Religious minorities under the Almohads: an introduction

Journal of Medieval Iberian StudiesVol. 2, No. 2, June 2010, 143–154

ISSN 1754-6559 print/ISSN 1754-6567 online© 2010 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/17546559.2010.495288http://www.informaworld.com

Religious minorities under the Almohads: an introduction

Amira K. Bennisona* and Maria Angeles Gallegob*

aDepartment of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; bCentro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CCHS), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, SpainTaylor and FrancisRIBS_A_495288.sgm10.1080/17546559.2010.495288Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies1754-6559 (print)/1754-6567 (online)Original Article2010Taylor & Francis22000000June [email protected]

The Almohads share with the Almoravids the rather unfortunate burden of being seenas interlopers on the Iberian historical stage. As Berbers from the Maghrib, they havetended to be viewed as outsiders to the grand project of Andalusi Islam, an Iberian–Arab fusion represented by the Umayyads of Cordoba who presided over a societycharacterised by urbane convivencia and a sparkling syncretic court culture. This viewpopularised by Maria Rosa Menocal’s Ornament of the World recognises that boththese Maghribi regimes did reluctantly accept a certain degree of acculturation to theIberian Muslim milieu but suggests that they remained at heart ignorant religiousfanatics, the eleventh- and twelfth-century equivalents of Muslim extremists today.1

Much of the criticism targeted at these two empires stems from their perceivedmistreatment of religious minorities and their apparent rejection of the “liberal” inter-pretation of Islam upheld by the ’ifa kings [Reyes de Taifas] of the eleventh centuryand the Umayyads of Cordoba prior to that.

The objective of this issue is to reassess the experience of Jews and Christiansunder the Almohads and to question some previous historiographical assumptions.One of the most stimulating aspects of this joint endeavour has been to see the broadrange of interpretations elicited by the same sources which remind us that history isnot an exact science and that none of us can lay claim to the truth. Nonetheless, theprocess of exploring the ways in which the Almohads responded to religious minori-ties from different disciplinary positions and confessional perspectives has generateda rich multi-dimensional image of the Almohads, which enables us to go beyondmonolithic stereotypes.

For those readers unfamiliar with the eleventh- and twelfth-century Maghribiempires, it is worth presenting a brief synopsis of their engagement in North Africaand Iberia. Although this issue concentrates upon the Almohads, many of the policies

*Corresponding authors. Email: [email protected]; [email protected] parallelism to modern historical situations is not limited to the (anachronistic) use ofthe term “fanatic” to refer to Almohad ideology and attitudes. The view of Almohads asalien rulers of al-Andalus is reinforced by the use of the terminology of colonialism. “Theyears of colonial status, from the Almoravids’ 1090 annexation on, were unhappy ones forthe Spanish Muslims […] A significant flight of the dhimm s, the Jews and Christians whohad been a vital part of the vivid and productive cultural mix, now began. Regrettable asthis was, still worse was to follow: an even more repressive Muslim Berber regimeoverthrew the Almoravids in North Africa, and kept al-Andalus as its own colony”(Menocal, Ornament of the World, 44–5; emphasis added).

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they pursued are seen as beginning under the Almoravids, or reactions against them,and it is therefore important to highlight the similarities and differences between thetwo before considering the Almohad case in more detail.

The Almoravids, al-Mur bi n in Arabic, were anh ja Berbers from the westernSahara. In the eleventh century, one of their chiefs, Ya y b. Ibr h m, is reported tohave performed the pilgrimage and become aware of the rather superficial nature ofthe Islam practised by his anh ja fellows. Working through the religious networkswhich had spread from Qayraw n in Tunisia across the Maghrib, he secured theservices of a preacher called ‘Abd All h b. Y s n who managed to inculcate norma-tive M lik Islam of the Qayraw n school among a set of anh ja tribes. A handful oftribal chiefs then used this unifying religious ideology to lead a jih d [holy war]against their economic competitors in the Sahara and the Maghrib, mainly Zan taBerbers who belonged to the rival Muslim Kharijite sect. They went from strength tostrength subjugating rivals throughout what is now Morocco and western Algeriabefore crossing the straits of Gibraltar at the request of the ’ifa kings to halt theCastilian advance, made manifest by the fall of Toledo in 1085.2

