Age of Tolerance, A Novel of Alternate History from Al to Allah by Glen Reinsford

The consent should be declared explicitly otherwise, the converting to Islam became illegal. This principle was very well practiced in Al-Andalus because there are historical notary records in which whoever wants to change the religion and become a Muslim, there was a principle that those people should be mentally healthy and not be forced to do it. The verse of “There shall be no compulsion in religion” (Al-Baqara: 256) implies that nobody can be forced to convert and accept Islam. There are many verses of the Qur’an and hadiths that determine the attitude of Muslims in the social life. This tolerance towards non-Muslims, of course, stems from them. Since the control over the region was in the hands of Muslim rulers, it is better to analyze the issue of tolerance from the viewpoint of Islam.įor Muslims, the Qur’an and Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) are the highest authority in the making of the rules. There were Muslims, Jews, and Christians who lived together peacefully relative to any other place in the world at that time. The importance of Al-Andalus for today is that it shows us people with different religious affiliations can live together on the basis of humanitarian values (convivencia). Tariq’s small and successful invasion paved the way for conquest of whole Iberia and the transformation of it into Al-Andalus. When landed, he stated that there was no escape except in triumph: “Whither can you fly? The enemy is before you and the sea behind you!” according to his oration. Ziyad left Tangier as the head of the army and crossed the strait of Gibraltar, which is named after him. These incentives have motivated Nusayr to deploy an army of around seven thousands soldiers aiming of further conquest of Iberian Peninsula. Beside the success of Tarif, according to some medieval historians such as Ibn al-Qutiyah and Abd al-Hakam, Julian, who was former governor of Ceuta during the reign of the Byzantine and Vizigoths, wanted help of Nusayr to save them from the pressure of Vizigoths. The success of Tarif in occupying lands and collecting huge amount of booty from Iberia was one of the reasons why Nusayr gave further orders for conquering more lands in Iberian Peninsula.

Nusayr, the governor of Ifriqiyah (the name for North Africa from Libya to Atlantic) of Umayyad Caliphate, sent one of his officers, Tarif, to Iberian Peninsula for an exploratory mission. The conquest of the Iberian Peninsula took place during the Umayyad dynasty in 711. The name of the territory means in Arabic “Land of Vandals” and was applied to most of the Iberian Peninsula, even entire of it. Gökhan Göl History of Conquest of Iberian PeninsulaĪl-Andalus was the Muslim territory in the Iberian Peninsula and is known for being the center of tolerance in Europe during the dark Middle Ages, times of many religious and political strife.

Age of Tolerance, A Novel of Alternate History from Al to Allah by Glen Reinsford