Selim Chazbijewicz: Historical and cultural message of Islam and Europe

Nowadays, we witness the domination of the first camp. It draws a thick line between the two civilizations and assumes that their ideas, historical past, values and hierarchy of values have absolutely nothing in common. Arnold Toynbee, excellent English historian and philosopher of history, wrote that in the past when Europeans were militarily opposing Muslims, Europe let the Islamic civilization ruin itself by attacking Balkans, Hungary and Austria and walked, one could say, the Islamic civilization around by imposing itself in Yemen, Africa and India. Perhaps the main reason why Islam was distanced by Europe was that it did not participate in the Age of Exploration and Discovery. Indeed, the discovery of America and a sea route to India mark the beginning of the European domination. This standpoint is supported by another brilliant British scholar and orientalist, Bernard Lewis, specializing in the relations between Islam and Europe. The turning point in the struggle between the civilizations came in the 18th century, when the balance of power between the Islamic and European civilization was lost. This process seems to have been launched by the peace treaty of Karlowitz, according to which the Ottoman Empire, for the first time in history, ceded the conquered land to Austria and Poland. Nevertheless, one can think of other events marking the beginning of the end. In the military of political sense, it could have been the Turkish defeat at Candia on the Crete in 1572 or at Vienna in 1683. Of course, these are only guesses which help identify, more or less rightfully and precisely, the turning points in military struggle between the two civilizations. Important and visible domination of West, that is of Europe or to be more precise the Latin civilization, comes in the 18th century. Russia, that is the Orthodox or Byzantine civilization as some prefer, distanced the Ottomans, representing the Islamic world, as well. But one must not forget that Islamic civilization, which wasn’t a monolith body, had different phases, forms and stages. Although Europe has common Christian roots, scholars speak of at least three forms of civilization; Latin, Protestant (Nordic) and Byzantine (Orthodox, Russian). Similarly, in Islam, one can distinguish important forms of civilization as well; Arabic, Persian and Turkish. Moreover, from the diachronic point of view, they were existing in the following periods of time: Early Islamic (rule of Righteous Caliphs and the Umayyad dynasty), Middle Islamic (rule of the Abbasid and Ottoman dynasty) and contemporary (since the end of World War I). The contemporary period could be divided into two sub-periods. The first extending itself from the end of World War I to 90s; the second encompassing the period since the war in Bosnia and Afghanistan till now. The Muslim rule in Spain and the presence of Islam in India, Indonesia and Malaya Archipelago should be treated as yet other civilizational entities, the first being purely historical, the rest both historical and modern. Still another civilizational entity can be distinguished in the Ottoman Empire since the 18th century. It appeared when Europe started wielding there more clout. The turning point came in the Tanzimat period, when sultan Mahmud II introduced a series of reforms and partly Europeanized the state and customs, especially of elites. The reforms, which had an impact on the whole Muslim civilization, had similar consequences to the reforms undertaken in Russia at the turn of 16th and 17th century by tsar Peter I. On the one hand, the Ottoman Empire was renouncing its unique identity based on social, economic, administrative and political identity. On the other hand, through the reforms, it was supposed to be strengthened in its struggle with Europe.