Their appeal in al-Andalus in particular rested on their perceived military prowessand their devotion to an uncompromising form of M [amacr ]lik [imacr ] Islam which contrasted withthe ’ifa kings’ employment of religious minorities in high positions, their willing-ness to make treaties with Christian rulers, and to pay tribute [parias] to them. TheAlmoravid ruler, Y [umacr ]suf b. T [amacr ]shf [imacr ]n, may have been mocked by the Muslim ruler ofSeville for his weak command of Arabic but he was lauded by the common people forhis commitment to jih [amacr ]d against the Christians, to levying only Qur’anic taxes, and toplacing the Christians and Jews in a subservient position to the Muslim majority andtransferring those who had collaborated with the Castilians or Aragonese to Meknes,Fes, Salé and Marrakesh in the Maghrib.3

Whether viewed as fanaticism or idealism the Almoravid position provedimpossible to maintain and the Andalus [imacr ] population soon grew restive towards theirculturally alien Saharan masters when they began to levy additional taxes and employChristian soldiers in their army. At the same time, increasingly beleaguered Mozara-bic Christians began migrating to the Christian north. The strongest opposition to theAlmoravids, however, came from the Maghrib itself, from the Ma m [umacr ]da Berbers ofthe High Atlas Mountains who resented their political and economic encirclement bythe Almoravid tribes. Like the anh [amacr ]ja, the Ma m [umacr ]da found in a particular brand ofIslam an idiom with which to unite their tribal fellows and assert their own right torule in the Maghrib. The key figure in this process was Ibn T [umacr ]mart, a Ma m [umacr ]datribesman of the Hargha tribe which resided in the S [umacr ]s valley, who transformed hisparochial status by acquiring a full Arabo-Islamic education in Almoravid Cordoba,Alexandria and possibly as far east as Baghdad.4

2For detail on the Almoravid movement, see Norris, “New Evidence on the Life of‘Abdall h b. Y s n;” Bosch Vilá, Los Almorávides; Lagardère, Les Almoravides; VigueraMolíns, El retroceso territorial de al-Andalus.3Fierro, “La Religión,” 523–4.4The first part of the biography of Ibn T [umacr ]mart written by his disciple al-Baydhaq is no longerextant and there is a great deal of scholarly debate about where he actually studied which isoften intertwined with the ongoing discussion about whether he met al-Ghaz [amacr ]l [imacr ] or not, ameeting mentioned in several Arabic sources, sometimes sceptically, but generally dismissedby western scholars from Goldziher onwards. For a recent comment on the matter, seeFletcher, “Ibn T [umacr ]mart’s Teachers.”

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Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies 145

Whatever the exact geographic itinerary he followed, Ibn T [umacr ]mart certainly becameconversant with the main Islamic religio-intellectual trends of the early twelfthcentury including Ism [amacr ]‘ [imacr ]l [imacr ] Shi‘ism and al-Ghaz [amacr ]l [imacr ]’s still controversial Sunnism withits philosophical, f [imacr ] and Ash‘ar [imacr ] elements. As a result he developed an Islamicdoctrine, neither fully Sunn [imacr ] nor Sh [imacr ]‘ [imacr ], which Michael Brett has described as an“eccentric offshoot” of the “strenuous argument” between Sunnism and Shi‘ismtaking place at the time.5 Ibn T [umacr ]mart himself perceived his message as the correctinterpretation of Islam. He began by exhibiting a stern moralistic commitment toinforming all Muslims, high and low, of what Islam considers right and wrong andenforcing that in the public domain. In a transformative journey back across theMaghrib, however, he gradually matured from a preacher into a revolutionary,determined not only to “command the good and prohibit wrongdoing” among theMuslim population but to overthrow the Almoravids whom he perceived as failing todo this by allowing the continuation of practices and ideas of non-Islamic provenanceamong recently Islamised Berber populations.

