RELIGIOUS DISSENSION IN AL-ANDALUS: WAYS OF EXCLUSION AND INCLUSION ^

What were the mechanisms by which exclusion of heretics, apostates and innovators operated in a pre-modem Islamic society, that of al-Andalus? What were the mechanisms or strategies by which those labelled as heretics or as religious dissenters managed not to be excluded or if they had been, managed to be reincorporated into their social and religious milieu? This article seeks to provide answers to these questions, drawing on previous studies carried out on accusations of apostasy, heresy, innovation and blasphemy that took place in al-Andalus.

Apostasy is a crime punished in Islamic law by the death penalty, either death by the sword or decapitation.Crucifixion is contemplated in the case of a blasphemer.Exile is another possibiMty.^ In some Islamic texts, deviation from fundamental reHgious principles in the form of apostasy and heresy was regarded as treason against the state and revolt against the social order, thus existing the tendency of assimilating «apostates, rebels and brigands», as the title of Kraemer's study reads.^ There was no part of pre-modem life that religion did not touch, and none therefore that did not touch religion.The adoption of heresy and the imputation of heresy to others were statements about communal membership and exclusion.A. Knysh has remarked the danger of seeing the persecution of all manners of deviants as a clear proof of the fact that in Islam there was an «authentic» or orthodox rehgious dogma upheld by the majority of Muslims.MusHm intellectual life was, in Knysh's words, «a perpetual collision of individual opinions over an invariant set of theological problems that eventually leads to a transient consensus that already contains the seeds of future disagreement».^ It is «orthodoxy-in-the-making» (my own words would be that orthodoxy in Islam is not a thing, but a process), in which the most effective way to estabhsh an «orthodox» creed was to assure it state support.On the other hand, the rulers had a vested interest in playing the role of umpires between factions of scholars, which again helped the fluidity of belief and practice.Accusations of heresy were among the means that those scholars had at their disposal to fight their struggles for the social, economic and political prizes bestowed by the rulers, as has been shown by M. Chamberlain.^ The studies I have carried out of A g. XXII, 2001 RELIGIOUS DISSENSION IN AL-AND ALUS 465 accusations of heresy and apostasy in al-Andalus show that they only led to trial and execution when the ruler saw or was made to see in the accused a political danger in times of upheaval or external threat.Most of those accusations did not involve legal prosecution, but even so they could be quite effective in censoring and damaging those accused.
What were the mechanisms by which exclusion of heretics, apostates and innovators operated in a pre-modem Islamic society, that of al-Andalus?What were the mechanisms or strategies by which those labelled as heretics managed not to be excluded or if they had been, managed to be reincorporated into their social and religious milieu?

WAYS OF EXCLUSION FROM THE COMMUNITY
In the case of accusations of heresy and apostasy that did not lead to trial and did not bring any threat to the life of the accused, exclusion could be operated by the accusation itself and related terms of abuse, by the idea of impurity, by social isolation, by the destruction of books and by refutations.As regards the case of accusations of heresy and apostasy that led to trial, exclusion could also be brought about by the accusation itself and related terms of abuse, by the idea of impurity and by social isolation, but it could also involve loss of Muslim status, imprisonment, physical punishment, exile or execution.
