Treatment of Jews Under the Spanish Islamic Empire

In 610 CE, Muhammad first founded the religion known as Islam. It soon spread out through the Middle East, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Spain. Once Muhammad died, new Muslim leaders took over the Islamic Empire. Known as caliphs, they ruled the Muslim community instead of Muhammad. When Islam reached Spain, the Jews living there were affected in a positive way. The Jews of the Muslim world led a fair and comfortable life under the Caliphate, however, once the Caliphates were gone, the Jewish golden age was terminated.

Society in Spain under the Umayyads, who were an Islamic caliphate hailing from Mecca, allowed communities to feel more comfortable than they had before, when they were being ruled by the Visigoths. The Visigoths were a Germanic tribe, ruling the Iberian Peninsula. Many people were miserable under the Visigothic rule, especially Jews. Jews were most likely given the choice of converting to Christianity, death, or exile. The Visigoths wanted the Jews to be crushed and humiliated.

When the Muslims invaded Spain in 712, people were happier because they were being treated better than they had been by the Visigoths. The Muslims even allowed the Serfs, who were agricultural laborers bound under a feudal system, to get promoted in their social standing in society and become freemen. This could happen if they simply converted to Islam. Once the Muslims took over, it gave Jews a chance to recover from persecutions from the Christians who ruled before. The Muslims would not harass people whose religion was not Islam, because they understood that some communities had their own religion which was important to them. Jews were also treated better, and were not as low class in the community as they had been under the Visi...

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