The Polemic about the "karāmāt al-awliyā'" and the Development of Ṣūfism in al-Andalus

(Fourth/Tenth-Fifth/Eleventh Centuries)
Author(s): Maribel Fierro
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 55,
No. 2 (1992), pp. 236-249
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies
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THE POLEMIC ABOUT THE KARAMAT AL-A WLIYA'
AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUFISM IN
AL-ANDALUS (FOURTH/TENTH-FIFTH/ELEVENTH
CENTURIES)1

By MARIBEL FIERRO
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid

The flourishing of Suifismin al-Andalus during the first half of the sixth/
twelfth century with mystics like Ibn al-'Arif, Ibn Barrajan (who both died in
536/1141) and Ibn Qasi (d. 546/1151) has been interpretedin different ways. For
M. Asin Palacios it reflects the influence of the mystical tradition initiated by
Ibn Masarra in the second half of the third/ninth century, although he himself
does not fail to mention the impossibility of providing evidence for such
influence.2For other scholars, it was mainly due to the influence of al-Ghazali's
works and thought.3 D. Urvoy, for his part, has shown how in the 'image' of
Andalusian Islam during the fifth/eleventh-seventh/thirteenth centuries presen-
ted by scholars like Ibn Bashkuwal and Ibn al-Abbar, appears to be
almost non existent.4 The question of what religious, intellectual
.Sifism and socio-
political background allowed figures like Ibn al-'Arif, Ibn Barrajan and Ibn
Qasi to appear, is still to be answered.
In this article, I shall deal with the polemic concerning the karanmatal-
awliyd' that took place in al-Andalus during the fourth/tenth century.5 This
polemic sheds new light on the development and characteristics of Andalusian
I shall advance the hypothesis that one of the Andalusians who took
in that polemic, al-Talamanki, is to be considered a forerunner of the
.Sifism.
part
religious and political doctrines of Ibn Barrajan and of Ibn Qasi in particular.

1. The Andalusiansand the karamat al-awliya'

During the fourth/tenth century there were Andalusian ascetics to whom
miracles (karmarnat)
were attributed: such was the case of Abui Wahb (d. 344/
955),6 Muhammad b. Abi 'l-Husam Tahir b. Mulhammadal-Qaysi al-Tudmiri

'The abbreviations used in this paper are: AIEO Annales de l'Institut, des Etudes Orientales
(Alger); BAH, Boletin de la Academia de la Historia; EOBA, Estudios Onomastico-Biogrcaficos de al-
Andalus; MIDEO, MWlangesde l'Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales du Caire; RHR, Revue de
l'Histoire des Religions; ROMM, Revue de l'Occident Musulmane et de la MWditerranee.
2 See his Abenmasarray su escuela (Madrid, 1914), especially pp. 108-110. V. Lagardere, in his
article' La Tariqa et la R6volte des Muriduinen 539H/1144en Andalus', ROMM, 35, 1983, 157-70,
repeats Asin's statement, without discussion.
3 This is so, for example, for A. Bel,' Le siifisme en Occident musulman au xIIc et au xIIIcsiecle
de J. C. ', AIEO, I, 1934-35, 145-61 and A. Faure in his articles on the above-mentioned mystics in
EI (2nd ed.). Both, following Asin, refer to the influence of Ibn Masarra, but without providing the
evidence that Asin confessed was lacking.
4 See Urvoy, Le monde des
uldmasandalousdu v/xrI au vH/xIre sidcle (Geneve, 1978), 60, 63, 69,
73, 76, 79, 107-8, 119 et seq.
5 The subject has been dealt with by 'U. b. Hamadi, ' Karamat al-awliya': al-niqash al-hadd
alladhi atharat-hu bi-l-Qayrawan wa-Qurtuba ft awakhir al-qarn 4 H./10 M. ', Dirdsat andalusiyya,
4, 1990, 354-79, but without, in my view, appreciating the full implications of the issues involved.
6 See Ibn al-Abbar, al-Takmila li-kitab al-Sila (ed. F. Codera, Madrid, 1986, BAH, v-vI), no.
2029, where Abai Wahb is mentioned as ma'ruifal-karamat and as one of the abddl. See also the
study by M. Marin, ' Un nuevo texto de Ibn Ba'kuwail:AjbdrAbTWahb', Al-Qantara, x, 1989, 385-
403.
 THE DEVELOPMENTOF SUFISM IN AL-ANDALUS 237

(d. 378/988 or 379/989)7 and 'Umar b. 'Ubadil al-Ru'ayni (d. 378/988).8 A

curious aspect of the first two is what might be called the ' Eastern connexion ':
the obscure AbuiWahb was apparently a Muslim who came to al-Andalus from
the East, and Muhammad b. Abi 'I-Husam Tahir's ijablt 9 and kardma-tfirst
appeared during his stay in the East, where he is said to have labisa al-sif, an
expression which would indicate that he held mystical beliefs. 'Umar b. 'Ubadil,
on the other hand, according to his biographies, never left al-Andalus. It is
difficult to establish whether in the previous two centuries there had been
Andalusians who were alleged to have performed miracles: for example, Qadi
'Iyad (d. 544/1149) uses the term karamat as a way of defining some of the acts
performed by Muhammad b. WadIdahal-Qurtubi (d. 287/900),10but he is a late
source and the word is not found in the early Andalusian biographies devoted to
the same scholar. Qadi despite his Andalusian background, followed the
North African tradition of biographical writing," in which the mention of
'Iya1d.,
kardmat is a characteristic feature. A recent study by M. Marin on the
Andalusian ascetics before the fourth/tenth century 12 shows, on the one hand,
the absence of a contemporary Andalusian hagiographic tradition and, on the
other hand, that the only term applied to those ascetics that may be considered
as expressing a reality near, but not equivalent, to karamat is mujab al-da'wa,
and that 'there are a limited number of narratives of miraculous nature'
attributed to four well-known Andalusian scholars. Marin adds: 'In all these
cases, attributing miracles to persons of great prestige corresponds to a desire to
emphasize the didactic intent of these stories. In the majority of cases, their very
origin seems to lie in eastern sources and does not fit into a local tradition.' The
appellative siJff is found for the first time in an Andalusian source applied to
'Abd Allah b. Nasr (d. 315/927).'3 In the following centuries, sources like the
biographical dictionaries of Andalusian 'ulamd'are reluctant to apply such a
label, as can be seen in the Sila of Ibn Bashkuwal (d. 578/1183). The first use of
the term walT,pl. awliya',14 that I have been able to find is in the case of
Muhammad b. 'Isa b. Hilail al-Qurtubi (fourth/tenth-fifth/eleventh centuries)
who is mentioned as walf li-llah min al-zuhhad in an Eastern source.'5 Forth-

