Skip to main content

A Lesson from History



Religion or Strife? A Lesson from History

In 15th century al-Andalus was an Islamic state in which the three religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism had been coexisting peacefully for over 600 years.  Even when the Jews in many other countries were facing the terrible problem of pogrom, al-Andalus allowed the Jews there to flourish. 

It was then that the King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, were inspired by their religion.  They believed that their religion was the only true religion and their god the only true god.  They established the notorious Spanish Inquisition which sought to unify the nation under the one true god and one true religion.  Thousands of people were killed labelled as heretics. 

Courtesy: Jonmrichardson
The religious zeal of the King and the Queen extended to al-Andalus.  They led a war (which they called a crusade, holy war – religion can make even a war holy!), defeated the Sultan and started persecuting the Muslims and the Jews.  Many people sought to escape the torture by converting themselves into Christianity.

We would normally expect peace to return when everyone belongs to the same religion.  But that seldom happens.  In fact, religions are not known for promoting peace and harmony. On the contrary, they have created strife and wars most of the time.

The converts of al-Andalus were despised by the ‘old’ Christians.  The converts were called “pigs.”  Many of the converts lost their new faith soon.  They went back to their old faiths secretly.  What followed were more Inquisitions and more brutal killings.

I brought this here just to take a lesson, one of the many available, from history to show that forcing religion on people or trying to unite people with the help of religion won’t work.  Leave people to their own creeds and gods.  Use science and technology to improve the nation.  There is no other way.

Comments

  1. Pranju chakrapaniJune 1, 2017 at 7:34 PM

    I agree. There is always a new thing to learn from your posts.

    Also what is the use of development if one cannot go beyond such pre historic notorious activities perpetrated by religions and cults.

    Modi took leverage of development agenda but he has become infamous as a soft Hindutwa leader.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJune 2, 2017 at 9:47 AM

      What happened after all those tortures and inquisitions was still worse. Many of the Jews went underground. More became atheists. Many left the country. Both Ferdinand and Isabella were sad because the last thing they wanted was to breed atheism or underground religious activities.

      I'm still wondering why PM Modi doesn't change his tactics and take India along development which he promised again and again.

      Delete
  2. MansiJune 2, 2017 at 7:02 PM

    Very very thoughtful, hope the world realise this..even the cow slaughter ban is now a religious issue..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJune 2, 2017 at 7:25 PM

      It is the present situation in India that made me write this.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
44 comments
Read more

Coming-of-Age Poems

Lubna Shibu Book Review Title: Into the Wandering Multiverse Author: Lubna Shibu Publisher: Book Leaf , 2024 Pages: 23 Poetry serves as a profound medium for self-reflection. It offers a canvas where emotions, thoughts, and experiences are distilled into words. Writing poetry is a dive into the depths of one’s consciousness, exploring facets of the poet’s identity and feelings that are often left unspoken. Poets are introverts by nature, I think. Poetry is their way of encountering other people. I was reading Lubna Shibu’s debut anthology of poems while I had a substitution period in a section of grade eleven today at school. One student asked me if she could have a look at the book as I was moving around ensuring discipline while the students were engaged in their regular academic tasks. I gave her the book telling her that the author was a former student in this very classroom just a few years back. I watched the student reading a few poems with some amusement. Then I ask...
8 comments
Read more

How to preach nonviolence

Like most government institutions in India, the Archaeological Survey of India [ASI] has also become a gigantic joke. The national surveyors of India’s famed antiquity go around finding all sorts of Hindu relics in Muslim mosques. Like a Shiv Ling [Lord Shiva’s penis] which may in reality be a rotting piece of a Mughal fountain. One of the recent discoveries of Modi’s national surveyors is that Sambhal in UP is the birthplace of Kalki, the tenth incarnation of God Vishnu. I haven’t understood yet whether Kalki was born in Sambhal at some time in India’s great antique history or Kalki is going to be born in Sambhal at some time in the imminent future. What I know is that Kalki is the final incarnation of Vishnu that is going to put an end to the present wicked Kali Yuga led by people like Modi Inc. Kalki will begin the next era, Satya Yuga, the Era of Truth. So he is yet to be born. But a year back, in Feb to be precise, Modi laid the foundation stone of a temple dedicated to Kalk...
12 comments
Read more

The Little Girl

The Little Girl is a short story by Katherine Mansfield given in the class 9 English course of NCERT. Maggie gave an assignment to her students based on the story and one of her students, Athena Baby Sabu, presented a brilliant job. She converted the story into a delightful comic strip. Mansfield tells the story of Kezia who is the eponymous little girl. Kezia is scared of her father who wields a lot of control on the entire family. She is punished severely for an unwitting mistake which makes her even more scared of her father. Her grandmother is fond of her and is her emotional succour. The grandmother is away from home one day with Kezia's mother who is hospitalised. Kezia gets her usual nightmare and is terrified. There is no one at home to console her except her father from whom she does not expect any consolation. But the father rises to the occasion and lets the little girl sleep beside him that night. She rests her head on her father's chest and can feel his heart...
15 comments
Read more

The Life of a Courtesan

  Book Review Title: The Last Courtesan: Writing my mother’s memoir Author: Manish Gaekwad Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2023 Pages: 185 Writing the biography of one’s mother who was a courtesan is not quite a pleasant task. Manish Gaekwad undertakes that arduous task in this book and does a fairly eminent job with it. ‘Courtesan’ may not be quite the exact translation of ‘tawaif,’ which is what Rekha, Gaekwad’s mother, was. A courtesan is essentially a sex worker whose clients are wealthy men. But a tawaif is primarily an artiste, a singer of ghazals as well as a dancer. Sex is part of that job, no doubt. When a woman sings lines like Apna bana le meri jaan / Haye re main tere qurbaan [Make me yours, my love / I am your sacrifice] to a man, sex becomes a natural climax of the show. Rekha is a tawaif. She tells her own story in this book. The author writes the narrative as if his mother is telling him her life’s story. Towards the end of the narrative, Rekha asse...
4 comments
Read more