Abstract
Dissident Muslims have utilized discourses of pious rulership to justify their revolt against centralized authority at least as far back as the Kharijite rebellion in the 1st/7th century, which, in turn, resulted in the first major schism within the Islamic community. One may, indeed, interpret the very founding of Islam, in part, as a pietist response to a Meccan regime which fostered an environment of injustice and iniquity. Thus, the need for a pious rulership has been at the heart of Islamic political sensibility, if not from its very foundation, then at least from its first division. Rebels and reformers have deployed this discourse many times and in many places throughout the history of the Islamic world. Medieval Islamic Spain, or al-Andalus, was no different. This paper proposes to examine discourses of piety prevalent in al-Andalus from the late 5th/11th through the 6th/12th centuries, and how they related to the political upheavals of the time, focusing specifically on the influence of the philosophy of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (405-505/1058-1111) within these events.
Recommended Citation
Harris, Patrick
(2012)
"Power, Piety, and Rebellion in Al-Andalus: The Reception and Influence of Al-Ghazali's Political Philosophy in Islamic Iberia,"
The Hilltop Review: Vol. 5:
Iss.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/hilltopreview/vol5/iss2/4
Included in
History of Religion Commons, Islamic World and Near East History Commons, Medieval History Commons, Political History Commons
