THE SHUCUBIYY A

IN AL-ANDALUS

The Risiila of Ibn Garcia

and Five Refutations

Translation, Introduction,
and Notes by
JAMES T. MONROE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

BERKELEY· LOS ANGELES· LONDON
1970
 UNIVER SITY OF <_;ALIFOR
NIA PUBLICATIONS ·. n
CONTENTS
NEA R EASTERN STUDIES

Volume 13
Advisory Editor s : Walter Fischel , WolfLe slau,
Andreas Tietze Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .. .. .... . .. .. .. . .... . vii
IntroductoryEssay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Approved for publication May ........ ................ 1
24 , 1968 Epistle of Abu 'Amir ibn Garcia al-Bashlcuns'i. ...
. . . .. . ... . . . . .. .. . ... . . 23
First Refutation by Abu Yal:iyaibn Mas'ada. . . .
Issued February , 1970 ........................ 30
SecondRefutation (anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Price, $3.50 ........................ 63
ThirdRefutation by Abu Ja'far A.Qmadibn al-Du
din al-Balansf . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Fourth Refutation,
U NIVERSITY OF CALIFOR NIA PRESS
by Abii al-Taiyib'Abd al-Mun'im ibn Mann Allah
BERKELEY AND Los ANGELES al-Qarawi. ......... .. 75
Fifth Refutation, by Abu al-}:iajjajYusuf ibn al-Sh
aikh al-Balawial-Malaqi . 93
CALIFORNIA Bibliography..... ..... ..... .... .... . .. . . . ..... .. . . . .... ... ... .. ..... 103
U NIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, LTD.

LO NDON, E NGLAND

LIBRAR Y OF C ONGRESS CATAL OG CARD

NUMBER : 77- 627464

COPYRIGHT @ 1970 BY THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERIC
A

[v)
 '--"/'J,,j/
. .
f1 -·-
l' ;._~
- l . -'
/i t't r:r~-·', 9 --J
-->-'

ABBREVIATIONS

E/ 1 The Encyclopaedia of Islam. 1st ed. Leiden and London, 1913-1934.

E/ 1 Supp. Supplement to above. 1938.
E/2 . The Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2d ed. Leiden and London, 1960--.
Los eslavos A]::tmadMukhtar 'Abd al-Fattii]::tal-'AbbiidI. Los eslavos en Espana,
ojeada sobre su origen, desarrollo y relaci6n con el movimiento de la
shu'ubiyya. Arabic text and Spanish translation of the study by
Fernando de la Granja Santamaria, Instituto Egipcio de Estudios
Islamicos. Madrid, 1953.
Nawadir 'Abd al-Salam Hiiriin. Nawii.dir al-Makhtufii.t . Vol. III. Cairo , 1953.
ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenliindischen Gesellschaft .

[vii]
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

Men from their kings alone their worth derive.

But Arab ruled by aliens cannot thrive:
APPROXlMA TEL v CENTURY after the sudden appearance of Islam
Boors without culture without noble fame as a political force
in the Middle Ea t, the administration of the provinces annexed
Who know not loyalty and honour's name'. by the Arabs was
largely in the hands of neo-Muslims of non-Arab extraction
Go where thou wilt. thou eest in every land . The Arabs imparted
their new religion, their language and their poetry to the recently
Folk driven like cattle by a servile band. conquered terri-
tories but they lacked both the tradition and the experience needed
to organize a large
empire. They were therefore forced to depend upon the coopera
Mutanabbi; translated by R . A. Nicholson tion of their subjects,
whose professional clas es they consequently permitted to bold
positions of influence
within the administrative structure of the empire. These neo-Mu
slims or mawalf (sing.
maula,freedman) were at times treated as second-class citizens by an
Arab aristocracy
entirely ab orbed witb its concern for tribal honor as embodi
ed in the glorious tradi-
tions of pagan days preserved by Arabic poetry. The proud
and disdainful behavior
of the Arabs toward the mawali did not take long in pro voking
a, reaction known as
the movement of the Shu'ubiyya 1 which in the third I lamic century
vociferously pro-
claimed the superiority of the Persian and other non-Arab
people s vis-a-vis the
Arabs.
This movement has been studied by I. Goldziher in his Muham
medanischeStudien2
in which the author explains how the collap e of the Umaiyad
state in the East broke
the power of the Arab nobility, while the rise of the Abbasids
gave social and political
equality to the mawau by whom the new dynasty was supported. In recent times
Professor H. A. R . Gibb has reconsidered tbe que stion of
the Shu'iibiyya from a
sociological point of view . Whereas Goldziher studied the literary
manifestations of
the movement Gibb has revealed some of the social forces
at work behind it. 3
Gibb although he grants the social and economic conflict between
the Arabs and
the non-Arab mawfili, stresses the fact that during the last
years of the Uma iyad
caliphate the rivalry between Persians and Arabs was not yet
as strong as Goldziher
had tho ught . He shows , howe er , that the growth of a new urban
economy and with
it a oe\ middle class made up of mixed races stimulated the
appearance of new cul-
tural interests . This new urban. society, which gradually gained
control of government
and influenced the court, adhered to the Persian ideal.s of kingshi
p espoused by the

1
The word is derived from Koran 49: 13: "O Men, We have created you
of a male and a female
madeyou into peoples {s/11/1,b ) and tribes. that ye might know one another. Verily the noblest and have
sight of God are tbey that d.o most fear Him ." Originally this of you in the
tained that no race was superior to another and oppqscd the term was applied to the Kharijites who main-
theory
caliphate. of the inherent right of Quraish to the
2
Halle. 1888- 1890; reprinted. 1961.
H. A. R. Gibb, "The Social Significanceof the Shu'iibiyya," in
ffiosron, 1962). pp. Studies 011 the Civilization of Islam
62-7 3.

[I]
 2
The Sh'ubiyya in Al-Andalus
Introductory Essay 3
~t~~~es ~ ~tate chance orthodoxy .7 Thus the Mu'taz
lleries. On the oth~r hand , ila evolved from its origina
with thos: d f, as~adupheld the Arab philological school
Arab id_eals s of orthodox thought to that of l posi tion of championing
e ~o e at court. Behind allwhich were to come into ever closer conflict In the West and two centuri
being accused of bordering
dangerously on freethinking.
~:~i;d Arab aristocracy or this lay a strugg le to see wh es later , Al-Andalu (Musli
the new ~ultured and wealthy ether the old Sbu'iibiyya derived partly from m Spain) also produced a
e development of Islam. The urban class would direc t the local conditions which left
lme of demarcation betwee cultu.re of the Iberian Peninsu a profound impact on the
opp~neots seems therefore n Sbu 'u bites and th · la. Of this Shu'ubiyya the
t~ have been one of class dist the risiilaor literary epistle of only extant documents are
no;cs ra~er tl:1:11~ne rest inction based partly on ece Abu 'Amir ibn Garcia and
ricted merely to race. This-ex :. provoked. The anti-A.rab risa the refutations that his work
ar e~~a~t1-!hu ub1tes wer plains why some of the most la of Ibn Garcia had for a lon
e not , in fact, Arabs, but fusion. The Spanish A.rabi g time been a source of con-
mawa · . ~c . was the case rather descendants of Persian t Francisco Javier Simone
of lbn Quraiba and others. a twelfth-century Granadan t thought that Ibo Garcia
been upnsmgs tha~ attempted At the same time there had Christian and that he wro was
t~ resist Arab and even religion.' 8 Then in 1899Go te against the Mahometan
the nor~em provinces of Islamic rule in Khurasan and ldzil1er published an article 9
Pexs1a during the eighth cen tained ome extracts from about Ibo Garcia which con
secretaries , ~ost ?fw~?m wer tury A.O., while the court his ri ala and established -
e drawn from the w·ban clas culture. These extracts were his connection with Islamic
for these nat.10~alistnsmgs s showed little s ath taken from Escorial manus
against central authority. 4 Since Goldziher's article crip
Th: ex~em1sts of the Shu ymp Y was a supplement to his t 538.
'ubiyya were not content Sbu'iibiyya he wa able for the own work on the eastern
equality With_the ~rabs , but merely to demand social fir t tinie to connect the two
searched Arab sources for an ink.ling of the real purpose movements and to provide
the absolute 10fenority of the mate.rial with which t of Ibn Garcia 's satire. Asi
th· 1 th ir conquerors. According to ziher's article 10 and planned n Palacios reviewed Gold-
~o _1~g~ss an the f~tu.r~ H A R Gibb t tak.pro o ve a study of the subject which
of the I lamic world: wheth · · · .as lo 1953,two full editions oflb be was unable to complete.
s1anmn"'. 0 ide
als embodied m the secreta er it would follow theewa Per-
s n Garcia 's risala appeared
in Arabic. Moreover, these
riaJ literature of the state eclitionsare based not only
~hether ~t wo~d adhere to chancelleries or on the text of the Escorial ma
the A.rab ideals defended by the so far unpublished part nu-cript, but also on that of
1~l~e p~1lological schools of tb.e Arab humanities tau of the .[)akhira oflbn Bassa
Basra and AI-Kufa. Toe Isla t is that of Professor Al)mad m. The first of these editions
d~;ided mto ~wocamp~and mic intellectual world !s Mukhtar 'Abd al-Fatta\J al-' 11
the issue was debated in a bat study of the Saqiiliba or Sla Abba.dI and contains a
SI. e was quick to pom tle of the books in which eac vs in Al-Andalus to which
t out the other' mathiilib h Arabic text of the risala . The the author has appended the
( v1rtues). (defects) and its own ma1ik
hir second edition of Ibo Garcia
- year later by the Egyptian was published less than a
Be~i.n~ be more apparent '.I"' cholar 'Abd al-Salam Hariin 12
7
~oie 10 td10us a~pe~l toward
anti-A.rab appeaJ of the Sbu
'ubiyya there lay the fa.r
refutations written by variou
s champions of the Arab cau
in a volume in which fou.r
skepticism which il fostered ltimately the conditions tha se wer
r a~ the freet~nk~g ~o_wn among the literary classes. t brought about a developm e included. ·
as zan~aqa_which derived from Al-Andalus were similar to ent of a Shu'ubiyya in
P ?clauned duahsm .IO re~gio Manichaeism not only those that prevailed in the
n a Persian idea foreign to the Arabs in their dealings wit Ea st namely the arrogance
spired edu~ted people with orthodox Islam but also in- h the mawfili. lt is known for of
a certain cynicism with regard century A.D. the Arabs were exam.pie that in the ninth
t~te of thm~ fostered by the to all moral systems. This installed in the best and mo
Shu 'iibiyya was potentially and the east~rn portion of st fertile lands of Andalusia
~ ~ ~z:.dGibb suspec dangerous to the unity of the Peninsula . This ·permitted
~s that orthodoxy responded tury to live in Cordova and them du.ring the tenth cen-
u tazilite m~vement _mthe to the challenge by creating to enjoy the privileges of abs
ology. 5 The first Mu'tazilite the toward the end of the calipha entee Jandlordism so that
orthodoxy agamst dual1s~her s were the champions of l period the Arabs constit
e~y_.They ·,v-ereboth puritan ute d the upper echelon of
compelled to defend their ical and, because they wer
e society.13
pos1t100 dialectically rationa It should be understood
· m:vnc bi
kn fl fi ·
h · lizi ng The Mu'•~~;J that these Andalusians wer
·
. e Y. or t eir doctnnes of ' ·a§abiyyaor group solidarity e "Arabs" in culture and
prove thei.rpomts .they m.ade the u11i1yof God and His·jusc = ord
a erwere , though not always in race
of reason the only means wh ice.6 In to lhe fiction of a pure Arab des . Although they maintained
be kn?~ and claimed _that ere by ultimate truths could cent, in actual.fact many of
even God had to subject him native blood through a long them had become fused wit
!he _y 10s1sted_ self to the dictates of reason process of intermarriage wit h
~at man 1sfree to determine
his own actions, and that Go . h Andalusian women. 14 The
~u:t1ce.God 1sJ~St because d is Jimj ted b
justice is inhetently right
~osequence, if man ~ere
~uD1sh1:1en~
bound by some form of pre
w?uJd be un;ust. These lim
injustice inherently wrong.
destination reward and
is 1 F. M. Parcja , Is/amo/
"Hisiariade Jos mod1rab ogla(Madrid , 1952- 1934), II,
esd~ Espaiia (Madrid ,_1897-190 595. ,
itations on the omnipotence que floreci6 en este pals a fine 3). p. 791 n. 2: ; Hay 1am~. . . .
e M~ taz1la m_~m to be eve of God caused s del siglo Xll un cnsuano llam
ado Ibn Gama que escnb10 1~ alguna nou~ .'?e
rely attacked by the Kalam m~h"Die
omeShu
tana'iibi contra la rehg10n
the ultimate validity of reason theologians who denied 9
." yya unter den Muhammedan
although they used the latt em in Spanien," ZDMG,
er in their own defense of 10 Revis ta de
Aragcin, lll (1902). 410- 411. LIII, 4 (1899), 601-620 .
11 Los es/a
Naw 1
iidir·os
. ForenaEspaiia.
11 review of this and al-• AbbiidI.
Los eslavos en Espana, see
E. Garcia, Gom, ez ·
4
Ibid.. p. 66. XlX (1954), 478-479 . m Anda/us,
:Ibid., pp. ~9-70 . . 1'E. Uvi-Provcm;al . Espaiiamu.sulm
rn Historiad~ Espana. directed anohos tala_ca idad el califato de Cordoba(711
Isaac Husrk.A History of Mediaev -103 1): Instituciones,
al Jewish Philosophy (New
York ,_1916)'p. xxu •• Julian Ribera . Diu rtacio11by R . Menendez Pt~al (Madnd, 1957), V, 98.
·· . es y opusculos (Madnd , 1928
). I, 17-25.
 4 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
Introductory Essay 5
polite fiction of racial purity maintained by this minority and made real by peculiarly
Semitic culturaJ features was just as important, however if not more so, than any an alliance with the Banii Qa~i of Aragon. What is even more reveali~g of the so~ial
Arab pedigree. The leaders of AJ-Andalus were Arabs in the measure that they temper of the times is that the secre~negotiation~ ~et~een the ,::"~,parties were ~arned
though't they were or wanted to be so. They were also Muslims yet they considered on with the aid of a Muslim ascetic called Abu Ah al-SarraJ ( The Saddler who !
themselves superior to the neo-Muslims of Peninsular stock. traveled across the country on his donkey preaching holy war against the e~r and
The political struggles that followed the Arab conquest of AI-Andalus bad become keeping open a line of communication betwee~ the native anti-Arab parti_sans of
complicated by theological and legal antagonisms ancl the whole province was in north and south. As Asin Palacios has shown, 20 1t was through humble ascetics such
danger of disintegrating into anarchy. The arriva l of 'Abd al-Rabman I (138/ 756) as this one and Ibn Masarra that Mu'tazilite doctrines were preached to the pe~~le
aved the unity of the state. At the same time, the early Umaiyads in AJ-Andalus and used to subvert the government of Cordova headed by the old Arab families
looked with disfavor upon the spreading of heresy so that the Peninsula was purged claiming descent from those who had entered Al-Andalus at the ti~e o~ the conque~t.
as far as possible of religious dissent. The reigning dynasty in alliance with the ortho- Beginning with 'Abd al-Ral)man III (300/912-350/961') _t~eh~stoncal proces~ m
dox Malikitefoqaha (sing.faq'ih) or jurists , managed to give to Peninsular Islam a Al-Andalus moved gradually toward an ever increasing par1Ic1pat10nof ne~-~ushm~
character of-rigidly uncompromising ort hodoxy which went hand in hand with poli- in government and after the collapse of the·umaiya~ dy?asty, al-Man~ur 1bn ~b1
15 'Amir abolished the remaining privileges of the Arab mmonty and replace~ the f~elmg
tical centralization . Thus the political structure established by 'Abd al-Ral.una.n l
wa based upon the theory of a strong central governmenl supported by the Arab of tribal solidarity with a kind of nationalism that encompassed all of the mhab1tants
aristocracy and later on, by orthodox Malikism. This state of affairs brought about of Al-Andalus. .
strong resistance on the part of Syrians Berbers, and Mozarabs , all of whom at- While narrating 'Abd al-Ral)man Ill's campaigns against the infid~l .dunng t~e
tempted to gain their independence from the Arabized state during the emirate. year 308/920 in his famous Arjuza, the court panegyrist Ibn 'Abd Rabb1h1could still
Because of this, whenever the power of the central govemmem failed the various exclaim:
anti-Arab pockets of resistance tended to divide the state. 16 He was determined to wage war on the land of the
The first attempts at national deliverance from Arab rule were made by the Berbers infidel and moved forward preceded by squadrons
in the name of Kharijites and Fatimids, but 'Abd al-Rab.man I and his grandson ofpur~ Arab cavalry .21
al-I:fakam suppressed the uprisings with extreme harsh ness so that orthodox and But by the time of the breakup of the Cordovan caliphate, an aristoc.ratic p~et such
Arab centralism was to prevail for a long time. 17
as Ibn Shuhaid al-Andalusi could lament the passing of Arab predommance m these
The Mali kite fuqaba' of Al-Andalus reje ted all systems of theological dogma based words:
on reason or Greek philosophy. Their narrow view is eloquently expressed in a state-
ment attri buted to Malik ibn Anas their master : "Knowledge is threefold: the clear The longest-suffering of those endowed with
intelligence; oppressed by a reversal of fortune,
Book of God, past Tradition (Sioma), and l know not. .. . 18 Al1schools of canon law
is a young brave of Arab descent. disparaged by
that differed from the official Malikite school were persecuted and any attempt to non-Arabs!
give a rational basis to dogma even if it was only to confirm it, was considered
19 You can manage without the whole of mankind,
heresy. This natmally meant that the Mu'tazilites were outlawed in Al-A.ndalus, according to your claim. Well, minds making
aJtbough in facr their doctrines began to be adopted by the anti-Arab faction and such false claims are indeed foolish;
fo' tazilite ideas were preached to the peop le by local ascetics.
For, can the falcon rush upon its prey in the
During the reign of the emir 'Abd Allah (888/ 275-912 / 300) tbe unjty of the Penin- late fore noon, if the fore feathers are missing
sula beg.anto dissolve, and with it the hegemony of orthodox Malikite Jslam. Along from the feathers of its wings? 22
with the semi-independent Arab and Berber lords of the provinces, three native des-
cendants of families that had converted to IsJam, the Banii Qa$I in Aragon, Ibn Thus the new phase in Andalusian history which was initiated by 'Abd al-Ral)ma?
Marwan the Ga1ician in Estremadura, and especially Ibn I::laf~iinin the mountains of III pursued the old policy of strengthening the central power of the state,. but it
Ronda took up arms against the political and religious authority of the central govern- did so by curtailing the power of the landed Arab aristocrac~, by str~~gthemng_t~e
ment in Cordova. Ibn l:Iaf~iinat one moment in his career was at the poin.t of forming middle class of the towns, and by creating a new bureaucratic and m1h~arynob1h~y
drawn from the various non-Arab peoples of the kingdom. The mam economic
power behind this regime was therefore the urban middle class from whos~ ranks
15 the new bureaucracy was enlisted. 23 This urban class had evolved as a predommantly
16 Miguel Crui Hernandez, lajil()sofio arobe {Madrid. 1963). p. 148.
1 7 J. VicensVives, Manual de /1is1orioeco116micodi! EspOJio(3d ed.; Barce lona. 1964).
8 Miguel Asin Palacios, "Ibn Masarra y su escuela. " 10 Obros l!ScQgidas (Madrid. 1946), I, 23. 20
Ibid .. pp . 42-43 .
'19 Geo u.rge F . Hourani , Al'.rrroes; 011tire Hor111Q11yQf
R eligion 011d Pfrt'losopfr
y (London. 1961), pp . 6-7 . 21
Kittib ol-' l9d al-Farid (Ca.fro, 1962), IV, 514.
Asin Palac ios. op. cit ., p . 25. 22
/T,wtin (Beirut, 1963), p. 139.
23
ViccnsVivi!$, op. cit .. p. 99.
 6
The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us Introductory Essay 7

me~canltile society, in sharp contrast with the old agrarian order of the Arao nobil 't not exclude frotl) it its rightful possessors , nor transpose its rightful themes to another category. Th e upper
f,or
It s 1ould be recalled that I Y, limit is formed by the highest classes of which the ab solute summit is the caliphate, whose rank God ha s so
elevated and whose condition He has so exalted that it cannot be the equal of any of the inhabitants of this
the ~ars 827 10 960. those decades of Islamic control of the M I'ddJ . world in greatness nor in honor. The second class belongs to the caliphal viziers and secretaries , who hold
Mednerranean trade and commerce take place Th k e Sea, saw many economic cha nges in
and Sicily as important industrial areas La i~.. _ey Il;ar ed the co~rng of.age or orth Africa, Spafo. discomse with the caliphs by means of their intellects and tongues, and reconcile what has been sundered by
means of their counsel. The third class is composed of the caliphs' commanders in the frontiers and the
culture and dominating the ' ed ·1lerra PP dg their nunes , developing tbe1r manufacturing and agri-
·• nean tra e Lo the East and the car leaders of their armies. Each one of these must be addressed according to his rank and station , his lot,
Sudan ... . Tbereversaloftheolderorderofth ' . .. . ava n rou tes .ro lhcgo !d of the
dustria! region, domin a ting in conjunction withrr;r ~~- the ~r~sformation of the Islamic West into an in- wealth and condition , as well as his ability to bear the burdens of their affairs and the distinctions of their
offices.The fourth are the judges, for even though they have the humility of the theologians and the quali-
the first step in the domination of this region by ; este:~::~:~.~~ carrying trade of the Middle Sea, was
ties of the noble, they retain the majesty of sultans and the dignity of princes. As for the other four classes,
Amono 'Abd al Rahm - f h
as the J .
h - . ·. an s couriers t ere flourished such influential non-Mu funs
they are: the kings whose prosperous state makes it necessary to honor them when writing to them , and
whose excel!ences make it necessary to hold them in esteem. The second is composed of the latters ' viziers,
iml)orta:71~!?::t ~~A~~h~ai ibn Shapthrutwho served his king loyally on several secretaries, and their retainers by means of whom their doors may be knocked upon and by whose kindness
.. is moment e courr at Cordova was abnost the Onl their wealth may be requested. The third are the theologian s whom it is necessary to praise in writing be-
suppon of the Je~1sh population scattered throughout the land . Under al-Hak 1i cause of the nobility of knowledge and the lofty rank of its cultivators. The fourth category belongs to the
~~e ~c~~n~ emment scholars and public officials such as lbn al-Qu~iyya.("S~: of people of ran k and nobility, of sweetness and elegance , of wit and education, for they compel you , by virtue
~ .. o CICd omao ) whose name betrays clearly his origin and who held the office of of the nimblen ess of their wit and intensity of their superiority and matmity, their education and critical
acumen, to strain yourself to the utmost in writing to them. 29
qa 1 ~n , or ova as well as heading its shurfa or police for~ .26
With Abd al-Ra]:unan 111the office of ka1ib or secretary b .
importance as the hegemony of the Arab nob]1 it egan to acqull'e a new These mawaii had acquired large fortunes through their commercial activities in
bureaucrat. Jbn 'Abd R bb'hi d · d . Y w~s replaced by that of the court the main cities such as Cordova, Seville, Jaen, Malaga, Almeria, and Valencia.30 At

:~t~~:~ecr~~~~
. .
~~ti:{:~t~ou;v;t~st ~f:~;!~::t~~;~~;e~::~~~~::,~:
a new eparture for Al-Andalus. He tell u that 'th
the same time, the enormous development of the court bureaucracy as well as the in-
creased use of mercenaries in the army had dire economic consequences since it
raised the cost of administration. As time went on , the value of currency was to de-
secretan~ of kings are their eyes that see their ears that listen . the' t
spe~k, whil~ t~e secretarial art is the noblest rank in thi world after
Caliph, for 1t 1sa lofty craft necessitating many faculties , 21 H f h
t~e
e
~~:f~: preciate until at the end of the caliphal period, copper which had once been used to
coin the fels, the least valuable of coins, would replace silver in the coining of dir-
a ratb · . · e un ermore records hems.31 Ideologically, the reign of'Abd al-Ral;tman III initiated a break with the past.
er amusmg portrait of the ideal secretary:
As the Arab aristocracy was politically neutralized, the orthodox fuqaha' were also
Among the qualities of thesecretary is proportion in h 'gh 1 ll held in check and a new era of religious tolerance began which was characterized by
ness of 1-oeard.reliability of perception court . f ci • sma nessof head . lightness of jawbone . thick-
royal protection of learning; by support of science and philosophy. This policy was
tion. beauty of dr~ . to such an extent tl1a1am~~ : .i;~n;:: r:~~'~ ,~tness of cha;; .c1er, accuracy of indica-
for in them may be found the man ner ofltl d ll · ress_yourse m the garbo f secretaries , continued and greatly increased by the learned al-I:Iakam II. Independent thinkers
mad,lbesecrerarysaid : "Oneoftheperfecti:;::;th ie mod~tr%sub;eclS ." And lbriihim ibn Mu.J;,am- were tolerated , and this was the age in which Ibn Masarra taught the Mu'tazilite
lcss in his dress clean in the assem bly exh 'b-~· e secrerana o ce is tha11he secrelacy should be spo t- doctrine of free will. 32 lbn Masarra seems himself to have been the descendent of a
congue. swtet i~ giving hin ts. witty in ~e1a;h~~n!t~n\co urage , sweet or sme!I. keen of wit. elegant of maula family,33 and he was one among several independent thinkers of non-Arab
0
all this. be must not beample of frame dispro · t' n e co~rtmem •.tranquil of body ; and in spite of
that wisdom a nd prudence do t d.h
1
pthorionate , ong- ar dcd. b1g-hended. for it bas been claimed extraction who for the first time were allowed relative freedom to express their views.
no a ere to e person end owed with these defects . u In this way the ideals of the new urban society found expression at times in Mu'tazilite
The high social rank of the secretarial cla:,s is clear from the foll · f garb, against the traditional Malikite pro-Arab faction, and gradually a new and
same work : owmg passage o the Andalusian sense of nationality was shaped. Thus Levi-Proven~! has indicated that
When you need to address kings viziers theologi ·
when the caliphate collapsed and the empire was broken up into local principalities,
class and the lower. then address i:achacc~rdin co ~s. sccr~taric_s. pteachers , scholars poets , the middle there arose Andalusian, Berber, and Slavic muliik al-.tawa'if (party kings), but not a
elevation. his intelligence and wisdom: and di~de t:ee:~: of.h1sgrea1a~s ~ d m.ajes1y. his loftiness and singleArab one. 34 Figures such as Ibn I:Iazm who staunchly supported the Umaiyad
upper are four, while the othe(S which are be eath h ~ gones of speechmto e1gh1part s of whicb the cause in his works, Ibn Bassiim whose strict adherence to classicism caused him to
there is a corresponding rank . ~ well ·as to eac~ of 'tsl ebdo_r~er, are_also four. To each of these categories
1 su. 1v1s1ons. therefore the eloquent secretary should reject the muwashshaftat and other postclassical literary forms from his anthology,

1
'A rchibaJd R. Lewis Naval P01 · d 'J'.· d · / ·
pp. 181- 182. . ve, an ,a em tie Mediterranean, A.D. 500-1000 (Princeton 1951) 29
lbid.. IV. 180.
" Y'
16 .
E;~:i\U~r .
A History of the Jews in Christian Spain (Philadelphia, 1961 ), I, 28 _ 30_
• ' 30
J, Vicens Vives, H istoria de £spaiia y America (Barcelona, 1961), I, 171.
" Ibid., p. 164.
" Op. cit .. rv. 179.
28
"Crnz
33
Hernandez. op. cit., p. 152.
1bid.. !V. 171-172 . 34
A.sin Palacios. op. cit .. p. 39.
Levi-Provenyal. op. cit .. p. 99.
 8 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us Introductory Essay 9
Ibo l:Iaiyan the chronicler of the Umaiyad dynas temporary of Ibn I:Iazm . He maintained that
ty and the poet Ibo Shubaid who , in ?od_ was incapa~le of knowing future
the words of Garcia Gomez "wept over the events, that the true ascetic was under no
ruins of the palace s of Cordova ' 35 all obhgat10n to submit to any form of !aw
represe nt an eleventh-century reaction on whatsoever, that free love was permissible,
beh alf of the Arab aristocracy eager to and that it was necessary to_exp:opnate
preserve its intellectual uperiority in a world the property of the wealthy . He claimed that
where the Arab cause was every day "al! things that are _owned m this_world
more on the defensive. are forbidden .... in consequence , where the Justness of owmn
cerned, there is no difference whatsoever betwe g property 1s con-
Meanwhile , the native mawa .IThad fonned the en possessions acquire _d through work,
backbone of the working population trade or inheritance on the one hand, and those
under the caliphate, and had developed an obtained through v10lent me~ns, by
'a$abyi ya of their own. They remained highway robbery on the other , and this is so
however , in a position of inferiority with respe because the only thing that a Musi~~.~~
ct to the Arabs , and this led many of justly possess is his daily nourishment, no matte
them to forge Oriental genealogjes for them r what means he uses to procure it.
selves in order to raise their status in the Asin Palacios believes that the anarchy that
ociety of AI-Andalus. 36 Such for example was reigned in Al-Andalus a~ter the fall of the
the case of Ibn I:Iazm a maula who caliphate contributed directly to the transforma
claimed Persian ancestry . To these native ti_on of the Masarnte sch?ol mto _a
nee-Muslim s were added the Slavic and political party . This transformation was made
Berber elements maintained by the U maiya easier_~y the fa_ctthat I~lam1c esot~nc
ds and 'A.mirids as praetorians with the sects had everywhere traditionally represente
help of whom the power of the Arab faction d the spmt _o_fnat10?-al_resistance agamst
was held in check. the Arab yoke. It is therefore probable that Isma'
These Slavs (the name served to designate il's political ?bJect1ves had~ marke _d
peoples of different origin - Galicians , nationalist character.39 Furthermore, it is clear
Frank s, Germans. Lorobards, Calabrians , and that the motive_force for, this myst1_c
inhabitants of the coasts of the Black communism was partly provided by economic
Sea) were brought in bondage to Al-Andalu factors. Accordmg to_As~n, the poll-
while they were still young , and were tical disorders of the age of tawa'if, the civil
given a thorough training in Islamic culture war of the Berbers with its sac~mgs,
designed to prepare them for service in assassinations , looting, and violence, the socia
the royal palace . Their number grew so aston l disintegration that had begu~ m the
ishingly that at the time of 'Abd al- last days of al-Man~iir, the plagues and famin
Ral;unan Ill they bad increased to 1,375 men es that struck ft...1-Andalusdunng the
and 6.350 women .37 After gaining tb.e.ir beginning of the age oftawa'ifhad totally upset
freedom many of these mamluk s came to be
land of their own . Yet they retained a strong
wealthy citizens and to po sses slaves and depreciation of currency is a sure sign that
the_normal social ord:r.!~e ~onstant
group feeling or ·a~abiyya and fre- the nat10nal wealth was d1mm1s~mg. The
quentl y tried to interfere in politics through gold standard decreased, and the silver stand
palace intrigue s and from their posi- ard was ~ebased so that the dirhem be- .
tions of influence at court. Man y of them becam came almost pure copper. In these circumstanc
e distinguished men of letter s. One es 1t 1s easy to understand why the
Slav named }:Iabib who flourished in the time Masarrites who were recruited almost entire
of Hisham II (366/ 976- 399/ 1009 and ly from among the lower classes, came
again in 400-401 / 1010) composed a book to conside; that the property of the wealthy
which has been Jost entitled Clear and had been unjustly acquired. 4_0 Behind tb.e
ConvincingProofs against Those Who Deny the esoteric doctrines ofMasarrism there lay theref
Excellenciesof the Slavs. Its title in- ore a true class struggle with an unde~-
dicates that it is a defense of a non-Arab race lying urban and antiaristocratic character
and therefore one of the seed from which translated into nationalism and anh-
the Andalusian Shu'iibi yya was to spring Arabism .
forth. The fall of the Umaiyads and the rise of .
With the ruin and dismemberment of the
caliphate of Cordova , the Berbers and the strongly Berber1:2ed H. ammu- d.d 1
Slavs found themselve s enjoying a position dynasty brought the non-Arab elements of
of actual power which they had not Cordov~ i~to the hme~1ght_,forthe fi~st
previously known. for the former feJJ heirs time. As Professor Fernando de la Granja has
to the southern par t of the Peninsula shown m his recent article, _Ibn Garcia,
while the latter ruled the southea st. The cadi de los califas }:Iammiidies, " 41 the new caliph
Slavic principalities especially , which ' Alf ibn }:Iammii~ appom~ed a non-
flourished in the middle of the eleventh centu Arab to the important post of chief qadi of
ry A.O., were to welcome mawali of all Cordova soon after his access10n to the
descriptions to their territory o that they throne . This functionary , who has no conne
naturally became the focal point from ction with our Ibn Garcia, was a ma~a
whence the voices of Shu'ubite dissidence would with the same name who was also a Shu'iibite
be heard . At the same .time voices . He was a member of the se~r:tanal
ofMu'tazi lite and particularly Masarrite dissid class and owed his advancement to his own
ence were also heard among the lower merits, since he was of~umble ongm. He
classes. In Pechina. a small village close to Alme was a friend of Ibn }:Iazm, by whom he was
ria which wa later superseded by the called "the wisest man m the ":orld ... he
lat ter a disciple of the Masarrite school beade who possesses all knowledge," yet he left
d an important esoteric group . His no written work .' although his _advance-
name was Isma'TI ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ru'airu ment, brought about by the Berber faction
(950-1040) . He was a maula and a con- in order to chastise the Ar~b aristocracy,
was an important indication of the social chang
es that had take~ place m Al-Anda~u~.
In the city of Denia-at that time a port
of far greater importance than it 1s
" Poemasarobigoanda luce:,(3d ed . ; Bueno$ Aire s, 1946). p. 29.
l 6 to this respect Goldzi hcr says
: " D ie Muw allad iio ste hen cntwed
er im regelmassigen Verhliltnis vo n
Mawali innerbal b des Orgenismus der grosse
vollends fallen. iadem sie sich einen rcgelre n arabisch en Familie. oder ie l~scn auch d iese Formalitiit 3 scruz Bemandez , op. cir., p . 159; Asin Palacio
s , op. cit., p. 122.
c
ande r wo ein Beispiel dafiir angeffi hrt was hten arabis chen Stam.mbaum beilegen . W ir haben bereits
man unter dem Ausdruck 10(1(,aballasabahu
39 Asin Palac ios. op. ci, .. p. 129.
die Anpa ssuog oder R ichtigs tellun g der Geneal ,
ogie. zu vers tchen babe " (" D ie Sbu'ubiyyara#,li}.ral-nasab. 40
Ibid.. pp . 131- 132.
l, Los eslm·osen Espana, p. 10. ,•• p. 603). 41 AJulalus, XXX ( 1965), 63-7 8.
IO The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
today~ Mujahid al-'Amir'i a Slavic general who ·according to 'Abd al-Wa!Jid aJ-
Marrak.ushiwas of Chr istian ancesLry.42 declared himself independent from Cordova
in tbe year 400/1010. Mujab id was a protec tor of the art and an enlightened mon arch
who dreamed of reviving the caJiphal splendor and presti ge in his own kingdom . He
aspired to rule the Mediterranean , for after proclaiming a restoration of th.e caliphate
in 405/ 1014, he annexed the Balearic Islands . and during the cour se of the following
year. attempted a landing in Sardinia , but was repelled~by the Christians while his
fleet uffered severe Jo ses in a violent thunder storm .43 At this time Mujahid 's on and
Christian wifewere captured by th~enemy. l t was not until 423/ 1032that the king was
able to ransom his son, who spent seventeen years in Italy . Mujabid died in 436/
1044- 1045and was succeeded by this foreign-bred son 'A li: who bore the honorific
Lities of Iqbal al-Daula and Mu'izz al-Dau la. ' Ali ibn Mujahid had returned from his
captivity a Chri tian. speaking fluent Italian and wearing foreign clothes so that we
may presume that the seventeen years spent abroad must bave affected his en e of
values to some extent. ' A!Iconvertecl to Islam . ruled Denia . and died in 469/ 1076 after
which the kingdom was annexed by the Baoil Hiid of Saragossa .
The Shu'ubite Abu 'Amir ibn Garcia was~ notewor thy poet and secretary of the
court ofMujiihid and ofbjs son 'Ali othing save the barest outline ofh j Life bas
been preserved, as so often is the case with medieval Muslim personali ties. fbn Sa'Td
gives the following account of him :
H~ was one of the wonders of his age and the marvels of his time . Allhough bis origi n was of the non-Arabs.
his famous risala bore witness to his firm comman d of the reins of the Arabic language. He was one of the
children of the Christlan Basque s who was<:aptured while still a chi ld . His lord Mujiibid. the king of the
Balearic Islands and of Denia educated him . Ther e was between lbn Garcia a nd Abii Ja'far ibn al-Jazza r
the pocl. such a friendship that it caused the fonner to call the latter to join him and slop servi ng al·
Mu'ta~im ibn Sumadi~ . lord of Almeria . lbn G arcia round fault with him for adhering exclusively to the
praise of lbn SumiidilJwhile neglecting the lord of his own cou ntry .•~
A verse attributed to him by lbn Sa'id says:
Indeed , my origin is what yo u know
it to be ; however , my tongue is more
eloquent than that of Sal)ban. 4 '
A poem in Yiisuf ibn al-Shaikh al-Balawi 46 says the following about Ibn Garcia:
And so, who is thi s man who sought
to depreci at e the Arabs in the foolishness
he wrote, conta ined in pages?
When one is asked: "W ho ?" The y
answ er: " lbn Garcia ," It sufficed
him in respect of nobility that the
Christians were bis tribesmen .
42
AI-Mrljib {Cairo , 1949), p. 74 .
4
>Los eslavos e11Espmia, pp . 22-23.
44
AI-M11grib fi f;lulaal-Magrib, ed . ShauqiQaif (2d ed.; Cairo, 1964), II, 406-407 .
45
46
Ibid. S~ban was proverbial for eloquence.
KitiibAlif-.Bci'(Cai ro. 1287/ 1870). 1, 350.
Introductory Essay 11
From whom be learned hardness of heart
and crudeness; though he himself is
crude and his speech is rude.
We are infonned by lbn al-Abbar that "Abii al-'Abbiis al-Ja.zirifrom Jazira Shuqr
(Alcira) who settled in Den ia taught (yu 'addibu) Abii Ja'far Al;lmad the son of Abu
'Amir ibn Garcia. the secretary. 47
From this scant information we may infer that the Andalusian Shu'ubite was born
in the Basque country (as his name ' Garcia" indicates) and was brought in captivity
to Denia dur ing his infancy. There he was reared as a Muslim in the court ofMujiihid
and acquired unu ual skill in Arabic letters . His position as a court secretary (kiitib)
is significant since it indicates that he belonged to the palace bureaucracy , the secre-
tarial class whose interests and ideals had begun to diverge from those of the landed
Arab aristocracy ever since the time of 'Abd al-Ra]J.miin III . At the court of the Slav
Mujiihid, and later under the rule of his son 'Ali, lbn Garcia found the propitious
ground in which to express his Shu'iibite tendencies and write his famous anti-Arab
risiila, nor w~s he the only one at that court to hold these views, for the philologis t Ibn
Sida, who wrote the dictionary entit led al-Mukha$$a$ (d. 458/ 1066)attached himself
to the Denian court and is· aid to have been "a Shu' iibite who attributed superiority
to the non-Arabs at the expense of the Arabs. " 48 The liberalizing influence of the
Denian cultural milieu seems even to have been transmitted to later generation s. At
least, it is probabl y not by mere chance that Abii Salt ofDenia (460/1067- 529/ 1134),
the philoso pher , who tudied with tbe qadi Abii al-Walid aJ-Waqqashf, also pro-
foundly versed in philosoph y. was able for the first time to make the study of Aris-
totelian logic acceptable to the fuqahii' . Several attempts had been made before to
add logic to theological studies, but always the Malikites had reacted against what
was considered a dangerous innovation. Abu Salts treatise entitled Taqwim al-.f)il:m
was intended as a manual for the use of theologians who bad begun to realize the need
for studying logic as a means of expounding theology in a more systematic fashion .
Although his work is nothing more than an extract of Aristotle's thought , it is so com-
plete that it seems to indicate that Abii Salt was able to transplant the study of logic
to Andalusian soil at the end of the eleventh century.
In the relatively late refutation of lbn Garcia by lbn Mas'ada , the latter speaks of
Ibo Garcia ' lord in the following terms: "Would that I knew who is your precious
possession in the age ... . Perchance you mean al-Muwaffaq, he of the forged
genealogy.... Is he not but one of the pieces of refuse of the tracts of the towns and
cultivated lands, and of the shores of the sea . .. 'holding fast by the rudder after
fatigue' ?" 49 The allusion is to the disastrous naval expedition to Sardinia , and "a l-
Muwaffaq" is al-Muwaffaq Mujahid ibn ' Abd Allah al-'Ami.ri that is to say, the
Denian lord Mujahid. 50 And yet Ibn Garcia in bis own risala clearly states: ' You
£ rsook praise of our precious one from whom we profit , Mu'izz al-Dania .... ' 5 1
" lbn al-Abbar , al-M11'}am,in Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, Vol. IV, ed. F. Code ra and J. Rib era
(Madrid, 1886). p. 299. no. 282 .
·~Nowiidlr.p. 233.
ocr.
0
pp . 34- 35, below .
lbn Sa~a, op. d1., II 401.
51
Cf. p. 28, below .
 12 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us Introductor y Essay 13

