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LD FEB UI WORKING PAPER

NO. 02/JUNE 2019

CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC DIVERSITY IN AL – ANDALUS

by Nio Tjong K. F.

CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC DIVERSITY IN AL – ANDALUS

by Nio Tjong K. F.

LD FEB UI WORKING PAPER

NO. 02/JUNE 2019

The view expressed in the Working Paper are those of the author and do not represent the official views of the Lembaga Demografi

This publication is available on Lembaga Demografi website (www.ldfebui.org)

LD FEB UI WORKING PAPER

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CONTENTS

Abstract ...... 5 1. Introduction ...... 5 2. Literature Review ...... 9 2.1. Historical Background and It’s Transcendences...... 9 2.2. Socioeconomic Aspect in Al – Andalus...... 10 2.3. The Cross Cultural (Mosque- Cathedral of Cordoba)...... 12

2.4. Cultural Diversity...... 13 2.5 Commerce, Trade and Finance...... 18 2.6. Social Hierarchy Al-Andalus...... 21 2.7. Other Social Aspects and Fiscal System...... 23 3. Conclusion ...... 27 Annex ...... 28 Bibliography ...... 30

CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC DIVERSITY IN AL – ANDALUS

Nio Tjong K. F. MIE1

Abstract

This paper provides a review of Islamic aspects of the socioeconomic milieu the Al -Andalus, in order to explain how the cultural and religious diversity contributed to the rise of the Islamic economics of the period to its golden age; and how the interaction of various socioeconomic factors – political, ethical, institutional, and demographic – shaped the development and ultimately the decline of the eminent civilization. As Chapra coined: “[…] efficient institutions will survive over time and that inefficient institutions be weeded out.”

Counting on Scholars’ and historians’ literature reviews, relevant historical DATAS, descriptive analysis of Ibn Khaldun giving a tacit testimony on how cultural, religious diversity and how rules and tolerance could affect the up down of economy and civilization. Whereas vivid testimonies depicted the triumphs and failure of Islamic economics in Europe, specifically in Al-Andalus period. Bespeaking how the ethnics, cultural and religious diversity and how fiscal system and the ruling performance determined the prosperity and the down fall of a civilization. Therefore, this paper aimed to transmit the values of diversity in a society, encouraging the flexible concept of diversity in social coexistence, implied.

Keywords: cultural and socioeconomic diversity, coexistence (Convivencia), Al -Andalus,

1. Introduction

The decline and fall of an empire and of a civilization has always been the polemic headshake as well as exquisite source of historians’ narrative work. For instance, the fall of Roman Kingdom–the collapse of Roman Power brought down on the neck of classical civilization, transformed the ancient world to the medieval, the rise of Islam in a new age, whereas humans’ evolution traced on till our age of 21st century, many are valuable to be recalled.

For instance, in Europe, the breakup of feudal structure, the strengthening of city-states in Italy, moreover; the emergence of national monarchies in Spain, France and England, as well as such cultural and scientific developments, as the rise of secular education culminated in the birth of

1 Researcher at STEI Tazkia University, Sentul, Bogor. Indonesia. [email protected]

a self-consciously new age with a new spirit that looked all the way back to classical learning for inspiration and known as the renaissance; were the transcendental humans’ history and evolution that was born of the medieval. Here, our brushstroke touches the Islamic Spain of Al-Andalus, where values of the precedent civilizations were preserved.

As most historian agreed, Al-Andalus belongs to the Middle Ages, more specifically during the 7th-14th centuries A.D. Owing to the fall of the Roman Empire, long-distance trade routes in the Mediterranean Sea shrank; Arab’s take-over originated a new chapter of trade in the Mediterranean countries. Spain and Northern Africa took part in the outbreak and flourished up to the Northern part of Europe. Many of the transcendental effects remain.

Arabs had conquered the Near Asia and expanding into Europe before the last Umayyad came to conquer Iberian Peninsula and built up their caliphate in Andalusia.

Whether Al Andalus was the last Arabian conquest in the West, whether the Al Andalus of 7th- 10th century depicted the Golden Age of Muslim Spain, many are scholars and historians that have devoted their research to give tacit testimonies. There was a time when Jews, Muslims and Christians coexisted in a relatively peaceful, respectful and harmonious coexistence namely convivencia. Although to comprehend the complexity of multi-ethnic-religious- cultural coexistence in a society might not be in any term a controversial to admit conflicts were part of their coexistence within a tolerable dimension and intermission albeit the border wars between Muslims and Christians.

The legendary heroic history of the Medieval Spain - El Mio Cid, Rodrigo, Díaz de Vivar (1043- 1099) may perfectly blueprint such a strange, mythical and complex phenomenon. When ‘lust for power’ of a king prevailed life and loyalty; when ally or enemy was a mere term of ‘wartime luck cast’.

Figure 1. Islamic Expansion to the Africa and Europe Source: Worldatlas.com

Timeline of the Conquest and Reconquest

 711 - The Moors conquer the Iberian Peninsula.  718 - The Reconquista begins with the victory of King Pelayo at the Battle of Covadonga.  721 - The Moors turned back from France after being defeated at the Battle of Toulouse.  791 - King Alfonso II becomes King of Asturias, who would firmly establish the kingdom in northern Iberia.  930 - 950 - The King of Leon defeated the Moors in several battles.  950 - The Duchy of Castile was established as an independent Christian state.  1085 - Christian warriors were captured in Toledo.  1086 - The Almoravids arrive from North Africa to help the Moors in pushing back the Christians.  1094 - El Cid takes control of Valencia.  1143 - The Kingdom of Portugal is established.  1236 - By this date half of Iberia had been retaken by Christian forces.  1309 - Fernando IV took Gibraltar.  1468 - Ferdinand and Isabella united Castile and Aragon into a single united Spain.  1492 - The Reconquista was complete with the fall of Muslim empire in Granada.

