Part 41 (1/2)
[Sidenote: Literature in Spain in the eleventh century.]
[Sidenote: Samuel Ha-Levi.]
The following are some of the most distinguished Spanish writers of this epoch: the historian, Abu Marwan Ibn ?ayyan of Cordova ( 1075 A.D.), whose chief works are a colossal history of Spain in sixty volumes ent.i.tled _al-Matin_ and a smaller chronicle (_al-Muqtabis_), both of which appear to have been almost entirely lost;[789] the jurisconsult and poet, Abu 'l-Walid al-Baji ( 1081 A.D.); the traditionist Yusuf Ibn 'Abd al-Barr ( 1071 A.D.); and the geographer al-Bakri, a native of Cordova, where he died in 1094 A.D. Finally, mention should be made of the famous Jews, Solomon Ibn Gabirol (Avicebron) and Samuel Ha-Levi. The former, who was born at Malaga about 1020 A.D., wrote two philosophical works in Arabic, and his _Fons Vitae_ played an important part in the development of mediaeval scholasticism. Samuel Ha-Levi was Vizier to Badis, the sovereign of Granada (1038-1073 A.D.). In their admiration of his extraordinary accomplishments the Arabs all but forgot that he was a Jew and a prince (_Naghid_) in Israel.[790] Samuel, on his part, when he wrote letters of State, did not scruple to employ the usual Mu?ammadan formulas, ”Praise to Allah!” ”May Allah bless our Prophet Mu?ammad!” and to glorify Islam quite in the manner of a good Moslem.
He had a perfect mastery of Hebrew and Arabic; he knew five other languages, and was profoundly versed in the sciences of the ancients, particularly in astronomy. With all his learning he was a supple diplomat and a man of the world. Yet he always preserved a dignified and una.s.suming demeanour, although in his days (according to Ibnu 'l-'Idhari) ”the Jews made themselves powerful and behaved arrogantly towards the Moslems.”[791]
During the whole of the twelfth, and well into the first half of the thirteenth, century Spain was ruled by two African dynasties, the Almoravides and the Almohades, which originated, as their names denote, in the religious fanaticism of the Berber tribes of the Sahara. The rise of the Almoravides is related by Ibnu 'l-Athir as follows:--[792]
[Sidenote: Rise of the Almoravides.]
”In this year (448 A.H. = 1056 A.D.) was the beginning of the power of the _Mulaththamun_.[793] These were a number of tribes descended from ?imyar, of which the most considerable were Lamtuna, Jadala, and Lam?a.... Now in the above-mentioned year a man of Jadala, named Jawhar, set out for Africa[794] on his way to the Pilgrimage, for he loved religion and the people thereof. At Qayrawan he fell in with a certain divine--Abu 'Imran al-Fasi, as is generally supposed--and a company of persons who were studying theology under him. Jawhar was much pleased with what he saw of their piety, and on his return from Mecca he begged Abu 'Imran to send back with him to the desert a teacher who should instruct the ignorant Berbers in the laws of Islam. So Abu 'Imran sent with him a man called 'Abdullah b.
Yasin al-Kuzuli, who was an excellent divine, and they journeyed together until they came to the tribe of Lamtuna. Then Jawhar dismounted from his camel and took hold of the bridle of 'Abdullah b. Yasin's camel, in reverence for the law of Islam; and the men of Lamtuna approached Jawhar and greeted him and questioned him concerning his companion. 'This man,' he replied, 'is the bearer of the Sunna of the Apostle of G.o.d: he has come to teach you what is necessary in the religion of Islam.' So they bade them both welcome, and said to 'Abdullah, 'Tell us the law of Islam,' and he explained it to them. They answered, 'As to what you have told us of prayer and alms-giving, that is easy; but when you say, ”He that kills shall be killed, and he that steals shall have his hand cut off, and he that commits adultery shall be flogged or stoned,” that is an ordinance which we will not lay upon ourselves. Begone elsewhere!'... And they came to Jadala, Jawhar's own tribe, and 'Abdullah called on them and the neighbouring tribes to fulfil the law, and some consented while others refused. Then, after a time, 'Abdullah said to his followers, 'Ye must fight the enemies of the Truth, so appoint a commander over you.' Jawhar answered, 'Thou art our commander,' but 'Abdullah declared that he was only a missionary, and on his advice the command was offered to Abu Bakr b.
'Umar, the chief of Lamtuna, a man of great authority and influence.
