Again on Forced Conversion in the Almohad Period

Se enuncian las principales características de los dos tipos de sistemas de control y defensa en al-Andalus: El sistema defensivo de control vial extendido en época omeya (ss. VIII-X) y el posterior sistema defensivo de carácter reticular implantado en la época almohade (s. XII). Se dedica especial atención a describir la frontera almohade en el norte de la Mancha Oriental e interior de Valencia. En este aspecto es esencial la crónica de Ibn Ṣāhib al-Ṣalā (m. 1182) titulada Al-Mann bi-l-imāma en que se describe cómo el califa almohade Abū Ya’qūb Yūsuf, a su regreso de la Campaña de Huete del 167 H./1172 e.C., durante su estancia en Murcia, tras recibir la sumisión de Ibn Mardanīš a la causa almohade, procede a la reforma administrativa y de las fronteras del Šarq al-Andalus. Se concluye que Ibn Mardanīš, tras su sumisión, les cede a los almohades esta frontera. Finalmente se aportan los datos de las circunscripciones administrativas almohades de la Mancha Oriental: Chinchilla, Villena, Peñas de San Pedro, sistema defensivo del Júcar, Alcaraz y Segura de la Sierra. Para concluir, se enuncia una lógica geopolítica para la conquista castellana de La Mancha Oriental y Murcia.

The Shūdhiyya is a Sufi strand that flourished in the south-east region of al-Andalus, particularly in the area of Murcia, in the late 6th/12th century until the second half of the 7th/13th century. It thus extended from the second half of the Almohad period to the early Naṣrid period. The Shūdhiyya is named after the enigmatic figure, al-Shūdhī (fl. 6th/12th c.), a Sufi saint linked to Tlemcen. Nevertheless, the two main figures of the Shūdhiyya were the theologians and Sufis, Ibn al-Marʾa (d. 611/1214) and Ibn Aḥlā (d. 645/1247). Faced with the advance of Christian forces in the region of Murcia, Shūdhīs relocated to the nascent kingdom of Granada and to the central Islamicate world where, as followers of Ibn Sabʿīn (d. 669/1270), they were known as the Sabʿīniyya. The Shūdhiyya flourished in al-Andalus at roughly the same time that Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240) lived in al-Andalus. And, like Ibn ʿArabī, the Shūdhiyya ultimately came to be known for espousing the unity of existence although in a more radical, absolute way. Even though intellectual Sufism in al-Andalus is mostly associated with Ibn ʿArabī, his actual influence on his contemporaries in al-Andalus was rather scarce as he emigrated in his thirties to the East where he wrote his main works. However, in the field of intellectual Sufism, the Shūdhiyya was far more influential in al-Andalus than Ibn ʿArabī. Nevertheless, since the main representatives of the Andalusī Shūdhiyya did not relocate to the East, their works were not widely disseminated across the eastern and central Islamicate world and, consequently, except for Ibn al-Marʾa, most of their works are not known to be extant. Thus, the main witnesses are biographical and polemical literature. Despite the historical and intellectual relevance of the Shūdhiyya for the social, political and intellectual history of al-Andalus, only Massignon has devoted some attention to this Sufi strand. In this article the available sources on the Shūdhiyya in al-Andalus are surveyed and contextualized.