Moors' reign in Spain
From Mr David Watkins Sir: Mark Steyn (`The triumph of American values'. 7 September) predicts that in a few decades Holland will be a predominantly Muslim country. Though it's hard to overestimate the influence and masochistic folly of 'liberal' opinion. I don't think that will ever be allowed to happen. But if it does, Holland will not be the first Islamic country in western Europe since the loss of Spain. It will be the first ever.
We can't say how many Muslims were in Spain when it was ruled by the Moors, but certainly they were never anything like a majority. That is what is forgotten when the tolerance of Muslim-ruled Spain is favourably compared with the bloodstained bigotry of Christian Europe. The Moors could never have administered Spain without employing numerous Christians and Jews in positions of trust, any more than the British could have administered India without the help of many Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. They could no more have forced the Spaniards to convert to Islam than we could have forced the Indians to convert to Christianity. The relative tolerance of the Moors — as, later, of the Ottomans and the Moguls — does not show that Islam is a tolerant faith, only that Muslim rulers are seldom insane.
David Watkins
Pon tcanna Cardiff
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