7 He spent the last years of his life performing ribdt in the Middle Frontier of al-Andalus (with
its capital at Toledo), where he died shahTd.A book was composed of his miracles, one of which is
recorded by al-Dabbi. On Qaysi see Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rTkh'ulamd' al-Andalus (ed. F. Codera,
Madrid, 1891-92, BAH, vII-viii), no. 1349; Qadi 'Iyad, TartTbal-maddrik wa-taqribal-masdlik li-
ma'rifat a'ldm madhhab Mdlik (8 vols., Rabat, n.d,), vii, 203-4; al-Dabbi, Bughyat al-multamisift
ta'rTkhrijdlal-Andalus(ed. F. Codera and J. Ribera, Madrid, 1884-85, BAH, iii), no. 154. More bio-
bibliographical references are found in M. L. Avila, La sociedad hispanomusulmanaal final del
califato (Madrid, 1985), no. 812.
8 See Ibn Bashkuwal, Kitab al-Sila fl ta'rTkh a'immat al-Andalus (ed. F. Codera and J. Ribera,
Madrid, 1882-83, BAH, I-II), no. 843; Qadi 'Iyad, TartTb,vii, 211-5; Avila, Sociedad, no. 1040.
9This term indicates that the person in question is mujdb al-da'wa, that is, his prayers are
answered by God.
10See the study that accompanies my edition and translation of his Kitdb al-bida' (Madrid,
1988).
1 The difference between the North African (for example, Ibn al-Khushani and 'Iyad)
and the Andalusian biographical dictionaries (for example, Ibn al-Faradi)
Ha.rith of the early centuries is
evident to any scholar familiar with them and deserves to be studied.
12 The
early development of zuhd in al-Andalus', forthcoming in the Proceedings of the 15th
Congress of the Union Europeenne des Arabisants et Islamisants, 13-19 septembre 1990. It covers
the period from the conquest of al-Andalus until the beginning of the fourth/tenth century.
'3 See Asin, Abenmasarra, 145 and M. Marin, 'N6mina de sabios de al-Andalus (93-350/711-
961)', EOBA, i (Madrid), 1988, 23-182, no. 838.
14The concept of wilaya was particularly developed by al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi (third/ninth
century): see B. Radtke, Al-HakTmal- Tirmid7(Friburg, 1980), 89-94.
'~ See al-Dhahabi, Siyar a'laImal-nubald'(23 vols., Beirut, 1981-85), xviii, 306, in the biography
devoted to his son, Alhmad Ibn al-Qattan (d. 460/1067), a well-known faqTh and muftT.Cf. the
material found in Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, no. 128 and Qadi 'Iyad4,Tartfb, viii, 135-6.
238 MARIBELFIERRO

coming, and badly needed, studies on ascetism and mysticism in al-Andalus '6
will shed more light on their terminology and characteristics. From the data
available to me it seems safe to conclude that during the second/eighth-third/
ninth centuries, Andalusians seem to have been unaware that their pious
Muslims performed miracles,"7a fact they discovered in the fourth/tenth
century thanks to biographers who were either of non-Andalusian background
or who imitated and were influenced by Eastern sources. As for the other two
religious communities in al-Andalus, the existence of saints and miracles among
the Mozarabic community seems to have been an uninterrupted tradition,'8
while a belief in miracles among Andalusian Jews is attested during the fifth/
eleventh century.19
It was in the second half of the fourth/tenth century that the polemic
concerning the miracles of the saints (karamat al-awliyad)which had begun in
Qayrawan was imported into al-Andalus.
The main opponent of the karamat al-awliya' was Ibn Abi Zayd al-
Qayrawani (d. 386/996), author of the Maliki legal handbook al-Risdla.20His
position was refuted by, among others, the Maliki-Ash'ari al-Baqillani (d. 403/
1013)21 and by the Meccan Siifi 'All b. 'Abd Allah b. al-Hasan b. Jahdam al-
Hamadha-ni (d. 414/1023).22
In al-Andalus, Muhammad b. Mawhab al-Tujibi (d. 406/1015) 23 sided with
Ibn Abi Zayd against the kardmat al-awliyd'. Another important scholar of the
time, al-Asl- (d. 392/1001),24was concerned about exaggeration (ghuluww)with
regard to the 'miracles of the saints'. On the other side were two Andalusian

"6Like those being prepared by M. Marin (fourth/tenth-fifth/eleventh centuries),

Cristina de la
Puente (seventh/twelfth-eighth/thirteenth centuries) and Purificaci6n Ruiz (Ibn Barrajan). The
study in Al-Qantara, xii/2, 1991, by J. M. Vizcaino on ascetic and mystic works transmitted and
composed in the orthodox milieu of al-Andalus enables us to define more closely the content and
tendencies of its intellectual production. There is also some reference to mysticism in the fourth/
tenth century in al-Andalus in my La heterodoxia en al-Andalus durante el periodo omeya (Madrid,
1987), 129-31.
17 In the third/ninth century Adalusians may have been aware of the existence of Eastern
Muslims who performed kardmdt,through works like Muhammad b. Kitdbal-'ubbhdwa-
who rebelled in 288/900, but
'- 'awabid(lost). Kardmdtwere attributed to the ' Mahdi' Ibn al-QittWaddah.'s
then he must have considered himself entitled to them as he claimed to be a prophet: see below,
section 4.
18See F. J. Simonet, Historia de los mozarabes de Espahia(repr. Amsterdam, 1967);
F. de la
Grania,' Milagros espafioles en una obra polemica musulmana', Al-Andalus, xxxIII, 1968, 311-65.
See Ibn Hazm, Kitdbal-fisalft 'l-milalwa-l-ahwd'wa-'I-nihal(5 vols. in 1, Cairo, 1347-8), v, 3;
transl. M. Asin Palacios, Abenhcazamde C6rdobay su Historia Critica de las ideas religiosas (5 vols.,
Madrid, 1929), v, 150. See also E. Ashtor, The Jews of Moslem Spain (3 vols., Philadelphia, 1973-
84), 11,259-61.
20 On him see El (2nd ed.) (H. R. Idris); H. R. Idris, ' Deux juristes kairouanais de l'epoque
ziride: Ibn Abi Zayd et al-Qabisi', AIEO, xii, 1954, 121-98; B. M. Fahd, 'Ibn Abi Zayd al-
Qayrawani (382/956)', Awrdq,5-6, 1982-83, 31-41. On the introduction of his works in al-Andalus,
see J. M. Forneas, ' Recepci6ony difusi6onen al-Andalus de algunas obras de Ibn Abi Zayd al-
Qayrawd-ni,Homenaje a D. Cabanelas (2 vols., Granada, 1987), i, 315-44.
21 On him see El (2nd ed.) (R. J. McCarthy). Al-Baqillani's doctrines were well known in al-
Andalus during the fifth/eleventh century, as is shown by the fact that Ibn Hazm in his Fisal attacks
and refutes him in many instances. Further study of Ibn Hazm's criticism of Ash'arites like al-
a better understanding of the impact of
Baqillani, Ibn Furak and al-Sumnani will help to achieve
Ash'arism on the intellectual milieu of al-Andalus prior to the introduction of al-Ghazali's works.
22 See al-Dhahabi, Siyar, xvii, 275-6. Ibn Jahdam is considered the innovator of the salit al-

raghd'iband was one of the most important teachers of the Andalusian al-Talamanki, a key figure in
the development of Andalusian SUifism.
23 A student of Ibn Abi Zayd. On him see al-Dabbi, Bughya, no. 278; Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, no.

1057; Qadi 'Iyad, 7artib, vii, 188-91. See also Avila, Sociedad, no. 767 and Fierro, Heterodoxia,
168-70.
new
24
Al-Asflis name was 'Abd Alldh b. Ibrahim b. Muhammad; he devoted himself to the
disciplines of usil al-fiqh and usuilal-din. On him see Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rTkh,no. 758; al-Dabbi,
Bughya, no. 906; Qadi 'Iyl'd, vii, 135-45 and Avila, Sociedad, no. 45.
Tartwb,
 THE DEVELOPMENTOF SfFISM IN AL-ANDALUS 239

