Myth of Tolerance in Muslim Golden Age

https://ballandalus.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/beyond-tolerance-and-intolerance-deconstructing-the-myth-of-the-islamic-golden-age/
"Although it is certainly true that there was a large degree of coexistence of faiths in medieval Spain and some important examples of toleration, there was also a great deal of intolerance. In fact, some of the most brutal episodes in Islamic history occurred in al-Andalus. In 1066 a Muslim mob murdered nearly 4000 Jews in Granada (the first major pogrom to occur in Europe), while in the twelfth century the Almohad dynasty forced all Jews and Christians in al-Andalus and North Africa to convert to Islam (or choose exile); among the most important of these exiles was the Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (d. 1204). The works of various Muslim philosophers and theologians, including both al-Ghazali (d. 1111) and Ibn Rushd (d. 1198), were publicly burned in the courtyard of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. Other episodes, such as the Martyrs of Cordoba (851-859) and destruction of Santiago de Compostela (999), also show that al-Andalus cannot simply be reduced to a paradise of tolerance. The existence of oppressive institutions, such as slavery and the social stratification of Andalusi society also underscores this point. However, just as we should not claim that al-Andalus was a haven of tolerance based on several examples and anecdotes, we should also not reduce Andalusi history to a sequence of ravages and massacres, as some anti-Islamic thinkers have done."
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"Iranian, Turkish and South Asian Muslim history also abounds with episodes of intolerance and atrocities. Timur is said to have left several towers of 100,000 skulls behind following his sack of Delhi in 1399. Between 1501 and 1520, the Safavid dynasty violently and forcefully imposed Shi’ite doctrine upon the Iranian plateau, murdering tens of thousands of Sunnis, while the Ottoman sultan Selim I had about 40,000 Shi’ites killed in Anatolia between 1512 and 1515 alone. The mutual excommunication of the Safavid and Ottoman Empires also demonstrates that, even in intra-Muslim relations, intolerance could thrive. However, this list of atrocities does not mean we should take these developments out of their specific context and justify using them to paint an image of medieval Muslim civilization as a bastion of savagery and intolerance. Just as any rational person would reject the construction of a grand narrative of Islamic history based on this list of atrocities, so too should the grand narratives that are built upon anecdotes of toleration and coexistence also be problematized."


https://ballandalus.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/the-conversion-of-iran-to-twelver-shiism-a-preliminary-historical-overview/
Between 1501 and 1510, Ḥaydar’s son, Ismā‘īl utilized this spiritual authority to mobilize his Kizilbash followers to conquer all the regions between eastern Anatolia and Khurasān. He successfully overthrew the remnants of the Aqquyūnlū dynasty and set out to conquer a large swathe of territory, seizing the Shirvanid capital of Baku (1500), Tabriz (1501), Isfahan (1503), as well as the old ‘Abbāsid capital of Baghdad (1508), and established his sovereignty over Persia, Azerbaijan, Eastern Anatolia, and Iraq, effectively unifying the old territories of Iran for the first time in centuries.[xii] In 1510, he defeated and killed the Uzbek ruler Shaybānī Khān (d. 1510) and extended his rule into Khurāsān and brought both Mashhad and Herat under his control.[xiii] Following his conquests, he established Twelver Shi‘ism as the state religion throughout his domains, and violently imposed this creed upon his (largely Sunni) subjects in Iran, Iraq, and Azerbaijan by introducing the Shi‘i call to prayer and instituting the practice of sabb whereby the first three Caliphs, the Prophet’s wife ‘Ā’isha, and a number of the Prophet’s Companions were ritually cursed and vilified.[xiv] This practice was particularly emphasized in regions where the majority of the population was Sunni, and most of the population was forced to engage in it or face persecution. There are examples of several prominent clerics being executed for their refusal to publicly participate in this practice. Sufis, in particular, were the target of violence as a later Safavid Shi‘i source indicates: “Isma‘il crushed all the silsilahs (Sufi orders); the graves of their ancestors were destroyed, not to mention what befell their successors…he eradicated most of the silsilahs of sayyids and shaykhs.”[xv] Moreover, Ismā‘īl’s conquests were accompanied by mass violence against Sunni communities, the devastation of their property, and the destruction of  shrines, including those of the important figures of Abu Ḥanīfa (d. 767) and ‘Abd al-Qādir Gīlānī (d. 1166) in Baghdad.[xvi]
Various massacres also took place: 10,000 were executed near Hamadan in 1503; 4000 members of the Kaziruni Sufi order were murdered in Fars, while all the tombs of rival Sufi orders were desecrated; ten thousand refuges and dissenters who took up refuge in Asta were put to the sword; the entire cities of Yazd, Tabas and Abarquh was slaughtered, tens of thousands of people in these three cities alone according to Safavid chronicles; in Khurasan, the tomb of Abd al-Rahman Jami (d. 1492) was destroyed and the entire population of Qarshi—about 15,000 people—massacred.[xvii]  The violent institutionalization of Shi‘ism and the brutal eradication of Sunni Islam in the lands under Safavid rule was meant to announce the arrival of a new dispensation, one which was predicated on the defeat of bāṭil (“falsehood”; identified with Sunni Islam) and the elevation of ḥaqq (“truth”, which could only be Shi’ism). The Sunni community of Iran, which had existed for centuries in the country, was permanently destroyed between the early sixteenth and late seventeenth centuries through a sustained process of mass violence, forced conversion, exile, the destruction of religious institutions (Sufi orders, mosques, and networks of scholars), and a concentrated program of religious propaganda aimed at transforming the country into a bastion of Twelver Shi‘ism. By the late seventeenth century, the only Sunni communities that remained were those  residing along Iran’s frontiers and they were treated with varying degrees of toleration.