As al-'Abbadi has proved, 52 "Mu'izz al-Daula" was the honorific title of tion to those non-Arab peoples who formed a large segment of the Andalusi
'Ali ibn an com-
Mujahid. Therefore it is highly probable that lbn Garcia 's risala was written munity . With all due reservations , it could be aid that h.iswas a battle for civil
during rights
Lhereign of'Ali; that is to say. between Lheyears 436/ 1044-l 045 and 469/ 1076. in which the prize to be gained was social equality for the oe\ urban maula class
~i":ce who
Mu'ta~ ibn $mnadili lord of Almeria. whose court the addressee of the r'.s.ala for the first time found themselve in control of government (the Shu'iibiy
ya was a
attended , reigned between the years 443/ 1051 and 484/ 1091. its date of compos1 battle of literate minorities never a revolt of the masses). It should be noted,
~on however
can be narrowed down still further to the years betweep 443/ 1051 and 469/ 1076.5 that he fought always according to the rule of Arabic rhetoric and under the
banner
Tbe Escorial manuscript indicates that the risala was written against Abu of Islamic ideology.
'Abel This hypothesi is supported by the texts theroselve for in them , with all
Allah Muhammad ibn Al;imad ibn al-.E:laddad al-Qaisi. a well-known poet and the in-
vizier secure feelings of the convert. Ibo Garcia is quick to over tres the sincerity
oflbn $u~ad~ 54 and a native of Guadix. Both the [)akhira and a reference of his
in the conver ion to Islam. He therefore speaks of Mu.bamrnad as : "He by whom
Mugrib.however. mention as the receiver of Ibn Garcia 's risala a poet named Abu God
Ja'far ibn al-Jazzar (or al-K harraz ), 55 also a poet known to have attended delivered us non-Arabs and you Arabs from blindness and error: a for u
the court , he de-
of Ibn Sumadih. Ha.run has adduced strong evidence based on references livered us from the wor bipers of the Trinity and the reverence of the Cross
. . in other ; whereas
Arabic works to suppor t the hypothesis that the latter poet was the one mtended.
· 56 you he delivered from the foUower- of an abominable religion and from the
57
worship
His linching argumen t is that while Ibn Sa'Td, the author of the Mugrib, of idols. This doctrine bears in it traces of Mu'tazilite thought. since it suggests
says ex- by implication that the Arabs do not have precedence in Islam. One
plicitly that Tbn Garcia. wrote his risala to Ibn al-Jazzar . be also knew of of the important
Ibo al- political ideas defended by the Mu'tazila bad been that the caliphate did not
I:Iaddad and devoted a section of the Mugrib to his biography, yet he did not neces-
connect sarily have to devolve exclusively upon the tribe of Quraish . To this idea
him with Ibn Garcia in it. of Ibn
From the internal evidence offered by the risala itself, it would seem that its Garcia 's one of his refuters , Ibn Mann Allah al-Qarawi would reply with the
com- ortho-
position was motivated by a court panegyric that is not extant in which the dox doctrine: "I bear witness that God did not make Mu~ammad a Hashimit
poet of e save
Almeria praised his lord lbn Sumadil). and flattered hi vanity by mentioning that Hashim are the be t part ·of Quraish. nor did he make him a Quraishi le
his Ar~b save that
forefathers and Yemenite origin in the tribe ofTujib. The insistence on the Yemerute they are the best part of Muc;lar, nor a Mu<,iarite save that they are the best part
of the
derivation of the h.ouse of Almeria as well as the refusal of the poet to put in a Arabs, nor an Arab , save that they are the best part of all the nations .' 58
word of Toe social consequences of Ibn Garcia 's equalitarian doctrine were not lost
praise for the rival house ofDenfa were the occasions seized by Ibn Garcia to upon
write his his Arabophile opponents , all of whom coincide in attacking the sincerity of
satire against the Arabs. his faith
. ao.din making him out to be a dangerously unorthodox and insincere convert:
In its themes and general ideas, the risala does not differ much from those wntten Get
by the eastern Shu'ubites with whose works Ibn Garcia seems to have been well you hence Over y ignorant apo tate and depraved religious hypocrite .... " 59
ac- · 'Had
quainted . In it the author dwells at length upon the more disgraceful asp~cts your profession of faith been sound your critique would bave been soun d ;
of early and had
Arab history which he delights in contras ting with the glories of the Persians your inner thought been pure it would have restricted your false argument. 60
and the ' Even
Byzantines. Indeed, not a word is said specifically about the non-Arabs an unknown partisan ofibn Garcia would much later be reproached for his
of AI- unortho-
Andalus nor about their concrete circumstances. All the main arguments are dox leanings ; a scholar " who transmitte d your teachings in rajaz poems and
drawn moved
from the writings that preceded the author in the Middle East by two centuries you to the showplace of deficiency ; the leader of the Mu'taz.ila and the downwar
. It d
appear therefore that the Andalusian Shu'iibiyya accepted Arabic culture and leaning branch of the orthodox (ah/ al-sunna)when they call one another to
prid~ fight· the
itself in its ma tery of the Arabic tongue which it then used against the Arabs. blind in both sight and inte lligence and the Shu'iibite of this Peninsula. ' 61
This From the available texts it is of course impossible to determine \Vith any degree
fact indicates that Ibo Garcia's cultural horizon extended eastward; that he was of
not a certainty the extent to which the Andalusian Shu'iibiyya was directly connected
Christian Spaniard attacking the conquerors of his homeland as Simonet h~d with
I_ta~~ely the Mu'tazila. Certain indications, such as the equalitarian doctrine s outlined
thought, but rather a neo-Muslim attempting to extend the benefits oflslamicc1vihza- above ,
and the pride with which Ibo Garcia claims the priority of the non-Arab peoples
in
the discovery and cultivation of Greek science and philosophy ("The non-Arab
s are
02 Los ~slal't
)S en Espana, p. 26. er. also Antonio Vives y Escudero, Monedas wise, mighty in knowledge endowed with insight into natural philosophy and
t',ipanolas ( 1adrid . 1893), p. 215. no. 1314; Antonio Prieto y Vives, Los Reyes dede las dinastias arabfgo- the
Taifl.tl'(Madnd , 1926), sciences of exact logic , uch as the bearers of astronomy mu ic and the experts
pp. 123. 193- 194. . . . ·- 'd th ·
in
n Harii.n think $ that lhccpislle was wntten dunog the.reign ofMuJa.ht , at b
and 436/ 1044-1045. but this assumption docs not take mto account the fact ts t?, say,_ etwcen 406/.. 1015
that Mu 1zzal-Daula was
the honorific Litleof 'Ali ibn Mujabid (Nawiidi r JU. 234).
><For an account or this p-0et-vizicr see lbn K.hallikiin Biographical Dictionary .
de Slane (London. 1842- 1871), Ill. 201-202 ; al-Maqqari . Naf/.ta/-Tfb (Cauo, , trans. B. MacG~ckm 51
Cf. p. 27, below.
1949), IV, 246 - 247 , Ibn 58
Cf. p. 91, below.
Bassam . al-Dakltira (Cairo, 1942), ll . 201. He died in ~0 / 1087. . . .. 59
ss aolh readings are possible and bolb are recorded, owmg to the s1m1lant1e . Cf. p. 69, below.
s of the Arabic letters 6
°Cf. p. 91, below.
involved. 61
56 Hariin,
op. cit., pp. 234-236. Cf. p . 31, below.
 14 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us

arithmetic and geometry ... " 62 make it very probable Introductory Essay
that if this connection was not 15
in fact a direct one at least both the Shu'ubiyya and losing his life on account of it, for so elevated was the
the Mu'tazila in Al-Andalus view which he took of the said sciences that be would
responded to the similar social ideals of the urban comm no doubt . have rendered liimselfobnoxious had he ,
ercial center as opposed to persevered in the study of them. He therefore now
gave
those of the old landed aristocracy. his attl:ntion to the lawful sciences, in which he soon
became the prince. or nearly so; although, owing
the rea ons above specified . the light of philosophy 10
I either should it be forgotten that this did not shine upon his writings. neither was there
truggle between agrarian and commercial in them. as in the works of others . anything hidden found
interests was influenced by the conditions of internationa 10 be explained after bis death . 6•
l trade. After the death of
al-Man~iir, AI-Andalus lost its maritime power and organ Although he repented Iba Wuhaib was not entirely
ization, and only Mujahid forgiven by the Almoravid
ofDenia kept alive the former prestige of the Andalusian fuqaba'. for according to R. Dozy au enemy of his
navy in the western Mediter- wrote that 'the Court of 'Ali ,
ranean.63 Thus it is possible to uspect that behind the grandson of Tashufin, would be pure and spotles if
apparent racial propaganda the Devil had not contrived to
oftheSbu'ubite attack launched by lbn Garcia , there introduce thither Mfiliklbn Wuhaib . ' 65
lay bidden a more subtle rivalry
between the international trade interests ofDenia and At the Moroccan court of 'Ali ibn Yusuf ibn Tashu
the eastern ports of Andalusia fin, Malik Ibn Wuhaib was
as opposed to the old interests represented by Cordo among those doctors of the law who investi.gated the
va . doctrines of Ibo Tuman , the
Behind the more obvious racial appeal of the Shu'i:ibiyya Mahdi of the Almohads, who was at that time just beginn
in AI-An.dalus there lay ing his career. The inquisi-
then a far more basic conflict of interests and aspira torial episode is recorded by Ibn Khalli.kan66 as
tions which probably bad in it well as by 'Abd al-Wii.Qidal-
more of the nature of a class struggle than of racial strife Marrakusbi. the latter ofwbom mentions the title of a
for not all the Mu'tazili tes Shu'ubite work by Ibo Wuhaib
were native Peninsulars , nor were all the defenders in the following passage:
of the Arab faction Arabs . Ibn
l:lazmis a good example of the descendant of a family
of mawaliwho had espoused the
Arab cause. When [Tbn Tumart] entered [the court of 'Afi Ibn
Yusuf] he was brought into the latter ' s p resence
[tl1cking) gathered the fuqaha' to dispute with him. while
Had Jbn Garcia wished to reject Arabic culture in its Yet there was no one among them who could under-
entirety be would probably ~tand what he was saying,save for a man from a.mpng
have written his risala in a style different from the one the people of Al-Andalus called Malik Ibn Wuhaib
that was judged at the time to who had shared in all the soicnces. save that b~ only
disclosed what was acce ptable at that time. He knew
~ of good literary taste and unlike the practi manybranches of scie nce and 1 saw a book of his which he
ce ofibn Bassam, be might possibly have had entitled The Clipped Gold-Piece on the
mserted postclassicaJ literary forms into hls composition 11bjwof the fgnoble (ll'am) omong the Arabs. in which
. But the fact remains that he included th e igno ble among the Arabs of pre-
the risiila is written in pure classical Arabic. It is a verita Islamicand Islam ic times . collecting for this purpose all
ble mosaic of allusions to the relevant lite rary anecdotes, so that the book
Arabic literature and history , containing quotations from came to be without equal in its kind. I saw it in the library
of the Banu 'Abd al-Mu'm.in. 67
the Koran from poetry and
proverbial wisdom. All of this is expressed by means The titles of at least seven refutations of Ibn Garcia
of a highly elaborate rhymed have been preserved. 68 Of
prose of the kind that was so much in vogue among the these, Escorial MS 538 con tains the texts of four,
prose writers of the fifth cen- while a fifth, in the form of a
tury of Islam, and it is decorated with all the maqama,or seance,. written by Abu al-I;lajjaj Yusuf
ornaments of Arabic rhetoric. The ibn al-Shaikh al-Balaw1 is
choice of thi stylistic medium of expression which preserved in that author 's Kitfib Alif Bii'.
had become the standard of
secret~rial literature throughout the Islamic world indica Of the refutation contained in the Escorial MS which
tes that the author attempts are all translated in this
to claim for the non-Arab secretarial class its rightfu monograph the fir l in order of appearance was writte
l share in Arabic culture· to ex- n by Abu Ya]:J.yaibn Mas'ada,
tend the benefits and pleasures of literary education to whoappear to have been an important figure of the
the refined among themawa.Li: Almohad court. In his risala the
Hence, in opposition to the exclusive cultural ideal propo author speaks of the Mahdi: Abu 'Abd Allah Mubammad
unded by lbn Bassam, lbn ibn 'Abd Allah that i to
I:Iazm, Ibn ijaiyan , Ibn Shuhaid and others of the say,Mu]:J.arnmadIbn Tuma.rt, the Mahdi of the Almohads
pro-Arab faction , there existed
this program of a broader scope which was preached by who proclaimed him elf
the Sbu'ii.biyya, was defended their leader in 515/ 1121 and died in .S24/ ll30. Menti
in the Slavic kingdoms and aspired to attract the educa on is also made of 'Abd al-
ted of aU the varied ethnic Mu'min ibn 'Ali who succeeded him and died in 559/
groups that constituted the Andalusian Islamic comm 1163, from which we may con-
unity. clude that the refutation was written about a centur
A thinker of the Almoravid period who also appears y after the time of lbn Garcia.
to have entertained Shu'ubite Ibn Tuma.rt had adopted a strict form of mono
ideas was Malik lbn Wubaib , theism which had certain
Mu'tazilite features in it. His reform could be descri
bed as puritanical in its revolt
against organized religion, and he was a mortal enemy
a native of Seville. and a contemporary of J.bn Bajja of the rigid methods of the
, who contributed likewise greatly to the advancement Malikite fuqahii.'. 69 His successors followed a policy
of science. only that he [Jbn WuhaibJ taught Ii Ille else of tolerance toward scholars
than the first principles of psychol ogy. After this . Jbn
W~haib began to abs tain from the study of philosop
h y, as well as from publkconvcrsation oa the subjec
owmg to the great dangers that surr oun ded him and t,
all those who followed tho se pursuits , and Lherisk
of 4
• al-Maqqari . TireHfstoryof
the MohammedQJDynastiJ ~.t ht Spain, trans . Pascual de Gayangos (Londo;
18!~1843). l. Appendix , p . xiii.
R. Doz y, Spanis!t Islam, trans . F . G . Stokes (London '
62
Cf.p. 27, below . 66
Op. cit., ID . 209-2 10. , 1913), p. 720.
63 61
1..ew,s, op. ci t., p . 201. al-Marriikushi.al-Mu.jibft Tolkhis Ak!tbiir al-Mogrib (Cairo
:' Goldziher . " Die Shu'ub iyya," pp . 618-620 . 1949) pp 184--185
'Pareja . lsfamologia. 11. 176. ' ' · ·
 16 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus
and phjJosopbers. Because they needed the support of the fuqaba' in their struggle
against Spanish Christendom however, they chose to hide their tolecance of philo-
sopher. Of this we have an eloquent testimony in the words of Averroes who tells
us how the emir Abii Ya•qub Yusuf (I I 63- 1184) received him and how that monarch
was well informed about philosophy. Yet from the fear expressed by Averroes we may
conclude that open display of pbilosoph ic knowledge was a rughly dangerous matter
at the time :
When I entered into t.he presence of the Prince of the Believers, Abu Ya'qub . I found him wilh bu Bakr
Jbn Tufail alone. Abii BakT beganprais ing me. mention ing my family and ances to rs and generously in-
cluding l~ I.herecitalthings beyond my rea l mer its. The first thin g lhat the Prince of the Believers said to me,
after askmg me my name . my fatber's name and my genealogy was : ''Wbat is their opinion about the
heavcns?' '-rcfe rri ng ro the phUosopher s-" Arc Lheyetemal 'or created?" Confosion and rear took hold
of me, and I began making excuses and denying that I bad ever concerned myself with philosoph ic learning ;
for I did not know what Jbn Tufail had told him on lhe subject. But the Prince of LheBe lievers understood
my fear nnd c-0nfusion, an d luming to Jbn Tufail began talk ing about Lhc ques tion of which he had asked
me. mentioning what Aristotle , Plato , and all the philosophers had said , and bringing in besides I.he objec-
tions of the Muslim thinkers against them ; and rperceived in him such .a copious memory as l did not Lhink
could be found in anyone of those who concerned Lhemselves full lime with this subject. Thu s he continued
to set me at ease unu1 l spoke . and he learned what was my competence in that subject ; and when I with·
drew he ordered for me a donation in money. a magnificent robe of honor and a steed .10
The next ruler, Ya'qiib al-Ma~iir (1184-1199), because he also needed the support
of the Andalusian fuqahii' in his holy war against Christendom, was forced to banish
Averroes under the stigma of heresy, while his works were burned in Cordova. In
591/1195 Ya'qub destroyed the army of Alfonso VIII of Castile in the battle of
Alarcos, and upon returning victorious "to Marrakesh he summoned Averroes to his
court and the philosopher was thus reinstated in the royal favor. 71 This incident in-
dicates the enormous inquisitorial power exercised by the fuqaha' at that time. It
was a man of such narrow Malikite convictions who must have written the refutation
against Ibn Garcia, for at the same time that he expresses support for the Almohad
regime, be also accuses Ibn Garcia's partisan of heretical Mu'tazilite leanings.
The second refutation is anonymous , but as 'Abd al-Salam Hartin has pointed
72
·out, it bears a close similarity in style to the preceding one. Thi imilarity extends
to coincidences in phrasing and word-for-word repetition of verses and proverbs.
From this it is possible to conclude that the two works were either written by the same
author, or that the author of one had a more than common familiarity with the other.
The third refutation in the Escorial collection is by Abu Ja'far Al:tmad ibn al-
Diidfa al-Balansi (from Valencia), a contemporary of Ibn Bassam (d. 541/ 1147),
who in 477/ 1084 informed the author of the [Jakhfra concerning his refutation of Ibn
Garcia. 73 Therefore, this work by Ibn al-Dudin is valuable because it was composed
relatively soon after lbn Garcia's risiila. It is not mentioned by Goldziher, although
it is preserved in the Escorial manuscript that he consulted, as Hartin points out.
The author of the fourth refutation is Abu al-Taiyib ibn Mann Allah al-Qarawi ,
~~al-M_arrak ushi. Kitab al-Mu'jib, ed. R. Dozy (2d ed. ; Leiden , 1885), pp. 174-175.
ParcJa, op. ca., p . 177. ·
72
Nawiidlr. p. 237.
73
Nowiidir, p. 238.
Introductory Essay 17
who according to lbn Pascual, 74 came from: Kairouan and settled in eastern Al-
Andalus where he taught prophetic traditions and died in 493/1099. Therefore he
too may be considered a close contemporary of Ibn Garcia .
The fifth extant refutation of Ibn Garcia was written by a twelfth-century man of
letters named Yusuf ibn al-Shaikh al-Balawi of Malaga, and it was included in that
author's work entitled Kitiib Alif-Bii' [The Book of the Alphabet]. Al-Balawi lived
between the years 526/1132 and 603/1207. We are informed by his biographer Ibn
al-Abbar 7 5 that he was a poet and a scholar; that he defrayed out of his own purse the
cost of constructing twenty-five mosques as well as that of digging fifty wells, all in
has native city. During the last decade of his life he composed his opus magrtum in
order, as he tells us, to leave his youngest son 'Abd al-Rahim the necessary instrument
with which to gain a literary education after his own death. The Book of the Alphabet
is a general work including passages on every subject; it is one of those works of the
genre designated by the Arabs as adab, and which contain veritable storehouses of
miscellaneous information designed to help in the education of the secretarial middle
class.
In his book, al-Balawi arranges his subject matter in alphabetical order, so that
after each Arabic word he includes a series of literary texts designed to illustrate the
subject under discussion. While writing about the superiority of the Arabs over all
other races, al-Balawi adduces all sorts of Eastern sources to defend his point of view.
Then, quite naturally , he turns to the case of Ibn Garcia and tries his band at refuting
his countryman. The significant thing about al-Balawi is that writing as he did, some
forty-odd years after Ibn Mas'ada and perhaps a century and a half after Ibn Garcia,
he is no longer able to comprehend the reasons for the relative tolerance of earlier
times. He lives and writes at the same time as Averroes, when for reasons connected
with political exp~dience, the Almohads had become far more intolerant than at first.
So, he declares with some wondering:
The amazing thing about the people of that age is that they were able to tolerate those misleading and sedi-
tious ideas which tended to promote civil strife, ihat they freely allowed that insolent fellow not only to
commit such an act of audacity but also to slander others in tbe way he did .... Why did they not stone bim
or expel him from Lhecompany of Lhose who revere Lhe Koran? The most probable answer to this question
concerning Lhem and him is that they must have been unaware of his false opinions and that when he com-
posed and created his risala , he must have disavowed its authorship; and that after he wrote it he must have
concealed it. Or perhaps he sent it secretly to bis friends and divulged it only to his companions, so that
only after his death did it appear and become notorious enough to be refuted by those to whose attention
it came.76
The idea of scholars having to divulge their works in secret to a select group of
initiates reminds one at once of the fears expressed by Averroes when pressed to
discussphilosophy in public, and indeed, of Averroes' basic idea that higher learning
wasnot fit for the consumption of the masses. These ideas were not the result of any
idle scorn for the common people, but rather the result of a very real fear of the in-
quisitorial practices of the fuqaha'.
74
Kitab al-Si/a in Bibliothi>caA rabicq..Hispa11a
, ed. F. Codera and J. Ribera (Madrid, 1883), 835.
75
Takmila ·w cheTokmila. ed . M . Alarc6n and A. Gonzalez Palencia , in Miscellmea de estudios y textos
arabes(Madrid, 1915), no. 2089.
76
Cf. trans., p. 98, below.
 18 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
Introductory Essay 19
AI-Balawi's book preserves the titles of several refutations
, some of which are not
extant. It is significant that they were all written by Maliki religion they claimed to be their exclusive gift to mankin
te juri ts who were pre- d. This position is clearly
sumably Arabs, among them Abu Muhammad ' Abd al-Mun attacked by Ibn Garcia when he says:
'im ibn Muhammad ibo
'Abd al-RaJ::iimal-Khazraji of Gran~da (524/ll29-597/1200
a cont~mporary of To God belongs the choicest of what he
al-Balaw1 who was the leading Andalusian expert on Maliki has created. and the choicest of
te jurisprudence during
his time. To the titles of refutations preserved by Tljf; Book creatures are the Banii Hashim. 81
of the Alphabet may be
added the work of'Abd al-1:{aqq ibn Khalaf ibn Mufarraj
a faqili and on of a faqTh This leads to a question of broader scope because of its
who Jived and died in Jativa ,77 as well as that of al-Haitham historical importance and
ibn Ahmad ibn Ja'far al- the interest it bas aroused recently among Spanish historia
Sakilni, Abu al-Mutawakkil, a poet of Seville well ve7sed ns, as may be een parti-
in lite~ature and Arabic cularly in the works of Amer ico Castro: the identification
poetry and grammar, whose disciple Abu al-ljasan 'Ali of religion with nobility of
ibn MuJ::iamrnad ibn 'Ali" lineage aJso seems to have extended itself within the non-M
al-Ru'aini of Seville records : "I also heard from his speech uslim communities of
what he retained in his Al-Andalus. Among the Jews, the Karaite sect applied
memory in the way of certain portions of a risala in which the rational methods of the
he refuted Ibn Garcia." 78 Mu'tazila to Jewish thought and by this means it sought
The Shu'ubite author bad stressed the function of Muham to defend a more spiritual
mad as the savior of conception of God against the anthropomorphism espous
botb Arabs and non-Arabs, and bad played down the ed by the Rabbanites. 82
importance of the Prophet , Yet the Karn.ites in Spain did not prosper , for under Alfons
Arabian birth: "ft is not astonishing that bis origin and o VU the Jewish collector
root came from among you of revenues (Almoxarife) Judah ibn Ezra who helped the
Arabs , for after all. pure gold is found in the dirt. ... " 19 The refugees fleeing from the
authors of the refutations. oppression of the Almobads, persecuted the Karaites with
on the other hand. are unanimous in emphasizing lhe Arabia the approval ofhjs king. 83
n origin of the Prophe t This was no mme than the extensio.n of a tendency that
and in claiming exclusively for bim the inheritance of the had begun in Al-Andalus ,
propbelic mission banded for the Jewish court dignitaries under Muslim rule, being
down from Abraham. orthodox in their beliefs
and following the oral law, had forced the Karaites to withdr
In the defense of their respective causes, the authors on both aw to the border regions
sides constantly make adjoining Christian territories and finally to seek refuge
use of the terms f:zasaband nasab; two Arabic words that in the fortress towns of
are often confused but in Castile. Then the relentless persecution of Karaism underta
reality are very distinct in meaning. ijasab is applied to the ken by three generations
quality sometimes denoted of Jewish courtiers in the service of Alfonso VI , Alfonso
by the Latin term virtus (as opposed to honor in the Aristot VII, and Alfonso VIII finally
elian sense prevalent in the managed to extirpate the sect with the assistance of
Middle Ages); that is to say, it signifies the inner worth of the Christian kings .84 The
a person; his personal merit; Karaites, who did not accept the additions to the Old Testam
his value as an individual. Its complement is nasab which, ent made after the closing
like the Latin honor, cor- of the canon rejected belief in immortality of the soul ,
responds to an external attribute over which the individ claiming it to be a late and
ual has no control. It is, spurious addition to Judai sm made by the Pharisees. Thus
however, an honor understood from within the context they claimed a return to the
of Arab tribal organization pure fountainhead of religion just as the Mu'tazila had
since it denotes illustrious birth, noble pedigree, glorious done in the case of Islam .
lineage, and so on, and con- Christianity under Muslim rule in Al-Anda!us presen
tains the idea of genealogy so important in Arab society ted similar features. The
. Morarabic church was torn by heresies of all sorts and showed
Both Ibn Garcia and the authors ofth ·e various refutations signs of evident decay
are prompt to attribute by lhe second half of the eighth century. Cixila had govern
both J::iasaband nasab exclusively to their own faction. ed the diocese of Toledo
Now, what is peculiar in the from 744 to 753 and had adopted the heresy ofSabellius,
Islamic usage of these terms is that they are inseparable an African heresiarch who
from the context of religion. denied any real distinction among th'! three members of
This appears clearly in the Shu'ubite battle between mawal the Trini ty. Bishop Egilanus
i and Arabs, and thus Ibn governedthe diocese ofElvira from 777 to 784 and became
Garcia will speak of MuJ::iamrnad "whose lineage (nasab a heretic. Elipandus, metro-
) is of Abraham while his politan of Toledo (b. 717; d. 808) fell into the heres y of Adopti
inner virtue (J::iasab)is of Ishmael ," 8 0 where both nasab on ism which according
and J::iasabare connected lo Alquin, originated in Cordova and maintained
with the light of prophecy which may be traced back ultimat that Jesus was oot a real and natural
ely to God. son of God, but only an adoptive and nominal son. 85 These
As in other lands of the Muslim world, in Al-Andalus the heresies are all attempts
rule of the Arabs intro- 10 make the doctrine of the Trinity palatable
duced a theoretical religious equality accompanied by to Islam , and the degree to which the
an actual class distinction Mozarabic chw·cb was controlled by the Muslim authorities
based upon whe.ther or not one was a neo-Muslim or the i exemplified by the fact
descendant of an Arabian that the emirs of Cordova intervened in the appointment
tribe. Although ultimately their attempt was to prove of bishops and authorized
futile, the Arabs did try to the celebration of ecclesiastical councils. 86 The impact
make of Islam an Arab monopoly , and they also identif of the Islamic invasion on
ied noble lineage with the
"er. p. 28. below.
77 uHusik. op. cit .. p. xxvi.
fbn al-Abbiir. op. cit., pp. 422-423 , 524. ll Abraham A. euman . The Jews in Spain : Their Social, Political and Cultural
78
al-Ru'aini, BorntimijShuyukh al-Ru 'ai11i(Damascus , 1962), A; es (3d ed.; Philadelphia. 1948), n, 239-240 . Life during the Middle
79 p. 194.
Cf. p. 2i , below. "Baer.op. cit.. p. 65.
8
°Cr. p. 27, below. usimoneL Mozarabus. pp. 266-267.
•~Ibid.. pp. 337- 338. •
 Introductory Essay 21
20 The Shu'ilbiyya in Al-Anda/us
expressing its views so that it was not until the fall of the caliphate and the dismemb
Christianity in Al-Andalus encouraged heretical innovations in dogma to er-
such a ment of the bod y politic that a controversy such as that oflbn Garcia was to
degree that the right wing of Christian orthodoxy revolted ag~inst a chu~ch that be aired
had openly.
become dominated by a policy of appeasement toward Islamic rule. This led
to t~e Thi controversy further reveals somewhat the plight of the neo-Muslims who
famous crisis in which some forty Mozarabic zealots were condemned to death were
m denied full equality with the Musl ims of ancestral Arab standing . To defend
Cordova between the years 850 and 859 for publicly uttering blasphemous statemen them-
ts selves against a discriminatory policy the former expoused doctrines such
against the Prophet Mu):iammad. as
< • Mu't azilism which interpreted the teachings oflslam in a broad and liberal manner.
Seen in this perspective the social phenomena of the time become clear. Certam
They demanded the redefinition of religion in terms of its original spirit and
Mozarabs opposed to those of whom we are told by Bishop Alvarus of ~ordova were
th~t opposed to the narrow , organized religion of the fuqahii ' . Th.is opposition between
they had mastered Arabic letters although they could no longer r~ad th~ir own
Lahn a liberal puritan ism and an orthodoxly conservative faith between the spiri t
scriptures, began to think that their condition as Christians funct10ned m such and the
a way letter of religion, djd not occur in Islam exclusively, for the Judaism of the
as to ouarantee the purity of their lineage; that is to say, of a Christian lineage Iberian
"un- Peninsula offered the same clash of interest between Karaites and Rabbanites
sullied" by "contamination " with Muslim ancestry. This was possible beca~se , where-
as the Mozarabic church was torn apart by the quarrel between heretical clergyme
Islamic marriage laws made it permissible for non-Muslim women to marry Musllill n
and those who demanded a return to a purer form of Christianity .
men (they were usually expected to convert to Islam thereafter) , whereas
Muslim After the Arab conquest , the fberiao Peninsula became the home of three equall
women were rarely allowed to marry non-Muslim men. 87 Whether this theory y
was dogmatic religions , each one of which presented similar problems derived from
enforced in actual practice or was merely a polite ·fiction makes little differ~nc simi-
e ;_the lar conditions and affected the others by the peculiar way in which it sought
result was that for a Mozarab or a Jew, Christianity or Judaism came to be identified to solve
its own difficulties.
theoretically with purity of lineage. Thus religion was fused with blood lines
in the A full translation of Tbn Garcia and the refutations written against him has
non-Muslim camp also. been
long overdue . Today , ..vith the editions of the e works availab le the task is no
The grafting of this Islamic idea onto the thinking of the Mozarabs was to longer
have as difficult a it was when Goldziher studied lbn Garcia s risala from a single
far-reaching consequences for they were to trace back their origin not, _of course, source.
to These consideration . added to the important function of the Sbu' iibiyya in the
Arabia, but to the ancient Visigotl!ic kings of the Peninsula, and this ideal con-
lmeage, text of Andalusian cultural history , have encouraged me to undertake the translatio
fused with their peculiarly racial concept of Christianity came to be a featu~~ ns
always contained in this monograph .
present in the medieval history of the Peninsula. When Toledo and ot~er cities
were My translation of Ibn Garcia 's risii.la i based on the Arabic texts as edited
wrested from Islam by the Christian armies, those Mozarabs obtamed from by
the Goldziher. al-'Abbiidi , and Hiirii.n. The three editions contain some variant
Christian monarchs of Spain several privileges based almost exclusively on the s. yet I
fiction have not followed any one of them lavishly to the exclusion of the others , and
that they had not sullied the purity of their lineage by intermarriage with Musli~s 88 have
, consulted the original Escorial manuscript when in doubt. In the case of the first
and this concept of a pure religious lineage was to be appealed to once agam four
on refutations l have followed Hiiriin more closely since he is the only author
Spanish soil during the inquisitorial persecution of the neo-Christian co_nvert to have
sfrom published them . The last refutation has been published only in the Ki1iibAlif-Bii
Judaism which came to a climax in the sixteenth and seventeenth centunes , and ' , the
was text of which I have used a a ba is for translation. Thls publication will eventuaU
often conducted by inquisitors of Jewish ancestry, applying ideas such as those y
used befollowed by an edition oflbn Garcia 's risala, indicating all the textual variants
in persecuting the Karaites. The controversy oflbn Garcia ~eveals _thatin a modified , but
because the present work i a translation , I have thought it advisable not to
form this problem had existed in Al-Andalus several centunes earlier. over-
burden it with textual notes , nor to repeat those contained in the Arabic editions
In sum, during the long period of Islamic hegemony in Al-Andalus there ,
were except where ab olutely necessary for the understanding of the text. Variants
numerous attempts to shift the seat of power from the old Arab aristocracy will be
to the folly indica ted in the forthcoming edition.
maula class. Because the historiography of the Umaiyad age was mainly written
by
court historians who supported the Umaiyad-Arab cause, few literary documen
ts
presenting the case for the opposition have been preserved. Neverthe~ess the
revolt
of the Berbers under the banner ofKharijism, the rebellion oflbn I:Iaf~un, the
flower-
ino of esoteric sects such as Masarrism, all indicate that this opposition, be
it intel-
Je;tual or military , did in fact exist and often came near to upsetting the political
stability of the umma. This anti-Arab force was, however, effectively prevented
from

87Koran 5: 6. In pre-Islamic times, the Arabs already frowned upon marrying

off their daughters to non-
Arabs. The story of Parwfz and Nu'man (pp. 47-48 , below) 1s an excellent
88 Simoncl. op. cit.,
example of this .
p . xxvi.
 EPISTLE OF ABO 'AMIR IBN GARCIA AL-BASHKUNSI

An epistle in which Abu 'Amir ibn Garcia addressed Abu

'Abd Allah ibn al-lf addad, remonstrating wi_thhim in it and
auriburing superiority to the non-Arabs at the expense of
the Arabs.

Greetings, 0 composer of the rhyme that is currently recited who devoted his
poetry to the company sett led in Pechina the land grant made to the Yemenite s 1 it
having been written in exchange for a miserable fee. As if ther e were no one upon the
earth who is not a Gassanid nor from the kir\dred of I;>ii I:Iassan !2 If your people
have made you wealthy to such an extent that you can manage without the whole
world, according to what has been mentioned ; then why this eagerness to accumulate
possession s and to abandon your abode s? Seldom do poets begin a journey, save from
lhe abandoned encampment! If some people had allowed you to intermingle with
their kindred then you would have had no need to wander after the false illu ions of
the morning mirage. Gen tly! Who pu t you in need ofri.ding across the vast deser ts?
Be sensible· do not confine you affection to the one who compelled you to journey so
far; who bought you cheaply rath er than dearly ; who in exchange for public gather-
ings gave you the crossing of riverbeds; who in exchange for habitual dwelling places
made you travel through very dangerous areas· who incited you to reject a virtuous
wife whose chastity is stronger than a fortress and the close company of noble stal-
li ns ; who entrusted you with journ eying through the length and breadth of the land
so that when you traveled to Tabala 3 you feigned stupidity and became like unto a
mall calamity on top of a large misfortune , hoping for good fortune and striving after
a precious reward.