traditionists and ascetics, Ibn 'Awn Allah (d. 378/988) 25 and Abui 'Umar al-
Talamanki (d. 428/1036 or 429/1037).26 The latter wrote a treatise against Ibn
Abi Zayd. So did another Andalusian, Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Miisai al-
Tulaytuli, known as Ibn Shaqq al-Layl (d. 455/1063), who believed that the
Prophets Ilyas and al-Khidr were alive in his time, although God had explicitly
stated, as Ibn Hazm takes care to note, that Muhammad was the 'seal of the
Prophets' (khatim al-anbiya") and MuIhammad himself had said that there
would be no other prophet after him.27 Ibn al-Farad1i(d. 403/1012) is the
transmitter of a story also related to the question of karamat28dealing with the
view that the performer of miracles should not boast but should keep them to
himself, and only disclose them under special circumstances. In the halqa of the
Toledans Ibn Maymiin (d. 400/1009) and Ibn Shanzir (d. 414/1023), books on
kardmdtwere read.29The polemic was of such importance and caused so much
dissension (fitan) that, according to Qadi 'Iyad, al-Mansuirb. Abi 'Amir decided
to expel some of the 'ulamd'involved from al-Andalus.30
Of the literature devoted to this polemic very little has survived. The most
important sources are the North Africans al-Maliki3' and QadPi'Iyad in his
Tartib al-maddrik,32as well as Ibn Rushd al-Jadd in his Fatawa"33and al-
Wansharisi's Mi'yar al-mu'rib wa-'l-jdmi'al-mughrib 'anfatawl ahl Ifriqiya wa-
'l-Andaluswa-'l-Maghrib.34Al-Dhahabi has also preserved some information in
the biographies he devotes in his Siyar to the protagonists in the polemic. The
work by al-Baqillani entitled Kitab al-baydn 'an al-farq bayna 'i-mujizdt wa-'l-
karamat wa-'l-hijal wa-'l-kahdnawa-'l-sihr wa-'l-naranjdt35seems to correspond
to the refutation he wrote against Ibn Abi Zayd. Ibn Hazm deals repeatedly
with the issue of kardmat al-awliyd in his Fisal.
2. The polemic on karamat al-awliya'
The term karamat in our context has the specific meaning of'miracles'
performed by people other than the prophets, i.e. the saints (awliyd'), that is,
' every act that is contrary to custom performed by someone whose religion is
considered sound' (kullfi'l khdriqli-'l-'ddajard 'aldyad man zahara salahahuft
dinihi).36Some Muslim scholars have tried to locate a basis for this meaning in
Qur'ainicstories like that of the food sent to Maryam in the mihrab (Qur'ain
3:37, 32) or the transportation of Bilqis's throne from the Yemen by a
25 A student of the mystic
Abfi Sa'id b. al-A'rabi (d. 341/953) whose teacher was al-Junayd (d.
298/910). See on him Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rTkh,no. 181; Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, no. 452; al-Dabbi, nos.
452 and 1566; see also Avila, Sociedad, no. 233.
26A student of Ibn Jahdam and also of Ibn 'Awn Allah. On him see al-Dabbi, Bughya, no. 347;
Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, no. 90; Qadi 'Iyad, TartTbal-maddrik,vill, 32-3; al-Dhahabi, Siyar, xvII, 566-
9, no. 374. See also my forthcoming study (to be published in Sharq al-Andalus, 9, 1992).
27 See Ibn Shaqq al-Layl's biography in Ibn Bashkuwal, Kitab al-sila apud Ibn al-Faradi,
Ta'rTkh,no. 1758; al-Dhahabi, Siyar, xvIII, 129-30. On his beliefs see Ibn Hazm, Fisal, iv, 138,
transl. Asin, Abenhhzam,v, 55-6. Ibn Shaqq al-Layl died in Talavera, a site for the performance of
ribat which had been visited by Muhammad b. Abi 1-Husam Tahir.
28Preserved in Ibn Bashkuwal, Kitab al-mustaghithTn(ed., partial transl. and study by M.
Marin, Madrid, 1991), no. 42.
29 On them see Avila, Sociedad, nos. 499 and
300; see also n. 65 on the book on karamat written
by the Andalusian Ibn Futays (d. 402/1011).
30See Fierro, Heterodoxia, 168.
' Riyiddal-nufis (3 vols., Beirut, 1983).
32 was for the existence of the kardmdtal-awliyd', as can be seen in his al-ShifJ' bi-
Q•di 'Iy•d
ta'rTfhuqaqal-Mustafcd(2 vols., Beirut, 1399/1979).
33"ed.al-Mukhtar al-Tahir al-Tilyall (3 vols., Beirut, 1987), I, 579-85.
34ed. in 13 vols. (Rabat, 1401/1981), 11,387-99.
35 ed. R. J. McCarthy (Beirut, 1958). In this book a difference is established between mujizat
(miracles which are probatory of prophecy) and karamdt (miracles of the saints), while at the same
time distinguishing both from magic and the tricks of imposters. Unfortunately, the part dealing
with the kardmdt was missing from the manuscript used for this edition.
36 See al-Wansharisi, Mi'ydr, II, 388 and cf. Ibn Rushd, Fatdaw, I, 583-4.
240 MARIBELFIERRO

companion of Solomon (Qur'an 27:40). These scholars argue that since neither
Maryam's nor Solomon's companions were prophets, the miracles concerned
could not be considered mufizdt, the term reserved for the miracles performed
by prophets. The mujizdt are 'manifest miracles', that is, miracles granted by
God to the prophets as proof of their mission, accompanied by a da'wa or
proclamation and by a tahaddf or a challenge to the unbeliever. While the
miracles of the prophets must be as widely known as possible, the saint must
endeavour to conceal his kardamat.37 L. Gardet 38 has outlined the four different
attitudes towards kardmdt in Islam.
(a) The Mu'tazilites deny the reality of the kardamaton the basis of Qur'an
72: 26-7 where it says that only God knows the 'unknown' (al-ghayb) and that
He grants such knowledge only to those whom he accepts as his messenger
(rasui).39The problem was already raised by Al-Jubba'i: if the awliyd' had the
power of performing miracles, how could they be distinguished from the
prophets?
(b) The faldsifa do not see the miracles as gifts freely granted by God: the
power of performing miracles is the outcome of the perfection that the soul can
achieve in accordance with its own nature.40
(c) The Ash'arites, in general, admitted the authenticity of the karamat. The
mujizdt are not dependent on the moral perfection of the prophet, but on the
will of God. Miracles can be granted to people other than the prophets: this was
the case of Maryam in the above-mentioned Qur'anic verse, 3:37,32. Maryam,
of course, was denied the status of prophet.41 While in the case of the prophets
the miracles are proof of their mission, in the case of the saints, the miracles are
granted to them by God in order to honour them and confirm their piety.
(d) The Sitfis who do not fall into ghuluww have a position very similar to
that of the Ash'arites, stressing the fact that the saint who performs miracles
must not be taken as a prophet and must submit himself to the religious law
given to Muhammad. Moreover, the saint must conceal his miracles, while the
prophet must proclaim them. If a saint boasts or proclaims his miracles, as al-
Hallaj did, he can be suspected of pretending to be a prophet. For some Siffis,
miracles are not the proof of prophecy, such proof being solely the mission
given to the prophet by God.
The beginning of the polemic in Western Islam was connected with the
refutation written by Ibn Abi Zayd against the sect called al-fikrlya or al-
bakrTya,followers of the doctrines of Abil Muhammad 'Abd al-Rahman b.
Muhammad b. 'Abd Allh al-Bakri (fourth/tenth century), a Sicilian settled in
Qayrawdn who maintained that the saints could see Allah while awake 42and
that they could change the ordinary course of things (kharq al-'5ddt).43Ibn Abi
Zayd and those who sided with him were accused of rejecting the possibility of
saints performing miracles, at a time when there were North Africans who
performed them." Their rejection was born out of a concern to protect
37See El (2nd ed.) s.v. karilmdt (D. B. Macdonald).
38ibid.
39 See on this issue al-Wansharisi, Mi'yar, 11, 394-5.
40 See also J. L. Kraemer, Philosophy in the renaissance of Islam: Aba Sulaymdnal-SijistdnTand
his circle (Leiden, 1986), 243-6.
41 See the end of this section, below.
42 It was admitted that a Muslim could see God in dreams. On dreams as a continuation of or
substitution for prophecy see Y. Friedmann, Prophecy continuous: aspects of AhmadTreligious
thought and its medieval background(Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1989), 83-6.
43
See the biography of al-Bakri al-Siqilli in Ibn Niji, Ma'dlim al-Tman(Tunis, 1978), III,244,
n. 267. See also al-Wansharisi, Mi'yar, 11392; Idris, ' Deux juristes ', 146-7.
44 See,
for example, the case of Ibn Abi Zayd's contemporary, Zahrfin b. Hasrufnal-Hammil, in
al-M~liki, Riydd, II, 383-8. See also H. R. Idris, Mandqibd'Aba Ishdq al-JabanydnTparAbuiI-Qasim
al-LdbidTet Mandqib Muhriz b. Ijalaf par Abu I--Tdhiral-Fdrist (Paris, 1959).
 THE DEVELOPMENTOF SUFISMIN AL-ANDALUS 241

