It was consequential Islamic state inside of medieval barrier, was that of the Umayyads.
And their story is a bit
complicated because it begins all the way back in Damascus, Syria.
In 661, Mu'awiya, at the Umayya clan, originally from Mecca,
established this first caliphate,
a religious and political entity to cover all the Islamic clans.
It was under the aegis of the Umayyads that
Spain would come into the orbit of Islamic civilization.
As we remember, Spain was conquered by the Muslims in 711 CE,
and roughly within 10 years,
most of the Peninsula was dominated by their political leadership.
However, in 750, momentous events transformed the Islamic world.
When the Abbasids finally overthrew the Ummayad caliphate with Damascus,
the elite ruling family.
The consequence of this affair was the creation of a new Umayyad dynasty,
but this time in Spain and in the city of Cordoba.
One surviving Umayyad prince, Abd al-Rahman I,
would take the title of emir or commander of the
faithful and establish a new emirate in Spain.
And from this emirate,
slowly would evolve the most consequential of the Spanish Islamic kingdoms.
It would become known as the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba,
which would rule from 929-1061 CE.
This is what we all refer to as the Golden Age of Islamic Spain,
and in many respects it was a Golden Age for the Jewish community of Spain.
In 929, Abd al-Rahman III,
declared Al-Andalus to be its own politically and religiously autonomous entity.
The positive forces of coexistence for convivencia and Islamic Al-Andalus,
is first observed in the 10th century under his rule.
Abd al-Rahman III, like his father before him,
pursued an ethnically and religiously inclusive policy
dedicated to the pacification and unification of Al-Andalus.
He showered support on the arts and
sciences and sparked a general cultural efflorescence.
In addition, he encouraged minorities to pursue their own intellectual interests,
providing them with a model of how to proceed.
The German nun, Roswitha,
who visited the city of Cordoba in the second half at the 10th century,
would call the city,
The ornament of the world,
because of its incredible arts,
sciences, architecture, libraries, and mixtures of people.
And for the Jewish community,
Cordoba and the Caliphate was
a particularly welcoming and vital place to be during the middle ages.
Specifically, Professor Jane Gerber,
the author of The Jews of Spain,
describes it in this way.
The Muslim problems of Abdulla's reached the zenith of its power in
10th century under the able and unusually long and stable rule of Abd al-Rahman III.
As an Imperial City,
Cordoba reached zenith in power and affluence in the mid 10th century,
and towns from all over the Muslim world streamed into the new capital.
The new comers include Jewish poets and scholars from North Africa,
Italy, and the Far East.
One of those persons who was invited to the court was the physician Hasdai ibn Shaprut,
who lived from roughly 915-970.
He patronize the Jewish literati and for the time otter pattern
a patronage up culture customarily exercised by Muslim courtiers.
Hasdai also set up a school of Talmudic learning in Cordoba.
Enterprising Jewish parents would bring their talented sons to Cordoba
to take advantage of the new opportunities to attain a quote, unquote,
modern education in the capital,
also hoping that their sons might succeed in
finding employment at the Muslim Imperial Court.
Jewish facility in Arabic also need them to gain access to a vast world of
thought embodied the age of classics which had recently been translated into Arabic.
Direct exposure to Arabic learning and science and
philosophy provided a powerful impetus to the expansion of Jewish knowledge.
And before long, the Jews of Spain excelled and surpassed other important Jewish centers.
Professor Gerber concludes with this observation.
Perhaps the best way to appreciate
the stimulation that Jews experience from their cultural surroundings in Al-Andalus,
is to glance at the surviving curriculum of
a Jewish Academy of learning in
12th century Toledo that was based upon the medieval Arab model.
The Jewish school offered the standard fare of [inaudible] ,
Hebrew language, Torah and Talmud,
a great course of study in philosophical observations
on religion, logic, mathematics, optics,
astronomy, astrology, music, mechanics,
metaphysics, Greek and Arabic,
as well as medicine.
Special emphasis was placed on fine calligraphy.
The model for the educated Jewish male was also in the Muslim adib,
a man of humanistic culture.
This was Islamic Spain at its best.
A place where many communities could cohabit together and work together.
The splendor at the Umayyad caliphate of Cordoba was not to survive.
And by 1031, adib reached its end.
What came next was the success at the Spanish Christian reconquista,
internal political fragmentation within
the Islamic community and North African intervention by the Almoravids.