Filistin'den Endülüs'e Kitlesel Yahudi Göçü ve Yahudilerin Endülüs'teki Yaşantıları
Gürkan BİÇEN, Hüseyin Erkan BEDİRHANOĞLU
Atıf: Biçen, G, Bedirhanoğlu, H.
E. (2022). The Mass Migration of
Jews from Palestine to Andalus
and the Life of the Jews in
Andalus. İçtimaiyat Sosyal
Bilimler Dergisi, Göç ve
Mültecilik Özel Sayısı, ss. 107-
121
ABSTRACT
The mythical history of the Jewish people made them a nation
separated from the homeland, and turned the ideal of returning
there into a tribal and religious rule. However, despite such
longing, it cannot be said the Jews refuse to adapt to the countries
they reside. Under favourable conditions, Jews were also
concerned about integrating into the society. They took part in the
social and political structures, prominently and unvisibly. Andalus
is a region where Jews settled following the Roman exile. Although
Jewish activity was encountered during Christian rule, the main
period when they became visible and contributed to the society
was the Muslim centuries. During this period, Jews were influential
in social, cultural and economic terms and partly in political life. As
a bridge between Christian Europe and Muslim Andalus, Jews
contributed to the construction of modern Europe. Yet, the
omission of this part of Jewish history prevents complete
explanation of the construction process of Europe. This study aims
to examine the Jewish immigration to Andalus, their experiences
there, and their contributions to both societies. This article mainly
employs the Jewish sources. In conclusion, it predicts that the
Muslim-Jewish coexistence experienced in Andalus could be an
example for today.
Keywords
History, Jews, Immigration, Palestine, Andalus
ÖZ
Yahudi halkının efsanevi tarihi onları ana vatandan koparılan
ve oraya dönebilme ülküsünü kavmi ve dini bir kaideye
dönüştüren bir ulus kılmıştır. Ne var ki böylesi bir özleme
rağmen Yahudilerin bulundukları ülkelere adapte olmayı
istemedikleri de söylenemez. Uygun şartlar altında Yahudiler,
içinde bulundukları topluma entegre olabilmenin de kaygısını
taşımışlardır. Bu anlamıyla onları sosyal ve siyasal yapının
içinde kimi zaman belirgin kimi zamansa perdeler arkasında
görmek mümkündür. Endülüs, Roma sürgününü takiben
Yahudilerin yerleştikleri bölgelerden biridir. Endülüs'ün
Hıristiyanların idaresinde olduğu dönemde de Yahudi
etkinliğine rastlansa da onların görünür hale geldikleri ve
topluma katkı sundukları asıl dönem Endülüs'ün
Müslümanların idaresi altında bulunduğu yüzyıllardır. Bu
dönemde Yahudiler sosyal, kültürel ve ekonomik açıdan etkili
olmuş ve kısmen siyasi hayatta da varlık göstermiştir.
Yahudilerin Hıristiyan Avrupa ile Müslüman Endülüs arasında
köprü olması modern Avrupa'nın inşasına katkı sağlamıştır.
Buna rağmen Yahudi tarihinin bu bölümü gözden uzak
tutulmaktadır. Bu ise bir yönüyle, Avrupa'nın inşa sürecinin de
tam olarak açıklanamaması demektir. Bu çalışma Filistin'den
Endülüs'e olan Yahudi göçünü ve onların yaşantılarını ve her
iki topluma olan katkılarını incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır.
Makalede ağırlıklı olarak Yahudilerin kendi kaynaklarına yer
verilmiştir. Çalışma neticesinde Endülüs'te tecrübe edilen
Müslüman-Yahudi birlikteliğinin günümüz için de bir örnek
olabileceği öngörülmüştür.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Tarih, Yahudi, Göç, Filistin, Endülüs
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33709/ictimaiyat.1072083.
E-ISSN 2602-3377. © 2017-2022 TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM DergiPark ev sahipliğinde.
1. Introduction
There is no strong information about the history of the Hebrews, the ethnic origin of the Jews,
who are considered to be among the Semitic peoples in Western Asia, before they settled in
Palestine, the "land where milk and honey flow" (Durant, 1935: 299-302). What is known is that
they were also in the great Aramean immigration wave and were left without land. Some
sources associate them with the Habiru who were bandits or even trying to take over cities
(Graudy, 2011: 72-73). Jews, on the other hand, attribute their ethnic origin to Abraham, a
person who lived about 4,000 years ago and is believed to have arrived in Palestine around
2200 BC (Blech, 2003: 35; Durant, 1935: 300-301). This journey of Abraham is thought to have
a sanctifying effect on the whole Jewish history beyond a simple walk. (Ballı and Gökçe 2021:
60). According to the Torah, Abraham's son Isaac, a Mesopotamian immigrant from the lineage
of Noah's son Shem (Learsi, 1966: 3; Yaşaroğlu, 2013: 16), and then Jacob, were considered
the ancestors of the Hebrew people (Gürkan, 2014: 15; Ballı and Gökçe 2021: 62). Even if this
is the case, despite their alliances with the Arabs against their enemies, the Jews who
succeeded in settling in Palestine were suppressed, divided, and dispersed by the Assyrians,
Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, and Romans from 750 BC (Goiten, 2011: 21-22). The
powers that seized the Jewish lands scattered them in many parts of Asia, Asia Minor, Africa
and Europe. One of the regions where Jews settled with these exiles is the Iberian Peninsula.
