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35 The words of warning in this chapter’s epigraph close a speech Mundhir ibn Said al-Balluti delivered in praise of the caliph Abd al-Rahman III alNasir li-Din Allah during a reception for an embassy from Constantinople held in the palace (qasr) of Cordoba in 949. The thrust of the speech was to remind the audience of the obedience they owed to the Commander of the Faithful as defender of the community and of the faith, recalling the trials they had endured before the triumph of his rule and invoking God’s command : “O you who believe! Obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you” (Qur’an 4:59).1 This chapter is about those in authority among the Muslims in al-Andalus and their roles in defining insiders and defending them from outsiders. It provides a historical overview of the structuring of Umayyad authority and the relationship among rulers, judges, and jurists in al-Andalus from the time of the conquest to the consolidation of the caliphate. The discussion hardly refers to the non-Muslim population, reflecting the Umayyads’ construction of their authority (and the perspective of the sources), although the subject of conversion does come up in the discussion of social differentiation and its 1. Al-Nubahi, Kitab al-marqaba al-ulya, ed. E. Lévi-Provençal (Cairo: Scribe Egyptien, 1948), 26– 28; al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib min ghusn al-Andalus al-ratib, ed. Ihsan Abbas (Beirut: Dar Sadir, 1968), 1:368–371. Chapter 1 The Structuring of Umayyad Rule O Assemby of Muslims! You know that here on this peninsula you are surrounded by all kinds of polytheists and all types of heretics who seek to sow dissension among you and break your community apart, to cause you to forsake your religion, dishonor your women, and undermine the call of your Prophet. 36 CHAPTER 1 political significance. This chapter is intended to provide a political context for understanding social and legal boundary making and boundary testing in alAndalus and at the same time to elucidate the part played by the ruling dynasty in defining political community. A few specific examples will demonstrate how Umayyad concern for boundaries in a variety of situations and interactions was part of a process of enacting authority and building consensus. The principles of Umayyad dynastic legitimacy and authority and the regime’s exercise of power, as well as the contestation of Umayyad legitimacy and authority and resistance to the regime’s power, structured Umayyad rule and the political culture of al-Andalus in the ninth and tenth centuries. The Umayyad rulers of al-Andalus defined political community most basically in terms of recognition of and submission to their authority. The amir or (after 929) the caliph became overtly involved in the definition of boundaries when the words and actions of individuals seemed to challenge his authority.2 In the Umayyads’ construction of their authority, a political renegade was, by definition, a religious deviant, and a Muslim recognized to have strayed from the straight path became, by definition, someone in defiance of the authority of the legitimate Muslim ruler. What constituted crossing the line in certain politically sensitive situations could be a matter of judgment involving consultation and collaboration with the fuqaha (jurists) who were also engaged with, and at times politically invested in, determining who was an insider and who was an outsider. In such cases the ruler might not only consult but coerce the fuqaha’; he occasionally chastised some individuals for their opinions and exonerated others. The Umayyads of al-Andalus, like their Syrian dynastic forebears, af- firmed the principle of dynastic authority and based their legitimacy on that of the third rightly guided caliph, Uthman. The general terms in which they expressed their legitimacy were similar: the dynasty and the ruler are favored by God and meritorious; the ruler ensures the integrity of the faith and the community by upholding justice and promoting the proper practice of religion; he defends the community against infidels and undertakes the expansion of the domain of Islam.3 Descriptions of the personal merits of 2. See Janina M. Safran, “The Command of the Faithful in al-Andalus: A Study in the Articulation of Caliphal Legitimacy,” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 30 (1998), 183–198 on the Umayyad adoption of caliphal titles and prerogatives in 929. 3. Patricia Crone, God’s Rule...

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