prophecy (tahsTnal-nubuwwa).The miracles performed by the prophets were the

proof of their prophethood. To have other people performing miracles as well
would threaten the position of the prophets. Nevertheless, it was judged that
Ibn Abi Zayd had gone too far in his condemnation of the kardmat al-awliyd'.
Some authors observe that he afterwards qualified his opinion, in the sense that
he did not deny the possibility of the saints performing miracles, so long as those
miracles (karadmt) were clearly differentiated from the mu'jizdt or miracles of
the prophets and that a distinction was also drawn for the false miracles of
imposters. This seems to me to reflect not Ibn Abi Zayd's real opinion but an
effort to solve the problem posed by the fact that such a great and authoritative
scholar was known to have opposed the karamat al-awliyd' when it was later
accepted by a large section of the Muslim community.45 Ibn Abi Zayd's
followers were called jamd'a mmin du'afa' al-muhadditfn.46
The North Africans and Andalusians who accepted the karamat al-awliyd'
have a tendency to accuse their opponents of being innovators (sahib bid'a),47
which may be seen as an attempt to emphasize their belief that the ' miracles of
the saints' themselves were not an 'innovation' in the Muslim community but
were rooted in its very tradition. Ibn Abi Zayd's opponents are defined by Qa<idi
as al-mutasawwifaand as forming a majority of the ashab al-hadfth;48one
of them, bearing the nisba 'al-Murji', states that to claim the existence of the
'Iyad.
karamat al-awliyd' is a way of refuting the Mu'tazilites, an idea that recurs again
and again in the fatawa collected by al-Wansharisi.
In the case of the Andalusian al-Asili, it is said that he disapproved of
exaggeration in relation to the karamat al-awliyd', but accepted those that were
established according to all the necessary guarantees of transmission, or that
sprang from the prayers of pious people (du'd' al-salihTn).
The polemic concerning the karamat al-awliyd' in al-Andalus ran parallel
with a polemic concerning the prophecy (nubuwwa)of women. Ibn Mawhab, a
scholar opposed to the miracles of the saints, admitted the existence of prophecy
among women. Al-Asili, who held an 'intermediate' position between Ibn
Mawhab and Ibn 'Awn Allah (a supporter of the existence of the miracles of the
saints), denied the capacity of women to receive prophetic inspiration.49Ibn
Hazm, who is our informant on this issue, sided with the former position and
justified his view with Qur'anic references to prophets who were women, like
Maryam, Isaac's mother and Moses's mother.5"As has already been said, those
who accepted the existence of the karamat al-awliyd' put forward as proof the
example of Maryam,5 whose miracle is attested in the Qur'ianand who, as a
consequence of this argument, could not possibly have been a prophet. A
counter-argument put forward by those who were against the karamat al-
awliyd' was to state that Maryam and the other women were 'prophets'. Thus
the only reason for discussing the nubuwwatal-nisd' was clearly to strengthen

45There is an anecdote in which Ibn Abi Zayd seeks the help of a person considered mustajdb
(the Ifriqiyan equivalent of Andalusian mujdbal-da'wa) in order to cure his daughter: see al-Maliki,
Riydd, II, 501. However, those who were opposed to the karamat al-awliva' could at the same time
have accepted the ijabat al-da'wva.
46 See
al-Wansharisi, Mi'yar, II, 388, in the answer given by the North African mufty Ibn al-
'Abbas al-Qusantini (d. 871/1467): on him see Ibn Hamadi, art. cit., 37.
47This is so for three scholars from Ifriqiya, Muhammad b. al-Fath al-Murji' (d. 334/945),
Hasan b. Muhammad b. Hasan al-Kanishi (d. 347/958, himself a performer of miracles) and Ibn
Abi Hisham al-Raba'i (d. 371/981): see al-Maliki, Rivdd, II, 314 and Qadi 'Iyad, TarThb,
vi, 46 and 213. See alsoal-Hann-.t
Ibn Rushd, Fatawa, I, 579.
48See TartTb,vi, 219.
49 See Qadi TartTb,vii, 141.
50See Fierro, Heterodoxia, 168-9.
'Iy.d,
1' See al-Wansharisi, Mi'yar, II, 391 and Ibn Rushd, Fatawa, I, 580.
242 MARIBEL FIERRO

the position of the followers of the ' miracles of the saints' (Maryam was not a
prophet) or the position of its opponents (Maryam was a prophet).
Another related issue was the alleged ' eternity' of prophets like al-Khidr, a
doctrine which Ibn Abi Zayd argued ran counter to Qur'an 21:34, where God
explicitly says that He has made nobody immortal, neither Muhammad nor any
other prophet before him. Ibn Abi Zayd's opponents answered that al-Khidr
was alive but that he would die before the Last Hour and therefore could not be
considered immortal.52 An Andalusian opponent of Ibn Abi Zayd, Ibn Shaqq
al-Layl, was accused of holding precisely such a belief. Ibn HI-azmattacked him
for this, seeing in it a threat to the dogma that prophecy ended with
Muhammad.3
The problem of the karamat al-awliyd', as thefatawa collected by Ibn Rushd
and al-Wansharisishow,was not solvedin Qayrawanor in Qurtuba.Theissues
at stake arose again many times in the followingcenturies,the chief among
them being the differentcoexisting conceptions within Islam as to what a ' saint'
was and what was the nature of the 'gifts' granted to him by God.54

3. The Prophet and the miracles

The polemic concerning karamat al-awliyd' was especially important in
relation to the Prophet Muhammad. The performance of miracles was, and still
is, a debated aspect of his personality. It was given greaterimportance and stress
mainly as a result of inter-faith controversies with Jews and Christians, the
miracles of Muhammad having probatory value of his prophecy.55Miracles
performed by prophets other than Muhammad are mentioned in the Qur'an, as
in the case of Jesus,56 and a number of Qur'ainicverses were interpreted as
establishing certain miracles performed by Muhammad. However, in Islam the
attribution of miracles to Muhammad was not taken for granted; the
predominant tendency was to consider that the sign which authenticated
Muhammad's mission and was proof of his prophetic character was the Qur'in
itself,57 because of its inimitability (ijdz).58 Among the most highly debated
issues is the question of whether Muhammad had knowledge of the 'unseen'
('ilm al-ghayb) 59: the answer in fifth/eleventh-century al-Andalus seems to have
been positive.60