1
The land aroun d Pechin a and Almeria was in fact granted to the Y cmenite tn"beof the
lb.eearly Andalusian Umaiyads . lt became their du ty to defend the coast from foreign Banfi Sarriij by
esh11 •os 1mEspana. Ar . text, p. 31 n. <I}. i!,lclll'1iions(Los
'Tbe Cassanids we.re a Christian Arab tribe settled in the region south of Da mascus . At
fifthcentury A.O. th ey fell under the political influence of Byzantium an d became lh.e end of the
a pro-Greek, Christian
buffer~iatc set up against Persia . .Qii }jassa:n was a pre-Islamic king of Yemen .
3
Tabiila is a town in northwest Yemen , in the interior of Asir, seven days journey from
followsis an allusion to an incident caused by al-1:{ajjiij(661-714) Lhegovernor of Arabia Mecca . What
the Umaiyads. According to Yaqiit (Mlfjam a/-Buldiin [Cairo, 1906), 11, 357}, " Tab iila and Iraq under
was the first town-
ship governed by al-f.iajjaj ibn al-TI!aqat:'r, so he traveled toward it and when he drew near
the guide : 'Where and in what direclion is Tabiila ?' The guide replied : ' aughl but Ibis to it be said to
from your view.• Al-Haijiij answered ; 'I will not see myself as a governor over a place hillock bides il
which lhis hillock
~ides from me. Whal a contemptible province to govern! ' And be turned back w1lhout
entering the city,
1rom whence this incident became proverbial ." Sec also A))mad ibn Mu]:iammad al-Maicliini,
Aml!!.iil Majmo' al·
(Cairo , 1892),Il , 245. The implication is that the town wa.s too small to bi:worth al-l;lajjaj's
11on \fit was hidden behind a small hillock. Ibn Garda suggests, however , that Ibo al-Jazzir has aueo-
stn ·c an in~ignilican1 king in a second-rate town , or that al-l:Jajjaj was a coward. gone to

[23]
24 The Shu'iibiyya in Al-Anda/us
Am I to suppose that you have maligned or despised this respected non-Arab
nation, without realizing that they are the blond, the fair-complexioned ones? They
are not Arabs, possessors of mangy camels. They are skilled archers, descendants of
Chosroes, of glorious ancestry, brave, heroic; not herders of sheep or cows. Their
nobles were removed by their concern for armor and supple spears from the pasturing
of camels, and by seeking for greatness, from the milkj1w of goats, a proud people who.
were descendants of Caesar and who wore helmets and coats of mail; they were occu-
pied by their concern for putting armies to rout, in removing the fear of the frightened.
Defenders of the flocks, raisers of the citadels, hawks in whom rosy whiteness pre-
dominated,4 eager for glory but wooers of it by their spears .
It did not harm them if they witnessed
deeds of nobility, or faced their
peers on the day of war ,
That their complexion was not dark.
Of Roman origin and blond, Byzantine lineage, fostered by the possessors or inner
virtue, lineal glory, and greatness among the blond ones, they did not pasture sheep
or different varieties of beasts of burden; soft-skinned ones among whom neither the
Egyptians nor the Nabateans have implanted; family honor well guarded and noble
lineage.
Your mother, 0 Arabs, was a slave to our mother. If you deny this you will be found
unjust. There is no excess in remonstrating, for we never tended monkeys nor · did we
weave mantles, nor did we eat wild herbs ; there is no cutting off your relationship with
Ha.jar; you were our slaves. ervants, enfranchised ones and valets upon whom we
showered our bounty by manumission, for we made you come forth from the bond of
slavery and joined you to the freeborn. Yet you were ungrateful for the favor, so we
slapped you down and dragged you by the forelock so that this constrained you to
dwelling in Hejaz and led you to utter stinging metaphorical allusions, whereas we are
grave and forbearing.
They were the splendor of this earth in this
life, but after death they will constitute
the elegance of books and histories.
When the battle grew fierce, the ranks were formed, the drums were beaten, the
spears were aimed, lips shrank from fear and the slothful kind of warrior opened wide
his mouth and turned his neck; you would find them , the non-Arabs , inflamed in
defense of the people. In the flush of valor the spear blow was sweeter to them than
honey. ' fine silk cloth from wearin g a coar se garment sui tab le for both summer and winter
Armed to meet death as if between them
and their death there !wereties of kinship.
Among their desires was to meet their death , having under their control boldness ,
distance, and nearness.
4
!.e., the very best kind of hawk.
Epistle of Ibn Garcia 25
They were of those who did not know other
than bow to spur on horses to the charge ,
when the Arabs knew only how to drive
sheep and camels.
As for these non-Arabs , they are farseeing, steadfast; assemblies as well as armies
were embellished by them. They were princes on horses as ifthe latter were elephants;
tbey were the fixed stars of princely retinues , shooting stars to be consulted by the
astrologers, descendants of the non-Arabs , lions of the thickets sons of the forests
free from all vice. The flag-showing pro stitutes 5 did no t beget them but rather Sa;ab
the beautiful lady ofprod .igious nature rejoiced over them . Proud , haughty , devout
princes trailing their robe s. Bravo l Their sword s made lawful to them the holding of
the center of the lands , but the y were neither contented nor satisfied with lhat until
they had humbled the East and the West and had taken as their dwelling place the
summ.iland topmo st portion of glory .
With blows that separate heads from their
necks, and with spear thrusts wheezing
like the bard breathing of a wild ass
that is about to bray and who pines
for the wild rocket plant .
These non-Arabs were avid for the flash of the sword rather than for ladies en-
dowed with earrings , and by riding on their saddles were they removed from their con-
cern for greed and the pleasures of the flesh; by the bugle's signal to attack they were
removed from their concern for the tambourine; and by led horses, from their loved
ones; by trotting horses , from deceit; by horse trappings , from pure wine; and by
command and threats, from taking plea sure in wine and flute; by meeting their 0ppo-
nents, from nat ive gold and the acquisition of singing girls. Their aims were their
spears of Khatt, 6 their inmost desires were their armament, and their forts were their
stallions; princes whose forefathers were champions equal to one another in single
combat .
The se are my people ; when they build
they make solid their construction; when
they wage war , they exert themselves;
and when they make pacts, they
consolidate them.
They are clear , grave no t camel herder s or diggers tilling th.e oil· great kings, not
umer s of camel dung for fuel. Intelligen t. they were diverted by wearing brocade and
weather made up of the collected wool of six ewes. These non-Arabs were warriors ,
not guardians of palm bran ches or planters of palm shoots· kings who recognized
no overlords, not one of whom in quenching his thirst drank of the milk of milch
5
ln_prc-lslam ic Arabia, pro stitutes showed a flag to distinguish their dw-elJing from those of the rest of
tbi tnbe (R . Doi.y, Supple.me/II aux Dicri(l nnai~es A.robes [2d ed.; Leiden an d Par is, 1927], I, 498, col. I).
Possibly on the coast of Om an and Bahrem whence spear$ wei:e impo rted from India in pre,ls lamic
1 to be s_
lllll_;CS old to the Arabs. Spears ofK ha i.~ became p roverbial in Arabic poet ry for their excellence
(Yaqut op. crt., Jil . 449). .
26 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus
camels; nay, their drink was wine, and their food roasted meat, not the mouthful of
colocynth seeds in the deserts or the eggs of lizards taken from their nests. Not one of
them filled himself with the disreputable tail fat of lizards; not even among the
Ethiopians is there any child or adult who nourished himself with reptiles; "no peas
in dry skins were rattled to frighten them, nor were they shooed away by the hatred
expressed on terrifying faces. " 7
So make an end, 0 hater! For theirs was the greatness ofdeed and the greatest merit
when they rescued you Arabs from the hands of the Abyssinians, which was a clearly
marked benefit and a favor to you, unsullied by expectation of gratitude; what a gift
it was! And yet this favor created an aftermath of affliction when it met ungrateful-
ness rather than gratitude on your part. Often when you carry your load of conceit,
0 you hostile Bedouins, you strengthen a secret hatred, and you stir up a serpent. Do
you not know that the empire of Aniishirwan and the kingdom of Ardashir 8 cut open
your bodies and dislocated your shoulders, afte1 which they inclined toward you and
acted benevolently, making you kings ofHira 9 after you had been thrown into great
confusion, having been paltry and downtrodden, choosing for wives girls filled with
dread and seized by force on night raids, without a dowry? Then your Gassan and
your Nu'man 10 grumbled about this kingship, and the displeasure of the latter was a
reason for the loss of the amnesty given to you, so that after the proud trailing of robes
he came to be trampled under the feet of elephants.
As for the noble ones, the Byzantine sons of the blond al-A~far, 11 the purest and
most illustrious, whom the kinship of Abraham and the paternal relation to Ishmael
inclined toward you, the Arabs , they generously accorded you room within Syria to
the furthest limit, after what took place in the matter of the bursting of the dam . 12
And your Nu'man and Gassan paid tribute to the non-Arab lords upon their skulls.
These are generous deeds; not the two
bowls of milk adulterated by mixing
with water so that the two became urine.
Go gently, ye children of slave women, with your winking of eyes and pointing of
fingers at us, for we are a strain rooted in pure lineages and all-encompassing honor.
Who will awe or frighten us when our trunks and branches were already firmly
7
These two phrases were used by al-I:Iajjiij to imply that he was not to be intimated by vain threats (al-
Ma icjiini, op. cit., II , 142).
8
Sassanian kings. Ardashir founded the dynasty in A .O. 225, whereas Aniishirwan (531-579) was a con-
temporary of lhe Emperor Justinian .
PThe capital ofan Arab kingdom. rival to Cassiin. which fell under lhe influence ofSassanianPersia. lt
was ruled by the Lakhmlds and began to play an importan t role about A.O. 418 (EI' , II , 314).
10 Nu'miin Ul. son of Mungi r rv.He ,vas the last Lakhmid kingofHira (r . 580-602; or 585-607). Accord-
ing to legend, he was destroyed by the Persian Emperor Chosrocs 11 (Parwiz). for re fusing to proYide female
members of his family for the imperial harem (R. A. icbolson, A Li1erary His1oryof /he Arabs [Cam bridge ,
1956], p. 45).
1' .. The blond man " : eponymous ancestor of European peoples , particularl y of 1J1eByzan tines .
12 The bursting oflhe dam of Marib bas been immortalized in Arabian saga. It is alluded to in the Koran
(34: 15). Marlb is In South rabia , and the catastrophe is SJl.id to have taken place between A.O. 542 and 570.
As a result of it both the Cassanids and the Lakhmids migrated northward LObetter lands and ultimately
established the two rival kingdoms which were to serve as buffer sta tes between Byzantium and Pers ia(£ / \
II, 280).
Epistle of lbn Garcia 27
established in glory of ancestry before yours? And who can surpass us in loftiness
when all mankind is included in our superiority and might?
A nobility butting at the
stars with both its horns , and a might
that shakes the mountains.
The non-Arabs are wise, mighty in knowledge, endowed with insight into natural
phil?sophy and into the sciences of exact logic, such as the students of astronomy,
music, and the experts in arithmetic and geometry. They have priority in analytics
and poetics , ability in the sciences of religious ordinances and natural laws, skill in
the fields of holy and physical law.
They mastered the East of the land and
also its West , and after that they granted
you the authority of chiefs.
And they mastered what you will of investigation and research. They made them-
selves masters of the physical and religious sciences, and not of the description of
towering camels, so that their knowledge was not of shameful things such as the deeds
ofNa'ila and I~af. 13
Humble yourselves, 0 Arabs, for here we have the case of your Abu Gubshiin 14
who sold the Ka'ba for a skin of wine; and the case of your Abu Rigal1 5 who led the
elephant of the Abyssinians to the holy sanctuary of God in Mecca to root you out.
Lower your eyes for the mention of this tends to be shocking.
Shall I add more for you, or are you
satisfied? And this is because I have
seen you to be most foolish in your
claims.
And there is no .boasting for you crows of Arabs in your skin-slitting past; but rather,
the boast is in our paternal cousin Mul,i.ammad, who made us all encompassing out
of God's blessing; whose lineage is of Abraham and whose inner virtue is oflshmael;
he by whom God delivered us non-Arabs and you Arabs from blindness and error: as
for us, he delivered us from the worshipers of the Trinity and the reverence of the
Cross; whereas you he delivered from the followers of an abominable religion and
from the worship of idols. Yet it is not astonishing that his origin and root came.from
among you Arabs, for after all, pure gold is found in the dirt , and musk is a part of the
secretions of the gazelle, and sweet drops are deposited in foul-smelling waterskins.
0 Two Meccan idols worshiped 'before I.hecoming of fslam (El ' , II , 527). They were supposed 10 have
been humans , turned to st.one for committing immoral deeds in the K.a'ba .
1
'An a_n~tor ~f the Meccan tribe or Q!,ll'aisb named Qu~y bought lbe custodianship of the Ka'ba
fro!ll Abu Gubshan, tbe last !Iller of the tabe of Khuza'a , for a goatskin of wine during the pre-fslamie
penod. Descendants of the tnbe . of Khuza'a were prominent particularly in Al-Andalus (cf E/ 1
984-985. .
a
' ,
527
'
1
s According to Arabian legend , this infamous personage betrayed the Arabs by leading the Abyssinian
genera/Abraha into the sac~d ~e!']'i_toryof Mecca in or around tbe year of Muhammad 's birth (570 or 571)
(of. El , I, 103; also P. K . Hllll , Hrstory of tireArabs [7th ed . ; London . J961], pp . 62-64) .
28 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us Epistle of Ibn Garcia 29

To God belon gs the choicest of what He 0 you monopolizer of the art of poetry , and master of the pen in both prose and
has created , and the choicest of creatures poetry :
are the Bam1 Hiislum,
I have been shamed before you , so do not
And the choicest of the choicest among leave me to depend on any other than a
them is Mu]:iammad, fair as the full moon, fair excuse ,
Abu al-Qiisim. 16
For I have carri ed out that for which my
By this unlettered Prophet I vie in glory with those who vaunt themselves, and sur- due reward is harsh repudiation or insult
pass all who preceded and followed. He was of truly generous birth on both sides, of the messenger who br ings it to you .
conjoined with the prophetic mission , chosen for accomplishing the divine mission And that which I have sent is so little
and for the holy guidance . I pray to God to bless him to the number of the sands and that it is only the susten ance of one
to the extent of the ants , and I likewise invoke His blessing upon those who reached day for you by your self alone, if
you spend it like the spendin g
the protection of his enfolding wing, his swords and his spears , namely his noble com- of a miser.
panions. upo·n whom may there be most abundant peace from God .
And why so, when you are noble of
0 son of the Bedouin s, we have nothing to disposition , and there is no way
fear; I do not relate except what others to moderation of generosity on your part?
have re,lated.
Even the elegant in speech may
On the other hand, sometimes lapse int o error , so do not
I have not insulted any honor of yours, accept the mode st, well-meant work
but rather , I too have exhorted those other than with affability,
who would listen where my exhortation can be heard. For trul y the meter, although it be
the soundes t meter is such that its
Moreover , how worthy of threats is a Gassanid poet rather than a Sassanid one, on deficiency may be rectified by
this feast day, and how deserving of rejection at this season! He had already grieved weak letters. 1 8
another and yet he abandoned you with reluctance when you forsook praise of our
So, if what I ha ve sent be paltry;
precious one from whom we profit , Mu'izz al-Daula , 1 7 the very great lord and very well, my con dition is mo re than
well-defended shelter, our courageous and clement chief and our excellent leader, the paltry. 1 9
king of nations and the nearby torrent of generosity, occupied with commendable
And peace be unto you, as well as the mercy and blessings of God , as long as the
qualities and enricher of those deserving of wealth, lord ofSassanian authority and of
heavenly sphere turns and the angel sings God's praises.
spiritual excellence.
So go, 0 you who are unsound of opinion, and build a tunnel in the earth, or a
ladder for climbing to heaven, for this is a friendly warning which has brought grief
upon you. Or else, weave together from single and twisted strands the rope by which
you may seek protection from our strong assault. Lo, we, the company ofmawali , we
give friendship oniy to those who show friendship for our greatness . So beware! Be-
ware! Lest you gnash your teeth in contrition , and do not wait until the hour of
repentance when your crimes are added to your bucket and affliction to your bucket
handle ; for the man of insight restrains himself. and he who frightens his close friend
will not prosper.
So do not abhor the bite of reproach
with which you will be met
one day ,
For verily, the medicine is praiseworthy
for its good effect, thou gh it be
bitter and disagreeable to tast e.

18
' 6 Abu al-Qiisim is the lamya or surname of the Prophet (E/ 1, l , 95, col. 1). 1.e., a short sylla ble may be lengthened by a long vowel.
19
17
!.e., 'AII ibn Mujahid . k ing of Den ia (see p . 11, above). This poem is by Abu al-' Ali al-Ma'arri (Df wiin (Cairo , 1268/ 1851], II , 35).
 First Refutation
31
Fire is indeed kindled by means of two
sticks, while war is preceded by words.
It is the likes of you O blameworthy-natured one and
taXpayer of the non-Arabs
FIRST REFUTATION, BY ABU YAI:IYA IBN MAS who through his want of judgment unjustly attacks
'ADA the pure-blooded Arabs bis
allies, or else he dares to speak again t their glorious deeds
by word of mouth! Yet
you were beguiled into this behavior because you were
allotted to them as a part of
their booty and because your mother was moved to feeling
s of ten derness for th!,!m,
·nee they were darker eyed than the wild calves of\A.sim. How
can this be not so:
The refutation of Ibn Garcia, author of the precedil1g
When al-Karaj5 is not the whole world , nor all
epistle, conraining matters with the writing and composi- mankind Qasim.
tion of whidi the blessed, very noble Shaikh Abu Ya~ya
ibn Mas'add was occupied- may God avail him for its The desert never revealed you when you traveled, 0 runawa
y, nor was "the wide
sake and turn it into a plea in his favor when he shall have part of t11evaUey reserved ex.elusively for you to lay your
eggs and whistle." 6 In such
11eedof it. as thls well-cultivated and fruitful land you may well
be able to peck and whistle ,
while by reason of the blondness of your skfo, 0 you who
dye your buttocks yellow,
Whosoever refuses to yield to the ends of the you may well dye yow-self yellow or red in such a wise that
it would not "cause ales-
spears' iron heels shall surely bow to the sening in honor and nobility for al-Aus ibn Taglib" if I
were to despise and overcome
sharp tips mounted on their upper shafts. 1 you.7
Watch out and I mean Abu 'Amir! Nor do I add "hide Beware, lest those whose custom it is to remain peacefully
yourself , 0 Umm 'Amir," 2 at home , possessing fleet
but rather , I serve you up a gathering of planted and- ripe horses, those who are self-sufficient, should overtake you.
fruits. So gather them up, By God , the fullers will not
0 foundling gathered up by Garcia . wash your clothes along with mine after I have advanc
ed to chastise you and have
made known by my appeal to " the milk poured into the
On the contrary, you have gone to a laurel bay
skin container ' 8 the excuse
f your scholar , who transmitted your teachings in rajaz
to shake it , seeking the sustenance of poems and moved you to the
showplace of deficiency· your scholar who was the leader
the grape. Well, once having shaken it, of the Mu'tazila and the
gather now its fruit.' downward-leaning branch of the orthodox when they call
upon one another to.fight,
who was the blind in both sight and intelligence and the
Your drink will be the sweat of the damned, since my war Shu'ubite of this Peninsula .
cry to you is "ba mzm,"4
so take off your necklace of two twisted strands and taste, Blind ones gave you the path
for it is most certainly you of perdition. Which is a
who are the lofty and noble one!
gn,ater wonder: a blind man who guides
I have been struck by that which, were toward the path of salvation or a dumb
the Jinn to be struck by it, men man who speaks?
would most certainly have outraced them
in their flight, out of fear.
O you who are meager in your words; whom have you
caused to thirst because of
your spent cloudburst, and whose fire have you exhausted town in Pe rsia halfway
to replenish the dying fire JI.230).
between Hamadan and Isfahan (Yaqill. M11'jamal-Buld.
in [Cairo. 1906]
of your defects?
!A verse by the pre-Islamic poet Tarafa (Ed ward William Lane,
11,478. col. 3). lt alludes to any matter over which one Ras mastery, Arabic- English Lex.icon[London, ! 863],
'" To dye one's buttod:s yellow" is an expression meaning according 10 al-M<\idani, op. cit., l, 161.
the pre,lslami1; age. This is an all.usion to a verse hto be a catamite . '' Al-Aus ibn Taglib lived in
1 a~m st the cal1pb·a1-Mutawakk1! (A.D. 822-861)by one of his descendants. Tamim ibn Jamil , wbo rebelled
and declared , m a:ramous poem :
From the Mu'allaqa of Zuhair , trans. A. J. Arberry , The
2 '"Umm Seven Odes (London , 1957), p. 117.
'Amir" ("mot her of' Amir") is an epithet applied It would causea lessening in the honor and
Arabic literary tradition . 1l is also a pun and joke at the to the hyena , a fOJ!land cowardly aajmal in lhe nobility of al-Aus ibn Taglib were I to remain
expense of Abii 'Amir ("father of 'Amir") ibn
Garcia. The hyena is also proverbial for iis stupidity (al-Jal;li
z., K.iriibal-J:{ayawan (Cairo. 1945], vn, JS· in a position wherein the sword is drawn
al-Maidiiai , Majmtf al-Amd.Liil(Ca iro , I 892). I, 160). against me, and yet hold my peace.
3 From this
line derives a proverb concerning inability. weakness. and F.Ibo J:lazmJomhor
, ar Ansiib al-'Arab (Cairo, l962), p. 303.
one seeking grapes from a laurel bay" {al-Maidan, , op. impotence: "'More incapable than 1
ci1. A proverb applied to whatever is clearly apparent ; in
• An Arabic proverb: ··Say '/10 mim ' and the enemy will , l, 336). ··a man is said to have visited a tribe and asked them forfoll view for all to see. fl derives from the fact that
not be aided on to victory."" In 0th.er words the somll milk. They had some, which they had col-
au thor is saying that be will see to it that lbn Garcia docs lected in a skin container. yet they proffered excuses , so
not win his case against the Arab s. flamim (1'the
sweat of the damned ") is a pun and refers to
the Koranic punishment in Hell . co.nt~neral lows for no excuses ,' that is to say.the milk skinthat he declared: "the milk poured into the skin
bn Mubanimad al-Maidani, Pro~·erbi"on,m Arabicomm. give:; you the lie" (Nawiidir , p. 257 n. 8 ; Atimad
ed . H . ;\. Schultens [Leiden , 1795], p. 56 no. cw).
[30]
32 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us First Refutation 33

What your scholar divulged about you in public was a serious matter indeed. He
pleased you by rushing headlong into the open and sending you grazing while he him-
self found pasturage in an open country. When it came to the meaning of the Koran,
he was satisfied by its slippery and misleading smoothness of wording. He became re-
prehensible because of his mistakes in the interpretations of the Koran's grammar,
mistakes like stumbles that cause the forepart of the foot to bleed. Your drawing of
water in buckets and in the desert and your greeting of th e composer of the rhyme that
is currently recited have sickened you with those obvious mistakes and then caused
you to recover. Yet the shameful mistakes overpowered you; those that afflicted you
infected you with his same disease, 0 stoned devil, and then departed, so that you
adorned yourself in the same qualities derived from your scholar, girded yourself
with what you found ready at hand, and boasted of the same shame that overcame him
as the eunuch boasts of the member of his lord.
Like a woman who causes her ears to be pierced
in order to adorn herself with a borrowed jewel:
the holes disfigured her ears.
She returned her neighbor's jewel to her
and there remained naught but the scars
in her ears .
Woe to you, 0 brave lion, 0 buttocks of an ass scratched by the crupper, when you
brayed; although it was in the language of the Arabs, your prisoners, that you ac-
quired learning! Yet you declared:
These are my people; when they build, they
make solid their construction; when they
make a promise, they keep it, and when
they make pacts, they consolidate them.
For they have done what is inherent
to their nature, since error comes from
the indelible mark of the branding irons. 10
D_id Y_oua.nd your ancestors, 0 base one, 0 you who have avoided the prescribed
cast1g~tJ.0~
, .e;:r have a language to spe_ak, and did your non-Arab rulers have a
grave~ J1lhq to mourn over , or a grammar m your tongue for us to record, or a
babble _myour previous condjtion to inflect and d_ecline? For you conferred with the
Arabs_m ~e t~ngue ofHaman 12 ~d argued with them in the stammeriogof~a'il
1
a~d Ruman. So expose these thmgs clearly to view that :YOU may determine what
you have created and th.at in spite of you r faulty speech you may add prudence to
your heedlessness when you speak the truth.
For it does not harm the full moon
that the dogs should bark at it, nor
does it harm the sea that stones
should some day be thrown into it.
This is the Arabs' portion .u1your education and teaching , and the constant motion
of their a/ifs _inthe circle of your mfm .l4 Hence you neither preserved your own
?lodestynor ·did you clean out the pudenda of your diseas~ridden mother. What then
tm.pell~ yo~, 0 use1ess castoff. to blame the Arabs? What lessened your gratitude
:orlhe1r ~avmg ranso_medyou and for their ' casting of the reeds" ·? 15 Yet you truste d
m the emmence of theu courage wherea they accepted you mit of the breadth of their
forbearance , yet you contended again st them on the basis oftheir worn-out and rotten
ropes, and
competed with them in the eloquence of their speech. "A big sand grouse
1snot hke a small sand grouse," 16 nor has the right path anything to do with error.
The young warrior dies of a slip of the
tongue whereas the grown man does
not die of a slip of the foot.

What is the trouble with you and with this independent people who have never So "turn aside, this way and that, 0 she-hyena ... " 1 7 and hasten to deal equitably.
expressed loyalty to any prince nor been reduced to slavery, 0 shameless one? You He who loses his dignity may easily express
muttered in the Arabic language yet you wearied of the Arab's wisdom; you uttered himself, since an unworthy person, as ifhe
were a dead man, cannot feel the effects of
their war cry, imitated their poems, and brayed among their asses, though your
an attack on his dignity .
brand is not like their brand. Did you not perfect your intelligence after having spoken
in your defective tongue and foreign babble? Do you think that you beheld the time 0
' ":"- pro".crb alluding to the man for whom no respect is shown and whose advice is not heeded for
of the Arabs in Muzdalifa, 9 that you took your seat then to listen; that being near to lime 1sno bird from whom good omens arc not derived, save for the vulture" (al-Maldii -n, Majma' u
secret conversation you were able to listen stealthily; that you were installed in the ~:Lt;~:~:i~~o1t
1~ i~atcs. ' Everyone does wh._atis inherent LO bis na ture." i.e., everyo ne is ~ milar tohis
11
best part of the valley so that you flourished, but that death pangs weakened you so A place in Syria where the family mausoleum '?fthe Cassa.n id kings was located (E/ 1 • J 1043).Th is
that you failed to achieve your goal; that you sowed but did not bear fruit in autumn; sentence 1sa refcnmce to the verse by the poet Nab1g,a ; '
that you then became inferior while knowing you were superior? Nay, you were al- If those twain his fathers were who lie in their
graves, the one at Jilliq, the other at Saida'
ways base, and whereas it was incumbent upon you to bow down in submission you by I:larib's side .. . (trans. C. J. Lyall, Translations of Ancient Arabian Poetry
have behaved arrogantly. n . [Ne~ York , !930], pp. 95-102). ·
ed LAfavonte of Pharaoh acco rding to the Koran (40: 25) (cf. Philip K. Hitti A History of the Arabs [7th
i~ qnd;in , 1961), p. 125· El'. JI 244-245). '
It was said: 0 vulture, speak; among ,~ Rum a n was the epony~ous ancestor of the Riim or Byzantines.
birds, you are indeed the worst flying creature, u The nam~ of two. A[ab 1c lct!ers used he re in an obscene reference .
The Ra.bb1s casL their reeds 10 the water 10 confide the task of rearincr Mary to the one whose reed
should ftoat (Koran 3 :44). . "
:~t,Iab ic proverb (sec al-Ma\dii.ni , Majm a'. 11. 86).
9
A place of pilgrimage between Mina and Arafat which was alre ad y considered holy in pagan times . • ·fr·aod look wber~ there IS a place lo flee.·• Th is is a proverb applied to the coward who attempts to
(E/ 1 , III, 800; F. M. Pareja, lslamologfa [Madrid, 1952-1954], II, 543). escape om danger but ,s unable to do so (ibid .• 1. 160).
 34 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
First Refutation
35
After impugning your character and slapping you on the
neck in rebuke we will you mean al-Muwaffaq , be of the forged genealogy the
24
tum to the transmitters of your religions and the ignorant fui.jibof al-Uhir , and the
men among your priests slave of the Yemenite tribe ofMa'afir, the non-Arab ofDen
and monks , to the establishment of th~ three persons of your ia and of the fishermen of
Trinity in the course of Sardinia. 25 Wherein lies your purpose? - May your mothe
your six.synods , and to your other wild ravings. After that r be bereft of you !-ls he
we will send against you not but one of the pieces of refuse of the tracts of towns and
the slender, hungry horses of clear explanation , offering them cultivated lands, and of
battles such that they the shores of tbe sea, who are seized with accesses of fever
will cause the battles o[Kulab , Malbam , and Su'iith ,1! in their loins, traveling
to be forgotten, and after a secretly by night "as does the blacksmith, 26 holdin
certain rope of ours you will untwist the one that yom clumsy 2 1
g fast by the rudder after
mother wove. fatigue" ?
They are the two rope pegs and moreover . And he who dwells in Bahrein , his
my strength is equal to your strength. I disease of the spleen is serious, and he is
shall certainly cut your rope by means grasped unremittingly by what is in his
of a well-twisted rope. stomach, though he be hungry .

Dispose and subject yourself to your adversary and guard When, 0 slave of the worshipers of idols, ha s praise of
your limbs against the the non-Arab s ever been
one who would bite them , for' the dog Baraqish shows the current in any of the surviving languages , or when did
road to its home by reason a poet ever come out with
of its molestation. ' 19 Do you think that ·the Yemenites were a beneficial word in their favor while imploring the protec
satisfied with your land tion of Bishr, Umaiya,
grant or that the Sabeans who dwelt by water were given satisfa or ijassan ?28 Whereas the pan.egyrics of that poet whose
ction for rejecting the poetry is devoted to the
divine throne? This, 0 lizard, 'is a greater matter than lizard settlers of Pechioa. paid its due to what is weU known. And
hunting. 20 even though Pechin a is
You did not know, you little cast-off bit of refuse, you little the grant made to the Yemenites, you were offered for sale
ass that poets avoid therein at the very lowest
harm "by reason of the little cave. " 21 If the Arabs scout settled price, in order that the poet might reprove your ramification
in the land ofTabala in all directions and your
be was certainly not forbidden entrance nor was he filled with blameworthy nation for your vice and proliferation O refuse
fear and consternation. left over from a noble
Rather , Tabala did not appear within his range of sight, while womb and a generous vulva. At the same time you had
he only saw a hillock. already been made to fear
So he feigned stupidity, put aside the small calamity and Gassan and K:b,auJa.n , Samim and Qais 'Aila.n29 intensely by men of eminence
the large misfortune , and distinction who e 'simili~ude is in the Torah and whose and
exerted himself to reach his relatives and the manager of similit ude is in the
his tribe saying: "Who is Gospels. •3 0
lbn Yazid and who are tbe Thumala? ' 22
0 folfowers of tbe Magians , blowers of tbe trumpet, and
Turn your gaze toward the Yemen and
beaters of the Christian
clapper bell, are we Arabs not the swnmit of the tower wherea
you will encounter the pasture in a s you are the low-lying
mudflats; the followers of tbe doctrine of the Trinity who
flourishing state while you remain safe in differ with regard to its
different parts? In this wise have you delivered up the ·acacia
your crossing. to the woodcu.tter and
done' that whereby the tribe of Gamid dishonored its fightin
Indeed, would that I knew who is your precious possession g men, ' namel y claii:ning
in the age by whom you that the Substance of God the Holy Ghost, and the Son
are enriched, and whether the hoopoe ofSolomon 23 encom of Man are one God. "Be
passed his land. Perchance dumb. 0 caJamity !' 31 Let it enter neither by the ea.rhole
nor by the stopper. Rather ,
thecSethree hypostases came to adhere to you during the passag
e of several centuries
1"Pre-l slamic balt ltll;.
Kuliib wa.$fought between the of ti.me since seven hundred months elapsed between two
town in Yamam.ll where an important baLUctook place Balbariili and certain Taro,m tr-ibes. Ma.lham is a
of the bypostases according
be tween Tamim and the l3anii l:l.anifa. Bu'ii.!h was to your own allegation. On.e hypostasis deviated from orthod
fought around A.D. 617 between theMedinan tribes of Aus
and ~hauaj (£ / 1 , ll , 246 ; Yiiqiit. op. cit. lTl, oxy in the interval be-
155i Ef-. l. 1283; al,Maidani . op. cit., O. 267 . tween two synods while your sectarians of takllf 32 were
1 Proverb about bad
united in favoring the doc-
luck: .. Baraqish wasa bitc h who barked at an armed company
at ni~l and had been unable to find the camp of a certain who werepassing by
tribe. Hence they inferred its location from the
barking of the bitch. and overpowered it" (al-Jiil;tii. op. 24
AJ-Muwaffaq Mujihid ibn ' Abd Allih , the Slavio lord
10 This proverb is cit. , l , 291). ofDcnia. For
applied to one who fears a misfortu ne and falls into another
that al-Mug rib ft f:111/am-Magrib, ed. Shauqi I;)aif (2d ed.; Cairo . 1964), II , 40an account of him, see Ion Sa,d,
21 Theproverb is as follows:
" Per haps itis the little cave that contain s harm ." "The ls even more severe. 15
Mujiihid conque red Sardinia. He had been an ' Ami rid I.
origin of this proverb
according to what is claimed . derives from the words of
rerum of Q~air from Iraq accompanied by men. when
al-Zaba' when sbedeclared to her people , upon the
he spent the nigh t in the liule ca.ve on his way: 'Per·
jf~36 J'.'1ember of the tribe of Ma'afi r (Antonio Prieto y Vives,
general serving the family of al-Man$ii .r, who
Los Reyes de Ta/fas [Madrid , 1926], pp .
n19e
haps it is. the cave that contains ha!TI!, L:: .,perchanc 26
proverb 1s apph.ed 10 the mao to whom 1t 1s sind : ' Perhapse e~J ~ill befall you in fr'?ntof t~~ cave ... : "!n: 27
Arnbic proverb .
evil will befall you from tn front (al-Ma.tdaru, • A verse by ii.biga (Lane , op. cil .. 11, 732, col. 2).
wh.iohended i1) a disastrous defeat accompanied by a He{e it alludes to the conquest of Sardin ia (1015)
op. cit.• I. 312).
11 An allusion 10 a
satire against Muba.mmad ibn Ynzi'd al-Mubarrad al-I!)um . . violent thunderstorm which destro yed Mujah.id 's
of Basra (b. 210/826). The verse imp lies that both he and ali the Ara b philologist Hect(uis Eslayos en Espana p. 23).
28
anybody . In this way al-1:Iajjiij suggests that Tabala is his tribe are so obscure that they are .unkno"'? t~ 29
Arab tribes .
so obscu,e that it is not worth fighttng to wm tt Arab tribe s.
(/1/awadlr.p. 261 n. l ; B11 • Ill , 623). '°From Koran 48:29.
Z>The boopoe of Solomon was a royal bird with elegant
Sheba and brought back news of its queen to Solomon: plumage which flew as far as the kingdom of l1Provcrb .
"But the hoopoe tarried not far: he came up a!ld 3
said : ·J have compassed territory which thou hast not compass _2A doc.trine according to wl]ich God imposes duties
ed , and I have come to thee from Saba \V1tb This doctnne was defended by Gazaff and attacked by upon man which are beyond his abilit y 10 fulfill.
tidings true' " (Koran 27: 22). 631). Ibn Tiimart the Mahdf of the Almohads (£/ 1 IV
' . ' '
 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us First Refutation 37
36

trine of the union of the Word with two spirits-would that they had been nine so that
your nation might have been extinguished because of them and so that your gospel
might have been destroyed because of the tissue of lies it contains! How soon this
divinity forged up lies for you without having to resort to taklif, while at the same
time it kept its monotheism aloof from combining with other gods by putting off any
33
discussion of the matter, notwithstanding the fact that the Catholicos brought you
certain reasons in addition to those of the divinity and further reduced the inheritance
34
portions of your abrogated laws! And what took place"between the Melchites and
35
Nestorians in the way of corruption of institutions and differing in the interpreta-
tion of the four gospels without any isntid36 or an y clear trustworthiness in the
attribution of tradi tions made sufficient to the ones, one portion of God, and to the
others another portion. Is not this, 0 scoffer, the subject of merriment and scoffing?
And many a slanderer has said such
a shameful thing that the very
stones of the ear th speak ill
of it with their mouth s.
Furthermore , what is the matter with you-woe to you !-that you dealt extensively
with God's humiliation and treated the object of your worship harshly by reducing
the importance of His place, for you transferred Him from the world of the spirit to
the world of the senses and made Him out to be a unique human being deriving from
the Holy Spirit, so that you have undone any proper mode of conduct , divided an en-
tity that is united and, of it, worshiped the crucified portion. Abandon this heresy;
show yourself capable of joining what has been sundered; reject these improper terms
of abuse and insult, and hold a nation that does not save the object of its worship from
the Cross to be despicable! Do you think that your divinity gave you a dispensation
from seeking His blood revenge, or that He will protect you from His hellfire on the
day of the terror s of Judgment , or that when He leads you to the mustering of Dooms-
day and sets you up in His pre sence to receive your reward He will take His due from
you and pay you full compensation for what is due to you, or that He will unavengedly
relinquish to mankind three persons who coexist in Him?
They committe d an execrable thing; then they
said : " Settle down here!" 0 woe to them!
Were they foolish or were they mad ?
And when the Catholicos made you follow the custom of cutting off the beard and
shaving the head; when he forbade you to perfume yourselves with incense and to
anoint your bodies with saffron ; when he became the caliph in your religion , you
decked the lignum crucis of the Messiah with precious stones after the removal of the
latter, and you established in its place a feast day and a place of worship. Why did you
not help Him instead during His life or struggle to unite the members of His sect be-
fore His death?
Did you not put the prophe t of God, wearing
gold, in a worthle ss dark- green coffin of
aloes wood?
Furthermore , what is the matter , 0 worshiper of Mary? Divulge the tradition about
Mary, the third of your gods, 37 the idol toward whom you hasten in your stupidity.
Is she not the pure maiden , the woman chaste as a rampart, the mother of the prophet,
of illustrious fam ily, veiled in virtue? What is the matter with you that you accuse her
by denying the story of the cradle , on top of accusing her in the matter of Jo seph the
carpenter?
A party of men detached from the common herd
like the asses of al-Abbakk; there being
no young novice among them or any aged man.
0 perverter s of the guidance's message, 0 howling ones whistling and clapping in
derision! The confusions of night journeying have led you astray from the herd , while
the hallucinations of drowsiness have disorde red your brain s.
Be silent! partridge, be silent, partridge! For the ostrich is in the villages.38
What sandals are patched from your skin , or what ornament belonging to your
women is rattled ? In your taking a female companion to the Clement and lying about
the daughter of'Imran 39 you derive truth from your compari son of Luke with John
while considering false the words of God who said: "If it had been Our wish to take a
,pastime, We should surely have taken it from the things nearest to Us." 40 0 what a
wonder! Is a veil not drawn in front of this act of moral turpitude?
A wine of 'A na 4 1 or Bisha 42 which causes
a .shaving pain in the throat akin to the
shaving of depilatory past e removing hair.
It is to matters such as these that you abandon yourself in levity and want of wit,
while you also consider our mother to be a slave to your mother.
I hear a voice, yet I see nobod y. Who is
this wretched outlaw who has made
lawful the shedding of his blood?
Far be it from Abraham that he should really be your ancestor even though you are
his descendants! Therefore , go very, very gently! I grant you that Hiijar was a slave.
Good for you! It is, however , your own descendants who have been caught in the