He denounced the religious practices of the Almoravids as naïve, unreflective andincorrect and their religious leadership of the Maghrib [imacr ] and Andalus [imacr ] populations asinsufficient. This was expressed through the two main accusations the Almohadslevelled at the Almoravids, that they were anthropomorphists who allowed the massesto literally interpret Qur’anic references to God’s physical appendages and that theirmen wore veils while their women paraded unveiled, a reference to the practice stillupheld among the Tuareg today of men covering their mouths with the lith [amacr ]m, a longscarf or veil. Like musical gatherings and drinking, which Ibn T [umacr ]mart also denouncedvehemently, the inversion of gender roles symbolised by use of the lith [amacr ]m demon-strated that neither the Almoravids nor their subjects understood what it truly meantto be Muslim.

In response, the Almohads asserted the supreme uniqueness or oneness of God[taw d] and the importance of engagement with the sources of Islam – the Qur’ [amacr ]nand the Sunna [practice of the Prophet Mu ammad], preserved in the form of ad [imacr ]th[sayings] – to understand the nature of God and the duties incumbent upon allMuslims. Ibn T [umacr ]mart also stressed that this knowledge should be transmitted to allMuslims, not possessed solely by religious scholars. At the heart of Ibn T [umacr ]mart’sprogramme lay his claim to be the mahd [imacr ], a messianic figure whose role was to insti-tute a new era of religious probity and justice by guiding all his followers to a trueunderstanding of Islam.

On Ibn T [umacr ]mart’s journey from Tunis back to Marrakesh he recruited severaldisciples from many different Berber groups but it was his own people, the Ma m [umacr ]datribes, already resentful of Almoravid domination, who became his military mainstayafter he retreated from Marrakesh to the High Atlas Mountains and the S [umacr ]s valleybelow them. It took the Almohads over twenty years to defeat the Almoravids but in1147, around seventeen years after Ibn T [umacr ]mart’s death c. 1130, his successor as leaderof the movement, ‘Abd al-Mu’min, finally conquered Marrakesh. He went on toextend the Almohad empire far beyond that of the Almoravids to Ifr [imacr ]qiy [amacr ], modern-dayTunisia, where he expelled the Normans of Sicily from al-Mahdiyya and their othercoastal enclaves.6 He and his sons gradually brought what remained of Muslim Iberia

5Brett, “Lamp of the Almohads,” 3.6For a new account of the formation of the Almohad empire see Fromherz, Almohads.

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into their empire too, despite the resistance of the Almoravid Ban [umacr ] Gh [amacr ]niya in theBalearics and regional Andalusi lords such as Ibn Mardan [imacr ]sh in the Levante.7

The Almohad empire endured for around a century before fragmenting into severalsmaller successor states in the Maghrib. Meanwhile in Iberia the fall of the Almohadsled to the swift advance south of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon respectively,reducing Muslim political control to the small Na rid state of Granada. From theempire’s inception until 1228 when the Almohad caliph al-Ma’m [umacr ]n formally deniedthat Ibn T [umacr ]mart had been the mahd [imacr ], Almohadism remained the official Muslimcreed. Throughout this area, Muslims were expected to accept Almohad Islam and anumber of Arabic-Islamic and Jewish sources state that ‘Abd al-Mu’min extended thatfurther and required Christians and Jews to convert, go into exile or face the deathpenalty, most notably during the conquest of Ifr [imacr ]qiy [amacr ] in 555/1160. It is this perhaps,more than any other aspect of the Almohad movement, which has contributed to theirnegative image among historians of medieval Judaism and Islam.

The Almohads’ general policy towards Christians and Jews was indeed harsherthan in previous periods of Muslim rule. Since the early Islamic era, the Muslim statehad regulated its relations with the ahl al-kit [amacr ]b, the “People of the Book” (i.e. religiouscommunities with a Scripture, Christians and Jews), through an agreement known asthe dhimma [covenant]. The dhimma offered protection for the lives and properties ofthe ahl al-dhimma [people of the covenant/protected people] and freedom of religiouspractice, in return for their recognition of the social supremacy of Muslims.8 Thisrecognition entailed a series of obligations and restrictions including the payment of apoll tax [jizya], prohibitions on the public display of religious rites, the carrying ofweapons, the riding of horses and other practices that implied social prestige such asadopting Arab honorific names, a right exclusively reserved to Muslims.

