The Andalusi intellectual output influenced the Western Christian world and the Islamic East.[3] Among the Andalusi scholars most influential in the West are Ibn Rushd, Ibn Ḥazm and Ibn Arabī, while some of the Andalusi scholars most recognizable in the Muslim world are Abū ʽUmar b. ʽAbd al-Barr, Abū l-Walīd al-Bājī, Ibn ʽAṭiyya al-Andalusi [ar], Ibn al-ʽArīf, and Abu al-Qasim ash-Shāṭibī.[3] 11,831 scholars have been identified as having been active in al-Andalus, of whom it seems 5,007 wrote books or transmitted works of others, contributing to the 13,730 works identified as having been written or transmitted in al-Andalus.[3]
Poetry was considered the prime literary genre in Arabic.[4] Poetic forms such as the qaṣīda and maqāma were adopted from the Mashriq or Muslim East, while forms of strophic poetry such as the muwaššaḥ and its kharja as well as the popular zajal in Andalusi vernacular Arabic were developed in al-Andalus.[4] Andalusi strophic poetry had an impact on poetic expression in Western Europe and the wider Muslim world.[5]
Abdellah Hilaat's World Literature Encyclopedia divides the history of al-Andalus into two periods: the period of expansion, starting with the conquest of Hispania up to the first Taifa period, and the period of recession in which al-Andalus was ruled by two major African empires: the Almoravid and the Almohad.[6]
Amazigh general Tariq ibn Ziyad to his soldiers upon landing in Iberia as a first example.[7]
The literature of the Muslim conquerors of Iberia, aside from the Quran, was limited to easternstrophic poetry that was popular in the early 7th century.[6] The content of the conquerors' poetry was often boasting about noble heritage, celebrating courage in war, expressing nostalgia for homeland, or elegy for those lost in battle, though all that remains from this period is mentions and descriptions.[6]
In contrast with the circumstances in the Visigothic invasion of Iberia, the Arabic that came with the Muslim invasion had the status of "a vehicle for a higher culture, a literate and literary civilization."[4] From the eighth to the thirteenth century, the non-Latin forms of intellectual expression were dominant in the area.[4]
Umayyad period (756–1031)
In his History of Arabic Literature, Hanna Al-Fakhoury cites two main factors as shaping Andalusi society in the early Umayyad period: the mixing of the Arabs with other peoples and the desire to replicate the Mashriq.[8] The bustling economy of al-Andalus allowed al-Hakam I to invest in education and literacy; he built 27 madrasas in Cordoba and sent missions to the east to procure books to be brought back to his library.[8] al-Fakhoury cites Reinhart Dozy in his 1881 Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne: "Almost all of Muslim Spain could read and write, while the upper class of Christian Europe could not, with the exception of the clergy."[8] Cities—such as Córdoba, Seville, Granada, and Toledo—were the most important centers of knowledge in al-Andalus.[8]
Ibn al-Qūṭiyya cited.[14][15] ar-Razi was also cited by Ibn Hayyan in Al-Muqtabis [ar].[6] The most important historical work of this period was Said al-Andalusi'sTabaqat ul-Umam, which chronicled the history of the Greeks and the Romans as well.[6]
On geography
Among the prominent writers in geography—besides
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsa al-Rāzī, who described al-Andalus with great skill—there was Abū ʿUbayd al-Bakri (1094).[6]
On math and astronomy
Ibn al-Saffar's
book on astrolabes was read for centuries.
Writing in math and astronomy flourished in this period with the influence of
Ibn al-Saffar wrote about the astrolabe and influenced European science into the 15th century.[16]Ibn al-Samh was a mathematician who also wrote about astrolabes.[17]
On medicine and agriculture
Works in medicine and agriculture also flourished under Abd al-Rahman III. Among writers in these topics there were al-Zahrawi (1013).[6]
Ibn al-Kattani, also known as al-Mutatabbib, wrote about medicine, philosophy, and logic.[18]
From around the 9th century, the Arab and Hispanic elements of al-Andalus began to coalesce, giving birth to a new Arab literature, evident in the new poetic form: the muwashshah.[6]
In the beginning, muwashshah represented a variety of poetic meters and schemes, ending with a verse in Ibero-Romance.[6] It marked the first instance of language mixing in Arab poetry as well as the syncretism of Arab and Hispanic cultures.[6] The muwashshah remained sung in Standard Arabic although its scheme and meter changed and the Ibero-Romance ending was added.[6] Some famous examples include "Lamma Bada Yatathanna" and "Jadaka al-Ghaith [ar]".[21] In spite of its widespread popularity and its favorability among Mashreqi critics, the muwashshah remained a form inferior to classical Arabic forms that varied only minimally in the courts of the Islamic west, due to the folksy nature of the muwashshah.[6]
The muwashshah would typically end with a closing stanza, or a kharja, in a Romance language or Arabic vernacular—except in praise poems, in which the closing stanza would also be in Standard Arabic.[8]
The muwashshah has gained importance recently among Orientalists because of its possible connection to early Spanish and European folk poetry and the troubadour tradition.[6]
Eastern influence
Andalusi literature was heavily influenced by Eastern styles, with court literature often replicating eastern forms.
