The Golden Age for Jews was an age of great prosperity along with fluctuating tolerance. The Golden Age is a period in Jewish history when the Jews were living under Islamic Rule. The Golden Age started in about year 711 and went till approximately 1066 CE. Most of the prosperity in this age came through Islamic ruled Spain where many Jews lived. In this era the Jews had protection from being proselytized by Muslims through a set of laws called the Dhimmi laws. The laws provide a certain amount of toleration towards Jews living under Muslim leaders. The letter presented shows many aspects of interaction between Jews and Muslims along with the levels of toleration given from the Muslims to the Jews in these aspects. The Dhimmi laws play an important role in the letter presented to us because they shape the way the Muslim physician views his Jewish mentor. Some specific aspects we see through the letter are tolerance and tolerance with hesitations, religious differences between Muslims and Jews, differences between Christian and Muslim leadership and the integration with Muslim society for the Jews.
Under Islam rule we see tolerance for Jews but not complete tolerance. Looking back into the Golden Ages we can see that the Dhimmi laws were a way for Muslim leaders to believe they were tolerant of Jews but also feel superior over Jews. One-way in which the Muslims used the Dhimmi laws to feel powerful over the Jews, which is outlined in the letter, is the banning on non-Muslims from government office. As stated in “Under the Crescent and Cross, “ the laws pertaining to Jews not being allowed in power were rarely enforced (66). In the letter we see both sides of this. The physician acknowledges that his mentor has the power to g...
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...the Jews were not tolerated and viewed as lower class citizens compared to Muslims. We also can conclude that the toleration given in the Islamic period was much greater than toleration after the Spanish Inquisition of 1492. The Islamic world provided many opportunities for the Jews to be faithful to their religion.
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