Figure 2. Genealogical Picture of The Abbasíes, Alíes and Omeyas Source: csic.es

(In the 7th century A.D), due to the Abbasside’s revolution, a new Umayyad dynasty emerged which put an end to Muslim conquest in the Near East but began the Muslim Conquest in Iberia Spain. First, being the dependent Caliphate under Bagdad and Damascus’ dominant, soon became independent kingdom in Cordoba, Al Andalus, under the reign of Rahman I, II, and III which lasted till the 10th century. Aftermath, the kingdom of Taifas (1031-1095) depicted the new fragmentation of al Andalus’s fate with weakened Muslim power that propitiated the Christian conquest of Toledo under the King Alfonso VI of Castile. Soon the Empire of Almohade reinforced Muslim domain with the help of Yusuf ibn Tasufin ibn Talakakin from Magrebi empire. Successively between 1090-1046 the Almorávides and Almohades (Berber nomadic groups from North Africa) arrived in the Iberian Peninsula, increasing the number of soldiers in their armies and revitalizing the practice of Islam. Whereas, the fragmentation of Muslim empires and the continuous conflicts enabled the Catholic Kings to definitely reconquer Al Andalus after a long run of Christian Reconquest (718-1492). The 1st reconquista began in 718 when King Pelayo of the Visigoths defeated the Muslim army in Alcama at the Battle of Covadonga, which was recorded as the first significant victory of the Christians over the Moors. Finally, after centuries of wars, the nation of Spain was united upon the marital union of the King Ferdinand of Aragon and the Queen Isabella I of Castile in 1469. Their marriage had effectively turned the fate of Granada back into the Christians’ hands ever since, it was in 1492 when the Christian Reconquista ended; giving birth to a new Catholic Spain. The history of Conquest and Reconquest in Spain during the 7th – 15th century marked down on social, cultural, economic transcendence hitherto.

Figure 3. The Moors surrendering to Ferdinand and Isabella by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz (1848-1921)

2. Literature Review

2.1. Historical Background and It’s Transcendences

This paper tries to give a global brushstroke on socioeconomic ground in grosso modo.

“ ⌈… ⌉ capitalism and capitalistic enterprises, even with a considerable rationalization of capitalistic calculation, have existed in all civilized countries of the earth…In China, India, Babylon, Egypt, Mediterranean Antiquity, and the Middle Ages, as well as in modern times” (Weber, 1920).

On the other hand, the French historian Maxime Rodinson pointed out in his Islam and Capitalism that the traditional life and trade in a certain portion of Arabia was far from being sufficient to constitute a basis for the development of a really capitalist economy. Based on analyses of three aspects such as how could commercial and financial capital have managed to lay hold of productive activity, what form of production would have been involved and what outlets would it have found; he traced out that in the transition period, the Arabs became masters of their enormous empire from which they derived substantial profit by receiving, directly or indirectly, a share of the tribute levied from the peoples and countries they had conquered. And by engaging in trade and money lending, keeping themselves in the profitable administrative positions.

And traced back to The Abbasid Revolution of 7502, when the equality established between ethnic groups, the conversion of the majority of the population to Islam, the Arabization of a large part of the Empire, all made commercial activity to become widespread among every section of the population. The extension of the Empire, embracing regions that formerly had been cut off from each other, afforded an immense field to this activity, bringing new and diverse commodities into a common circuit. Then began the classical period of the economic development of the Muslim Empire and first and foremost its commercial development, which continued broadly right down to the 14th century. According to Rodinson, the merchants of the Muslim Empire conformed perfectly to Weber’s criteria for capitalistic activity for they seized any and every opportunity for profit, and calculated their outlays, their encashments and profits in money terms. There is unambiguous definition of trade given by the Ibn Khaldun.

2 The Abbasid Revolution refers to the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE), the second of the four major Caliphates in early Islamic history, by the third, the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258 CE). Coming to power three decades after the death of the Muslim prophet Muhammad and immediately after the Rashidun Caliphate. The Umayyads were a feudal Arab empire ruling over a population which was overwhelmingly non-Arab as well as primarily non-Muslim. Non-Arabs were treated as second class citizens regardless of whether or not they converted to Islam, and this discontent cutting across faiths and ethnicities ultimately led to the Umayyads' overthrow. The Abbasid family claimed to have descended from al-Abbas, an uncle of the Prophet.

In referring to what Koran forbids and encourages, Rodinson appointed that the Koran’s ideal did not challenge the right of ownership in any form, although from certain Koranic principles it would be possible to deduce restriction upon the use and abuse of property in certain cases - water, grasses and fire for instance.

However, the right to property did not seem to be in any way incompatible with justice. Justice in economic matters consists for the Koran in forbidding a type of gain that was particularly excessive, riba and in devoting part of the product of the taxes and gifts collected by the head of the community to helping the poor, to hospitality, to the ransoming of prisoners, perhaps to grants or loans to the victims of certain disasters or circumstances of war. It is really a matter of mutual aid organized within the community, with the rich being compelled to participate more or less in proportion to their incomes. What Rodinson described in this paragraph coincides with Zakat spiritual dimensions and recipients.

He also affirmed that property does not affect the differentiation in social conditions, which is conceived as being willed by God, natural and even destined to be perpetuated and doubtless: ‘See how we have given them preference one over the other, but the Hereafter has greater degrees [of honour] and greater preferment’ (17:22/21).

