abu_rashid wrote on Jan 30
th, 2012 at 8:20pm:
gizmo_2655 wrote on Jan 30
th, 2012 at 5:51pm:
it's not at all unusual for a people who've just tossed out a foreign ruling country to be a bit vindictive....
"Foreign ruling country"??? What on earth are you on about? Muslims had ruled al-Andalus for about 700 years when they were finally exiled from there. If Aboriginals kicked your descendants out in about another 500 years (ie. in about the year 2488), do you think it'd still be right to say they were tossing out a "foreign ruling country"???
Come on, put it into perspective here.
gizmo_2655 wrote on Jan 30
th, 2012 at 5:51pm:
However, at various times in history, the Islamic empires have forced Jews to convert to Islam.
None of the groups have clean hands in that respect...(except possibly Judaism)...
Jews have forced non-Jews to convert at various times. In fact Nabataean Arabs were forced to convert to Judaism around about 2000 years ago, when the Jews conquered parts of their kingdom.
Can you detail for us exactly when and where Muslims supposedly forced Jews to convert to Islam?
The Moors, who conquered the Iberian Pensula around 711AD were North African Berbers, who sailed out of Morocco...And the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate was Damascus...So they were a foreign country, ruling over Iberian...
Precisely the same way the Romans had done before them, and the French, English, Dutch, Spanish etc have done since...
In 1656, all Jews were expelled from Isfahan because of the common belief of their impurity and forced to convert to Islam. However, as it became known that the converts continued to practice Judaism in secret and because the treasury suffered from the loss of jizya collected from the Jews, in 1661 they were allowed to revert to Judaism, but were still required to wear a distinctive patch upon their clothings.
Confined to city quarters, the Bukharan Jews were denied basic rights and many were forced to convert to Islam. They had to wear black and yellow dress to distinguish themselves from the Muslims.
Under the Zaydi rule, the Yemenite Jews were considered to be impure, and therefore forbidden to touch a Muslim or a Muslim's food. They were obligated to humble themselves before a Muslim, to walk to the left side, and greet him first. They could not build houses higher than a Muslim's or ride a camel or horse, and when riding on a mule or a donkey, they had to sit sideways. Upon entering the Muslim quarter a Jew had to take off his foot-gear and walk barefoot. If attacked with stones or fists by Islamic youth, a Jew was not allowed to defend himself. In such situations he had the option of fleeing or seeking intervention by a merciful Muslim passerby.
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