From a geographical point of view, the areas of confrontation between Islam and the European civilization are situated on the western, southern and eastern extremities of Europe. On the west, Muslim culture spread on the Iberian Peninsula. First was the culture of the Caliphate of Córdoba ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, after which came the culture of Granada emirate. The caliphate was founded by Abd-ar-Rahman III, who started his reign in 921 in the age of 23. He united the Muslim domain on the Iberia and proclaimed himself caliph on 16 January 926. The domain was thriving and its apogee lasted even under the rule of Abd-ar-Rahman’s successors, Al-Hakam II and al. Hadżiba al.-Munsura, who was ruling between 977 and 1002. The 10th century was the peak of Muslim culture in Spain. It was also the century, when one of the first Islamic philosophers, Ibn Massara, lived. He was joining European and Greek philosophy with eastern and Muslim tradition. He was the founder of the first philosophical school in Muslim Spain. Ibn Massara died in 931. Our knowledge about his life comes from many sources, but in majority from the works of Ibn Hazma, another great writer and thinker. Ibn Massara tried to link the ideas of Empedocles with Muslim, or rather eastern tradition. He was almost certainly influenced by Neopythagoreanism and Neoplatonism in its late form developed by Proclus or Iamblichus. He associated the latter with the philosophy of Empedocles. Following Neoplatonism, Ibn Masssara was teaching that beings are emanated. He assumed that there were six beings, two of them, the knowledge and power of God, were considered to have appeared during God’s emanation. He was also supposing that after death, the journey of the soul leading to purification begins. Ibn Massara had many followers and is believed to have been the founder of the Spanish branch of Sufism, mystical philosophy in Islamic tradition. His philosophy evolved into a movement developed by his disciples, one of whom was Spanish mystic, Ibn Arabi, who is considered to have been the greatest philosopher of mysticism in Islamic world. Ibn Arabi lived in the years 1164-1249, more than 200 years after Ibn Massara. His teachings are a synthesis of Greek philosophy and Muslim doctrines, as well as of Buddhism and the tradition of Ancient East which is visible, for instance, in the remains of the cult of Mother Goddess represented by Sophia, god’s wisdom, who walks the Earth as a beautiful woman whom Ibn Arabi is said to have seen once in Mecca. Ibn Arabi was teaching about the unity of existence, what could have been an influence of the Hindu concept of Atman-Brahman. The hypothesis is supported by the fact Ibn Arabi had similar to Hinduism understanding of the existence of God and the world. Apart from philosophy, Muslim Spain was developing poetry as well. Among many poets, special attention should be paid to the already mentioned Ibn Hazm, who wrote a prose poem, “The dove's necklace”, which could be considered as a precursor to the canon. It speaks of courtly love, which was appraised by troubadours who were imitating the poetry of Muslim Spain. Let not forget about another Muslim philosopher from Spain, Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd, in Medieval Europe known as Averroes. He was a doctor and a thinker continuing and reinventing the philosophy of Aristotle. Averroes tried to reconcile philosophical discourse with a religious way of thinking. His philosophical method spread in Europe through the translations made on the court of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. The Latin versions of his works became the foundation of Latin Averroism, philosophical school existing in 13th century in Italy. Latin Averroism became a methodological foundation of Thomism, doctrine created by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Thus, Greek and Muslim thought became the methodological cornerstone of the Catholic church doctrine.

Sicily was yet another area of both political and military expansion of Islam in Europe and of cultural synthesis. The Muslim conquest of the island was initiated in 827 by the north African dynasty, the Aghlabids, and finished in 967 by Egyptian rulers from the Fatimid dynasty. Next, in years 1061-1085, Sicily was reconquered by Normans under the lead of Roger I. His successor, tolerant and enlightened Roger II, contributed to the development of a unique culture which was the synthesis of Europe and Islam with elements of Byzantine culture. This original cultural unity was being protected by the German emperor and the ruler of Sicily, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, whom I mentioned before. The emperor’s name may be associated with the great Muslim philosopher, Ibn Sab’in, who wrote Yemenite Answers to Sicilian Questions. This work was commissioned by Frederick II. It gives answers to basic philosophical questions raised by the emperor. The book is also a valuable period piece and a great example of ideological and philosophical discourse on the verge of Europe and Islam. The influence and synthesis of the two civilizations can be found in architecture, ornaments or literature, for example in Kitab Rujar (The book of Roger) commissioned by Roger II and written by Al-Idris, great Arab traveler, geographer and cartographer. The book is another example of ideological, cultural and philosophical discourse of Islamic and European tradition, expressed by intellectual elites of the time. Let me just mention that Roger II of Sicily was a protagonist of one of the best modern operas, which was created by Karol Szymanowski. In the early Middle Ages, both Spain and Sicily were a place of cultural exchange where translations of Greek philosophers, from Arab into Latin, were reentering European culture. It was also a place of theological debates.