As (Chapra 2000) appointed: “…However, no society operates in an historical vacuum. It is affected by a number of interrelated historical developments”.

The revolution essentially marked out the end of the Arab Empire and the beginning of a more inclusive, multi-ethnic state in the Middle East. Remembered as one of the most well- organized revolutions during its period in history, it reoriented the focus of the Muslim world to the East. (www.Britannica.com)

2.2. Socioeconomic Aspect in Al - Andalus

Al-Andalus was fully inserted into the economic world of Islam, namely the economy of Muslim Spain, unlike what happened in the Christian territories of the north, outside a great dynamism. In this economy stood out, as a most significant feature, the transcendental role played by the cities, centres of both artisanal and mercantile activities. After all, as Rodinson remarked, "…both the Koran and tradition favourably consider economic activity, the pursuit of profit, trade and therefore production for the market."

Figure 4. Economy and Society of Al-Andalus (historiaespaña.es)

The Golden Age Cultural Diversity: Its socioeconomic factors (political, ethical, institutional, and demographic).

The awe-inspiring Spanish writer, Ana Ruiz (2017) has given such splendid attribution in her Vibrant Andalus, with vigour she regarded the Islamic conquest of Spain as highly instrumental in the progress and development of a nation and Moorish Spain was a time of integration of diverse cultures, major accomplishments and achievements; as well as diversity and tolerance of the communities and people therein.

For instance, in (716) Cordoba was chosen by Emir al Hurr as the capital and administrative centre of Al-Andalus. By the 9th century, science and technology already began to flourish in Al-Andalus. Soon it was developed into the “Jewel of the 10th Century”, cultural and intellectual centre that rivalled Baghdad and Constantinople in greatness, serving as the centre of Muslim culture and power. Where the integration between Arabas, Berbers, Jews, and Christians was a reality.

The first Caliph in Spain, regarded as the greatest leader of the Umayyad dynasty, Abd al- Rahman III (929-961), was born in Cordoba. Under his rule, Cordoba flourished culturally, socially, intellectually and politically, rivalling that of any other capital in the world of its time.

Consequently, the 10th century is known as the Golden Age of al Andalus. In its greatest splendour of achievement, Cordoba was the richest, the most powerful and advanced state in Western Europe.

The thriving capital of al Andalus also capital of western Muslims and the greatest city of its time, at its peak, there were nearly 30 settled areas outside its city limits with estimated 100,000 to 200,000 homes, 80,000 merchant shops, 60,000 palaces and estates, 800 public schools, 800 bath houses, 700 mosques, 50 hospitals. As well as 70 bookshops, 50 public libraries, the largest library in the world with over 500.000 manuscripts collected from other lands in its inventory.

In the 10th century, Cordoba possessed estimated population over 500,000 people, while Almeria was 27,000 people. Granada was 26,000 people. Malaga was 15,000 people. As comparasion population Paris was 38,000 people and Rome was 35,000 people, they were lagged behind.

2.3. The Cross Cultural (Mosque- Cathedral of Cordoba)

The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba is the most important monument of all the Western Islamic world, and one of the most amazing in the world. The evolution of the “Omeya” style in Spain is resumed in the history of the Mosque of Cordoba. From the ancient times to the cult of different divinities in which diversity and controversy has always been mingling on.

Prior Muslim conquer, during the Visigoth occupation, it was the “San Vicente” Basilic, in which the primitive Mosque was constructed on top, and this rectangular shape of place, was once shared between Moslems and Christians. It was not until Muslim enlargement, the Basilic became property of Abderraman I, who abolished it to construct the first “Mosque Alhama” or main Mosque of the city. Nevertheless, some of the constructive elements of the Visigoth architecture remained and integrated in the part of the charms the Mosque-Cathedral displayed hitherto.

The Great Mosque consisted in different areas: the courtyard or “arcade sahn“, the “alminar” (minaret) and the “haram” or praying hall, were constructed by Abd al-Rahman III. The interior space consists of a forest of columns with red and white arches, giving a strong chromatic effect. The site is divided into 5 different areas, corresponding each one of them to the different expansions that have occurred on it. It is no marvel that many historians attributed its charm as a brilliant rebirth based on inherited elements. Thus, such a marvellous result of cultural symbiosis—one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Figure 5. La Mezquita of Cordoba (historiaespaña.es)

Chronologically, (785-786) it was the foundation of a new Friday mosque in Cordoba by 'Abd al-Rahmān I, on the site of an old church on the right bank of the Guadalquivir.

(833-852) Emir 'Abd al-Rahman II ordered to push back the qibla wall of the mosque by extending the naves of eight new bays; indeed, to meet the demographic growth, the mosque became the essential place of the community on the faithful Friday.

(951-958) The Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman III constructed a minaret raised north of the courtyard, next to the main entrance, which was transformed in the 16th century into a steeple, known as Alminar.

(961-971) Enlargement of the mosque by the caliph al-Hakam II, in which the qibla wall was further modified by adding twelve bays to the previous naves. The four cupolas on ribs and the mihrāb with its gold-coloured mosaic coating, made of glass paste that dated back to the period of Byzantine origin, [...] (M. Barrucand 1994).