The accusation itself and related terms of abuse.God knows who the heretics and sinners are and will punish them in the other world, but those who remained in this world would not know it, except by the ways pointed out by Ibn Rushd al-Jadd (see above).In any case, simply to make an accusation of heresy, even if unproven and without legal consequences, marked the person accused apart from his contemporaries.That in itself «isolated» him in the community either in a temporary or more lasting way.The accusation of zandaqa against 'Abd al-A'lá b.Wahb (d. 261/874), probably caused by his Mu'tazili ideas, did not lead to any trial and he continued being a respected member of the scholarly elite in Umayyad Cordoba, but it made him temporarily lose his authority as jurist consultant to the judge (mushawar).The Cordobán qàdi, in fact, consulted him in the trial for blasphemy against the nephew of ' Ajab, but the Umayyad emir did not accept 'Abd al-A'la b.Wahb's opinion (favorable to the acquittal of the blasphemer) arguing that his opinion was not worth considering because of that accusation of zandaqa that had been formulated against him.^ The decrees ^ See Fierro,Heterodoxia,[49][50][51][52][53] (c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.esM. FIERRO AQ.XXII, 2001 promulgated by ' Abd al-Rahmân III against the Masarrîs accusing them of ïihàd, hid'a and zaygh, accusations accompanied by numerous terms of abuse, were read publicly in the mosques.^^ Accusations of heresy were occasionally exchanged among scholars merely as terms of abuse, arising from much the same mixture of intellectual ferment and personal intrigue that often go together in academic disputes.One of these cases could have been the accusation of zandaqa against Ibn 'Atiyya (d.541/1147), for which no explanation is given in the sources, although it might have been provoked by his Ash'arism.** Ibn Garcia (5th/11th century) was accused of zandaqa because of his shu %bism, as if being anti-Arab made him anti-Muslim.'^ Rulers tried to control the social and legal impact of such accusations.This was the case of the Almohad caliphs, as shown by a letter from Abu Ya'qüb Yûsuf (558/1163-580/1184). ^^ It was common in Islam to discredit the holders of a certain doctrine by assimilating them to members of another religion with formulas such as «the Qadarites are the Zoroastrians of this community» (al-qadariyya majUs hàdhihi al-umma) or «the Shftes are the Jews of our community».' "^ Tarif, the founder of the heretical religion of the Berber Barghawata, was presented as a Jew, as was the Fatimid 'Ubayd Allah al-Mahdî.Some Andalusi heretics or suspects of heresy and deviation were said to be Jews.This happened, for example, with the philosophers Ibn Bajja (Avempace) *^ and Ibn Rushd (Averroes).^^ A dead '^ Id.,[132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140].See also Fierro, M., «Opposition to Sufism in al-Andalus», Islamic Mysticism contested.Thirteen Centuries of Controversies andPolemics, ed. F. de Jong andB. Radtke, Leiden, 1999, 174-206, especially 178-84. '• See Ibn 'Atiyya, Fahrasa, ed. Muhammad Abu l-Ajfan andMuhammad al-Zàhï, Beirut, 1980, introduction, 23, andFierro, M., «Religión», in vol.Vni/2 (El retroceso territorial de al-Andalus.Almorávides y almohades.Sighs xi al xiii) of Historia de España fundada por R. Menéndez Pidal y dirigida por J. M.° Jover, coord.M. J. Viguera, Madrid, 1997, 435-546, 474. '2 See Monroe, J. R., The Shu'übiyya in al-Andalus, Berkeley, 1970, 59, 69, 93-4, 98 andFierro, M., «Religión», in vol.VHI/l (Los Reinos de Taifas) of Historia de España fundada por R. Menéndez Pidal y dirigida por J. M.° Jover, coord.M. J. Viguera, Madrid, 1994, 399-496, 433.'