Having prevailed upon him to act as leader, 'Abdullah began to preach a holy war, and gave his adherents the name of Almoravides (_al-Murabitun_).”[795]
[Sidenote: The Almoravide Empire (1056-1147 A.D.).]
The little community rapidly increased in numbers and power. Yusuf b.
Tas.h.i.+fin, who succeeded to the command in 1069 A.D., founded the city of Morocco, and from this centre made new conquests in every direction, so that ere long the Almoravides ruled over the whole of North-West Africa from Senegal to Algeria. We have already seen how Yusuf was invited by the 'Abbadids to lead an army into Spain, how he defeated Alphonso VI at Zallaqa and, returning a few years later, this time not as an ally but as a conqueror, took possession of Granada and Seville. The rest of Moslem Spain was subdued without much trouble: laity and clergy alike hailed in the Berber monarch a zealous reformer of the Faith and a mighty bulwark against its Christian enemies. The hopeful prospect was not realised. Spanish civilisation enervated the Berbers, but did not refine them. Under the narrow bigotry of Yusuf and his successors free thought became impossible, culture and science faded away. Meanwhile the country was afflicted by famine, brigandage, and all the disorders of a feeble and corrupt administration.
[Sidenote: Ibn Tumart.]
The empire of the Almoravides pa.s.sed into the hands of another African dynasty, the Almohades.[796] Their founder, Mu?ammad Ibn Tumart, was a native of the mountainous district of Sus which lies to the south-west of Morocco. When a youth he made the Pilgrimage to Mecca (about 1108 A.D.), and also visited Baghdad, where he studied in the Ni?amiyya College and is said to have met the celebrated Ghazali. He returned home with his head full of theology and ambitious schemes. We need not dwell upon his career from this point until he finally proclaimed himself as the Mahdi (1121 A.D.), nor describe the familiar methods--some of them disreputable enough--by which he induced the Berbers to believe in him.
His doctrines, however, may be briefly stated. ”In most questions,” says one of his biographers,[797] ”he followed the system of Abu 'l-?asan al-Ash'ari, but he agreed with the Mu'tazilites in their denial of the Divine Attributes and in a few matters besides; and he was at heart somewhat inclined to s.h.i.+'ism, although he gave it no countenance in public.”[798] The gist of his teaching is indicated by the name _Muwa??id_ (Unitarian), which he bestowed on himself, and which his successors adopted as their dynastic t.i.tle.[799] Ibn Tumart emphasised the Unity of G.o.d; in other words, he denounced the anthropomorphic ideas which prevailed in Western Islam and strove to replace them by a purely spiritual conception of the Deity. To this main doctrine he added a second, that of the Infallible Imam (_al-Imam al-Ma'?um_), and he naturally a.s.serted that the Imam was Mu?ammad Ibn Tumart, a descendant of 'Ali b. Abi ?alib.
[Sidenote: The Almohades (1130-1269 A.D.).]
On the death of the Mahdi (1130 A.D.) the supreme command devolved upon his trusted lieutenant, 'Abdu 'l-Mu'min, who carried on the holy war against the Almoravides with growing success, until in 1158 A.D. he ”united the whole coast from the frontier of Egypt to the Atlantic, together with Moorish Spain, under his sceptre.”[800] The new dynasty was far more enlightened and favourable to culture than the Almoravides had been. Yusuf, the son of 'Abdu 'l-Mu'min, is described as an excellent scholar, whose mind was stored with the battles and traditions and history of the Arabs before and after Islam. But he found his highest pleasure in the study and patronage of philosophy. The great Aristotelian, Ibn ?ufayl, was his Vizier and court physician; and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) received flattering honours both from him and from his successor, Ya'qub al-Man?ur, who loved to converse with the philosopher on scientific topics, although in a fit of orthodoxy he banished him for a time.[801] This curious mixture of liberality and intolerance is characteristic of the Almohades. However they might encourage speculation in its proper place, their law and theology were cut according to the plain ?ahirite pattern. ”The Koran and the Traditions of the Prophet--or else the sword!” is a saying of the last-mentioned sovereign, who also revived the autos-da-fe, which had been prohibited by his grandfather, of Malikite and other obnoxious books.[802] The spirit of the Almohades is admirably reflected in Ibn ?ufayl's famous philosophical romance, named after its hero, _?ayy ibn Yaq?an_, _i.e._, 'Alive, son of Awake,'[803] of which the following summary is given by Mr. Duncan B. Macdonald in his excellent _Muslim Theology_ (p. 253):--
[Sidenote: The story of ?ayy b. Yaq?an.]
