INSTITUTIONS AND LAW IN THE AL-ANDALUS

1.- Foundations of Islam

Islam appears as a religion in the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century, founded by
Muhammad. his prophet. His calendar begins the July 16, 622, with the flight of
Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, the called Hijrah. It is a monotheistic religion,
which only recognizes the existence of a god, of whom Muhammad is his chief
prophet, we made prophets of the Judeo-Christian tradition, as Abraham and Jesus.
The holy book of Islam is the Quran, dictated by Allah to Muhammad and which is
divided into its - chapters- and verses-verses-. Islam has five basic principles on which
the whole life of the believer:

- The profession of faith: there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is their prophet.

- The pilgrimage to Mecca, which every Muslim must perform at least once in life.

- respect for fasting in the month of Ramadan, extending from sunrise to sunset.

- Pray five times a day, if possible oriented towards Mecca.

- Giving alms, which translates into zaqat, a tax

2 Islamic law

Islamic law is a religious right, that is, there is no a civilism law that mud emanates
from the principles of religion, by what noJiav distinguishes between lev and religious
principle. This is the reasons why its imprint on the later Spanish law is scarce, As the
expulsion of the Muslims made no sense to the The Court of First Instance held that it
was impossible to adapt its theocratic. Few specimens have survived, mostly The
European Parliament adopted an own-initiative report on the use of water and
irrigation on the Levant coast.

There are two bases of Islamic law:

- The Quran: It contains rules of law and is the main

legal source for Muslims, as it comes directly from God. However, the legal content of
the Quran is notsystematized or covers all aspects of life in society

- The sunnah: it is the tradition of the prophet, consisting of According to the Qur'an,
the huilon cüT the sunna is to expand. to corroborate, expel or complete the sacred
book, as well as to supply theso-called "silences of the Quran", that is, the subjects on
which the Quran says nothing. The sunnah has been transmitted orally, that
transmission is called hadith. In the 9th century it was collected for first, and since then
stamped done several times, differently, which necessitated a system of priority of
sources, for which is fundamental the isnah, that is, the chain of transmission of the
hadith from Muhammad until it was picked up in writing, being highly valued

especially that said chain is complete but applied until six different criteria. In addition
to these two sources, considered infallible for being revealed word the Quran and fruit
of the action of Muhammad the sunnah - Although human errors in their collection,
Islamic law admits other sources of origin of rights. We can mention:

- The quiya, the analogy of applying a case the solution given to a similar case in the
absence of a standard specific to.

- The ymá, the so-called consensus of the wise, equivalent doctrine in Roman law. Its
use is supported by precepts of the Quran and hadiths of the sunnah.

- Istila, or common interest, understood as applying, among several objectionable

solutions, the one that most benefits the community. This is a way of adapting the
right to change that occur over time. An example of this application was the Allowing
authorities in Muslim countries to buy to the infidels in need.

- The táqlid, or interpretation of Islamic law by a In contrast to the iymá, where he was
a lawyer, he the process is collective. The interpretation on how to use these human
methods of creation and application of the law, as well as what priority should be
between each other, gave rise to the emergence of different schools of Islamic law!

The first legal school established in Al Andalus was the of Awzá'i, strongly traditionalist,
based on the sunna and oriented military law. Today, this school has disappeared from
the Islamic world. In the peninsula was replaced from the century iX by
Maliki school, one of the four main legal schools that have survived to this day. The
Maliki school part Rigorous interpretation of Islamic law, influenced by law Medina,
from where Toriginario the founder of the school. It admits the common interest as a
source of law, thus as the view of doctrine, albeit with limitations.

3.- History of Muslim Spain

In the early years of the 8th century. the Visigoth monarchy was had deteriorated
because of civil wars; in the early year’s century erupted a new conflict, between
supporters of Don Rodrigo and the sons of the previous monarch, Witiza. During this
civil war, he to produce the arrival of the Arabs to the peninsula, surely brought as
military support for one of the fighting for power. Faced with the weakness of the
Visigoth monarchy, the Muslims, led Tariq, undertook the conquest of the kingdom,
after crushing the army Visigoth in the battle of the river Guadalete, in the year 711. In
only two the decades, most of the peninsula was subjected to the Muslims, except the
kingdom of Oviedo (ASTUR). The reasons for the rapid conquest were:

- The internal difficulties of the Visigoth monarchy: political instability, loss of power of
central power in favor of an incipient feudalization. economic crisis, hunger, etc.