^ Ibn Sáhib al-salát (d. after 594/1197), al-Mann bi-1-imàma, ed.'Abd al-Hâdî al-Tàzî, Beirut, 3rd edition, 1987, 225-9;transi. A. Huici Miranda, Valencia, 1969, 96-100.The scholar Ibn Mawjuwál al-'Abdarî was subject to persecution (mihna) probably during Yûsuf s caliphate, the reason being his rivalry with the powerful Abii Bakr b. al-Jadd.On the latter see Marin, M., «Abu Bakr b. al-Yadd y su familia».Estudios Onomástico-Biográficos de al-Andalus, IX (Biografías almohades I), ed.M. Fierro and M. L. Ávila, Madrid-Granada, 1999, 223-59.On the former see Benouis, M., «Les savants mis à l'épreuve à l'époque almohade».Estudios Onomástico-Biográficos de al-Andalus, X (Biografías almohades II), ed.M. L. Ávila and M. Fierro, Madrid-Granada, 2000, 315-57, 323 «To be a Christian» was mainly used as a term of abuse against rulers who estabUshed alliances with the Christian enemy.Thus, the Arabic sources accuse a member of the Nasrids of Granada of being «Christianized».'^ Christians played an important role in the internal fights among Muslims, as their alliance was sought by the contending parties.This entails that in the chronicles, which give us the view of the central power, a usual way of attacking Muslim rebels is to point out their alliance with Christians.This is especially so in the case of Ibn Mardanïsh (6th/12th century), a ruler accused of not being Muslim because of his contacts with Christians and his alleged «Christian» behaviour, such as drinking wine.*^ Alliances with Christians, however, were so widespread among contending Muslim parties that its scandalous nature was usually remembered only in the context of propaganda and ideological fights.This means that when, for example, the murder of the Sufi rebel Ibn Qasî by his followers is explained in the sources as a punishment for his alliance with the Portuguese, this implied that the alliance was seen as having more negative consequences than positive ones by those who got rid of their former leader.^° As regards accusations that led to trial, a document (wathîqa) of accusation of zandaqa has been preserved by Ibn Mugïth (d.459/1067): The witnesses who sign this document testify that they know Fulan b.Fulàn by his name and in person and that they know that he belongs to the ahl al-ta'ñl^^ of those who follow the doctrine of the heretics (madhhab al-zanadiqa) and that they heard him saying words that certify heresy against him and prove it against him from his disregarding... [what is] obligatory for Muslims and his turning M. FIERRO AQ.XXII, 2001 away from them by declaring false the divinity...This is testified by all those who knew him and heard him saying what was said openly and spoken distinctly and made public.^^ Apart from the labels discussed above, heretics subject to the action of justice had to suffer other kinds of verbal and physical abuse.The heretic Abu l-Khayr was refered to as Abu 1-Sharr, changing the «good» of his kunya for «evil».The list of accusations made against him ^^ include homosexuality, drinking wine, eating pork, mocking Muslim practices, non performance of the obligatory prayers, comparing human beings with plants.^"^ When the muhtasiba detained Ibn Hatim al-Tulaytuli in Cordoba, they grabbed him by the hair, slapped him and drove him, barefoot and with this head shaven, before the judge.^^ Impurity.The infidel (mushrik) is impure, and impure are also Jews and Christians, so that when they convert to Islam they must perform the major ritual purification (ghusi), as it is stressed in the documents of conversion recorded by Ibn al-'Attar, Ibn Mughith and al-Jazm.^^ Purification is especially stressed in the case of the Christian, ^^ not in the case of the Jew, for whom the minor ritual ablution is enough, as it is needed in order to perform prayer.The apostate or heretic who repents must perform the major ritual ablution, as shown also by the legal document recording the process of repentance (see below).The Almohads purified the mosques of the territories over which they ruled.Ibn Hud did the same with Almohad mosques, ^^ thereby implying that the mosques themselves and the behaviour of those who had previously prayed there were not properly Islamic.^^ Ibn Mughith, al-MuqnV fi 'Urn al-shurUt, ed. F. J. Aguirre Sádaba, Madrid, 1994 (Fuentes Arábico-Hispanas, 5), 347-9, n.° 64.Ibn Mughith is the only author of a work on shurUt who includes such a document.He was involved in the accusation of zandaqa made against Ibn Hàtim al-Tulaytulî, executed in 464/1072 (see below note 25).The inclusion in his work of this document must be related to Ibn Mughlth's participation in Ibn Hitim's trial.