http://search.jang.com.pk/print/127637-tabnak-mazi-ki-haqiqaat
زبک ماہر طب بو علی سینا جسے مغرب نے "Father of modern medicine"قرار دیا ،زندگی بھر اپنے افکار و نظریات کے باعث راندہ درگاہ رہے ،یہاں تک کہ اس دور کے علماء نے انہیں مرتد اور واجب القتل تک قرار دے ڈالا۔جابر بن حیان کا شمار بو علی سینا کے لائق ترین شاگردوں میں ہوتا ہے جنہوں نے کیمسٹری کی بیشمار گتھیاں سلجھائیں،ان کی کتاب زیست کاہر ورق تذلیل و تحقیر سے عبارت ہے۔جابر بن حیان کو کئی بار جیل کی ہوا کھانا پڑی، چوراہوں میں باندھ کر سرعام کوڑے برسائے جاتے، یہاں تک کہ ان مظالم کی تاب نہ لاتے ہوئے دماغی توازن کھو بیٹھا۔لبنانی نژاد فرانسیسی مصنف امین معلوف ـ’’سمرقندـ‘‘ میں جابر بن حیان کی حالت زار عمر خیام کے الفاظ میں یوں بیان کرتے ہیں:’’ایک دراز قد بوڑھا زمین پر چت پڑا تھا۔اسکے سینے اور ٹانگوں کی چوڑی چکلی ہڈیاں صاف نظر آ رہی تھیں ۔اس کے ننگے سانولے سر پر چند سفید بال نظر آ رہے تھے۔اس کی خوف واشتعال سے نکلنے والی چیخیں اب قدرے تھم چکی تھیں اور وہ لمبی لمبی سسکیاں بھر رہا تھا۔وہ عمر خیام کو التجائیہ نظروں سے دیکھ رہا تھا۔اس بدقسمت شخص کے گرد درجن بھر صاحب ایمان ہونے کا دعویٰ کرنے والے کھڑے تھے جن کے ہاتھوں میں نوکدار لاٹھیاں تھیں۔ان میں سے ایک نے عمر خیام کے چہرے پر خوفناک تاثرات ابھرتے دیکھ کر تسلی دی کہ پریشان مت ہو ،یہ تو لنگڑا جابر ہے‘‘جابر بن حیان کو پٹنے سے بچانے کی کوشش میں عمر خیام خود بھی اس مشتعل ہجوم کے ہتھے چڑھ گیا اور اسے قاضی القضاء کی عدالت میں پیش کیا گیا۔سمرقند میں کیمیا گری ناقابل تلافی جرم تھا کیونکہ اس دور کے ایک بہت بڑے مفسر نے کیمسٹری کو شیطانی اور جادوئی علم قرار دیتے ہوئے اس کی تعلیم کو حرام اور غیر شرعی قرار دے ڈالا تھا۔جس عمر خیام کو ہم مسلمانوں کے ماتھے کا جھومر سمجھتے ہیں،اس کی رباعیات پڑھ کر دیکھ لیں ،آپ کے چودہ طبق روشن ہو جائیں گے۔الرازی جیسا ماہر طبعیات جس نے 184کتابیں لکھیں ،جس نے کیروسین سمیت بیشمار کیمیکل دریافت کئے ،جس نے پہلی مرتبہ یہ انکشاف کیا کہ بخار کسی بھی بیماری کے خلاف لڑنے کیلئے فطری مدافعانہ نظام کا مظہر ہے۔اس کی کتابیں جلا دی گئیں ،اسے گستاخ اور مرتد قرار دیا گیا کیونکہ اس نے ’’مخارق الانبیاء ‘‘ اور ’’حیل المتنبین‘‘جیسی کتابیں تحریر کیں۔آپ بھی جب مسلمانوں کے سنہری دور کا تذکرہ کرتے ہوئے الرازی کا حوالہ دیں تو اس کی کتابوں کی ورق گردانی ضرور کر لیں اور پھر فیصلہ کریں کہ ہمارا معاشرہ ایسے لوگوں کا متحمل ہو سکتا ہے یا نہیں۔اندلس کے عظیم فلسفی ابن رشد نے تنگ نظری کے کنویں میں عقل و خرد کے پتھر پھینکنا شروع کئے تو بھونچال آ گیا اور اس کے ہم عقیدہ مولوی ہی نہیں ،عیسائیت اور یہودیت کے پرچارک مُلا بھی اس پر پل پڑے۔خلیفہ ء وقت یعقوب المنصور نے ناخلف اور گستاخ قرار دیتے ہوئے ابن رشد کی کتابیں جلانے کا حکم دیدیا اورقرطبہ میں داخلے پر پابندی عائد کر دی گئی۔
