The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam {and the crusades)bombed Madrid on March 11. 2004, commentators unctuously reminded
the world that when Muslims ruled Spain, it was a beacon of tolerance
where Muslims. Jews, and Christians lived together in peace and harmony.
When jihadists bombed synagogues in Istanbul on November 15, 2003, the
commentators intoned that the bombings Were particularly heartbreaking in
a city that for so long had known tranquility among Muslims, Jews, and
Christians,
This unque stio nable dogma of Isla mic tole ranc e has impor tant polit-
ical impl icati ons. It disco urag es anti-terr oris m inves tiga tors in Europ e
and Ameri ca from monit orin g acti vity in mosques. It help s perp etuat e
the mist aken noti on that Isla mic terr oris m come s fro m poli tica l grie v-
ance s and soci oeco nomic imbal ance s. Europ ean gover nment s with rap-
idly growi ng Musli m popul atio ns use it to reass ure them selve s that in
old Al-Andalus, Islamic; hegemony wasn't all that bad. European and
American politicians and religious leaders woo the growing Islamic
comm uni ties in thei r nati ons, tryi ng to win thei r poli tica l supp ort and
assuming that they will assimilate easily and become peaceful, active
partic ipa nts in the pol iti cal process. Why not? Isl am is tol era nt and
teaches pluralism, What could be a better foundation for participation
in Western democracy?
The ide a of atol era nt Isl am has eve n bee n ta ken up at the Uni ted
Nations, The Turkish dailyZamanreported in March 2005 that at a UN
seminar, "Confronting Islamophobia Education for Tolerance and Under-
stan ding ," "the tole ranc e that Otto mans show ed to peop le of diff eren t
reli gion s was held up as an exa mple to be adop ted even toda y" and
was lau ded as a "so cia l mod el in whi ch dif fer ent rel igi ons and
nat ion s liv edunder the same roof for hundreds of years."'
It doesn't seem to have come up at the UN that when the different reli-
gions lived under the same roof. one was the master and the others lived
asdespised inferiors.