Summary

This book is the first published English-language translation of the significant History of Islamic Spain by Ibn al-Qutiya (d. Cordova 367 / 977). Including extensive notes and comments, a genealogical table and relevant maps, the text is preceded by a study of the author and his work, and is the only serious examination of the unique manuscript since Pascual de Gayangos' edition in 1868.

Ibn al-Qutiya's work is one of the significant and earliest histories of Muslim Spain and an important source for scholars. Although like most Muslims of al-Andalus in this period, Ibn al-Qutiya was of European origin, he was a loyal servant of the Iberian Umayyads, and taught Arabic, traditions (hadith) and history in the Great Mosque of Cordova. Written at the height of the Umayyad Caliphate of Muslim Spain and Portugal (al-Andalus), the History describes the first 250 years of Muslim rule in the peninsula. The text, first fully translated into Spanish in 1926, deals with all aspects of life, and includes accounts of Christians, Jews and Muslim converts.

This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of the history of Spain and Portugal, Islamic history, and Mediaeval European history.

Choice Review

From the sole surviving manuscript copy of a 10th-century text, James (Arabic studies, Univ. College Dublin) edits and translates the work known as The History of the Conquest of al-Andalus by a descendant of both Visigothic royalty and the Muslim invaders who displaced them. Ibn al-Qtya died in Cordoba in 977 after a respectable career as an authority on Arabic grammar, jurisprudence, and tradition. Faithful students, particularly his nephew, wrote up his lecture notes to create the text that survives today. Replete with anecdotes, it succeeds in more than storytelling by the clear moral purpose that saturates the historical account. The text begins with the invasion of 711, told with the help of folktales and references to the author's ancestors, both Christian and Muslim, in order to study how Iberia's residents coped with the Muslim invaders. Cultural integration forms a major theme of the chronicle, as the history continues with accounts of how the three religions interacted and how Muslim converts gained acceptance by the Arab elite and eventually formed the new bureaucratic and military corps. The account of Umayyad domination in the peninsula concludes with the caliphate's victories over rebellions in the 930s. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries. L. C. Attreed College of the Holy Cross