" According to the fslamic version of Christianity, Mary is a member of the T rinity. .
" Patriarch of the Eastern Christian s. 38' ·A proverb applied 14?th~ man who is incompetent. yet. who speaksout , so ~e1~ told ~?be qu1~L_.~.
34
Greek Orth odox . And their words 'the ostrich 1n the vlllag~' unply that 11will trample on you with its feet (al-Ma1dan1,
» A sect founded by the Syrian estorius (d. A .D . 451). H'c was Patriarch of Con~tantinople frol!l 428 to op. cit .. I. 292).
431 and pc.rsecuted the heresy or Apollio arianism; he stressed the bumaruty ofC!tnsL i:i,e Nestonan sect, 3
9'TIJll'in was the father of Mary .
after being persecuted by the Leonine Emperor Zeno (476-491), soug ht retuge tn Pers,a and became the •°From Koran 2 1; 17.
most influential community of Cb_ristians m the Sassania n Em pire (N. H. Baynes-and H. St. L. B. Moss. 41 2
A villa~e of Mesopotamia , on_the Eup hrat es, famous for its wine (EI . I . 461 ).
Byzantium [Oxford, 1961], pp. 95-9 6, 117, 316) . ., An oasis in western Arabia ($ f' . 1. 1239).
36
The chain of transmission for traditions about the Proph et.
38 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
snare of choosing fornication rather than lawful marriage, for there is a great dif-
ference between a forbidden thing and what is lawful. Since when does marrying your
own mothers follow the pure law of Abraham, or since when is there in wedlock to
your own paternal aunts any of that which Noah recommended? You have thus
committed in the way of shame both the little and the much of it, for the wicked stal-
lion begins with his own mother. In the difference between concubines and richly
endowed ladies, in the news divulged about them and a1'>emttheir sons, the prophets,
caliphs, and powerful lords, there lies that which lifts away confusion and publishes
information about those women who bear noble sons among the people. Ask about
the tribe of David and Solomon and the sons of 'Abd al-Muttalib 43 and the caliphs
of the Banu 'Abbas. Over and above this fact, the Arabs do not derive their filiation
from their mothers nor do they count it honorable to make public mention of their
wives, nor did they consent to exchange daughters with one another for the purpose of
concubitus without a dowry as you did with your daughters. On the contrary, they
would bury them alive in a depressed sand tract out of eagerness to defend their
modesty. By means of these buried daughters they turned the bereaved menstruation
of the mother into goodly patience while they chose for the daughters concealing
graves as sons-in-law.
And death is the best guest of the harem.
Consider, O Qudiir, 44 what you have brought upon your family in the way of a
current notoriety by mentioning Sarah, the queen of beauty, your mother; nay,
Sarah, the daughter of Haran , your paternal uncle; Sarah, the prolific mother of the
tribes of Israel and the loan made to Saduf, prince of the Egyptians, when he seized
her. Had it not been for the immunity granted to her because of the prophetic mission,
he would most certainly have forced her, yet God caused her to be surpassed by our
mother, the mistress of the five rites of pilgrimage who was freed by the king of
Heliopolis,45 when you debarred from her the favor of establishing the revelation and
the descent of the Koran, and bore witness to her innocence before Abraham, the
friend of God. Abraham, however, chose her to the discredit of your mother for the
inheritance of his command, taking her as a concubine after the age of eighty so that
she became the virgin to his seed and his agent for our father Ishmael-may the
blessings of God be upon him-Ishmael, who in turn was destined to be the bearer
of Abraham's apostleship, whereas your mother continued in her state until our
mother inspired her with the desire to obey God, and stigmatized her with three stig-
mata for her perfidy, three stigmata that have remained as a religious practice in
Islam.46 Yet Sarah would not content her by granting her Beisan 47 as an abode, so
'
3
Grandfather of !he Prophel (El'. I, 52).
44
Qudar is proverbial for causing misfortune. According to the Kornn (91: 11- 15),, when God senl the
prophel Salib10 the ancient people ofI.!!amud they demanded a guarantee of au1hen1ic1t:tfrom hun. The.re-
fore God sent a she-camel to them and Salil1begged them 10 a.Ho, her lo graze 10 peace smce she was a 51gn
from Heaven. Howe ver. 1hey decided 10 des~roy her . and a particularly godless i1;dividu~I identified f
Qudir hamstrung and killed lhe ·camel. By dorng this he brought about the destruc'llon of lus people(£/ .
IV. 107; Nawiidir, p. 265 n. 3).
~'ln Egypt. Called in Arabic 'Ain Shams (E/2, I, 788). . .. • qJ.1an!h byAbu al-Jabar , along wi1h Swnaiya (Nawiidir p. 267).
• 6 Hajar pierced Sarah' s 1wo ears and circumcised her . Accordrng to Arab trad1uon the pracuce became
common among women from that time forward { ·awadir, p. 266 n. 2). _ _ .
47
Beisanis a Pale tinian township in the Jordan valley (£11, I. 1138; Yaqut , /lfu';am, II, 331).
First Refutation 39
God gave her the holy abode of Mecca .
There was joined to her a fair , bright
co-wife, like as the sun ; more beautiful
than she to the eyes of her beholder.
So Hajar journeyed away from Sarah preferring separation from her family, being
of pure origin, traveling with Gabriel on al-Buraq. 48 Thus it was for a just claim. that
lhe sons of Ha.jar were made to grow up far from their kinfolk., while they diverted
themselves by multiplying and competing in glory O impudent ooe.
I saw the tongue like a crushing lion
speaking against its own people when
ignorance led it.
As for that which you spurred on with your foot. 0 fool, and whereby you turned
toward your own chest the head of your arrow , in mentioning the flag-showing prosti-
tutes and those who travel funively in the dark to spend the night (as is the case of
your own mother)-well you have returned without having achieved anything , O
self-magnifying one, and you have sought out a dagger to cut your own jugular veins .
Make an exception U mm <Amir ,for it may well be that you boast at our expense from
a position of very close proximity and tha l hereditar:y qualities derived from Sumaiya
bring you close to us. Beware l Attack with all your strength!
Draw yourself up, 0 Maiyada to face
the rhymed attack!
Sumaiya was a captive from among the prisoners taken from you a concubine
from among the gifts of your Chosroes who was made to go to Abii al-Jabar and then
to al-ijari!;h ibn Kalada. Al-I;[ari!h married her off to Masriih in a tribe that has
perished, and the house of hi s mistress became contemptible. Her custom it was to
defame those women who do not conceive and the leader of the families was spending
lhe night in her home extracting marrow from bones . Thus if be assaulted Sumaiya
while bound by an oath , or debauched her or endeavored to beguile ber for his pur-
pose she granted him what he granted her. ext she became the possessioo of
49
'Ubaid without a marriage contract and she began to think that "the Banu Sa'd
were to be found in all her valleys." 50
Like their custom in what has passed of
their youth; in this wise do his poor
women, now destitute of a husband, call
every man.
Do you not find that she is like one of those twelve thousand women who prosti-
tuted themselves in Armenia, the capital of your kingdom, during the days when
:: A '!'Ythical winged creatur<: of l;Slamic leg.:~d e;orrespond ing to the Greek PegaSU$(EP , f. J 310).
Abu al-Jabar w~s a Yemenite km~ AJ-l;lanlh 1bo Ka111dawas a legendary Arab physician (I . Gold-
zilicr! !ylu/,ammedamscheStudien {Halle. 1888- 1890; reprinted. 1961], I. 201). rU baid was a slave given to
' ."1':lls 1~li~~ lh~ pros:erb : ' In every valley may bdfo~nd a trac.e of the Toa ' laba "' (al-Maidani ,
Mumia •. 1. 10). This 1s denved from the words of a Tha'lab1te who sa, those of his tribe who wished 10
wrong him, so he lumed to others -and saw that they also desired the same" (ibid .. 1. 62).
40 The Shu 'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
51
Sumaisat was the midmost and loveliest pearl in your necklace? Those women to
whom your Greek tyrant debarred marriage whereas he made their pudenda lawful
to the uncircumci sed members of the non-Arab barbarian s at the rate of two dinars
and a half per annum for each woman , devoting them to sub sidizin g his food and drink
and establi shing them as a perpetual institution to benefit his offspring?
For were it not for the wind , I would cause
him wh o is in Nejd to he ar th e clank of
bri gh t sword s struck by virile men.
So what a blessing tho se women enjoyed in squandering a livelihood , and what an
easily acqui red wealth, assembled by pimping and the payment of a tax of which the
cream was churned by insertion and extraction and which would have filled the large
drinking cup of Abu Suwaj 52 at every milking! Do you embrace glory by means of
these tales, O heedless one , or rather , do you collect vulvas or members for them? You
have become famous for this and have shaken , upon coming to fight with these
women, the two Meccan mountains Yalamlam and Shimam. Was that what you
meant, or do you think it was you who composed the rhyme s of the Kindite 5 3 when
you recited:
A nob ility that butts again st the stars
with its two horns , and a might that
shake s mount ains .
Then why, 0 ignorant one and worst of all possible cur sers, did you not quote the
second and third verses after it, twisting them to express the nobility of your people,
despite the harmony of the second and the third with respect to the first? Did you wish,
O hyena, to strip off the Arab 's glory in Taglib in order to clothe it on that glor y's
conquered creature Dimu stuq , 54 who was made captive when Saif al-Daula 5 5 gave
him a taste of courage and of punishment by " covering the side of his forehead and
the back of his head with the castle of al-I;fadatj!'' ?56
And Saif al-Daula protect ed the castle again st
the inju stice of time and again st fears, by
mean s of every spear that pur sued the ene my
with its can e shaft .
Has the time not come for you to consult your learned man in the matter of these
narrations, for you to take this concession away from your masses and to conceal
51
The ancient Samosata o n the right bank of the Eu phr at es. tone tim e it con tai ned many Arm enians,
but now its populati on is mai nly K urd ish (£! '. IV, 550). . .
52 For Abu Suwaj. see Abii aJ.'AJa
al-Ma'arri, Slmrub Saq/ al- Zm1d(Ca1r~, 1945). pa.rt 2. Iy, 1743- 1744.
53 The great Arab
poet M utanabb i (d. 965). Th e verse th at follows IS m praise of the Arab king of Aleppo.
Saif al-Daul a.
54
"Dom esticus: titut us praef ecti earum region um quae He llespon to ab oriente sunt" (A . J . Arbe rry,
Arab ic Poetry [Cambridge, 1965], p. 89 n. 33). Probably Nicep horus Phocas, the great soldier a nd later
Emooror of Byzantium (Steven Runcim an. ,t H fatory of t/re Crusades [New Yo rk, 1964], l. 30)._
•! Toe most outsta n\l.ing ruler of the Aam da.md dynasty of Aleppo. whose court Mu 1anabb1 atte oded
(El ', JV. 73).
sf Al-1:lada!h was a bor der fo rtress ofte n mentio n_cdin A rabo -B}'Z!lntine war$ such as this o ne between
Saif al-Dnula and the Do mcstious (£/ 1 • U , I 87). Th.is an d the follow ing verse arc from the same poem by
Mutanabbi in pra ise of the Arab king Saif al-Daula (al-Muta nabbi, Dzwiin, ed . F . D1etenc1 [Ber lm, 1861],
p. 584, v. 11 ; 588, v. 40).
First Refutati on 41
these women given as loans, to cover over this disgrace with humble clothing? There-
fore restrain your self ere you be restrained , ere you fly to be with fools and fall down.
And lead the pudenda of your mo ther with a
halter , and dig with your base fat her' s
member the leek of'Asim. 57
As for your prowling around talking about "journeying so far " and causing a com-
motion on the subject of Abu Riga! :58 well, the latter was a dauntless warrior from
the tribe ofThaqif , one vying in intelligence with his opponents , impairing the fame
of the illustrious birth of his enem y, a smasher of skulls straitened under compul sion
and oppressed by captivity so that he directed all sorts of distinctions and marks of
favor toward his enemies and described to them the abandoned encampments and
Lheirtraces that he might cause Abu Yaksiim's 59 death to overtake him. Then Abu
Riga! refreshed Abu Yaksiim with a mouthful of water after having contended again st
him and made him dismount from the back of Mal).mud, the elephant who is dis-
praised because of the slaughter he occasioned , and he delivered him up to the fierce
lion. Therefore, "i s he really an oppressor in the hindmost part of Hamdan ?" 6 0
Notwithstanding this fact the Arabs do not hold him to be excusable for having
surrendered to the enemy , nor for his having guided the hostile elephant in order to
save himself , since they stoned his grave as they stoned the grave of al-'Ibacli.
Ha ! It would indeed ha ve bee n excusable ,
had it n ot pr oved useful; for the one who did
it was certainly a partner to its
trouble somen ess.
Yet you know all along , 0 ba se one both in ance stry and beliefs, while reviling our
condition and scoffing at Qu~aiy' s receiving his due from our Abu Gubshan 6 1 (since
the soundest traditions are those accepted on the authority of historical transmis-
sion), that Abu Gubshan never possessed the holy sanctuary of Mecca, nor did he
sell it, and that 'Abd Maniif and his brother Rizal). overcame the tribe of Khuzii'a
with regard to it and wrested it from them forcibly, while God approved of its being
wrested. And even if the sale ha s been accepted as legal in one isolated isnii.dattri-
buted to certain men well known for their inclination toward controversy and ob-
stinancy, nonetheless the Banu Khuza'a are neither firmly nor permanently related
to the ministry of the Ka'ba nor had they any ability to bear such a trust. Therefore
s, Accord ing to Yliqiil (Mi/jam , VI, 95) this verse was recited in a satire d irec ted aga inst a man whose
maternal grandfather was accu·sed of havi ng been a camel driver whi le his pate rn al grandfather was acc used
of b.aving been a tiller of the soil. Here !1 u~ts that Ibn G ar cia is base in his lineage o n both sid ci; of lhc
family.
51
He guide d the Abyssinians to Mecca.
s9 Tb e nicknam e of the Abr,ssiolan gene ral Abrah a.
•• A quotatio n from 'Amr 1bn Bara qa al-H am dii.n i. Ham dan is a large Lribe belo ngi ng to the Yeme nite
yo uping (El '. II, 246) :
When a peop le a ttack me, I attack them back
for am I an oppresso r in the hindmost part of Hamdan?
61
Qu~ iy bou gh t the custo dia nship of th e Ka 'ba from Abu Gub sha n, the last ru ler of the tribe of
Khuui'a,fo r a goatsk in of win e. an d th usin scalled the Qurai sb in 1ccca . 'Abel M anafw a s his son by one
wifeand R.iziih,by ano thar (a l-Ta bari , A1111ales
, ed . M. J. de Goeje [Leiden , 1965]. J st ser., I, 1092).
42 The Shu 'ubiyya in Al-Andalus First Refutation 43
they collapsed under the weight of bearing it and their shadows became sun. 62 Ab~ bloodshed who drink blood shed in crime? 66 When did they ever ruJe the lands or
Gubshan then delivered the keys of the Ka'ba to its rightful owners, while the hen- were they ever granted wbat satisfied them of the Arabian peninsula? Was it after the
tage of the calling of Ishmael and the pure followers of the religion of Abraham came Abyssinians mastered them and the jizya, the first poll tax in history , was imposed
to constitute the portion of the descendant ofishmael in the tribe ofQu~aiy and 'Abd upon them? Your builders did not cease to make statues for them nor to fashion for
Manaf, while the Hashimite family is the true source of the two types of journeying them whatever they desired in the way of mi~rabsand images until they gave you as
and of the covenants. 63 servants to the sanctuaries where fire was worsruped and promoted you to tilling with
Those mingling their poor with their rich oxen. Even your men of high rank did not disdainfully abstain from nor reject such
and traveling in order to perform the occupations nor did they do anything at all 67 to avoid their condition. "In trus wise
prescribed pilgrimage. do dogs attack wild cows." 68 Are these the brave, heroic ones who are not herders of
What a profitable bargain and what a rank of authority and courage, as well as a heep or cows? And who then are entrusted with tbe herding of little sheep, 0
purchase of Mecca for a skin of wine! Kushiijim,69 if not tbe hired laborers and the non-Arabs , herders of pigs and keepers
of slaughterhouses , digger of ditches fertilizers of trees and not of camels? They did
His precious ones sold the hearts cheaply, not weave-you claim.-an9 mantles, nor did they tend monkeys or eat wild herbs.
while the cheated one went off bitin g
Your explanation would have made things clear had you accepted the true interpre ta-
the tips of his fingers .
lion, and .it would have been accurate in its description had you been impartial. Tel1
What is the doing of this compared to the act of treason perpetrated by your dis- me: Who then embroidered mantles in Naisabfu and planted the olive trees of.Iraq
ciple Judas , who in your opinion is nobler than Moses, the first prophet of the revela- forSabiir7 0 when he pu.t chains on your religion broke your crosses, and constrained
tion, and whom you claim to be better than Noah, Sarafi1,64 and Abraham the fri~nd your sons to servitude in order to cure their inclination to lust? He enslaved them and
ofGod?For Judas mockingly offered Jesus up for sale as one would a slave, accordmg rendered them submissive; he put bracelets and earrings on them , he decked them out
to your assertion, selling him to the Jews for thirty dirhems. Then they covered him inneck rings and tunics, in clothes made of mixed wool a11dhair and in clothes made of
with stripes, gave him vinegar to drink, and crowned him with thorns . Next they beatenwool. After that he began to shatter your might and to transfer you from your
pierced his side. drew lots over him, and crucified him-as you claim. God - may He homes. He shackled the hand of your Heraclius so that this deed came to be an·exem-
be exalted-said however: "They did not kill him, neither did they crucify him." 6 5 plary punishment among your kings and for this reason no she-mule was ever again
Since that moment you have not ceased to honor Judas by revering and applauding shackled in your land. Both to abstain from injustice and to avoid giving his enemies
him and accepting various of the Gospels on his authority , bowing down before him thepleasure of rejoicing over his misfortune did he do this to that contemptible man ,
and his two companions Mark and Matthew , and claiming that they walked on water O Banii.$aida ' !71
and quickened the dead. May such faces be defiled and may those of them which are As you see O bad truffles of Wadi al-Qura , 72 the weaving of mantles as well as the
worthy of rebuke and rejection not be found lacking! sipping of cold water and the chewing of wild herbs were current amo.ng your an-
If you do not fear the outcome ohime cestors.Ask them , 0 despicable creature , about the keeping oflynxes and the tending
and do not shrink , then do as you please. of monkeys as you claimed. Remember tbe condition of your orphans and adjust the
width of your signet ring to such a finger.
All these wonders took place while the prophethood was full of fresh vigor because
of its own sap, while the staff of the Messiah was fresh because of its own outer and
inner bark, because of the revelation behind it and the angel surveyings its territory,
while the testament was new and the people formed a consolidated group. And yet: •• According to A. de Bibers tein Kazimir ski (Dic.tionnaire Arabe-Frantais[2d ed .; Paris , 1960], II , 1002):
"Ceuxgui oat leche le saagd ' un cham eau a pres avoir fait un scrment et un pacte. pour lui donner plus de
They shot an arrow possessed of a sharp solemmte:sumom donnl! a quelques personnages am.bes qui on! vecu avant Mahomet ."
head, with which the feather of the arrow ::uProverb
1.
,"anything
.
sweet or sour. " i.e .. ''anything al all" (al-Maidiini , Mqjma , II, 163).
took flight. However, it did not 6
. ' A poet, astrologer, doctor . and cuJinary expen proverbial for bis learning and excellence, here under-
travel on a stra ight path , :stood_l:i:001c:ally . He se!'Ved the Hamdan id ruler Saif al-Daula, and bis name
So where are the builders of citadels and raisers of flocks, nay, those protected from
K1;5haJtm(fli: . J. Ari>erry ;[specis of Islami c CiYiliu11ion [London. 1964), p . 157 n.was
l) .
Ma.timud al-l;lusa in
....:.:_According to Je~nds that appear to have Jitue hist0rical auLhenticily. Sbiipiir [I (A.D , 310-37!>) , the
=nian
11
Emperor , 1ssa.id to have mutilated a Roman emperor {£/ 1, rv. 313- 316).
An allusion to lhe words of a man named Za.id al-Khail when the Banii $aida ' seized bis horse :
0 Banu $aidii ' return my horse to me,
62 for an act such as this one should be
1.e.. they died. Q ·h h ·
63 Koran 106: 1- 2: "Forth e covenants of security and safeguard
enjoyed by the ura1s , t elf covenan', . committed only against a base-born
covering jo urneys by win ter and summer .. . ." . person (Abu al-F araj al-Isfahiini , Kitab al-Agani [Cairo , 1905], XVI, 47).
64 !srafil . He
. .
is the Angel of Death m the Islamic tradition. "' A valley between al-'Ala ' and Medina in the old trading coute from South Arabia to Syria. Its truffles
65 wereproverbial fqr their small size and poor quality (£ / 1 , JV, 1077).
Koran 4 :157.
44 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus
And do not get angry over a biograph y that
you your self have traced , since the
person mo st satisfied with a biography is
the one who traced it .
Concerning the tribute of tbe Gassanid s to the Banu Salil).,13 which you mentioned
O loquacious fool, it should be made known that the latt er were a party of men trav~l-
ing secretly by night who came from the midst of the A'ztlites' ,. and the compames
that were put to flight by the bursting of the dam. The y carefully governed the Ian~
for (heir people. Afterward they began to deviate from the d ght path and lost th~ll"
chief men a11dthey dwindled. Therefore they did not neglect to flatter and tem:ponze
with their enemy until they improved their status , and they became princes and put
armies to route. And when their foJJowercaught up with them and their tiller and hus-
bandman called out : "Beware !' they shortened their steps and curtailed their
mounts, and Jig' gave them what they deserved with bi sword . After tbat, his people
beoan to beat the Banii Sali1Jon their flanks and finger jo ints and pursued them both
in iafar and in Raj ab. 7 5 until the Banii Salil_lasked for the bow of I:lii)ib76 as a pledge
from the Gassanids since they desired the latt er's escort, the protection of tbe1r own
caravans, the suppl~ing of their own perfume-laden camels and the leading o?e by
one of their own she-camels. As a result your kings began to pay frequent attention t
us because of the stipulated payments and taxes, and they generously bestowed upon
us all sorts of adorned silk brocades and lands held in fee.
And bad deed s issuing from evil doing
will some day remind you of good deeds
issuing from well-doing .
These princes of your s, desceodant s of Cbosroes and chiefs descende? from
Caesar are nothing indeed but royal foot messengers who fall short of their goal,
barbarians belo.nging to Nebuchadnezzar and azareth , professional workmen.
bearing bunches of green dates and generously pmfessing their_su~mi sion and offer-
ing their weeping. O people base in your comportmen t.and lhirsting ~o ave~ge yo~
unavenged dead : is it through a relationship such as tb1s and by seekmg to mterpret
circumstances by means of this kind of logic that you make us out to be yo~ _slaves.
servants freedmen and bond smen ? Ab would that it had been one vellmg her
beauty who had addressed me or that it had been a woman wearing bracelets who had
slapped me ! 11 Do you not realize O bleary-eyed one O gatherer of sour grape .
nTbe Banii Sali'l) were the 6~1 Arab tribe to fou nd a kingdo m in Syria. _They were So uth Ar '!,bians and
Christia ns. and were appoin ted to rule by the Byzantine empe rors. ~er lev1~ a poll tax of two d m~ upon
their sub "ects until finally a member of the tribe of Gassa n name d Jig_ (or Jtt') tt;fused to pay th e t:1x.He
became Pamous for baving usedhis swor d agai nGt the tax coll~cto r. Th is led to a tn bal_war ou1 t o fw b1cb
Cassanidscme rged victorious and set up their own kingdom m place of tbat of thc Salt.1,1
th:
(E/ , IV, l 13- 114,
al-Maidiini. Majmd; l. 156). . -
1•Tbe bursting of the d am of M a.rib ca used the Azdues ~o moye out of Saba (E / , IU, 529- 5~0).
1
~Two ill-omen ed Ar abian mo nths wbose na mes earn ed wi1h them a co nn otation of misfortune .
dr ought, and hun ger . . _ ....
761:lajib ibn Zuriira.Du ring a raid on the P ersi ans, the Arab .tn be of the F azai:3 We[e faced Wli.u sta.rva·
tion. Hajib tried as an ampassa do r 10 keep the peace an d gave his bow to Lhe Persians as a g uaran tee on be·
half of the Arabs (El '. LI. 93). . . . city at the borde r of Tu rkestan beyond the ri,•cr Saihii n (Jaxartes) an d a l-Shas b . It has a fortified cas tle ;
n A proverb ial expression mea~ing: ·· 1~O!_l l:i'.this 1.ns~lt had co me from someo ne wh o 1sno t a base born
person it would be eas ier to bear (al-Ma.td an1., Ma1ma. II . 71).
First Refutation 45
that it was our ancestor Ya'rub 7 8 who civilized and reared you , and rebuked whomso-
ever rebuked you , while he branded and marked you with the blackness of his skin
and caused your enemies to flee from you to the fertile land of Oman and Masan 7 9
as well as to the extreme edges of Khurasan ; yet when you became ungrateful for his
favors and rejected his beneficence, I)u Nuwas 80 compelled you to adopt his reli-
gious feast and subjected you to his previous threats. Then he drove you as one does
cattle and trampled on you, demolishing your funeral vaults and overburdening you
to the point of drawing your breath in sighs. He tore you away from the water of
baptism and converted you to the religion of Judaism. Therefore, to which religion do
you belong, and to which kinfolk are you related? To the Syrians taken as booty or to
the stupid Nestorians and the inhabitants of dubious lineage of al-Saffuriyya ?8 1 -a
genealogy lying between _girt and the pig, and a claimed descent divided between
Rome and th, river of tlie Blond ones .
So, be true to your alliance , and do not,
by God, bring low an eminence of the earth,
except you be acquainted with humbleness yourself.
And what is the matter with you and with the one who increases your race, since
you are the weakest nation with respect to virile men, the meanest with respect to
energetic males yet saddled with the heaviest burdens. From among you come the
bishop and the canon , the patriarch and the metropolitan, and among you are found
the practices of emasculation and castration as well as multitudes of people living in
the state of concubi{us, with the exceptions of your leader and the monachism of your
deacons and priests. Yet despite this you are the most numerous of the People of the
Book while your women are the most fertile in bearing children . This is so, however,
only because the Kurds and Nabateans , the Abyssinians and Egyptians have become
implanted in you, so that the blond, the dark-complexioned, and the reddish, freckled
refuse of mankind among you boast of those who rendered their genealogies suspect
rather than of those who had begotten them in noble circumstances, while all the time
their mother laughs at them because she knows who the real father was :
Ho! She travels secretly in the dark while
her family sleep , and she commits a thing
which the mind cannot imagine.
And what you boasted of, 0 ass, 0 inheritance ofleopards , concerning the students
of astronomy and of the knowledge of arithmetic and analytics , is like the boasting
of the slave girl over the howdah of her lady. That honor belongs to the Greek and
Sassanian discoverers , to the . priests of Babel, Chaldea, and Kasan 82 who were
76The eponym
ous an cestor of the south ern Ar ab s. H e is said to have been th e first man to spea k in th e
Ariibic _lan1t11age (R. ~ .. icho~SOJ, A L i!1m1_ryH is(ory ofrl,~ A ra~s [Ca mb ridge, 19~6]. p. 14).
9
Mashan ? Accordin g to Yaqut. " Masba.n ... 1s a river runn mg through tb e nuddl e of the town of
Marw··(Miijom, Vil , 265).
80
Thc last Himyarite king of Yeme n. R e was a Jew, and to him is attri buted the massacre of Chris tians
whichto ok place in 523 at aj ra n {Hitli. op. cir., pp . 6 1- 62).
1
A rown in Jo rdan .
82
. Kasbiin? A town in Persia, th ree days journey fro m l sfaban. Th ere is a lso a Kasan (Kaza n): "a big
at its gates flows the river Akhsika tb '' (ibid .• ll . 471-472). The city of Kiisiin (Kazan) is in Tra nsoxa nia, but
it is more likely that the city of Ka sh an is int ended here (E/ 1 , II, 786).
 46 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus
First Refutation
masters of the natural and exact scie 47
nces; they were the Pythagorean gene firm!~ held opinion of yours, 0 sons
the philosophers of Hermes. 83 The ration and of tbe buttocks 86 O filthy ones: nam
se were landmarks whose 'remains freezmg of the sky-in your opinion- ely the
erased and whose lights they extin your kings for seven hundred years lest the
guished through the aberration of o? of God should be erased for you, name of the
Constantine; the stupidity of the one your king or the belief that John, 87 the one caus
who sundered your religion, the son r~ to descend the one who came from ing the
the one who presided over the sect 84
of Helena, Ephesus with the Word and in orde
of the Tabiiniyya. w~ththe ajd of wr~lten lies. is today shro r to fiabt
uded in his church· what is that com
I gave it to the Christians making
i~ .
'.VJ.th
that mo~ent 10 pre-Islamic Arabia pa;ed
known publicly, without hiding any which was fresh of blood, soft skinned,
of its t0g forward with band and foot? point-
secrets,
And I did not know that even befor A penetrat ing hole probes a head
e wound
its coming you loved whips for their reaching the brajn to its inmost depth
s.
Therefore the matter in the anus
knots . of
the do ctor is the size of truffles .
This holds true for all but a migrato
ry group of yours from Persia who And you caused 10 be forgotten,
servants of those colleges and managed were the O Hamiin, 88
to learn a method of singing musical tha t about which you shouted and
called
and passed it on by imitation rather works out regarding the tomb of Chosroes
than by any understanding of its and
eulogizing the dead with these song finer sense. al-Nu'man.
s in your wakes, and rejojciog in them
Palm Sunday and Easter. So what is on your
the matter with you insofar as this 0 you who claim Suran 89 as the home
cerned, since you have not taken the affair is con- your grandfather, tell me: to whom
of
mote out of your eyes? If I should
have poetics but not music, arithmeti say that you belong Ahnii s90 and Fayiim ?91
c yet not geometry, then would I desc
people accurately and point out your ribe your The freeb?rn of~ersia are our equals
true worth. while our
enemies are our peers against whom
we contend m fightmg and crus
It is to you that people refer when
they hing one another. As the brother of
say: "The wretched outlaw strang wi)Islap you if I do not find whom to Luqmiin said: "I
le s slap." For neither the ancient, smo
with any rope ." prmcesnor the steadfast Bedouins are oth-skinned
related to the Byzantines or to the Slav 9
And as far as your idle chatter abou arrow humme.d which was none of s. 2 "An
t the Arabs in respect to Nii'ila and theirs. " 93 Furthermore, the leading
cerned, 0 incoherent one: well, the Isiif is con- the more prollfic peoples have mforme nations and
latter were two rocks that were stan d you that the Arabs marry neither
like al-Lat. The third of the two was ding upright Arabs nor then freedmen. For this reas the non-
Maniit. 85 The Arabs found them near on Parwiz 94 wished to impose his puni
looking like huge, humpbacked statu Zamzam shment
es and they established rites of circu
tion around them, thinking that thes
e idols would bring them close to God
Yet if the story is true and the tradition
mambula-
in degree.
I ~~~ts 3
a
rll the sons of female slave "so ns
an
of the buttocks.' ' obscene allusion (Lane , op. cit., IV,
clear-of their both turning an adm ::A~ orcling to tradition , the Apos
tle John was buried in Ephesus .
example into the committing of fool onishing Y1z~er?f Pharaoh (Koran ,iq:25).
ishness and assent in immorality and 19
God's holy sanctuary-it was only obscenity in ta !,ll~ probably. a m1sspelhn
a spurious addition to the admonis , 90 oas .1sa t_ownm Egypt .n_otg of Siidan or Siirlib . both or which are towns in Persia .
beginn.ing of a wor hip intended to enha hment and the Mary remamed m lh_e town unul far from Fusia t. According to one legend, Jesus was born there
nce the respect due to God's rites, a T·~G. J. Juynboll [l.e1den, 1852-1864 b.egrew up and went to Palestine (Yiiq and
that consisted in preparing the feast beginning ]. I, 105). iil, Lexicon Geogrophcum i ed
to celebrate the rite of circumcision. ' In Egypt. · ' ·
What is this u Al-khurs, '.'lhose who do ~ot
speak Arab ic correctly." sometimes
;\l ,And.,l1;1this rrustr
t~ S~ii.
~rs s term was apphed to 0e
general (R . Dozy , Supplement aux
Slavic Mamluks of al-I:!akam l , andanslatcd "the dumb ones " fn
eventually
Dicrionnoires Ara/Jes(2d ed.; Leiden came to desi · ate
8 ' HermesTrismegist~s.
a transforma
,;~Pr~verb applied to those who
boast about a tribal genealogy that
and Pari s, 19fn
[,
writing, of history. sclence. and magi tion of the Egyptian God Thol, worsh iped as the inventor ""~1 "0 , I. 129). is not rightfully theirs (al-Maidanf
Hellenistic thinkers. ~a'id of Toled c. Amon ¥ the Arabs he enjoyed tlle same prestige granted to him of ic~K.~u.sraw 11_.Sassan)i~~ emP«:ror
learned men of his time believed that (d. 1069) m his Tobaqiital-Umam [Beirut, 1912), p. 754) says that by
o 1
O o.n op. '!1.. p. 48 . . The king (590- 62.8) (cf. £/ • IV_.179).?Jle episode that follows is expla
'
Upper Egypt. This tradition of learn aH the sciences prior to the Flood the
derived from Hermes I v;ho lived in to replemsh their h.arem~._Lhey~sed of Persia were conn_o1sseutsm female beauty , and when they ined b. y
desired
whom the most learned was Hermes ing lasted in Egypt and was continued by the sages of Memph phySJcaland mo(al quijJ1t1eswhi~h to circulate an adverusement describing with e~treme articularit
writers. II has been published by .B 11. A book attributed to Hennes was held to beauthenlicbythelslam is, of as they supposed, could not furnish were to be sougl)t after ; but hitherto they had neglect~ Arabia. the
any woman possessed of these perfe wfuc
Palacios, "lbn Masarra y su escue
ardcnhewer under tbe title De casc
igationeanimae (Bonn. 1873)(M. iAsinc rr fhoached . th~ Cho sroes and said.: ctions. Zaid (lbn •Adi) therefore·h
la ," in Obra.sescogidas!'Madrid , Th e dcscnpuon . L~t me go to ~un . and ' I know that . uman has in his family a number
,...Possibly an allusion to the Moza
practices (R. Dozy . Spanish Islam rabic monastery 01Tabanos 1946 outs
1,I, 13n . I).
.~ Cbosroe~ c~mphed , 3!1d Za1d set send with me one of lby guardsmen of women answeciog
. trans. F . G . Stoke s (London, 1913 ide Cordova , noted for ascetic t m~dw\fthmd1gnat1on: Wb.aU .a.re out for l;lira.
who under
On learning the object of his missi stands A.rabic.'
al-Tabari(op. cir.. U. 840); ··constantin ).p . 284). As fo( Constantio on , u'man c~-
the first Roman king to become a.Chrise.EmperorofRome , who built thecir:yofConstantinoplea.n c, see a. auti u 1. woma':1 to a ~!le not tbe ga7.ell~ of Persia sufficient
for your needsT The comparison
es Al-Lat and Manat were Pagan tian. He died and his kingdom was divided among three of bis sons.
idols of p(e-lslamic Arabia.
d was- Y.js IS a comm
ill a~uam\ed :vtlh ~b,c , and asked onplace !n Arabi.an poetry, but the officer accompanying Zaid
the meanmg of the word ('Tllor mahd
conduct tn the Ka·ba and were there ii'll.a and Isaf were guilty of indel " p oyed. Co,".s, s~ud ZaJ~. ~en Parw
iz heard from his guardsman that ) wlticb. u'mii.n bad em-
fore turned into stones . Eventually lCn! : 1vs of.Pe~s,a con!ent h.1m
forgotten and people began to worsh , the Nu'mii.n b.ad said, 'Do not the
ip them (Hiui , op. cit., p. 99, ET'. origin of the stone figures ,va. ? he cou~d scarcely suppress his
rew him into ch ams . and caused hun rage. Soon
IV. 51). to be trampled 10 pieces by eleph afterwards he sent for 'u'miio
ants. •· ·
 48 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus
First Refutation 49
on them so he requested of Abu Qiibiis 95
that the latter give him one of his sisters i.n
ings of the Yemenites and Mu<.Iarites from among the sons of Qu Mariithid, 102 al-
marriage, for he. Parwiz, sought to gain mastery over the wives and harem of Abu
abbal]. Jagima the leper, 103 Abraha of the waymarks, 104 'Amr Qu al-AQ'iir, as well
Qiibiis. u'man was uodesirous of having Parw1z as a brother-in-law in spite of the
as Niishir al-Ni'am and al-Rii'ish, Salma l)ii Fii'ish, al-Had.had, Ibn 'Abbad, al-
greatness of Parwiz's rule , so he left the discussion with him in its preliminary stage
l;Iarith ibn Shaddad, al-Faiya<.i, al-I;>al)l)ak, al-Barra<.I, and al-1:Iaritl! ibn Mu<.ia<.I.
yet allowed him to have mastery over his tJibe because of the marriage request in
which he referred him to the black cows of Persia. Tbe justnes of his pride and the That is the noble place of martyrdom which
nobility of u'man 's ancestors were such that Pap.v.j"zshould neither have turned bis neither prominence nor any sword edge
sword against him nor have forgotten him nor have put aside his own majesty oor made safe for Chosroes, son of Chosroes.
have gloried in his own pride of ancestry , nor have turned to betray and deceive him, Parwiz existed only in order that true superiority might become manifestly clear
nor have htrned to the betrayal ofNu'man when be laid a snare to hunt him down . and excellence might become preponderant. It was also said: "Behold the great royal
A wolf of the waterless wastelands whose wile
banner of Parwiz," and at once we destroyed his edifice, descended upon his anvil,
was clad in armor encountered by chance alighted at his palace, and extinguished his fires.
a lion whose wile was openly visible.
Do I not see the like of men who rush
And what indicated Parw1.2's Lowness of origin and the insufficiency of his fiber was upon glory in such a way that each one
counts as a thousand \?,
bis unsound advice after u'man s death in attempting to take his plunder and the
products of his land and in rushing to eize bis money and family, so that the brigands And to God belong the battles that occurred at Kadisiya 105 and Yarmuk, 106 as well
and brave warriors of the Arabs their Shaiban , Mazin , and Aus , 96 protected the as some men who were averse to obedience, included among whom were your freed-
family from him and repulsed him from the very heart of his own kingdom to its bor- men, your father, and your father-in-law, 0 bitter colocynth of the desert, O slaves
ders and pursued him until the battle of l)ii Qar,97 after which they caused him to of slaves!
cease reigning over-z;arar. 98 . If you come from the choice part of the
Lo, we led our horses from Zafar, then we freedmen. then do nor divulge evil about
traveled on a distant journey with them. the choice part of the Arabs.