مرزا مقبول بیگ بدخشانی کی کتاب جو ہمارے ہاں اردو ترجمہ کے بعد ’’ادب نامہ ایران ‘‘ کے نام سے شائع ہوئی۔اس میں البیرونی سے سلطان محمود غزنوی کے ’’حسن سلوک ‘‘ کا تذکرہ موجود ہے۔خوارزم کی فتح کے بعد غزنوی نے اسے ایک دن اپنے باغیچے میں طلب کیا اور کہا،تم بڑے پھنے خان بنے پھرتے ہو ،ذرا بتائو ،آج ہم کس دروازے سے باہر جائیں گے ؟اگر جواب درست نہ ہوا تو تمہاری گردن مار دی جائے گی۔البیرونی نے کاغذ پر جواب لکھ کر تہہ کیا اور ایک درباری کے حوالے کر دیا۔سلطان ہنسنے لگا اور کہا ،آج میں نے تمہاری جھوٹی علمیت کا بھانڈا پھوڑ ڈالا ۔تم نے جو بھی جواب لکھا ہو گا غلط ہو گا کیونکہ ہم آج کسی دروازے کے بجائے دیوار توڑ کر باہر جانے کا ارادہ رکھتے ہیں۔البیرونی نے کہا ،حضور ! پہلے جواب تو ملاحظہ فرما لیں۔پرچی کھولی گئی تو اس پر یہی لکھا تھا کہ آج بادشاہ سلامت دیوار توڑنے کا حکم دیں گے اور نئے راستے سے باہر جائیں گے۔یہ جان کر محمود غزنوی آگ بگولہ ہو گئے اور حکم دیا کہ اس بد بخت کو محل کی چھت سے نیچے پھینک دیا جائے۔ یہ ایک الگ کہانی ہے کہ البیرونی کس طرح موت کے منہ سے بچ نکلا لیکن یہ ہے اس تابناک ماضی کی حقیقت جس کے پرچار اور خمار نے ہمارا حال بد حال اور مستقبل مخدوش کر رکھا ہے۔


http://www.mmisi.org/ir/41_02/fernandez-morera.pdf
Contrary to popular opinion, Jews were not very numerous, either in Andalusia or in Catholic Spain,  but for a time Jewish garrisons kept an eye on Catholics populations in key cities like Cordoba, Granada, and Toledo. Jewish leaders achieved positions of power, as visirs (prime ministers), bankers, and counselors. Others wrote brilliant literary works, mostly in Arabic. Jews thus formed for a time an intermediary class between the hegemonic Muslims and the defeated Catholics. This was the so-called “Spanish Jewish Golden Age.” But Jews remained dhimmi, a group subject to and serving the Muslim rulers.
These presumably “best of times” ended in any event with the arrival of the jihadist almoravides and almohades. Jews as well as Catholics fell victim to their religious zeal. Many Jews migrated to Catholic lands, where some became important writers (the author of the Zohar) and men of influence (diplomats, bankers, tax collectors, finance ministers to kings). They participated in the achievements of the reign of Alfonso X “The Learned” of Leon and Castile (1221- 1284), who gathered in Toledo speakers of many languages and ordered the translation of Arabic moral works such as the Calila e Dimna along with the production of Spanish scientific, legal, and historical treatises, and who himself wrote lyric poems in Spanish and a classic of Galician literature, the Cantigas de Santa María.