Both during the Muslim domination of the Iberian Peninsula and in the humongous Ottoman Empire, Muslims were very accepting of people practicing other religions. This was true both for the territories where non-Muslims were a minority and the regions where they were a big majority.
This lasted for almost 1,000 years, and in all that time, the Christian kingdoms and empires were in a constant state of extreme hysteria over the idea that Muslims existed.
Every religion and culture changes its nature over time. The India of the Kama Sutra had a severe turn toward asceticism. Often, there are global trends, so if Christians in the West are doing one thing, there is a cross-infection going on and a parallel movement elsewhere in the world, which may not necessarily be dependent on what one or the other is doing, but on the internal logic or evolution of thought processes. The movement toward patriachal modes of thought was based, most probably, on a semi-scientific insight regarding the one side of the dialectic with regard to insemination. So we proceed — semi-scientifically and intuitively. Often we emulate each other’s bad habits, not just the good. Sometimes, there is a sudden shift and what was mostly good can take a turn for the worse.
LikeLike
Thanks for the reminder, Clarissa. We need to be reminded, on a day when terrorism is again in the news, of the potential for Muslims and all people to live in peace. However, I’m scared to death that violence is spiraling out of control. And I believe U.S. military actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Syria, are a big part of the problem.
LikeLike
How history do change. At present there’s not a single muslim majority country with anything that anyone here would recognize as freedom of religion or freedom of speech.
Even Turkey which has a lot going for it is withdrawing into authoritarianism and all forms of secularism are in retreat while big daddy Erdogan wants women to cover their heads, no one to drink (even tourists) and everybody to learn Ottoman Turkish (a horrible boondoggle of a language).
While Christians passed through some dark times to create to the greatest civilizations with the most freedom the world has known.
LikeLike
Not a single may be a bit of a stretch. Senegal is a Muslim majority country and even Freedom House has it ranked as free for 2014.
LikeLike
There’s no better way to find out about exceptions than by making blanket statements. I’m encouraged about Senegal. To what extent are native practices mixed with Islam. I remember many years ago seeing the Senegalese movie Xala (now on youtube!) and I would not have assumed the characters were muslim (even though the main character has the title hadji.
Also Indonesia perhaps (though it’s headed in an intolerant direction overall).
LikeLike
I have to offer a different viewpoint. I come from a country that was under the Ottoman Empire for some 500 years. The Ottomans were far from sweethearts, I can tell you that. A lot of very scary stuff they did remains in our national collective minds. But, pertinent to this post, forceful religious conversion was frequent. The most beloved meat of my homeland is pork, not accidentally as a form of defiance.
LikeLike
Of course, they were not tolerant in our contemporary interpretation of the word but comparatively. Christians at that time would just throw everybody out and burn the rest to death.
LikeLike
[…] Muslims and Christians: History […]
LikeLike
A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
Leave a comment