According to Baer, regardless of wherever it is, the settlement story of the Jewish diasporas is
based on legends, not proven historical information (Baer, 1978: 13). The Jewish presence in
Andalusia is not free from this uncertainty. There are those who attribute the arrival of Jews
calling themselves Sephardi/Sefardim and emphasizing that they came from one of the tribes
of Judah in Andalusia to the Muslim Arab conquests as well as there are those who take this
date back to a much earlier period, to the destruction of the Temple by Rome and even earlier,
to the destruction of the First Temple. After all, it is known that Rome implemented an exile
policy towards Jews in the 400s (Baer, 1978: 15-17). In some Islamic sources, it is stated that
King Ispan, together with Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, captured Jerusalem in 586 BC.
and returned to his country with 100 thousand Jewish captives (İlhan, 2006: 24).
Apart from the various narratives about the settlement of the peninsula, it is possible to analyze
the history of the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula in three main sections: the first is the period
before the conquest of the peninsula by the Muslim Arabs, the second is the period under
Muslim rule, and the final one is the period when the peninsula was recaptured by the
Christians and continues until today. In each of these periods, Jews lived under the domination
of other tribes and powers, depending on different opportunities and statuses. The fact that
Jews represent a numerical minority has been both a disadvantage and a source of advantage.
While the Jews could not take action based on their own power due to their small numbers,
they have gained an advantageous position in their relations with the dominant peoples who
were numerically dominant but uneducated, because the Jews were educated and organized
not only in the peninsula but also in overseas countries. Thus, they were accepted as both an
excluded and a desirable element.
With this study, we aim to examine the existence of Jews in Andalusia under Muslim Arab rule,
to determine their position in social life and their possible effects on both Andalusia and
European history. In order to achieve this aim, the main sources of Jewish history and the
studies on this subject will be evaluated, and the subject will be discussed without suffocating in details, and without neglecting the people, places and events that will shed light on the issue
as much as possible.
In this study, first of all, Jewish immigration/ exile to the Iberian Peninsula will be examined,
then the situation of the Jews before the Muslim Arabs will be discussed briefly, and then the
position of the Jewish presence together with the Muslims in the geography and period called
also as Andalusia will be investigated. In this respect, the expression "Andalusia" in the study
will not refer to the Iberian Peninsula or Spain, but to the geography and time period in the
region under the domination of the Muslim Arabs.
2. Literature
In the study, firstly, Jewish sources who examined the period in question were used. Secondly,
the sources that include the Jews in Andalusia in this context were used. Apart from this,
doctoral theses were also included in the study. Since the subject concerns many different
disciplines, the referenced sources are spread over different fields. All these sources have
been dealt with in the integrity of the subject, and this period of Jewish history has been tried
to be conveyed.
3. Methods
In this study, qualitative research method was applied. All the resources reached on the
research subject have been evaluated objectively. The results indicated by the obtained
findings are clearly shown.
4. Jewish Migration from Palestine to the Iberian Peninsula
The lands south of the Levant, which is used to denote Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the
Palestinian territories today, are referred to as Palestine, derived from a Jewish adjective. The
word Palestine was first used as a name for a geographical region in the middle of the fifth
century BC (Abraham - Gibson, 2007: 581). According to a theory put forward to explain the
settlement of Jews in this region, the landless Habiru attacked and captured the cities in the
region, and the Israelites acted with them. Another explanation from a religious point of view is
that Judaism began when Moses took twelve tribes descended from the twelve sons of Jacob,
whose other name was Israel, from Egypt to Sinai, and received the Torah from God there, and
subsequently Jews settled in the region during the Joshua period (Learsi, 1966: 19- 40; Gürkan,
2014: 15; Yaşaroğlu, 2013: 16). In this narrative, God freed the people of Israel from slavery
and gave the land of Canaan to them, thus for the first time in history a monotheistic belief
appeared as the motor power of the social liberation movement (Garaudy, 2011: 63-64). In the
1000s BC., David managed to unite the Jews who settled in the region, and he built a state with
Jerusalem as its capital (Learsi, 1966: 54-55; Ballı and Gökçe 2021: 68). The most glorious time
of the kingdom was when David's son Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem (Learsi, 1966:
63-64; Gürkan, 2014: 21; Mansoor, 1991: 3-7). On the other hand, recent archaeological
research reveals that the statement in the Bible that the borders of Solomon's country reached
"over the Euphrates to Egypt" is an exaggeration and is a design/imagination/image produced
later (Abramsky - Sperling, 2007: 755; Malamat, 1985: 164).