2.4. Cultural Diversity

There was the phenomenon of Convivencia which is worthy to mention during the Al Andalus. There were scarcely time of periods in world history offer as unique a glimpse into cultural cohabitation as the one in medieval Spain following the Arabic invasion and preceding the Christian Reconquest ended in 1492. Although the beginnings and ends of this history was filled with persecution and forced conversion, there existed a time in between of centuries of peaceful coexistence and cooperation, with mutual cultural exchanges that benefited Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

The period of medieval Spain known as the Convivencia, provided testimonies of how this diversity of thought and level of enriched learning was achieved as well as how it contributed to the literature, art, and science of the Middle Ages, until the end of the fifteenth century when the Convivencia culminated with the unification of the Christian kingdoms of Aragon and Castilla resulting from the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella (Vaughan 2003).

Figure 6. The history of translator school in Toledo (Archive of the Cathedral of Toledo)

The School of Translators of Toledo had two periods separated by a phase of transition. The first was that of Archbishop Raimundo, who in the 12th century, promoted the translation of

works of philosophy and religion from Arabic to Latin. Thanks to his work, in the European universities began to know the Neoplatonic Aristotelianism. As a result, Aristotle's books were translated by Arab philosophers such as Avicenna (980-1037) and Alf Arabi (870-950); and by Spanish-Jewish authors such as Ibn Gabirol (1020 – 1058); the Koran and Psalms of the Old Testament were also translated.

In this period of time, the oriental science was transmitted into Europe through the translations of works that served as manuals for the university students until the XVI century, such as the Canon of Avicenna and the Art of Galen. As well as astrology, astronomy, and arithmetic are equally enriched when the works of Al-Razi (854 – 925), Ptolemy (100 – 170), or Al- Juwarizmi (780 – 850) are poured into Latin.

Consonantly, with the arrival of King Alfonso X in the thirteenth century, the stage of translations of treaties of astronomy, physics, alchemy and mathematics began its upswings with enormous reception. Such a wealth of knowledge at the request of King Alfonso X, from original works of his own, such as the Book of Alfonsí Tables; as well as Treaties of Azarquiel, of Ptolomeo and of Abu Ali al-Haitam were translated, successively the recreational works like the Books of the chess, dice and tables and compilations of so fecund stories for the western literatures like Calila and Dimna and Sendebar. Moreover, in this second phase the translations were no longer done in Latin, but in Spanish, so the romance would develop to be able to address, likewise scientific issues that until then had only been treated in Latin.

As a consequence of cultural diversity, there was a phenomenon of Covivencia – cultural exchange known as aforementioned, the School of Translators developed in Toledo between the 12th and 13th centuries in which King Alfonso X had been a promoter, mentor, contributor as well as founder; albeit the School in its own characteristic that was not an educational centre with professors and students, there was in its place a group of people who worked together following the common methods to transfer the wisdom of the East and -in particular- that of the ancient Greeks and the Arabs into Europe.

It was the Arabs, in their expansion through the lands of Byzantium—inheritor of Greek antiquity—assimilated, translated, studied, commented and preserved the works of great Greek philosophers, and finally brought them into the Iberian Peninsula along with a huge cultural baggage that they had generated.

Figure 7. Ars Rhetorica of Aristotle (translation of Herman the German). (Archive of the Cathedral of Toledo).

Figure 8. The Bible translated into Arabic by Saadia Gaon in the tenth century. Egyptian manuscript copy, first pages of the book Psalms, 1584–85. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ms. or., Arabic 1, fol. 232 and 233 verso.

Amid the Conquest and Reconquest, during Al Andalus, Toledo was the first Muslim city conquered by the Christians, in 1085. As in other capitals of al-Ándalus, there were libraries and wise men who knew the culture that the Arabs had brought from the East and from which they had made themselves flourish in the Iberic Peninsula. Hence, for creating an important community of multi-cultural intellectuals, a favourable atmosphere for Toledo to become the cultural mediator between the East and the West of the time. This facilitated the cultural interfaith and interrelations-convivencia of the Judeo-Arabic world, beginning in the eastern Islamic domains and spreading to the Muslim West; which ultimately led to Jewish adoption

of philosophy, science, and medicine—serving as a handmaiden of religious truths, as it did for Islamic philosophers themselves.

Figure 10. Computus episcopi Linconiensis et Secretus secretorum Aristotelis. Archive of the Cathedral of Toledo. The cultural diversity upswings continued, hence fore, by 14th century al Andalus became the most advanced and populated centre of learning and education, which is highly valued by the Muslims themselves. Most Arabs were literate and children attended Koranic schools where boys and girls of the age of six or seven learned to read, write, recite the Koran and master basic mathematics. Public libraries, schools and the first university in Europe were established.

Islamic Spain experienced progress in the fields of alchemy, algebra, agronomy, astrology, biology, botany, chemistry, geography, geometry, history, mathematics, medicine, meteorology, navigation, psychology, physics, theology, and zoology. Amongst remarkable intellectual people and events there are:

. Leading physicians: ibn Jurjur born in Cordoba, in 943. . Ibn Zuhr, known as Avenzoar, born in Seville in 1091. . Ibn al Khatib, born in Loja, Granada, in 1313, a noted physician, specialized in contagious diseases and authored over 50 books on medicine, history and poetry, music, travel, theology and politics; known as the last of the great men of medicine of al Andalus. Al Khatib acted as Vizier to Yusuf I and his son Muhammad V, but unfortunately accused of heresy and disloyalty to Muhammad V, he fled to Morocco, assassinated in prison in 1374.

Since early 11th century, Arabic was the official language of education, state affairs, commerce, culture and literature.

Muslims and Jews preserved knowledge by translating the world’s finest literature, written by Greek, Persian, Syrian, Egyptian, and other intellectual masters. The Jews excelled in translating and the Arabs contributed valuable commentaries in addition to the translations.

