Book Review - The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal



My brother gave me this book for Christmas and what a most delightful read it was, capturing the Golden Age of Al-Andalus, where Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in relative harmony, how Muslim-Christian relations were not black and white and how fundamentalists on both sides created conflict.

I think it would cause your average 'clash of civilization' idiot's brain to explode, that while the rest of Europe clawed its way out of the pieces of the Roman empire, the light of civilization still shone at the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba, how the city's vast library would prove a treasure trove for translators and would give a boost to learning in the rest of Medieval Europe that the Christians under Umayyad rule translated their ancient liturgy into Arabic and how this developed into the Mozarabic language.

How tangled relations were with Christian kingdoms after the fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba as each Taifa fought to become its successor, take for example El Cid, who served both Christian and Muslim masters in his long military career.

The book provides wonderful snapshots of Al-Andalus at various stages of its history, well worth reading if you are despairing about the present day rush for 'clash of civilizations' .