In spite of what might seem to us the discriminatory nature of the dhimma,medieval Christians and Jews did not perceive it in this way. For the latter especially,dhimm [imacr ] legal status meant a considerable improvement in their position in society incomparison to previous periods of Jewish history and in comparison to the situationof Jews in Christian lands at the same time.9 Furthermore, often the restrictions werenot implemented and, in the case of al-Andalus, we find plentiful evidence for therelaxing of dhimma regulations. Several Jews participated in the public sphere thusgaining (technically forbidden) supremacy over Muslims. Numerous Jewish courtiersare known to have been in the service of Andalus [imacr ] Muslim rulers, including thefamous ministers, asdai b. Shapru (910–70) and Shemu’el b. Nagrella (993–1055).Given this historical context, the Almohads’ abrogation of the dhimma, whethertemporary or permanent, or restricted to certain locales, was a significant disruptionin the way that Muslim rulers had traditionally treated their Christian and Jewishsubjects in Iberia and the Maghrib.

The sources for the study of the dhimm [imacr ] policies of the Almohads

The corpus of primary sources, either Islamic or Jewish,10 which mentions theexperience of religious minorities under Almohad rule has been gradually augmented

7See Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal, 196–272.8See Fattal, Statut légal des non-musulmans.9See Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross.10There is only one Christian source that provides information related to these events,namely, the Chronicle of Alfonso VII of Leon. See Cronica Adefonsi Imperatoris, no. 204.

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over the last century and a half as scholars have discovered new manuscripts and freshversions of known texts. Many more of these works are now generally available inacademic editions and at least partially translated into European languages. Since themajority of them are mentioned repeatedly and analysed at length in the course of thisissue, it will suffice to introduce them here and flag up the broad trends apparent inthe historiography of this fascinating period.

The standard Arabic-Islamic accounts of the Almohad era include al-Baydhaq’sbiography of Ibn T [umacr ]mart, known as the Kit [amacr ]b Akhb [amacr ]r al-Mahd [imacr ] [The book of tales ofthe Mahd [imacr ]] composed in the reign of ‘Abd al-Mu’min (r. c. 1130–63) or his son Ab [umacr ]

Ya‘q [umacr ]b Y [umacr ]suf (r. 1163–84), the Almohad courtier Ibn al-Qa n’s chronicle, theNa m al-Jum [amacr ]n [The string of pearls] composed in the mid-thirteenth century, andal-Marr [amacr ]kush [imacr ]’s history of Muslim Iberia and Morocco, the Mu‘jib f [imacr ] talkh [imacr ] akhb [amacr ]ral-Maghrib [The admirable in the summary of the affairs of the Maghrib], composedin the 1220s. Although no longer extant, the history written by Ibn Shadd [amacr ]d, a Z [imacr ]ridprince from Tunisia, who appears to have witnessed the Almohad conquest ofal-Mahdiyya before leaving for Palermo then Damascus, provided information for theAlmohad sections in a plethora of larger historical works: Ibn ‘Idh [amacr ]r [imacr ] al-Marr kush ’s, Bay [amacr ]n al-Mughrib [The wondrous exposition], probably written in theearly fourteenth century; Ibn Khald [umacr ]n’s (732–808/1332–1406) Kit [amacr ]b al-‘Ibar [Bookof lessons] commonly known as the Histoire des Berbères; the K [amacr ]mil f [imacr ]’l-Ta’r [imacr ]kh[Complete history] of the Syrian ‘Izz al-D [imacr ]n b. al-Ath [imacr ]r (555–630/1160–1233), andthe Egyptian al-Nuwayr [imacr ]’s (677–733/1279–1333) Nih [amacr ]yat al-Arab f [imacr ] fun [umacr ]n al-Adab[The ultimate goal in the literary arts]. Biographical dictionaries provide additionalmaterial on the Almohad era and some important references to the experience ofreligious minorities. The most famous such reference was made by the Egyptian, Ibnal-Qif (568–646/1172–1248), in his entry on Maimonides in his biographicaldictionary of scientists, the Ta’r [imacr ]kh al- ukam [amacr ]’ [The dictionary of Scientists].