• In 12th century, a school of translators, aforementioned, was established in Toledo; scientific texts already translated from Greek and Persian were converted into Latin. • In the 13th century, Cordoba became one of the major cultural centre that attract Arab, Jew or Christian scholars, scientists and intellectual came in their quest for education and higher knowledge. Many important figures and scholars emerged from al Andalus: lawyer, theologian, philosopher. . Abd al Hassan Ali Ibn Hazm the author of “El Collar de la Paloma” (The Necklace of the Dove). (Tauq al Hamamah) was born in Cordoba in 994. . The 1st outstanding Andalusi physician and surgeon, Abu al Qasim al Zahrawi / Abulcasis, was born in Cordoba during the 10th century. . Ibn Rushd, known as Aven Ruiz or Averroes, writer, philosopher, advisor, physician, judge, mathematician, astronomer, poet and theologian, was born in Cordoba in 1126, a brilliant philosopher of all time with an asteroid (8318) named in his honour. His brilliant translation and commentaries on Aristotle, has great influence in the Islamic world as well as in Christian Europe, his works were translated from Arabic into Hebrew in the 13th century.

Moreover, Al-Andalus boasted the largest and brightest Hebrew community in all of Europe and its citizens were regarded as a highly literate elite. Many Jewish scholars served as translators of Arabic texts for Christian Europe, converting thousands of volumes of Muslims translations of classic Greek philosophy into Hebrew and Latin that eventually circulated throughout Europe.

The plausible term of Convivencia which meant cultural exchanges between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and their coexistence was not a mere “legend” but had enriched Spain and Europe.

Figure 7. El Libro de los Juegos, commissioned by Alphonse X of Castile, 13th century. (Madrid Escorial Library) (A scene that depicted the golden age of Al-Andalus interfaith relations between Jews and Muslims in the late Al Andalus.)

The Ulemas who lived in al-Andalus during the VIII-XIV centuries.

Andalusian Ulemas were regarded as the sages who disclosed the Sacred Book, from which derived the laws and to monitor their application, whereas to ensure the continuity of religious science.

These outstanding scholars are the specialists in the Islamic religious knowledge cultivating the Arab-Islamic sciences, which include the study of the Koran, the tradition of the Prophet of Islam and the legal disciplines, but in a broad sense it would also include other knowledge such as grammar and language sciences, philosophy, and the so-called "sciences of the ancients", inherited from previous civilizations such as the Greek or the Indo-Iranian, which encompassed the exact sciences and the natural sciences.

The social group of the Ulemas, although it is not a homogenous elite, was the nursery from which many of the positions of the state institutions came out and were related to power in a habitual way. The idea of a group is reinforced by the relationships established between them, both of a cultural type—master-disciple—and of a family type.

2.5 Commerce, Trade and Finance

The economic structure of Al-Andalus was primarily based on agriculture, mining, fishing and livestock. The Spanish Moors had the largest merchant marine in the Mediterranean area. Having abundant commodities in demand that were exported, from Almeria, the main seaport, vessels sailed to the Mediterranean loaded with dried fruits, timber, saffron, sugar, oil, silks, mineral etc.

Commerce and Trade

Cordoba offered a link route from Europe to the North Africa. The Moors introduced the art of glass and paper making to Al-Andalus as a profitable industry. In 10th century Cordoba was well-known for its metalwork, leatherwork, ivory goods, weaves and textiles. Malaga was recognized for pottery work and Granada and Almeria for fine silks. Silk weaves and woollen garments, which were highly appreciated by the Christian rulers of the north, constituted the major portion of luxury textiles that were exported, that after the reconquest, the Catholic Kings allowed the highly respected industry to carry on. The Moors also manufactured weapons, their artillery was of higher and more durable quality used by the Christian armies.

A major export that remains to this day is pottery work from Malaga and silk work from Granada and Almeria. With special mention to the silk weaves and woollen garments, which was first cultivated by the Phoenicians and Greeks. Whereas, the Romans significantly had expanded oil production that gradually became a highly valued industry in Spain with new techniques and cultivating methods. For instance, Jaen, an Andalusian province is recognized as the world’s olive oil capital, accounting for 70% of the entire production of Spain.

Figure 11. Commercial route al Andalus (FSTC)

Merchants in Al-Andalus

And here is the last remaining perfectly preserved alhondiga, knows as Corral de Carbon, (the first storey-building that consisted in the warehouse and stables and with other two floors that were used as an inn where merchants lodged). This is the historical place where merchants and retailers stored their goods, made their engagements in transactions, including the buying and selling arrangement and distribution of the merchandise to the shops, all within the Zoco (Medieval market place).

It is reported that the Prophet said: ‘The trustworthy merchant will sit in the shade of God’s throne at the Day of Judgement. In the following passage of Ibn Sahal’s Kitāb al-buyū, cases were reflected.

Figure 12. 14th Century Alhondiga - Corral de Carbon in Granada, (Vibrant Andalus)

Figure 13. Agriculture al Andalus (historiaespaña.es)

Research findings in Agronomos Andalusies y Sus Legados, (C.S.I.C) School of Arab Studies in Granada, indicated that it was Muslims who made great improvement in the agricultural hydraulic technique of cequia (irrigation system) inherited from the ancient Arabs, achieving an exceptional use of water to adapt the Iberian climate. Muslims also infused Chinese, Persian and Indian agronomic and botanic technique to the West; increasing the species and varieties while improving the way of its cultivation.

