Al-Andalus

Al-ʾAndalus (Arabic ???????) is the Arabic name given to the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula by its Muslim conquerors; it refers to both the Emirate (ca 750-929) and Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031) and its taifa successor kingdoms specifically, and in general to territories under Muslim rule (711-1492). As Iberia was slowly regained by Christians fighting from northern enclaves, in the long process known as the Reconquista, the name "al-Andalus" came to refer the Muslim-dominated lands of the former Roman Hispania Baetica, Hispania Lusitania and Hispania Tarraconensis, within an ever-southward-moving frontier. See also Andalusia and Andalusia (disambiguation)

Culture

Non-Muslims (Dhimmi) under the Caliphate

See also: Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain

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Tolerance or Repression

The treatment of non-Muslims (specifically Jews) in the Caliphate has been a subject of considerable interest from scholars and commentators, especially those interested in drawing parallels to the co-existence of Muslims and non-Muslims in the modern world. Some argue that - for at least part of the history of Al-Andalus - Jews were treated significantly better in Muslim-controlled Spain than in Christian Northern Europe. However, the exact extent and nature of this period of tolerance (sometimes called a "Golden Age") has become a subject of debate and is often used to back personal or political agendas.

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Princeton University Professor Mark Cohen, in his 1995 book on the subject, Under Cross and Crescent, discusses how the belief of a Golden Age of peaceful co-existence in Al-Andalus (especially between Muslim and Jew) was bolstered in the nineteenth and twentieth century by two sources. On one side, Jewish scholars like Heinrich Graetz used the story of tolerant Al-Andalus to draw contrasts to the increasing oppression of Jews in mainly Christian Eastern Europe, eventually leading to the Holocaust. On the other side, Arab scholars who wanted to show that modern State of Israel shattered a previously existing harmony between Jews and Arabs in Palestine under the Ottoman rule pointed to the supposed utopia of the Golden Age as an example of previous relationships. Cohen argues that the image is overstated, but that the "countermyth" of persecution is also an oversimplification.

Related Topics:
Mark Cohen - 1995 - Heinrich Graetz - Eastern Europe - The Holocaust - State of Israel - Palestine - Ottoman - Utopia

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The debate about the conditions of non-Muslims continues however. For example, María Rosa Menocal, a specialist in Iberian literature at Yale University, has argued that "Tolerance was an inherent aspect of Andalusian society"http://www.twbookmark.com/books/52/0316566888/press_release.html. Menocal's 2003 book, The Ornament of the World, argues that the Jewish dhimmis living under the Caliphate, while allowed fewer rights than Muslims, were still better off than in other parts of Christian Europe. Jews from other parts of Europe made their way to El-Andalus, where they were tolerated - as were Christians of sects regarded as heretical by various European Christian states.

Related Topics:
María Rosa Menocal - Yale University - 2003 - Dhimmi - Heretical

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The work of Menocal and other such scholars has been the subject of criticism from commentators such as Robert Spencer and Andrew Bostom, who regard Menocal's description of El-Andalus as a myth that ignores the realities of dhimmi life. These critics cite Muslim restrictions on dhimmis: they could not build new churches or synagogues or repair old ones, they had to practice their faiths quietly and privately, and they were not to proselytize. Dhimmis were required to wear an identifying belt called the zunnar. The zunnar was easily recognized because of its color - blue for Christians and yellow for Jews. Dhimmi were also prohibited from employing Muslims and had to pay a poll tax (jizya). They were also forbidden from holding public office.

Related Topics:
Robert Spencer - Andrew Bostom - Jizya

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Proponents of the "tolerant Andalusia" theory respond that while these rules applied in theory, some of them were ignored in practice. They say there were many examples of dhimmi holding state offices, despite the technical prohibitation, but cite only some of them. One notable Andalusian example among these is that of Hasdai ibn Shaprut (915-990), a prominent Jew who controlled the customs (among other duties) in Córdoba, but other Jews served as Viziers or court physicians. Proponents argue that dhimmis enjoyed considerable autonomy within the Islamic state; in matters of family law and religious practice, they were governed by their own authorities. These authorities collected the poll tax and mediated between the state and the dhimmi community. Within their allotted bounds, the dhimmi had a certain freedom.

Related Topics:
Hasdai ibn Shaprut - 915 - 990 - Vizier

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Rise and Fall of Tolerance

The Caliphate treated non-Muslims differently at different times. The longest period of tolerance began after 912, with the reign of Abd-ar-Rahman III and his son, Al-Hakam II where the Jews of Al-Andalus prospered, devoting themselves to the service of the Caliphate of Cordoba, to the study of the sciences, and to commerce and industry, especially to trading in silk and slaves, in this way promoting the prosperity of the country. Southern Spain became an asylum for the oppressed Jews of other countries.

Related Topics:
912 - Abd-ar-Rahman III - Al-Hakam II - Caliphate of Cordoba - Silk - Slave

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Christians, braced by the example of their co-religionists across the borders of Al-Andalus, sometimes asserted the claims of Christianity and knowingly courted martyrdom, even during these tolerant periods. For example, forty-eight Christians of Córdoba were decapitated for religious offences against Islam. They became known as the Martyrs of Córdoba. Many of the Christians executed deliberately courted martyrdom by publicly declaiming against Islam inside mosques, insulting Muhammad and making declarations of Christian religious beliefs considered blasphemous in Islam. These deaths played out, not in a single spasm of religious unrest, but over an extended period of time; dissenters who were fully aware of the fates of their predecessors chose what amounted to suicide as a form of protest against the Islamic statehttp://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/oecordob.htm.