In these sources, scattered and sometimes contradictory references to conversiondecrees and their impact come together only once when al-Marr [amacr ]kush [imacr ] gives a lengthyaccount of the unsightly black costume which Ab [umacr ] Y [umacr ]suf Ya‘q [umacr ]b, the third Almohadcaliph, imposed upon converts from Judaism around 1199 to distinguish them fromother Muslims. He contextualised this as part of a long-term Almohad prohibition onthe residence of non-Muslims in their empire which had resulted in the formation ofa Muslim community of Jewish origin suspected of maintaining Judaism in theprivacy of their own homes.11 In general, however, the Arabic Islamic sources showvery little interest in the issue of religious minorities, concentrating instead on thedramatic rise to power of the Almohads, their political successes, the faction-fightingthat developed within the ruling elite, and their inability to maintain the Muslimfrontier against Christian incursions after 1212.

Jewish sources, in contrast to Muslim materials, include only one main historicalwork while other information originates in literary and documentary writings inHebrew and Judeo-Arabic. These sources confirm the basic data provided by Muslimchronicles regarding Almohad treatment of dhimm s and the violence and destructionthat accompanied their conquest. One of the most often quoted Jewish literary piecesis the Hebrew poem Ah [amacr ] y [amacr ]rad ‘al Sefarad written around 1150 by the Andalusischolar Abraham b. ‘Ezra. The poem is a lament for the annihilated Jewishcommunities of Sefarad and North Africa, starting with the famous verses: “O woe!

11Al-Marr [amacr ]kush [imacr ], Mu‘jib, 383.

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Misfortune from heaven has fallen upon Sefarad /My eyes, my eyes flow withtears!”12

References to the persecution of Jews and forced conversion, which was describedby Muslim authors as a choice given to dhimm s between “conversion or death” (orexile), was reported as well in the historical chronicle Sefer Qabbala [Book of tradi-tion] by Abraham b Da’ [umacr ]d (1110–80).13 Although the author of the Sefer Qabbalatransmits similar content to that found in Muslim accounts, he resorts to Biblical tradi-tion to frame these historical events, linking Almohad persecution to Jeremiah’sprophecy and to the reference to the destruction of Israel in the Psalms:

After the demise of R. Joseph [1141–42] there were years of war, evil decrees andpersecutions that overtook the Jews, who were compelled to wander from their homes,“such as were for death, to death; and such as were for the sword, to the sword; and suchas were for the famine, to the famine; and such as were for captivity, to captivity.” [Je15, 2] To Jeremiah’s prophecy, there was now added “such as were [destined] to leavethe faith.” This happened in the wake of the sword of Ibn Tumart, which came into theworld in [4]873 [1113], when he decreed apostasy on the Jews, saying: “Come, and letus cut them off from being a nation: that the name of Israel may be no more inremembrance.” [Sal 83, 2] Thus, he wiped out every last “name and remnant” of themfrom all of his empire, from the city of Silves at the end of the world until the city of al-Mahdiya.14

In this account of events and in other available Jewish sources, there is no mentionof Christians or of the dhimma pact more generally. Almohad persecution is depictedas another episode of Jewish suffering in the diaspora, unrelated to any special policyagainst non-Muslims. This lack of a dhimm [imacr ] sensibility becomes obvious in a mostinformative document coming from the Cairo Geniza, known as Shelomoh ha-Kohen’s Letter.15 In this letter, written in 1148 by a Jewish resident of Fus (Cairo),Shelomoh ha-Kohen ha-Sijilmasi, to his father in South Arabia, Jews and non-Almo-had Muslims are mentioned together as victims of the Almohads.

The contents of Shelomoh ha-Kohen’s missive mostly relate to business and tradematters but interspersed in the text the sender has inserted news about the Maghribthat his father had apparently requested: “In regard to the news on the Maghrib thatyou ask about …”.16 Shelomoh ha-Kohen reports what he has heard from people whohave just arrived in Egypt, having witnessed recent events in North Africa. Hisaccount states that after the conquest of Tlemcen, ‘Abd al-Mu’min had killed “all thepeople there except those who had converted”, without any specific mention ofJews.17 Even though the reader might assume that the author refers exclusively to thedeath and conversion of Jews, the fact is that other sections of the letter speak