469
Social isolation.Apart from the terms of abuse just mentioned, a mechanism to isolate and expose heretics recorded in Islamic law is not to pray behind them or, if the prayer had to be performed, to repeat the prayer immediately.^^ When the practice of making the invocation in the name of the ruling Almohad caHph after the prayers in congregational form was introduced into al-Andalus in the sixth twelfth century, some of the MêâMfuqahâ', namely Abu 'Abd Allah b.Mujahid (d.574/1178) and his disciple Abu 'Imran al-Mîrtulï, opposed it at the risk of their hves, wanting to make the point that the practice was to be rejected.^^ Heretics and innovators should not be visited if they are sick and the funeral prayer should not be said when they die.The marriage of the heretic is considered to be invalid; if he repents, he has to marry again.^^ The «sanitary barrier» that believers should erect to isolate the innovator or heretic is the recurrent theme in Ibn Waddah's Kitâb al-bida'.^^ Those suspected in their doctrines might also be confined to their houses.^^ In principle, the only wordly legal consequence of non-performance of religious duties could be loss of probity and thus exclusion as a witness in court.In this sense, al-Jazïrî (d.585/1189) records a wathïqa for invalidating witnesses on the basis of bad behaviour in matters pertaining to religion, such as perfoming usury, drinking wine, listening to singing slavegirls, being a liar.Invalidation also comes from not performing zakàt or prayer and other capital sins (kabâ'ir) or, more generally, from fasâdfi l-dîn (corruption in religion).^"^ As J. Wakin remarks, witnesses were persons to be emulated with respect to ethical and social standards; they were usually counted among the notables of the town and were in touch with many of the economic and social concerns of the community.The witnesses, persons certified to be of good moral character, penetrated the whole of society and were influential in preserving and spreading Islamic norms.^^ 2^ If they are not heretics, but innovators, there is no need to repeat the prayer: Ibn Rushd al-Jadd, Bayân, XVI, 411.See also al-Wansharîsï (d. 914/1508), al-Mi'yar al-mu'rib wa-1-jàmV al-mughrib 'anfatâwï ahllfrîqiya wa-l-Andalus wa-l-Maghrib, 13 vols., Rabat, 1401/1981, VII, 117.
33 See Benouis, «Les savants mis à l'épreuve», 344-5, n.° 30.3^ al-Jazïn, Maqsad, 400-6.3^ See Wakin, J., The function of documents in Islamic law, Albany, 1972.Al-Jazïrî also records some documents that he describes as novelties and that had the function of stating someone's good or inmoral conduct.^^ Pressure made by family and friends of the heretic or deviant has left almost no traces in the extant sources, but it undoubtedly existed.^'^ It is forbidden to engage in debate (mujâdala) with innovators (asMb al-ahwa '), as nothing can be gained from it and much can be lost, because they can incline you to their innovation or raise doubt in your faith.^^ Only those who are prepared and sure to come out victorious should do it.This was the case of the Cordobán traditionist Baqi b.Makhlad (d.276/889) who defeated in scholarly debate the Qadari Khalil al-Ghafla (second half of the 3rd/9th century).The latter's books were burnt after his death.^^ It was also the case of Muhyî 1-dîn Ibn al-'Arabï, who convinced a philosopher of the existence of miracles performed by saints."^^ Rejection and disapproval could be shown by pronouncing legal opinions which might have never been put into practice, but helped creating a «climate of opinion».For example, Malik b.Anas (the founder of the Mâlikï school of law) was asked about people in the Maghrib who followed a wrong ritual practice (they only made two rak'as instead of four) and he said that they should be offered the possibility of repentance and if not, executed."^^ According to the Cordobán jurist Ibn al-Hàjj (d.529/1134), those who deny the punishment of the grave (fitnat al-qabr) and the arrival of the two angels must be beaten until they repent or die; in case they repent, they are free.^'^ Who states that the Qur'an is created will be invited to repentance and condemned to death if he does not."^^ Many Andalusis are described as having been «harsh against the innovators» (shadîd 'ala ahí al-bida '), censoring and forbidding what was wrong and by their moral and religious authority stopping wrong practices or showing which  'Abdün, Madrid, 1948 (facsimile éd. Sevilla, 1981), 71, andnumbers, 141,164,170, 186, 190, 194, 205, 213.The issue of târik al-salât would deserve a study of its own: see for practices were the correct ones.Such was the case of a man who divorced his wife by pronouncing the IVan formula publicly in the mosque of Cordoba in order to revive the sunna.^ The voluntary practice of ordering good and forbidding evil {aUamr bi-1-ma'rüf wa4-nahy 'an al-munkar)'^^ could, however, be dangerous if seen as rivalling the coercive power of the state or as a threat to the state itself, especially if, as in the case of al-Talamankï, those who performed it went to the extreme of declaring that all Muslims, judged by them to be in rebellion against God, were to be put to death."^^ The fact that the takjïr or accusation of infidelity could bring about the death punishment determined a certain reluctance to use it or at least to concede the benefit of doubt to those who declared to profess the shahàda, leaving to God to judge the sincerity of such profession.A parallel could be traced between the fact that in Islam fornication and the accusation of fornication are considered to be crimes equally serious and the fact that traditions circulated making the same comparison between infidelity and the accusation of infidelity.One such tradition, recorded by Abu Dâwùd (d.275/889) says, «If a Muslim accuses of kufr another Muslim, he is a kâfir if the accusations is false» or «No hadd should be applied in the ambiguous cases».^'^ What characterizes Sunm Islam from Khàrijî Islam is a great caution about declaring a Muslim infidel.
