivations of those leaders who sent their countries’ soldiers into battle. Was the motivation a democratic and politically stable Middle East? A noble, if idealistic goal. Are there those who are as intent on profiting from oil and reconstruction contracts as helping the people? Probably. But actually none of this is what we stand to learn the most from. After all, there is nothing historically new or particularly elevating about either political idealism or opportunism.

But turn the calendar back another 500 years to the 10th century and we enter a Spain most Westerners have scarcely heard of, and whose lessons are far more uplifting. Not the Spain of Catholic fanaticism or of the rapacious conquistadors of its Golden Age of Empire. Nor the isolationist Spain of fallen empire, failed Republics, or Franco’s fascism. But the Spain of the Caliphate of Córdoba- a glittering world of brilliant art, architecture, science, music, literature- and yes- successful cultural cross-fertilization. The Caliph Abed el Rahman III’s Grand Vizier was a Jew. His principal diplomat was the Bishop of Elvira. This was a culture that reintroduced the classical Greek philosophy of Plato and Aristotle to a Europe benighted since the fall of Rome in the fifth century. It was a culture that provided the mathematics that would later facilitate the engineering genius of the Gothic Cathedral and the navigational tools and astronomical knowledge that made the discovery and colonization of the New World so successful. And, in an area smaller than Texas, it was a culture that helped produce saints and sages of enduring stature in all three religions tracing their heritage to Abraham. This was a civilization that had street lights and running water when the rest of Europe was in darkness, squalor and pestilence. The Arab love of poetry inspired Jews who had lived in Spain since before the time of Christ to revive Hebrew as a literary language instead of just a liturgical one. Even Christian kings of the period spoke and wrote in Arabic, and the Catholic mass- generally believed to have been consistently said in only Latin in Western Europe right up until the Second Vatican Council, was said and sung in Arabic. This artistic and cultural influence outlived the Arabic Caliphate and later Taifa kingdoms of Muslim city-states, and colored both the poetry and mysticism of such supremely “Catholic” saints as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Ávila.

It would be inaccurate to pretend this was an idyllic age free of all interreligious and interracial tensions. It was not. However, the tensions were, for a time at least, largely creative rather than destructive. Yet this pluralistic, vibrant and dazzlingly productive culture was systematically exterminated. Most people assume that was single-handedly done by Catholic fanaticism, the “Spanish Inquisition” becoming the presumed culprit of all ill. But this is simplistic and only partially true. What is little known to most Westerners is that Muslim fanaticism- reactionary Berber tribesmen from North Africa who felt threatened by the pluralism of Al-Andalus, were equally responsible for the demise of this Golden Age.

Arch-conservative religiosity is now known as “fundamentalism”- that modern attempt to revert to a bygone mythos in the face of change too rapid to comfortably absorb. It thrives best in closed systems, and tends to be paranoid about anyone or anything that presents a serious challenge to its fundamental world view and its claims to universal validity. It is a toxic form of cultural narcissism that often takes on a political virulence to promote its agenda. And it is inherently fearful of pluralism- particularly if that pluralism permits any disagreements with, variations, or contradictions to its form of orthodoxy. It also pretends to a theocratic legitimacy- aspiring to righteous rule in the name of whatever version of God it claims to represent. It is often funded by powerful vested interests, but touts its popular appeal by pressing willing, enthusiastic and largely anti-intellectual acolytes into service as a voting block against more liberal forces. At its best it is fearful, at its worst it is oppressive, and it frequently attempts to institutionalize its precepts in a highly efficient marriage of religion, politics and economics.

If any of this sounds oddly familiar- it should. In the geopolitical realities of today there is a major trend to globalization and pluralism with all its many benefits, brought about in great part and with great speed by information technology and rapid transportation shrinking the world. This makes closed systems virtually impossible. At the same time we have two primary political forces or groupings- exemplified by the United States and the Muslim Middle East. Though America is ostensibly the very paradigm of inclusiveness, paradoxically its current leadership is strongly affected by Christian fundamentalist forces. And though theologically Islam was at the outset color, caste and gender blind and inclusive- its dominant political expressions today rule over populations that are largely illiterate, economically destitute, and culturally isolated in a centuries old life-style that has adapted to the madcap rush of modernity with great pain and difficulty. Some feel America would impose its will on the world to create a democratic planet- a noble ideal perhaps, but fraught with less noble motives of profit, dominance, and the potential suppression of all who would challenge or resist its will. Others feel Islam would impose its will on the world to create a global society surrendered to a single God and living in peace- no less noble an ideal (and perhaps not so different in ultimate intent), yet equally fraught with the dangers of totalitarian and xenophobic attitudes toward those who would not submit to this agenda. Each is convinced of its rightness, and each fails to fully grasp the mindset of the other.

The dynamic of human behavior being consistent, and history being remarkably cyclical, we are faced with an enormous challenge. Like the “modern” Spain of Fernando and Isabel on the brink of world empire, each side of today’s divide could attempt to create a monolithic system. History suggests it would be no more likely to work now than it did then. Yet if we persuade ourselves (no matter which camp we espouse) that such a system is possible,(whether out of idealism or greed), it is a short step to justify all manner of oppression and destruction to assure its implementation. Are we ready for another Inquisition or holocaust? Whether Christian or Muslim, Western or Middle Eastern, such a possibility, though not unimaginable is certainly not inevitable. But to avoid it we must take a deeper look at history to see what makes cross-fertilization possible and productive, and what makes the quest for orthodoxy (and the illusion of security such uniformity presumes to provide) so endemically tempting. We have in Spain a precedent both for what can go dazzlingly right and what can go terribly and horrifically wrong. It is time we learn both if we don’t want to repeat and perpetuate the tragedies of the past. To recognize the long and painful memory of the Muslim world’s suffering at the hands of Christian crusaders in both Spain and the Middle East is not enough. We must also revive the Christian memory of how much Western civilization is indebted to Islamic Spain, and the Jewish memory of how much support they too received from Islam- not only in the cultural inspiration of Al-Andalus so formative in Medieval Jewish thought, but also the active protection Muslims afforded them upon their tragic expulsion from Spain under the ironically named “Catholic Monarchs”. What unites us is, in the final analysis, far more compelling than what divides us. We need to understand both, and do it now. If we learn from this, the Madrid bombings will not have been merely a tragic loss of life- but a clarion call to new and constructive understanding essential to the establishment of any balance or peace in a volatile world. We can ill afford to ignore the opportunity.


Robert H. Stucky is the Executive Director of Faith In Diversity Institute.

Copyright © 2004 by Faith In Diversity Institute