Related Topics:
Martyrdom - Martyrs of Córdoba - Muhammad

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With the death of Al-Hakam III in 976, however, the situation worsened for non-Muslims in general. The first major persecution occurred on December 30, 1066 when the Jews were expelled from Granada and fifteen hundred families were killed when they did not leave. Starting in 1090 with the invasion of the Almoravides, the situation worsened further. Even under the Almoravides, however some Jews prospered (although far more so under Ali III, than under his father Yusuf ibn Tashfin). With the defeat of the Almoravides in 1148 by the puritanical Almohades, the Jews were forced to accept the Islamic faith; the conquerors confiscated their property and sold many captives into slavery. The most famous Jewish educational institutions were closed, and synagogues everywhere destroyed.

Related Topics:
976 - December 30 - 1066 - Granada - 1090 - Ali III - Yusuf ibn Tashfin - 1148 - Slavery - Synagogue

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During these successive waves of narrowly interpreted Islam, many Jewish and even Muslim scholars left the Muslim-controlled portion of Spain for the then still relatively tolerant city of Toledo, which had been reconquered in 1085 by Christian forces. Jews joined the armies of Alfonso VI of Castile and as many as 40,000 joined in the fight against the Almoravides, who also had large numbers of Jewish troops in their armies.

Related Topics:
Toledo - Reconquered - 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile

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Philosophy

One of the most significant contributions made in Al-Andalus was to the advancement of theological philosophy.

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From the earliest days, the Umayyads wanted to be seen as intellectual rivals to the Abbasids, and for Córdoba to have libraries and educational institutions to rival Baghdad. Although there was a clear rivalry between the two powers, freedom to travel between the two Caliphates was allowed, which helped spread new ideas and innovations over time.

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The historian Said Al-Andalusi wrote that the Caliph Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Rahman had collected libraries of books and patroned men to study medicine and "ancient sciences".

Related Topics:
Said Al-Andalusi - Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Rahman - Medicine

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Later Al-Mustansir (Al-Hakam II) vastly improved this by importing philosophical volumes as well as varying series of books on diverse subjects, including medicine and music from the East to his new university and libraries in Córdoba. Under his reign Córdoba had become one of the worlds most important cities for medicine and philosophical debate.

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However, when his son Hisham II took over, his real power was ceded to the hajib, al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir. Al-Mansur was a distinctly religious man and disapproved of the sciences of astronomy, logic and especially astrology, so much so that many books on these subjects, which had been preserved and collected at great expense by Al-Hakam II, were burned publicly. It was not long, however, after the death of Al-Mansur (1002) that interest in philosophy sparked up again. Numerous scholars came to the forefront, including Abu Uthman Ibn Fathun, who wrote and taught extensively on a wide variety of subjects including Music and Grammar but whose masterwork was the philosophical treatise the Tree of Wisdom. Another outstanding scholar in astronomy and astrology was Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti (died 1008), an intrepid traveller who journeyed all over the Islamic countries, and beyond, and who kept in touch with the Brethren of Purity. Indeed, it is said to have been him who brought the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity to al-Andalus and who added the compendium to these 51 books, although it is strongly possible that this was added later by another of the name al-Majriti. Another book believed to be his is the Ghayat al-Hakim (The aim of the Sage), a book which dealt with varying philosophical ideas including a synthesis of Platonism with Hermetic philosophy. Its use of incantations led the book to be widely dismissed in later years, although the Sufi communities did keep studies of it.

Related Topics:
Hisham II - Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir - Astronomy - Logic - Astrology - Al-Hakam II - Burned publicly - 1002 - Abu Uthman Ibn Fathun - Music - Grammar - Tree of Wisdom - Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti - Brethren of Purity - Ghayat al-Hakim - Platonism - Hermetic philosophy - Sufi

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A prominent follower of al-Majriti was Abu al-Hakam al-Kirmani, who aside from the studies of philosophy was also a particularly keen scholar of Geometry. A follower of his was the great Abu Bakr Ibn al-Sayigh, known to most Arabic Speakers as Ibn Bajjah, known mostly to the west as Avempace.

Related Topics:
Abu al-Hakam al-Kirmani - Geometry - Ibn Bajjah - Avempace

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Jewish philosophy and culture

With the relative tolerance of Al-Andalus, and the decline of the previous center of Jewish thought in Babylonia, Al-Andalus became the center of Jewish intellectual endeavors. Poets and commentators like Judah Halevi (1086-1145) and Dunash ben Labrat (920-990) contributed to the cultural life of Al-Andalus, but the area was even more important to the development of Jewish philosophy. A stream of Jewish philosophers, cross-fertilizing with Muslim philosophers, (see Joint Jewish and Islamic Philosophies) culminated in the most important Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, Maimonides (1135-1205), though he did not actually do any of his work in Al-Andalus, as, when he was 13, his family fled persecution by the Almohades.

Related Topics:
Decline of the previous center of Jewish thought in Babylonia - Judah Halevi - 1086 - 1145 - Dunash ben Labrat - 920 - 990 - Joint Jewish and Islamic Philosophies - Maimonides - 1135 - 1205 - Almohades

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