Meshal ALENEZI

Published in The World of Tradition

Keywords: Al-Ṭawā’if, Christian Kingdoms, Jurists, Poets, Unification.

In the last decades of the eleventh century, the Muslims in the West (al-Gharb) lost Toledo in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula in 477 AH /1085, and the Muslims in the Near East (al-Mashriq) lost Jerusalem (al-Qudis) in 492 AH /1099. This was due to the division of al-Mashriq into several states: besides the ʿAbbāsīd Caliphate (132-655 AH /750-1258), there were other states, such as Saljūk state (428-590 AH/1037-1194) and Fāṭimīd state (296-567 AH / 909-1171). This situation was like the political situation in the Iberian Peninsula (al-Andalus), which divided the region into twenty-two states in the first half of the eleventh century. Consequently, many scholars and historians have concentrated on the reaction of the Islamic political and military authorities to the fall of Toledo and Jerusalem. In addition, they have discussed the efforts of the intellectual elites in improving the above-mentioned political circumstances in the Near East and al-Andalus after the fall of these cities. However, they have not paid attention to the impact of the division of al-Andalus into twenty-two states and its internal consequences as well as their submission to the Iberian Catholic rule on the Andalusian intellectual elites’ activities. Consequently, this research analyses the impact of this event on the activities and status of the Andalusian intellectual elites among the Andalusian rulers. It also compares the status of the Andalusian intellectual elites who were against the acts of Andalusian political authorities and those who supported them. In addition, it illustrates the relations between the elites especially who were against the Muslim rulers in al-Andalus.