52 See this issue in Qadi 'Iyad, TartTb,vI, 220.

13On the formation and development of this dogma see Friedmann, Prophecy continuous,
49-82.
54 See the definition without kardmat made by AbfuMahalli (eleventh/seventeenth century) in J.
Berque, UlImas,fondateurs, insurgis du Maghreb XVIIe sidcle (Paris, 1982), 65 and cf. 53-4. See also
M. Asin, El Islam cristianizado (2nd ed., Madrid, 1981), 198-215.
55
See I. Goldziher,' Influences chr&tiennesdans la litterature religieuse de l'Islam ', RHR, xvIII,
1888, 180-99; R. Brunschvig,' L'argumentation d'un theologien musulmane du xe siecle contre le
Judaisme', Homenaje a Millis Vallicrosa,I (Barcelona, 1954), 225-41, 226 and 228; A. T. Khoury,
Polhmiquebyzantine contre l'Islam (viIIe-xeIIe sikcle) (Leiden, 1972), 45; A. Rippin, Muslims: their
religious beliefs and practices, I: Theformative period (London and New York, 1990), 25-6.
56See A. Bouamama, La litterature polkmique musulmane contre le christianisme depuis ses
originesjusqu'au xJlf siecle (Alger, 1988), 27.
57See Bouamama, 218. This modern scholar is a Muslim who rejects the miracles of
Muhammad: see especially op. cit., p. 219.
58The book by al-Baqillani Ijfaz al-Qur'an was particularly important in imposing this dogma.
For its presence in al-Andalus see al-Baji's answer to the letter of the ' Monk of France ', in A. M.
Turki, ' La lettre du " Moine de France " i al-Muqtadir billah, roi de Saragosse, et la reponse d'al-
Baji, le faqih andalou (presentation, texte arabe, traduction)' Al-Andalus, xxxi, 1966, 73-153, 145,
and Ibn Hazm, Fisal, iv, 156, 166, 167, transl. Asin Palacios, Abenhazam, v, 106-7, 130, 134.
59See El (2nd ed.) (D. B. Macdonald-L. Gardet). For a discussion of this question in modern
India see U. Sanyal, 'Wahhabis are Kafirs: Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi and his Sword of the
Haramayn', paper presented in the SSRC conference on 'The making of a Fatwa ' (Granada, 10-13
January 1990).
61 See Ibn Hazm, Jawvmi' al-sTra(ed. I. 'Abbas and Nisir al-din Asad, Cairo, n.d.), p. 10, n. 10
and al-Bdiji'sanswer to the letter of the ' Monk of France', Turki's edition, 144-5 and 148-9.
 THE DEVELOPMENTOF SUFISM IN AL-ANDALUS 243

Mention of the miracles of Muhammad can already be found in the STraof

Ibn Hisham and the Tabaqdt of Ibn Sa'd.6' It was later that a special genre
developed, the dald'il and the a'lim al-nubuwwa,62exemplified in the books
written by Abui Nu'aym al-Isbahani (d. 430/1038) 63and al-Mawardi (d. 450/
1058).64In the second half of the fourth/tenth century a work of this genre was
written in al-Andalus by Ibn Futays (d. 402/1011), A 'Iam al-nubuwwa,65and
later Abii 'Ubayd al-Bakri (d. 487/1094) wrote his Kitaibfta'lim nubuwwatnab7-
nd Muhammad.66Both are lost, but they must have included a list of the miracles
performed by the Prophet and probably also references to the mention of
Muhammad in the Books of Jews and Christians.67In the Andalusian literature
composed during the fifth/eleventh century we find several examples of lists of
and texts on the Prophet's miracles,68which show an increasing interest in this
aspect of Muhammad's personality, probably connected with the need to
defend Islam against the growing expansion and influence of Christianity.69It
was also during the fifth/eleventh century that there arose the polemic on
whether the Prophet was illiterate. This was based on the interpretation of a
hadTthin which it is reported that the Prophet wrote on the day of IHudaybiya,a
statement which contradicts consideration of the Prophet as 'illiterate', as
understood by the Qur'anic usage of the word ummT.70 The polemic started in
Denia, where the Miliki faqfh Abfi 'l-Walid al-Baji explained the hadith of
Hudaybiya as meaning that the Prophet actually wrote on that day. The ascetic
(zdhid) Ibn al-Sai'ighaccused al-Biji of infidelity (kufr) and incited the people
(al- 'dmma)against him. The point was reached where al-Biji was cursed and
sermons were pronounced against him. Al-Bfiji wrote a risala to justify his
doctrinal position, which gave rise to further writings, both for and against him.
Scholars from Ifriqiya and Sicily entered into the polemic, in support of al-
Baji.71 The issue was twofold: on the one hand, the relationship between the

6' Bouamama, op. cit., p. 21, n. 1. He points out that the latter is the only one who ' affirme que
Muhammad renouvelle.. le miracle de la Pentecote: " Chaque messager reputle don de parler la
langue du pays ou ii devait se rendre".'
62 See S. Stroumsa, ' The Signs of
Prophecy: the emergence and early development of a theme in
Arabic theological literature', Harvard Theological Review, 78, 1985, 101-14. Stroumsa (whom I
thank for sending me an off-print) points out the direct relationship between this genre and the
polemics on prophecy with Christians and Jews.
63Dald'il al-nubuwwa,3 vols. (Beirut, 1988).
64A 'lam al-nubuwwa
(Beirut, 1989).
65See M. Jarrar, Die Prophetenbiographieirn islamischenSpanien: ein Beitrag zur Uberlieferung
und Redaktionsgeschichte(Frankfurt, 1989), 134-5. The same Ibn Futays wrote a book entitled
Kardmdtal-salihtn: see F. Pons Boigues, Ensavo bio-bibliograficosobre los historiadoresy ge6grafos
arabigo-espanoles(Madrid, 1898), 103.
66See R. Dozy, Recherchessur I'histoireet la litteraturede l'Espagnependant le Moyen Age (3rd
ed., Leiden, 1881), 1, 263. The comment by A. Cour in EI (lst ed.), s.v. Abi 'Ubayd al-Bakri, that
this work 'was probably written to defend himself from the charge of heresy and religious
indifference, which was so often brought against scholars in the early Almoravid period' is totally
unfounded.
67 See on this point A. Bouamama, 32, 44, 201-15.
68See Ibn Hazm, Fisal, v, 6, transl. Asin, Abenhazam,v, 158-9. See also Ibn Hazm, Jawami' al-
sTra,7-14; al-Baji's answer to the letter of the ' Monk of France', ed. Turki, 127 and n. 68; 'Abd
Allfih al-Ziri, The 'Tibydn', transl. A. T. Tibi (Leiden, 1986), 5/36; E. Tornero, 'Cuestiones
filos6ficas del Kitcb al-masd'il de Ibn al-Sid de Badajoz ', Al-Qantara, v, 1984, 15-31, esp. 17 and
28-9. For a later period see M. Asin Palacios, ' La polemica anticristiana de Mohimed el Caisi',
Revue Hispanique, xxI, (repr. 1963), 339-61.
69 See my forthcoming study Religi6n en el s. v/Xi, included in vol. viii of the Historia de Espaha
fundada por R. Menendez Pidal y dirigidapor J. MaJover, where I advance the hypothesis that the
refutation of Islam by al-Kindi was introduced into al-Andalus in the fifth/eleventh century and that
its attack on the miracles of the Prophet made the Muslims stress their belief in those miracles.
70 See now on this point N. Calder,' The ummTinearly Islamic juristic literature ', Der Islam, 67,
1990, 111-23.
7' All these writings have been edited and studied by Abfi 'Abd al-Rahmin b. 'Aqil al-Zdhirhin
TahqTqal-madhhabyatliLhi ajwibat al-'ulamd' bayna mu 'ayyad wa-mu'drid da'wa kitdbat al-
rasul sl'm lismi-hi yawm sulh Hudaybiyya (Ryad, 1403/1983). h.awla
244 MARIBEL FIERRO

