https://hdl.handle.net/10481/14817 Sat, 11 Apr 2026 06:19:25 GMT 2026-04-11T06:19:25Z 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/10481/111933 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111797 La península ibérica: cristianismo e islam frente a frente (ss. XI-XII) Albarrán Iruela, Javier Sumario: 1. El siglo XI: la desintegración de la unidad andalusí- 2. El Rex Ibericus y su herencia- 3. La caída de Toledo- 4. La llegada de los almorávides- 5. Tras Uclés: división, expansión e imperio- 6. Los almohades: la llegada del mahdi- 7. A ambos lados de la frontera: hacia Alarcos y Las Navas- 8. Apéndice documental- 9. Bibliografía.; Contents: 1.The Eleventh Century: The Disintegration of Andalusi Unity 2.The Rex Ibericus and His Legacy 3.The Fall of Toledo 4.The Arrival of the Almoravids 5.After Uclés: Division, Expansion, and Empire 6.The Almohads: The Coming of the Mahdī 7.On Both Sides of the Frontier: Toward Alarcos and Las Navas 8.Documentary Appendix 9.Bibliography https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111797 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111255 Veneración y polémica. Muḥammad en la obra del Qadi ‘Iyad Albarrán Iruela, Javier Con cientos de manuscritos a sus espaldas y numerosas ediciones, el Kitāb aš-Šifā' ha sido clave para los musulmanes y su religiosidad desde que el cadí ‘Iyāḍ lo redactó en el siglo XII, convirtiéndose en una de las obras que más ha circulado y ha sido leída en el mundo islámico. Sin embargo, a pesar de este éxito, pocos han sido los trabajos que se han dedicado de forma particular al estudio de este tratado de veneración del profeta Muḥammad. Con el objetivo de rellenar esa laguna desde una de las perspectivas posibles, este estudio propone analizar cómo el autor de este tratado, desde su posición de cadí malikí vinculado a los almorávides, utilizó el carisma institucionalizado del Profeta del que como ulema se consideraba heredero, como herramienta de legitimación de su interpretación del islam, de su entendimiento de la ley religiosa y, en definitiva, de su concepción de la sociedad. Para ello, estableció un diálogo de controversia utilizando el capital simbólico del Profeta para crear unas fronteras del islam, reivindicando su superioridad frente a otras religiones, y para pugnar contra otros movimientos islámicos que también se consideraban herederos del legado de Muḥammad. De este modo, este trabajo aborda cuestiones como la producción intelectual islámica y su circulación, lectura y apropiación, la historia de la veneración del Profeta, la polémica inter e intrarreligiosa o el proceso de construcción de la ortodoxia.; With hundreds of manuscripts and numerous editions, the Kitāb al-Šifāʾ has been central to Muslim religiosity since it was composed by the qadi 'Iyad in the twelfth century, becoming one of the most widely circulated and read works in the Islamic world. Despite this remarkable success, relatively few studies have been devoted specifically to the analysis of this treatise on the veneration of the Prophet Muhammad. Seeking to address this gap from one particular perspective, this study examines how the author—writing as a Mālikī qāḍī associated with the Almoravids—mobilized the institutionalized charisma of the Prophet, whose legacy he regarded himself as inheriting as a member of the ʿulamāʾ, as a tool to legitimize his interpretation of Islam, his understanding of religious law, and, ultimately, his conception of society. To this end, he constructed a polemical discourse that deployed the Prophet’s symbolic capital to delineate the boundaries of Islam, assert its superiority over other religions, and contest rival Islamic movements that likewise claimed to embody Muḥammad’s legacy. In doing so, this article engages broader questions concerning Islamic intellectual production and its circulation, reception, and appropriation; the history of devotion to the Prophet; inter- and intra-religious polemics; and the formation of orthodoxy. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111255 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111161 Settlement Change in Granada's Western Mountains: the relationship between Power and Rural Communities in the Middle Ages Mattei, Luca This contribution stresses the fundamental importance of understanding the aspects which have characterized the vital sphere of the rural communities. We will mainly present the elements which have affected their social components and their settlement pattern, showing the important role that the power has played on the dynamics of the medieval settlement. Thus we will show the more significant transformations generated by the relations and contacts between these two agents, state power and rural communities. The emphasis is placed upon a rural area of Granada within the Middle Ages, specifically on the Western Mountain area, placed in the so-called region of Poniente of Granada https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111161 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/10481/111035