{"id":193,"date":"2006-06-09T03:05:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-09T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=193"},"modified":"2006-06-09T03:05:00","modified_gmt":"2006-06-09T11:05:00","slug":"francisco-garcia-fitz-responds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/francisco-garcia-fitz-responds\/","title":{"rendered":"Francisco Garcia Fitz responds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This morning the email inbox had a message from Francisco Garcia Fitz<\/b>, responding to my June 5 post concerning an article he published in the German paper Die Welt<\/span>. My worry was that the article could be read as revisionist history and play into the hands of neo-conservative cultural critics by providing fuel for their paranoid visions of all things Arabic and\/or Islamic. Here is Fitz’s email (excuse my all-too hasty translations of the parts in Spanish ):<\/p>\n
\n

Dear Pierre:<\/p>\n

My name is Francisco Garc\u00eda Fitz and I\u00b4m the author of an article about tolerance in Islamic Spain, published in German in Die Welt. I have read the comments about it that you have written in the blog “Nomadics”, and I like doing some remarks. Sorry, my english is not very good, so I\u00b4m going to write in spanish. I hope you can understand me.<\/p>\n

1.- En primer lugar, al escribir mi art\u00edculo no he pretendido hacer una revisi\u00f3n hist\u00f3rica de la cultura \u00e1rabe. Soy medievalista y conozco el alto grado de desarrollo que alcanz\u00f3 la cultura \u00e1rabe durante la Edad Media. Cada a\u00f1o le explico detalladamente a mis alumnos la emorme deuda que la toda cultura occidental, y la espa\u00f1ola en particular, tiene con la cultura isl\u00e1mica medieval.<\/p>\n

(1.- First, in writing my article I did not pretend to make a historical revision of Arab culture. I am a medievalist and know the high level of development that Arab culture attained during the Middle Ages. Every year I explain in great detail the enormous debt that the whole of Western culture, and the Spanish one more particularly, owes to medieval islamic culture.)<\/p>\n

2.- En segundo lugar, tengo que reconocer que tiene usted raz\u00f3n en su comentario sobre el t\u00edtulo. Lamentablemente el art\u00edculo fue titulado as\u00ed por el editor del peri\u00f3dico por su propia cuenta y sin conslutar en ning\u00fan momento conmigo. Lamento mucho que se haya publicado con ese t\u00edtulo porque confunde al lector: como Usted mismo ha podido comprobar, a lo largo del art\u00edculo no se habla de jihad, sino del mito de la tolerancia.<\/p>\n

(2.- Secondly, I have to agree that your are right in your comment on the title. Regrettably the article was given that title by the sole decision of the editor of the newspaper who never consulted with me. I very much regret that it was published with that title, because it confuses the reader: as you ycan see for yourself, the article talks nowhere about jihad, only about the myth of tolerance.)<\/p>\n

3.- En tercer lugar, tambi\u00e9n estoy de acuerdo con usted en que no es posible juzgar el mundo medieval en relaci\u00f3n con los valores del multiculturalismo del siglo XX. De hecho, mi intenci\u00f3n al escribir este art\u00edculo ha sido precisamente contestar a quienes proponen a la sociedad musulmana de la Espa\u00f1a medieval como modelo v\u00e1lido para las sociedades del siglo XX. Como Usted sabe, en Espa\u00f1a y en otros pa\u00edses occidentales al-Andalus se presenta como un ejemplo que podr\u00eda imitarse para conseguir la convivencia entre culturas y religiones distintas. Quienes as\u00ed piensan no saben, u olvidan, que las sociedades medievales, incluyendo las isl\u00e1micas, nunca llegaron a aceptar en pie de igualdad a los diferentes, y que por tanto no puede servir como modelo de referencia para las sociedades libres.<\/p>\n

(3.- Thirdly, I also agree with you that one cannot judge the medieval world in relation to the multiculturism of the 20th century. In fact, my intention in writing this article was exactly to respond to those who propose medieval Islamic society of Spain as a valid model for the societies of the 20th century. As you know, in Spain and in other Western countries, Al-Andalus is presented as an example that can be imitated to achieve the coexistence between different cultures and religions. Those who think thus do not know, or forget, that medieval societies, including the Islamic societies, never managed to accept as equal those who were different from them, and that therefore they cannot serve as reference models for free societies.)<\/p>\n

If you like, you may incorporate these remarks in your Blog<\/p>\n

Thanks for you attention<\/p>\n

Con un cordial saludo, Francisco Garc\u00eda Fitz.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>
<\/span><\/div>\n

I tend to agree with most of what Francisco Garcia Fits says, though I don’t really think that anybody is proposing medieval Al Andalus as a model to be directly imitated<\/span> at this point. That would indeed be absurd, given historical events and revolutions since that time. But I do think that the achievement of Al Andalus to have been a haven of (relative) tolerance in its (extremely intolerant days) must not be overlooked and is essential as an indication that Islamic culture is not necessarily jihadist, as a range of neo-conservatist apologists would have us belief.<\/p>\n

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