Another exchange and synthesis between the civilizations took place in Balkans, where the Muslim culture of Bosnia was born. The Ottoman culture, founded partly by the Arab and Byzantine tradition, mixed with the Slavic and Latin culture, and with Manichaeism which is the real name for Bosnian church tradition. The church originated from Gnostic Paulicianism, Catharism and Bogomilism. A syncretic architecture appeared. The bridge in Mostar, destroyed during the war in 90s, was its most famous example. The Old Bosina was being appraised by Ivo Andrić, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, who was describing its customs, tradition and history, and by Mesa Selimović, author of the stunning novel Death and the Dervish.

The south-eastern border of Europe, the Crimea Peninsula and the north cost of the Black Sea were still another area where the Islamic culture and civilization was influencing Europe. I would even suggest a hypothesis that this area is the least known since there hasn’t been any great scholar of the Black Sea region civilization, who could be compared to Fernand Braudel. Its northern cost, including the Crimea, became a crossroads for different cultures, civilizations, languages and religions. The Crimean peninsula in mentioned in Iliad under the name of Tauri. The Greek influences date back to Homer and the Greek colonization. The Argonaut’s quest for the Golden Fleece in Colchis was, in fact, a journey of Greeks to the land of today’s Georgia. For almost 900 year, in the eastern and southern part of Crimea, there existed the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus whose culture, religion and language were Greek. The later rule of Romans in the southern part of Crimea left its marks as well. Next, the peninsula was subsequently under the influence of Byzantium, Rus’ and Khazars, who formed a strong Khaganate in the northern Fore-Caucasus and the Black Sea region, in the 8th and 9th century. It had well-developed literature and material culture. Judaism, brought by Jewish merchants and accepted by the ruler, was its predominant religion. The powerful Khagante was definitely defeated in 10th century by the army of Rus’ prince, Sviatoslav. But this isn’t the end of influences since Ostrogoths, representing the German civilization, were settling and forming states in Crimea since the migration period. The last state, independent Principality of Theodoro, was conquered by the Ottomans in the late 15th century. Since the migration period, Crimea was also settled by Turkish tribes, Pechenegs, Huns and later Kipchaks, called by old Russian chroniclers Polovtsy. Pechenegs were present in the north cost of Black Sea as well. In the 13th century, their lands were invaded by Mongols. In consequence, Crimea and the Black Sea region were more and more influenced by Islam. In the 15th century, the Golden Horde, Tatar state which appeared on the ruins of Genghis Khan’s empire, gave birth to the independent Crimea Khagante. Its culture was composed of the above-mentioned elements and was an original synthesis having a unique cultural value, parallel to the Bosnian culture from that time.

I would like to mention now a completely forgotten civilization of Volga Bulgarians, who were Muslims existing from 10th to 13th century, till the Mongolian invasion. Their state was the first victim of the invasion. Since 10th century, the central Volga Region witnessed the raise of the Islamic culture which had contacts with the Islamic center, Abbasid Caliphate with the capital in Bagdad, and original Islamic belletristic, philosophy, law, architecture and art. The Muslim state on the southern boundaries of Europe was influencing not only Kievan Rus', but also other Eastern states, some of them indirectly, like for instance Poland. It was contemporary to the Muslim civilization in Spain during its heyday.