And by means of the horses we systematically By the time you came to us like the accumulations of the sands and the numbers of
plundered and looted the kingdom of Qubag 99 the ants, the Arabs ·had first become firmly established in their belief and had later
while Ibn Ufliig came to us in fetters.
boiled with rage, bearing rancor in their hearts, so that of the blood of the Persians
This, then, is your Parwiz-may he not make apparent your superiority-whose there was that through which the Arabs waded, while of the Persians' fire there was
mention you have shamelessly made public, and the reasons for whose conduct you that that was kindled even whert they called out to one another: "O skilled horsemen,
have justified. It is he who subdued your fertile lands and trod underfoot your places get ready!" and we answered: "O horsemen of God, ride off!"
of shelter, while his heirs bequeathed to us your neighborhoods in the towns and
With a blow such that the heart throbs
made you descend from the elevated grounds, removing you to the furthest borders. from it, while the hearts blood of the un-
Because of him it was revealed concerning you: "Alif, lam, mi'm: the Byzantine Em, rivaled hero is reduced to nothing,
pire has been defeated," 100 while we took blood revenge for our maternal uncle_ We divided them, so that one half is in
from you and by means of our protection we repelled those who had destroyed them. the highest places while the other is in
We summoned one after another to assemble, the company of Mu<.Iar al-1:Iamra' a hot-fueled hellfire.
and their Nizar. 101 0 for the lofty aspirn,tions of the Himyarites and the tribal group-

95
The kunyaor nickname ofNu'man III, son of Mungir IV. Nu'man was the lastLakhmid king ofHira 102
(r. 580-602 or 585-601) (Nicholson, op. cit., p . 45). Yemcaite k.ing.
0
96
Names of Arab mbes . ' ,The Azdite vassal of Ardashir the founder ofr.heSassanian dynast y.
As an Arab vassal in Iraq he bas
97
I;)(i Qar is a su:eam between Wiisit ruid Kufa. The famous battle fought there took place become
10
the hero of many fables (Nicholson. op. ell., pp . 34-35).
between~· ' A nickname of the Abyssinian general Abraha. who. according to tradition
Arab tribe of Bakr ibn Wa'il and LhePersians. According to tradition Mubammad is related to have was the first to establish
'Th e day {of !;?iiQii.r]was the first day the Ar.tbs hnd woo their rights from the Pel'.Siansand throughsaid.
me
waym~rks on the roads of Arabia (Kazimirski , op. cit., ll , 1366, col. I). His son was 'Amr Dii al-Ad'ar
,
thcv have been victo1ious .. (E / 1, l. 961). and hrs father was al-Rii'ish (al-Tabari op. cit_, l, 442). Al-f:iarilh ibn Mu(la,;I al-Jurhumi was a pre-
"Zafar was the Hirnyarite capictl of South Arabia aad it was under Persian rule from A.O. 570. T11e las! Islamic hero (ibid.. II, 675).
10
Persian gover nor became a convert to I slam (£ / 1 , JV, 118$-1186). • ot fl\r from Hira. In 637 there took place at Kadisiya the baule la which, the Persian s we.re defealed
99
Quba\l II (628) succeeded the Sassaman Parwiz (£1 1• rv. 178). and ihe fertile lowlands of Iraq (ell_to !he Arabs. The day is said to have been extremely hot , and a wind-
10
°Koran 30: 1- 2. 1,,lown
106
dust darkened the sky (Httl.l. op. cit .. pp. 155-157},
101
North Arabian tribes. The valley ofYarmuk, the eastern tributary of the Jotdan. There. in A.D. 636, the Arabs defeated the
Byzantines and won from them the province of Syria (ibid.• p. 152).
50 The Shu'iibiyya in Al-Andalus First Refutation 51
7 bright
your . You claim that the non-Arabs derive from a proud, forbearing, haughty,
Thus neither your Aniishirwan nor_your Qubag nor your Yazdagird ,1° nor 109 nor
108 nor your e
. storius, origin. You say they come from
Shahrayar , nor your Shabbiir nor your K.hurragag lmeage. Actually they come fro1? a filthy and vile
111
nor your Arius 112 was of any avail to you tongues. Yes, indeed , from stammere rs who have
your Jacobus uo nor your Anastasius , among the brave speakers of foreign
nt You call them forbearin g , but they are forbearin g only with
in those battlefields. a speech impedime
Their burrows became for them as tombs for those _w:
0 have at~amed the age of virility. You
1 m the moments
say they
of
are
evening
perspicac ious,
conversat ion
long
and
which the provisions of tombs were enough . sufferm.,,. They are mdeed persp1cac 10us
of the moon , in creeping through a thicket and a covert of trees , long
? durmg the ~ettmg
Are these the princes you mentioned who ride on horses as if they were elephants suffermg with regard to foul odors and filth, to the diffusion of the pungent
smell of
take shelter in
On the contrary, they are insane men gross and vile, when horsemen hands d1rtied by meats, and of the edges of members and of the protrusio n of navels
the rear rank of the fighters . And in order n.ot to ask you O 'Umm 'Amir about
your d." 114 You say they are smooth
that "throw ab_outsparks [huge] as bundles offirewoo
reverence for the Cross and about the running in pursuit of you of horses that have well o
of repeating a run, s~mned. This 1s true , by your father, and they are flabby and effeminate as
and strength as well as those that have the power O foul one, while,we
reached full age w1ttol,and}eek ofth~ _fou'.waterskin. You are famous for this,
what stallions then did yow· ancestors possess , or what horses assembled for a race have said: This trad1t1on 1susually addressed to you and your ilk. "11 s
ever
did you perceive to belong to youi: princes and followers? When did your lords
any mark or brand of theirs? Perchanc e such She. the wild cow, causes her ears to listen
know any name of theirs or speak about
or your to the barking of dog s, with
stallions advanced from your regions along with other outstrippiilg hor es, the listening of the man seeking information,
troops of horses were related to the family of aJ:Wajih, or A 'waj, or Lal;iiq ; or per- to the man giving assent to that which
engaged in competiti on with them or Qurzul , al- was asked of him .
haps al-Qa'id and al-Sakb were
, al-Baµn, Zad al-R akb, or Dfil)is and al-Gabri' , or al-Hanfa' and al- we
Yab.mum
in t)le . You proudly trail your robes, yet you drag them over dung and urine, whereas
Shaqra'?1 13 Or is there among your coarse jades any horse like tbe foremost young lion cubs to be
runs after another run and the fourth in the impe! the upp~r parts of our spears to a height and teach our
race the second tbe sixth the one that cunnmg m the1r use of the feather of the baby ostrich.
race?
They, the days of victory , have left the
From them derive stories when people desire
sons of the blond al-A~far pale of face
evening conversation , while sustenance derives
as their name and brightened the faces
from them when people alight in barren of the Ara bs. 116
land s.
Arabs
sed A moment ag_o,0 hyena, 0 coolth in a hot summer month , you described the
To you belong the hackney of mixed breed, the ninth in the race, the camus-no addicted to the drinking of wine and as acquiring singing girls; whereas
one. ~s strongly
tenth horse and the broken-nosed last , and
ow you vaunt yourself agamst them claimmg to possess wine, fine white bread
The Byzantine generals weep over their to us of the animal gored to death and of the one not
roast kid. Why do you not boast
loss in the darkness, whereas among us slaughter ed, of the eating of carrion after it has become bloated? As for roast
le_gally
they are rejected , unsaleable. to us as
kids, lambs, and large heaping bowls, after the slaughter their flesh belongs
, jerky , and the flesh cooked in a pot and served' up
does_the fat of the camel's h~mp
101
Persian emperors: Anushirwan (531-579); 1 Qubag 11(A.D., 628); Yazdagird III
(632- 651) who was the hastily as well as that which 1s roasted on the spit.
last Sassanian monarch to. rule over Per sia (£ / , IV. 178).
or Khurraziid was a
108
Persian monarchs : For Sbahrayar . see al-Tabari. op. cit., V, 2563. Khurragag To us belong the large bowls gleamino white
son of Chosroes II (ibid., II, .1065- 1066). glistening in the latter part of the fore~oon, '
109 Founder of the Nestorian sect.
natures in the person while our swords drip blood from a
110
Jacobu s Baradae .us of Edessa. who assened the unity of the divine and human of the Monophy si~ battle.
branch
of Christ was a missioaary who gave his name lQ the Syrian Jacobite sect a
church (Baynes and Moss . op. cit.. p. !OJ). it was
' ' 'Possib ly Anastasius Sinaita, a Oiphysite Greek ecclesiast ical writer born
at Ale,.andria in the fir,t
of the Monophysi1cs. Moni>- And as for singing girls, the acquisition of them and our addiction to wine
halfof tbesevcnth <;entury. He died after A.D. 700 and was an active opponent and tbe work becamea we who chose the pure, unmixed wines, tasting the choicest and best of them '. It was
thcli1es, and Jews. He wro te the Hod egos (Guidi,) against the attacks of heresy. and to offer the sharpness
popular manual of controversy among the medieval Greeks . we w~o first began to describe them in the pre-Islam ic age
There was also a Monophysiie abbot Anastasius of the monastery of Ca1ho/ic St. Euthymius in Palesun;, you
a1tacked by John Damasccne in his leuer '' Concerning lhe Trisagion" (The
£11cyclopaedill [Ne11 of their sweet odor and fragrant smell to the gusts of the breeze , whereas from
York , 1912), 1, 454 ; Vlll , 460).
112 0 . A .D . 336. He was the founder of the Arian heresy that held that Christ tbc Son was no! con·
ea (325) (Baynes and Mo
substantial with God the Father . His heresy was officially condemned at Nica. 114
Koran 77: 32.
op. cit., p. 4). all preserved in Ibn al-
113
The names and pedigree s of these famous pre-Islamic Arabian steeds are : '.?roverb (al-M~idiini , J.!a}ma', I, 31).
Kalbi , Kiliib Ansab a/-Khail, ed. Ahmad Zaki Pasha (Cairo, 1946). A verse by Abu Tammam , trans. Arberry , Arabic Poetry , pp. 62- 63.
52 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us First Refutation 53

came the planter of their vine stocks as well as their grafter , the trimmer of their bark ment of odes with amat ory language was ackno wledge<!to be theirs . To them were
and vine, the harrower of their valley bottom , and their presser. On the other ha°:d, bequeath ed sleeplessness and to1ment and lo them belonged "the wild calves in the
from among us came the first to broach them and the first to breakfast on them, the garb of Bedouins" ;
122
they became famous for love and heartbreak and were re-
one who handed them round during the conversation of the riders and the one who nowned for being consumed with passion al the time of separation and absence ; they
was addicted to them. You tread on them with your feet for us ; you mix them with stood firm before death by reason of their nobil ity, yet they bumbled themselves be-
water before the arrival of the appointed time when they should be drunk . Further- ~ore love. It was they who urged. on singing cam vans accompanied by the shrill moan-
118
more you procure them from Juwiithii 117 and Ra-ss and you transport them from ing and groaning of camel , while they also compared the clouds to the eyes of'U rwa
Qutrubull 119
and Bait Ra's , 120
supplying your daughters with them ~ teak_c~ps . - 123 Th ey wept over abandoned encampments and bewailed ruins and
.b H. rzam.
1 n
along with brocade shifts given as dowries, and they sip them eagerly with their lips traces of forsaken dwellings because of the sincerity of their love bonds. They pro-
next to the glass. By reason of this they desired the wines eagerly despite their hatred tected sacred things and kept their hands away from the honor of their client.
for mixed wines and claimed from our heads the blood revenge for the wine, which A people who when tney wage war , tighten
was owed to the feet of the non-Arabs. Thus the milking is ours, whereas the procuring their waist wrappers in front of women
is yours; the wages come from us whereas the trade goes to you, and from the wares of even though the latter should spend the
oppression come the price of the marriage and wedlock as well as the payment of the night in the days of their stat e of pureness
dowry. from menstrual discharge.

Women seeking to ride behind, on the l5acks
of horses that outstrip others because of their
swiftness, the posteriors of which are
crushed down by the weight of posterior s.
It was no loss that the Arabs were dazzled by ladies wearing earrings, confused by
women whose eyelids were thickly lashed, delicate of nose, or that they were dis-
traught by love because of the playing on instruments of the singing girls and from
drinking of "the bright figured bowl." 121
And when they had drunk the wine and
become tipsy from it, they made a gracious
gift of every fleet courser and full-
blooded horse .
Then they would depart in the evening while
the exhalation of musk was upon them ,
causing the fringes of their waist wrappers
to reach the ground .
The elegiac love prelude in poetry as well as the embellishment of the commence-
111
A fortress belongini; to the . North Ara_bian tribe C?f ' Abd al-Qais in_B~hrein. Pfrs ian seni ers :!iv:d
among the Arab populat ion dun ng the penod of Persia n rule under Shap ur n (E/ . I. 45- 46 , Yaqut,
le .ticon Geogrop!tic11m , 1, 269).
11aA pro~ near Mecca (E/ 1 , tit , 1126). . . . . . •·
· 11 9 A, place m Iraq whence com es·a famou s wme called ol-qu1ndJ11/hyy o (Kazim 1rsk1, op. c11., II, 761,
col. !).
120
A village in Tr:msj ord an famous for its fine wine (E/2, I, 1149).
121
An allusion to a verse in lhe M u'allaqa of 'Anl a ra (trans. Arberry, The Seven Odes, p. 181):
rt may also be mentio ned how often I have drun k
good wine. after lhe noon's sweltering calm,
fro m o brig/rt fif:llred [bowl].
This verse can also be inte1preted as it was by Lane (op . cit., IV, 1619, Col. 3) :
An d verily l have drun k wine, an cr Lhal the
vebemem noo nd ay-heats of summ er had
remitted. purchased wlrh the polished,
charactered [dinar ].
They were wont to give sati'sfaction for the excellence of any favor granted to them
by means of the excellence of the evening and presiesta draught; they renounced the
suckling of the milk of the pregnant mother and recognized no other than the sum-
moning voice and the urging on of horses.
Their personal merit and illustrious birth
illuminated the Stygian blackness of the
night for them, to such a point that the
piercer of the pearls of merit and birth
was able to string them into a necklace to
display their beauty .
The activities_wh~reby they deri~e advantage are traveling and begetting boys
wbo become ch1eftams, as well as dispensing generous gifts from the palms of men
brave as lions.
And th e lion , in wha tsoever land he halt s,
that land is a covert for him .
They turned up their noses in scorn at measuring land and at agriculture though
they were wont to take booty for the purpose of filling the hand. They ruled the land
as sovereigns without being subjected to its servitude. They chose elevated plains, yet
, ·'"!.~...girls beautiful as wild calves dressed up as Bedouin women." From a verse by Mutanabbi (op.
m., p. 633.J . I) :
· Who_are these wild calves in lhe garb of Bedouins
wean ng ornaments of red gold ; riding on
reddish Cllmels and dre ssed in red rob es?
~~ is a r<?yalco;>l~r. so this imp lies th.ii these women ar e of noble lineage.
Urwa 1bn 1;!1zamwas a pre- Islamic 'Ugrite poet . He wepl over an aban doned encampm ent ~o that
he becameproverbial for the violence of his lovesickness (ibid., p. 590. I. 3) :
.!t is as if every cloud that passes over [the
aban do i;iedencampment] weeps wilh the eyes of
'Ur wa ibn l:lizam.
Fo)r his poetry, see T . No eldecke and A. Mu eller, De/ecrus Veterum Carminum A rabicorum (Wiesbaden '
I 961 . pp . 8- 9.
54 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us First Refutation 55
29
these did not exhaust their strength; their dwelling places are of the sort inhabited by aunt.' J from your defilement and from the foul stench of your breath , granting iL
the upper rank, while their portion of the celestial sphere is the upper end of the Milky to the Arabs as a light meal for whoever among them was fasting an enrree offered by
Way. Instead of the employments of the town and physical labor they were occupied the host o his guest . a nouri hroent offered to a guest returning from his travels, the
by urging on she-camels of Shadan 124 to a swift trot, and by exhausting she-camel fruit of their winter and summer. a present for pleasing the aged, a morsel for sooth-
fat as towering castles, while seeking illustriousness and journeying through the way- ing the young , and the confinemen food of Mary , daughter of 'lmran a food that
less deserts of the land in search of plunder. Their selflessness m~de them accept the came from the fixed palm tre es growing in shaJlow water, firmly rooted in the mire
fit of madness or the first shivers of a fever, while encountering their homes made which nourished her in the wilderness.
them accept the risings of the sun. They were contented with eating pieces of entrails
Lordly ones, their offspring in their shade,
and filling themselves with the tail fat of lizards instead of applying themselves to the while the lofty palm trees and those out
contents of cooking pots or baring themselves to the heat of a circular earthen oven. of reach of the hand were submerged in the water.

To a round cake of bread the surface of which Th.erefore. what was the doing of your noble ~ople in comparison with that of the
a Nabatean woman exposes to the fire in burners of dung and manure when the latter reassured the disquieted and frightened
her circular earthen oven until shards of its
crust fly off.
the lions ofK.haffan 130 while their lire destroyed the ga<Jan
and qra,,ui trees?
125
As for the baha_1! and your fish, the They pitched their leathern tents in the
much diseased are not derived from them, road's beaten path, drawing lots with one
anolher to win the honor of entertaining
And the eggs of lizards are the food of · the guests.
the little Arabs; 12 6 but the souls of the
non-Arabs do not desire them. Afterward there remained only the dung and tb.e manure , the pole in the hinder
The Arabs devote their characters to the service of what is pure and essential, pre- part of a leathern tent or a house of hair , which had become empty so that they all
serving thereby a niggardliness with regard to the self along with their poverty. They vanished , having once been raised up and lofty.
were not like the entrenched gluttons, the eaters of mussels, the protectors of their Here, if they are asked the loan of
eating bowls, and diggers of underground excavations in which to light their fires, money, they lend it.
foundations that they dug for entrenchment and not for embellishment and the Dung burned as fuel serves t.owarm them in place of thick garments, while an inner
buildings of which they caused to rise over the mud for the purpose of concealment woolen robe serves them as a set of clothes and helmets serve them as amulets. Coats
and not for inhabiting the land. 127 Yet power did not avail them against being be· of mail serve them as doth cloaks, as siJk brocade, and as the gold-embroidered gar-
sieged nor did the arch of the bridge between them and the enemy avail them against ment of every fully dressed man.
captivity. 128 The crows of Arabs precluded them from enjoying a position of emi-
nence; they precluded them from protecting themselves with defenses and from en- With the tawny spear closer to his skin than the clothing.

joying a position of safety in the pyramids. One who had a client among the Arabs never ate what he desired to keep for him-
And because of this they were wont not self, nor did he appropriate food for himself to the exclusion of the man who alighted
to stir up war save when they knew and halted at his abode. When he hungered, he recited to the mistress of his abode :
the place of escape. "O daughter of Malik and daughter of 'Abd Allah":
As for the palm shoots and palm branches, God honored the former by debarrin g When you make food, seek for it an eating
you from planting or guarding them, and he cleansed the palm, "our paternal companion, for I shalr certainly not
eat it by myself. 132

It is this that constitutes generous glory, worthy boasting, and freeborn lineage,
"'A place in Yemen famous for its she-camels (Lane , op. ci1.,IV, 1521, co l. I ), . . . •
'"Ri ce cooked with milk and butter. This is an Indian loanword that entered Arabic VIa Pernan 9
(Nawiidir.p. 284 n. I). " ,'.'tcording io one tradition 1heArabs were exhorted to honor "t heir paternal aunt the ps.lm tree" be-
126 Thc diminutive form is use<lto imply honor or respect (Lan·e. op ci1•• V 1993, col. l).
<ll ~~ 11wascreated of _lhc :cdundant portion of the earth , or clay. of Adam (Lane, op. cit.. V. 2 149. col. I).
'n A reference Lothe creat wall and ditch Lbal the Sassa:nians built in the Taff, the steppe regi_on ris!ng III. ~,_Place abounding m hons . n~r Kufa and ,beyond Kadisi}e,1on the pilgrim trail (Yaqui. op. ci1..
above the Babylonian ~ILivatco .country which grad~ally merges i;110 the high pla(cau of [he Arab1Rn 45
I
desert. Thiswall and ditch was built to protect lheemp1re from the ra,ids of the Arab ~bes (EI , II, 612). IJ Tbegadon 1sn shTI.Jb of_thcgenus Euphorbu, and po sse:sses-a,vcry hard wood ; consequently it produces
ll 1 This incident oft.he conquest of Babylonia bas become famous m the Arab tradition, and 1sknown a,
yaumal-j(sr, '"the day _of the fighl !II Lhebrid~ ." "l n the. year A.H. 13 A bii 'Ub_ai~.al-1ibaqafrwas defeau:a
l~r:
hardc118;rco!l-l.
rP' It burns easily (lA!.ne, op. cit.. VI, 2269 , col. I). Theafo11isa speoiesof plant oft.beSolanum
which IS yellow an~ ~ed (La~~ op. cir .• IV. 2452. col. l ; Kazimirsk i. op. cit .. 11, 640. col. I).
and slSJn10 bauleaga10st the Perstan sa ta bndge across the Euphrates, near H1ra (EI , I, 1050).Although From a pix,m by ~atim al-Ta 1. It expre~ses the sacred Arab ideal of hospitality 1oward the guest
Lhcbattle was a disaster (or the Arabs, at Kadisiya they earned their revenge. (Nicholson , op. cit., p. 871.
56 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
and not that which 'you falsely imagine - may God cover you and your father with
shame, and may He salute the foster father who has brought you up! It is a boast
from among the boasts of our skin-slitting past. You have lost sight of reality, so
now: awake! "He whose father's member is a long one may wear it as a belt." 133
Do you execrate the pure substance of
the Arabs, whereas not even a pure
freedman execrat es them?
Therefore, you have no means of evading
them that can help you; nay ,
you will die and find rest.
Do you not observe in these Arabs, after the kings of the genuine Arabs and the
rising and setting stars ofThamiid, 'Ad, Tasm, Jadis, Wabar, and Umaiyim, 134 that
which will speak out against you 135 and quench with the water of reproval the flame
of your friendship toward certain remnants of the naturalized Arabs who followed
their opponents the genuine Arabs, and derived courage and generosity from the
latter 's worth as though they had sucked their camel udders? Even though these
naturalized Arabs were a part of your multitude, like the piece of dung in the desert
or the white hair in the black lock, they brought your offspring down from on high,
marking your breasts with the trace of the spear of Khatt rather than with that of
the writing reed, being wearied of the delay of death and so rushing upon you with
hearts of lions in the breasts of men. Their pens are well-straightened spears of
Rudaina 136 and of Yazan ,137 while their pages are Mashrifite 138 and Suraijite 139
sword blades. Their wives are pure Davidian women, while those who share their
beds are ladies of illustrious lineage, noble, prolific.
When they rode out on horseback and
put on breastplates, the land became
scorched though the day was cold.
It was by means of their rhymes, not their narrations, by their knowledge , not their
IJJ Th is ls an obscene version of the Arabic proverb : "He who has a garment with a long train may wear
the latter as a belt" (Ku imirsk~ op. cit., 11 1286. col. I ; al-MaidanI. Majnui' , II , 170). .It means : " He who
has many brothers may glory in them."
' l4Legendary peoples said to have beenrhe-earliest Arabs , from whom all others sprang. They were des-
cendants of Ya'rub 1bn Qal}!Jin. To these " genu ine" Arabs were oppo sed the " naturalized'" Ara~ ,yho
descended from the Jewish Isnmael (whose wife descended from Ya'rub ). The early Arabs spoke oa gmal
Arabic . whereas the lsbmaelite s spoke the language of their forefather and only later adop ted Arab le
(Nicholson. op. cit., pp. 1-4 ; Lane , op. ci1., V, 1993. col. 2). . . . .
135 Lit., "1:h at which will hit your rock" (1afo) . Fi$t]rarively this idiom means " that which w11l1mpugi,
your character; speak out againsl you, ·• but accordmg to Luis Ma' luf (al-Mwrjid : Mlljam Ii-I Luga1af.
·Arabiyya [Beirut. 1954), p. 442, col. 2), "$afo (rock) is the n_ame of Peter the leade~ of the Apostles .' ' Thcr~;
fore Lbi phrasecould be ta.ken equa.lly to mean ·' that whlch wtll beat (or vanquish ) your Apostle Peter .
Given the anti-Christian cha.racter of the risiila, this double meaning is entirel y possible .
136 Ruda.ina was
a woman of Samhar, who were dwellers in Babrein . She becamefamous for her work
of straightening spear s (Kazimirski.. ap. cit., I, 849, col. 2).
13 ' A wadi
in Yemen (Yiiq_ii t, op. cit., VU1, 506).
138 Possibly in relation to a!-Masbarif . .
, certain towos or villages near Hauran , or perhaps in relauon to a
personage named Mashraf , reputed io have been a blacksmith who made fine swords (Lane. op. cit., JV.
p. 1539, col. I).
139 So called
possibly because of a blacksmith named Suraij who fashjoned them. or because they bad
much water andglistening wavy marks (sarraja " to decorate, adorn, embellish a thing ") (ibid., IV. 1344.
col. I) .
First Refutation 57
fitsof passion that the Arabs established the origin of the tribes , traced back lineages,
and pronounced names. They divided the sky into the sections of the sign of the
Zodiac, described the fixed stars , and gave inform.ationabout the shooting stars. They
shooed birds away so that these would pass by o;ri the right or on the left drawing
auguries from the direction of their flight, and they started game from its den and
trained animals for the chase. It was they who dug the channel of Mibran , 140 built the
castle of Gwndan 141 urged singing caravans to the palm groves of Waddan, 142 so
they traveled (o the ends of the earth gathered ripe dates, filled milk skins, dis-
tinguished the brown spotting pn ripening dates from the spotting on their stalks and
from the final bearing of .the fully ripe dates , while they monopolized wisdom · and
rhetoric.
It was among them that the chapters of the
glorious Koran were sent down in revelation ,
while it is for them that the charms of
poetry are created.
It would have been satisfactory , 0 mistress of the two skins ofbutter, 143 0 barking
clamor of two tribes had you cut off your lips after certain of your arguments and
most of your demands , because of your unchaste tavern Arabic , and had you trans-
pierced your flanks for having quoted the poetry of Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma•arn for you
established your defisieocy in it by means of weak letters when there was desired of
you, 0 vile one above the object of your desire, what wa less than paltry. Yet you
remained in arrears owning to your sluggishness and obscurity and made it pennis-
sible to attack you and revile your messenger. Theo you complained of the misery of
your co,ndition and revealed the weakness of your prose through the forgery of your
plagiarism . Therefore Jet the Arabs be your share and your lot, 0 sharp-tongued one,
and a means of leading you toward understanding-may
you have no father !-of
clarifying your genealogy , and of assigning parts to your education by chastizing you.
Slaves, when you abase them , improve with
abas ement , wherea s if you honor them they
become corrupt.
Perhaps-may you not rise again !-inability disgraced you or the death herald
appeared before you early in the morning, so that you repe.nted despite the hasty error
of your defection and the slips of your tongue a wakened from the drowsy nap of one
who sleeps or pretends to sleep and said : ' Wbo can heal the gashes made by these
razors'? ' while all. the time you were using the bonds of captivity as an excuse to avoid
fulfilling the compact you bad made , and using your declaration and public announce-
ment as an excuse to hide your unbelief and stubbornness, as an excuse to avoid the
1 0
• The
nam e given by Muslim writers Lo the Indus river .
141
A Himyarite castle in Yemen (Riui,
1 2
op. cit., p. 57).
• Between Mecca and Medina
143
(Yaqui,op. cit., vrn. 405).
"A woman of the tribe of Taim-Alllih : she used to sell clarified butter , in the Time of Ignorance· and
Kbuwwiit lbn Jubair al-~iiri came to her , demanding to buy clarified bulier of her, aod saw no one with
her, and he ba rgained with her : so she untied a skfo, and he looked at it: then he said to her , 'Hold thou it
until t look a.t anothe .r ' : and she said, 'Untie thou another skin-': a nd he did so, and looked at it, and said ,
·1desire other than this ; therefore bold thou it ': and sbedid so : and when her hands were thus occupied , he
assaulted her , and sbe was unable to repel him " (Lane, op. cit ., IV , 1567, col. 3). Hence the proverb "More
busy than she who was the owner of the two skins of butter·· (al-Maidiini, Majma' , I, 255).
58 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
First Refutation 59
determination shown by the Hashimites in cleansing themselves of the propaganda of So, 0, to Al-Radi: 150 and his sons
Abu 'Ubaid al-Mukhtar, 144 and as an excuse to avoid acknowledging our lord and as well as to hi~ whose mother w;s
prophet MuJ;!ammad, the chosen. born ofHiijar,151
"When the tents were in ])ii Tulii.]J."145 or when we joined our blood kindred in And to the Arabs, the ancestors of
Shem son of Noah, "the garment of the suspected appeared for you" in the matter the firebrand of the earth, 152 grandees
of your wronging Japheth and striving to claim him as an ancestor, despite the con- appointed to be heirs by a grandee,
trary evidence of the physiognomist and the sorcerer who blows on knots. Other- Qu~aiy 153 and its different branches were
wise, which race brings you to our embrace, or what blessing did Mul;lammad-may conjointed, as well as Nasr and its
God bless and save him-attribute to you in particular or in general? You have not 'Amir al-Jiidir. 154 ·

been sufficiently oppressed by those who oppressed you nor have you been suffi- In the possession of the slave of a slave
ciently blamed by those who have found you blameworthy, who poisoned and con- brother of adultery, one who cannot '
be a father, there is a heretic non-
fused you, who killed your father and took you and your mother captive. Your believer
paternal cousin is al-Tagii.t,146 while your lord is al-Brahman 147 and al-Barahii.t.148
How widely different are the stars coming by night and the sun and moon dis- Who is putting Denia in a state of
commotion while revering Mecca,
tinguishing day from night from the Jarmaqs, 149 the group of freedmen of freedmen, which a slayer of men
filthy, vile, foul of moustache, neither washed nor cleansed nor purified from the once afflicted,
defilement of women undergoing the days of menstrual discharge, nor sweet smelling.
Mecca's pure one contained in the earth
They are a people such that if any culprit ofTaiba (Medina), being the
commits a crime against their people, they Prophet of the message, fair
stick to safety out of the baseness of their as the bright moon.
honor, lest they be killed in retaliation. Notorious events have banished me from
Hashim 155 while from al-Yemen
Hiijar, the mother of Ishmael, the sacrificial
'Amr or 'Amir 156 has banished me.
victim, had none to help the people of Mecca
save one single helper. And my eyelids have poured
into the cup of sleep when their
I speak in the evening conversation about Nejd rainlike tears poured out.
for who will speak in the evening conversation
on the subject at all, be it with sincerity or Indeed, unless I wage a holy war
without it? against him, he, the brandisher of
his weapon, will not aim at
Otherwise, then, where is the pasture of me the spear of Khatt hidden
Ya'rub, prohibited places that 'Abar in the written pages.
does not guard against encroachment? 0 slave of a slave, have you no
shame while you have none to
restrain you within the bounds of
prudence?
, ....AJ.Mukhlir ibn Abi'Ubai d al-Tha qafi, was a Shi'i te agitat or who gained control of Kufa in A.D. It is to your own freedmen that
685- 686. He op p<Jsed the Umaiyads .and favored . the mawali who came to form bis teal &uppo ri in Kufa. you have caused a loss in their
!:lewas slain a year later. however, and Isch.iefly remembered for his contribution 10 the doctrine of the Shi'a
whose ideology he helped to transfer from a poli tical to a religious sp'here (E/ 1, m, 715-7 17). condition. You will surely learn-
1"' 5 .From a verseby Jarir (d. 728-729). !;;>ii
Tuliih was a wild p lace ·n the territory of the Banii Yarbu' be· woe to you-who will be the
tween Kufa and Faid (l)iwail [Beiru t, 1964], p. 416; Yaqiit, Mi/Jam , VI, 56). loser.
146A devil fro m among the Jinn , or a pre -Islamic idol. The word is ap plied to rebellious leaders of Jews
or Christians (Lan 'e, op. cir., V. 1857, cols. 'l- 2).
•• • According to Mus lim historiograp hy lhe Indian Brabmi ns descend from Brahman , a pries t-king ·and
scholar who established their re.ligion, laid down a theory of as tronomical cycles (the life of the world lastS 150
Al -Radi: 'Abd al-Mu'min, the Almohad (A.D. 1!28-1!63) who was the disciple and successor oflbn
12.000times 36,000 years). inve nted figures. and calculated the procession of the equinoxes (£ / 1 1, 653. Tii1mart.
~ -nBarahii t is the name of a valley in Hadramaut.
8
.
in whi ch there is a well exhaling a sulphu rous stench.
:;~ Le., lbn Tiimart, Mahdi of the Almohads (ca. 1078-co. 1130).
Le.• the Prophet_
::!
"
1
According to po pular belief, the souls of u nbelievers predes tine d to hell await tbere afte r death (EJ , I, 653, Ancestor of th~ tri~ of Quraish . a ·orth Arabian tribe(£/ 1 • II 1158).
col. 2).
155A South Arabian tn.be (E/ , J, 32S).
1 '
149A people of the plains of Upper Mesopotamia, akin to the Nabateans (H. G. Farmer, A History of
Arabian Music to the XII!th. Century [London, 1929], p. 6). 156The bran~b of Qura,sh to which the Prophet belonged.
Pre-lslam1c heroes ,
 First Refutation 61
60 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus
Girls who were hurried away from the wearing
And even if you should escape from of anklets (a long time having elapsed since
me by having the skin of your they were betrayed) lest they walk without
head pulled off, like the hyena baring the speed.
skin from its teeth as it takes flight,
Even then , there will be left in your ribs . By this u:nle~teredProphet, the Arabian lord , we surpass all mankind in glory, we
not one single drop of semen, even n_valt~e ra1~s m ~enerosity, and we are equal to the sun and moon. May God bless
though stallion sperm is a secretion him, his family, ':"'ives, m_arri.agerelatives, his companions and helpers , his partisans,
that flows hither and thither copiously.~ ·• and those who died trusting lil his friendship, in return for their rallying cries, for the
bl?od shed in the holy cause, and for the performance of the talbiyyal6 in the pil-
2

Were you not anxious , 0 you who have lived too long,
157
0 eater of decayed left-
158
to rectify the errors of your gn_mage.!"fa~ the_peace~n~ approval of God be upon his pure offspring and upon the
overs who does not revere. the light of the moon ~el! of his victonous religion, the Imam, the Mahdi , Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad
speech and to be freed from this bondage? By no means will this occur even though 1 6 4 and ofM. ubam-
ibn 'Abd Allah, the descendant ofQuraish ' of'Ali ' 163 of Fatima
you should display your measure, erase your written scroll mend your ways, take off d 165
and
·
noble
' ·
station in the tribe
ma , and upon the successor to his high command
your crosses. and zun11ii.r159 let your beard grow regrow the hair on the back of your ofQuraish; our lord the Imam al-Ra<;li,the Arabian , the Mu<;larite,the Qaisite, Abu
bead, say: "Trus is in your favor band over the whole of the prize t o the Arab s, and Mul).ammad 'Abd al-Mu'min ibn 'Ali. Invocations go to the keepers of his prophetic
grant superiority to the nab' over the garab. Let it suffice you that from among the
160
secret and t~ th~ successors to his spiritual and temporal power. May God also pro-
Arabs came the lions of God , the hounds of God , and the swords of God ; they possess long the maJestic presence of our lord , the prince of the faithful our lord the Imam
the holy sanctuary of God while from among them come the Prophet of God , his des- A?u 'Abd Allah al-Ra<;lithe pious youth,
166
the assistant to the' religion of God the
cendants. the elect of God , the Imams of the message that leads to the true faith and High, by means of a continued increase of hidden assistance and a long life span . May
the complement of courage and generosity; _the be t of those who wore sandals and God also lengthen the lives of the remainder of the family who follow the right path
cloaks; men who selflessly preferred the son of our paternal uncle out of sincerity and of the very noble princes , a.nd of the Almohad crown; and may he be contented with
who preferred our leader, guide, and lord for bis truth he being the lord of mankind and save ~11of them as well as the angels surrounding the divine throne, to the num-
and seal of the prophets according to the nonabrogated scrip tures; the intercessor for ber o: dnzzle and. sprinkling ~ain, fine rain, and superfine rain , "as long as Mount
this nation and its leader toward the seventh heaven to cause it to dwell among the Thabir shall remam firI?ly m its place,
167
a moonless night shall be intensely dark,
best people· the mediator of Judgment Da y and the Imam of the inhabitants of heaven and the two moonless mghts of the month allow the holding of conversation in them.
and earth; the topmost brick in the edifice of nobility insofar as personal merits are
0 you who dig your own tomb with your own
concerned; the one who spoke in his own tongue; the summoner of the dwellers in
hands; those who moved back and forth
Paradise and U1eherald of Doomsday · the last of the prophets who pick out the good have caused your sectarians to be mentioned.
from the refuse; the piercing, dauntless warrior ; the conquering, outstripping horse
ofLu'aiy ibn Giilib; 161
he by whom Do not urge on as rapidly as you can the
in the race; chosen from the noblest descendants different varieties of death in your erring course,
we abrogated your religion dissundered your territory broke to pieces your crosses for along with the call basI basI to
raided your tilled fields, purified your places of worship gained mastery over your urge on camels there can also be polite behavior.
fonr esses, enjoyed the softness of your pillows, and deposited our seed in the bellies And distinguish the settled abode of truth
of your girls. from the unsettled, for he who
settles in a place is not like him who
moves back and forth.

"' .Mu'ommar. This word normally mean s "l ong-l ived one " and could be taken to signify "long-lived oil
(i.e., e~perienced) in deceit .' Dozy , however. registers "mu' ammar, comme haw11edeo anglus maison be
ii y a desdjirms, des 'ummtira/-buyilt" (Supplement, ll , 172, col. 2). Haw1ted as ap plied lo a house should UZTh . f . . r '
ntual ,ormulas during the pilgrimage such as /ahbaiko alliihuma' "a t
rendered aspossessedwhoa appli ed lo a person . T herefore we cou ld read "possessed by a Jinn ,' i.e. "mad · c_pronounomg o certam '
your service, 0 my God!" (EI 1• IV. 640, col. 2).
man" (majnfm). 163
158 The calculation and prediction of the appearance of the new moon of Rama~an constitute J.hemajo r 'AlI: nephew ofMut,amrnad .
problem of Islamic ast ronomy. llS appearance signals the beginning or the month-Jong fast which,a crypto- ;:FafiI!la: daughter orMuJ;iammad and Khadija.
after
Christian would natura lly enough, fail lo keep. . This 1s a refere~ce to l~n Tiim~ wh~~ geoealogy was connected to Muhammad by the ious,
or non- Musl im subjeci of a his ~eath (Jbn Khalbkar.i B1ograp!m :al D1c1101uuy , trans. B. MacGuckin de Slane {Londoo fs42 - 187I ·
•HThis word. derived from the Greek zonedesignates the belt that the gi11uni '
Muslim government was required 10 wear as a distin ctive badge . Il became a sign of opp robrium , particu
· roq~~med, 1961)} 1, 183; C. (' ,_Julien , Histofre de l'Afrique du Nord[2d ed .; Paris . 1964], II,92).
The.son of Abd al-M u mm whom the lauer designated to be his successor around 1152 but whom the he
larlt under the Almohads in AJ-Andalu s. the year 1163. Therefore
1
"The nab' (Chadara re,1ax)is a tree that grows on lop of mountains.1is yellowwood is very hard an<;!i eo scd m favor of another son Abu Ya'qiib Yusuf (1163- 1184) around
d_e fell
used for making bows and arrows . Thegarab is the Babylonian willow, which.gro ws by water in low places. nsala must ha".e been written roughly between A.D. 1152 and 1163, before Abii'Abd Allah Muhammad ·
out of favor with his father.
!ISwhite wood is sorter than that of the nab', hence the contrast.1 .
Proverb (Lane, op. cit., III, 1086, col. 2). Thabir is a mountain near Mecca (Yaqiit, Mu'jam, III , 6-8)
161
•••sonof the eponymous hero of the tribe of Quraish (£ / , n, 1123, col. l ; Goldziher , op. cit. I,
162, 188).
62 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us

The ignorance of the non-Arabs has infected

you because of your admiration for them,
so, whoa! 0 ass, when you see human
beings!

And peace as well as the mercy and blessings of God be with whomsoever adheres
SECOND REFUTATION (ANONYMOUS)
to Islam, asserts salvation to lie in the doctrine of the unity ofGod, 168 and manifests
his submission to God.

The second epistle in refutation of Ibn Garcia

In the name of God, the Clement, the Merciful! May God bless and save our lord
Mul;larnmad and his family!
What fire was struck by the fire striker, and
the notch of what arrow did the one who bore
a secret grudge in his heart put to the
bowstring to shoot?
One of your nights, so travel! Travel! 1

That which your evil genius has seduced you into doing, 0 Shu'ubite, is indeed a
serious matter , while your own firmly twisted ropes have gathere d against you lo
budge you from your po ition . Were you aware of what skin you were slitting and
what back pertaining to noble deeds you were riding upon without a saddle when you
found fault with us? You shot at yoi.ir quarry with every headle-ss broken -notched
arrow; you made clear in appearance what was in reality obscure , and you bet im-
mature young asses against every outstripping descendant of al-A 'waj, 2 horses of the
superior, tawny sort, the foremost in the race, who are neither blond Slavs nor Persian
Magians. Glance a econd time. and lo, you will ee that in tbe peoples of'Ad , 3 in the
generations of Jurbum,4 the giants who have been wiped out, and the mighty
Amalekites 5 of lram 6 there is that which will caose you to fear , and it will not dispel
your fear. Furthermore. in Mugar al-I;Iarora'. iii lhe princes of'Adnan, 7 the Tubba' s8
ofYa'nib ibn Qal;ttiin,Abraha of the waymarks , and 'Amr :Ou a)-A(j'iir there is that

1
1.e., "one of those nights that are hard for you to bear. Taken from the Jines ofa poet who thus addressed
his camel:
One of your nights, so travel! Travel!
The night grants no halting!
Applied to a man who begins an affair for which great earnest ness and effort are required~ (Al;mad ibn
Mul;ammad al-Maidiini, Proyerbiorum Arab/corum, ed. H. A : Sthultens [Leiden. 1795], pp. 163-164.
no. cclx).
2
A famous pre-Islamic stallion . His name means "He who has a curving. tension of the sinews'' (lbn
al-Kalb,. Kittib A11siibal-Khail. ed. Al;mad Zaki Pasha [Cairo. 1946].p. 16).
3
An ancienl Arabi an people frequently mentioned in tbe Koran (see £12. I. 169).
4
Idem (Ibid,. 11, 603).
1
A people of Palestine ; the biblical Amalekites, who according to the Islamic tradition were the ancesto rs
of'Ad. the fat her of the tribe bearing that name . They descended from Amalek . son ofHii d . son of lram,
son or Shem, son of Noah (ibid., 1. 429).
0 " !ram of the
lofty columns" (Koran 89:6) was an earthly paradise built 6y Shaddiid. one of the legen-
dary kings of' Ad (R. A. 'icholso n, A L iterary H istory of rht Arabs [Cambrid'"gc, 1956].p. 2).
1
Ancestor ofthe nonhem Arabs (£ / 1 • T. 210).
8 Himyarite
168 The doctrine of iau~,dpromoted by the Almohads (Dozy, op. cit., II, 787, col. 2). kings of Yemen.