After Solomon, in 931 BC., the kingdom was divided into Israel to the north and Judah to the
south. It is thought that this division is due to the socio-cultural difference between the
northerners living in the plains and cities and the southerners living in the mountains (Learsi,
1966: 66; Garaudy, 2011: 83). The northern kingdom of Israel is invaded by the Assyrians and its people are exiled (Gürkan, 2014: 21). There are those who argue that the destruction of the
Temple, which is an important moment in Jewish history, was not considered significant in
world history, and that it was not included in the inscriptions of the Babylonian king, but that
this was a loss of the promise in the Torah for the Jews (Garaudy, 2011: 94). The Jews attribute
both this exile and the subsequent Babylonian and Roman exiles to their lack of loyalty to their
covenant with God. According to the Jews, there are two aspects of divine command that
regulate the relations both between God and the Jews and between the Jews and other people.
While God quickly forgives injustice done to Him, He does not easily forgive injustice done to
people (Blech, 2003: 67-70). As a matter of fact, while the Babylonian Exile, which is believed
to be a punishment for idolatry, lasted for about 70 years until the Persian king Cyrus the Great
ruled the region and allowed the Jews to return, (Learsi, 1966: 108), the Roman Exile, which is
thought to have been caused by injustice, still continues (Grayzel, 1968: 269; Gürkan, 2014:
24). In any case, it is a fact that the Jewish country has been invaded by the powerful states
surrounding them and the Jews have been exiled all over the world. One of the regions of exile
is the Iberian Peninsula, where Jews have lived for nearly 1200 years, longer than anywhere
else in the world, including Palestine (Roth, 2002: 9).
In the explanations about the existence of Jews in the Iberian Peninsula, it is possible to find
traces of both the exiles and regardless of these exiles, of the fact that the region has attractive
opportunities in terms of climate, transportation, commercial development, and its
resemblance to Palestine (Da Costa, 1850: 209). In addition to the ancient families in the region
who call themselves Sephardim and attribute themselves to David's lineage, there are also
families who say that their ancestors came here after being captured by the Spanish after the
destruction of the First Temple (Durant, 1950: 370). There are also those who state that the
Jews in the Iberian Peninsula are members of the tribes of Yehuda and Benjamin, who were
taken captive by Spaniards and Pyrrhus, who acted together with Nebuchadnezzar, King of
Babylon, in the capture of Jerusalem (De Castro, 1851: 4-5). However, Some Jewish studies
associate their arrival in Spain with civil strife during the Rule of Judges (1125-1025 BC.) and
wars between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, but these statements have no meaning other
than their mythological character due to the lack of any evidence to support these statements
(Learsi, 1966: 243-244; İlhan, 2006: 28). There are also those who date the Jewish presence
in the Iberian Peninsula to ancient times through the Jews who were sent to assist and serve
the Semitic Phoenicians who had made Spain their commercial colony (Grayzel, 1968: 266).
According to another view conveyed by Ziya Pasha, a significant part of the Jews in Spain
came from the Roman period. Roman Emperor Hadrian suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt of
the Jews in Palestine in 135 AD., and deported 50 thousand Jewish families to Spain (Ziya
Paşa, 1888: 497; Da Costa, 1850: 94). Another explanation for this exile is that the Jews who
lost the war were first brought to Rome and then some of them went to Spain via Sicily (Grayzel,
1968: 266). According to Mansoor, the first Jewish settlements in Spain consisted of those sent
by Rome in the 300s (Mansoor, 1991: 173). It is also known that Rome implemented the policy
of massacre and exile against the Jews in the 5th century (Baer, 1978: 15-17: Durant, 1950:
347). However, the accounts pointing to pre-Titus period are also suspicious because it is said
that there is no evidence confirming the existence of Jews in the Iberian Peninsula before or
during the time of Jesus' invitation (De Castro, 1851: 20-21). Another part of the exiles to the
Iberian Peninsula is from Eastern Europe, that is, of Caspian origin. They have closer ties to the Hun and Hungarian tribes rather than the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (İlhan,
2006: 28).
We do not have clear information about the number of Jews. There are different opinions on
this matter. While the Bible, which describes the beginning of Judaism, states that there are 70
people from Jacob's family who migrated to Egypt, it indicates that the number of men who
came out of Egypt with Moses 430 years later was 600 thousand (DellaPergola, 2001: 3; Learsi,
1966: 19; Ballı and Gökçe 2021: 66-67). It is mentioned that the number of Jews was around 3
million shortly before the Roman destruction and exile following the uprising between 66 and
70 AD (Learsi, 1966: 166). Jewish sources claim that the number of Jews killed in Jerusalem
alone during this uprising was 1,100,000. It is said that 580,000 Jews were killed in the Bar
Kokhba uprising that started 65 years later (Da Costa, 1850: 82, 94; Adams, 188: 44). Even
though there are those who claim that the Jewish population was eight million during the
Roman Empire and that most of them were assimilated by converting to other pagan religions
(Roth, 2002: 7), these numbers must be exaggerated. Adams states that the total number of
Jews in the Spanish cities of Leon, Castile and Murcia at the end of the 13th century was
estimated at 2 million (Adams, 1887: 176). Nevertheless, the analyzes made on the travel book
of the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela reveal that the Jewish population known in the world
in the 12th century might have been between 974,000 and 1,200,000. Maximum 18% of this
population lived in Europe and North Africa (DellaPergola, 2001: 8). According to Jacques
Attali, around two million Jews were living in the world at the end of the 15th century, and
particularly in Andalusia, the number was about three hundred thousand (Attali, 1999: 40). The
number of Jews in Andalusia is thought to constitute only half a percent of the total population
(Stillman, 1979: 54).