The southern edge of Europe, from the west to the east, was surrounded by Islamic cultural and civilization centers forming the crescent. But there was still one more Muslim culture of a small Islamic community from the Central-Eastern Europe which was shining like a star in the middle of the crescent. I mean here the culture of Polish and Lithuanian Tatars. They were living within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which later became the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The federation was marked by high levels of ethnic and religious diversity and had unique on the European scale culture containing elements of eastern cultures. The Muslim influence is visible in material culture since the rule of king Stephen Báthory in the late 16th century. Stephen Báthory was Hungarian prince of Transylvania and even in the choice of gowns we may notice that he was assimilating the Ottoman tradition which later on he implemented in Poland and Lithuania. The so called traditional dress of Polish noble class, Szlachta, in 17th and 18th century is almost a true copy of Turkish gowns. The only exception is the headwear. The difference is visible on portraits from that time. Even in military tactics and choice of weapons, Szlachta was accepting the Ottoman culture. In 17th and 18th century, Poland was also under the influence of Persia, what is visible especially in material culture.

In 600 years of their existence in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Tatars created a priceless endemic, as biologists would say, culture typical only to the Tatars living in the Duchy. It was a fusion of the Eastern (Muslim) and Western culture. I would like to say a few words about this culture. Although scholars conduct more and more researches dedicated to Tatars, vast audience have no knowledge of it. This conference is therefore a chance to present Tatars’ cultural tradition to the audience. Tatars were living far from Islamic cultural centers and from the vivid Turkish culture to which they ethnically belonged. They were creating substitutes for Islamic spirituality and a Muslim way of living. Throughout hundreds of years of their persistent cultivation, they became separate entities of spiritual and material culture. Having lost the fluency in Tatar language in 16th and 17th century, Polish Tatars were founding their spiritual culture on the unique literature in which Islamic tradition was described in Polish local dialect of Kresy or in Belarusian and written down in manuscripts in the Arabic alphabet.

The Golden Horde, whom I have already mentioned, was creating its literature in Chagatai language. It was a Turkish dialect spoken in Central Asia, which was ruled by the second son of Genghis Khan, Chagatai. High Turkish culture was thriving especially in two cites, Samarkand and Bukhara, which are ancient civilization centers. The culture was radiating to the Volga region, Crimea and partly to Anatolia. It was also reaching the lands of the Great Duchy of Lithuania through Tatar elites, who were using its literary patterns.

The conditions of living in Poland and Lithuania forced Tatars to develop defense mechanisms which guaranteed the continuity of self-awareness. In the same time, they showed great capacity of assimilation and adaptation, one of which was total and quick assimilation of language. Tatars lost the ability to speak their mother tongue, Kipchak language from the Turkish language group, already in 16th century in favor of Polish or Ruthenian language. The main element constituting self-awareness was, therefore, literature which substituted language and folklore. The manuscripts concerned mainly Islam and some of them were created in absolute isolation from Muslim cultural centers. The literary tradition was based on a Muslim manuscript created in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. When the Tatar literature was forming, it was absorbing elements of the Golden Horde culture, and therefore also of the older tradition of Khwarezm, ancient Sogdiana and a mosaic of Silk Road cultures. Some of the literary themes created by the Golden Horde were common to all Muslims cultures. In such a form, after being adapted to the Old Polish reality, they existed in the literature of Polish Muslims. The literature was manifesting itself in different forms which were existing till 20th century. These were, for instance, so called Tasfirs which are commentaries to Qur’an. In the Tatar tradition, they were written in manuscripts covered with leather. They were containing subsequent texts from Qur’an written with saffron ink under which were commentaries and translations written in italics in Polish, or more often in Belarusian language. Tajwids were another genre present in Tatars literature. They are rules which govern how Qur’an should be read. They contain information about proper intonation, pauses, ways of recitation, articulation of Arabic phonemes, as well as phonetic and musical value of Qur’an’s form. The most important genre of Tatars’ culture were Kitabs. The word >kitab< stands in Arabic for >a book<. Kitabs contained, therefore, many different moral parables, stories from the life of Muhammad and other prophets, religious lore and legends, poems, magical recipes , deeds of Tatar rulers, commentaries to dogmas and religious rules, prayers, as well as local parables, legends and stories. Another important genre were >hamā’ilī< as called in Arabic. The word itself means >what one has with him<. They are prayer books containing the most common prayers divided according to the five periods of a day, supplication prayers called dua, and explanations of the most common religious rituals. Hamā’ilī contained hints about the ceremony of marriage and funeral, as well as about the ritual of naming a child.