12For a translation and analysis of the poem, see Brann, Power in the Portrayal, 120–5.13Later authors including Saadia b. Danan, Shelomoh b. Verga and Abraham Zacuto drewupon the Sefer Qabbala for writing their historical works which include very similarinformation on the Almohad persecution.14Cohen, Sefer Qabbala, 65–6/87–8.15The letter has been preserved in the Sassoon Collection of manuscripts. It was first editedby Toledano, “Documents.” A second edition, with translation into Hebrew, was made byHirschberg, “Almohad Persecutions.”16Toledano, “Documents,” 450 (author’s own translation from Toledano).17“wa-qatala kull man f [imacr ]-h [amacr ] ill [amacr ]’l-ladh [imacr ] afsh`[bprime] [umacr ]” (Toledano, “Documents,” 450) (author’sown translation from Toledano). On this particular sentence and the verb afsh`[bprime] [umacr ], see Goitein,Mediterranean Society, 521, n. 59.

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generally about (non-Almohad) Muslims and Jews.18 The sentence could mean thatMuslims too had to adopt the Almohad creed and convert along with Jews as theIslamic sources state. Be that as it may, it becomes obvious from this letter as well asfrom other Jewish sources that Jews did not contemplate their plight within thedhimma abrogation framework as is the case in modern historical analysis. Further-more, no sympathy for or even awareness of the situation in which Christians foundthemselves is mentioned in any Jewish document of this period.

The historiography of the Almohads and their dhimm policies

The historiography of the Almohads within Islamic studies has tended to followthe trajectory of Muslim medieval historical works while also responding to thepresuppositions of nationalist history writing in both Spain and Morocco. For each, ithas been important to delineate difference. From the perspective of the influentialtwentieth-century school of Spanish Arabists who traced their intellectual genealogyto Codera, the Almoravids and Almohads represented “a foreign dominationcharacterized by religious fanaticism”.19 Even Huici Miranda’s classic survey of theAlmohad empire, which is written with great sympathy and insight, clearly sees theAlmohads as outsiders. Conversely, Moroccan nationalist historiography considersthe Almohads to be one of a series of national Moroccan dynasties despite the obviouslack of congruence between their territories and aspirations and those of thecontemporary Moroccan state.

Scholars within Islamic studies have also shown substantial interest in Almohaddoctrines. As a brand of Islam which emerged just as Sunnism itself achieved itsmature form in the Islamic east in opposition to Shi‘ism, Almohadism stands out as aparallel attempt to reach an Islamic synthesis and unifying consensus. While Goldzi-her perceived it as a pastiche of legal and theological ideas which the ambitious and“fanatical” Ibn T mart selected for their oppositional value,20 and Montgomery Wattinterpreted it as a failed religion,21 other scholars stress the originality and coherenceof Ibn T [umacr ]mart’s attempt to bring together aspects of kal [amacr ]m, philosophy, Shi‘i and f [imacr ]

notions of guidance, and a source-based approach to law.22

While negative in its overall assessment, the Jewish historiography of the Almo-had era has followed a very different path related to its natural focus on the Jewishexperience. The most significant research on this topic has been articulated throughthe study of the great medieval polymath Moshe b. Maimon, better known asMaimonides, who lived part of his life in al-Andalus and the Maghrib during theAlmohad period.23 As he is a central figure of medieval Judaism and one of the

18For instance, at the beginning of the section devoted to the news of the Maghrib, Shelomohha-Kohen states that “different groups of people from the Maghrib, including Jews, havearrived. They were present at the battle and have informed that …,” implying that theinformation that he is going to transmit comes from both Muslims and Jews (author’s owntranslation from Toledano).19Fierro, “Alfonso X,” 175.20See Goldziher, Ibn Toumert.21Montgomery Watt, “Decline of the Almohads,” 28.22Brunschvig, “Doctrine du Mahdi;” Urvoy, “Pensée d’Ibn Tumart;” Cornell, “Understandingis the Mother of Ability,” 89–103; Fletcher, “Almohad Taw [imacr ]d.”23Research on the Almohads through the study of Maimonides is represented, for instance, inthe works of Targarona, “Moisés Ben Maimon;” and Orfali, “Maimonides ante el problema.”

