A while ago I read this in an article about the Muslim Conquest of Spain:

The Umayad conquest of Hispania gave birth to a period in human history of almost unique cultural exchange. So famed did the academies and libraries of Muslim Spain become, where Jews, Christians and Muslims studied and collaborated together, that scholars flocked there from such centers of learning as Paris and Oxford universities.

How much truth is there behind this? Do any contemporany accounts about the aforementioned universities exist? Additionally, how were Jews and Christians treated during Muslim rule, and how did the three religions react to each other's presence?

I'm particularly interested in the first two centuries of Muslim reign, but any info on the entirety of the occupation is apreciated.