Even today this literature contains uncharted plots and themes which were often paraphrases of the Sufi tradition – Islamic mysticism – in its Middle-Asian and Anatolian variants of such Sufi brotherhoods as jesewije, nakszbandi, bektaszi, hurufije. It was functioning in Crimea as well as in Ottoman Turkey, in the Balkans, in the Volga Region and among the Polish-Lithuanian Tatars.

It is also worth mentioning that there is a Tatar minority in Finland. Tatar colonization began to arise there only in the beginning of the 20th century, especially after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The majority of the Tatars living in Finland comes from the Volga Region area. They made some contribution to defending their new homeland during the war between Finland and the Soviet Union. The Finnish Tatars created original Muslim literature, as well as the press and educational system.

From the diachronic point of view, I should mention the European-Muslim relations since the 8th century, when Muslim armies struck Europe for the first time. The attack came from the West, through the Strait of Gibraltar and Spain, as well as from the East, at Constantinople. In both cases the offensive was suppressed. At Poitiers, at Provence and at Constantinople, Islam met defeat. After that the offensive of Christian Europe began. And this is the name we should give to crusades, beginning from the very first in 1099, when Jerusalem was conquered. Next, there was Muslim counter-offensive in 13th century led by Salahhedin, known in Europe as Salladin. It resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem and after which came the final collapse of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was the medieval continuation of Europe in the Middle East. The crusades and the existence of Latin state surrounded by Islam stimulated in Europe civilizational progress and resulted in many changes that finally ended with the so called contemporary “digital civilization”. The Muslim offensive, started by Salaheddin, was continued by the Ottomans since 14th century at the beginning in Anatolia and later on in the Balkans. It was ultimately stopped when the Treaty of Karlowitz, which I mentioned at the beginning, was signed. Since then, the initiative has belonged to Europe. Russiahad its “reconquista” as well when it was fighting with the Muslim Golden Horde and later, after the inland disintegration of the Golden Horde, with its successors – the Crimean Khanate, the Khanate of Kazan, the Khanates of Astrakhan and of Sibir. The military struggle of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and later the Russian Empire, with the Muslim civilization, in this case embodied by the Tatars, resulted in the capture of the Volga Region, the Siberia region and the Caspian Steppes in the 16th and 17th centuries.. Next, in 18th century Russia, as well as the Polish Commonwelth, went on the warpath with Ottoman Turkey. It ended in the 20th century during the World War I. But let not forget about Russo-Persian Wars in the 18th and 19th centuries fought over Azerbaijan and Dagestan.