Qur'an and hadTth;on the other, the prophetic dignity of Muhammad. Al-Baji
himself defined the accusations brought against him as 'the elimination of the
prophetic miracle, the refutation of Islamic law, and impugning the truth of the
Qur'an' (ibtadlal-mujiza wa-radd al-shari'a wa-takdhTbal-Qur'an).72The fact
that Muhammad could not read or write is one of the proofs of his prophecy,
because, his being illiterate, it is a miracle that the Qur'an was revealed to him.
Al-Baji does not deny this miracle; on the contrary, he says that there were two
miracles: first, the Prophet was illiterate yet was able to read the Qur'an, and
second, on the day of Hudaybiya he was able to write, being illiterate. The point
had been made before him by Abit Dharr al-Harawi, a Meccan traditionist who
played an important role in the transmission of the Hudaybiya tradition (found
in Bukhairi'scollection).73
The growing veneration of the Prophet in Western Islam is reflected in
subsequent centuries in works like Qadi 'Iyid's al-Shifd' bi-ta'rZf al-
Mustafa 74 and in the establishment of the mawlid of the A
h.uqfiq
Prophet.75 Siifi
development was the ideal of the Prophet as the Perfect Man (al-insdn al-
kamil).76
The dangers to the Prophet Muhammad involved in this issue of the
karamat al-awliyd' are clearly stated by Ibn Hazm, who was their opponent. The
many references to this problem that are found throughout his Fisal can be
summarized as dealing with the following points:
1. Who is the most excellent Muslim after the Prophet Muhammad? Can
there be Muslims more excellent than the Prophet?77 For Ibn Hazm the answer
is clear: nobody was or could be more excellent than the Prophet.78He also
stresses that impeccability (isma) was a privilege granted only to Muhammad as
a prophet.79 Not all Muslims shared this view. According to Ibn Hazm, al-
Baiqillaniwas of the opinion that there could be people more excellent than
those to whom risala or nubuwwa were granted, including Muhammad. Ibn
Ijazm also points out that a Sitfi group (td'ifa) maintained that among the saints
there could be one more excellent than all the prophets and messengers (fi
awliyd' Alldh ta'kla man huwa min jamT' al-anbiyd' wa-l-rusul). He
mentions also that two Eastern afd.al Christian followers of IbriThimal-Nazzaim
insulted the Prophet for his polygamy and observed that AbuiDharr al-Ghiffri
was more ascetic than he.80This must have been an open issue in al-Andalus in
the fifth/eleventh century. One of the accusations brought against Ibn Haitimal-
Tulaytuli, accused of zandaqa and ilhad in 457/1064, was his saying that the

72 See 171.
7" See al-Biji,
Tah.qTq, TahqTq,198-9 and M. I. Fierro, ' Obras y transmisiones de hadit (ss. v/xi-vII/xiii)
en la Takmila de Ibn al-Abbr ', Ibn al-Abbarpolitic i escriptor arab valencid(1199-1260) (Valencia,
1990), 205-22, 212-3.
7As already pointed out by Goldziher, ' Influences chretiennes', 182.
'
75 See F. de la Granja, Fiestas cristianas en al-Andalus (Materiales para su estudio). I: al-Durr
al-munazzamde al-'Azafi', Al-Andalus,xxxIv, 1969, 1-53. See also A. Schimmel, And Muhammadis
His Messenger (Chapel Hill, 1985).
76 See M. Takeshita, Ibn 'Arabt'stheory of the Perfect Man and its place in the history of Islamic

thought (Tokyo, 1987).

77SeeFisal, Iv, 126-9, 150, 169-71 and v, 14-18; transl. Asin, Abenhazam,v, 21-6, 88, 137-41,
182-4. See also for related questions Fisal, iv, 161-2, transl. Asin, Abenhazam,v, 118-19 and 120-
21. See also Friedmann, Prophecy continuous, 77-80.
78 See also al-Wansharisi, Mi'yar, II, 398-9 and the partial translation by E. Amar (based on the
lithographic edition of Fes 1214-5 A.H.)in Archives Marocaines, xII, 1908, 348-9.
79See Fisal, Iv, 155, transl. Asin, Abenhazam,v, 103;A. M. Turki, Polkmiquesentre Ibn IHazmet
BdfTsur les principes de la loi musulmane(Alger, 1973), 169-70. Ibn HIIazm launches a serious attack
against those passages of the Old Testament where prophets appear as having committed sins: see I.
di Matteo, 'Le pretese contraddizioni della S. Scrittura secondo Ibn Hazm', Bessarione, xxxix,
1923, 85.
8oSee Fisal, Iv, 150; trans. Asin, Abenhazam,v, 88.
 THE DEVELOPMENTOF SUFISMIN AL-ANDALUS 245

asceticism of the Prophet was not sought after, but imposed by the circum-
stances in which he lived: had opportunity arisen, he would have behaved in a
different way (law 'ala raqTqal-ta'dm lam ya'kul khashinahu wa-inna
zuhdahu lam yakun ista.td'a
'an qasdin).8"
2. Are the miracles of the Prophet a proof of his prophecy?82 According to
Ibn Hazm, they are, but he points out that the Ash'arite doctrine undermines
this belief. Among other examples, the Ash'arites would maintain that miracles
are such only on condition that a challenge (tahaddi) was laid to unbelievers and
Muhammad did not do so in all cases.
3. Can men who are not prophets perform miracles? For Ibn Hazm they
cannot, but he deals extensively with those who thought otherwise.8"
On each of these three points, Ibn Hazm demonstrates his opposition to the
doctrines elaborated by the Ash'ari-Maliki al-Baqillani, while he is in accord
with the doctrines developed by the Ash'arf-Shafi'i al-Isfara'ini (d. 418/1027).84
Ibn IHazmwas not the only Andalusian scholar to engage in the defence of
prophecy in the fifth/eleventh century; so also did Ibn 'Abd al-Barr.85

4. Prophets, claimants to prophethoodand saints

Where does one draw the line between prophets (anbiyd' or rusuls6) and
saints (awliyd') if both can perform miracles?Will not the performer of miracles
end by claiming prophethood or by being taken as a prophet? That this was an
important issue in the polemic is evident from the fact that one of the fatawa
collected by al-Wansharisi in the section dealing with the karamat al-awliyd'
deals with those who claim to be prophets (tanabba'a).87Precedents were known
in al-Andalus of persons who had tried or were alleged to have tried to present
themselves as 'prophets', as had happened in others parts of the Muslim
world: 88
1. Abui 'Ubayd al-Bakri mentions that Yhinusal-Barghawati made the rihla
to the East together with other North Africans and Andalusians of whom three
claimed to be prophets, among them, Yiinus himself.89This rihla took place in
the first half of the third/ninth century.
2. In the year 237/851 a teacher (mu'allim) who claimed to be a prophet
rebelled in the east of al-Andalus. He promoted a peculiar interpretation (ta'wJl)
of the Qur'ain.His slogan was la taghyTrli-khalq Allah, and he preached that it
was forbidden to cut the moustache and the nails or to depilate the body (natf