- Internal adhesions to invaders, such as enemies of Don Rodrigo in the civil war or
Jewish communities, who supported the invasion.

- Tolerance towards Christian populations That allowed large communities to form

Christians in Muslim-dominated lands in cities like Toledo, Seville or Córdoba. These
communities

Muslim in the Iberian peninsula can be divided into several states:

- Damascus Caliphate Province: During the first century of its existence, Muslim Spain
was a province of the Umayyad Caliphate.
- Emirate of Córdoba: In 755, the Umayyad dynasty in Damascus was overthrown and
its members killed by the dynasty Abbasid. The only surviving member of the
Umayyads took refuge in Córdoba and independent the peninsula from the rest of the
caliphate, declaring an emirate, politically independent, but recognizing the authority

spiritual of the caliph.

- Caliphate of Córdoba: In 852, Abderramán III gave one more step when proclaiming
himself caliph, that is to say, the maximum political and religious, cutting off any kind
of linking Muslim domains in the pemhsúTa with caliphs Damascus. The caliphate is
the era of splendor of Al Andalüs.

- Period of the Taifa kingdoms: From the 11th century, the Caliphate of Cordoba breaks
down into multiple independent kingdoms, They are called taifas, whose characteristic
feature is instability.

Seville, Murcia, Granada or Valencia will be the most important, but the fragmentation
of power will favor the interests of kingdoms

Christians. There are up to three distinct stages in the kingdoms, separated by various
invasions from the North Africa. The first was that of the Almoravids, who defeated

Alfonso VI at the Battle of Zalaca and came to unify for a brief Taifa kingdom. Problems
in Africa and lack of support among the Muslims of Al Andalus ended their rule in the
Peninsula. After a return to the taifa system, the invasion, which brought with it a
radical interpretation and austere of Islam. The Almohads created an empire that
spread Al Andalus to Libya and crushed the Christian army in the battle of Atareos,
stopping for years the process of Reconquest, until defeated in the Navas de Tolosa. in
1212. key milestone of the Medieval Spain. After a new period of taifas, a Third North
African invasion, that of the Benimerins, but their defeat by the Castilian army of
Alfonso XI in the Salado River and the struggles The death of Ali Hassan’s son, the
Sultan Nigger, they put an end to their empire.

- The Nasrid period: Finally, the domains muslims in the peninsula were reduced to the
Nasrid kingdom of Granada, which ended up being a vassal state of Castile. In the last
the third of the fifteenth century, internal clashes, between the Zegrí and the will of
the Catholic Monarchs to unify politics and religiously the peninsula, culminated with
the beginning of the Granada in 1480, a conflict that would end in 1492 with the
conquest Islamic power in the Middle East and the peninsula

4.- The Muslim state in Al-Andalus

In the Muslim kingdoms the main office was the caliph, maxim political and religious
authority; without religious authority, the leader took the name of emir if he was a
political authority Sultan, if he was under political authority of a caliph in addition to
the religious. The caliph used the title of Prince of Believers, in which his double nature
is reflected, political and religious.

After the caliph, the most important position was that of vizier, equivalent to prime
minister or valid in the Christian kingdoms. The viziers ruled in the name of the caliphs,
being, in many The europeans has a duty to ensure that the europeans can play a
leading role in the fight against terrorism. The Hacienda was very centralized, with a
separation in the state treasury and the private property of the Caliph.

system of direct taxes was quite developed, being the the most important zagat: it is
one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith, that everything is obliged to pay, since it was
instituted by Muhammad. It It is a handout that supposes delivery of 10% of the
products that the Muslim produces in his work. Territorially, an administrative
demarcation was used political and military that received the name Je Cora. was
characterized by the absence of a distinction between executive and judicial authority,
the caliph, who delegated his judicial powers to the kadis, that is, the judges. In time,
the figure of the great Cadi, charged with overseeing the work of the chief judges. The

Kadis had dual jurisdiction:

- ordinary jurisdiction, in which the civil litigation between two parties.

- voluntary jurisdiction covering various subjects, protection, enforcement of

sentences, administration of estates and estates of absentees, etc.. who exercised at
the request of truces with the infidels were acceptable religiously, there are many
interpretations.

Life in the border territories generated its own Legal structures. Two of them are
noteworthy:

- The alfaqueques. people who were in charge of to negotiate and effect the rescue of
the captives on either side of the The Committee of the Regions in front of both
communities.

- The faithful of the trail, charged with investigating the crimes and crimes involving
Muslim communities and Christians, trying to avoid, with their work, the dynamics of
and mutual revenge