Russian culture, or Russian civilization, as partisans of Eurasianism like Georgij Vernadski would refer to it, also adopted many elements from the Muslim civilization. Eurasianism had its roots in the beginning of the 20th century in the minds of exiled Russian thinkers, historians and researchers. It presented Russia as a separate civilizational entity situated between the East and the West, an entity which has both Eastern and Western elements, but at the same time displays totally separate qualities, which gives this entity the right to be perceived as an independent being and an independent quality. However, many musical airs, decorative art, elements of material culture or vocabulary and even political and administrative tradition were all taken from the Turanian civilization, Golden and Great Hordes. Today’s Russia, just as Western and Central Europe, has entered the next, modern stage in the relations with the Islamic world. This stage begun in the 20th century along with the increasing role of fossil fuels like oil and natural gas in politics and economy. The fall of the colonial system as well as the emergence of neocolonialism left their mark on these relations. The creation of the global Internet network, a virtual reality which sometimes influences the course of events or conflicts, also made it possible to mutualize the relations between Europe and Islam. Several political turning points can be identified as the turning points marking the modern era of relations: the war in Afghanistan (1979-1988), the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and the first Gulf War in 1991. These dates indicate a breakthrough in mutual relations on both sides. The seventies are also a time of a massive influx of seasonal workers into Western Europe, including immigrants from Muslim countries, such as Algeria, Morocco and Turkey. This influx was directed not only towards countries with a colonial heritage, such as the United Kingdom, France or The Netherlands, but also towards countries with no colonial past, such as Norway, Sweden or Germany, who had lost their colonies in the aftermath of the First World War. These colonies were insignificant in comparison with the British or French empires. The immigrant workers were at first greeted with open arms as cheep manpower in a period of intensive economic growth. Today, they constitute an unwanted and unused segment of society, a segment we do not know what to do about. Problems concerning the cultural assimilation of immigrants on the one hand and reigning political correctness on the other have left many European governments in a situation with no way out . To this situation adds modern terrorism for which the Muslim community, or rather its most radical members, is largely responsible. The above examples illustrate problems faced by Europe. Russia has different difficulties – political separatism of Muslim nations living within the Russian Federation. The conflict in Chechnya is the best and most spectacular example. But apart from Chechnya there are: Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Dagestan and Muslims living in Russia proper. Russians themselves suffer from a decreasing population growth, which in turn increases the ratio of non-Russian citizens in the society and decreases the population of ethnic Russians in the country. In a longer perspective this could lead to Muslim minorities naturally taking over control over the state apparatus. This is of course just a prognosis, but a prognosis based on current geopolitical trends. It would be convenient to depict relations between Europe and the Muslim world in the past and today, find similarities and differences between them. Are Edward Said’s theses about cultural imperialism and colonialism still valid in the present times?

If one would like to present mutual relations in a diachronic perspective, they would point out, in the earliest period of Prophet Muhammad and caliph Abu Bakr and Umar, an advantage of the powers of that time: the Byzantine Empire and Persia, which ignored the danger of a potential confrontation. What followed was a period of Muslim advantage and conquest, accompanied by a triumphant feeling of superiority over Europe. Such an attitude lasted more or less until the first crusade. The next period is one of equilibrium when both civilizations, despite temporary successes, failed to gain a significant advantage over the other. This period – lasting from the Middle ages up until the end of the 17th century – is also the time of highest mutual respect stemming from the balance of power. From the onset of the 18th century until today, we are facing a growing advantage of Europe, which was increasing along with the development of the European technical civilization from the 19th century to today’s state-of-the-art technologies. This advantage bred disrespect and contempt towards the adversary. The bigger the technological gap, the stronger such feelings. This contempt fully appeared during Napoleon’s intervention in Egypt in 1798. From then on, Europe practically ceased to perceive the Muslim world as an adversary, let alone a potential partner. The attitudes of the public changed as well. Dislike, fear and a natural respect towards an adversary, but also a partner, were substituted by negative tolerance and partial acceptance. Currently, we witness distrust on both sides, as well as something I am inclined to call cultural or religious racism manifested by radical, extremist and, I hope, small social groups on both sides of the civilizational barricade. Political relations are becoming increasingly confrontational. Most likely the situation will change completely after discovering new energy sources, when the fight for oil and natural gas resources will have become history. The aim of ensuring constant supplies of these energy sources by the European Union and the U.S. causes a political and military pacification of Muslim countries in combination with traditional dislike, hostility or negative tolerance causes the phenomenon which sociologists and politologists call “Islamophobia”. It is not, however, a new occurrence. Already in the 13th century, in his Divine Comedy Dante placed Prophet Muhammad in the lowest circle of hell. The prophet was also an object of mockery for 18th century Voltaire. Deep dislike and contempt for Islam, Koran, and its foundation is visible in the works of Arthur Schopenhauer and many other European thinkers and writers. Apart from occasional contacts based on partnership in the Middle Ages, Islam has never been an ideology revered (and respected) in Europe. Without a doubt such a situation was a consequence of centuries of wars. Dislike stemming from purely religious motivations cannot, however, be disregarded. In a predominantly secularized society such dislike manifests itself as a lack of cultural acceptance. Its origins date back to the early Middle Ages when Muslims, “the Sons of Belial”, tried to conquer Europe. Muslims themselves are also responsible for contemporary, and often painful, relations between both civilizations. Muslim presence in contemporary Western Europe often goes hand in hand with separation and segregation resulting from tribal and post-tribal Muslim behavior. Such course of action is treated as a consequence of belonging to Muslim culture, religion and civilization. In other words, newcomers to Europe in the sixties and seventies were not representatives of the elite, but members of lowest strata of society, characterized by low level of personal and social culture. This influences the quality of relations on a local level. The invasion of Muslim communities in Europe combined with Europe’s political and military invasion in the Muslim East creates a deadlock.