During the spread of Islam in North Africa, Jewish communities living in harmony with Muslims
are seen both in pre-existing central places and in places which gained importance with the
arrival of Muslims as well as in newly established settlements (Learsi, 1966: 243-244). It is
thought that the Jewish population in the region was less than 1% of the total population at the
time of the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, where they had previously inhabited,
because it was attractive for Jews, this rate was around 6-10% in cities, and may be between
15 and 20% in some important cities. (İlhan, 2006: 176). Regardless of the differences between
the numbers and the explanations for why this might be like this, the Iberian Peninsula received
Jewish immigrations during the periods of stability; on the other hand, the Jews left the region
or were exiled during the periods of destabilization. In the Geniza documents, the expressions
of ‘young from Andalusia,’ ‘orphan from Andalusia’ or ‘man from Andalusia’ in the aid charts
distributed by the Jewish community in Fustat, indicate that some of the Jews went to the Near
East and Egypt (İlhan, 2006: 181-182).
5. The Life of the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula before the Islamic Rule
Before the advance of the Muslim Arabs in the Iberian Peninsula by crossing Gibraltar with the
Berbers, the Jews were an active people of the region due to their connections with different
parts of the world and their education. In the period when the Jews began to settle in the region,
the local peoples were still living a pagan life and were living with simple agriculture and animal
husbandry activities. It is seen that the first Jewish immigrants were, like the locals, engaged in
agriculture, bought land, turned to olives, olive oil, wine and similar products with high
commercial value, and the Jews who settled in the cities were engaged in trade and carried
out jobs that required professional knowledge and skills (Grayzel, 1968; Da Costa, 1850: 163-164). In this period, the overseas connections of the Jews also enabled them to take part in a
large commercial network with numerous ships circulating the Mediterranean ports (Learsi,
1966: 244). This is a network that covers not only the trade of goods but also of the enslaved
who were gathered from many places, especially from the Slavic region. Since possessing
slaves and the slave trade were vital for the maintenance of land-based works, this situation
had both economic and demographic consequences (Grayzel, 1968: 277, 280). Even though
the Iberian Peninsula was invaded first by the Vandals and then by the Visigoths in the early
fifth century, these two peoples did not mistreat the Jews. On the one hand, the Jews took a
considerable place in the administration structure due to their qualifications; on the other hand,
Jewish military units help the Visigoths to protect the country against the Franks. Jews continue
to keep their property and businesses under Visigoth rule (Grayzel, 1968: 272). They are free
to practice their civil law and to worship (Grayzel, 1968: 270). Marriages between pagans and
Jews is allowed, and the Jewish population in the region increase because a pagan woman
becomes Jewish when she marries a Jewish man, and when a Jewish woman marries a pagan
man, she raises her children as Jewish (Grayzel, 1968: 267). However, this positive period,
which lasted about two hundred years, changed when the Visigoth king Reccared I converted
to the Catholic faith. Thus, the anti-Jewish campaigns seen in other parts of Christian Europe
also begin in the Iberian Peninsula (Durant, 1950: 349; De Castro, 1851: 25). The basis of this
attitude is that the Christian clergy considered the Jews as the murderer of Jesus, and they
regarded that the Jews take interest and engage in the slave trade as evil. The Christian
clergy's advocacy of oppressing the Jews is also reflected in the social status and daily life of
the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula. In the course of time, as the Church began to consolidate,
everything turned against the Jews, and over time, Jews were prohibited from serving in public
services, marrying Christians, converting others, whether free or slave, to the Jewish religion,
and keeping Christian slaves. Moreover, in this process, it is seen that Jews were enslaved
from time to time, paid princes and nobles to save their lives, and were often subjected to
collective punishment due to the alleged or actual misdemeanours of the members of the
community (Da Costa, 1850: 218-220; Yaşaroğlu, 2013: 36; Demirci, 2005: 42; İlhan, 2006:
124). After a while, they are compelled to make a choice between converting to Christianity
and leaving the country. Jewish children are separated from their families and given to
monasteries to be raised as Christians. The properties of those who did not convert to
Christianity were confiscated, while those who remained Jewish secretly were followed closely
(Grayzel, 1968: 272-273; Attali, 1999: 41). When the Visigoths' anti-Jewish campaign, which
lasted nearly a century, reached its peak, Muslim Arabs and Berbers, who had become a
prominent force in North Africa, set foot on the peninsula with a force of 12,000 men under the
command of Tariq bin Ziyad. The battle that took place in July 711 brought the end of Visigoth
domination.
6. Socio-Cultural Life of the Jewish Community in Andalusia
It is a matter of debate whether the Jewish community wholeheartedly welcomed the Muslim
conquerors who came to the region that will soon be known as Andalusia, and whether they
helped them in the conquest process. It is said that Jews were among those who invited Tariq
b. Ziyad, a Muslim Berber, and that they provided Muslims with detailed information about the
situation in the region (Chejne, 1974: 116; De Castro, 1851: 41-42; Da Costa, 1850: 220).