Abd al-Rahman II, came Ziryab (857)—the mythic poet, artist, musician and teacher—from the Abbasid Empire in the East.[6]
He gave Andalusi society Baghdadi influence.
The qiyān were a social class of non-free women trained as entertainers.[23] The qiyān brought from the Abbasid East were conduits of art, literature, and culture.[23]
Among the Mashreqi poets most influential in the Maghreb was
Ibn as-Sayid al-Batalyawsi [ar].[22] According to Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, the use of the maqama form for invective appears to be an Andalusi innovation.[22]
Court poetry followed tradition until the 11th century, when it took a bold new form: the Umayyad caliphs sponsored literature and worked to gather texts, as evidenced in the library of al-Hakam II.[6] As a result, a new school of court poets appeared, most important of whom was Jaʿfar al-Muṣḥafī [ar] (982).[6] However, urban Andalusi poetry started with Ibn Darraj al-Qastalli (1030), under Caliph al-Mansur, who burned the library of al-Hakam fearing that science and philosophy were a threat to religion.[6]Sa'id al-Baghdadi [ar] and Yusuf bin Harun ar-Ramadi [ar] were among the most prominent of this style and period.[6]
Ibn Shahid [ar] led a movement of poets of the aristocracy opposed to the folksy muwashshah and fanatical about eloquent poetry and orthodox Classical Arabic.[6] He outlined his ideas in his book at-Tawabi' waz-Zawabi' (التوابع والزوابع), a fictional story about a journey through the world of the Jinn.[6][25]Ibn Hazm, in his analysis of chaste poetry [ar] in The Ring of the Dove, is considered a member of this school, though his poetry is of a lower grade.[6]
Joseph ibn Naghrela, and Ibn Sahl al-Isra'ili wrote poetry in Arabic, but most Jewish writers in al-Andalus—while incorporating elements such as rhyme, meter, and themes of classical Arabic poetry—created poetry in Hebrew.[26] In addition to a highly regarded corpus of religious poetry, poets such as Dunash ben Labrat, Moses ibn Ezra, and Solomon ibn Gabirol wrote about praise poetry about their Jewish patrons, as well and on topics traditionally considered non-Jewish, such as "carousing, nature, and love" as well as poems with homoerotic themes.[26]
Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari's Nafah at-Tīb [ar] as well as al-Suyuti's 15th century anthology of female poets.[27]
al-Khawarizmi's tables and advocated for Arabic sciences, serving as a bridge between cultures at a time when Christian Europe was opening up to "Arabic philosophical, scientific, medical, astronomical, and literary cultures."[4]
Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin (c. 1150 – c. 1220) was polymath and prolific writer born in Barcelona and moved to North Africa under the Almohads, settling in Fes.[31]
Hebrew
performed musically with Arabic scales and meters.
Mozarabic literature
The literature of the
Mozarabic rite. Many continued to live under Christian rule while keeping their distinctive rite down to the 14th century. The switch from a predominantly Latinate culture to an Arabic one was already well underway in the mid-9th century. The use of Arabic by Mozarabs rapidly declined in the late 13th century.[32]
Among the Latin works of early Mozarabic culture, historiography is especially important, since it constitutes the earliest record from al-Andalus of the conquest period. There are two main works, the Chronicle of 741 and the Chronicle of 754.[33]
At the height of the
Ibn Gabirol also quotes from a lost work of Ḥafṣ al-Qūtī.[35]
During the Taifa period, a new Arabic literary genre appeared in al-Andalus, the kutub al-filāḥa ('books of husbandry'). They are encyclopedic in intent, synthesizing practical knowledge gained from experience with the written traditions of the past. Ten
al-Ṭighnarī and the anonymous author of the Kitāb fī tartīb awqāt al-ghirāsa wa ʾl-maghrūsāt.[39]
Almoravid period (1086–1150)
Literature flourished in the Almoravid period. The political unification of Morocco and al-Andalus under the Almoravid dynasty rapidly accelerated the cultural interchange between the two continents, beginning when Yusuf Bin Tashfiin sent al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad into exile in Tangier and ultimately Aghmat.[40][41]
In the Almoravid period two writers stand out: the religious scholar and judge
Scholars and theologians such as Ibn Barrajan were summoned to the Almoravid capital in Marrakesh where they underwent tests.[43]
Poetry
Ibn Zaydun, al-Mu'tamid, and Muhammad ibn Ammar were among the more innovative poets of al-Andalus, breaking away from traditional Eastern styles.[8]
The muwashshah was an important form of poetry and music in the Almoravid period. Great poets from the period are mentioned in anthologies such as Kharidat al-Qasar [ar],[44]Al-Mutrib, and Mu'jam as-Sifr.[45]
In the
taifas were united, poetry faded as they were mostly interested in religion.[6] Only in Valencia could free poetry of the sort that spread in the Taifa period be found, while the rulers in other areas imposed traditional praise poetry on their subjects.[6] In Valencia, there was poetry of nature and ghazal by Ibn Khafaja and poetry of nature and wine by Ibn az-Zaqqaq.[6]