There are a vast variety of agricultural productions besides the basic cereal; wheat, millet, and barley. There were beans, chickpeas and a lot variety of vegetable: turnips, onions, pumpkin, cabbage, cucumber, lettuce, eggplant, artichoke, chard, asparagus, leeks, spinach. Fruits plants like watermelon, melon, apple, pomegranate, orange, pears, cherry, peaches, apricot, jasmine as well as aromatic and medicinal plants like saffron. Vineyards and olive grove were well developed, whereas husbandry and poultry were created: cattle, horses, goats, donkeys, mules, rabbits, ducks, hens, partridges, pigeons, beekeeping, all in all had changed the classic Christian trilogy of wheat, vine and meat; providing the really rich and abundant culinary recipes ever since. Today’s Spanish portentous gastronomy and culinary display the cultural diversity and traditional wealth.

Finance

Financial transactions were executed with money minted in Cordoba. Coins, which were struck in different values and inscribed with Arabic calligraphy: gold dinar (from the Roman denarius), silver dirhams (from the Greek drachma), and copper feluses (“money” in Arabic). All in all has proved the inherited and transcendental skills and culture.

The 1st Andalusian mint was established in Cordoba, imported gold across the Sahara to produce coins. This monetary exchange system reached its peak, successively during the reign of Abd al Rahman I, II, III. Silver coins and quarter dinars were issued:

Figure 14. Dinar, Diham Umayyad al-Andalus (http:/www. coinarchives.com)

2.6. Social Hierarchy Al-Andalus

From the social perspective there was a sharp contrast between the jassa—the aristocracy, the dominant Arab lineages, who possessed large tracts of land and power in intervention in high- ranking political tasks, and the amma—the popular sectors, both rural and urban. The famous riot of the Arrabal, which took place in Cordoba at the beginning of the 9th century, was carried out by people belonging to the ambit of the amma.

Figure 15. The Social Pyramid of Al Andalus (historiaespaña.es)

The social classes were mainly based upon one’s religion as follows. (1) There were the Arabs from Syria at the top; followed by (2) the Berbers (the populous indigenous ethnic group of the Maghreb region of North Africa); (3) the Muladies (Muslims of local descent or of mixed Arab, Berber, Iberian origin who lived in Al-Andalus); (4) the non-Muslim Spaniards— the Mosarabes, the Jews and Christians Iberian; (5) and the slave at the bottom of social layer.

Without underestimate, women and slaves were also a large part of human resources. Obviously, the Arabs were the leaders of Muslim Spain who possessed the best land, the largest houses, and the main posts in the government. Nevertheless, whether for demographic expansion or economic growth, since the first Arabs entered Spain they married local women and created a vast mixed population. There is a tacit testimony, a translated passage that sheds light on the extent of intermarriage between Muslim and Christian Dynasties in Early Medieval Iberia (711-1100) in al-Jawānib al-Ijābiyah wal Silbīyah fī al-Zawāj al-Mukhtalaṭ fī al-Andalus (Rabat, 1994). Where marriage to local Iberian women became an established custom among the inhabitants of al-Andalus, from all social status: commanders, caliphs, elites or commoners.

“⌊… ⌋Following the conquest, many of the Arab and Berber warriors, settling down in various corners of al-Andalus, emulated the conduct of their leader, ‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. Mūsa b. Nuṣayr (d. 716), who had married Egilona (referred to in the Arabic chronicles as Umm ‘Āṣim), the

widow of King Roderick (d. 711). Many of the Arab conquerors did likewise: Ziyād b. al- Nābighah al-Tamīmī married a woman from the Visigothic nobility; ‘Abd al-Jabbār b. Nadhīr married one of the daughters of [the Visigothic count] Theodemir…”(ibid)

One of the best examples of the pervasiveness of this custom was the fact that many of the Umayyad emirs married Galician and Basque women, primarily those who had been captured during various raids against the northern Christian kingdoms. This has given many contemporary historians and writers the consideration of the Umayyads of Iberia, despite the emphasis and pride of their emirs in their Arab origin, to be a muwallad [indigenous Iberian as opposed to Arab or Berber] dynasty. The mother of the emir Hishām b. ‘Abd al- Raḥmān I (d. 796) was an Iberian slave-girl whose name was Ḥawra. Whereas the intermarriage was not a phenomenon limited to Andalusī military commanders, caliphs and emirs marrying women from Christian Spain. Interestingly, some Hispano-Muslim rulers in al-Andalus—under very unique and special circumstances—married their daughters to Christian nobles and kings as well, e.g. the marriage of Uriyah, the daughter of Mūsa b. Mūsa b. Fortun b. Qasī, to the son of García, the King of Navarre; Mūsa b. García was a product of this union. And Urraca, the daughter of ‘Abd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Lubb b. Mūsa b. Mūsa, married Fruela (d. 925), the son of Alfonso III (d. 910), who was the King of Asturias and León, with whom she had two sons: Ramiro and Ordoño. (ibid)

2.7. Other Social Aspects and Fiscal System Al Andalus embodied a pre-capitalist structure based on the exploitation of the rural community, e.g. the agrarian society in which the vast majority of income derived from the tilling of the soil. The appropriation and transfer of the surplus produced took place through the levying of various taxes, al-Andalus must be classed in economic terms as a fiscally based society.

Al Mansur, was as complete and ubiquitous as the statistics of our present-day world, formed a basis of administrative efficiency in every area of organization. There were:

(a) Censuses of adult males in the subject population were made from the beginning, under the governorships of Abd al-Aziz (713- 715), Uqba (734-740) and Yusuf al Fihri (746-756), together with (Hostegesis for the diocese of Malaga being compiled in 862),

(b) Registries of lands created for fiscal purpose, to establish whether a property was liable to kharja or ushr (al-Samh) (718 -720),

(d) List of fiscal levies by province such as the one partially preserved by al Udhri for the various iqlims of the kura of Cordoba,

(e) A statement of revenues (partly recopied by Ibn Idhari and Ibn Hawqal), and

(f) An overall register of lands made to establish the basis of taxation pro exercito (Amir Abd Allah, al Turtushi).