However, no information confirming this issue comes from any other Jewish, Western, nor Arab
sources (İlhan, 2006: 66). In any case, it is certain that many Jews returned to their homes, which they had to leave under Christian oppression, with the Muslim domination of the region
(Durant, 1950: 371). In this period when the oppression ended, the Jews began to live
according to the laws of Moses and freely built their synagogues where they were. Moreover,
unlike today's Europeans' description of Andalusia as “dark and barbaric,” a poet portrays it as
a country where he lives in safety along with everyone “drinking their own wine and resting
under the fig tree.” Of course, in the contrast in this depiction, there is the fact that Christians
have lost their position as rulers, and that Jews have obtained the status of a protected
community instead of their previous status as a community which had been subjected to
discrimination (Menocal, 2002: 10, 85-86; De Castro, 1851: 54; İlhan, 2006: 175).
It is acknowledged that their encounters with Islam in general, and the Andalusian experience
in particular, have radically changed Jewish history (Mansoor, 1991: 179). Jews who share this
opinion recall the years they spent in Andalusia between 900 and 1200 by saying, "Our
Spanish-Jewish-Muslim golden years enriched our Spanish-Jewish heritage and the whole of
our Jewish history (Nahman, 1990). They describe this period as the "Golden Age", in which
they believe that they have performed important services and gained gains both for themselves
and for other people (Mansoor, 1991: 183; Ballı and Gökçe 2021: 71). There are also those
who accept this period following 500 years after 711 (Finkelstein, 1989: 13). It is seen that the
policy of converting the Jews to Islam was not based on oppression in the period, when the
Jews, who left their lands under the pressure of the Visigoths and immigrated to North Africa,
returned to the country after the Muslims dominated the region (Nahman, 1990, Grayzel, 1968:
290-292; Da Costa, 1850: 207). The basis of this is the warning of Muhammad not to interfere
in the religious life of the Jews and not to disturb them in any way (Farukî - Farukî, 2014: 243).
Furthermore, there was a difference between the opinion of the Jews about the Muslims and
the pagans. Accordingly, Jews commonly used the word "Ger," meaning "strange", "traveler",
"wandering", or "stranger", to describe a non-Jew, and if that foreigner lived in the Jewish
community and accepted Noah's laws, they employed the word “Gertoshav” to refer to him,
and if he was a pagan rejecting Noah's laws, then he was called as “akkum.” They believed
that an honest Gertoshav, whose qualifications and rules were specifically mentioned in the
Talmud, would find a good place in the afterlife. Gentiles were referred to as "Goy.” The rules
that make a person Gertoshav, and that every person essentially should follow express the
seven basic principles: "to avoid idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, especially adultery between
relatives, to establish justice institutions that will ensure justice, and to be fair and honest in all
relations, not to spill blood, not to steal, and not to pluck and eat meat from live animals.” In
accordance with this, people were classified as Jews and Noahites, and pagans. In Jewish
tradition, Christians and Muslims were generally counted among the Noahites, and could enjoy
the rights of a convert as a Gertoshav, or semi-converted. In fact, according to the rabbis
(Jewish clergy), Christianity and Islam were the illegitimate children of Judaism. From this point
of view, Jews living in Arab lands thought that Arabs were not pagans, and that they believed
in and worshiped only one God (Göçmen, 2010: xı-xııı, 8-9). In the case of Sephardic Jews, it
was seen that they were similar to Muslims in many respects, because the Talmud was not just
a book of worship and prayer, and in this respect, it resembled the Qur'an, which regulates all
aspects of life (Durant, 1950: 360-364; Da Costa, 1850: 138-139; Göçmen, 2010: 7). On the
other hand, what was lacking in Judaism was an experience of religious pluralism that could
set a precedent in a state they dominated. In other words, in countries where Jews were a minority, they made sense in the name of religious pluralism. So was Andalusia (Demirci, 2005:
Önsöz).
Even though the Jews settled in almost every town of Andalusia under the Muslim rule, they
mostly lived in important cities such as Cordoba, Tuleytula, Beyyâne, Talabira, Medinet elFerec / Vadi el-Hicara and Madrid (İlhan, 2006: 204). In these cities, Jews generally resided
within the walls, in the area where the ruler and headquarters of the city were located, but in
separate neighborhoods. At that time, this was natural, and Muslims did not ascribe evil to their
neighbours in the Jewish quarter. Thus, the Jews were kept away from being ghettoized and
they were considered as the main component of the city (Cohen, 2013: 197-198). Moreover,
there were Jews who settled among the Muslims. The jurists allowed Jews and Christians to
live among Muslims both because they thought that Muslims could set a good example for their
non-Muslim neighbours and display the beauties of Islam, and because Islamic law never gave
the sultan a right to treat non-Muslims as just commodities (Cohen, 2013: 95; İlhan, 2006: 61,
203-204). Therefore, the Muslims had a strong relationship with the Jews and Christians in the
city centers, and the parties respected each other. Furthermore, an environment of dialogue
emerged on the basis of knowing each other and respecting rights (Roth. 2002: 9). Debate
assemblies in which Muslims, Jews and Christians took part had become commonplace, and
the members of these three religions in Andalusia had built a prosperous and tolerant urban
civilization that could compete with Baghdad (Attali, 1999: 36; İlhan, 2006: 168). Although the
marriages between religions and ethnic identities mainly served to increase the number of
Muslims in this civilization, which was known as the "adornment of the world" and based on
integration and tolerance rather than assimilation, it served to bring the elements that make up
the Andalusian society closer (Menocal, 2002: 28, 33, 41, 67, 86-87; Stillman, 1979: 53).
