Muslim Spain

Reseña de los libros publicados por Diego Melo Carrasco: Las alianzas y negociaciones del sultán: Un recorrido por la historia de las "relaciones internacionales" del sultanato nazarí de Granada (siglos XIII-XV), Murcia, Editum, 2015; Compendio de cartas, tratados y noticias de paces y treguas entre Granada, Castilla y Aragón, Murcia, Editum, 2016

Suddenly Don Quijote doubts his squire’s embassy. It would be miraculous for Sancho to have returned in just over three days because El Toboso is more than thirty leagues away, seventy-five miles or one hundred and twenty-five kilometers from where Don Quijote was in the Sierra Morena.

This study discusses al-Andalusian prose on nature in the periods of Muluk al-Tawacif and al-Murabitin in order to fill a gap in literature studies that focus solely on the poetical part of nature. The Arab Andalusian literature (verses and prose) had achieved an outstanding achievement in these two periods. Therefore, the researcher tries to examine the prose texts on nature that were produced by the writers of those periods, study the genres of prose on nature, highlight the backgrounds of the writers, clarify literary styles and, expose the creativity and ingenuity in these texts. This study relies on two main methods, inductive and analytical. It is concluded from this study that the Andalusian prose was at its climax in the hands of great writers in those two periods. Nature was mostly described in all genres of prose; the most famous are the letters. These literary genres have good quality in the structure of the prose, expression and composition, imagination and literary images, and rhythm .All these elements made those prose distinguished literature. In addition, the emergence of new topics also shows the outstanding talent of the Andalusian writers in describing nature in their prose texts.

The cover features some stunning Andalusian calligraphy that reinforces the subtitle and serves as a potent counter-balance to the book’s contents; while the oral word suffices in the days of the speedy conquest, it is the delightful arabesque with its patient quest for beauty that a nourishing civilization engenders. If there be a lesson for Muslims today it is less in triumphant expansion and more in creating conditions that nurture a civilization.

Cross reference: The consequence of Muslim civilization in Spain is examined in a research paper, by reading the inscriptions on a medieval Mosque, Church and Synagogue  in "Toledean Testimony: Reconquista, Architectural Convivencia and the Man from La Mancha" See: Papers section.

"Tarij Mayurqa" de Ibn Amira al-Majzumí  de Alzira (1186-1260) es la crónica musulmana en árabe de la conquista de Mallorca realizada por Jaime I el Conquistador entre 1229 y 1232. Hasta el año 2001 se creia que esta obra se habia perdido para siempre. La última noticia que se tenía de ella, junto a varios extractos de sus capítulos, se hallaba en la obra de al-Maqqari (1578-1632) "Nafh al-tib 'an gusn al-Andalus al-ratib" (efluvio del perfume de la lozana rama de al-Andalus). En 2001, el prócer imaratí Jumua Al Majid encontró una copia manuscrita de la obra del siglo XIII en una "záuiya" (instituto de enseñanza islámico tradicional) en Tinduf (Argelia). El profesor Mohamed Ben Ma'mar de la Universidad de Orán (Argelia) realizó la edición crítica del manuscrito en 2007. El Dr. Nicolás Roser Nebot procedió a la traducción al catalán de la obra en 2008 y al castellano en 2009.
"Ta'rij Mayurqa" (Historia de Mallorca) aporta una serie de datos inéditos sobre los sucesos que se desenvolvieron durante la conquista de la isla de Mallorca por parte del Reino de Aragón. Algunos de esos datos confirman los registrados por las crónicas catalanas (entre 40 y 100 años posteriores a "Ta'rij Mayurqa"), sobre todo los referentes a los sucesos bélicos, y desmienten otros, como el trato benévolo de Jaime I a los vencidos, en particular, al valí de Mallorca, Abu Yahya, último gobernante almohade y musulmán de la isla.

Reinterpreting the story of Sultan Boabdil and his surrender of
Granada in 1491 CE -- and the end of the 750-year-old Muslim rule in
Iberia -- is the subject of Elizabeth Drayson's The Moor's Last Stand: How
Seven Centuries of Muslim Rule in Spain Came to an End.

This is an excerpt of Robert W. Lebling's translation into English of Gonzague de Rey's "Les invasions des Sarrasins en Provence pendant le VIIIe, le IXe, et le Xe, siècle" (1878) as reprinted by Editions Jeanne Laffitte in 2001. For the complete translation, contact Robert W. Lebling. The complete book, in paperback and Kindle versions, is available at Amazon.com.

