Why did Christians Muslims and Jews prosper for centuries in Spain?

Answer 1

During the Islamic occupation of Spain, Christians and Jews were not persecuted, and were allowed to prosper. The Muslims encouraged learning, bringing medical, scientific, mathematical and philosophical knowledge from Arabia, where much ancient European knowledge had been preserved throughout the Dark Ages of Europe.

Answer 2

Ultimately what allowed all of these three religions to co-exist and its adherence to live in harmony side-by-side in Spain is Islamic law and teachings. These still exist today however two things are to be considered which are now different: A) the Followers of the religions then and now. The Muslims, Jews and Christians all followed their religions, and believed in God. The Muslims then upheld their religion and followed it to a T, following the Quran (Islam's holy text) and the Sunnah ( the Teachings of their Prophet Mohammad); which if looked at now or then, is the same: as it enforces and demands peace, justice and equity regardless of color, gender, religion and creed and offers all peace and mutual rights to live freely and not be harmed... so long ONE condition is fulfilled that the rule of the land is NOT secular and that ONLY one God is worshiped (ie. the creator) and if anyone were not to do so they had "no right" to do so. B) Jews and Christians were not oppressed (see authentic text and stories of that time period by each respectively) and had to pay a tax which went to the poor.

Answer 3

Issues with the Question
The view held in the question is false and the result of an oversimplified view of what happened in Islamic Spain. To claim that "Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived in harmony in Islamic Spain" would be just as oversimplified as to claim that "Blacks and Whites live in harmony in the United States". While there are certainly cordial relations and even friendships between individual members of these groups, there is a strong level of antagonism for historical and current wrongs done to the legally weaker community by the legally empowered one.

Additionally, we need to narrow the question to the Umayyad Period (711-1038), which was when toleration in the Muslim-Ruled part of Spain, called Al-Andalus, was at its greatest heights. However, when the Umayyad Dynasty ended in 1038, the Islamic toleration ended with it. While Muslims continued to rule part of Spain for over 450 more years, pogroms against Jews and Christian dramatically increased in the Muslim-controlled regions, especially during the Almohad Caliphate's expansion to Spain (1172-1248).

Discussion of Toleration
Within the Umayyad Period, the notion of toleration for other religions is very different than it is currently understood, namely that toleration at that point was seen as an Islamic gift to others and Islam remains in charge whereas the modern understanding is that toleration is based on the fact that no religion has the high-ground and all people should respect each other as equals. As long as they did not rebel, Jews and Christians were allowed to live in Islamic Spain by right of the sovereign, meaning that they could be expelled at the wish of the sovereign. Additionally, while they lived in the the Umayyad Empire, they had to submit to unfair taxation (such as the jizya and kharaj), being restricted to certain neighborhoods, being unable to openly preach or practice "insulting parts of their faith", and having serious difficulties in protecting their legal rights (such as giving witness testimony). Since the "deal" for Jews in the Umayyad Empire was better than it was in other places and the Umayyad Rulers presided over an economic boom which encouraged Christian migration from the impoverished north of Spain, this created an explosion of knowledge, arts, and culture within the Umayyad world.

Related Questions
Please also see these related questions which address some of the sentiment in the question:

• What was the treatment of Non-Muslims under Muslim Rule?
• Are there any rules governing Muslims in relation to Non-Muslims?
• What is the Non-Muslim perspective on how they were treated by the Muslim Conquerors?

• What are jizya and zakat?