E'az Ma Yutlab (أعز ما يُطلبThe Most Noble Calling), Muhadhi al-Muwatta' (محاذي الموطأCounterpart of the Muwatta), and Talkhis Sahih Muslim (تلخيص صحيح مسلمCompendium of Sahih Muslim).[47]
With the continents united under empire, the development and institutionalization of
Ibn Saʿāda, also a native of Murcia, was an influential traditionist who studied in the East. He wrote a Sufi treatise, Tree of the Imagination by Which One Ascends to the Path of Intellection, in Murcia.[55]
prophetic biography Kitab al-anwar (or Libro de las luces) of Abu al-Hasan Bakri—or else the work on which his final redaction was based—was in circulation in al-Andalus in the 12th century, when a translation into Latin was made for the Corpus Cluniacense. Sometime between the 11th and 13th centuries, the work was also translated into Andalusi Romance, presumably in the Christian North. Several aljamiado manuscripts are known, that is, Romance copies written in Arabic script. The earliest is from 1295.[58]
Ibn Sahib al-Salat wrote al-Mann bi ʾl-imāma ʿala ʾmustaḍʿafīn bi-an jaʿalahum Allāh al-aʿimma wa-jaʿalahum al-wārithīn, although only the second volume survives, covering the years 1159–1172. He provides important information on Almohad administration.[59][60] He also wrote Thawrat al-murīdīn, a lost account of the preceding taifa period.[59]
Yaqub al-Mansur. Although he spent more time in Morocco, it was his stay in Seville that has preserved his name, since he was included in the Andalusi biographical dictionaries.[61]
According to Salah Jarrar, the "bulk of [literature in the Nasrid period] dealt and was closely involved with the political life of the state. The conflict between the last Muslim state in Spain and the Spanish states seems to have dominated every aspect of life in Granada."[69]
The polymath and statesman Lisān ad-Dīn Ibn al-Khatīb is regarded as one of the most significant writers of the Nasrid period, covering subject such as "history, biography, the art of government, politics, geography, poetics, theology, fiqh, Sufism, grammar, medicine, veterinary medicine, agriculture, music, and falconry."[4][6] The last of the poets of al-Andalus before the fall of Granada was Ibn Zamrak.[6]
As for prose, which began in al-Andalus with Ibn Shahid and Ibn Hazm, it quickly leaned toward replicating the prose of the Mashreq.[6] There were maqamat that replicated those of al-Hariri of Basra, such as those of Ahmed bin Abd el-Mu'min of Jerez (1222).[6] The Almohads encouraged religious and scientific composition: in the religious sciences, Ibn Essam [ar] (1426) wrote at-Tuhfa (تحفة الحكام في نكت العقود والأحكام) and Ibn as-Sayid of Badajoz [ar] wrote about language.[6] The works of some writers, such as the grammarian Ibn Malik and Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati, reached the Mashreq and had an influence there.[6]
The last two Andalusi writers of the kutub al-filāḥa tradition,
Ibn al-Raqqām and Ibn Luyūn [es], wrote in the early 14th century. The former wrote an abridged version of Ibn Wahshiyya's Nabataean Agriculture, purged of all that was pagan for the Nasrid emir.[39]
After Catholic conquest, Muslims in Castile, Aragon and Catalonia often used
Castilian and Aragonese, but in Arabic script.[74] One example is the anonymous Poema de Yuçuf, written in Aragonese but with Aljamiado Arabic script.[75] Most of this literature consisted of religious essays, poems, and epic, imaginary narratives. Often, popular texts were translated into this Castilian-Arabic hybrid.[76]
Much of the literature of the Moriscos focused on affirming the place of Arabic-speaking Spaniards in Spanish history and that their culture was integral to Spain.[78] A famous example is la Verdadera historia del rey don Rodrigo by Miguel de Luna [es].[79]
Legacy
Impact on Semitic literatures
Dwight Fletcher Reynolds describes a 'rhyme revolution' in al-Andalus that occurred in the late tenth or early eleventh century with the strophic
muwaššah and zajal genres, which broke with the meter and mono-endrhyme of Arabic courtly song traditions.[80] These new genres were strophic, were composed with alternating sections of longer and shorter verses, and took new rhyme schemes.[80] This innovation was followed by further experimentation with a variety of different rhyme schemes, including internal rhymes at medial caesura.[80] These new forms were imitated in Hebrew.[80]
Impact on Western literatures
Alois Richard Nykl published a study in 1946 on the relationship between Hispano-Arabic poetic tradition and the old Provençal troubadours.[81]
Douglas Young has examined the relationship of the Andalusi maqāma and the Spanish picaresque novel.[82]
^Seeskin, Kenneth (2017), "Maimonides", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2017 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2020-11-28
^Koningsveld, Pieter Sjoerd van (1994). "Christian Arabic Literature from Medieval Spain: An Attempt at Periodization". In Samir Khalil Samir; Jorgen S. Nielsen (eds.). Christian Arabic Apologetics during the Abbasid Period (750–1258). E. J. Brill.
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