It is remarkable that, within a single century, the Muslims, from their humble abode of the harsh deserts of Arabia, conquered not only much of the Middle East, Persia, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula, but also, parts of the Indian subcontinent, and with that, the foundation of a great empire had been established throughout lands that stretched nearly 6000 miles between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. And, with remarkable turn of events, from mid-8th century onward commenced this scientific and scholarly revolution that led to centuries of continuous, organized and pioneering research and firm advances in various fields of academia. And, this very period, during which these innovative scholarly pursuits, which ultimately created a remarkable body of scientific work, is historically recognized as the Golden Age of Islam, an era that lasted up to 13th century.

The Islamic World, during this particular era, produced a wealth of innovative scientific works, revolutionized the system of society and pioneered lasting economic, cultural and political development. And, it is during this time, the Muslim World became the center of global intellectual, economic and political sphere, where people from all across the then known world, traveled to Abbasid Baghdad, Umayyad Al-Andalus, Fatimid Egypt and Muslim Sicily, in search of a better life, and of course, for radiant scholarly wisdom. And, this book tells that story: how it all began and precisely why the era between mid-8th century and 13th century is considered to be the Golden Age of Islam, the most remarkable era in the entire political history of the religion of Islam.

Beyond being the earliest clear interaction between Pisa and Barcelona, the Balearic Crusade was also one of the earliest Iberian extensions of the crusading movement. Afterward, Pisa abandoned its belli-cose policy toward Western Mediterranean Muslim cities in favor of friendly diplomatic relations and went from protecting Christian cities on the Tyrrhenian to competing aggressively and warring against them. Simultaneously, Catalonia built a navy for campaigns against Muslim targets, sought papal benefits for such campaigns, and formed international coalitions for their execution, all of which helped solidify Catalonia as a political unit and pushed it towards more international commercial integration. Many of these shifts have been noted before but rarely tied to the Balearic Crusade; this article seeks to rectify this scholarly lacuna.

"This discussion of the pyxis invites a meditation on the ways in which subjects and objects acquire meanings and exchange positions within the web of socio-symbolic relations. In Fatal Strategies Baudrillard wages an assault..."
"...Just like the potter, the art historian’s creative process should not exclusively focus on mapping variations on the surface of his object, but rather on bringing to light  the generative void that constitutes its essence, on creating an epistemological structure that reflects its perceived meaning, and on making it visible by delineating its contours with words. It cannot be too often repeated…."
CONTENTS
1. 357/967-968
2. Princes and Lions
3. The Lion and the Bull
4. The Palm Tree and the Eagle
5.Taslib + Tashbih
6. Fatal Strategies: Subjects (in)to Objetcts
7. The Void and the Vessel

Muṣāhara (affinity/relation by marriage) represented one of the essential distinctions of the ruling elite of fourteenth-century Granada. Ibn al-Khaṭīb understood its importance for life in Granada and he felt the need to mention it whenever two people were related by marriage. His perception has been taken as one of the most fundamental for historical research, as he drew on his personal experience in Granada. This study first defines the concept of the ruling elite of fourteenth-century Granada. Within this group, the concept of muṣāhara as understood by Ibn al-Khaṭīb is further elaborated. The definition of muṣāhara is followed by the description of its actual use among the families close to the office of the vizier (wazīr) and by Ibn al-Khaṭīb himself. The history of one of these families (al-Fihrī) has been hailed as an exceptional example of the “ruling elite family” that included contemporaries and adversaries of Ibn al-Khaṭīb. The example of the al-Fihrī family shows how strong and active their position was during the rule of every fourteenth-century emir. Consequently, this study demonstrates that the extensive Granadan families similar to those known from the fifteenth century had existed and cooperated with each other before this time.

This article revisits the role of women in the Andalusian literature and culture of the period between the 8 th through the 15 th centuries C.E. Drawing on some Western sexual-textual political models of analysis, the article reexamines the literary methods and devices employed by selected Andalusian women poets to demonstrate their intellectual equality with men. Moreover, by providing a sexual-textual political reading of some of the women's poems and/or the anecdotes (akhbār) about them, the article demonstrates how these women exerted their social and political agency in a male-dominated society. The article seeks to bolster an argument that the frequent mention of the preponderance of women poets—their names and the anecdotes about them— suggests the existence of a female literary sub-culture in al-Andalus that was more vibrant than has been documented in the male-authored classical Arabic texts.

This study is based on a popular assumption that there is a similarity between Abu Bakr al-Sanawbari (A.H 334) and Ibn Khafajah al- Andalusi (A.H 533) in their poetry about nature. Therefore, the researcher tries to make a comparative study on the nature of their poetry, particularly, examining the beauty, the ingenuity and the skills of the two poets, as well as tracing the influence al-Sanawbari had on Ibn Khafajah and attempting to highlight the similarities and differences between the two personalities. To complete this study, an analytical method is adopted based on references related to the topic. It is concluded from this study that poetry about nature was at its climax in the hands of Abu Bakr al-Sanawbari and Ibn Khafajah al- Andalusi. Both of them shared the same methods and approaches in poetry writing, especially in the poetical structures, meanings and language styles due to the influence of the environment that they lived in. Nevertheless, they differ from each other in terms of imaginations, emotions, literary styles, as well as the rhythm of the poetry, which deny the possibility of imitations of each other. In addition, each of these characteristics refers to the unique qualities of each poet.