As regards the accusations that led to trial, when Ibn Hatim escaped from Toledo, a man called Ibn Labid al-Murabit visited different Taifa kingdoms, collecting fatâwà against him and thus weaving a net around him from which Ibn Hatim was unable to escape.Ibn Hâtim, who had been in charge of the tazkiya (attestation of a witness' honorable record) in Toledo, "^^ was thus stripped of his probity.Heretics, as I have mentioned before, could not act as witnesses in court.In the case of the philosopher Averroes, he was proclaimed in the mosque of Cordoba to have deviated from rehgion {mâriq 'an al-dîn); he and his son were expelled from the mosque.^^  Destruction of books.A way to stop certain ideas spreading was the burning of books, as happened with the Zâhirî Ibn Hazm (d. 456/1064).He, however, admonished the ' Abbâdid ruler of Sevilla responsible for it about the limits of the latter's action, saying that his books could be destroyed but not their contents which remained in his heart.^^ The books of the Qadari Khalîl al-Ghafla were also burnt, but only after his death.^^ The famous destruction of books of suspect sciences (those of the «ancients») preserved in the library of the Umayyad caliph al-Hakam II was ordered by al-Mansùr b.Abî 'Àmir, in an attempt to increase his level of religious legitimacy.^^ These episodes might explain the fact that Mu'tazilî works did not circulate in al-Andalus, their absence being commented upon by the philosopher Ibn Rushd.^^ And this was so in spite of the fact that Mu'tazilism had been favoured by members of the Cordobán elites in the 4th/10th century.^^ Official burning of books did not stop after Almanzor's death.The Cordobán qâdi Ibn Hamdîn ordered the burning of al-Ghazàiï's books during the Aimoravid period.^^ Fearing persecution, Abu Baki" b. ai-'Arabï (d.543/1148), who had been the main agent in introducing al-Ghazalfs works into al-Andalus, destroyed and threw into the sea his copy of al-Ihyà\ ^^ Under the Almohads, attempts at burning Málikí/wrM * works are mentioned.^^ After the persecution against Averroes, the Almohad caliph al-Mansûr wrote a letter in which he ordered the burning of philosophical works.^^ The burning of heretical books was supported by the Nasrid qadi al-Bunnàhî (d.792/1390).^^ Writing refutations.If debates in person with heretics and innovators were to be avoided, written refutations of mistaken or heretical doctrines were more acceptable.The Andalusîs wrote treatises against innovations (kutub al-bida *) in order to make it clear which practices and doctrines were wrong.^° Mundhir b.Ibn 'Arafa (d.803/1400), qâdi in Tunis, also entered into the discussion when he was asked for a fatwâ on this issue by someone in Granada.^^ All this activity had to do with struggles among scholars for the definition of correct belief and practice, and for the establishment of their own reputation as upholders of orthodoxy.