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greatest Jewish intellectuals of all times, the specific question of his probableconversion to Islam while living under Almohad rule has stirred the attention ofnumerous scholars. One of the pioneering works in this field was written at the end ofthe nineteenth century by Solomon Munk, who set a pattern of investigation on thegeneral study of the situation of Jews under Almohad rule.24

The opinions expressed by Maimonides himself on the issue of conversion in hisThe Epistle on Martyrdom, show his understanding attitude towards apostates.25 Incontradistinction to other contemporary rabbis who recommended martyrdom, in thisfamous letter the great sage advises Jews who face the “death or conversion” dilemmato pretend conversion and depart to a safe land as soon as they can. Maimonides’specific words on the lack of sincerity of Jewish conversion confirm in a way thesuspicions of later Almohad rulers towards the new Muslims.26 Al-Marr [amacr ]kush [imacr ]’saccount mentioned above of the special costume which Ab [umacr ] Y suf Ya’q [umacr ]b imposedupon converts around 1199 could be read in this context of mutual acknowledgementof the insincerity of their practice of Islam.

In addition to the scrutiny of the figure of Maimonides, another issue related to theappraisal of the Almohad period within Jewish scholarship is the evaluation and studyof the disruption and end of the “Golden Age” of Iberian Judaism. The “Golden Age”is the name generally given to the tenth to twelfth-century period in which AndalusiJews experienced one of the most prolific and brilliant periods of Hebrew belles-lettres and Jewish scientific production, embedded in a social context of toleration andJewish political achievement. The analysis of the Golden Age phenomenon and thehistorical reasons for the decline and virtual end of this splendid era of Jewish cultureafter the Almohad conquest has been the object of different evaluations.

These different historiographical approaches are inextricably linked to modernJewish history. On the one hand, we find the so-called “lachrymose” conception ofJewish-Arab history developed among nineteenth-century European Jewish scholars27

of the Wissenschaft des Judenthums [Science of Judaism] including Moritz Stein-schneider, Solomon Munk and Heinrich Graetz. According to their interpretation ofJewish history, the Jews of Islam, and particularly the Jews of al-Andalus, representeda model of tolerance and assimilation. Frustrated by the slow process of integration inEuropean Christian societies, these scholars looked back to the Golden Age modelwhich proved that Jews could successfully assimilate into and integrate in a Gentilesociety. In the historical narrative of these scholars, the Almohad interruption of theGolden Age received a negative appraisal but it was viewed as an exceptional episodedisrupting the usual, peaceful Jewish–Muslim coexistence.

In sharp contrast to this historical approach a counter-historical narrative, dubbedby Mark Cohen “the neo-lachrymose conception of Jewish-Arab history”, hasdeveloped in recent times. In the light of “neo-lachrymose” scholarship, Islam hasdiscriminated against Judaism in theory and in practice since the time of the Prophet

24Munk, “Notice sur Joseph ben-Iehuda.”25Known by the Hebrew name “Iggeret Hashemad”. English translation and commentary inHalkin and Hartman, Epistles, 30.26“This compulsion imposes no action, only speech. They know very well that we do notmean what we say. It is only to escape the ruler’s punishment” (Halkin and Hartman, Epistles,30).27The term was coined by Salo W. Baron in the early twentieth century and it has been widelyused since then to refer to an idealised and mythic conception of Jewish–Arab history. SeeCohen, “Islam and the Jews.”

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Mu ammad. The current Arab–Israeli conflict represents, in the view of thistheoretical school, the by-product of constant Muslim hostility towards Judaismthroughout history.28 Almohad policies and attitudes towards Jews in the Middle Agesare but one episode in a continuum. Maimonides is often cited by the proponents ofthis view, though not his Epistle on Martyrdom but the later Epistle to Yemen in whichhe stated:

You know, my brethren, that on account of our sins God has cast us into the midst of thepeople, the nation of Ishmael, who persecute us severely, and who devise ways to harmus and to debase us. […] No nation has ever done more harm to Israel. None has matchedit in debasing and humiliating us.29

What is most relevant to this publication is the fact that the Almohad era was atime of extensive renegotiation within the religious as well as political spheres forMuslims, Jews and Christians. While the population of the Maghrib and al-Andalusultimately rejected the Almohad Islamic synthesis, it had a lasting impact upon theshape of Sunni Islam in the region and indeed upon non-Muslim monotheism,albeit to a lesser degree. It penetrated Latin Christendom through Toledo where IbnT [umacr ]mart’s ‘aq [imacr ]da [creed] was translated into Latin, along with the works of IbnRushd, while Maimonides acted as a bridge between Almohad intellectual cultureand the Jewish world.