The Reconquista left unprecedentedly large numbers of Muslims living under Christian rule. Since Islamic religious and legal institutions had been developed by scholars who lived under Muslim rule and who assumed this condition as a given, how Muslims should proceed in the absence of such rule became the subject of extensive intellectual investigation. In Islamic Law and the Crisis of the Reconquista, Alan Verskin examines the way in which the Iberian school of Mālikī law developed in response to the political, theological, and practical difficulties posed by the Reconquista. He shows how religious concepts, even those very central to the Islamic religious experience, could be rethought and reinterpreted in order to respond to the changing needs of Muslims. Includes a complete annotated translation of al-Wansharisi's Asna al-Matajir and his Marbella fatwa.

The present article aims to show the continuity of the Genoese of the Kingdom of Grenade from the end of the Muslim era to the beginning of the Castilian times. To do so it makes use of the prosopographical method, comparing documentation from national archives and notarial deeds from Cordoba and Grenade. Thus, through the personal development of Ambrogio Spinola we study aspects such as the commercial and financial activities held by the Genoese mercantile community, paying special attention to the connection with the High Guadalquivir through the terrestrial border; the purchase of proprieties in Grenadian soil, a completely hitherto unknown fact which involves deep implications about the evolution of the Nasrid society; it is established the chronology of their presence in the emirate during the War of Grenade; and after the return we outline their adaptation to the new social, political and economical reality, with the diversification of strategies, the wish to integrate in local society and keeping in touch with Castilian and Grenadian elites. Therefore it emerges a completely unknown image, which answers some classic questions of the specific historiography and enriches the knowledge of the Genoese presence in Grenade.

This article delineates some of the historical characteristics of medieval Iberia that make postcolonial studies especially appealing for a renovation of this multi‐disciplinary field, and it suggests specific openings for future research inflected by postcolonial studies. By discussing in particular the concepts of mimicry and transculturation, this piece exemplifies avenues for nuancing the notion of cultural contact, for rethinking the overused reliance on medieval Iberia’s “three cultures,” and it redirects attention to the fields of Latin American and colonial studies as sources of crucial theoretical debates.

Identificación y estudio de los principales personajes pertenecientes a la familia de los Banū l-Aḥmar (fundadora de la dinastía y estado nazaríes) que nacieron en Arjona (Jaén) y Jaén. Se parte de la figura central del primer emir nazarí, Muḥammad I, y se revisan las dos generaciones previas a él, su propia generación y dos generaciones posteriores. Los resultados muestran personajes de la familia nacidos en Arjona y Jaén en estas cinco generaciones. Se revela la amplitud del grupo y la necesidad de vínculos familiares y redes de parentesco para la conformación de un nuevo estado. Aparece el factor geográfico-espacial (concentración) como factor de cohesión y destaca la relevancia política de los personajes (que desempeñan importantes cargos como emir, gobernador o jefe militar y conforman los enlaces matrimoniales que cohesionan la red de lealtades del grupo). Se demuestra la importancia y “operatividad” de los linajes, grupos familiares y élites locales en la sociedad andalusí y su desarrollo político en el siglo XIII.

Palabras clave: al-Andalus; Jaén; dinastía Nazarí; s. XIII; historia política; familia nazarí; redes familiares; élites locales.



"Emirs, princes, princesses and military leaders: The Naṣrid royal house of Jaen (jayyānīs members of Banū l-Aḥmar ‘s family and the political role of local elites in Andalusian society)"

Abstract:  This article focuses on the identification and study of the main characters belonging to the family of the Banū l-Aḥmar (founder of the Naṣrid dynasty that ruled Naṣrid Kingdom) born in Arjona (Jaén) and Jaén town. Taking as a starting point the figure of the first Naṣrid emir, Muḥammad I, the study analyzes the genealogical relationship of the two preceding and the two succeeding generations beside his own. The result shows a five generation family tree in which can be seen a significant amount of Naṣrid family members born in Arjona and Jaen. This reflects the size of the group and the need for family ties and kinship networks in order to create of a new state. Geographical proximity as well as the political relevance of many of the Naṣrid family members are two factors that contributed to group cohesion. This fact demonstrates the importance of lineages, families and local elites in the al-Andalus society and its political development in the 13th century.
Keywords: Al-Andalus; Jaén; Naṣrid dynasty; 13th century; political history; Naṣrid family; family networks; local elites.



