The events that led to the conquest of the Visigothic kingdom of Iberia by the Muslim in c711 – c720 are unknown. Similarly, the accounts for the invasion by the Muslims and Christians differ both chronologically, in emphasis and details. The Maliki religious and legal scholars give two reports of Muslim attack. The two texts written 50 years later are essential sources and case in point. Critics, however, argue that the writings only demonstrated the conquest of the land Peninsula by force and not through submission, therefore, were absolute properties of the invaders. In contrast to the two texts, the Ibn al-Qutiya (d. 977) claimed that the takeover was a result of agreements with the native population. The author who claimed to be a descendant of the Visigothic royal asserts that the acquisition was not as a result of full military conquest. Different accounts from the Muslim and Christians agree that the death of the Visigothic state can be attributed to the skills of the invaders in exploiting identified political divisions in the peninsula to quickly invade and take over the country. The purpose of this assignment is to investigate the Sexual Relations between the Major Religions in the Iberian Peninsula. It will determine how the part that such played in enhancing Islamic authority in the peninsula.
Background of Muslim Invasion
The demise of king Roderic in battle on (710-11/12) on the battlefield and the elimination of his aristocratic entourage and the fall of the capital paralyzed the remaining ruling elites and could not coordinate any other resistance. As the power vacuum ensued, it is said that some notables fled to the remote places in the north while other abandoned the peninsula and sought refuge in the Pyrenees. Some were carried captive while others were executed. Some of the notables decided to preserve their power, status and wealth by being part of the invaders. They agreed on a treaty with the military and chose not to support an enemy of the Muslim state (Pelegrín, 2016).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
They agreed that they and the town dwellers would pay an annual poll tax in return for their safety as well as freedom of worship. Such actions encouraged Christians and Jews to follow suit and acquired the status of a protected individual under Muslim rule. The agreement between the locals and the invaders offered a chance for survival. Similarly, it reinforces the claims by other sources that the conquest of the Peninsula was a gradual and negotiated takeover that involved actively collaborating with the Hispano- Gothic aristocracy. It was not a smash and grab encounter as described by some Arab narratives.
The Muslim invaders consolidated their authority by intermarrying with the indigenous Christians of Iberia. Social mixing among the Christians and Muslims through marriage or slave concubines acted as a vital element in the process of social, cultural change following the capture of Iberia. The provision of the Islamic law was that a Muslim man could marry a Christian or Jew woman as long as any children from the couple are brought up as Muslims.
The Muslims were not allowed to fornicate or take such women as mistresses. The rule assumed that a husband could convert the wife to Islam while the wife who is a junior partner is unable to turn the Muslim husband into her religion. Marriage or sexual relations between a Christian or Jewish man and a Muslim woman was outlawed. Such a man if found would be exposed to corporal punishment and be imprisoned. Other authorities prescribed death penalties for such a man.
The Christian church just like Judaism was hostile to individuals who engage in sexual intercourse with non-Christians. The Christians relied on a bible verse written by Paul in (2 nd Corinthians 6: 14). 1 The legislation had been amplified in different secular and consular legislations that were introduced by the Roman Empire. In Iberia, intermarriage between Christian women and Jewish men was outlawed in the sixth and seventh century. Following the invasion of the Muslims, some of the concerns of the Christian fraternity appeared to have been one-sided.
According to the Chronicle of 754 Abd-Aziz who succeeded to take over the governorship mad also married the queen of Spain and treated the daughters of kings and princes as concubines. Aziz rapidly repudiated and was eventually killed when his men revolted.
The interfaith marriage had two clear advantages for the Muslim elites who were determined to consolidate power in Iberia following the conquest. It offered an opportunity where the imposition of new lords was legitimized. It was primarily useful at this time when there was a need to appease the peninsula, and yet the number of Muslim settlers was low. The Christian women, therefore, turned to be peace weavers in consolidating Islamic rule.
The Arab governor used his marriage to one of the members of the ruling class with the intention of associating with the traditional beliefs of the government like crown wearing in an ambitious attempt to create a monarchy. He believed that such a monarchy would earn him local support. However, his downfall was culminated by his political ambition that tried to limit the authority held by the Caliph in Al-Andalus. Taking a Christian as a wife, therefore, did not contribute to his downfall. History has it that Al-Nabigha a chief conspirator against the ousted governor also married a noble Christian woman.
The marriage alliance between the Muslim men and Christian noblewomen provided an opportunity in which the wealth accumulated by the Visigothic effluent class was channeled to the Muslims. Despite the forceful acquisition of property by the Muslim invaders, there were significant swathes of land in the countryside that could be acquired through interfaith marriage. Such an approach was primarily useful in areas where the Muslims had signed a pact, and the Muslims had no right of ownership. The children sired through interfaith marriages and raised according to the Islamic culture also inherited wealth from the Christian grandfathers. Such children also benefited from the lands that their fathers might have acquired through conquest.
