STORY SUMMARY

Hisham Melhem, a prominent Lebanese journalist, recalls an emotional visit to the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain last May.

That question of lost greatness has vexed Arabs for centuries, and it was painfully visible last week as Egypt lurched forward into a new moment of bloodshed and political turmoil.

It wasn’t only Muslims who prospered in 9th-century Andalusia, but Jews and Christians as well.

The Cordoban spirit of pluralism was described by Maria Rosa Menocal in her 2003 book, “The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain”. She described how the Arab Muslim rulers of the time promoted a freedom of thought that, in addition to producing great art and the beginnings of modern mathematics and science, also allowed other religions to prosper.

This ethic of tolerance – so central to the zenith of Muslim culture – is precisely what seems missing in so many Arab countries today.

To rediscover the golden age symbolized by “Al-Andalus,” the Arab Muslim world must recapture the inclusive spirit that sustained Cordoba and Granada.

Read more: http://dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2013/Jul-15/223499-why-has-chaos-emerged-from-sublime-arab-culture.ashx#ixzz2Z6LLIGTc
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)