Critique of India

[l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no]

L.S. Cousins writes:

>If you define Europe in terms of a supposed 'core', this is a bit circular
>in the present context - effectively, the 'core' is the part that didn't
>come under Muslim control in Ottoman times.

Not quite. Spain was under Muslim rule for 500 years, and Sicily for at
least a couple of hundred years, I think (I haven't got time to check the
details). So parts of Europe were acutally "invaded". But there are
important differences between the Muslim rule in Europe and in India. Both
the Moors of Spain and the Ottoman Turks were relatively tolerant of their
Christian citizens. In a time where tolerance were rare, the Muslims showed
more tolerance and had a higher civilization than their Christian brethren,
whom they, by the way, regarded as barbarians. When the Christians got
control of Spain and decided to throw out the Jews, these went to Turkey,
where they were very well received and were given a place in the sun by the
Sultan. This should be remembered by people who think that Islam is
inherently cruel and intolerant.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



Lars Martin Fosse
Research Fellow
Department of East European
and Oriental Studies
P. O. Box 1030, Blindern
N-0315 OSLO Norway

Tel: +47 22 85 68 48
Fax: +47 22 85 41 40

E-mail: l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no