According to an account by Ibn al-Qutiyah, a son of a granddaughter of the king Wittiza (694 -710), whose sons decided to conspire against the then king Roderic in the Muslim invasion period and supported the invaders. The sons were awarded the estate of their father with over 3000 properties distributed across the Peninsula for their support.
According to Ibn Qutiya, the eldest son of Wittiza died, his brothers acquired his lands spread across Seville. Such actions prompted the mother to and her younger brothers to seek restitution from the court of the Caliph Hisham (724 -23) in Damascus. The caliph ruled that the exercise was unlawful and arranged for the daughter to marry Muzahim one of his clients who later accompanied her to the peninsula and assisted in recovering her properties. ,
It was the marriage between the two that al- Qutiya was born. Sara became a widow in 755 and later married Umayr ibn Said al-Lakshmi who was a member of military regiments that had arrived into the peninsula. The military had been sent to boost Umayyad authority following a series of revolts. It was in the second marriage which was arranged by the independent emir of al-Andalus, Abd al-Rahman that the new family later became rich and enjoyed vast wealth and power in Seville.
The trustworthiness of Ibn al-Qutiya’s account is not known as there are skeptics who have pointed out that his arguments are more of colorful collections of exemplary and colorful anecdotes rather than a detailed report of his time. One of his pupils Ibn al Faradi even regarded him as a spinner of tales rather than a source of serious history. His credibility and reliability as far as history is concerned has been questioned. His argument of how the mother traveled to Damascus to seek the help of the Caliph raises more doubts than answers. It has been argued that the sons of Witiza were still young boys when the Muslims invaded the peninsula and therefore could not offer any form of support to the claims.
The Christian chronicles 754 mentions the support that the Muslims received from Wittiza brother Oppa. Such evidence supports the allegations that the king's kin including the widow who briefly held power before Roderic took overplayed a critical part in negotiating with the invaders and that the sons later beneficial of the new arrangement and therefore the allegations by the grandson should not be entirely disregarded as untruthful.
Whether the daughter and the younger brothers went to Damascus to seek the attention of the caliph as claimed is doubtful such stories served to explain the process of accommodation between the conquerors and the few individuals who were vanquished in the time of the invasion. The story by Ibn al Qutiyas that illustrates how interfaith marriage alliance offered a means through which the property of the king passed to the control of the Muslim is plausible. A similar process took place in the case of Theodemir of Murcia’s daughter who married Abd al-Jabbar b. Khattab b. Marwan b. Nadir, another army member who docked at the peninsula in 742 (Marco, 2015).
Al – Udhiri Khattab according to the chronicles received two villages from the bride as dowry. One of the communities was located at Trsa near Elche while the other was at Tall al-Khattab close to Orihuela. Such alliances enabled the family of Abd al-jabbar to be the wealthiest and influential in the region and the power of the family endured for centuries.
Interfaith marriages had many advantages to the Visigothic landed aristocrats. Families that sought accommodation from the Muslims and marriage pacts re-presented a way in which some of the locals defended their interest in the localities where they held sizeable influence and to maintain they're acquired or inherited wealth. It is agreeable that some of the sons of influential families continued to influence and broker power in the region many years after the conquest was over. Athanagild, a presumed son of Theodemir, remained a prominent figure in the southeast parts of the peninsula until the Syrian junds and Abul Khattari in the 740s.
The locals had to pay the price for the security of tenure, and that was to raise a future generation of Muslims. in the early days of the conquest not more than eight years following the death of Prophet Mohammad, the doctrines and customs of Islam were inadequately defined. The differences between the three dominant religions were not as apparent as they would later become. For the locals who were accommodative of the invaders, interfaith marriage offered an opportunity that guaranteed the security of tenure and the Visigothic avoided the traumatic events, loss of wealth, power and status that had affected the other inhabitants of the peninsula.
According to Bori, (2015), Mohammad was accused by the old and current Christians as having married for wealth based on that there was a significant difference between his age and that of his wives. However, Muslims have challenged such arguments saying that marriage should be between adults and lovers. The Muslims even use Khadija as a role model to prove their point. Muslims were against the practice of arranged marriage, especially for young brides. Following the death of Khadija, Mohammad married once more, and his polygamous marriage raised issues for different authors with some questioning his acts while others supported him because such unions helped to consolidate the Muslim territories. According to the author, Mohammad used marriage to forge alliances that are essential for the unity of Islam. On the issue of marrying widows, some individuals argue that Mohammad action was tantamount to charity by providing for their material and emotional needs (Bori, 2015).
Even though interfaith marriage was an essential element of assimilation among the Muslims and the Christians, in the period, it also had the potential to cause friction between the two religions. In the later years, a rebellion against the Muslims ensued from the North of Austria by Paleyo a Christian warlord. History of such events is however scarce and problematic. Different chronicles offer various explanations of each account. The chronicles of Alfonso III , for instance, described Pelayo as a notable of Royal descent while the Roda version differs in emphasis and some of the details have the subject as a sword-bearer of the King Wittiza as well as Roderic.