"Émirs, princes, princesses et chefs militaires : la maison royale naṣride de Jaén (les membres jayyānīs de la famille des Banū l-Aḥmar et le rôle politique des élites locales dans la société andalouse)"

Résumé : Identification et étude des principaux personnages appartenant à la famille des Banū l-Aḥmar (fondateurs de la dynastie et de l’État de naṣrid) qui sont nés à Arjona (Jaén) et Jaén. On départ du personnage centrale, le premier émir naṣrid Muḥammad I, et on examine cinq générations : deux avant lui, sa propre génération et deux après lui. Les résultats montrent des personnages de la famille nés à Arjona et Jaén en ces cinq générations. Ils révèlent l'étendue du groupe et la nécessité de liens familiaux et de réseaux de parenté pour la formation d'un nouvel État. On trouve un facteur géographique-spatial (concentration) comme facteur de cohésion. Il ressort l’importance politique des personnages (ils exercent importants charges tels qu'souverain, gouverneur ou chef militaire et ils engagent des liens de mariage qui relient le réseau de loyauté du group). On établit l'importance et la « mise en oeuvre » des lignages, groupes familiaux et élites locales dans la société andalouse et son développement politique au XIIIe siècle.

Mots clés : al-Andalus ; Jaén ; dynastie des Nasrides ; XIIIe siècle ; histoire politique ; famille nasride ; réseaux familiaux ; élites locales.

The deprivation of liberty is one of the defining components of Christendom-Islam relationships in the Medieval Mediterranean. In this context the Kingdom of Granada is a perfect framework within which to study a frontier society both in the Nasrid and the Castilian periods, in which the daily presence of prisoners and slaves show social and economic features common to the rest of the Western Mediterranean and also specific traits related to the particular historical characteristics of the Iberian Peninsula. In line with the current trend that supports the joint study of captivity and slavery overcoming the juridical differences that divide them, this article collects the state of knowledge on the matter. It reviews the classic bibliography and moves forward to include the latest studies in an attempt to deal with the subject from an integrating perspective. Given that very few Late Medieval Mediterranean territories offer the documentary richness and the economic, social and structural complexity of the Kingdom of Granada, there emerges a panorama of great clarity for the question under study.

In the year 1492, the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella captured Grenada from the Moors. The city surrendered on January 7, 1492 and the Catholic king and queen immediately ordered the expulsion of all Jews within three months’ time and the expropriation of all their wealth. The expulsion of this intelligent, cultured, and industrious ethnic and religious group was prompted only, in part, by the greed of the king and queen and the intensified nationalism of the people who had just brought the crusade against the Muslim Moors to a glorious close. The real motive was the religious zeal of the Church, the monarchies in presence, and the masses.  Accordingly, the equivalent of 250 000 Jews were thrown in merchant ships and sent to other parts of Europe and North Africa, with no food or means to start a new life. It is considered one of the most inhuman mass expulsion in human history of people on the ground of their religious affiliation.

El estudio preteode analizar el periodo de las terceras taifas en el nuevonmanuscrito de la crónica de !bn al-Jatib A‛māl/I‛māl al-a‛lām fī man būyi‛a qabla iḥtilām min mulūk al-islām wa mā yaǧarru min šuǧūn al-kalām. El manuscrito complementa las ediciones existeotes del segundo volumen y en diez páginas agrega ocho nuevos capítulos que comprenden los años 1230 a 1314.

Las Germanías, rebelión en el seno de la sociedad valenciana, fue un movimiento que contó, mayoritariamente, con el apoyo de las gentes del Reino, por más que hubo intentos de sumar refuerzos extemos. Entre las reivindicaciones de la Germanía constaba la desaparición del estamento nobiliario y su sustitución por capitanes agermanados que, en principio, defendían la causa popular. No obstante, en aquel momento el pueblo lo constituían también los mudéjares y los mudéjares vasallos de los señores. Pero los mudéjares, súbditos fieles al rey, junto con los musulmanes de las morerías de las principales ciudades valencianas y los vasallos de señoríos, no se vieron representados por los agermanados, aunque no fue estos impedimiento para acometer sus propias acciones.

This paper aims to study a hitherto bad known aspect, the position of the Republic of Florence in the Nasri sultanate. To achieve this we shall take as reference the commercial mechanisms developed by the Tuscan merchants in their relationships with the Western Islam between the Thirteenth and the Fifteenth Centuries, underlying the particularities observed in Grenade. Last, data about the Florentine galley system’s commerce will serve to offer a provisional conclusion.

This article covers in detail the bibliographical production on the Italian differential presence in the south of the Iberian Peninsula in the late medieval centuries. Following the academic conventions of a  long-established historiographical tradition, it tackles the subject by taking into consideration the political realities in both peninsulae, Castile and Grenade on the one hand, and the Italian Mercantile Republics on the other, paying special attention to Genoa, Venice and Florence. Lastly, it suggests new research lines from underused sources and the most recent trends in historiography.