Al-Andalus: Loss of Muslim Power
Al-Andalus, Itilly conquered by Muslims by 97/716, suffered from internal strife and political instability until the establishment of the Umayyad emirate by 'Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil, who fled the 'Abbasid revolution to establish an autonomous central government in the peninsula.«! In 300/912, 'Abd al-Rahman III, a descendant of 'Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil, came to power, officially declaring himself caliph in 317/929.11 His era, and that of his son al-Hakam, was characterized by heightened Islamic power forcing neighbouring Christian princes to pay an annual tribute to the emirate or else face punitive raiding by Muslim armies.12 After al-Hakam's death, his eleven-year-old son, Hisham II, succeeded as caliph.
While he maintained the title, practical rule was in the hands of his hajib (chamberlain), al-Manstir (d. 392/1002). Al-Manstir and his son al-Muzaffar, who succeeded him as chamberlain, managed to maintain al- Andalus's regional power and their own authority as de facto rulers until the9 H. Laoust, “Ibn Taymiyya, Ta⅛I al-Dιn Ahmad,” in Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed, ed. P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs, Brill Online, accessed 21 December 2009.
10 Hugh Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal (London: Longman, 1996), 27, 33.
n Kennedy MuslimSpa9c>.
12 William Montgomery Watt, A History of Islamic Spain, 3rd ed. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1971), 41.
latter's death in 398/1008.13 But with the death of al-Muzaffar and his brother's succession as chamberlain, al-Andalus and its power received a strong blow when the brother attempted to claim the caliphate. According to Watt, “The years from 1008 to 1031 are in some ways the most tragic quarter centuries in all history. From the pinnacle of its wealth, power and cultural achievement, al- Andalus fell into the abyss of bloody civil war.''14 The civil war resulted in the division of a!-Λndalus's land among various Arab, Berber, and Andalusi princes and the creation of numerous petty states.
These petty states were in constant hostility with each other, which reflected negatively on the existing balance of power between the Muslims and their northern Christian neighbours.15 Soon, relations between Muslim al-Andalus and its neighbours were reversed, as symbolized by the payment of parias (tribute) by petty Muslim kings to their Christian counterparts؛ Christian kings soon became involved in the conflicts between the ta’ifa kings, with the latter seeking their assistance against each other؛ Eventually, the Christian kings realized the opportunity created by the power gap in al-Andalus and began to attack Muslim cities and regain control over strategic territory. The most significant turning point in that early stage of the ReconquistaIS was the Christian reacquisition of Toledo in 477/1085. According to Kennedy, this reacquisition “meant that al-Andalus lost its geographical heart and that its kingdoms were now scattered.... No part of the country could be wholly secure from Christian raids.''19 While such failure was attributable partly to Muslim leaders seeking Christian assistance, it was also triggered by the weakness of the Muslim petty states in comparison to their counterparts. A survey of historical accounts of that phase led Kennedy to conclude that Muslim armies became much smaller due to political division and financial constraints caused by being forced to pay parias to Christian kings.The weakness of the ta’ifa kings and their inability to defend Muslim lands led to widespread dissatisfaction among Muslim jurists and among the Andalusi population in general. Soon, even the ta’ifa kings themselves became aware of their inability to defend their territory against their northern
13 Watt, IslamicSpain,8⅜
IA Watt, IslamicSpain,8⅜.
15 Wasserstein, Party-Kings, 133.
16 Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 167.
-η Kenne⅛j, MusiimSpaiiCttA.
18 A problematic yet widely used term. For a discussion of the shortcomings of the term
R⅛conIn the first instance, Ibn Tashfin helped stop Christian expansion and immediately rettrned to North Africa.
However, when called upon again, he felt that Andalusi leaders “were not deeply attached to the Islamic religion,''22 which, coupled with the wide juristic and popular support he received, led him to annex al-Andalus.23 The conduct of the ta’ifa kings during their conflict with Ibn Tashfin led to Hrther resentment of their rule. For example, al-Mutamid (r. 431-488/1050-1095) the ruler of Seville, sought the assistance of Alfonso VI the king of Castille and Leon (r. 1072-1109) against Ibn Tashfin, “so making all his enemies' accusations come true.''24 Other ta’ifa states soon followed suit, with the exception of the kingdom of Zaragoza in the noth-east.25 Nevertheless, of the lands reconquered by the Christians, only Valencia was reacquired by the Almoravids.26The Almoravids' rule in al-Andalus echoed their philosophy of religious revival, and “from the very beginning they showed respect for the religious classes and relied on them for political as well as religious decisions.''27 As a matter of fact, Gomez-Rivas states that Ibn Tashfin only annexed al-Andalus after receiving the explicit endorsement of prominent jurists.28 At the same time, ju-
20 Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 162.