According to the late version, as Muslims invade the peninsula, authority over Asturia was held by Munuza a supporter of Triq b. Ziyard. His center of power was in Gijon. According to the account, during his reign in the region, Paleyo who was a sword-bearer of the then king Wattiza and Roderic was oppressed by the Ishmaelite traveled to Asturias with the sister. Munuza sent Paleyo to Cordoba as an envoy and married the sister in a ruse. When Paleyo returned, he did not approve the engagement, and since he was already determined to salvage the church, he gathered all his courage to achieve his mission. Tariq sent soldiers to munuza with the intention of arresting Paleyo and sending him to Cordoba in chains.
It was the ensuing events that led to the revolution of Christians in Asturias. Paleyo fled from the Muslims and was elected as a Lord. He later succeeded in the victory of Covadonga. According to the ninth century chronicle of Albelda , the Christians finally had freedom, and the kingdom of Asturias was born. The reliability of such historical data can be difficult to ascertain since there is limited literature from that period.
There are claims that Paleyo enjoyed strong connections to the royal house possible through blood or service. Some of the later chronicles wanted to demonstrate Asturia as a legitimate successor to the kingdom. There are also possibilities that Paleyo just like Theodemir was a noble who decided to come to terms with the Muslims following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom only to go against the conditions on a later date. Paleyo was motivated to avenge the marriage of his sister to Munuza can be an easily understandable justification for revolting. Such a move came at an age when protection of the family was essential.
It is by no means that the initial pact by Paleyo to surrender had been sealed by a marriage alliance between Munuza and the sister. Such circumstances are similar to Theodemir’s alleged son Atthanagild who may have engineered a marriage of the sister to Khattab when they crafted an agreement with the Syrians after settling in the south-east of the Peninsula. The different pieces of scattered evidence that have survived to date although with some shortcomings, seems to point in the same direction. Such evidence suggests that intermarriage between Christian women and Muslim men was a significant tool in the pacification and colonization of the Iberian Peninsula following the invasion of the Muslim and the aftermath of the arrival of the Syrian Junds (Lourie & Hames, 2004).
Despite the fact that only a handful of such events were transited by historians to the next generations, it is noteworthy to mention that marriage alliance of such levels occurred in other levels of the society. By the end of the end of the eighth century, the practice had gained the popularity that the Pope Hadrian I was dismayed that so many daughters from Christian families in the peninsula are married to Muslims or Jews. The letter was a response to his dispatch by the clergymen who was a consecrated bishop. Such concerns were raised in an ecclesiastical council that was held in 839 at Cordoba. The assembled Christian clerics denounced the marriages of various faithful as a sowing crime among their morals. It is important to note that insufficient information is availed on mixed alliance between the Jews and the Muslim (Lourie & Hames, 2004).
In the middle of the ninth century, mixed marriage between Christians and Muslims had gained popularity within the lower levels of the society. Texts produced in response to the martyrdom movement of 851 supports such claims and appear to respond to the increased number of conversions from Christianity to Islam in the middle of the ninth century and the dominance of the Arab nation that threatened to wipe out the traditional heritage of the Christian church in the peninsula. Account from the movement points out that some of the Christians accepted martyrdom at the hands of the Muslims by denouncing Islam in public or encouraging the converts to apostatize. Such actions were both punishable under Islamic law.
Twelve of the Christians who were executed by the Umayyad authority in that period were from religiously intermarried families, and such actions ignited the martyrdom movement. Besides, some of the children raised by mixed religion couples were not raised according to the Islamic rules something that was a complete contravention of the Islamic law. Such reasons allowed the Islamic authorities to regard the voluntary martyrs as apostates. The hate that ensued between relatives of mixed families contributed significantly to the martyrdom. Sexual mixing can be viewed as a cause of the troubles that were faced by the Christian community, especially in Al-Andalus (Barton, 2015).
Bibliography
Barton, S. Conquerors, brides, and concubines: interfaith relations and social power in medieval Iberia . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2015
Bori, C. (2015). Muḥammad and the Supernatural: Medieval Arab Views. Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations,27 (3), 359-361. 2015. doi:10.1080/09596410.2015.1091683
Lourie, E., & Hames, H. J. Jews, Muslims, and Christians in and around the Crown of Aragon: essays in honour of Professor Elena Lourie . Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. 2004
Marco, F. Religion in contact, Iberian peninsula. The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 1-2. 2015. doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah26372
Menocal, M. R. The ornament of the world: how Muslims, Jews, and Christians created a culture of tolerance in medieval Spain . New York: Back Bay Books. 2012
Pelegrín, M. A. Conquerors, brides, and concubines: interfaith relations and social power in medieval Iberia. Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 17 (2), 197-199. 2016. doi:10.1080/14636204.2016.1166570
Religions - Islam: Muslim Spain (711-1492). (2009, September 04). Retrieved December 10, 2017, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml
1 Do not unite yourselves with unbelievers; they are not fit mates for you. What has righteousness to do with wickedness? Can light consort with darkness?