81al-Wansharisi, Mi'yar, 11,328 and see

my study 'El proceso contra Ibn HFitimal-Tulaytull
(afios 457/1064-464/1071) ', Anaquel de Estudios Arabes, Iv, 1993 (forthcoming).
82 See Fisal, Iv, 164 and 167-8, transl. Asin, Abenhazam, v, 124 and 134-7.
83 See Fisal, v, 2-11, transl. Asin, Abenhazam, v, 147-75; see also Fisal, 1, 89-90, transl. Asin,
Abenhaczam,
84
n, 228-9.
On him see EI (2nd ed.), s.v. (W. Madelung). Ibn Hazm and al-Isfari'ini seem to have reached
the same conclusions independently.
85See Friedmann, Prophecy continuous, 62.
86For definitions of the difference see Friedman, Prophecy continuous, 69: 'Several commen-
tators define a messenger (rasul) as a person to whom Allfih revealed a book and a law; a Prophet
(nabi), on the other hand, is said to be a person who was commanded by Allfih to propagate a law
brought by someone who had preceded him. In theory, this distinction could have enabled the
Muslims to accept the possibility that prophets (as distinguished from messengers) would appear
after Muhammad's death: not only would they not supersede his law, but they could also reaffirmit.
It seems, however, that only late Sitff thinkers availed themselves of this intriguing opportunity and
drew this conclusion from the classical distinction between legislative and non-legislative prophecy.'
See also ibid., 88.
87See Mi'vdr, 11,393-4.
88See Friedmann, Prophecy continuous,65-8 and also H. Ferhat and H. Triki,' Faux prophetes
et mahdis dans le Maroc medieval', Hespiris-Tamuda, xxvI-xxvI, 1988-89, 5-24.
89See Fierro, Heterodoxia, 45-8.
246 MARIBEL FIERRO

al-ajniha wa-l-istihdad).He was crucified and while on the cross he pronounced

the Qur'anic verse 'Would you kill a man who says " My lord is God "?'
(40:29).90
3. In the year 288/900 a member of the Umayyad family known as Ibn al-
Qitt led a rebellion against the Umayyad amfr 'Abd Allah. Initially, he managed
to attract the support of Berber tribes by means of predictions and the call for
jihad against the Christians. He soon presented himself as the Mahdi and came
to be considered a prophet by his followers (aqamuhu maqa-m al-nabTl-sadiq
qawluhu). He claimed that God had granted him the ability to perform
'miracles' (karamat):he grasped a bunch of dry sticks and squeezed them until
liquid was produced.9' He also claimed that the moment he approached the
Christian town of Zamora, the walls would collapse. In fact, the sources say, he
was a sha'badh and a kahin.92
4. In the year 333/944 in Lisbon, a man who claimed to be a descendant of
'Abd al-Muttalib and of Fatima 93 stated that he was a prophet and that the
angel Gabriel visited him with a revelation (wa-dda'6a... anna JibrTlyunzilu
'alay-hi). He gave his followers a set of traditions and laws (sunan, shard'i),
requiring them, among other things, to shave their heads (halq al-ra's), a well-
known practice among North African Khairijites.94 He disappeared suddenly.95
5. The head of the Masarri group of Pechina (Almeria), Isma'il b. 'Abd
Allah al-Ru'ayni (living in the first half of the fifth/eleventh century), held that
prophecy could be acquired, claimed that he knew the language of birds, and
predicted future events.96
There were other claimants to prophethood in al-Andalus in later times.97
An Andalusian who lived in the first half of the fourth/tenth century is
worth mentioning here as he seems to have dealt with the problem of what
Friedmann calls 'substitutes for prophecy' that arose from the need not to cut
off the channel linking the believers with God and giving them the assurance
that 'the cessation of prophecy does not imply the disappearance of divine
guidance for the Muslim community' and that 'divine inspiration would find
alternative ways to reach the community'.98 The Andalusian referred to was
Maslama b. Qaisimb. Ibrahim b. 'Abd Allah, a disciple of the mystic AbuiSa'id
b. al-A'raibi who transmitted in al-Andalus the work of the Egyptian Dhfi
'l-Nfin, and who was accused of practising magic (sdhib ruqanwa-nTranjdt) 99 He
seems to me to correspond to the unidentified 'Maslama b. al-Qaisimb. 'Abd
Allih ' cited by Friedmann as maintaining that there was a considerable degree
of affinity between the prophets and the muhaddathuin(' people who are spoken
to ').100This idea seems to have been developed in particular by al-Hakim al-

90
ibid., 70-4.
91 cf. a similar miracle attributed to the Prophet in Ibn HIazm,Jawami' al-sira, p. 8, no. 4.
92 See Fierro, Heterodoxia, 106-11.
93This ' Fatima' must be understood as referring to Fatima bint 'Amr, the wife of 'Abd al-
Muttalib and mother of AbuiTalib, and not to the Prophet's daughter. Those Talibids called 'al-
were named so after this Fatima bint 'Amr: see my study 'On al-Fatimi and al-
Fa.timi'
Fatimiyyfin', a paper read to the fifth International Colloquium From Jahiliyya to Islam, 1-6 July
1990.
94This was a practice of the Jazufliyyaand it is also attributed to the Khariji 'Umar al-Mu'ayti
on whom see al-Wansharisi, Mi'ytr, 11,396-8.
95See Fierro, Heterodoxia, 128-9.
96ibid., 166-8.
97See on them M. I. Fierro y S. Faghia, ' Un nuevo texto de tradiciones escatol6gicas sobre al-
Andalus', Sharq al-Andalus, 7, 1990, no. 14.
98Friedmann, Prophecy continuous, 83 and 84.
99On him see my Heterodoxia, 129-30.
100Prophecy continuous, 86.
 THE DEVELOPMENTOF SUFISM IN AL-ANDALUS 247

Tirmidhi and later by Ibn al-'Arabi 0' who is one of the sources for the spiritual
claims of the founder of the Alhmadiya.

5. The political implications of a religious issue

Al-Talamanki was one of those who undertook the defence of the karamat
al-awliyd' and his case may be taken to elucidate some of the political
considerations in the religious issue. Al-Talamanki was concerned with the
spiritual renewal of Islam in a direction similar to that later espoused by al-
Ghazali. As a Maliki faqTh, al-Talamanki was interested not in the masd'il
literature, like most of his contemporaries, but in the discipline of the usil al-
fiqh, recently introduced into the intellectual milieu of al-Andalus.'02He also
devoted his efforts to other new disciplines like the qird'dt and non-rationalist
theology (usuil al-diyanat). At the same time, he can be described as a
representativeof shar'Tmysticism,that is, a mysticism that rejected the extremes
of the batinTyabut which also went further than the ascetism (zuhd) already
assimilated by orthodoxy: on the one hand, he refuted Ibn Masarra and the
batinTya,accusing the former of having claimed to be a prophet; 103on the other
hand, he wrote ascetic treatises (now lost) such as the Kitib al-dalTlild ma'rifat
al-Jalfl in which it seems that the life and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad were
presented as a model to be emulated. 04 He supported the karamat al-aw/liyi'
and his name appears in the SWifiisnad that joins al-HIasan al-Basri to the
Andalusian mystic Ibn al-'Arif through al-Fudayl b. 'Iyad.os5
Born in Talamanca (near Madrid, in the Middle Frontier) and after
studying in Qurtuba and the East, al-Talamanki left the capital of the collapsing
Umayyad caliphate in 403/1012, the year that the Berbers pillaged it. After-
wards, he visited various towns of al-Andalus: Almeria, Murcia, Zaragoza. It
was in this last town (the capital of the Upper Frontier) where a group of
fuqaha' and notables (nubahd'),among them various Umayyad clients, testified
against him, bringing upon him accusations of heresy (khildfal-sunna), of being
a follower of the doctrines of the first Kharijites (the Hartirites), and of holding
that in the battle against those considered to be unbelievers or innovators it was
of no importance if virtuous people were also killed (yard wad' al-sayffJsalih 'l-
muslimina). The qiddTof Zaragoza granted al-Talamanki the opportunity to
challenge the witnesses who had accused him and eventually declared him
innocent. The whole affair took place in 425/1034, when the Tujibi kings of
Zaragoza acknowledged the last Umayyad caliph, Hishaim III, who had taken
refuge in Lerida, also in the Upper Frontier. After being absolved, al-
Talamanki left Zaragoza for Talamanca, where he devoted himself to ribit life
and where he died in 428/1036 or 429/1037.
The available data on the trial against al-Talamanki are scarce and of such a
nature as to make it very difficult to ascertain the real issues at stake. There is no
evidence that the amTrof Zaragoza intervened in the trial at all which would
point to the conclusion that al-Talamanki's doctrines and activities were not
seen as a threat to the political power. If so, one might conclude that the trial