M. FIERRO
AQ. XXII, 2001 Prison.Those accused of heresy had to stay in prison during the trial and after, if proved guilty.There they had to decide whether to repent if they had been granted the istitaba, i.e. the possibility of repentance (which was always granted to apostates, as happened in the case of the Cordobán apostates in the so-called movement of the voluntary Christian martyrs and Ibrahim al-Qurashî).^^ The traditionist Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Salám al-Khushanî was put in prison during the episode of the tensions between traditionists and Màlikïs in the second half of the third/ninth century: as a scholar and member of the urban elite, he was appalled at the unhygienic conditions he had to face during his imprisonment.^^ A descendant of Ibn Hazm who died in 540/1146 was persecuted at the end of the Almoravid period, accused of being a bâtinï; he was imprisoned and lost his properties.'^^ The philosopher Ibn Bajja (d.533/1138) was imprisoned accused of heresy in Játiva and freed thanks to the intervention of the Màlikî jurist Ibn Rushdal-Jadd.^^Physical punishment.This could be inflicted, even if torture was forbidden in principle.^^ A story widely spread in al-Andalus (it appears in the Andalusi treatises against innovations) was the story of the innovator Sabïgh al-'Iraqi, who was physically punished by 'Umar b. al-Khattáb until he repented.^^ The same penalty was supported by Ibn al-Hájj for those who denied the fitnat al-qabn '^^ although it was probably never applied.
Execution.Those accused of heresy and blasphemy in al-Andalus who were sentenced to death were crucified and then pierced to death on the cross, as happened in the cases of the blasphemer known as 'Ajab's nephew, the zindîqs   According to a text by Ibn Sa'id (d.685/1286), the populace in al-Andalus had such hatred of philosophy and astrology that whoever studied them was labelled as a zindiq and risked being lapidated or burnt without the sultan's intervention.^^ I have not found any evidence that such acts ever took place.The possibility of someone killing an heretic without the sultan's permission was, however, discussed in Andalusi legal writings.^^ Exile (nafy).According to a hadîth transmitted by 'A'isha, apart from execution, there was the possibility of exile as punishment for heretics.^^ In the second half of the 4th/10th century, scholars became involved in a debate on the existence of miracles of the saints and al-Mansùr b.Abi 'Amir sent the factions involved into exile.^^ The philosopher Ibn Rushd, after being publicly denounced as an heretic in the mosque, was sent into exile to Lucena (a town known as «Lucena of the Jews», as Ibn Rushd had been accused of being of Jewish origin).^^ Loss of Muslim status.No funeral prayer could be said upon the heretic, blasphemer or apostate, no MusHm could inherit from him, his property going to the bayt al-màl, and his marriage became nul and void.^^ In the case of the secretary Qûmis b.Antunyan, the main issue of knowing whether he had died as Christian or Muslim was where his inheritance should go.^^ In case of necessity, some jurists allowed the killing of religious deviants and rebels and eating them.^ M. FIERRO AQ, XXII, 2001 How TO AVOID AND RESIST EXCLUSION, AND WAYS OF REINCORPORATION INTO THE

COMMUNITY
The mechanisms of avoidance of and resistance to exclusion were autocensorship, writing defences of your position and dissimulation.