[63]
64 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
which will awaken you from the deep slumber of your evil inclination and restrain
you from the falseness of your claim. Their noses are elevated from pride since they
are firm and steadfast mountains enjoying a long-possessed and homeborn,glory as
well as a lofty power.
Its root was firm under the sky while
lengthy upper branches which were out
of reach raised it to the stars. · one, for the time has come for the stages of life to illuminate your understanding so
Begone! Never will the blond nation exceed the Arabs in honor any more than the
Magians will ever lack their fire. Our stock is of Ishmael and related to the prophet-
hood, not of Esau nor related to the blond ones. 9 Your father alone among his rela-
tives was deprived of his fatl1er Abraham s calling· he was stripped in their favor of
10
the prophethood as a hide.is stripped off, and debarred by the~ from al-I:Ianafiyya,
the religion of Abraham. Therefore both you and your boasting of the past are like
11
"a woman tanning when the hide has become spoiled and perforated by worms."
From among us came the people unsubmissive to kings, inclined to giving assistance,
and tolerant in pardoning. When they were cruelly assaulted by the vicissitudes of
time, the Arabs branched off from the Sabeans of al-Yemen in companies that scat-
tered like the nights and journeyed down as far as the extreme limits of Syria, ad-
vancing as does the torrent that rushes downstream. Moreover, they acted with
forbearance for the duration of their journey.
And the lion, in whatsoever land he halts,
that land is a covert for him.
Thus when you called the Arabs "skilled archers" they shot at you with an arrow
12
that did not fail to strike you, since "you took from Jig' what he gave you." The
Arabs are of glorious ancestry, quick to aid those in distress, yet if you contest this,
then at least our power is stronger. Or, if you vie with us on the subject of ancestry,
then learn that true no):,ility is to be found in piety. We never tended pigs nor did we
worship fire nor adhere to the humiliating custom of wearing the zunnar. On the con-
trary, we were rulers; we beat our clapper bell over lords and kings until God trans-
mitted His law to the calling of Abraham, thus perfecting it and reconciling and
bringing together the diversified sects of the Arabs by means of it. And when a certain
well-known religious leader 13 joined the Arabs to one another in religion, explained
to them the guidelines of the faith while their herald summoned them to prayer by
crying: "Come ye to the way of safety and prosperity!" 14 and the necks of their
horses stretched out toward their leader, those horses came toward you following one
9
Cf. Gen. 25: 25: "And the first came out red , all over like a hairy garment; and they called his name
Esau."
0
• Accord in$ to lslamic tradition the Ranafites were neither Jews nor Christians, yet they adhered to the
pure monothetsm of Abraham before the coming of .Islam (El', 11, 258).
11
From a verse by al-WaJ,d ibn •uqba (Edward William Lane. Arabic-E11gllsh Lex.iconiL?ndon! 1863].
II. 632. c:ol.l ; A(,mad ibn Mubammad al-Ma.idaru,Majma' al-Am!!J.iil[Cau-o , 1892],I, 64). lt..isappl1ed toa
thin;, that has become spoiled . . _ • _
1
Jid' was the name of the man of Gassiin who refused to pay his·tax to the Byzantmevassal s, the Banu
SaJTI;i rv.
(ET', 113-J14).
n 1.e .• Mu))ammad .
1"lfaiya 'a!ii l-jalli.f; / "Co me ye to the way of safety and prosperity!" .is part or the Muslim call to pray~r
(Lane, op. cit., VI, 2439, col. !).
Second Refutation 65
another and advancing beneath grim-faced lion-like warriors . Then they destroyed
the dominions of your Anush.irwanand your Qubag. and notched the sword of your
Yazdagird and your Shahrayar. They closed up your roads stripped your provinces
as soft velvet garments are stripped off, brought down your crowns from the tops of
your heads , annulled your Easter a.nd your Mihrija.n 15 inherited your land and your
homes, and extinguished your fire worship with the light of God. Listen, O ignorant
that you may recall the menkiJJed at Yarmuk whose souls departed and whose sides
fell down upon the ground , and so that you may recall the limbs sundered at Kadisiya
upon which the battles dust-raising wi.nd .fiercely blew the vicissitudes of fortune·
enemies all now dead yet who rushed upon us like locusts when first set in motion,
such that neither spears nor sword edges could free us from them; and so that you may
recognize that courage belongs to the Arabs and that the nab' tree is not of the same
kind as the garab.
Do I not see the likes of men who rush
upon glory in such a way that each
one counts for a thousand?
It was the Arabs who expelled you from the regions of Syria and the rural district
oflraq , "as strange she-camels are expelled from the native herd 16 hastening you
away from the boundaries of Babel 1 7 and Khurasan "as the _ass hastens to the plant
called ,$illiyiin_"18
With blows that separate heads from
their shoulders, and spear thrusts
like the spurting out of urine of pregnant
she-camels who resist being milked
after having conceived.
They are guileful, cunning people, not adopting castles as their nests, but rather full-
grown horses, as their swords. You build with plaster, whereas we build [ ... ] ; l 9 you
surrounded yourselves with walls whereas we surrounded ourselves with the iron
heads of cane spears; you frequented buildings and assemblies while we crossed
deserts and river valleys in search of glory · you haughtily trailed the edges of your
brocades and soft robes whereas we trained long-necked lean mounts , impelled our
spear tips to a height, and gave generous gifts.
For generosity pervaded only their houses
and war exerted its force only in their
breasts .
You adopted wine in your religion whereas we adopted the milk of she-camels,
uTbe Persian Mithraic festiv_alof the su~er solstice. In Al-Andalus it was identified wltb al·'An~ara,
the16feast of_~~John., cclcb~ted m boih Spam and M~rocco to the present day (cf. R. Dozy, II. 181,col. 2).
al-l;la1JaJthreatened his subJects by saying: " I will assuredly beat you with the beating of the su:ange
one of the camels," i.e., asa strange camel is beaten and driven away af-rerit has intruded among the others
wh1eo they come.down to water (~f. Lane, op. ciz.. Vf, 2243, col. 3; 2244, col. ! ).
7
Used to designate both the ctty 'ofBabylon and the country of Bab ylonia , although the latter seems to
be1intended in this context (cf. El', I. 846).
is a leguminous plant .
• Arabi c proverb . The $iiliyii11
" Lacuna .
 66 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
Second Refutation
for there is a grea t difference between what 67
is forbidden and what is lawful. What is
this "journeying so far ' in the case of Abu Riga] which you tramp. Indeed, the Arabs , in their
, when he was taken away from God unlettered heathenism. attained by
by what is well known when he showed the means of their intelligence what the people
crows of the Aby sinians the way to the of former ages had attained by their in-
holy sanct uary of God as "th e dog Baraqish struction . To the students and masters of eloqu
shows the road to its home"? 2 0 There- ence the doors of the latter were opened
fore both he and they perished and the car while its domes were raised in a high place. The
avan leader of deat h urged them on by Koran was revealed in their language,
singing wher ever they traveled . We a re clear thus denoting their excellence.
, pure ones; the blackness of the Aby -
sinians is not rooted in us, for we have appea
red blend as to complex ion , endowed Therefore, if the heavens were to give tbeir
with ' drops of mingled sperm ' 2 1 mingled
from t he egroe s and the white bar- due to glory and to a noble deed, it
barians. I beaT witne-Ssth.at the Sassanians,
who all lack the qualities of humanity , is 10 them th at the heaven s would give
married their own mother s and daughter s their d ue.
and resembled indiscriminate beasts in
their carnal appe tites. Lest rea son or a religion
transmitted from other nations should The Arabs are of an ancient lineage, true to
have restrained them from these marriages, their covenants ; for them God estab-
by God, they entered the little and the lished the forbidden sanctuary of the Ka'ba
much of shame , for the evil stallion begin s with as an honor and the bountiful religjon
his own mother. of Abraham as a support; whereas a sanct
ls there a cause for boasting in roast meat and uary of which Abraham and Ishmael
wine ? Then why not in entertainin g raised the foundations-concerning the nobility of which the revelation has spoke
guests d uring years of drought ; in supporting n,
has turned russet during a _severe dry spell ;
a client when the gra ss of the meadows and from the courtyard of which Gabriel set
out on his j ourne y- is indeed the cus-
in keeping a promise when betrayal is tomary abode of virtues , the place from when
con idered preferable ; and in concealing a secre ce blessings pour , lh.e source of divine
t when it so chokes your breast that and prophetic miracles , the honored places
you burn with desire to divulge it in the same of performance of the religious rites and
way that cooking pots begin to boil ceremonies of the pilgrimage as well as the rever
over? ed rit~ thereof themselves , the meet-
ing place of Adam and E e and the place wher
e the revelation descended from heaven.
Leave aside noble deeds. D o not embark in Such is God's sanctuary , unlike the sanctuarie
s of your fires· while bis sign is not like
search of them; and sit down, for the sign of your crosses : the schools establish
it is you who give food to eat and
ed for the praise of God are not like the
schools built for the study of lies, and the high
clothes to wear. places of royal autho {ity ar e not like
the stations of Satan . Indeed, the Koran is not
your register , nor is the K a'ba one of
O you who find fauhwith us because oftbeca the golden ornaments of your palace.
se of Abii.Gubshan: what do you hold
against a man who knew fear yet who transf
erred the ministry of the Ka'ba to those He who raised the heavens built for
people to whom it was due , and remained
faithful to his oa th so that he behaved us a sanctuary of which the supports
loyally towar d those to whom loyalty was owed are both very strong and very tall.25
without any begu ilement or deceit,
for " the runni ng of horses that ha ve attained
to their full age and strength is a con- It is a sanctuary beside which Mul;iammad-m
tending for superiority." 22 The Arabs are succe ay God bless and save him!-
ssfu l, gravel y forbearing ; their self- struggled and advanced along the right path
contro l does not allow them to lose their head , in which he walked and from which he
s, n.or doe s time seek to wrest superi- ascended to heave n · it is the fruit of a great
ority from them. So go gently ! 0 you who strive tree the growing of which gave fruit in
to take what you cannot even reach , Muc;al r, whose grow th r ac;lribn Kinana 26 incre
who glory in what you do not possess, who ased, the roots of which related back
pretentiou sly boa st " as does the eunuch to Abraham-m ·a y God bles~: and save him!-
abou t the member of his lord .' 23 Indeed , your the branches and leaves of which were
share in astronom y, arithmetic , the conjoined to Hashim , a tree that soared upwa
logicaJ sciences, music and the branche s of rd keeping between the qualities of
philosophy and geometry is like time's gentle deportment and lofty grandeur , the root
share in old age,2 " or like the share of asses of which is firmly fixed while its upper
in composing melod y except tha t asses branches a re in heaven.
by God are stron ger of jawbone than you, more
upright in deportmen t . more pene- May the blessings of God be upon Mu):iamm
tratin g of mind , and more accura te in their ad and his family, the good and pure
mentaJ perception . Those are Greek ones, as long as mouths shall speak and water
sciences, Chaldean creations , productions of s be fetched, and may every sighing and
Hermes and related to the Pythagoreans repentant sinner seek God 's forgiveness .
-not that which you engage in, 0 sons of the May God's blessings also alight upon
buttocks , nor that in the darknes s of Mul;iammad's companions and descendants
, the fixed stars of the messa ge and tbe
shooting stars aimed against the enemy who
bow and prostr ate themselves in honor
10
" ••• by reason of its molestatio of the true religion · ~ ho stand up, passing a
n ." Pr overb.
'.' KoT3;n76:2 . Accordip~ to !-,ane (~P· cir., • part of the night in ora yer ; who are en-
va_no11s vn.
kmds or beca use 1t 1s 1ruxedwith blood. or 2717, col. 1) this is so elthcr becaus e it is a mixtµrc of
this context a racial mixtu re is clearly implie 1t ,s ma le sperm mixed with female ova and
<l. blood . In
ll p roverb .
23 Prover H Fr om a poem by al- Faraz daq (Diwan [Bdr
b (al-Maidani , Majma· . 11.SJ). • >6 Kiniina was a larg~ orth Arabian trib
ut, 1960 ], II , 155}.
2 •T
ime is ageless. therefore it h~s no sh;ire in old e tbar Jived a round
Mecca . They were importa nt to the genealo-
age; i.e., " you have no share at all in the science ~sts beca.Ucsethe Qurwsh a nd com;eq ueotly
s. " sidered thca ncestor o f Quraish (El ' . the Proph et deriv ed I.heir origin fro m the m.
n.
1017- 10 18), a(ir was con-
 68 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
<lowedwith faces, legs, and arms washed
clean in ritual ablution; who are beare
the revelation and well versed in the
interpretation of the allegoricaJ mean
Scripture : "This is their similitude in the ing
To.rah · and their similitude in the Gosp
Beware for 'dawn bas appeared to one
watching intently' 2.s and has covered
whole earth from East to West. Therefore
. do not open your mouth , 0 great and
habitual liar to slander the reputation
of a well-known people after the exam
these saints. If we have pained you it
is you who were responsib le for it. Rest
yourself, for a man 's friend is his reason,
whereas his enemy is his ignorant passi
and let not a blood shed by the people ·w
ho were entitled to it afflict you with grief
You pinched and pressed my spear , but
you have found that its wood refuses
to break because of its noble strength,
So if you are enraged over God's
division of shares between us-well,
God was very farsighted when He
did not give you full satisfaction.
The epistle is ended, and praise be to God,
Lord of the worlds.
21
Cf. Koran <IS:29.
28 Proverb applied to anything clearly appar
ent (al-MaidanI, Majma' , II , 31).
rs of
of
el.' 21
the
THIRD REFUT ATIO
ple of BY ABO JA.FAR Al:IMAD IBN
AL-D0DIN AL-BALANSI
rain
on;
.
The third epistle in refutation of lbn Garc
fa in which the
learned Abu Ja'far Abmad ibn al-Diiam
al-Balansf replied
to him.
Get you hence, 0 very ignorant apostate
and depraved religious hypocrite . Wha
your intention? - mayyourmother be t is
bereft of you! Did you not know that you
been dragged aJong by your halter towa bave
rd your own laming ; that from your
coming forward you have advanced towa first
rd the shedding of your own blood ·
you have opened the closed palm of your that
hand to the invincible might of your own
death; that you have sharpened the poin
ts of your writing reeds for your own destr
tion · that you have written elegantly with uc-
your ink to reveal the departure of your
knowledge ; that you have penned a letter own
on your own parchment for the cleaving
y.ourown head? Therefore troe justice of
in answering you, in spite of your corrupt
conflictingly loquacious discourse wouJ and
d consist exclusively of stripping you of
you possess and crucifying you at the gate what
of your palace even though princes are
court and men are in your presence to at
help you . You , however , lie in between
lent hunger and the lumuJtuous refuse a vio-
of mankind " distracted in mind even
mjdst of it- being sincerely neither for in the
one group nor for another. ' 1 Therefore
swear by the Creatpr of mankind and the I
One who will resurrect the nations by bring
ing to life the rotten remains of human bone -
s , thatl shall most surely cause the bread
of a pacious tract to be narrower for you th
than the eye of a needle O light-witted
weak of intellect · and that I shaJl assur one
edly cause you to remain as a lasting
of evening gossip and as a current prov subject
erb _; or that we will befouJ your face
you will be shaved by means of the shav while
ing of the back of your head your zwm
be put around your waist like the girths arou lir will
nd the flank of a riding beast and in this
wise will you reach your home.
What is the matter with you-may your
neck be bruised !- since your kinsmen
those base in appearance , while your are
tribe is a despica ble one ; they are blond
moustache 2 and wont to lap up blood· of
they drank urine , ate carrion and dwel
the female quarter of the home profa t in
ning their sanctity. You say that these
Arabs are "clear gra:veones ' - well, they non-
are gravid of posteriors; clearly distinguish
able from men as are women who wear -
anklets. To God be attributed the exce
of your father! You bave presented the llence
description of your people well, but sprea
d
'Koran 4:143.
2
A term originally applied to the Byzan
general. tines which in the course of time came
to signify "enemies" in
(69]
 70 The Shu'iibiyya in Al-Andalus
o'ULbe ore us only the half of it, so now I shall exact justice and cause your vertebrae
to break. You claim they are "mighty in knowledge , endowed with insight" - well.
they are mighty in knowledge of how to cure one another from lust and in the uses of
the member ;3 endowed with an insight that leads them away from all the paths of
tbose endowed with insight. "Obeying no gwde , they raise their glance"; now you
speak the truth and correct your error. They "obey no guide' in their unbridJed on-
rush when they are withdrawing in fear from valorotis ' deeds in an attack , seeking to
retreat on the day of vengeance and of the exaction of the bloodw ite · they " raise their
glance" in terror at every kicking , biting horse that is refractory to it rider, lengthen
its pace and, rears up, [every horse] that is fattened , uncircumcised , endow ed with a
compact build, and a head Uke its knee joints . Take care of your drivel, Jest the latter
should erase your writing!
You say lhey are "defenders of the flocks, raisers of citadels. " Be just O Kushajim ,4
not disdainfu l; be somewhat less arrogant and se.ize the reins of that horse of yours ,
which is a generous one though no t of your own breeding, so that we may perceive
your true circumstances in this matter. Surely tbe statement that your people de-
fended their flocks of sheep is not sound in its conclusions, nor does it even cross (be
mind since they made Jawful the pudenda of the.ir women . ls this not absolutely im-
possible as well as a competition in error on the part of the heedlessly ignorant? Hence
why, 0 Slav s did you not forsee the answer before apostrophizing, or see the bog be-
fore falLing into it?
And as for wbat you chattered and howled about on the subject of the flag-
showing prostitutes :-well by your father they are a part of the descendants of
Sarah , the queen of beauty; they are our female slaves made captive and used as
servants whom the edges of white Indian swords and the points of tawny spears of
Rudaina put into our possession. We did not turn them away , however, from the
prostitution to which you had accustomed them for lhe purpose of seeking satisfac-
tion . Thus slaves and bondswomen descended from your Sarah increased the com-
pany of Arabs. while you yourself are a very sound indication and very clear evidence
of this. So why, 0 Slav, were you not more perceptive and remain within the limits of
truth?
You claim the non-Arab are "farseeing, steadfast' - farseeing in putting drinking
spouts into the orifices of wine jars and using them as they claim, for the development
of body and mind! Steadfast - under the deep penetration of long uncircumcised
member.
You say they are 'bright burning lamps '· that is to say, bedroom lamps, or wives,
of such a nature that the violent heat of their burning is not extinguished save by the
rapid pouring forth of the secretion of members.
"Soft skinned; they did not weave mantles nor did they eat wild herbs." This, by
' Por I.his obscene mea.ni.ng of Lbe word qa/0111
.. pea , writing reed ," sec R. Oozy . S,,pp/emmt aux .Dic-
tionnoiresAl"obrs(2d ed. ; Leiden and Paris) , ll , 4-00, col. I.
'Proverbial for his wisdom , here understood irnnJcally.
, Yii/010. "O noble youth" ; ··young warrior" according 10 classicaJ dictionaries. But the chronicles
or
AI-Andalus used the word/aui to designate the Slavsau ached 10 the royal palace in Cordova . It is eq1.1Jva
lent 10 the word Siqlahi. " Slav" (Dozy , op. cit.• II. 241, col. I; Antonio Prieto y Vives, Los Reyes de · Lane ,
[Madri d. 1926]. p. 8 n. 2).
Toifo.s
Third Refutation 71
your father, is using inconsistent phr-aseology in your speech and about your people,
ince you first described them in terms of the smoothness of their skin and followed
that up with a denial of their eating wild herbs , whereas the making of the one a
necessary consequence of the other is fitting only to a mind such as yours . Indeed, by
your life, this is a strange way of ascertaining the truth, so boast away, for these are
two attributes that have been granted in your favor. As for the eating of wild herbs
growing far from water ;6 well, the matter is clearer than a lamp burning on intensely
dark nights . It has been related that your boys once cause4 the market of your public
women to decline so that this matter was made to reach your lord , who passed
j udgment on it (honor because ofhim whomsoever passes judgment!) that the women
bould make lawful of themselves what the boy had made lawful · and the women
obeyed that command so that both conditions were equalized both markets enjoyed
a brisk trade and there was not heard in all the ages anytlµng stranger than this case.
Therefore. elevate your nose in pride and boa t about the granting of the justice that
was due you.
As for your weaving mantles , be satisfied with examples ranging from the Frankish
gifiira1 to the Byzantine brocade, since the pedigrees of these two bear witness
against your claim.
A for your boasting about Sarah lhe queen of beauty· well. wou ld that she had
been bereft of you when she bore you, for you have clad her in a continually renewed
shame and have caused a lasting disgrace to befall her , when you refrained out of
cowardice from facing the warning given by sharp swo rds and spe_ars so that you de-
livered up to her enemies . from among her daughters , every s9ftly tender women
large in the posteriors, heavy in the hips , perfect in form , and slender in the waist
endowed with a mouth adorned with teeth .like camomile flowers and a white com-
plexion like the dawn· all of whom were hastened away from the occupation of folding
on their waist wrappers and binding their veils onto their heads , and were given sub-
mission as a sub stitute for arrogance while in place of the seclusion of their curtained
canopies they were given men.
The poor, needy women followed, not
seeking to guard themselves against an
act of moral turpitude; seeking to lay
hold upon a packsaddle and a riding
saddle.
You reproached the Arabs for nourishing themselves with serpents, and yet you
nourish yourselves with blood and carrion so that the opposite of what you say is dis-
cerned; yet the religious law condemns a person who boasts excessively while his acts
remain nonexistent. notwithstanding the fact that there is no boasting over the drink
and food either of the Arabs or of the non-Arabs. The same holds true of your re-
proaching the Arabs for burning dung and manure for fuel for they were fond of
kindling fire in order to honor their guests and feed those who were smitten by cold
G• Urudare oertain plants of a type called /ionu!. growing in sandy tracts
far from water. which are
and hard and on which camels pasture . The word is also applied 10 an)•llunghard . strong . and erect.thick
designates the membnim virllis. Hence tbe obscene double entcndrc that follows (Edward William and
Arabic-English Lexicon [London. 1863], V. !998 col. I).
' In Al -Aodalus. Lbegiflira was a red cape or mamlc (Doz y, op. cit., II. 218. col. I}.
 72 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
and hunger , until they began to run out of the arJa,8 thega(ian 9 and thesamur 10 they·
had once po sessed, as well as various other species of trees, so that they had to resort
to dung and manure .
Tbe same applies to your description of your people as not being' diggers tilling the
oil or camel herders. ll was God who honored the soil by debarring them from dig-
ging it. and camels by debarring them from herding them. evertheless , they were
herders of young asses and dug grottoe-s and caves which ih.ey took as places in which
to conceal themselves from the tribes of ijie Arabs and as places in whicb to protect
themselves from the blows of sharp swords and cane spears , as do bares , jerboas ..and
field rats.
And as for your boasting of their knowledge of religious law; well, this is one of the
most original of novelties . 'The young weaned camels leaped ; even those affected
with small pustules. ' 11 Fo( the ignorance of the non-Arabs on thi subject is so
apparent that it need not be explained , and it is so distinct that it needs no clarification .
Nevertheless I will utter a brief wiLticism and toss off a shor t passage on the subject,
which will rebuke them. as it were by slapping them and dispel' the blondness of their
skins with the blackness of its mark. From whence comes all that which you have
attributed to your people. if they did nor take it from any prophet or transmit it on the
authority of any apostle , or cease by turns to add to and detract from their source , the
Gospels. until they reduced them to the level of raving nonsense? Let it suffice you,
insofar as the non-Arabs ' ignorance is concerned , fhat they believe their prophet is a
God , callhim the worshiped Lord and have then made him out to be the one crucified
by the Jews. Marvel therefore at an ignorance that reconciles tb.ese two op po sites!
And what is even more amazing than this is that the non-Arabs are of one accord in
believing that Jesus will descend to earth for the reckoning of God's creatures on the
day of Judgment. Theiefore , what do you think he will do with the Jews because of
what they committed against their leader by crucifying him? Surely a religion main-
taining such unsound beliefs and containing such feeble intellects is not sound , nor
will certain truth be firmly established for them in that religion. And were it no t thal
1 debar my pen and withdraw my words from describing the foolishness of their
worship and the delirium of their judgments, I would have adduced on this subject
what none would tolerate save the likes of your tribe of non-Arabs whose minds are
like those of the owl and the rakham. 12
As for the natural sciences; well, grant a part of them to the non-Arabs, because of
what bas preceded in the Gourse of the risala on the subject of their acquaintance with
the particulars of that discipline· for the truth is the most decorous thing talked about
and aimed at.
8A
lTCegrowing in the sand to lhe stature of a man; with biller red berries and leaves (Lane , op. cit., I, 49,
cols. 1-2).
9
A tree with hard wood which prod uces n har d charcoal . Genu s Euphorbia.
IDGumacacia.
11
proverb applied 10 a person who intrudes among ;i. people or a group to whom he is not related or
does not belong (ibid .. rv. 1437. col. I).
1
: Vuhurpemoprerus.the white carri on vulture of Egypt . prove rbia l for its stupidity , since. according to
al-Jabil'-(Kittib al-if ayawan [Cairo. 1945), il , 18- 19)... it watches over its chick s, lays iis eggs. seeks its
foodand chooses ilS nests in such an outlandish way that neither seven nor four olher birds can match it"
(also A~mad ibn Mul)ammad al-M'aidani, Majma' al-Amthii/ [Cairo, 1892), II • .186: .. More stupid than the
takham'·).
Third Refutation 73
What you mentioned about Abu Rigfil · well that wa a cunning stratagem of his.
Indeed, he became known for il because he cut off the Abyssinians from their free-
dom and caused lbem to perish - may God hasten their souls to their hellfire I
And as for the case of Abu Gubshan, of which you made so much; the matter was
not as you have supposed, for the Ka'ba is the sanctuary of God - who has no part-
ners- which He- may He beexalted !-established for His worshipers , making equal
with respect to it the man staying constantly in it and the nomad visiting it periodic-
ally; whereas Abii Gubsba.n sold only His position of service in the sanctuary. Yet
suppose that this should be the case of our foolish one who deviated from the right
path. How does it compare with the case of your leader Judas the apostle , when he
sold his own prophet the Holy Spirit, to those who would betray him for a few paltry
coins? Yet God belied Iris intention and saved His prophet! Therefore , place the case
of our foolish one in front of you in one scale of a balance, and in the olber, place the
case of your religious leader and declare the one to outweigh the other because of
the breaking of the seal of your prophecy and tbe abrogation of your law.
As for your describing your people as being "of noble ancestry brave , proud ,
haughty sound in religion , exerting themselves to the utmost ," how far is all this from
them! These are the attributes of our people, the Arabs, who are endowed with illus-
trious birth and personal merit; with knowledge and forbearance; who are the fore-
most in chasteness of speech eloquence, intelligence , prolixity in wording , wisdom
and rhetoric; who are the Bedouin cavaliers and owners of round tents , pliers of
harp swords and javelins · whose assemblies are the wide-open spaces inhabited by
men of cou.rage · whose cloaks are Mashrifite swords 13 and whose garments are coats
of mail composed of double rings soft to the wearer .
Exuding a disagreeable smell proceeding
from the rust of iron, as if, under
their coat of mail they are the
Jinn of the Jinn-haunted wasteland.
Their seats are saddles ; their sweet-smelling herbs are spears; their music comes
from the bum of spears of Rudaina ; their poetics from the swords of Suraij. Their
leaders are not women neither do they become restless to put off payment of their
debt when the fixed tenn of their life falls due .
They considered their fate sweet, as if
they did not despair of this world
when they were killed .
They busjed themselves with stretching the ropes of their movable tents, whiJe they
resisted and disdained to raise lofty buildings; they kept to the barren plains and
empty deserts as do venomous serpents and lions ; their palaces were watering places
and their fortresses were s1ender spears· they were forbearing_ and dignified . When
dust was stir red up over the horizon the day turned black , flight was esteemed pleas-
ing, minds were alienated from fear , when what was clear became confused , when the
tongue stammered, swords struck against one another, death became hot, lips were
13
These swords are likened to cloaks because they are suspended from the neck rather than the waist.
 74 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us

contracted, saliva dried up in men's mouths, when brave warriors embraced one an-
- other, cane spears commingled, fever was aroused, the sabre was notched, war be-
came_hot , and feet and heads met one another so that you could see naught but the
slashmg of larynxes, and the sheathing of sharp, unbending swords in skulls, it is
there that you could find them-may you not meet them by surprise!-kings of kings, FOURTH REFUTATION BY ABO AL-TAIYIB
tuckmg up the edges of their garments for war, lions of the thickets, defenders of their 'ABD AL-MUN'IM IBN MANN ALLAH AL-QARA WI
hon cubs; not soft skinned or trailing their robes in pride; !hat is how those who reign
over men should be, 0 you whose faults have been brought to light.
Killing and fighting were prescribed to us,
while to those young women sufficed by The fourth epistle in refutation of lbn Garcia by Abu al-
their husbands there was prescribed the J'aiyib ibn Mann Alliili al-Qarawi , the title of which, as
trailing of the ends of their robes. 14 2
recorded in the book of al-Balawt 1 and the Kash/ al-'(,unfm
But not even the risk of death , 0 Kushajim, would have kept you from exposing the is: "The garden of eloquence and the great tree of excel-
s~ameful deeds of your people, the non-Arabs, but , rather, the weakness of your in- lence, bearing leaves on its branches and fruit on its limbs,
sight has urged you toward your foolish babble while your evil manners have brought which mentions the causes for glory of the Arabs,publishes
you to your own destruction. We ask God for a curtain to be drawn over your shame the causes for boasting of Islam, and refutes Ibn Garcia in
and for an honor that remains unsmirched. what he attributed to the non-Arab peoples."
Among those who also refuted lbn Garcia expressing well
what he wished to say was Abu al-Taiyib ibn Mann Allah
al-Qarawf, in a long epistle of which I have set down only
some of the sections in order to lighten its burdensomeness.
He said in it, opening it with these lines of poetry :
Many a man erring in his speech thinks he has
hit the mark; yet he does not achieve his purpose
by means of his words , so that be merely
utters them.
I rose to attack him until I turned his
reins away from heedless ignorance and
his halter gained control over him.
Come, and tell me for wha t purpose
the ropes of the ass have been tightened
that its qualities of ignorance should afford
you a safe refuge.

O you who claim to boast; nay wbo contradict your own lies ; what is this severe
courage in your base condition? What is thjs dar ing boldness in going astray? You
have emboldened yourself and asserted that you are not connected to the true faith .
Have you not set yourself against the Arabs while all the time you observe their glory,
march proudly against their nobility, and trample on their lordly rank?
And in another section the author says.-So inform me with regard to yourself:
were the Arabs not endowed with a generosity for which you should be grateful, and
did t!1eynot confer favors which you should remember with gratitude? Did they not

'Yiisuribn al-Shaikh a/-Balawi (I J32-1207)from Malaga was I.beauibor of the .K11nb Alf'-B<P(Cairo,
li.87,A .H.) (Asin Palacios..h,do!us, I f/9331,241-300).. . . . . . .
14 2 by.l;fojjiKJ1alifa (d. A.D. 1659}, ,sa great b1bljographica/work cont1110mg the titles
from a poem by "Umar ibn Abt Rabi'a (cf. Abii al-FaraJ· al-Isfahan1 ' Kitiib a/-A&iinr [Cairo I TbrKt1.r/yol-.?t/111i//,
IV. 133). b ,
41/Jha bct/cal orderof all tlleAra bk . Persian. and Turkish works orwbich lhee;dstence wasknown to tlie
Q' efthr Aro/Js{Cambridge. /956}, p. 456).
llr:r (I?, A . Nicholson. A L/i f'J't7IJ'H1slCJ

[75]
76 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
reduce your need? Did they not raise your condition after it had been low? Did they
not make you rise from your mean rank? Did they not arouse you from your un-
mindfulness and sleep? Do they not rear you among them as sons? Do they not
adopt you when you are born abroad and bring you up among them? Are they not
concerned about your training and promotion? Did they not endow you with a pure
language after your foreign babble? Did they not cau§~.you to speak clearly after your
linguistic barbarism? Until, when the base of your neck grew firm, your ignorance was
illuminated by knowledge, your forearm grew strong, and your ascending one rose in
his career, you became ungrateful for their favors toward you; you rejected their per-
fection; you began to c~mtend with them for superiority in the quality of their own
riding halters, to discuss with them in their very own language, to attack them with
their very own arrows, and to splash them with their own drizzles. When the Arabs
loosened your bonds from the defilement of uncircumcision, seized your upper arm
from the pit of perdition, strengthened your back for traveling great distances, and in-
creased your purity by means of circumcision, did you not rise against them with
their own saber, strive to outdo them in their own speech, shoot at them with their
own arrows from a bow made with a piece of their own nab' wood and from the van-
tage point of an inaccessible hilltop which is their own fortress?
I taught him shooting every day, yet
when his forearm grew strong he
shot at me.3
And in another section.-Bring and show us your rights to boast that we may show
you your rights to be mocked. You are the friend of the pale ones; the blond. Yet the
lean yearis pale in drought through lack of verd ure, and cloud s con tai ning no water
are blond and light bued. In the same way you are "neither wealth nor wheat" ;4
"neither an 'Amr 5 nor even a little 'Amr"; there is no noun denoting generosity in the
Byzantine tongue or any word for loyalty in the Persian language. What are you in
comparison with the dark-haired Arabs, those white complected like the moon,
white of foreheads and cheeks, black of forelocks and body marks; those who are in-
tensely black and broad of eyes and of spears, open and pleasant in countenance and
in generosity, carrying the crowns of their heads enveloped in turbans, and having
their lofty ambitions soaring in the clouds? They stirred up the fire of war against you
with those mangy camels, so that they broke the power of your Chosroes and
straitened your Caesars. They allayed the fire of your impetuosity, obliterated the
traces of your empire, purified the Holy Land 6 of your unclean ones and the mosque
of al-Aq~a7 of your filthy ones who were accustomed to void their excrement without
washing their posteriors and were under the obligation of performing a total ablution
3 A verse by Malik the Azdlte. the first king of the Arab sctt lert in Iraq . He is said to have been accident -
all_rshot with an am?w by his son. Sulai~a. and Lo ha:ve uttered this ve!se before expiring (ibid .. p. 34);
A proverb meaning "among you, neither abundance nor prospemy are to be found" · (Al;tm.ad 1bn
Muba"mmad al-Maidiin 1, Majma' fll-Am!llal [Cairo . .l 892), II, 159).
~'Amr ibn 'Adi was the first Lak.hmjdk ing ofHira. He lived ia the thi rd century and the dates of his reign
have been established as 268-288. Many legends are woven around his name and he is the subject of
numerous proverbs (E/ 2 • !. 450). This one is \lSually taken to mean 'a mong you, there are neither greater
nor lesser heroes ; neither lords nor vassals:· 'Amr was proverbial for generosily .
•r.c., Damascus, Palestine. and part of Jordan and Syria.
--,In Jerusalem (P. K. Hitti. History of//,{! Arabs [7th. ed. ; Lon.don. 1961], pp. 221-265.
Fourth Refutation 77
by reason of sexual intercourse, but who did not cleanse themselves; those who were
herders of pigs and eaters of cats. As for your men, they are uncircumcised; and as for
your women, they are both foul and uncircumcised. The non-Arabs recognize neither
female nor male circumcision, neither are they fond of iron spearheads or of the reins
of horses. Woe to you for what you have preferred and for those whom you have
striven to outnumber. Are you not ashamed of what you proffer? Surely the Arabs
were none other than a treasure of glory, a priceless hoard of boasting, and a store for
the time of need which God laid up until the ordained moment, lodging them in a
land shunned by men of wealth yet coveted by men of intelligence. God preserved the
Arabs' personal merit in that land and by means of it he kept their genealogies pure.
He chose them in order that He might choose His pure friend from among them and
distinguished them in order that He might distinguish His most generous one from
them; then He attributed to them in particular a pure wisdom, a keen understanding,
and heroically refusing souls. If you bound yourself to them by covenant as a client,
they would assist you; yet if you disputed with them they would straiten you; if you
competed with them in excellence, they would excel you; if you vied with them in
shooting, they would surpass you therein; if you contended with them in beneficence,
they would exceed you therein; if you sought a gift from them, they would see that you
got it. One of them goes toward death with a firm tread, a wide step, intense vehe-
mence, his garment dragging over brave warriors, his fingers skilled in the use of
spears, his iron spearhead watchful over the heart's blood of armor-clad warriors;
whereas you, as you have described, are soft skinned, of dubious lineage; you do not
embark upon predatory raids nor do you travel to the lowlands; you neither restrain
others nor do you refrain from excess; your hearts are hungry but your livers are
cowardly and your minds evil. Your skin has become soft, your breasts full, your
cheeks red; you shave off your beards and moustaches and give one another kisses on
the mouth. 8 The Arabs, quite the contrary, censure ease and dispraise ampleness of
means; they boast of strength of character and glory in their firmness; hence if you
wish to contend with them in boasting it must be in other than food and drink-
rather, let it be in the thrusting of spears and in smiting. And what did you have
against eating wild herbs? Have you ever had to fear the impossibility of finding any-
thing but them or to dread their lack? Did you ever have any need of them? Did you
have any hankering for them? Indeed, what your disdain for them caused you to reach,
and what your scorn for them aroused you to utter, were serious matters. This is an
extraordinary argument which does not achieve its purpose. Your mention of the
flag-showing prostitutes is amazing, in view of the fact that illicit sexual intercourse
among you is as common as the suckling of infants. Among you there is no dis-
approval of intoxication; you make lawful the entrance of barbarians upon women
like full moons hidden behind concealing curtains, while among you prostitution is
an honorable state and fornication is a cause for boasting. Therefore, how can you
deny what you have mentioned when you yourself pursue these customs? The case is
clearly conspicuous and the story is an enduring one, for "the first to be satisfied by a
biography is the one who traced it."
And in another section.-The Arabs traveled to Iraq and advanced eastward, while
8
Lit., "places of drinking," i.e., "mouths."
78 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
no one repelled them nor did any one tum them back; until they destroyed Siisiin
and Kiisiin, mastered Khurasan and Masan, crossed Transoxania victoriously, made
you withdraw into the Cilician Gates,1° imposed anxieties upon you with detach-
ments of horses and herds of woes. They caused their resolution to penetrate deeply
into you and satisfied the need of routing armies by means of you, until they chased
you into the burrow of the stinking Byzantine land and the foul-smelling Con-
stantinople where they fought against you from both its shores and crushed you
completely, as it were, between both leaves of its folding door. Did the news of
Yazid's 11 stroke with his spearshaft, or the tale of Khalid ibn Yazid 12 in his deep
trench, or the banner bearing a distinctive mark, or that unequivocal wonder , the
mosque ofMaslama, 13 not reach you?
Furthermore, how many a raging hot midsummer or early summer expedition was
detached against you! Next the Arabs turned westward laying waste the land so that
of the non-Arabs they left not even one single mutterer of a foreign tongue or any up-
start heretic; nor did they suffer one single sedentary or nomadic Berber to endure.
They then moved forward, traversing the land and sailing across the sea until their
Tariq 14 smote you in this region; their archer shot you in this target, and they rushed
Fourth Refutation 79
9
cealed; yo~ were the fruit of the sins of those women allotted to us as gifts; so do not
seek what~ sought by ·the subdued or grieve with the grief of the overpowered; do not
be angry with the anger of the prisoner against his bonds and do not rage with the
foolisb rage of one seeking water, against an endless flow. Do not fear for before you
the Arabs straitened nations and bent down the crowns of heads, since they were the
noblest men of the age and the masters of the ideas that prevailed at that time; to them
belonged. the pure-blooded Arabs and from them came 'Ad the overpowering, en-
dowed with w1seclemency and strong bodies, as well as Iram of the lofty columns such
that its like in the land was never created. From among them come Luqman he of the
vultures 19 and builder
·
of castles, as well as the Thamud who hol1owed out '
rocks
20
made dwellings in the valley, and hewed out houses in the mountains; and th~
Amalek:ites and Pharaoh s, to whom you acted in the capacity of tillers and fighters
who return to the fray after wheeling; and the Tubba's 21 and the ---, 22 and
Alexander the Great builder of the dam, 23 and Shammar who laid waste Samar-
kand. 24 God-may He be exalted!-sa.id: "Are they better than the people of
25
Tubba'?" thus making them proverbial for greatness. To them belong the kinos of
Himyar and the princes ofKahlan. 26 0

blindly against you in this country, 15 trampling upon it. Thus it is as if they had aimed
They were the upper portion of mankind
stones at it without missing it, for they governed all of your land in both of its regions, before the coming of the Prophet, and after
having encompassed it from both sides.16 the truth appeared among them they became
bright stars.
And they pressed your two wings tightly
upon the heart, so that the under They were lofty in their royal authority prior
feathers and the wing tips died under to the coming of the message, and they became
the squeezing. 1 7 lofty with the message itself, so that it
is they who offered protection and they
Therefore, what opposition did you show to a people who crossed your country who offered assistance.
and enslaved your children? Then, when they had gained power, the Arabs were for- They were rulers lofty in rank . hunters going forth to the chase, protecting their com-
givingand placed a per capita tribute upon the skulls of the non-Arabs and an injunc- panions; to them belong height and eminence, and among them are rooted the
tion on the knuckles of tall men so that they appeared before the collector of tithes emen:ite kings who were estab]jshed in their dominion not being djsplaced there-
stumbling and attended the marketplace wearing neck rings. Thus, if you entered the 27
from, as well as the Himyarite kings whose names began with !)u. 28
true faith you were circumcised and if you abandoned it your heads 18 were seized.
They are as prominent as the nose on the face
You yourself were a residue left over after the parceling out of those slave girls; you of time, while their glory on the pages of time
were the guardian of. those prisoners, guarding them like a c!oak over what is con- is not a heavy burden.