'01See Friedmann, Prophecy continuous,89 and M. Chodkiewicz, Le sceau des saints. Prophetie
et saintete dans la doctrine d'Ibn al-'Arab7(Paris, 1986). For a similar problem in Christendom see
M. Reeves, The influenceof prophecy in the later Middle Ages: a study in Joachinism(Oxford, 1969).
102See the study of Turki, Polhmiques entre Ibn
IHazm et Bdak7sur les principes de la loi
musulmane.
103See al-Dhahabi, Siyar, xv, 558: qdla 1-TalamankTfiraddihi 'alid -badtinya:Ibn Masarra idda'd
1-nubuwwawa-za'ama annahu sami'a l-kalam fa-thabata ft nafsihi annahu min 'inda Allah.
S04I have already pointed out that this tendency to propose the Prophet as a model to be
followed was countered by those who set him in his historical context, see 3.2 above.
o05See Ibn Ibrfhim, al-I'lam bi man halla bi-Marrakush,vol. n (Rabat, 1974), 19.
VOL. LV. PART 2. 19
248 MARIBELFIERRO

was born out of a rivalry between 'ulama' who held different views on their
interpretation of the religious and legal doctrines of Islam. But the accusation of
Kharijism is always associated with the question of the imamate and this could
well have also been so in the case of al-Talamanki.
There are thus two possibilities:
(a) The intellectual activities of al-Talamanki aimed at the renovation of
Andalusian Islam through the introduction of new disciplines and the develop-
ment of those already introduced. This effort provoked opposition from certain
sectors 106 of the 'ulam&'unwilling or unable to adapt to the novelties proposed.
The most disturbing element for them must have been those of al-Talamanki's
doctrines which were close to Suifism and/or Ash'arism. The defence of the
karamat al-awliyd' was seen by some groups as a threat to the figure of the
Prophet Muhammad in that it could ultimately lead to saints becoming the
rivals of the prophets. The stress on the kardamtwas at the same time a threat to
the absolute separation between God and man, as it implied that the channel
linking the believers with God was not severed. The accusation of being a harurT
and a saffdk al-dima' could then be interpreted as a way of discrediting al-
Talamanki's moral rigour and his ideals of spiritual perfection.
(b) But al-Talamanki's doctrines might also have led him to give a
'dangerous' answer to the problem of the caliphate, one of the main issues of
fifth/eleventh-century al-Andalus (which involved the collapse of the Umayyad
caliphate, the appearance of the Hammiidi/Fatimi caliphs, the existence of
numerous pretenders to the imamate, etc.). It is my view that al-Talamanki
must have proposed that the imdm should be the most excellent Muslim, thus
freeing the caliphal institution from the ties of genealogy. This doctrine would
fit with the accusation of Kharijism. An existing text adds further support to
this possibility: it states that during the trial, the qddIof Zaragoza asked the
advice of a muftTof the same town: shawarahu 'l-qJdd....fima shuhida bihi
'ala ... al-Talamank min kawnihiharurlyan 'aldkhil f al-sunnafijama'a ma'ahu
kana huwa ra'sahum wa-sadrahum wa-l-musammi fihim awwal al-jamr'a.107I
understand this to mean that around al-Talamanki a group (jamd'a) of
followers had been constituted, he being its leader and considered awwal al-
jamd'a. If the text is correctly interpreted, al-Talamanki's situation was, at a
certain point, similar to that of the Masarri Ism-'Tial-Ru'ayni as leader of his
community in Pechina. Given the fact that al-Talamanki, unlike al-Ru'ayni,
was a key figure in the intellectual milieu of al-Andalus in terms of numbers of
pupils and the diffusion of his works, we may have in him a precedent for the
path taken a century later by Ibn Barrajin and Ibn Qasi in their claims to the
im-mate.'18
6. Conclusions
The polemic concerning karamat al-awliyd' that took place in Ifriqiya and

106R. W. Bulliett in his Conversion to Islam (Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1979), 126,
maintains that the 'traditional' groups would have been the 'old' converts, while the recent or
' new' converts would have been those who more easily accepted the new disciplines like the usul al-
fiqh and usul al-din and Sifism. This is an interesting theory but has still to be proved. In the case of
al-Talamanki, all the available evidence points to his being an 'old' Muslim and he was far from
being 'traditional'.
107This text is to be found in Ibn al-Abbar, Takmila, no. 1292. Ibn Hamadi in his article,
mentioned in note 4, interprets the text as referringto the muftTwho would have been the leader of
the jama'a (?) in charge of giving legal opinions. This interpretation is not supported by the
vocabulary used in Andalusian biographical dictionaries when referring to the muftTsand the
fuqaha' mushdwari7n.
108 See Lagardere, art. cit., and J. Dreher, 'L'imamat d'Ibn Qasi Mertola (automne 1144-ete
1145). Legitimite d'une domination soufie?', MIDEO, 18, 1988, 153-210.
 THE DEVELOPMENTOF SU•FISMIN AL-ANDALUS 249

al-Andalus during the fourth/tenth-fifth/eleventh centuries had at its centre the

issue of what constituted sainthood (wiliya). Ibn Abi Zayd and his followers
supported a definition in which the performance of miracles was not included
because of the dangers involved for the realm of prophecy. This realm seems to
have been discussed by the Andalusian Maslama b. Qasim already in the first
half of the fourth/tenth century.
Ibn Abi Zayd's opponents belonged to two groups which are not always
easy to distinguish: and Ash'ari theologians. The latter claimed that a
differencecould be established
.Sifis between the miracles performed by prophets and
those performed by saints: the former should be made public as a challenge to
unbelievers, while the latter must be kept concealed. The reticence found in
Andalusian sources about attributing or referringto the karamat of Andalusian
ascetics or mystics could be one of the results of the polemic concerning karamnat
al-awliyd' and the stress placed upon their not being spoken of.
Among the Andalusians who opposed Ibn Abi Zayd, al-Talamanki is a key
figure for an understanding of the intellectual and religious development that
was taking place in al-Andalus. He was a scholar who attempted to introduce
the new discipline of usul al-dTnin al-Andalus. He was also involved in ascetism
and is linked in a Suiffchain with Ibn al-'Arif. The renewal of Andalusian Islam
in the direction of 'non-rationalist' theology and mysticism had thus started
before the introduction of al-Ghazali's works.
Al-Talamanki's trial seems to indicate that he attempted to define the
imamate in terms of' excellence ', not genealogy. This was also a charge brought
by Ibn HIazmagainst the Maliki-Ash'ari al-Baqillani, a scholar with whom al-
Talamanki seems to have shared many views.
The persistence of the two issues mentioned (the continuity of prophecy and
who is entitled to the imaimate) can be seen especially in the career and the
writings of Ibn Qasi,109a SufYwho rebelled against the Almoravids, proclaiming
himself imam, and who in his Kitdb khal' al-na'layn 110developed a concept of
wilaya which was a substitute of prophecy.

109 Also in those of the North African Ibn

Tuimart:see 'Abd al-Majid al-Najjir, Al-Mahd7Ibn
Timart (Beirut, 1983), 225-53.
" "
110 The Arabic text was edited by D. R. Goodrich, 'A Sufi revolt in Portugal: Ibn Qasi and
his " Kitab khal' al-na'layn "' (Columbia univ. Ph.D., 1978), and by J. Dreher, Das Imdmat des
islamischen Mystikers Abalqdsim Ahmad ibn Husain ibn QasT (gest. 1151). Eine Studie zum
Selbsverstindnis des Autors des 'Buchs vom Ausziehen der beiden Sandalen '(KitSb Hal' al-Na'lain)
(Bonn, 1985).