Islamic World

Defining difference across the Strait of Gibraltar: The Almoravids and Almohads in al-Andalus (The Iberian Peninsula)

Amira K. Bennison

Workshop 1: This paper considered the questions that arise in studying the elites of the medieval Maghrib and Iberia in the eleventh to twelfth centuries CE in the context of historiography that sometimes sees Muslim Spain and Portugal (al-Andalus) as European and therefore culturally tolerant in contrast to the African Maghrib. This is important to this period when the rulers of al-Andalus came from the Maghrib and when modern perceptions of national identity and political community did not exist. My presentation therefore looked at the nature of the elite, its composition, and the socio-ethnic identities present in this period such as Berbers, Arabs and Iberians with a view to blurring the lines between them and looking more closely at who was part of the Almoravid and then the Almohad ruling elites.

Workshop 2: Based on discussions in workshop 1 and the contributions of other participants, this paper looked at both the ruling elites of the Iberian peninsula and the Maghrib with a view to thinking about elite formation and the objectives of those part of the group termed khāṣṣa, whether political, economic or religious. Recent work has shown how entwined elites in the Iberian peninsula and North Africa were, but also how diverse their political and economic bases were, e.g. rural, militarily able tribesmen, estates, rights to collect usufruct from large areas, control of towns or urban properties, relations with merchants, residence with the ruler. In contrast to areas of ‘landed’ feudal lords, Muslim aristocrats tended to be quite mobile, especially in North Africa, and elites of service moved with rulers. Their relations with their followers and the general population (ʿāmma) varied from the Sahara to the fertile valleys of Iberia but they were generally informed by religio-political notions of the contract between rulers and ruled, and the basic principle that in exchange for tax payment, people expected to be able to live secure and reasonably prosperous lives.

Alexander Mallett

The main source for the reign in Damascus of Zahir al-Din Tughtegin (1104-1128) is the chronicle by Ibn al-Qalanisi generally known as Dhayl tarikh Dimashq. Its author lived through Tughetegin’s reign and almost certainly worked under him in a high position in the city’s administration. This paper will first examine the main points within his chronicle of how Ibn al-Qalanisi presented Tughtegin’s minority rule in Damascus in order to ascertain what is viewed as important for that writer and his immediate context. Secondly, will then employ an ‘against the grain’ approach to understand how the Turkish ruler himself chose to govern the city. Such a comparison will enable a better understanding of how minority rule was guaranteed both in practice and in principle, how those two differed in twelfth-century Damascus, and what conclusions may be drawn about the city’s society as a result.