THE NATIONAL (31/3/2020)
Mouraria, a trendy neighbourhood in Lisbon’s city centre, still bears the name of its former inhabitants, the Moors – Muslims who lived in the Iberian Peninsula in modern Spain and Portugal, and once walked its maze of narrow and winding streets and tightly packed alleys. Next to Mouraria stands Alfama – from the Arabic word Al hamma, meaning “hot springs” – a neighbourhood that centuries ago gave shelter to the city’s large Jewish community.
The Muslim and Jewish areas were once spread from the imposing historical castle that crowns one of Lisbon’s highest hills to the Tagus River, but today only the Moorish names remain. Synagogues and mosques were destroyed or converted into churches when both religious minorities were expelled from Portugal in the late 15th century.
To atone for the religious persecutions, in 2015, the Portuguese government passed a law that allows descendants of those expelled to seek citizenship. Redress, however, was only offered to the Jewish community. Descendants of Muslims were not included in the law.
“The expulsion of Muslims is more related to conquests and battles than religious intolerance,” Jose Ribeiro e Castro, a conservative policymaker who drafted the restitution law, tells The National.
In 711, North African Muslims captured the Iberian Peninsula and ruled the territory for centuries. Known as Al Andalus, the region became a prosperous cultural centre where science and the arts thrived, and different religions coexisted. But the strength of Muslim rule diminished over time as Christian armies started conquering the territory.
Aided by crusaders, Catholic kings gradually pushed the Moors to the south, until they were able to capture southern provinces in 1249, ending Muslim rule in the Portuguese territory. While many Muslims fled, a minority were allowed to stay in “mourarias”, segregated neighbourhoods for Muslims spread across various cities.
In 1496, Portuguese king Manuel I decided to put an end to the religious coexistence inherited from Al Andalus. Jews and Muslims were only given three stark options: convert to Christianity; leave the kingdom; or face the death penalty.
Portuguese policymakers who drafted the law say the experiences of Jews and Muslims cannot be compared because the expulsion of Jews was purely based on bigotry. But not everyone buys into the argument that the banishment of Muslims was a result of an ongoing conflict.
“The Muslim communities in Portugal were fairly well integrated,” says Francois Soyer, a historian of medieval Europe who researched the evictions. “They were not seen by the Portuguese crown as a threat. It’s very different from what happened in Spain,” he says.