The aforementioned fiscal system is based on the collection, by the State, of a percentage of production, the amount of tax paid, the means of imposing taxation and the official accounting procedures should provide an approximate figure for the population, the amount of agricultural production and the total volume of money corresponding to annual budget.

Al Andalus was a “classic” Muslim country, where taxation was imposed on the basis of religious faith. E.g. “ushr” imposed with respect to the Muslim, and (dhimmi) for the “protected” non-Muslim, the latter being divided into a poll tax (jizya) and a territorial tax (kharaj). Grafted on to this basic scheme were:

(a) Extracanonical levies made up of indirect taxes (mucus, daraib, magharim etc), which affected the whole population.

(b) Payments for release (fida) from military or other obligations (applying only to Muslims).

(c) The census tax (tabl, tasq) which had to be paid only by the Muwallads, or neo- Muslims. This fiscal system employed different kinds of collector according to the object of the taxation and the individual liable. The tithe, or ushr, levied in kind, was handed over to the qabid or ashshar. The kharaj and the tabl- after estimation of the ibra by the kharis- were levied in money by the agents of the amil […]

The complexity of the Andalusian fiscal system and the variety of agents responsible for collection, by force and circumstances, were made in several accounting procedures.

Further Depiction of Fiscal System

The fiscal system is based on the collection, by the State, of a percentage of production, the amount of tax paid, the means of imposing taxation and the official accounting procedures should provide an approximate figure for the population, the amount of agricultural production and the total volume of money corresponding to annual budget.

The fiscal scheme of al Andalus was therefore as follows:

(a) The Arabo-Muslim paid only the zakat/ushr on what he produced.

(b) The dhimmi had to pay the kharaj (calculated according to cultivable land area) and the jizya.

(c) The neo-Muslim ceased to pay the jizya, but continued, in al Andalus, to make payment in respect of cultivable land area – a tax (tabl), the amount of which was identical to

the kharaj. (The Legacy of Muslim Spain by Salma Khadra Jayyusi et al (P-745-747))

Owing to the scarcity of DATA on Taxation Term referring to Al Andalus, we approach (Guichard, 2000) another French historian whose valuable research provided reliable sources based on two judicial collections:

(a) Cadí Ibn Qäsim al -Sa’bi, Kitab al – Ahkam judgement, in which the real life of Al Andalus was narrated and information since the Emirates of Cordoba till the end of the last Taifas (after the dissolution of the Cordovan caliphate) was provided.

(b) Diwan al-Ahkam al Kubra. Al- Nawazil Wa – l -a´lam li – ibn Sahl, namely Kitab al – l´lam bi -nawazil al-ahkam, was the book written by cadí Abu l-Asbag Isa b. Sahl, in which daily trial – legal consultation (fatwa) and judicial proceedings in Cordoba were recorded.

In the correspondent summary, we learned that the taxation system in Al Andalus was stipulated by the holy Islamic Sariah system, whose general lines are summarized in the following: the payment of alms canonical Al-Zakat as well as Al-Sadaqa, when the annual benefits of commercial, agricultural or any other activity - exceed the established minimum or nisab.

However, on the other side of the coin, apart from these canonical payments imposed on every Muslim based on the Sharia, as a religious duty, there were illegal tax cases (ghayr sariyya), not stipulated in the Sharia, which varied according to the historical moment and the place. E.g. duplicated gurm tax; the first, the canonical one, which corresponds to the azaque on the production of the land; the second, the illegal, obligatorily payment to the sultan or governor.

Nevertheless, another passage of Ibn Sahal’s Kitāb al-buyū, on the Inheritance and the Surcharge Corresponds to Bayt Al -Mal, there was a passage that stated: the illegal tax that entered into the public treasury should be considered less burdensome than the one that entered into the private treasury of the Governor or the Caliph and that existed in all Islamic societies since it was for the benefit of the community. For the śarī'a, the caliph or the authority had the competence to decide its implementation if necessary (Abboud-Haggar, Precedentes Andalusies., 481–484).

(Taxation in Al-Andalus between the Eighth and Twelfth Centuries through Ibn Sahl’s and Iban Qasim Al Sabi’s Judicial Compilation by Soha Abboud – Haggar (Espacio, Tiempo y Forma Serie III Historia Medieval 28 – 2015 – pp. 23-40 ISSN 0214-9745 -E -ISSN 2304-1362 UNED)

The author of Zakat the Islamic Taxation, Muhammad Hafez, appointed, “…in European

history, the Muslim administrations of Spain (Al-ʾAndalūs) collected Zakāt from large land owners in the form of land, and redistributed it directly amongst the poor farmers. This helped greatly to reduce rural poverty and increase agriculture. It resulted in a rapid growth of the population and it made Islam the faith of choice for many of Spain's poor. Likely, this social and economic success of Zakāt was perceived as a threat to Europe's feudal and papal economy, which was heavily based on exploiting land monopolies, and much less successful in creating wealth”.

Ibn Khaldun’s analysis which lies in its multidisciplinary and dynamic character, in which the multidisciplinary links of all important socio-economic and political variables, including the sovereign or political authority (G), beliefs and rules of behaviour or the Shariah (S), people (N), wealth or stock of resources (W), development (g), and justice (j), move in a circular and interdependent manner, influencing and being influenced by each other. This chain of reaction takes a long period of three generations approximately 120 years, a dimension of dynamism introduces the whole analysis and helps explain how political moral, institutional, social, economic, demographic, and economic factors interact with each other over time to lead to the development and decline, or the rise and fall, of an economy or civilization. In a long-term analysis of this kind, there is no ceteris paribus clause because none of the variables is assumed to remain constant.