21 Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 157.
22 Watt, IslamicSpain,99..
23 Watt, IslamlcSpaliI,99.
24 Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 164.
25 Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 166.
26 Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 172.
27 Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 168.
28 Cam⅛o Gbmez-Rtvas, Law and ttte Islamatton of Morocco Undc ttte Almoraiilds: Ttte Falivas of Ibn Rusttd, aladd to ttte Magttrib, ⅛ Studies m ttte History c^r^d ؟^^ci1^؛y of ttte Maghrib, ed. Amira K. Benison et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 16. rists welcomed the new rulers, who showed a zeal and respect for Islamic law and a willingness to “pursue the Jihad.”29 Signs that the jurists' power was increasing included that they now headed the Friday prayer, normally headed by the ruler, and that they were given responsibility for the bayt al-mal (house of revenue).30 But aside from the jurists, the traditional elites were marginalized by the new political structure in al-Andalus and lost their preferential statii؛ because the Almoravids were heavily influenced by their traditional tribal ties and tended to limit power sharing to a very restricted group.32
Conflicts continued between the Almoravids and their northern Christian neighbours, and initially the Almoravids were militarily superior, despite their inability to regain territory from the Christians.
However, their power gradually started to decline. Starting in 512/1118, “a new generation of Christian leaders from the new and expanding kingdoms began to push their frontiers southwards at the expense of the faltering Almoravid [al-Murabittin] government.''33 As a result, the Almoravids' rule was met by some resistance and resentment among the political elite and inhabitants of the peninsula. The extent of this political rejection is, however, subject to scholarly debate.34 Watt argues that the luxury witnessed by the military generals in the culturally rich cities of al- Andalus weakened their moral zeal.35 Kennedy, on the other hand, argues that the decline of the Almoravids' power was attributable partly to Ibn Tashfin's son's takeover of the last remaining IacLfa state of Zaragoza in the north-east, which aggravated the Christian kings and denied the Almoravids the buffer zone role played by that state.36 The most famous uprising was the unrest in Cordoba in 515/1121, in which Ibn Rushd played a major role, as will be detailed later in this chapter. Internal chaos, as well as rising domestic threats to the rule of the Almoravids in North Africa, led to a power vacuum in the Iberian peninsula, and Itirther chaos ensued until the Almohads (al-Muwa hidtin) ruled all of al-Andalus by 567/1172.29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 168.
Kenrnedyj, MuslimιSpa,-η⅛.
Watt, IslamlcSpaln,101. Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 160. Kennedy, Mus lim Spain, 179.
Gomez-Rivas, Law, 17.
Watt, Isla mic Spain, 100. Kennedy, Muslim Spain, 181.
2
More on the topic Al-Andalus: Loss of Muslim Power:
- CHAPTER 2 The Muslim World at the Frontiers: Al-Andalus
- This chapter examines scholarly work produced in eras of waning Muslim power where there was a strong sense of external threat.
- Spain (Al-Andalus)
- The Jurist-Judge in al-Andalus: Ibn Rushd al-Jadd
- Democratizing Muslim Legal Pluralism? Parity and Muslim Dispute Resolution
- Muslim Legal Practice in the United Kingdom: the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal
- This edited collection draws upon original empirical and policy research to examine debates on religious practice and the experience of Muslim family law within British Muslim communities.
- Unquestionably, the starkest of the rights that Roman law gave to the pater familias was “the power of life and death” (vitae necisque potestas) over those descendants who were in his paternal power.
- Value and loss
- Weight loss and anorexia
- Despite militants' frequent attempts to claim that mainstream institutions and scholars are irrelevant, mainstream narratives undoubtedly offer an influential role in Muslim and non-Muslim understandings of the Islamic regulation of armed conflict.
- 4. Wrongful Loss (Damnum Iniuria)
- THE LOSS OF SPIRITUAL WISDOM