The articles gathered here problematise previous assessments of the Almohads’treatment of religious minorities from a variety of perspectives. Maribel Fierroskilfully introduces the discussion by exploring the congruence between Almohadattitudes and the attitude towards other religious communities which the Muslim tradi-tion records as holding sway during the time of the Prophet Mu ammad. She showsthe extent to which Ibn T [umacr ]mart modelled his career on that of Mu ammad and the wayin which the chroniclers of the Almohad revolution depicted it as a replay of theoriginal Islamic drama. During Mu ammad’s own lifetime and the period of theIslamic conquests, the Arabs figured as a chosen people. However, in the re-enactmentof this period orchestrated by Ibn T [umacr ]mart, the Berbers took on this role.

In his article, Ignacio Sánchez explores how this transformation came about, andhow the locus of Islamic knowledge and power moved from the Islamic east to theMaghrib. While not directly concerned with the Almohads’ treatment of Jews andChristians, this reminds us that the Berbers themselves were often viewed as aminority within Islam on ethnic and sectarian grounds. Sánchez shows how theirchampioning of Kh rijism, F [amacr ] imid Shi‘ism and finally Almohad mahdism was a wayto translate their marginality into centrality and assert their superiority over the Arabsas a new chosen people.

Picking up on Almohad notions that their brand of Islam, and indeed monotheism,was the correct one, Amira K. Bennison’s article explores Almohad responses to otherMuslims and non-Muslims from the perspective of their doctrine of taw [imacr ]d and theirconquest narrative as a whole. She emphasises that although the rise of the Almohadscertainly impacted upon the religious minorities, it is a mistake to see these commu-nities as a central preoccupation or target of the Almohads. Their primary concern was

28For a summary of “lachrymose” versus “neo-lachrymose” historiography, see Cohen,Under Crescent and Cross, 3–14.29Stillman, Jews of Arab Lands, 241.

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to overthrow the Almoravids and bring the Islam of their erstwhile subjects, for themost part Muslim, into conformity with Ibn T [umacr ]mart’s notion of taw [imacr ]d.

The next contribution by Delfina Serrano Ruano suggests how a period of Jewishconversion to Islam raised sensitivities about Jewish ancestry which were not apparentin earlier times and enabled accusations of such ancestry to sully the reputation of thefamous Andalus [imacr ] philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes). While the underlying causes forIbn Rushd’s temporary fall from favour in 1197 towards the end of the reign of Ab [umacr

]Y [umacr ]suf Ya‘q [umacr ]b reflected religious conflict and elite factionalism, Serrano shows thathis internal exile to the town of Lucena with its substantial Jewish population was away of cruelly proclaiming his origins.

The next two articles look at the Christian presence in the Almohad empire. EvaLapiedra gives a detailed account of the different Christian personnel who served theAlmohads as personal slaves and soldiers. Although often of foreign rather thanindigenous origin, the recruitment of such Christians demonstrates that doctrinalassertions cannot always be taken at face value and need to be placed alongsideevidence of other kinds. David Abulafia considers another Christian group within theAlmohad empire, merchants from the Italian city states, who resided in various portsin the wake of treaties between the Almohads and the Genoese.

The collection concludes with an English translation of an article mentionednumerous times, David Corcos’s, “The Nature of the Almohad Rulers’ Treatment ofthe Jews” which was first published in the Hebrew language journal Zion in 1967.Although frequently cited by Jewish authors, this article has not received the attentionit deserves within Islamic studies because of its inaccessibility. Although somewhatdated now, it is a rigorous and detailed analysis of the Almohads’ treatment of non-Muslims which prefigures many of the arguments explored in the issue as a whole.

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