'Eponymous hero of the Sassanians. He was the son of Isfandiyar or of Bahman (EI', IV, 178). "The leg~dary king of the s~ond people of'Ad who settled in Saba . He is sa,id to have built the.great
10
" A.I-Darb is the Ar:ib!cname of the ancient Derbe near the Cilician Gates , which was the chief moun-
~amofManb, and was caUcd "he.of the vultures" because it wasgranted to him that h.eshould live as Jong
tain pass from the directfon of the countries occupied by the Arabs . imo the territory of the Greek Empire'" ~sseven vultur~s , !'.lneafter another. He became famous for his longe\'ity. for his learning. and for the men-
(Edward William Lane. Arab,c-Englf sh Lexicon [London. 1863), nr.866. col. 3). made of him
1:lOJii 1
m the Koran (31) (E/ • Ill . 35- 37; ioholson. op. cir.. p. 2).
'!Yaztd 1 auacked B)'2:!lntiu_m in ~e year 49/669 (Hitti. op. cil .. p. 201 ; £1 1 • TV, 11~2). . . The Toamii1 were one of Lbelegendary peoples ,yho. like 'Ad,. had disappeared before the coming of
1
·Son ofYazid I?Th1s Umaiyad prince (d. 704 or 708) was a learned scho lar and gal.De~a ~at reputa- Mul)~mmad (El , JV, 736, cols. 1- 2). For their hollowmg out rocks 1.0 the valley of Wadi al-Qurii, see Lane,
tion as a philosopher (Hitt i. op. cit .. p. 255). But there were also several olher people beanng lh1s name , so op. cu.. n. 479, col. I.
it is unlikely the prince is intended . . . ! ~Himyarltt: kings ( ' icholson . op. cit .. p. I7). •
U Maslama ibn 'Abd al-Malik. ibn Marwin is said to have beeo perrmtled ro construct a mosque ·m Con· The Arabic text record s the plural form mariibra . I have oot been able to identify any people by this
stantinoplc in 1.1:\e year 9~ A.H... during the [eign of al-W,alid (ihld,. pp . 203- 204). __ . . . name .
"Tanq ibn Ziyad was the Berber or Persian (at all events , not Arab) maula of Musa tbn u~ir , whom - 3
' . According to .Ara~ian legends . .which may be the result of a confused account of the Great Wall of
vaded Al-And alus on April 3.0.711. with an army of 7,000 men , most of whom wei;e Berhe .rs (E/ 1, IV. Chjf3, Alexander IS Sa.I~ to h!3-VC ~uilt a da,m t~ contain God and Magog .
666-667). Shammar was a Himyamc king who is sa:id to have reached Samarkand in his raids (Hitti, op.-cit.,
UJ.c.. Al·Andalus . p. I),
60
16 1.c.. they conquered the territory of the non-Arabs from its eastern to its western borders. 15
1<:oran44:37 .
26
" AJ-Mutanabbf . Diwiin, ed. F . Dieterici (Berlin, 1861), p. 553; trans. A. J. Arberry, Arabic Poetry AYemenite tribe.
27
(Cambridge , 1965). pp. 88-89. (Lane. op. cit., v , 1942, col. 2).
Al- ' Abaltila
18 28
Lit.. "those parts of your bodies wherein were your lips ." A dynasty of the tribe of Qu,;!a'a; e.g. Qu Yazan, l)u Jadan, Qu Nuwas (ibid., III, 985, col. J ).
80 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus Fourth Refutation 81
And they blocked the way for Gog 29
When I suppress a certain female relative , there
when they followed one another to remains to me no way of returning to
a region far removed from the son of al-Kiihiliyya, 34
the eye.
Ibn Al-Zubair replied: Had he only assigned to me a mother worse tl1ao
You will see every lank-waisted warrior h.isown
paternal a~t. he would bave reviled me by afliliatiog_meto her!" Do you
whose two waistbands are folded one not see how
over the other , upon every horse lank Ibn al-Zuba1r overcame Ibn Fac;lalawhile the latter 's poem on tbe subject
of the for-
in the sides, short haired . mer faile? in its satire? And far are the Arabs from being included among
those whom
we menuoned; on the contrary, to them belong the highest nobility
For those who are beardless in peace and the most
are hoary headed in forbearance, while elevated rank - despite the connection of your genealogy with Ruman 35
: while if
those who are hoary headed in war you should b~ from ~oog the children of Canaan 36 then b,owremote
are beardless in unbridled passion.
is your home-
land, how d1stant JS your place of pilgrimage, and how oblitera
ted are your
In their hands the thin white swords monuments.
are like rivulets of the water As ~ar.as h?rses are concerned grant to the Arabs the riding and leaping
of death to which has been upon them,
and.distmgwsh betwee~ h~rses and the Arabs ' faults, for neither you
said: HFreeze !" nor your com-
p~mons have any portion m horses. Stick to the mean jades whose ·t
Therefore, what are your pebbles when compared with their mountains, ails bave been
or your clipped and the hackneys of mixed breed wearing stuffed straw saddles·
bor es are
prickles in comparison with their arrows? t?e ploughed fields and seed produce of the Arabs . their war equipment
And in another section.-And wherefore did you uproot your lineage and spring-
from the tune ~:rbage. Sure]~ y~u know that their horses are more famous than
Nabateans and remove your branches from the Egyptians? What was your kings
their offense both m· name and m mckname; more outstanding than your descend
and their crime against you that you excluded them from the compan ants both in
y of the non- ancesU'y~nd in_o~spring. 1:he Arabs used to speak of tbe fillies of A.'waj,
Arabs and eliminated them from the company of the possessors of translato 30 tbe family
rs ? ~f al-~aJih , L~biq the filhes of al-'Asjadi. the family of J;?iial-'Uqqf
Because of their relationship to their illustrious lady and by reason of il Dab.is, al-
their noble- Gabra , al-Jarada al-Han.fa' al- a'fil:na al-Sham.ma', F:Ia:filaJ-Shaqra'.
woman31 did the Arabs revile the birth of those who clung to you and al-Za'fran
obstinately al-l:lariin al-Maknun, al-Baµn. al-Sanl:l, Qurzul, al-'A~a ;3 7 and their
adhered to your genealogy. Do you not know that the most foolish names are
of your deeds many while their nicknames are famous.
and the most stupid of your sayings is the reviling of your enemy for Can you perchance mention to us a famous horse or a well-remembered
the birth of a cavalier.
woman who is one of your own people? Is this not the result of from among the stallions of your ancestral forefathers and the horses of
your heedless your parties
ignorance? of old?
When Ibn Fac}iila32 said, on the subject oflbn al-Zubair: 33 lf you bad contended for superiority with the Arabs in respect to erecting
water-
wheels. bending iron hooks, planting trees in enclosures, pruning overgro
wn braocbe
29 Gog and Magog were two peo~les and wor~g at the anvil, we would be satisfied and would acknowledge
connected with the no rtheast of the ancient world . They were the justice
supposed 10 burst out of the ir isolation during the Last Days and
to devastate the world as they moved of your claun. But as for crossing the nights aided onward by the delicate
southward . Finally they were t0 be destroyed in the land of Israel sense of
blocked temporarily by lhe dam built by Alexander the Great (£ / 1 ,
{Koran 18:92 ff.; 21 :96). They were hearing of horse , traversing the desert by means of tbe forelegs of swift
l °Theemperol'$ of Per!.ia and Byzantium had official 1ransla1ors tot'>7 , 1142). she-camels
deal with foreign correspondence and scattering raiding parties and exacting bloodwites-weU you should leave
di~!omacy. horses and
1 1.e.. J;lagar. the mother of Ishmael. their difficulties alone, and not try to cope witb their peculiarities, for
of Jewish , therefore non -Arab. extraction. the Arabs are
H 'AbdAllah ibn F1u;lii!awas a poet who flourished during the age of the Prophet. ''He came on a depu!3-- certainly closer to horses and the latter are more used to the Arabs , while
tion to 'Abd Alliih ibn a.!-Zubair and said 10 him: 'My sb'e-camel bas the Arab
sores.' lbn al-Zubair replied: 'Then patch her up with a hide , mend become cxbausied and is covered with are more :fi.ttedLoand adhere more closely to horses which in tum are
her with horsehair ,. and travel with her more closely
during the two cold parts of the day, namely the morning between daybreak
and sunnse, and the eyenmg connected to the Arabs , while the latter ride to war in fine linen robes
between sunset and nightfall.' Ibn Fa9iila answered: 'I came to you and their
advice, so may God curse the she-camel that bore me to you.' Ibn m search of a mount , not lookmg for cavalier ride to battle , each with his arms around the other s neck embraci
al-Zubair retorted: 'Yes, and may He ng after
also curse her rider .' So lbn Fa9iila left his presence reciting: the fashion of tender maidens.
I say to my young men: 'tighten the harness of my
mount; I surpass the valley of Mecca in the
number of my relatives.
. '"Mother of lbn al-Zubair . daughter of the caliph Abu Bakr . She
When I suppress a certain female relative , there m Mc<:ca(E/ 2 • I, 713-7 14). was one of the early converts to Islam
remains to me no way of returning to the son
of al-Kahiliyya [Abii al-Faraj al-Isfahiini , Kitab al-Agan, (Cairo, 1905), ~~EponY.'11~usancestor of the Rum or 13Jl:<lntines.
X, 1:he biblical ~naan became a personahty about whom there
162-163]." ls!a:micaccounl (£/ • 11.708). He was the son of Ham. son of Noa.hare many conflicting traclitions in 1.he
33 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubair was a contempor [Ca1ro. 1962].p. 463). (lbn l;lazm. Jamharat Ansab al-'Arab
ary of Mul).ammad who fought against the Umaiyad cause
and has been idealized as a brave warrior by the Islamic tradition (El 1 " For these ho= see lbn al-Kalbi , Kirab Ansiib al-Kl,ail. ed. Al)mad Zaki Pasha (Cairo,
, I, 54-55). 1946).
82 The Shu"ubiyya in Al-Andalus Fourth Refutation 83

And in another section.-What vice can you find fault with in a people who dwell in
a wide open land, drink pure water, raise their tent poles and, being generous hosts,
burn mucb. wood, and so have many ashes of the cooking pot?
Kindling in Nejd a desert fire; not
settling down, since loss of glory is to be
found in sedentary life. 38
When raindrops flowed, their slaves kindled
it under the clouds for those traveling with
the camel caravans.
I do not kdow why lack of firewood-if indeed they really lacked it-has become
a cause of blame , since the possession offaewood is not reckoned as the source of any
inner worth or lineal -glory. You however were guided toward novelty and resorted
to subtlety· so-praise be to Go.d !-how aceurate is your mind and how quick your
thought! You spoke in detail and with elegance to p_rove the firmness and truth of your
point; nay, you even exceeded all natural bounds m your speech to the extent of ap-
pearin<>foolish. For if the matter is really as you have stated then where are thega~1
tree o/ ejd and the latter's qullam reeds found? Where are found Nejd's rand and
41 42 43
39
40
its bashlim; its garab and its nab'; its salam and its sa/' · the ' ar1am and the
'alajlin;44 tl1esasam45 and the blin,46 the sl1iza41 and the ath'ab ;48 the ranajl-9 and the
51
shauhac· 50 and how did the Arnbs know of the great spreading kanahhu/ trees and
52 53
the ~othpicks made from the is/:zi/? Furthennore the Kitab al-Nablit bears wit-
ness against you because of the great number of trees it includes. ..
And in another section.-How could you have sought leave of your overpowenng
excellence and your self-claimed manifest nobility to conduct your boasting in opposi-
tion to what is true, and to resort in your headlong haste to what is false? Surely
Nu'man was no other than a king of kings and a sw:i of the heavenly sphere s, whose
stock was well rooted and whose descendants were numerous. He dwelt in Hira, and
you were his protected clients a king effective in affairs from the time of Malik ibn
Fahm, 54 to whom the towns and lands watered by the Euphrates paid their land tax,
while for bis benefit they enslaved their non-Arabs. Thus he protected you from all
the Arabs. from Jilliq 55 to Sanii'a , 56 and defe.nded you with his wealth and en-
"Fr om a poem by Abu aJ-'Alii' al-Ma'a.rr i, Slmrfll.1Saqt al-Zand (Cairo, 1945), p. 142.
39 Rand: a tree of the de~rt producing a sweet odor .
40 Tree that produces the balsam of Mecca: Amyris opobalscunium . off your earrings, they entered your women's chambers, violating the chastity of your
41
Mimosaflava. a thorny tree.
42 Sa11lim1hu.,quadrag01ms.a bitter tree.
43
A tree of the Hejaz having a red fruit.
44
A tree growing in the desert sand . . And you left me nothing that could remain mine,
45 A tree growing in the mountains and from the woo<! of which arr ows an: made.
46 Species of Morb,ga. . The blin nu! has a fragrant oil. Bli11also denot es a willow: Salix aegyptza.
47
A black wood of which bowls arc made .
~ 8 A type of tree.
4 !1A wild willow from which extracis of a musky nature are prepare _d.
soA specicS'oi mountain tree having yellow wood that turns red as JI ages . .From it bows arc made.
51 A large tree of the oak family .
H A tree resembling the tamarisk, the twigs of which a.re used for cleaning tJ:!C; tee~ .
~' The Book of Plcmu;, a title used by several. author~, among whom. was ~b .u Ub3;1da.
l• T,hefirst chieftain of the Arab settlement 10 ~mq. He was an Azdite (H 1tu , op. ell.. p. 82).
55 The Gassanid capital (ibid., p. 78).
56 1n Yemen .
durance, after a strong and respected pact and a permanent treaty were ratified by
you. The Arabs protected whomsoever he protected and raided whomsoever he
raided, so that the condition of the Persians prospered because ofNu'man's rank and
became powerful because of his royal authority. Therefore, when he exalted himself
over your non-Arabs, refused your marriage offer, and said to the one seeking wed-
lock: "Stick to the black cows of Persia," you asked him to visit you and then you
betrayed him. So in what light have you considered the anger of the Arabs in exacting
their blood vengeance and seeking their bloodwite? Did they not repel you at .Qu Qar
as the despicable are repelled, so that they won the satisfaction of God, the Clement,
through you, exacted blood retaliation for Nu'man, dispersed the sons of Sasan and
the family ofKasan, 57 so that no leg of any Persian quadruped stood up after this, nor
did any pasturing beast of theirs pasture any more? They did not cease to rush on,
running in successive waves and following one another as winds blowing violently,
until God completed their destruction and Islam extirpated their family and house-
hold.
As for the family of Gassan-well, they are the most pre-eminent nobility and un-
demolished construction. They poured forth from their land when the torrent flowed
fro.m the dam and poured forth upon the surrounding countryside. Then, they
traveled from their land in haste journeying from their habitual watering place and
moving away from their homeland. And they settled in the vicinity ofHejaz and went
down to Syria and found a land in which there were sown fields, abundance of herbage
near water, and autumnal verdure, a land inhabited by men wide in the belly and who
had become weak, neither defending themselves nor seeking the protection of others.
So the Arabs said: "This is a spoil acquired without effort and booty of the best kind."
In this way they settled in al-Zaura' 58 and the verdant Guta. 59
And they circled around al-Jaulan;
then they captured the objects of their desire
in Saida' near I:Iarib. 60
So they threw down their staff and
settled with it in the region toward
which they had journeyed, as a
wayfarer refreshes his eye at the
homecoming.
In order to humiliate you by causing your noses to cleave to the ground, and to cut
harems, notwithstanding the wrath of your breasts.
. . even though you both feared the transpiercing
of arrows.
.
"Ka shan \E/ 1 , II, 786) is in Persia. "F amily of K ashan" is a reference to the Persian emperors .
58
" The ob iqu e," a nickname of Bagh.dad (A. de Bibe~ tein )'{azimirski, Dictiom,ai re Arab e-Franrais
[new ed. ; Paris . 1960]. l, 1026, col. 2).
9
' The rich oa sis outside Damas cus (Hit li. op. ci 1., pp . 231. 350, 550).
00
"A place in the province of Damascus , near l;lauriin not far from Marj al-Suffar, one of the towns of
the tribe qf Qw;la'a" (Yaqiit, Lexicon Geographicum, ed. T. G. J. Juynboll [Leiden, 1852-1864], I, 280).
Here the Gassanid mausoleum was located.
84 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus Fourth Refutation
85
So you said : "It is a noble event, a universal blessi over to the Arabs in wl~fob they have great learn
ng and a wall to which there is a ing and a rank preceding all othe rs.
gateway, in the inside of which lies mercy and from To them be1o~gst he sc1enc~of auguring from bird
the ou tside of which comes punish- s passing by on
ment; sharpness is not repul sed save by sharp
ne ss 'nor is iron cut other than by i d and from m fron t. Among t hem is found the studythe right or on the
~eft; fr~n_behin
iron, 61 while the repelling of evil by means of evil mausp 1c1ous omens, ~reserva tives, black crows of auspicious and
is extremel y prudent. ' Therefore , of ill omen , and other things such as
when did the Arabs ever pay a tax to you , or bear amulets and the marriage of bran ches .64 Tb.ere
waterskins for you, when they were were those among them who did not
protecting you in the way stud camels protect their rely on this subjec t, nor did they have any regard
pregnant dams, defending you as for it and in their poems there are
lions defend their cubs? Or do you think you left ~nan~ examp 1 s o:r ~hat. As for .divina tion it was
Syria to them as a pasture in exchange
for their contract and as a means of closening your
ties of kinship with them?
7
unpamn¥ the;; vmo~ , for they followed the ad
widespread among them , a covering
And in another section. -When you boasted of vice of Shiqq 65 and Sati];I,66, zarqa'
exact logic and natural philosophy , of Y~m.ama JuiaiJ:ia al~Asadi 68 Mu sailim a al-l:{anafi, 69 al-Aswad al-'
you said the truth and spoke in my stead . They , Zuha1r 1bn Jan ab al-Kalbt , 7. 1 al-Ar a of ajran 72 AnasI , 7 0
like gardens , are quick to wither and , and the diviner of Gatafan n
abound in wild growth ; they are flowers fresh by whose prac tice it was to divine by examining the
reason of plentiful irrigation, and members of the body and ~ole s of
blossoms bending down toward the ground which the face. Then when the true religion arrived the
bear neither fruit nor pith . practice of divination came to an
end because it had become futil e, and when the
And sur ely nothing is to be found in Koran was revealed Satao was chased
gardens , for tbe seeker of their enjo yment ,
away.
save tbe ob servation of tbe be auty of their The other category is in the same _wise, for the Arabs
have a juster claim to and are
flowers.
They are like unto a productive land, pleasing to
the eye and endowed with a broad, 63com u111ed
open area, yet one having no building that may
shade, in which the dead are buried and voices
be dwelt in or any ceiling to offer its ~~rds. bd~Pe{<:ri1dflou_t; and i_f.f:~flyi!Jg,
Ale~ , d ut 1 } ei: e sides. ~vii. T his kind ~bey tur !)t:d t~eir righ t sides 1owards him, he augured
well from
are extinguished . - n a 1us. o r in t 11e first Imes o f the Poema
of dr\llnatJ on was com mon io Chris tian Sp ain
as well as in
As for mathematical astronomy , it is a practical di! Mi()Cid ( 11. 11- 12) the anony mous poet says :
science based upon rules of arith- ·
metic and geometry . The sum total of this scienc A la exida de Bivar oviero n la comeja dies tra.
e consists of instruments for deter- e entra nd o a Burgos. oviero nla siniestra .
mining the changes in position of stars, implements
for studying the heavenly spheres, The supers tition i~ tudie d bv R. M~nend.ez.P.idal
(Cumar tie Mjo Cid [Ma dri d. 1906~191 J], 486.
measurements for spaces, and systems for numbers; ~ well ~sby f'-n:enco Ca tro (~, :"alidad/11stor
while in the different branches of ~. d s bel;'ef in omens and d1vmauon by the 1cff de Espoiia [Me xico. 1954). p . 275 n. 32), who claims 596)
the qaniin61 there is, concerning astronomy , no Bight of birds derives from the M uslims o f Al-An that
subject devoted to the successful A pracuce of the pagan.Arabs: " When a man
was about to make a jou rney. he betoo k bi.mseldalus.
attainment of precise distinctions or of analyzing bi:anch es .. or _two tr~~. and ucd one bra n~h to f to two
the origin and ultimate goal of what 1vi~ ~~ma101:J ano ther . and
ed as 1t 1s. 01heiw 1~, she will have brok en 1besaid. 'if my ,vifo be faj1hful 1o the com aCL.this
exists. Thus its practitioners are despicable labore 5 comp ac t'" (Lan e. op.
rs; they are dependant upon its Sbiqq ts .the nam e of rwo d1vmers who lived shor ell
1ly befor e the rise ofl slam. Acco rding to
.. TU. 1029. fo l. J),
amo ng lheArabsof'A riba . He is qulte a fab ulous1hc s no sis
various methods; whereas the Arabs are far from of M orl'els. Sh1qq the elder was th e first diviner
doing profes sional work , since they Like lhe, Cycl~ p.s. he ~ad on ly !)OC eye ii'!the m,i_~d J'on: e.
shun servitude. It is one of your own sayings that leof .his forehea d or a fire which spli 1 b_
the lot of science is more noble than l:;aqfia to sph.t ). He 1salso m ixed up with D al)al. Antlc~ is foreh:d in t,~.0
that of labor , so that astronomy is therefore the worse
of the two lots and the lower of y ved e;hamed to a rock on an 1sla!1d
a1- ashkan was ,the most famous of h.1s ~vherc
rist, o r at least Dajjal is of his fami ly.
volc~ 1c phenomena occu rred . T he second He is said to
the two sciences. Na~[ 1h,;_!..akhm1d p n ncc of )'.cmen, foretel:ir(lf a lo ng wi th Sa\ill; he expou nded a vi. ion of Shiq q call ed
llmg the conqu est o f Yemen by 1he A byssi nian Rabi'a so n o f
Geometry is the science of forms and of ascendants bY1':," ,..1 Yazan ap~the commg of the Pro
phet" (Eli , rv. 370).
s its libera tion
and their rotation , its genus 66
A fab~o us d 1vrner o f p re-Islam ic Arabia-a •
being composed of two species and the door where ~iihin who se name m ean s ·ftal!en oo on the groun d and
by it may be attained having two unable to nse o n acco un t of the weak ness of
his hmbs." He is describ
folding leaves: theses which should not be confu muscles: he had no head bu t a human face in 1he ed as a mons ter wit hout bone s or
sed with hypotheses. As for the an- and palm-bra n~ts. imd w!Jenhe bad to change
cent re o f hise hcst · he lay o n the gro und on a
bed ofl eaves
cients, they divided it according to the belief that his positio n 'the)I r~lled him up like a carpe t'·
the ascendants could be unfavorable waN,:rltated or inspi red d id he mfia_!hi1;1se c 1f or stand 11p" (EI'. fV, 18 J- 1S2). o nly when be
or favorable , these being unsound sources and .The b lue-eyed woma n of Yama ma. a sorceress p rover '
an impossible opinion to accept. a1a d1S .tan_ceof three days march. An ~'ll~ic prover b ays bial for her a bility to see what was ta.kin lace
Some moderns , however , said: "Geometry is like " clearer sigh1ed than Zarqii' of Yamama~lEJ'.
the science of auguring good or evil l 1• ~25, N icho lson , op. c,1.:p. 25; Kaum u skl. op.
tit .. I. 987, col. J) .
from birds by considering their names, their places . 6 .A P;Opbet of the Ban'! Asad and Gatai:an
of alighting and of passage as well dn!Jm utt ve Tula 11) a. Hecla 1med 10 have received
nam .ed Ta l]Ja. to whom the Mus lims scoffin gly
ap plied the
as !heir cries; or of auguring from the pa ssing wr!~ers as a soo th sayer rathe r_than ~s a pro phet revelation s fro m an angel bul usually he appears in Islamic
of bird s on the right hand or on the (Hiu i, op. cit., 1
left ;63 or it is like the science of physiognomy , the The prop he1 of 1hc ~a nu l;lani fa who , accord p. 14 1; E/ , IV , 830).
latter being a field wholl y delivered Mu~am mad . and . ac~o!"dmg to ano ther. after ing to o ne trad ition . began his ca reer befo re
th at o f
a ~orauve sense (1-ht u . op. cl c.. p. 141; £/ 1, JU. the latter"s dea th. His na me is also a dimi nutive exp ressing
745).
Sh<;> rtl Ybefore the deat h o f M u!Jamma d_.al-Aswad
an~ ~e is representc ~ as possessmg propheuc assumed th e leadership o f a revo lt in So uth Ara
asp 1 bia
61 A proverb meaning tha t in
d ifficult maners one sho uld seek the help ofthosc . 1 ':' poet of tbc u mc before Islam an d belong 1.ra uons (E / • l . 502- 503 ; Hitt i, op. cit., p . 142). '
brinsabouta ha ppy o utco roe{Alµuad ibn Mu who are strong eno ing 10 a gene rat ion ear lier
b-ammad al- M aidani , Prove,·biorum Arabicorum, ugh to is reckoned ~mong the lon g l!ved ~nes
(m1f'!mm arii 11) an d as be is brou ghl int o
than Zu bair ibn Abi Su lmii. fie
Schultens [Leiden , 1795), p. 289. no . ccc;cxxxiii). ed . B. A and M u!1alh1!h musl have hved m the earlier con tact with Kulaib Wii'il
62QamTnis ·"cus tom·• law, as oppo sed to 7 pan o f the ixth centur
sfiari'a or ·'r eligiou s law" (.E/1, II . 723).
corrrn .m_g~is.life are. ho wever. so legen dary that no ,elia nce can be y of th e Christi an era. Th e acco unts
63 0 n this kind of d ivina1io n, see 1.an
e{op. cil .. lll , 12 16, co l. 2): "z ajara al-/alra airan 1s m Yemen. placed upon them " (£ / 1 IV 1237)
' He 1hrew a pebb le al lbc "Galaf'ii n is a onh Arabia n tri be . · ' ·
continued
86 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us Fourth Refutation 87
74 75
more worthy of it, for it is the recognition of the months and days, the reckoning of pre~eding one, and muzdawaj poetry with its defective feet that rhyme in couplets;
ages and years, of the heavenly spheres and their levels, of the signs of the Zodiac and while_the Arab ~laves in all this have grieving, mo ing melodies, cries of joy, and ex·-
their degrees, of the planets and their alternate rising and setting, of the stars and their press1o~s of pent up rage hazaj and rama/ 76 rhythms and the like in the way of
setting one after another. They were familiar with the sky and the means of life and rhythmic modes such as the rukbani
77
a'rabf 78 na$bf 19 madailf, 8 0 thaqrl al-thiini s 1
82 83 84
subsistence it afforded, with the earth and its herbs; they described ascendants and 'ami,d al-madani, makhurf , suraiji , and khajif al-madani 85 all of which are so
descendants, classified the fixed stars and the moments when they verged to setting, abundant an~ so many in number, thatthey have caused to be forgotten the argan,86
8 88
calamities and the diseases they caused, the seasons and their temperatures; so that the shalyaq, ' the $an}, the kankala , 8 9 thefandtira ,9 0 and the qitluira, 91 so that the
no star rose but that they gave it a name and no plant grew but that they described it, latter are not well known, nor are they commonly employed.
92
for there is no enjoyment of life in any region save b_ythe guarantee of the rains, as And I do not think Ma'bad and al-Gari<,i93 and their companions ever studied
there is no subsistence for animals save by means of plants. The Arabs therefore knew music or listened to any eloquent speaker. So compare if you wish their naturally in-
the two ways of maintaining life and they described the two ways of seeking safety. ~pired melodies to your artificially constructed measures, and disclose their mistakes
That only is an excellence which nothing can surpass. m making melody and their faults in trilling the voice.
As for medicine, the Arabs summarized it in two well-known sayings and two well- . Over and above this fact music is a reprehensible science. It was related in a tradi-
preserved expressions, according to their custom of abbreviating and their method in tion: "Indeed, the first to sing and wail was Iblis, when Adam ate of the tree of
94
abridging. They declared: "The stomach is the abode of disease, and abstaining from knowledge." It was also said: "And he was the first to fashion the tunbur." 95 Hence,
injurious foods is the principal part of medicine.' Mul;iammad-may God bless and let there be no welcome to a science in which lblis, the accursed, is the instructor.
save him !-said: "The origin of every disease is indigesfion." And they added: "Eat Fu'.thermore there was among the Arabs one of such a nature tha t when he sang,
only when you are hungry, and leave off eating while you are still hungry." So they the wild an1IUalsturned their necks, forsook their usual habits lowered their cheeks
put medicine in close connection with its means of healing and good health in its own abandoned their shyness, inclined toward him, and approach.ed him then when h;
context. If you were to investigate the original sources of Socrates , and clearly explain topped singing they reve~ed to their original disposition to take fright and run away
the derivative sources of Hippocrates you would noi find any outstanding addition at random, and sought theu coverts. Such was the behavior of wild animals that take
nor any useful enumeration . Furthermore , these matters are not of the sort in which fright at mankind and of shy beasts; so what do you think was the behavior of tender
only individuals of the Arabs stand out, nor are their exceptional men especially
distinguished in them to the exclusion of others; on the contrary, the small and the ed.; Cambridge , 1962]. II. 369.
;:,\{ashfu! (\V .. Wright : A_Grammarof the Arabic Language [3d
great of the Arabs speak of them ; their women are familiar with medicine, their slave 76 Poet'?' m which he[!ll L1cbs~hyme together two by two (E/ 1 , Jll . 800).
womencry it out , their poetry alludes clearly to it, and their tradition .s speak accurately HazaJ : an a ntispasu c meter m poetry, The word means "the trilling;• JI is composed of the basic form
The ramal. ·;1he runni ng" is based upon the foot - - - -. (Wright. op. cit., U, 363. 366).
about it. They neither repeated what others had said before nor followed what had
• - 1-,-.
The rb.ythm 'of the cavalcade" (H_ G . Farmer. A Hi.story of Arabian Music 10 tire Xii/th . Ct:mury
been previously indicated; rather, they were gifted with a pure, natural disposition foI [4,ndon. 1929], pp. I 4. 42. 50).
18
The rhythm "of the Bedouins .'· ·
cultivating it, sufficient innate qualities of mind to grasp it, sound native judgment and S. ;~fl:lmad al- a.1ibi was the master of the JJQJbrhythm an d the first one to use it in singing (ibid., pp. s.
noble natures; from their discourse wise sayings are acquired while from their de- 80
The "Medincse'' rhythm .
bates proverbs become current, according to one single method: namely that of lin- "'Two
81
light beats and a heavy one (ibid., p. 71).
"Medinese base."
guistic chasteness in disputation and debate ; and according to one single path:
:!The light sounding of l!J.oqila/-/}J_{illi(ibid., pp . 111, 112 117. I 58).
namely that of eloquence in friendly reconciliation and anger in breaking off from Re.lated to Ibo Suraij, the singer (HiLtl,op. cit., p. 275)'. ·
others, as well as brevity of speech in altercation. Furthermore the Arabs were not ::· The ~~ncse light. bea t" (Farmer. op. cit., p. 71).
• Pneumallc organ (S,r Thomas Arnold and Alfred Guillaume , The Ll!gacy of /slam [O~ford. 1960].·
taught, neither did they study. On the contrary, they spontaneously uttered wise say- p. ~61).
ings and stimulated intelligence in the various communities. ·~ A lyre with twenty-four strings (R. Dozy. Supplem ent aux l)ictiormai re Arabes [2d ed .; Leiden and
Paris. 1927], I. 784. col. I) .
Music is the science of melodies, for which the non-Arabs do not have the slightest !!~ar p (Arnold and Quillaume, op. cit .. J). 361). .
need or the least necessity, owing to the inability of their natures to appreciate . lnstrurnent dt musique en usage parm, le$ cbrtuens , probablemcnt , comme okcim:ara eu anc. port '
es~ de tan;ibo~r basque ' (Dozy. _op, ~it.. II. 495. col. J).
measures and the scantiness of their ability in the public forum . For their languages • . om d un mstrument de mus,quea cordcs .. • ital. pandura ou pa:ndora, esp. bandurria. fr. man dore"
are impoverished and their faculties are dulled , responding only to the application of (ibid., II. 284, col. 2) .
91
(/~id .. II. 308, col. I) records qttiira. "guitar .·• Cf. also Arnold and Guillaume (op. cil. , p. 360). where it
artificial means, becoming strong only by means of simples. They have no measured
•
JS desonbed as "a Bat-chested rectangular instrument."
poetry orany dignified discourse, whereas the language of the Arabs is ample in its
2
: A Med inese mulatto and one of the four greatest singers of Is lam. He died in A .D. 743 (Hitti. op. cii.,
p. -75 ; Farmer . op. cit., pp . 81-82).
explanations, crystal clear in its allusions; it possesses measured poetry and the string-
ing together of verses guarded carefully as a precious treasure· it is endowed with
:! A ~aff-breedBer~crsmger lr3:IDedby lon Su!11ij(Hitti, op._ci~., p. 275; Fn~cr. op. ait,. pp. 80-81).
l blis IS the _lsl~,c Sacan. Tb1s l,1adithis atlr!buted to Jabir 1bn 'Abd Allah . For a discussion of lbe
or~~dox _Islam1cattitude to~ard music, see Farmer, op. cit., pp. 22-36.
discourse in prose, rhymed prose handed down from generation to generation, raja2
poetry each hemistich of which forms an independent verse aJ,ld rhymes with the,
1885.:otrrt of mando lme With chords of brass wire, which is played with a plectrum " (Lane, op. cit., v.
88 The Shu'ii.biyya in Al-Anda/us
hearts and subtle minds ?96 The poets of the Islamic age 97 also composed in the way
of songs and the literary themes related to them that which would cause you to grasp
excellence on this subject, were you to consider with discrimination and judge equit-
ably, whereas chauvinism and pride would not impel you to bear false witness or to
commit a miscarriage of justice.
And as for analytics and poetics, you committed a very foolish deed and an ex-
tremely stupid act by mentioning them, while the ina-bility of your people was made
manifest, disclosing that they are devoid of intelligence and that none but an ass is
related to them. Their pace went astray in this mortal life when they reached the point
where they began to think that their minds alone possessed the right to examine these
sciences and their intellectual faculties to think about them. Among them the dah-
riyya98 rejected the rational faculties and transmitted knowledge as well as the
principle of demonstration and the meaning of things. It was they who held to the
doctrine of the alternation of opposites and the constant recurrence of being and
nothingness. Among them are to be found materialists 99 who have scattered in all
directions and branched out into various sects; a group who affirm that the world de-
rives from two sources: an atmospheric and an earthly one. As a result they have
associated running water with what floats on its surface, and turbid water with that
which is pure. Among them there are those who assert that the elements are four and
that they constitute simple elements in relation to the compound ones; so that as a
consequence they have decreed the union of things inconsistent with, and the com-
pounding of things contrary to, one another.
Therefore if it should be asked: "How did these four elements come to be joined
together when they are incongruous; how did they come to coexist when they con-
flictwith one another; and whereas they are at odds, how did they come to intermingle,
or how does the ascending become mixed with the motionless, or the hot become con-
fused with the cold?" They reply: "A uniting force brought them together and a
subduing force subdued them by means of its nature, not its will; by means of its
action, not its power." This is absolutely impossible and extremely unsound, since the
fifth element must necessarily be like the other four or like some of them or different
from all of them. If it is like them or like some of them, there is no need for it to be
among them, given the existence of its like; and if it should be different from others of
them, then there must necessarily be a sixth element to distinguish them from it, and
so on ad infinitum.
The author of this book 100 said: "And Abu Taiyib 101 explained the falseness of
their words in a long argumentation that I have discarded in order to lighten the
book's burdensomeness." Then he added:
:?his legend is often connected with _the _figure <:>f the prophet . David (Fanner. op. cit., p. 35).
I.e., those b~longmg to the generat10n 1mmcd1ately succeedmg the nse of Islam, of which the most
famous were Janr, al-Farazdaq , e.l-Akh1al, and Qil aJ-Rumma.
••~term applled t~ phiJosopbers who did not believe in a future life beyond the grave and professed the
ete'.111lY of matter ~bJect to dahr ~r " fate .''.Eternity of time was.also important to tbem while in matters of
ethics they are depicted as hedonists. As time went by the word dahriyya lost its affinity to ancient Epi-
cureamsmand became a vague 1erm used to designate unorthodo~ tendencies difficult to classify (F. M.
PareJa, lslamologia[Madrid , 1952- 1954], 11. 592. 878 ; EI'. I. 894) . · The first prophet of the Banii ls~'il ( ·owtidir p . 327 n. 3).
••oozy, op. cit .. II. 23. col . 1.
1 00
1.e.. lbn Bassam of Santarem , author of the Dak/Jira.
101 Abii al-Taiyib ibn Mann Al lah al·Qarawi . 1fe author ·of this risala .
Fourth Refutation 89
As for those who consulted the stars and worshiped the places of sunrise, they dis-
agreed about the form of the celestial sphere according to various criteria and de-
scribed the stars with several epithets; especially the astrologers who diffe~ in their
various kinds of madness. They speak of a sphere of spheres and' of a lower depth of
lower _depth~-the spher~ n_ientioned above being the ether 102 -in a language re-
semblmg ravmg madness m its abundance. They worshiped the sun and bowed down
before fire and the stars, while observing the traces of waning in the latter and the indi-
cations of accidents that befell them, namely, their rising and setting. They claim that
these pheno1:1enadiffe: from one another and prevent one another's appearance, that
they are subJected _attimes to s~n and at times to moon eclipses. Measure out by the
bushel the confus10n proceedmg from these misleading arguments which neither
recognize the right path nor lead to a proper goal.
This is the measure of then:i°:ds of your sages and the u trnost degree of the opinions
held by your learned men ; thi s 1sa small amount from the abundance of their ravino
and a release of the pent-up vexation that consumes them, like the smoke from the im~
perfect boiling of a cooking pot. Yet if you should say: "Indeed the Arabs also wor-
shiped idols," the reply is that we neither recommended belief in ~hem to you nor have
we accepted any truth from them as certain. On the contrary, we recognize that who-
soever of·t~e Arabs speaks ~n terms of associated partners to God is incapable of
unders~andmg the truth; while the Arabs always praise God-may He be exalted!-
who said-may He be powerful and great!- "And were you to ask them, who created
them, they .would sw:ely an~wer: 'God.' " 10 3 And they said: "We do not worship
idols ~ave that they may brmg us nearer to God in station." 10 4. Many of the pre-
Islamic Arabs acknowledged the Resurrection and the Retribution, and confessed to
the day of Congregation and of the Encounter, while there were among them some
w~o turned away from the worship of idols and adopted different religions. Thus
H1myar foll~wed the religion of Moses ; the Banu al-Daiyan the people of Najran,
Taghb, and Gassiin followed the religion of Jesus · and among them some were of the
Islamic Hanafite sect and. law of Abraham. From among the members of the latter
came Qass ibn Sii'ida al-Iyiidi, Waraqa ibn Naufal al-Asadi, 105 Zaid ibn 'Amr of the
Banu 'Adi, 106 whom the Byzantines killed for this reason, while there has been said
concerning Khalid ibn Siniin 107 what is well known.
Furthermore Abu Karib al-Bimyari, 108 one of the Tubba's, already believed in the
Prophet of God-may peace be upon him !-seven hundred years before the latter
was sent on his mission, for he said:
102
1.e., the ninth sphere which is the greatest one and rules over all the others
103
Koran 43:Si . ·
104
Koran 39: 3.
05
' Fo~ Qass ibn l;ia'ida. see Abu a l-F~raj al-lsf_ahiini. op. d t .. XIV. 40: "'.araqa .ibn Naufal was a cousia
of ~ad1Ja reputed 10 ha~e t:eeo a ~amf ac~ordmg 10 some sonrces (H11u.op. cit~ pp . 108- 113).
.
1
A Meccan and. Qu:<11sh1(e ijamf who _died when Mul)ammad was about thirty-five years old . He was
kilM orosSUlg a region inhabited by the 1nbe of Lakhm (£/ 1. IV, I I 94).
108
A le~ndary he_roof South Arabia who went on an expedition 10 Persfa and reached the Caspian Sea .
He es1abhshed Judwsm rn the Yemen (N1cholso11, op. cit., pp. 18- 24; Hi1ti, op. cir .. p. 60). ·

