The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

Well written for the casually interested reader. And an important era to understand and appreciate. Very digestible semi independent chapters. Lot’s of fun nuggets and historical anecdotes

"The Ornament of the World. How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture Tolerance in Medieval Spain" by Maria Rosa Menocal inspired me to research “Convivencia” at Al-Andalus and the Caliphate of Cordoba, Spain, between the years 756 to 1031. This research is published on Researchgate website entitled "Convivencia: A Model for Peace between Muslim, Christian and Jewish Cultures"Maria Rosa Monecal describes beautifully the period of almost four centuries, when Medieval Spain was ruled by the Moors and the believers in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam lived together in peace and harmony. La Convivencia refers to this coexistence.For over 400 years, knowledge and mysticism thrived in the Spanish towns of Cordoba, Toledo and Granada, as students and teachers in all three disciplines helped one another to learn, translate, and understand ancient teachings. Unprecedented level of scientific, philosophical, and metaphysical discovery, rendering medieval Spain the ornament of the world influencing many in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa for years to come.While reading this book I recall being at my mother's side, who over the years taught me to cherish the values between religions, races and genders and the importance of trying to understand the interdependence between us. Like me, she was born in Andalusia, and I can now understand that many of her Christian values must have also originated from that period in Southern Spain.In my book "Network Africa A Complex System" I describes my experiences living and working in countries with very different social environments influenced by Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish religions. The importance of that interdependence between religions, races and genders was a key factor in living the spirit of Convivencia.I have also read Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' book "Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence". This is also a brilliant and well written book on Abrahamic religions over the ages that gives an in-depth understanding of this complex and important group of cultures and religions that have left their mark on civilization. It adds profound yet clear pointers of how to prevent political power from taking the world into a destructive war scenarios like they are developing in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.Both these books describe the critical importance of addressing the deteriorating conditions that dominate our lives and those in power who are being driven to deal with the aggressive forces through military interventions, when we have an example of how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam lived together in peace and harmony.

Last year I took a day tour from Malaga to Cordoba, Spain to view the Cathedral /Mosque, Mezequita. Being overwhelmed in that one day tour I needed to spend more time, so six months later I spent several days there learning what Andalusia was all about. I was taken back by the history that Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in somewhat harmony for over three hundred years. Imagine that in today’s time period.The author, a Yale University expert on Iberian history, writes in an unbiased form about the complexities of life in the al Andalus during the middle ages in which Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived and prospered in harmony for centuries. All while to the north Europeans were in a cultural ice age starving during Charlemagne’s reign.I purchased the book to understand more about the Mezquita and Its history with questions that were not answered on my travels. First, why is the mihrab facing south? Second, where is Medinat al-Zahra, and how did the Christians get the gothic cathedral into the mosque without destroying the outer walls or the famous arches. Most of my questions were answered in this work. Unfortunately, I am still searching for the latter.This book is basically a historical account of al Andalus and its impact on western civilization up to the present. The many mini-bios in the book reveal the influence of these lives that either derived or past through the Andalusian sphere of influence to contribute to the culture of the West. I enjoyed the chapters that showed the Burgundian influence in the Iberian landscape commencing during the mid-12th Century.For the confused amateur historian like myself clarity and definition of many words are furnished by the author such as : dhimmi, Almohads, Sefaradic, mihrab,et cetera. This is a great book for someone not familiar with Iberian history and its influence on western civilization.

The author accomplishes what she sets out to do. It is an engaging read and well done. I highly recommend.

I love this book , written with great love for coexistence

I read The Ornament of the World during a recent journey through al-Andalus and Morocco and it became an inspiring guidebook, whose stories manage to tie together so many threads of the region's cultural past. It is also a welcome challenge to the prevailing prejudices of the Christian version of history which we in the west are so familiar with.

His is book is exactly what I wanted and arrived in perfect condition.

This is one of the explorations of Medieval Spain everyone should read. Brilliant analysis by Menocal that describes how Moslems, Jews and Christians not only lived together but also shared Arabic as a courtly language.

I got this first on kindle and then could not put the 'book' down, and now have a pb. On one side it is full of history - presented not as a conventional history, but a series of snippets which form a picture of nearly 500 years of the history of Analucia. The Muslim influence in Spain is as profound as the Roman occupation on English. Apart from the example which gives the book its title, for living and working in harmony, it also acknowledges the debt Europe has to pre-12thc. Spain, and Andalucia in particular.What comes through is the 'feel' of a place, once ruled by an intelligent and open hearted Muslim dynasty - too open for some as later events showed. People do not learn from history: to invite a more aggressively militant group in to support the fight against an aggressive neighbour always carries the potential risk that the 'aid' may take over. The book ends with the reminder that conflicts involving those who lived once together, has not ended. A lovely serious in intent, but very accessible look at something that was much more than just a historical event.