This lecture was not the lecture that I had originally planned to use for this a

This lecture was not the lecture that I had originally planned to use for this assignment, however, in 2018, in response to the shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue, in my own neighborhood, I felt compelled to include in this course something about the inclusive nature of, and overlap of, Judaism and Christianity with Islam, historically, and in relationship to the structures and designs we have been studying. This year, I reconsidered whether I should include it this year again, in light of recent Israeli and Palestinian conflict, and ultimately decided to keep it. I live in an EXTREMELY inclusive and wonderful neighborhood, in which I walk dogs daily with friends who are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Hindu, and we often celebrate each others’ and are included in each others’ religious holidays. Except for last spring, because of the pandemic, I always host Easter, and I pretty much never have an Easter without at least three faiths represented at the table! And pre-pandemic, I spent most Fridays at my Orthodox Jewish friends’ house for Shabbos dinner (our dogs are best friends!). After the Synagogue shooting, within 24 hours, the greater Muslim community of Pittsburgh had already raised $70,000 – in one day – to donate to the Tree of Life, in solidarity, it inspired me to include some history that we can see in the beautiful art, of the solidarity that our faiths have shared throughout history. To me, my community represents the best of the U.S. – a true “melting-pot” of cultures and ethnicities, and a vibrant, thriving, exciting, and joyful place to live. (It was also when visiting the historically integrated Moorish Spain, in the 1990’s, that I had the transformative experience of being inside both hypostyle and sahn style mosques, which initiated my interest in Islamic architecture!). So I decided to not shy away from this topic, but keep it after all. With that introduction, here is this week’s lecture…
This 2012 lecture by Dr. Vivian Mann, sponsored by the World Monuments Fund, is about Jewish Islamic Art and Architecture in North Africa and Spain. It underscores the degree to which Islamic art was not created solely for Muslims nor was it solely created for Islamic sacred purposes. It was created for the community, in the spirit of Muhammad’s vision and in the spirit of the inclusive nature of the Islamic faith, lived as such in the community! We can see the unity and consistency of the art forms in Jewish and Muslim structures and designs in the examples she shows. Dr. Mann also discusses the inclusiveness built into the community of all monotheists, showing beautiful examples, including great footage of the interior spaces of the Great Mosque of Cordoba and other structures in Spain and North Africa. Here is the write up about the lecture in YouTube:
“Through illuminated manuscripts, textiles, and architecture, Dr. Vivian Mann illustrates how Jewish and Muslim cultures shared artistic motifs in Spain and North Africa. As part of her talk, Dr. Mann highlights World Monuments Fund’s conservation project at Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Danan Synagogue in Fez, Morocco, which was completed in 1999. Dr. Mann is the director of the Master’s Program in Jewish Art and Visual Culture at the Jewish Theological Seminary and Curator Emerita of the Jewish Museum.”
For your assignment, you may write about any aspect of this lecture that is of interest to you.
It is important to know that for much of the Islamic Golden Age, Islam included and protected Christians and Jews within the Islamic-controlled areas, as all monotheistic persons were appreciated as “People of the Book”, of Abrahamic faiths. They were considered “Dhimmi”, a term that refers to non-Muslims who had “protected status”. They were a step lower in status in some regards, and were taxed, but were granted equal protection under law, and were allowed to practice their own religions and were exempt from following Islamic traditions. Initially, this included Christians, Jews and Sabians (converts to Islam), but “dhimmi” eventually included Zoroastrianists, Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists. There were eras of tremendous cultural integration and inclusion, followed by the same kind of global ethnic or religious nationalism that we are seeing around the globe and here (and in the U.S.!) that we would now call “far right”, which brought an end to such peaceful acceptance of others.
It is also important for me, personally, to communicate to you the degree to which the Islamic Golden Age did not just “tolerate” or “include” people of various faiths, ethnicities, and languages, but intentionally, actively, and enthusiastically embraced people of various cultures in pursuit of knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and the pursuit of intellectual advancement. The “House of Wisdom”, the largest library and institution of learning in the globe at that point, (in Baghdad, sacked by the Mongols in 1258,) brought scholars from regions far and wide to the East and West who not only spoke, but were fluent, in multiple languages, to translate the greatest works of science, medicine, philosophy, literature, etc., and come together to build on this to advance human knowledge and understanding. (Reading about the Islamic Golden Age is inspiring!) Out of this value system, we see the creation much of the incredible art and architecture we’ve been looking at this semester. If you should feel so compelled (completely not necessary,) I would be interested in hearing your thoughts about the intersectionality of our various faiths and cultures, and historical times when co-existence was peaceful and inclusive, as we have seen in so much of the art/architecture in this course, as well as any thoughts you may wish to share about your perspective of the world today.