In the tenth century, Cordoba (spain) was indeed a prosperous, diverse, Muslim-occupied city. Muslim rule was so laid-back that the Christians started to get the crazy idea that they might actually be able to reclaim their homeland. In the eleventh century, as pockets of Christian resistance to Muslim occupation began to grow, the Muslim rulers of Spain panicked and brought in a North African Berber tribe called the Almoravids to crush the resistance. The Almoravids ended up seizing power for themselves, until they were eventually supplanted by another Berber tribe, the Almohads.

The Almoravids and the Almohads were brutal and repressive, bringing a reign of terror down on Christians, and forcing Jews to convert or flee.

Yes, supporters of the mosque are correct: Cordoba was an enlightened, tolerant place by the standards of the time (in the tenth century). And yes, critics of the mosque are correct: it was a barbarous, intolerant place (in the eleventh century).

“The family of the Jewish philosopher Maimonides was born in Cordoba and Moses ben Maimon spent his childhood there. Until, that is, the Muslims arrived.” This is a grievous assault on the truth. When Maimonides was born, Cordoba had already long been under Muslim rule. Maimonides studied the Torah openly and freely with his father. When he was thirteen, the repressive fundamentalists took over, and he and his family fled.

There are several aspects of Imam Rauf’s use of “Cordoba” that should be examined.

To begin with, the occupying Muslims in the tenth century might have been relatively benign, but they were still occupiers. Cordoba was a city in which the native Christians had been conquered by Muslims and robbed of control of their homeland. Benign or not, it was still an occupation, a conquest. Cordoba is therefore a loaded name for a mosque that even the Associated Press admits was intentionally placed close to Ground Zero.

Moreover, Rauf’s belief that the Islamic Cordoba era should be celebrated is an odd position for a Muslim activist to take, because he’s essentially stating that there is and can be such a thing as a “good occupation,” just as long as the occupiers are more advanced, enlightened, and tolerant than the people they’ve conquered.

source- David A. Stein is a historian and documentary film producer in Los Angeles.