https://hdl.handle.net/10481/14818 2026-04-26T18:16:09Z https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111933 This is your miḥrāb: sacred spaces and power in Early Islamic North Africa – al-Qayrawān as a Case Study Albarrán Iruela, Javier Al-Qayrawān has long been figured, especially in the culture of the Islamic West, as the Islamic city par excellence, as the fourth sacred place after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. The prominence of this garrison city—supposedly founded by ‘Uqba b. Nāfi‘ in the year 50/670–671—is undeniable in the traditional account of the Islamic conquest of Ifrīqiyya. Through a case study of al-Qayrawān and an analysis of the sources recounting its miraculous foundation as well as the construction of its mosque, this article aims to study the process of sacralisation of space, how this is inserted into a given context and related to power and its consolidation, particularly in times of political, cultural, and religious transition, and how it uses, appropriates, or eliminates the previous reality. To this end, the article provides a context for the creation of al-Qayrawān as a sacred space, which relates directly to the region’s Christian past and the construction of a new Islamic identity. This contribution evolved in the framework of the Center for Advanced Study “RomanIslam—Center for Comparative Empire and Transcultural Studies”, funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), at Universität Hamburg. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111035 Rafał Quirini-Popławski, The Art of the Genoese Colonies of the Black Sea Basin (1261–1475) González Arévalo, Raúl Review in French of Rafał Quirini-Popławski's The Art of the Genoese Colonies of the Black Sea Basin (1261–1475), at Le Moyen Âge. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110665 Chris Wickham. El asno y la nave. La economía mediterránea de 950 a 1180 González Arévalo, Raúl Reseña de la edición española del libro de Chris Wickham El asno y la nave.; Review to the Spanish edition of Cris Wickham's The donkey and the boat. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/109397 El islam triunfante: cartas de victoria e ideología de ŷihād en el occidente islámico medieval Albarrán, Javier Este artículo tiene por objeto estudiar las cartas de victoria (kutub al-fatḥ) del Occidente islámico medieval entre los siglos x-xiii. Es decir, aquellas misivas destinadas a anunciar un triunfo militar. El artículo define estas epístolas y analiza su contenido y características principales, así como su lectura pública y puesta en escena. Asimismo, este análisis se inserta dentro de los debates más amplios sobre la existencia o no de una cultura documental consolidada en el mundo islámico premoderno, y sobre la importancia del discurso de ŷihād en al-Andalus.; This paper aims to study the letters of victory (kutub al-fatḥ) of the medieval Islamic West between the 10th and 13th centuries. That is to say, those letters destined to announce a military triumph. The paper defines these epistles and analyzes their content and main characteristics, as well as their public reading and performing. Likewise, this analysis is inserted within the broader debates on the existence or not of a consolidated documentary culture in the premodern Islamic world, and on the importance of the ideology of jihād in al-Andalus. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/109384 De puertas, banderas y súplicas a Dios: ceremonial y guerra santa en al-Andalus (s. X) Albarrán Iruela, Javier; Cardoso, Elsa El 24 de abril del 975, el visir Gālib b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān, tras haberse ceñido dos preciosas espadas con las que le había obsequiado el califa, partió con sus tropas hacia la frontera. El desfile militar pasó por la Bāb al-Sudda del Alcázar de Córdoba, desde cuy azotea el soberano y su heredero levantaron las manos y pidieron a Dios que auxiliase a los guerreros musulmanes y les concediese la victoria. El objetivo de este artículo es analizar las ceremonias y liturgias de guerra santa en el al-Andalus omeya en episodios como el anteriormente descrito. Se estudia su significado y simbolismo, el papel que desempeñaron en la configuración del poder y en su representación, así como la vinculación de este con la ideología de ŷihād. Asimismo, insertamos este análisis en un contexto mediterráneo más amplio en el que existieron un lenguaje ceremonial transcultural y una fenomenología litúrgica comunes.; On 24 April 975, the vizier Gālib b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān, having girded himself with two precious swords gifted by the caliph, departed with his troops towards the frontier. The military parade passed through the Bāb al-Sudda of the Córdoba Alcázar, from whose rooftop the sovereign and his heir raised their hands, praying to God to aid the Muslim warriors and grant them victory. The aim of this article is to analyse the ceremonies and liturgies of holy war in Umayyad al-Andalus in episodes such as the one just described. It examines their meaning and symbolism, the role they played in shaping and representing power, and their connection to the ideology of jihād. Furthermore, this analysis is situated within a broader Mediterranean context, in which a common transcultural ceremonial language and liturgical phenomenology existed.