It is known that in Andalusia under the rule of Muslims by 11th century, the majority of Jews
lived in rented houses and the homeowners were still few in number (Ashtor, 1984: 59, 123-
124). Most of these houses are single-story, but there are also multi-story buildings where poor
families live together (Ashtor, 1984: 66). Contrary to Christian cities, business and residence
areas are located in different regions in Muslim cities. While in the Christian areas there is a
workplace on the ground and the owner's house on it, Muslims have separated their private
life from business life (Ashtor, 1984: 62). In these neighbourhoods, there is a settlement order
that centers the synagogue. Near the synagogue, there are baths and other socio-cultural
structures. In this respect, it is seen that the Muslim and Jewish traditions are very similar.
Moreover, there were religious and cultural rules that made Muslims and Jews more similar to
each other than Christians. First of all, the family laws of Muslims and Jews, who had a familycentered society model, were similar. In the family where the father had an active role, celibacy
was considered strange, while polygamy was allowed with early marriage. In both societies,
engagement and marriage phases functioned similarly. In terms of the rules of daily life, both
communities had close beliefs. These included not eating carrion and similar things that are
not kosher (halal), not drinking wine, observing the rules of daily and weekly body cleaning,
and circumcision of boys. In places of worship, women were placed in separate places from or
behind men (Durant, 1950: 379-381; Ashtor, 1984: 65).
In fact, the Jews, who were considered agricultural people and learned trade from the
Babylonians during the Babylonian exile (Mansoor, 1991: 18), turned into a merchant nation
over time, and, thanks to their connection with Islam, in Andalusia which was a part of the
Mediterranean trade network, they begun to dominate a considerable amount of international trade through an agency network that embraced the major centers of Europe (Goody, 2012:
91- 130; Goiten, 2011: 141; Durant, 1950: 376). In addition to trade, the Jews were interested
in financial affairs. Due to the fact that the holy books of both Islam and Christianity forbade
lending at interest, the Jews initially became the intermediary and then the owner of this
business (Durant, 1950: 377). In addition to trade and banking activities, Andalusian Jews
appeared in various professions and fields such as tailoring, bookbinding, spinning, weaving,
fabric dyeing, leatherwork, health technician (making cupping), peddling, dairy and
shoemaking. Alcohol production is one of these. It was also possible for Jews to participate in
agricultural activities by dividing the land between Muslims, Christians and Jews in small
pieces, but due to the fact that the agricultural activities was based on manpower and some
restrictions on the use of slaves, Jews preferred urban life and occupations rather than rural
areas (Durant, 1950: 375). Even though Muslims did not subject urban Jews to occupational
restrictions, except for military or bureaucratic occupations, there was a tendency among Jews
to favor certain occupations and avoid others for various reasons. In the commercial operations
which they were skilled, the Jews were a monopoly with the Muslims. At the forefront of the
commercial activities in which the Jewish merchants in Andalusia made the best profits was
the slave trade, the third most important commodity in the Andalusian market. They were
driving young girls and boys, bought from northern Spain, other European, Slavic and Black
Sea coastal countries, to Andalusia markets. In fact, the slaves, consisting of girls and boys of
Frank (Europe), Galician and Seqalibadescent, became one of the symbols of Andalusia. Every
castrated Seqalibaslave on earth came from Andalusia, where they were castrated by Jewish
traders and put on the market (Durant, 1950: 376; İlhan, 2006: 431-432, 447, 489-492).
Children's education was important to Jews, but it was not the same for boys and girls.
Education began at the age of six, and Jewish boys took classes in synagogues or private
tutors' homes, which also provided school services, while girls did not go to school. Their
mothers would be responsible for their education. In this respect, the education of girls was
insufficient, but in terms of religious education, every house was a synagogue, every school
was a temple, and every father was a clergyman (Ashtor, 1984: 92-93; Durant, 1950: 381-382).
Teachers were paid for by the congregation or the parents. However, the libraries of Andalusia
in general, and Cordoba in particular, were serving Jews as well as Muslims with hundreds of
thousands of books, and educational institutions at the college level (Menocal, 2002: 33-35).
According to the Jews, religious and secular education was given together in this period
(Finkelstein, 1989: 15). The content of the education was carried out with materials and
methods taken from Muslim scholars belonging to Mu'tazilah and other kalam schools,
especially al-Farabi, and in this respect, the strongest Jewish education in Europe was in
Andalusia. Jewish rituals and rules had crystallized and had reached the stage of codification.
