Al andalus

RELIGIOUS DISSENSION IN AL-ANDALUS: WAYS OF EXCLUSION AND INCLUSION ^
Maribel FffiRRO

CSIC - Madrid

The Cordobán Ibn Rushd ai-Jadd (d. 520/1126) explained that faith and infidelity (ímün and kufr) are «deeds of the heart» (min afal al-qulUb), so that the infidelity or faith of a person are difficult to establish, because he could be a hypocrite or a concealed apostate (zindîq). There areonly two ways to know: a text from God or from the Prophet where it is stated that someone is an infidel, ^ or by perfoming debates or investigations (munâzara, mujüdala or muhàhatha) in which evidence of infidelity could be uncovered and brought to light. At this point, the hidden infidel or heretic may confess or, on the basis of words or deeds that show him to be an infidel (such as consideringlicit drinking wine, ^ or committing murder, fornication, stealing, seizing property unlawfully, worshiping other than God, concuring in blasphemy against the Prophets, or rejecting a chapter of the Qur'an and similar things), he could be brought to trial. ^ Ibn Rushd al-Jadd belonged to the Màlikî school of law, predominant in al-Andalus and the Islamic West. Rehgious dissension has a specificvocabulary in Mâlikî legal works. Zandaqa, which I will translate as «heresy», is one of the terms used. Both zandaqa and blasphemy {sabb Allah, sabb al-rasüí) are treated under the heading devoted to apostasy {ridda), as they are seen to represent the
' A previous version of this paper was read at the Seminar «Conversion to Islam in the Mediterranean Muslim World», organized by the EuropeanScience Foundation, Escuela Española de Roma (September, 1997), within the project Individual and Society in the Mediterranean Muslim World, Workshop n.° 6, Religious activity and experience, teamleader M. Garcia-Arenal. It was also read at the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds (July, 1997). ^ A related possibility was that information could be given by extraordinary means, such asdreams. See an example in Fierro, M., «Religious beliefs and practices in al-Andalus in the third/ninth century», Rivista degli Studi Orientali LXVI (1993), 15-33, 21-2. ^ As D. Stewart has recently reminded us, «One is not considered a heretic in Islam for drinking alcohol, and one is not excluded irrevocably from the community of believers for doing so... To hold the opinion that it is not sinfuland forbidden to drink alcohol is to go against the consensus and leave the community of believers»: Stewart, D., Islamic Legal Orthodoxy. Twelver Shiite Responses to the Sunni Legal System, Salt Lake City, 1998, 47. To consider licit drinking wine was one of the accusations made against the sûfî Ibn Ahla (d. 645/1247): see Marin, M., Mujeres en al-Andalus, Madrid, 2000 {EstudiosOnomástico-Biográficos de al-Andalus, XI), 407. '* Ibn Rushd al-Jadd (d. 520/1126), Kitâb al-bayàn wa-l-tahsîl wa-l-sharh wa-l-tawjîh wa-lta'lîlfl masa'il al-Mustakhraja (commentary of al-'Utbfs al-Mustakhraja), éd. M. Hájjí, 20 vols., Beirut, 1984-7, 2nd ed. 1988, XVI, 364. Al-Qantara XXE, 2 (2001) 463-487

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passage of someone who had once been faithful (mu 'min, muslim) to infideUty {kufr). Apostasy is a crime punished in Islamic law by the death penalty, either death by the sword or decapitation. Crucifixion is contemplated in the case of a blasphemer. Exile is another possibiMty. ^ In some Islamic texts, deviation fromfundamental reHgious principles in the form of apostasy and heresy was regarded as treason against the state and revolt against the social order, thus existing the tendency of assimilating «apostates, rebels and brigands», as the title of Kraemer's study reads. ^ There was no part of pre-modem life that religion did not touch, and none therefore that did not touch religion. The adoption of heresy and...