”In it he conceives two islands, the one inhabited and the other not. On the inhabited island we have conventional people living conventional lives, and restrained by a conventional religion of rewards and punishments. Two men there, Salaman and Asal,[804] have raised themselves to a higher level of self-rule. Salaman adapts himself externally to the popular religion and rules the people; Asal, seeking to perfect himself still further in solitude, goes to the other island. But there he finds a man, ?ayy ibn Yaq?an, who has lived alone from infancy and has gradually, by the innate and uncorrupted powers of the mind, developed himself to the highest philosophic level and reached the Vision of the Divine. He has pa.s.sed through all the stages of knowledge until the universe lies clear before him, and now he finds that his philosophy thus reached, without prophet or revelation, and the purified religion of Asal are one and the same. The story told by Asal of the people of the other island sitting in darkness stirs his soul, and he goes forth to them as a missionary. But he soon learns that the method of Mu?ammad was the true one for the great ma.s.ses, and that only by sensuous allegory and concrete things could they be reached and held. He retires to his island again to live the solitary life.”
[Sidenote: Literature under the Almoravides and Almohades (1100-1250 A.D.).]
Of the writers who flourished under the Berber dynasties few are sufficiently important to deserve mention in a work of this kind. The philosophers, however, stand in a cla.s.s by themselves. Ibn Bajja (Avempace), Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Ibn ?ufayl, and Musa b. Maymun (Maimonides) made their influence felt far beyond the borders of Spain: they belong, in a sense, to Europe. We have noticed elsewhere the great mystic, Mu?yi 'l-Din Ibnu 'l-'Arabi ( 1240 A.D.); his fellow-townsman, Ibn Sab'in ( 1269 A.D.), a thinker of the same type, wrote letters on philosophical subjects to Frederick II of Hohenstaufen.
Valuable works on the literary history of Spain were composed by Ibn Khaqan ( 1134 A.D.), Ibn Ba.s.sam ( 1147 A.D.), and Ibn Bashkuwal ( 1183 A.D.). The geographer Idrisi ( 1154 A.D.) was born at Ceuta, studied at Cordova, and found a patron in the Sicilian monarch, Roger II; Ibn Jubayr published an interesting account of his pilgrimage from Granada to Mecca and of his journey back to Granada during the years 1183-1185 A.D.; Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), who became a Vizier under the Almoravides, was the first of a whole family of eminent physicians; and Ibnu 'l-Bay?ar of Malaga ( 1248 A.D.), after visiting Egypt, Greece, and Asia Minor in order to extend his knowledge of botany, compiled a Materia Medica, which he dedicated to the Sultan of Egypt, Malik al-Kamil.
[Sidenote: Reconquest of Spain by Ferdinand III.]
[Sidenote: The Na?rids of Granada (1232-1492 A.D.).]
We have now taken a rapid survey of the Moslem empire in Spain from its rise in the eighth century of our era down to the last days of the Almohades, which saw the Christian arms everywhere triumphant. By 1230 A.D. the Almohades had been driven out of the peninsula, although they continued to rule Africa for about forty years after this date. Amidst the general wreck one spot remained where the Moors could find shelter.
This was Granada. Here, in 1232 A.D., Mu?ammad Ibnu 'l-A?mar a.s.sumed the proud t.i.tle of 'Conqueror by Grace of G.o.d' (_Ghalib billah_) and founded the Na?rid dynasty, which held the Christians at bay during two centuries and a half. That the little Moslem kingdom survived so long was not due to its own strength, but rather to its almost impregnable situation and to the dissensions of the victors. The latest bloom of Arabic culture in Europe renewed, if it did not equal, the glorious memories of Cordova and Seville. In this period arose the world-renowned Alhambra, _i.e._, 'the Red Palace' (al-?amra) of the Na?rid kings, and many other superb monuments of which the ruins are still visible. We must not, however, be led away into a digression even upon such a fascinating subject as Moorish architecture. Our information concerning literary matters is scantier than it might have been, on account of the vandalism practised by the Christians when they took Granada. It is no dubious legend (like the reputed burning of the Alexandrian Library by order of the Caliph 'Umar),[805] but a well-ascertained fact that the ruthless Archbishop Ximenez made a bonfire of all the Arabic ma.n.u.scripts on which he could lay his hands.