What religion permitted the Jewish people to retain their form of worship from the 7th century until the 12th century in Spain? Islam. Between 1150 and 1492 the clash between Christians and Muslims proved harmful for the Jewish community. In 1481 the Great Inquisition began and culminated in a royal ultimatum of conversion or exile in 1492. What religion persecuted the Jewish community during that period in Spain? Christianity. Not only in Spain, but all of Europe, beginning with the crusades in 1096, Christianity persecuted the Jewish community relentlessly.
Indeed the Byzantine Christians persecuted the Jewish people until the empire was conquered by the Muslims. Jewish people welcomed Islamic rule, though they were required to pay the “jizyah” tax, as it proved more tolerable than Christian rule, initially. The Byzantine Christians also imposed a special tax on the Jewish people in certain geographical areas known as the “fiscus Judaicus” and were given freedom to worship and apply Torah legal rulings. However by 418, under
Theodosius, Jewish legal code was restricted severely and the religion was merely tolerated. By 553 the Emperor Justinian severely restricted Judaism and made reading of the Mishnah unlawful and that the Torah was not to be read aloud in Hebrew. This set the stage for Muslim conquest in the following century as the orthodox Church proclaimed itself, “the Kingdom of God”. Byzantines were soundly defeated in 638 at the siege of Damascus by the Muslim invaders.The Church has poorly represented the teachings of Jesus. How have the words, “those who live by the sword will die by the sword”, escaped the Church’s application?
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Way of the Nazarene 