Let us ask ourselves whether a message of Muslim and European cultures can be established. Is it possible to point out common spheres of tradition and a message of historical experience? Will the paths of the two civilizations forever stay separated and not even converge? It is difficult to give an unambiguous answer. One might wonder whether it is impossible at all. Is it possible for the two civilizations to coexist as partners in the near and further future A change in relations between European societies and European Muslim inhabitants constitutes a great opportunity, just as a change of attitudes of Muslims towards their new European homelands.

The example of Polish Tatars illustrates a realistic possibility of a Muslim civil society being created. It is gaining a high social status and receiving full civil rights that created Tatar citizenship in Poland. This is a very important conclusion in relation to today’s Muslim community of the European Union, especially for the former EU of 15.

A common historical message is encompassed in the existence of indigenous European Muslim communities – Bosniacs, Polish Tatars as well as Muslim
communities in the Crimea and Romanian Dobruja. It is possible for values of two cultures to coexist within one community and one culture. This would contradict the theses of Feliks Koneczny, Oswald Spengler and Samuel Huntington. The historical existence of Norman-Muslim culture of Sicily or Muslim Spain constitutes another example of a common historical message of both civilizations. Despite the peripheral (both historically and territorially) character of these experiences, they can become a precedent for future social, political and civilizational experiments concerning the coexistence of Europe and Islam. Literature is yet another emanation of the common message. Polish literature is abundant in literary works depicting the common space of two civilizations. As a representative of Old Polish literature, one should mention a 17th century poet Samuel Otwinowski and his translation of Gulistan, a work by Saadi, one of the greatest medieval Persian poets. This masterly translation proved the possibility of coexistence in a philological way. Jan Potocki’s novel The Manuscript Found in Saragossa written at the end of 18th century played a similar role. Openness to common values is visible throughout the oeuvre of Tadeusz Miciński. For Miciński, a synthesis of both civilizations, a common cultural space, is possible and feasible. He was one of the few Europeans to see the need to open Europe for Muslim values, reevaluate mutual relations and abandon the position of power in favor of genuine partnership. Common Muslim-European values and a possibility of a common cultural space can be traced in the works of contemporary writers like Mesha Selimovic, a Bosniak, author of eminent novels Death and the Dervish and Fortress, as well as Bosnian-born Ivo Andric, the already mentioned Nobel Prize-winning author and creator of a historical vision of Bosnian culture as an alloy of European and Muslim traditions. The common civilizational space can also be found in the works of Orhan Pamuk, the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize. The works of these authors reveal a real possibility of coexistence of two civilizations, a possibility of a common space of tradition, culture and history to emerge.

The literary history of the bridge in Mostar seems hence to be the historical message of Europe and Islam. This history was described by Ivo Andric in his novel entitled The Bridge on the Drina, where the bridge is real, but at the same time it is a symbolic space linking two worlds both in terms of culture and history. A bridge creates a common space of life and joy as well as similar values.