Figure 16. Ibn Khaldun’s Philosophy (Islam and Economic Development, ierc.sbu.ac.ir) On the other hand, Maxime Rodinson affirmed in his Islam and Capitalism, the experience accumulated by the known history of societies provides us the overall hypothetic validity of which can be tested both by more thorough study of past history and by the course of contemporary history and trans-historical sociological analysis.

Once, scattered were the Christian kingdoms, too weak to defeat the incoming invaders or conquerors, had propitiated the change of Iberian history - Islamic Spain that lasted almost eight centuries. However, nor the glory Golden Age of imminent civilization had survived from the united Christian reconquest, for the oppressed Berbers revolted against the Muslim rulers, announcing the downfall of Islamic Empire occupation in the West Europe. However,

the transcendental cultural, traditional remain as human heritage.

3. Conclusion

Recognizing differences amongst cultures is fundamental for a viable coexistence, diversity is proved to be the powerful resource for the socio-economic development. The history of golden age of Al Andalus - a mixture of myth and reality, with its complexity and extraordinary stages of multi ethnic, cultural, religious concern in its glorious coexistence -Convivencia that still arises feelings and polemic in our times.

Obviously and naturally, such a fascinating history cannot be summarized in univocal vision of simple black or white, for there is so much and so great the transcendental influence on human life. Almost eight centuries of conflicts and entangle harmony mingling the perpetual glory and grieve of Al Ándalus that narrated the beginning of Muslim conquer and the end of

Catholic Reconquer. If there was pride for its achievement and prosperity in all fields of civilization, there was also grieve for its bloodshed and destruction. Yet, peace and prosperity, above all, should prevail in the value of Convivencia that resided in the comprehensive efforts of cross-cultural understanding and learning from each other with virtuous wisdom and practice of respect and tolerance.

Notwithstanding, the double faces of a coin in all history, as our eminent French historian

Maxime Rodinson (1915-2004) coined, “Respect for the faith of sincere believers cannot be allowed either to block or deflect the investigation of the historian”.

As well as the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 –1831) advised: “What experience and history teach is this — that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.”

Annex

 The Battle of Guadalete marked out the Muslim Conquest – the initial of Islamic Spain. The Battle began on July 19, 711, on the river banks of Guadalete, the Arab and Berber troops of Táriq, freed of Muza - the Governor of Ifriqiya in Damascus, defeated the Visigoth army of King Rodrigo.

The conquest soon spread out to Ecija, Jaen, Sevilla, Merida, Toledo (713), Zaragoza (714), Cataluña (716-719), it is when Muslim Empire really settled down in Iberia, namely Al- Andalus for almost eight centuries.

Chronological inner and outer cause and consequences of Emirates of Cordoba (756-929)

During (711-755) the Emirates of Cordoba still depended on and succumbed to Bagdad and the Caliphate of Damascus and menaced by Charlesmagne. It was not until Umayyad Prince Abd Al- Rahman I (756), namely Abu al-Mustarrif Abd al-Rahman Ibn Muawiya al- Dajil, the survivor of Abbasies of Damascus massacre, came to the Peninsula of Iberia, who fought and defeated Yusuf, the representative figure of Damascus power in Cordoba, and claimed to be independent from Abbasies ever since. Whereas continuous hostilities between the different Arab factions and various social groups became his new challenge; he had to fight against Christian from the North, also the Mozarabies and Muladies in the territories. After his glorious victory, everything was in perspective of prosperity, excepted the rebellions organized by Omar ibn Hafsun in Ronda (south of Spain) in the IX century, which weaken down Muslim power. However, Abd al Rahman III succeeded in unifying the kingdom and victory in the battle against the Christian. He was acclaimed the hero of the time of Amir al Muminin (929) Heal of all believers. That was the Golden Age of Al Andalus.

Figure 13. The Battle of Guadalete (711) (Historiayguerra.net)  Alfonso X (1221-1284), byname Alfonso the Wise, or Alfonso el Sabio in Spanish. King of Castile, promoter of the School of Translators of Toledo, was a multifaceted king

interested in a multitude of disciplines of the time: science, history, law, literature. His work consisted in directing and selecting translators and works, review their work, promote intellectual debate and promote the composition of new treaties. He surrounded himself with Muslim and Jewish sages, was a patron of scholars and troubadours, and to him, in large part, is the flourishing of culture in this era. Meritorious was also the task a long list of translators, such as Gerardo de Cremona, Domingo Gundisalvo, Abraham Alfaquí and many others who, with their linguistic knowledge and scientific training, put in the hands of Europe the keys of a later scientific and intellectual development.  Translation methods evolved over time. At first, a Jew or Christian with knowledge of Arabic translated the original work into romance orally before an expert in Latin, who would then write what he heard in this language. Later, in the time of Alfonso X, the books were translated by a single translator knowledgeable of several languages, whose work was reviewed at the end by an emendator.  Toledo was the ancient Visigoth and ecclesiastical capital of the Iberian Peninsula, a vibrant centre of science and philosophy. It had been turned over to the Castilian Alfonso VI in 1085 by a weak Muslim ally, marking a dramatic turning point in Andalusian and medieval history: to radically simplify things, it was this event that brought the Aristotelian corpus as well as an extensive body of mathematics, medicine, astrology, and astronomy from Arabic into Latin.

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