90 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
I have testified respecting A!;tmad,109 that he is
a prophet sent from God, the
Creator of mankind,
So that if my life were to be prolonged
as far as his life, I would
indeed be a minister to him as
well as a paternal cousin .
And some of the doctrinarians have mentioned that 'Abd al-Muttalib ibn
Hiishim110 was one of those rightly guided in the tru; faith, adducing as proof of this
the fact that his prayer was granted when he asked God to preserve the holy sanctuary
from the Abyssinians, and his thirst was quenched when he prayed with fervent sup-
plication, invoked the name of Saif Ibn Qi Yazan, 111 mourned over his death with
great grief, and ratified the treaties made in his favor, since the latter had cautioned
him with respect to his grandson Mul;iammad on the subject of the Jews.
And when the Arabs were called, they entered the true faith in crowds and came to
it in pairs, save for those who had been overcome by ambition and love of command
and who had now been overtaken by hardship and had become enraged because of
113
their pride, such as was the case of Abu Jahl ibn Hishiim, 112 'Amir ibn al-Tufail,
114
Umaiya ibn Abi al-Salt and others.
Mu'iiwiya115 said, in a discourse of his which has become famous: "Thus it was
like unto a blindness of the eye, until a certain Prophet came along, who was of such a
nature that neither the ancients nor the modems have heard of his equal; and we used
to boast to those upon whom we chanced to come, and who chanced to come upon us,
by mentioning him; giving them the lie, glorying in his memory, and waging war
against them."
These are glimpses of the affairs of the pre-Islamic age and curious anecdotes of the
boasting of ancient times. Were you to do justice to yourself or admit the truth to your
mind, you would recognize where the Arabs' rivals in boasting stand in relation to
them, and whether or not their protected clients are able to catch up with them.
And in another section·-And what will you do when hidden matters are divulged,
concealed matters published, calamities strike you, the superiority of others sur-
passes you, banners of chieftainship wave, flags of good fortune flutter, the rising stars
of the prophetic mission come forth against you in the majesty of greatness and come-
liness, in the liberal tolerance of glory and perfection; and it is said to you: "This is
the lord of the children of Adam, of their ancients as well as their moderns; the seal of
10 ~This name contains the same root consonan1S (b-m-d) as Mubammad_ . Ito An allusion to Jarir ibn ' Abd AUiih al-Bajali . "Towards the ~nd o _ u amm_a s e t_ 1smary came
1 ioPaterna l grandfather of the PropheL He did in fact negotiate with the leader of the Abysslman army
invading Mecca (£/1 . I. 80).
111A Himyarite kfog who expelled the ~bY5:Siniansfrom South ,Arabia in A.O . ~70 and t~en ruled under
a Pcl'$ian protectorate (E/ 1 • !V, 7 1). He tS said to have warned Abd al-MunaJ1b that his grandson the
Proohet would be treated as an enemy by the Jews( awiidir. p. 328 n. 3).
112
Abu Jah.l was an iuOuential Quraishite of ceca who was of aboul the same age as the Prophet and
one of Lhclatter 's most bitte'. opponents (E/ 1. I, 83). . . . and what a bad tribe it is! [Abu al-Faraj al-IsfahanI, op. cit., XIX, 14].
• •!Born in A.D. 553 and died 1n A.O. 632. he was especially known for his enmity toward Mubammad.
1
whose envoys he pUl to death at the well of Ma_'iina £1 330). . ..
,
1
u An Arab poet of the LribeofI!)aqif who died around A.D : 624. ~ccordmg to on!' trad1t10a he refu~d
to recognize Mubammad 's clajm to be a prophet and sympathized with Qurais .b agamst the early Mushm
community , He left ]:ianafl poetry (£/ 1• IV. 997).
1
" First Umaiyad caliph (661-680).
Fourth Refutation 91
the prophets aod slayer of the heedlessly ignorant?" I bear witness that ~od did n~t
make Muhammad a Hashi.mite save that Hashim are the best part of Qura1sh, nor did
he make him a Quraishite save that they are the best part of the Arabs, nor an Arab
save that they are the best. part of all the nations. To them belong God 's Ka'ba, the
birth oflshmael and the calling of Abraham; toward them moved the emigration of
Hiid 116 $filil}, 11' 7 and Shu'aib , us their followers from among the believers and tbe~
paru1ers from among those possessed of certain truth. Among them occurred _the_ir
death and among them their remains were buried - unlike the case of your pra1se 10
which you• concealed a sipping in drinking froth" 119 and an act of rejection in re-
questing· while in committing this act you removed tb.e ~ists covering your ~ecr~t
rancor ; you tore off the veils from your impertinence thin.king tb~t your med~g m
our affairs would conceal your own evil brand and that your praise would veil your
own corruption when you praised with a Bajalite 120 praise and lauded with a guile-
ful, laud, yet be whose tribes are blamed is dispraised and he whose ties have be:n cut
cannot remain steady. Have you pu.t-woe to you !-Mu~ammad's pure gold m the
dirt? On the contrary , the dirt belongs to your own nose and the mucus to your own
face. you abandoned yourself when your foot slipped and caused punishment to
alight upon your compact when you made lawful the shedding of your blood. Had
your profession of faith been sound your critique would have been sound; and had
your inner thougqt been pure it would have restricted your false argu:men~;were yo~
to be destroyed you would not be wronged and were you to be extennmated this
would not pay for the crime you have committed.
'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Azi'z121- mayGod be pleased with him-overheard the words
of one of his secretaries who had been reproached for the Christian origin of his
father and had coined a proverb concerning 'Umar which was derogatory to the
latter ~nd detracted from his dignity. Therefore 'Umar said to him : "Since you have
uttered these words, by God, you shall not drink a cool draught after them!" And he
gav~ orders respecting him o that his head was cut off: . . .
Although the government has neglected to discipline you and to d1sc1plinethe
masses by making an example of you, i't bas, however, at least.made lawful the re-
proving of you and of fools like you. Therefore return to God with a repentance that
116 Hiid was lhc prophet of'Ad acc?rding to the Koran JET', ll·
327). .
_.
117 Siili}Jwas the propbct of the ancient people of1bamud (El, I • 107)._ 1
11s Accordin g to the Koran , Shu'a.ib was the prophel who came after Hud , Sahl)., and Lot (EI, IV,
388-389). . . · d d · 1 (La it
1 u A proverb applied to a person who fcigns one thmg when he mten s or esrres anot 1cr ne, op. c ..
J1l o. 1115, col. 2). fM b d' tifi [ h. J
to him with 150 men professin g Islam. and was sent to destroy tbe idol Qu al-Khala*'1 at ,:a~ala , which was
worshiped by [the tribes of] Bajna and Khalh'am . Jarir performed vanous other comm1SSJ0~sefficiently.
and under Abii 13akr and 'Umar was an impo ~tan! military leader ' (£fl , l, 865). At one pomt m his career.
a poem was directed to Jar ir which taunted bis tribal honor:
Were it not for Jarir Bajila would . .
perish · what an excellent young wamor he 1s,
The 13aJ11a were a Bedouin triBe that occupied th.e~nti:31 pan of the Sar~t mountain at Ta'i,f. The argu-
ment in the verse quoted above is that since Jarir 's tn be 1sa bad one , and m. Arab ~yes~ man ~ honor de-
rives from his Lribe. the praise is !10t ~eallr praise at al]. ~ut rather a cove.rt saure .agamst him . By implied CX·
tension , Ibn Garcia as well as his tnbe (i.e .• the Chnsuans) are both dishonorable.
1 2 1 Calipb 'Umar .ll (717-720).
92 The Shu'iibiyya in Al-Andalus

will guide you along the right path and save you. Since you are a descendant of the
ancestors who have preceded you, your opinion concerning God is the opinion of
your people and your branch follows the same path as your root; save that the sword
conquered you, the true faith mastered you, and the law of the land of Islam seized
you, as well as the fear of striving to be too conspicuous , so that you have come to be
choked by your own spittle and your throat ha s become obstructed with your own
wine, wllile "h e who has a disease in his chest must spit" 122 and be who is out of
breath must call out for help.
And the water in a cooking pot over
a fire on a stove mu st boil.
The recording has been completed, and may
there by abundant praise
to God.
FIFTH REFUTATION EXTRACTED FROM THE WORK
ENTITLED KJTAB ALIF-BA' BY ABO AL-HAJJAJ
YUSUF IBN AL-SHAIKH AL-BALAWI AL-MALAQI
None but zindiq's 1 or those who have strayed away from the right path have ever ex-
pressed hatred toward the Arabs. Such was the case of Abu 'Amir ibn Garcia al-
Bashkuns1 who composed a risala in which he attributed superiority to the non-Arabs
at the expense of the Arabs. He believed that he was expressing himself in pure
Arabic and that he was using a vocabulary composed of unusual and rare words,
though in actual fact he was transgressing the divine law and committing an act of
heretical innovation by composing his risala. Therefore he was attacked and treated
with contempt because of it. A number of excellent and outstanding scholars refuted
him, one of whom began his refutation oflbn Garcia with the following line of poetry:
/

Many a man errin g in his speech thin ks he has hit

the mark; yet he does not achieve his purp ose by
mean s of his words , so that he merely utter s them .

The quotation is from Zuhair. 2 Among those who refuted Ibn Garcia was the noble
jurist Abu Marwan 'Abd al-Malik ibn Mul)ammad al-Ausi. 3 He did so in a risala that
he entitled: "The risala whereby one is directed to the truth on the subject of the
superiority of the Arabs over all creation, and the defense and succor of God 's elect,
the muhiijiriin and the an$iir." 4
Furthermore , the jur ist and scholar Abu al-Taiyib 'Abd al-Mun'im ibn Mann
Allah wrote a risala entitled "The garden of eloquence and the great tree of excel-
lence, bearing leaves on its branches and fruit on its limbs , which mentions the causes
of glory of the Arabs, publishes the causes of boasting oflslam , and refutes Ibn Garcia
in what he attributed to the non-Arab peoples. " The jurist , the imam, and secretary
Qii al-Wizaratain Abii 'Abd Allah ibn Abi al-Khi~al al-Gafiqi 5 also wrote a risala
entitled : "The lightning-bright bedazzling, and the reproach of the apostate, in
refutation of Ibn Garcia the godless, insofar as the latter claims superiority for the
non-Arabs at the expense of the Arabs, and strikes the nab' with the garab."

1
''The term used in Muslim criminal law to describe tbe heret ic whose teaching becomes a danger ro the
st.ate: this crime is liable to capital punishment .•. and m damnation . ... The Malikis of tbe, est (Spain
and Morocco) studied by Milhotand Levi- Proven~ ! instituted trials for zandoqa.especially for 'insults to
the honour of the Prophet' (trial of Abii ill-Kha ir at Co rdo va i11the reign of al-1:lakam Jl , oflbo l;liitim al-
Azdi at Toledo in 457/ 1064 and later of tbn Zakiir at Fiis)'" (El '. !V. 1228).
1
Pn:- J lamic poet and author of a Mu'allaqa .
3 A Sevillian
who took up residence in G rana da (I. Goldzih:er. " Die Shu'iibiyya un ter den Muham -
medanem in Spanien ," ZDMG . Lill . 4 [1899]. 618).
'The muhiijiriinor ··emigrants'" were Mul)ammad's Mee.can followers who lied with him to Me<fi.oa,
122 as opposed to the 011,iiror " helpers " who were those men in Medina wbo supported bis cause .
Proverb (al-Maidani:, Majma' , II, 128). 5
A statesman who served the Almoravid ruler 'Ali ibn Yusuf . He died during the Atmoba d invasion in
540/ 1145 (ibid.. pp. 618-619,). On his risala. seeAbii Bakr ibn Kha ir, Foliroso (Baghdad . 1963). p. 419.

(93)
 94 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus
Fifth Refutation 95
Among the authors of more recent times there is also
the most distinguished jurist
and most excellent [zadftf1scholar Abu Mul1ammad 'Abd
al-Mun'im ibn Mul)ammad Is there any envier such that bis discourse
ibn 'Abd al-Ral;um al-Khazraji al-Garnaµ 6 who was does not resemble filth, and is there
known by the name Ibn al-
Fars-may God bless them all! any bright sunlight such that a mere
As for lbn Abi al-Khi~iil, he tore Ibn Garcia to pieces hand is large enough to cover it over?
after having attacked him, by
adducing arguments more penetrating than the sharp So say to the person who has found fault
heads of arrows from the pierc-
ing of which the latter was unable to extricate him.se with a certain "mighty people": 7
lf.. "Go gently! For evil will assuredly
A certain friend, one of those who are higb up in the
clouds in matters of learning, be overcome by good ."
sho,ved me all these treatises, among wliich were
the words of lbn Garcia men-
tioned above, contained in the risala he wrote which I was moved to spread praise of the Arabs,
stands as a lasting example of nor was the cause of their glory such a
corrupt locution while at the same time it betray the
baseness of its author's origin. hidden matter that it cou ld only have
In it he attributed superiority to the non-Aiabs at the
expense of the Arabs, while as- been uncovered after careful investigation,
piring to write correct Arabic and yet managing only
to deform the purity of that But rather, it was like aloes wood,
language. Therefore ba~g become incensed by the
criminal behavior I had wit- such that the ga<;fanwas kindled to
nessed on the part of that heedless and ignorant fellow
, and although I was incapable ignite it, after which it was thrown
of imitating the learned men who having preceded me into the fire and became doubled
in refuting him, had thereby
acknowledged God's true faith, I yet recited: with the heat; for aloes wood
has a fragrant odor.
I say to an unjust one who in his treatise
commits a grave fault; to a man consumed And so, who is this man who sought
to depreciate the Arabs in the foolishness
by envy and bearing much rancor, whose
true nature it is to be dull witted; be wrote, contained in pages?

Who, in what he has declared, has found When one is asked: "Who?" They
fault with the Arabs of former ages: "It is answer: "Ibn Garcia." It sufficed him
the Arabs who constitute the head whereas in respect of nobility that the
those who remain after them are only the hoof. " Christians were his tribesmen ,
From whom he learned hardness of heart
In this way he spuriously added his attribution
and crudeness; though be himself is
of superiority to a people, to that people's
own evil lot-a group whose leader crude and his speech is rude.
is the elder of the Church; a bishop! Yet even supposing that he is a Sal)ban ;8
from what appeared in his writing there
Ho! Arouse yourselves to anger for the sake
of your religion, 0 believers, and make no is enough proof, by God , that be is a
person in whom no good is to be found.
show of weakness , for there should be no
weakness in matters pertaining to religion! Will the puffing of a certain puffer
extinguish the light of God, and will
Do not faces precede the nape of the neck
lading out with the hand exhaust the
in importance, while it is well known
that the nose precedes the ear? water of this ocean?
I have refused , and God also refuses
Yet he who lives a long life will see
this fate for the Arabs , even though a
marvels and will hear a tale to which
thousand such as Ibn Garcia should
no description can do justice .
appear.
So I said to myself to console my grief:
So say to the noble , lordly Arabs: "The
"Be gentle to a soul to which grief
tongue of all mankind , which is
has scarcely been friendly ."
steadily devoted to your praise, is
enough for you ;

6
He was the leading expert on Malikite law in Al-And 7
Koran. 5: 57.
(Goldziher, op. cit., p. 619). alus during his time (524/1129-597/1200) 8 Proverb
ial for bis eloquence (Al)mad ibn Mul)ammad al-Maid
167). anI, Majma' al-Amthal [Cairo, 1892], I,
96 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Andalus
Fifth Refutation 97
While assisting you in every possible
way is a duty incumbent upon all men, cutting off the ear or nose of a slave , and forced him to swallow the cup of death before his appointed hour
since their love for you Arabs is a pure love, had come. Would that I knew the person who follows in their path today, or rebukes him for what his
mouth uttered, and how be does so; and would that I knew the man who follows in their footsteps and how
If only because Muhammad-may peace be be overtakes them!
upon him!-is one of you, 0 most I shall not exempt you, however , from reading a page of writing sharp as the blade of a sword which, in
excellent race. dealing with this particular faultfinder, will contain an argument causing pain as keen as that of wounds as
The close friend of the God of the worlds is well as containing an accusation biting in its reproof. Next I will attempt rhymed prose and eloquence which
our Prophet, and thanks to his favor we I will not mar with any unseemly language or any deformity of speech, for our partisans, who were all in-
hope for mercy after mercy , spired with zeal to defend as well as with forbearance , who notched his sword and diminished the soundness
of his condition, have given me sufficient provision against such a defect. In criticizing the treatise of that
Yet he assuredly knows who utters the luckless fellow who lapsed into error, however , I have attempted, in this work, a species of reproof com-
same words as I, and also who posed according to the technique of restricting myself to concision, as well as the class of inverted and trans-
utters their opposite: the man to posed composition that you have become familiar with from me and have derived from my practice . Still,
whom harsh punishment will be meted out. " I will only produce a very small amount of my composition because of the dullness of my weak and blunt
And I have also said: "That sin which intellect. Yet in spite of its paucity, my composition is filled with reproof of the work of Abu 'Amir , for by
the one God causes to be sought after means of certain well-known events he managed to offend my ears when , in his treatise, he reviled all the
even when a creature wills it, is such Arabs , both the furthest and the closest of them in kinship. In that treatise be found fault with them, be dis-
that my Lord still forgives it." honored them , and reviled their authority and rank. Then he strained bis stammering, barbarous tongue
to utte r whatever shameful words he was able to pronounce by reason of his evil nature as well as those he
Therefore, if my words do not wax abundant was allowed to say by random circumstance. Thus be openly declared his hostility in mentioning the pure
it is because before now many words have woman f_Iajar. He explained in his work, which was biased against his paternal aunt , that she was a slave.
been uttered, whereas the half of what Yet even supposing this were true , is not Abraham, the friend of God-may peace be upon him !-her
they comprise would have been enough. friend , bedfellow , and husband? Is not the noble Ishmael her son, and is not Mecca-may God render it
I beg pardon of the Lord and beseech his an object of honor!-her town, wherein the well of Zamzam burst forth for Ishmael's sake and flowed as
approval, for it is from Him that both a spring for him to drink from? Furthermore , it was said about that spring, when it was given to Ishmael to
favors and beneficence derive . drink: "This is Zamzam which will never be exhausted nor will it ever be filled up, which dissipates grief
and stupidity , as well as the water of Zamzam ."
That friend mentioned above also refuted Ibn Garcia in a written work containing And how many virtues, traditions, means of gaining favor and blessings that were first established by
a passage in verse on the subject of the Shu'iibite, in the composition and rhymes of Hajar have remained ours to this very day as a model to be imitated, as a ritual observance, and as a pat-
which my friend achieved excellence. He requested of me-may God bless him!- [em of conduct, such as her going round in circuit between al-Safa and al-Marwa 9 and her running in the
valley bottom with her tears flowing out of concern for her son Ishmael when her patience in caring for him
that I imitate after him the earlier refuters on that selfsame subject according to the had been exhausted; customs such as that oflengthening the edge of the garment in order to conceal women
style of men of letters, as an imposed duty, . -even those already concealed by a woolen garment and a wrapping cloth, and such as that of drawing
blood from their upper and lower parts by piercing their ears and circumcising them. The latter custom is
So I said to him: "Abandon this indeed the most enduring honor as well as the true happiness which may be enjoyed by a very loving hus-
intention , it being unsuited to my band , whereas the former is the means of attaching to the ear both pendants as well as earrings designed for
nature, since the imposition of so the upper part of the ear. And there are many other such practices which were appointed as signs of obe-
difficult a task upon one such as dience to God and as religious rites, in his knowledge of which the fighter, the contender, surnamed Abu
me is raving nonsense. 'Amir , nicknamed "the Poet," he who forgot all of this bounty, bas shown evidence of much blindness . Yet
Since when does a bird whose wings what an overhanging ledge of the riverbank collapsed upon him! Nor did he understand one single letter of
it all; on the contrary, he betook himself to, and aimed at us with his blameworthy deeds and he caused
have been clipped fly, and since
when does a horse injured in our mother to join us in this place so that be included us all within the compass of his words and afflicted
the sole of the hoof run?" us all sorely . Yet ifbe spoke ill why did he not also praise; ifhe disunited why did be not reconcile; ifbe
offended why did he not repair that offense and leave room for peaceful reconciliation?
He thought-may God help him!-that I had an ample capacity, a strong em- He undoubtedly committed a serious offense and did not heed the source of the prophetic mission , nor
brace, and the necessary power to perform this task; therefore I announced to him: did the liberality of chivalry make him incline toward well-doing, nor did the advantage of sonship shine
over him, nor was the sweet odor of fatherhood diffused from him. Hence, for this reason as also for the
evil and shame that he openly proclaimed and for his hateful words, be bas deserved punishment from his
0 you who are gifted with intellect; ifl were such as you believe me to be , and earned my living by means
day up to the present , for what righteousness remains after the reviling of parents?
of my knowledge as do men of intellect. Twould not hesitate to produce this work you request. Yet surely
the ear lier refuters-may God bless them !-left nothing to be said. They hastened instead toward battle-
fields and consulted the memorials of antiquity; they outraced one another toward the original source and 9 "AI-Safli. a mound at Mecca which now barely
narrative bearing information about the case; they sweetened their writings with poetry and proverbs; and rises above l(;vel of the ground. The meaning of the
name i&like that of the name of the eminence al-Marwa, which lies opposite to it: 'the stone ' or 'the
they attacked Ibn Garcia so that he became proverbial for it. In this way they found fault with him and stones . .. .' As is well known, Muslims perform the sa'i between al-~afa and al-Marwa in memory , as the
declared him to be a heretical innovator; they upbraided him , treated him with derision as one does by legend relates ... of the fact that Ha.jar ran backward and forward seven times between these two emi-
nences to look for a spring for her thirsty son " (£1 1 , IV , 51).
 Fifth Refutation 99
98 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
It is a miracle to whomsoever looks on. It
After that the wretched simpleton added more water to the mud he had stirred up, by praising those who
goes forward and turns back, as if,
do not even belong to the true faith , namely the descendants of Chosroes and of Caesar, in spite of the fact
when it runs
that God will allow no other than that He should e~alt and give victory to this , our religion . God appointed
for it protectors as-11source of glory, brave warriors as a source of courage, who assisted our religion with Forward, it thinks of a thing it has
their words which they wrote down in books with their pens , for that wasthe only thing they could still do, forgotten, so that having recollected, it
since Ibn Garcia had died before them and made it impossible for them to do more because of his timely wheels around and retraces its steps .
death. Yet if they had been his contemporaries they would not have allowed him to live with impunity nor
By means of these three ingenious lines of poetry, I have done my share in aiding
would they have feared or dreaded him. The amazing thing about the ecpple of that age is, however,.that
they were able to tolerate those misleading and seditious ideas which tended to promote civil strife, that the true faith and in defending the patrimony of the Almohad Arabs. In spite of my
they freely allowed that insolent fellow not only to commit such an act ofaudacity but also to slander others lack of skill I wielded my writing reed as those who exert themselves in the chase
in the way he did ,-or that they even gave him enough time to swallow his own spittle and made ample room wield their spears against wild cows accompanied by their young. Yet all this was
for him in his erring course , instead of destroying both him and his supporters. Why did they not stone him done only on the assumption that Ibn Garcia did not repent of his unfortunate mis-
or expel him from the company of those who revere the Koran? The most probable answer to this question
take, for if he persisted in his determination to reap his own death, then our words
concerning them and him is that they must have been unaware of his false opinions and that when he com-
posed and created his risiila , he must have disavowed its authorship; and that after he wrote it he must have
have dealt equitably with him and have turned against the person who most deserved
concealed it. Or perhaps be sent it secretly to his friends and divulged it only to his companions, so that only them. On the other hand, ifhe repented and abandoned the sect of evil-in that case
afterhlsdeath did it appear and become notorious enough to be refuted by those to whose attention it came . I am not one to speak ill of a man who has repented, for God forgives the penitent,
It may even be possible that Ibn Garcia was a member of the Islamic community who renounced, aban- erases the sins of the guilty, and pardons us all. May God bless our lord Mu]:lammad,
doned, and abjured his faith! But God knows all secrets as well as what is concealed by hidden thoughts, so
weask Him for immunity from the likes of such a shameful fault as well as for repe.ntance from sin. May the seal of the prophets!
God, the Forgiving, the Merciful. bless our lord Mu~ammad, His noble Prophet, along with the lauer's I have arranged all these themes into verses so that their meaning will become clear
family: the good ones of noble birth, the pure ones ; ?..ndmay peaoe be upon them all! Praise be to God , lbe and their purpose will be explained to you from the lines themselves:
Lord of the worlds!
[1] Did the treatise of this Abu 'Amir cry:
Section.-As for you, 0 young student and disciple, I feel compelled to fulfill at "Gently!"? Here is a striking punishment
least some of your expectations: of the Arabs which lasts up to our own time
When speech about lbn Garcia waxed eloquent in the mouths of those learned doc- in this place!
tors of the law and excellent g0odly scholars, wben they composed sections long as [2] It is an announcement concerning which you
huge tomes about him, when travelers carried these on their journeys and they 'be- will assuredly say: "It has been victorious!"
Nay, nay, but rather , quite to the
came famous in the several regions , in the lowlands and the highlands ," 10 when their
contrary, when it cast up an evil imputation
contents were spread far and wide through the various countries and their fame was it was only because of the Arabs' full
divulged throughout most regions , I merely restricted myself to three lines of poetry trust and confidence that it was allowed
because of my lack of ability in such difficult undertakings. to deviate from good. 12
It is my opinion that I am not the first to have composed such poetry, yet neither [3] This is a treatise completely devoted to satire; in
did any of the scholars who refuted Ibn Garcia before me light upon this method of this there is agreement in/ the Muslim community . Indeed-
composition and use i since it is of that art of inversion by reason of the transposi- a
may his face perish !-our side is like sharp sword that
tion of which I have been fond since the olden days. obody can produce its equal has caused him injury. 13

save be wbo ... 11 and he who trusts , spends out of his own purse , and is made to 0 you collector of books by the ass load, 14
grieve by the reversal of his good fortune. you poet, secretary, or reciter of the Koran,
The letters of the first line of my poem are the reverse of those of the second and Do not despise these words, for they are
vice versa, for it is this alone that truly constitutes the reversed nature of an inversion. indeed an astonishing thing because of
As for the third line, the letters at its beginning are the same as those at its end so that the idea they contain.
its feet are the same as its head and vice versa.

1
°From a poem by al-A'shii: 12 Thc letters of poetry llnes l and 2 are each reversed with re~ct Lo the other .
' A prophet who seeth what ye see not , and 13 The letters of each hemist'ich o.fpoetry line 3 are reve rsed with respect to the other.
whose fame bas come to the lowlands , by my 14 Koran 62: 5: " The similitude of those who are charged "~th the obligations of the Mosaic Law, but
life, in the several regions , and ha come to who have subsequently failed in those obligations. is that of a donkey , which carries huge tomes but under-
the highlands " (Edward William Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon [London , stands them not. " Por a discussion of this simile , see Americo Castro , The Structure ef Spanish History
1863], VI, 2306 , col. 3). (Princeton, 1954), pp . 101-102.
11
Lacuna.
100 The Shu'ubiyya in Al-Anda/us
Look at the first two lines: the first
of the two is the opposite of the
second .
In the same way, the second of the two is
the opposite of the first; so wonder at
this movement which goes back and
forth!
0
Fifth Refutation 101
Next we ask for blessings upon the Prophet
MuJ:iammad , the best of creatures ,
the chosen, the elect.
Finally we beseech God's pleasure and His "gracious forgiveness" 16 for the page
written by Ibn Garcia, with which He is highly displeased. We also beseech His merci-
ful pardon for the error, the connivance in wrongdoing, corruption of speech, im-
moderate words, and slips of the tongue into which lbn Garcia lapsed, and we pray to

Not a single letter nor any meaning is ••

added or subtracted , save for the God to grant us proper words and deeds, for only in Him can we trust, since He is our
wondrous , turnabout inversion. sole fear,and hope. There is no greatness and no strength save in God alone , the Lofty,
As for the third line, I cause its end to the Almighty!
turn back to its beginning; then it
is woven together in the place where it
overlaps.
If you are astonished at a text which conveys
a full meaning to you in this way, by
means of inversion, there is no denying
that

It is an inversion introduced by another

inversion , so that it is as if an abundance
of words had been made more concise just
as an abundance of wool is thinned out
by the hands of a skillful weaver
Who, in this way, turns it from the left
hand to the right, and likewise
from the right hand to the left.
If you scorn my composition , then create
its equal , that you may surpass me in
glory and greatness to the very end of time;
But if you are unequal to the task, then,
in the presence of these three lines you
will therefore realize the true extent
of your ability ,
And you will declare: "O , Ibn al-Shaikh,1 5
you are indeed incomparable! What you
have composed is the most enchanting of all
eloquence! "
Yet I say : "Praise be to the Lord!" And
I ask my forgiving God for mercy ,
Since this reproof of mine was written only
on the assumption that Ibn Garcia died
without repenting for the disgraceful
declaration he made;
Yet if he asked to be forgiven
for what he said, then God will avert
the heat of hellfire from him.

15
1.e., al-BaiawI, the author of this work. 16
Koran 15: 85.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
..
al-'Abbiidi, Mmad Mu.kb tar' Abd a.l-Fat1ib.
Los esla••os en ES'JJofia,ojeada sabre su orfgen.
relaci611con t!lmovimil'11to~ la slul,ibiyya. Arabic desorrollo y
text and Spanish t:ran~lation of the study by Fernan
de la Granja Santamaria, Institute Egipcio de do
Estudios Islamicos. Madrid, 1953.
Abil al-'Alii al-Ma'am . Diwan. Cairo, 1268/ 1851.
2 vols.
---· si,~nu., Saq/ al-Zand . Cairo , .1945.2 vols.
Abii al- Faraj al-lsfahani. Kiuib al-Agiin,. Cairo,
1905. 9 vols.
Abii Sall ofDeoia . Taqwimal-[)ilm : Rectijicaci611
de la mente. Ed. and Spanish trans. A. Gonzalez
Madrid , 1915. Palencia ..
Ali, A. Yusuf . The Holy Q11ra11:Text . Trmrsla
tio11a11dCcmmentary. Cambridge, Mass ., 1946.
Arberry. A. J, Arabic Poetry : A Prim er for Student 2 vols.
s. Cambridge, 1965.
--- Aspects of fs/ami c Civilization . 1.ondon. 1964.
--- · The Seven Odes: Tile First Chapt er in Arabic Literatu
re. London, 1957.
Arnold. Sir Thomas, and Alfred Guillaume. The
Legacy of Islam . Oxford, 1960.
A.sin Palacios . M . "El abecedario de Yusuf Benaxe
ij el malaguefio," Boletin de la Real Academia
J-ILuorla, C-Cl (1932). 195-228. de la
---· "Ibo Masa.rray su cscuela," in Obra.s escogidos.
Vol. I. Madrid, 1946.
--- Review of I. Goldziher's "Die Shu'iibiyya
---. ··unadescripci6n oueva de! Faro de AJejan...dria,," "Revisto de Arag 6n, III (1902), 410-411.
Andol,a , I ( 1933), 241-300.
Baer . Yitz.hak. A History of th~ Jews in Clwistu
»r Spain. Vol. I. Philadelphia , 1961.
al- Balawi , Yusuf ibn al-Shaik~ . Xlttib Allf-Bti
'. Cairo, 1287/1870. 2 vols.
Baynes., . H., and H. St . L. .B.Moss . Byzantiu m :
A11lmrodm:rion to Eas1 RomaJI Civiliza tion. Oxford, 1961.
Brockelmann . Carl. Geschii;lrte der Arobische11
Lirerawr . Weimar, 1898-1902.2 vols. Supple
Leiden. 1937- 1942. 3 vols. membiinde.
---· His1ory of1he Islam ic Peoples . Trans. Joel Cannic
hael and Moshe Perlmann. New York, 1960.
Browne, E.G. A Literary His rory of Persia. Cambri
dge. 1956.
al-Bustani, B. Kitiib Qa{r al-Mubit. Cairo , 1869.
2 vols.
Castro. Americo . Lo reoli,tad '1ist6rico de Espaiio
. Mexico, 1954.
__ _ The Sirucmr e of Spani sh history. Princeton.
.J., 1954.
Catholic Encyclo pa edia. e,v York . 1912.
[Concordance to Koran) Fatb ol-Ra~imtin /i-Tiilib
Aiyiit al-Qur'an. Beirut, 1905.
Conde. Jose Antonio. His tory of lhe Dominion
of the Arabs in Spain. Trans. Mrs. Jonathan Foster.
1854.3 vols. London,
Cruz Hernandez, Miguel. Historia de lafiloso
fio espanola: Filosofia hispano-musulmona.
2 vols. Madrid, 1957.
---. Lafilosofia arabe. Madrid, 1963.
de la Graoja , Fernando. "Ibn Garcla , cadi de
los caliras .l;fammiidies ," Anda/us, XXX (1965),
Dozy, R. Spanish Islam. Trans . F. G. Stokes. 63-78.
London , 1913.
--- Suppldment aux Dictio1111air es Arobe s. 2d ed. Leiden and Paris , 1927. 2 vols
.E11cyclopa&dia of Islam . Iste d . Leiden.and London, 1913- 1934. .
4 vols. Supplement; l 938; 2d ed., Leiden and
London, 1960--. 2 vols. to date.
al-Farazdaq. Dfwtin. Beirut, 1960.
Fanner , H. G . A Histo ry of Arabim, Music to th~ X
l /lth. Centur y . London, 1929.
Frye , Richard N. Tiie He ritage of Persia. , ew
York. 1966.
Garcia. G6mez, E. Poemas arabigo11J1dal11ces . 3d ed . Buenos Aires , 19%.

(103]
 104 The Shu'iibiyya in Al-Anda/us
Bibliography 105
Review of'Abd al-Salam Hiinin's Nawadir al-M akh.tufii.t in Anda/us,
XIX (1954), 478-479. Nicholson, R. A. A Literary History of the Arabs . Cambridge , 1956.
Gibb, H. A. R. Arabic Literature. 2d ed. rev. Oxford, 1963.
-- - "The Social Signi.6canc.e of the Shu'ubiyya," in S111die.r on the Civilizatio Noeldeke , T., and A. Mueller. Delectus Veterum Carminum Arabicoru
m. Wiesbaden, 1961.
n of Islam. Boston, 1962. Pareja , F . M. lslamologia. Madrid , 1952-1954. 2 vols.
Goldllher . Ignaz. "Die Shu'ilbiyya unter den Muhammedanern
in Spanien," ZDMG . L!Jl. 4 (1899), Prieto y Vives, Antonio. Los Reyes de Taifas: Estudio hist6rico -numismat
601-620. ico de los musulmanes espanoles
--- Muhommedanische Stud/en . Halle. 1888- 1890; reprinted, 1961. e11el siglc V de la hegira (XI de J.C.). Madrid 1926.
Harun . 'Abd al-Salam. Nawiidira/- 1okh11i{iit. Vol. III. Cairo, 1953. Ribera, Juli:io..Disertacio11es y opusculos . Madrid , 1928. 2 vols .
Hiu i, P. K. H istory 0/1/re Arabs . 7th ed. London , 1961. Rosenthal, E. I. J. Political Thought in Medieval Islam. Cambridge
, 1962.
Hourani , Georg~ F. Averroes : On the Harmon y of Religion and Philosophy al-Ru'aini, Abii al-l:lasan 'Ali ibn Mul;i.ammad ibn 'Ali. Barniimij
, London, 1961. Shuyukh al-Ru'ainr. Damascus, 1962.
Hua rt, C. Ancient Pcr,ia and franian Civi//za1ion . ew York, 1927. Runciman , Steven . A History of the Crusades. New York , 1964. 2
vols.
Husik. Isaac. A History of Mediaeval J ewi.1h Philosophy . New York, Sa'id of Toledo. Tabaqiit al-Umam. Beirut, 1912.
1916. Sarn elli Cerqua, Clelia. M11j<ihidal-'Amifi. 1st ed. (Ara bic). Cairo,
lbn al-Abbiir . AI-M11'jam. In Bibliotlzeca Arab ico-Hispana. Vol. IV. 1961.
Ed. F. Codera and J, Ribera. Madrid , Simonet , F. J. Historia de los mozarabes de Espo.iia. Madrid, 1897-1903
1886. ' .
-. --· Takmfla to the Takmfla. Ed . M. Alam\n and C. A. Gonzalez Palencia. al-TabarI. Anna/es. Ed. M. J. de Goeje. Leiden, 1879-1901. Reprint,
In Miscelanea de estudios y 1965. 15 vols.
textos arabes. Madrid, 1915. Valdeavellano , Luis G. de. Historia de Espana. I. Delos origenes a la
baja Edad Media. 3d ed. Madrid, 1963.
Ibn 'Abd Rabbib i. Kiliib al-' lqdal-Farid . Cairo , 1949-1965. 10 vols. 2 vols.
Ibn Bassam. AI-J2akhira. Carro, 1942. 3 vols. Vicens Vives, J. Historia de Espana y America. Barcelona, 1961. 5
vols .
Ibn l;lazm. Jomlto ra1 An siib ol-'A.rab. Cairo. 1962. ---· Manual de historia econ6mica de Espana. 3d ed. Barcelona , 1964.
Ibn a.1-Kalbi. Kitiib An siib al-Kltail. Ed . Ah.mad ZakI Pa.sba . Cairo. Vives y Escudero , Antonio . Monedas de las dinastias arabigo-espanolas
1946. . Madrid , 1893.
Ibn Khair . Abu Bakr . Fultraso. Baghda d. 1963. Von Grunebaum, G. E . Islam: Essays in ihe Nature and Growth of a
Cultural Tradition . 2d ed. London, 1961.
Ibn Khallik an. Blograpl1ical l) ic1ionar.1•. Tr a ns. B. MacGuckln de --- · Medieval Islam. Chicago, 1961.
Slane. London, 1842-1871; reprinted , Wieder, Naphtali . The Judean Scro.Us and Karaism. London , 1962.
1961. 4 vols .
Ibn al-Kbafib. Al-ll,1ii/Ojt Akhbiir Carmi{a. Gairo, 1955. Wright, W. A Grammar of the Arabic Language. 3d ed. Cambridge
, 1962. 2 vols .
Ibn Pascual . Kitiibul-Silo . In 8 /blio1hec11Arabico-Hispmw. Vols. I, II. Yaqiit. Lexicon Geographicum. Ed. T. G. J. Juynboll. Leiden, 1852-1864
Ed. F. Codera and J. Ribera. Madrid , , 6 vols.
1883. ---· Mu'jam al-Bu/diin . Cairo; 1906. 10 vols.
Ibn al-Qiitiyya. Kitab lftitii.fi al-Anda/us. Beirut, 1957.
lbn Sa'id . Al-M1,tTib fr l;l.11la ol-Mogrib . Ed . Shauqi Qaif. 2d ed. Cairo, 1964. 2 vols.
lbn Shuhaid al-AndalusI. Diwiin. Beirut, 1963.
lmamud din . S. M . A Politi cal History of Muslim Spa /,1. Dacca. 1961.
al-Jiil)i~. Kitiib al -lf ay01vlin. Cairo. 1945. 6 vols.
Jari r. Diw(in . .Beirut, 1964.
JewfsltEncyclopaedia. New York and London. 1904.
Julien, C. A. H istoirl.' de l'Afrique du Nord. 2d ed. Paris , 1964. 2 vols.
Kazinmsk i, A. de Biberstcin . Diclionnail'e Arabe-Fran,ais. New ed.
Pa ris, 1960. 2 vols.
Lane. Edward William . Arabic-English Lexicon. London. 1863; reprinted
. cw York , 1955. 8 vols.
Levi-Proven~.!. E. Espaiio musulmona lta.sio To caida de/ colifa to de
Cordoba (711-1031 de J.C .): Jnstitu-
cicnPs. in Historio de Espana, Vol. V. Directed by R. Menendez Pidal.
Madrid, 1957.
Levy. Reuben. The Sr;cial Str11c111re of Islam. Cambridge , 1962..
Lewis. Arch iba.ld R. Naval Pcwera 11dTrade iJ, the M 11diterra11e011,A..D.
500- 1100. Princeton , 1951.
Lyall. C. J. Translations cf A.ncie111Arabian Poetry . ew York , 1930.
al-Maic)a.ni.A~mad ibn Mul)ammad .. ilillJJina' al-Ami.ha/. Ca iro 1892.
2 vols.
--· Proverbiomm Arabit:onim. Ed . H. A. Schulten s. Leiden , 1795.
Ma luf. Luis. ol-M11njid: M11'jam Ii-I Luga / al-'Arabiyya. Beirut, 1954.
al-Maqq ari. Nafl; o1-Tib. Cairo. 1949. 10 vols.
--· The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain. Trans. Pascual
de Gayangos. London, 1840-
1843. 2 vols.
al-MarrakushI, 'Abd al-Wa.\Iid. Al-M11'jibft Talkhi, Akhbar al-Magrib
. Cairo , 1949.
-- Kitiib al-Mu'jib. Ed . R. Dozy. 2d ed . Leiden. 1885.
Menendez Pidal. R. Comar de Mir; Cid . Madrid. 1906- 19 11. 3 vols
.
Me1~ A. The .Renoi.isonce of Islam. Trans . Salahuddin Kbuda Bakhsh
and D. S. Margoliouth. Patna , 1937.
al-Mwanabbi. Diwan, with Commentary by Abi·/-f:lason 'Alf lbn
A~mad al-W iifiidi al-Naislibiiri. Ed. F.
Dieterici . Berlin , 1861.
Nemoy , Leon. Karaite Anthology. Yale Judaica Series, vol. VII. New
Haven, 1963.
Neuman, Abraham A. The Jews in Spain: Their Social, Political and
Culcural Life during the Middle Ages.
3d ed. Philadelphia , 1948. 2 vols.