Muslims, Christians, and Jews co-existed for over seven centuries in the Iberian Peninsula during the era of Al-Andalus states. The degree to which the Christians and the Jews were tolerated by their Muslim rulers is a subject widely contested among historians. The history of Al-Andalus indicates that Muslims, Christians, and Jews who lived within Al-Andalus had relatively peaceful relations, with the exception of a few scattered revolts, and times of religious persecution. The great amount of cultural and social interaction that took place between these three distinct social and religious groups led to the creation of a unique and diverse culture that continued to flourish even after the Reconquista.
Social interaction
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania signalled the coming together of three different religions and the social customs and culture associated with each. This period has become known as the Convivencia, meaning culture of coexistence. Although this idea of a culture of tolerance is disputed by some historians, only a few instances of revolts and violence were actually recorded. This does not mean that discrimination by Muslims did not occur at the local level. However, the more educated classes of Muslims respected Christians and Jews under Islamic law as dhimmis (protected peoples) or People of the Book. It is important to note that the soldiers who carried out the conquest formed only a small minority of the population of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus the emergence of this unique Islamic society that formed in al-Andalus was a slow and uneven process. In order to understand how these distinct cultures and societies meshed into one, over time, it is important to recognize what was distinct about each and how they were viewed within the broader society.
Muslim clerics in Al Andalus viewed the non muslims as unclean and dirty and feared that too much contact with them would contaminate Muslims. in Seville the faqih Ibn Abdun issued these regulations segregating people of the two faiths:
Muslims
In al-Andalus, Muslims were divided into three distinct ethnic groups. The largest group was the Berbers. The Berbers, who mostly came from North Africa, were mostly sedentary in lifestyle, not to be confused with the nomadic Berbers found in roughly the same geographic region. In terms of social class, after the invasion, Berbers mostly went on to form the rural proletariat, although a number of them went to the cities, mostly working to pursue crafts. In terms of religion the Berbers were all Muslims, their ancestors having converted mostly to share in the wealth of Arab conquests.
The second group of Muslims found in al-Andalus was the Arabs. They formed a relatively small section of al-Andalus’ total population. They tended to have a higher economic position in society and constituted the majority of the ruling class. They owned land in the richest parts of the country. The most important cultural elements they brought with them were their language and the Arabic tradition of learning and high culture, which emulated that which could be found in Caliphate of Damascus.
However, the actual amount of culture these Arab invaders actually brought with them has been disputed by some historians. Historian W. Montgomery Watt argues that the ancestors of the Arabs that came to invade the Iberian Peninsula had been living a very rough life in the Middle East steppe, thus the actual invaders had little time to acquire a high level of culture. These Arab and Berber invaders were also busy consolidating their control, having little time and money to devote to purposefully spreading culture to the newly conquered regions. The Islamic Golden Age in Iberia was also, in part, a result of its geographic location and relative isolation from the central part of the Umayyad Empire. The Umayyad rulers felt the need to prove that they were the equals of those in West Asia. This was combined with their need to prove their worth as an independent region. It can thus be concluded that the invading Arabs brought some level of culture to the peninsula, but the high culture that was achieved during the golden age of al-Andalus was the result of the combination and growth of the multiple cultures present in the geographic area.