Furthermore, Andalusia became a center for Hebrew studies (Durant, 1950: 372; İlhan, 2006:
332- 520; Ashtor, 1984: 45; Mansoor, 1991: 198-199; Stillman, 1979: 40-41). In the cities of
Andalusia, Muslim and Jewish clergy were not only concerned with religious matters, but also
with science and art. Literature, and especially poetry, was extremely powerful, and the most
distinguished products of the Jewish language belonged to this period (Goody, 2012: 288, 320;
Stillman, 1979: 53-58). The education language was Arabic, but in addition to this dominant
language, Hebrew, which was revived under Muslim patronage after being excluded from daily
life for almost a millennium, was also used. This was evident in private letters as well as
sometimes in the judgments of Jewish courts (İlhan, 2006: 518-519; Ashtor 1984: 101-102).
The Jews who mingled with Muslims in Andalusia were greatly influenced by the strong Islamic
civilization and Arab culture around them. Arabic was of great importance not only in
communication but also in the intellectual life. In this period, not only among ordinary Jews, but
as can be seen in the example of Ibn Gabriel, there were many Jewish thinkers who did not
know Hebrew and therefore wrote their works in Arabic rather than their own language,
dressed like Arabs and embraced the cultural codes of Islamic civilization. Maimonides, one of
the leading Jewish figures writing in Arabic of this period, succeeded in presenting a
philosophical analysis of the Jewish faith that would later greatly influence Thomas Aquinas.
As a result of the influence of the Arabic language and culture, some of the Jews converted.
Under these circumstances, the difference between an ordinary Muslim and an ordinary Jew
in Andalusia was extremely small (İlhan, 2006: 170, 271, 511; Goody, 2012: 327; Goiten, 2011:
67; Hodgson, 1995: 350; Attali, 1999: 42; Ashtor, 1984: 7-8; Mansoor, 1991: 186-188).
Unlike Andalusian Christians, who were very knowledgeable in Arabic but did not know
Western languages, the multilingual education of the Jews and their knowledge of the dominant
languages in the Christian world put them in a more advantageous position than Muslims and
Christians in terms of being the carrier and transmitter of culture (Roth, 2002: 19-20; Menocal,
2002: 66). The books that were translated from ancient Greek to Arabic were firstly translated
into Hebrew in Andalusia, and then, were translated from Hebrew into Latin and other
languages before circulating throughout Europe (Grayzel, 1968: 290-292; Mansoor, 1991:
185). Even though the extent to which Muslims shaped the fate of Europe through this
transmission over the Jews is debated and the West argues that its civilization should be
separated from the East in general and Islam in particular, as can be seen in the example of
Dante's teacher Brunetto Latini, the Arabic works, which were translated by Jewish translators
who influenced Western intellectuals, and which were distributed throughout Europe, were
coming from the cities of Andalusia. New interpretations of Greek thought developed by Ibn
Rushd (Averroes) and similar Muslim scholars reached Western thinkers in this way, and
Western languages were influenced by Arabic. Jewish thought was also influenced by two main
sources, Judaism and Islam. In addition to all these, new techniques developed in agriculture,
irrigation, cartography and astronomy in Andalusian cities were transferred to the West from
here and changed the historical destiny of Europe. By that period, only Muslims could balance
the intellectual level reached by the Jewish community. In this sense, there was a gap between
the Christian and pagan peoples and the Jews (Roberts, 2010: 174, 229; Goody, 2012: 280,
283, 351; Durant, 1950: 395, 402, 405; Finkelstein, 1989: 14).
An indication of the privileged status of the Jews in Andalusia was the courts. Andalusian Jews
also enjoyed judicial autonomy with their extremely powerful and organized courts. In these
courts, which consist of three judges elected by the Jewish community in the cities and one
judge in smaller units, the judges can make judgments in areas such as commercial and family
law, from crimes such as insult, slander, theft to crimes that require the death penalty, and they
applied Jewish law. In general, criminals were sentenced to whips and imprisonment, similar
to those in Islamic law. Even if one of the parties was Jewish, it was forbidden to hear the cases
of Muslims in these courts. The Jews had the right to choose a Muslim or Jewish court in
resolving their disputes, and since the Jews were convinced that Muslim judges acted
impartially regardless of religion, they were confident that in many disputes Muslim judges
would render honest decisions. The Jewish community was responsible for the execution of
the decisions rendered in Jewish courts. Therefore, the Jews had their own prisons, which were also another symbol that revealed the dominance of the Jewish community within itself
(Ashtor, 1984: 70, 81; İlhan, 2006: 194-195, 199).
Andalusian Jews could be considered a state within a state or a city within a city due to their
vast autonomy. The Jews were governed by an important administrative body called the
"Community Council" (Vaad Hakahila), which was derived from the Roman practice of city
councils, an institution pre-Islamic and common to all Jewish communities. The members of
this body, consisting of seven people, were elected for one year, based on the Jewish calendar.
The chairman of the Assembly was chosen from among the oldest of the congregation, and
oversaw the social and economic conditions of the congregation (İlhan, 2006: 188). The money
required for the collection of the affairs of the Jewish community was provided by the taxes
called “Mauna” and collected in the community. This tax on slaughtered animals, liquor, and
sometimes court documents was an important revenue item for the Andalusian Jewish
community for centuries. Salaries of the rabbis, hazzans, teachers and the members of the
education and training units under the supervision of the community administration were paid
from this source. A special tax was also allocated for the salaries of judges, court clerks and
staff (İlhan, 2006: 196). In each city, a Jew was obliged to collect the jizya belonging to his
community, to distribute them and to offer them to the administration (İlhan, 2006: 70).
