“What’s in a Name? Córdoba’s History and Modern Consequence,” By Reid Smith

Posted on September 5th, 2010 | Filed under Faith and Politics, InterViews

Recently, investors behind the controversial 13-story Islamic community center destined to be built blocks from Ground Zero announced a nondescript new name for the project – “Park51” – after the development’s address at 51 Park Place.

The center was originally christened the “Córdoba House” in an understated allusion to the intellectual legacy of Moorish Andalusia. Unfortunately, the project’s label raised objection from high-profile detractors such as Newt Gingrich who found the reference “deliberately insulting.” Who would have guessed the Umayyad defeat of the Visigoths in 8th century al-Andalus would so offend Gingrich’s sense of good taste in 2010?

However skewed the historical perspective, Mr. Gingrich’s sentiments have been roundly echoed. Despite rebranding the project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s would-be community center has been taken to task for its location, its mission and its name. Sadly, efforts to promote dialogue have been re-imagined as a cunning endorsement of a medieval Caliphate that conquered Christendom and ruled Spain’s non-Muslims with an iron fist.

So, what’s in a name, anyways? Apparently, that which we shall oppose.

Political pundits – most of whom should know better – are eager to spitball hysterical allusions about Park51. It’s been deemed a cultural insult on par with the construction of a Japanese naval museum at Pearl Harbor or a Radovan Karadzic shrine at Srebrenica. That a so-called “mega-mosque” might be constructed near Ground Zero is not a win for tolerance and religious freedom; rather, it has been cast as a victory lap for radical jihad and the keystone of an Islamo-American caliphate. Now, "from Sea to shining Sea", hundreds of miles from lower Manhattan, proposed mosques have met with similar protest. In Murfreesboro, Sheybogan, and Temecula, protestors would deny their fellow Americans the right to worship peacefully.

Amid the anger, the legacy of Córdoba has been lost. Those insulted by the name seem determined to forget that for many Muslims, the “Saracenic” capital of Córdoba marked a high water mark for Islamic cultural partnership, technological advancement and religious harmony.

So let’s revisit history.

Muslim Spain began with the establishment of the Andalusian Ummayad dynasty, that lasted from 756 to 1031 AD. Abd al-Rahman founded the Emirate of Córdoba, and is credited with inspiring a “golden age” of learning where both Muslims and non-Muslims made major contributions to society and culture, at large. At its height, Córdoba was home to some 500,000 residents, 60,000 palaces, 900 public baths, 700 mosques, and 70 libraries making it the most sophisticated polity in medieval Europe. Tolerance was a basic tenet of Andalusian culture, and the Muslim, Jewish and Christian population collaborated to develop the global epicenter of theology, astronomy, mathematics, nutrition, philosophy, social theory and law. Commercial banking, three-course meals, the medical discipline of surgery – mercifully complimented by the practice of inhalant anesthesia – and Europe’s first street lamps emerged from this early age of enlightenment. Of course, such achievement would not have been realized had the scholarly class not reached a life expectancy of up to 75 years by the 11th century.

Christian scholars visiting Spain from France and England translated Arabic versions of Greek classics and the works of Muslim philosophers into Latin. Thomas Aquinas glowingly cited the work of Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina, who were even given Latin names – Averroes and Avicenna – so celebrated was their work in Christendom. Aquinas explored many of the same topics as his Muslim peers in Córdoba, and believed that rational discourse could link Christianity and Islam. All believed in reason over violence. Contrast this to the logic of contemporary Crusade-think that held the slaughter of Muslims glorified Christ, and one can better appreciate Córdoba’s legacy of tolerance.

Córdoba brought the three Abrahamic faiths together in relative peace and harmony. Muslims recognized Jews and Christians as "people of the Book" and they were generally left to follow their own faith and customs provided they paid a small tax. Sadly, when Córdoba was recaptured by Christian forces during the Reconquista in 1236, it quickly became a hub of activity against Spain’s remaining Muslim population. Ultimately, however, many of the city’s advancements were inherited by Europe and laid the groundwork for both the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution.

Would medieval Córdoba be considered tolerant by 21st century, American standards? Probably not. However, Jews, Christians and Muslims did manage to live, work and learn together due to an intricate and enduring culture of tolerance. They aspired to build a working society that the valued its religious freedoms, open debate, scientific achievement, art and architecture.

Of course, none of this is new or uncommon knowledge. Yet it stands in contrast to the notion that the Córdoba Initiative is a deliberate insult to American tolerance. So while the name of the mosque and community center has been changed, one must hope its historical legacy will remain.

Perhaps a reconsideration of our neighbors, our faith and our future together will help in the healing. It can begin with Córdoba, both past and present.

Reid Smith has worked as a research associate specializing on U.S. policy in the Middle East and as a political speechwriter. He joined the University of Delaware’s Department of Political Science and International Relations as a graduate associate and doctoral candidate in fall 2010, and writes a regular blog for the Foreign Policy Association regarding Iraq.