Despite the privileged position of the Jews in Andalusia, they were not included in the state
hierarchy until the tenth century, with exceptions aside. As far as it is known, the process of
including the Jews in government started with Hasdai ibn Shaprut, whose lineage is based on
Ezra family, the Jerusalem exile, who was assigned diplomatic missions and was brought in
charge of foreign trade because he knew Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Spanish. In
comparison with Nizam al-Mulk, who would become the vizier of Malik Shah a century later,
Hasdai brought the Jews into the development process in the fields of science, art and culture
in Andalusia, and he gathered and supported Jewish scientists and artists in his own palace by
following the custom of Muslim rulers and the rich. Thus, the Jews described the cultural
development that started in this period and continued for three hundred years as the “golden
age of Jewish culture” (Durant, 1950: 371-372; Ashtor, 1984: 3; Mansoor, 1991: 267-269;
Menocal, 2002: 79). Hasdai is followed by Samuel Halevi ibn Naghdela, who is accused of
having illegitimate wealth. In 1027, Samuel took the title "Nagid" and was elected head of the
Jews. Samuel, who served as the vizier of finance in the 1030s, was the first Jew to receive the
title of vizier (Mansoor, 1991: 223-225). Samuel's son Joseph followed in his footsteps and
became the religious and political leader of the Jewish community and the vizier of Emir Badis,
who was also the Emir of Granada. Seeing himself above the laws of the Muslims and taking
advantage of the weaknesses of Emir Badis, Joseph's disdain for the sacredness of the Muslims
led to an uprising in 1066, and as a result of this incident, around four thousand Jews were
killed and the Jewish community was punished collectively (Durant, 1950: 372). It is thought
that the reason for this is that Joseph wanted to establish a kingdom of his own in al-Mariyya.
Another example is the family of Ibn Azra. Many Jews of this family have been held in high
positions for generations. During all this process, some of the Jews who took part in the service
of Muslims showed up in the field of diplomacy in relations related to both internal and external
events of Andalusia, thanks to the foreign languages they knew. It has also been the case that
Jews sometimes appeared in the diplomatic field, not on an individual basis, but in the form of
a delegation. Both Muslims and Christian administrations benefited from this diplomatic service offered by the Jews (İlhan, 2006: 135-136, 160). Nevertheless, contrary to Muslims, the
Christian world reflected these needs of Jews as anger towards Judaism (Attali, 1999: 41).
While the Jewish community was a loyal subject and social component during the times when
Muslims had a strong dominance in Andalusia, with the weakening of the emirates, they acted
together with the Christian kingdoms in the attacks which was started by the Church and
Catholic kings in the 11th century to liquidate Andalusia, to end the long history of Islam in
Europe, and to purify the Christian continent from these “parasites” (Attali, 1999: 36-37). This
attitude, which means the end of the Jewish “Golden Age,” is ascribed to the Jewish
community's reflex of self-preservation (Mansoor, 1991: 293; İlhan, 2006: 152-153, 157-158).
Even though the Jews received high-level representation in the kingdoms in the reconquest
process as reward for their attitudes, they could not avoid the exile in 1492 and the subsequent
inquisition process (Neuman, 1942: 220). Whatever the factors that triggered the process, the
collapse of Andalusia marked the end of the "Golden Age" for the Jewish community. King
Ferdinand, with an edict issued on March 31, 1492, demanded that all Jews leave Spain within
four months (Finkelstein, 1989: 1, 7). For a century after this date, the only thing that Andalusian
Jews experienced was exile and Inquisition Courts (Attali, 1999: 46).
7. Conclusion/Discussion/Suggestions
Within the 1,200-year history of the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula, the five centuries of Islamic
Andalusian period perhaps constitutes the culmination of the experience of living together.
During this period, the Jewish community advanced in many fields, especially in language,
education, culture, social life, law and economy, and Jews led a prosperous and semiautonomous life compared to their coreligionists in other parts of the world. This stage that the
Jews came also contributed greatly to the formation of modern Europe because the resources
transferred to Europe by Jewish clergy, translators, diplomats and traders enabled Europe to
introduce rational thought, and thus Europe had the opportunity and courage for a new
breakthrough in many areas of life. The influence of this period, which the Jews refer to as the
"Golden Age", is still alive in Jewish consciousness.
Another significance of Andalusia for the Jewish community is that, despite the fact that they
were repeatedly massacred by adherents of the second of the three religions rooted in
Abraham, followers of the third, Islam, rarely spoke to Jews in a punitive language. Therefore,
when Andalusia collapsed completely, the main preference of the Jews who wanted to get rid
of the Inquisition and preserve their identity was again the Muslim countries.
Today, compared to Ashkenazi Jews, the descendants of Andalusia's Sephardic Jews have
little or no influence. This makes it difficult for a new language to emerge between Muslims and
Jews. In order to return the relations between Muslims and Jews to the peaceful and tolerant
language of Andalusia, this historical experience needs to be well understood, evaluated and
updated.
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