Autocensorship.When people felt that certain practices were disapproved of or suspect in their orthodoxy, they might decide not to engage in them in order to ensure salvation in the other world and avoid exclusion in this.Muhammad b. 'All b. 'Ayyash (d. 546/1151) was imam in the Great Mosque of Cordoba.He was interested in medicine and decided to study in Sevilla with 'All b.Barrajan, expert in hadlth and medicine, and the brother of the famous Süfí Ibn Barrajan, who died in Marrakech in suspicious circumstances.One day when Ibn 'Ayyash was copying books by Galen, he fell asleep and saw in dreams the muqri' Abu 1-Hasan al-'Abbâsî, who censored him for having abandoned the recitation of the Qur'an and the hadlth.When he awoke, he abandoned his medical studies and devoted himself to hadlth.After some time, he saw again Abu 1-Hasan in his dreams and this time the latter showed his approval of him.^^ Writing defences of your position.Sa'id b.Fathùn defended himself against those who attacked him for his interest in logic, saying in a poem: They insult this book, when they attribute to it what it does not contain, because they do not know it.If they understood its value, they will not despise it; if they knew its true merit, they will praise it.They lie, ¡by God!If they knew it they will not attribute it what they do...! ^^ Abu 1-Walïd al-Bâjî (d.474/1081) was respected and sought after for his knowledge when he returned to al-Andalus after having studied in the East the art of polemics (jadal), Ash'an theology and Mâlikî usül al-fiqh.In connection with his reliance on Prophetic traditions, al-Bàjï transmitted the hadlth according to which the Prophet wrote (kataba) on the day of Hudaybiyya (hadlth al-muqâdàt), and openly maintained that the Prophet did so, despite his being illiterate (umml).Al-Bàjî encountered the hostility of an ascetic preacher who ^^ See Ibn 'Ayyash's biography in Ibn al-Abbar (d. 658/1260), al-Takmila li-kitab al-Sila, ed. 'I. al-'Attar al-Husaym, Cairo, 1956, n.° 1408;al-Marrâkushî, Dhayl, VI, n.°   wanted to stress the illiteracy of the Prophet as a way of enhacing the miraculous nature of the Qur'an.That hostiUty did not lead to al-Bâjï being placed on trial, but he was pubUcly accused by the preacher of infidelity (kufr), heresy (zandaqa) and of introducing innovations (tabdV).Al-Bâjï defended his doctrine of the hadïth of Hudaybiyya by writing a detailed exposé of his position and by obtaining the written support from other scholars.^^ We have seen already how the refutation of a certain doctrine gave often rise to the writing of counterrefutations.
Dissimulation or taqiyya.It was said of the Hammüdid caliph Qàsim b.Hammüd that he was Shî'ite, but concealed it.^^ Dissimulation was adopted mainly by the falàsifa, not only to escape persecution, but for the welfare of mankind, according to the following argument: reason may be universal, but not all men are able to grasp rational thinking.Tht falàsifa tended to assume a prudent, discreet posture in the societies where they lived.Ibn Tufayl (d.581/1185) stated that those who searched the troth with the only aid of reason were scarce in al~Andalus and that they talked about their results only in allegorical form, in order to avoid problems with the upholders of rehgious law.^^ Ibn Tumlüs (d. 620/1223) manifested himself favourable to dissimulation, praising al-Ghazâlî for having altered the technical terms of logic and having disguised them with terms usual among the jurists in order to avoid persecution, as had happened to al-Fâràbï.^^ Averroes described the difficult position of the philosophers in non philosophical societies ^^ and wrote his famous treatise on the compatibility between religion and philosophy ^^.Kraemer has shown that apparent deviants like the Mu'tazilî or the falàsifa were not persecuted as such, because although they upheld the supremacy of reason over revelation, they expounded a system which retained the revealed law of Islam intact.Kraemer describes them like the dhimmîs of the Islamic state, a tolerated minority, who remained relatively free from harm provided they maintained a low profile and did not openly attempt to convert others to their views.^^ M. FIERRO AQ.XXII, 2001 As regards accusations that led to trial, the strategies for avoiding punishment and for being re-incorporated into the community of believers were: to go into hiding or leave the country and wait for better times, to challenge the witnesses of the prosecution, to repent, to be pardoned by the ruler.
Hiding.The fact that trials for zandaqa had much to do with struggles between factions of scholars, meant that the passage of time could change the balance of force.Thus, going into hiding, as Baqî b.Makhlad, Ibn Hatim al-Tulaytulï, the philosopher al-Dhahabï and others did, not only served momentarily to save their life (although not always in a permanent manner), but also allowed them time to wait for a reversal of the situation.^"^ The issue of the permissibility of giving shelter to an accused of heresy {ilhàd, zandaqa) was discussed by the jurists in the case of Ibn Hâtim, and they forbade giving a heretic refuge, on the grounds of Qur'an 58:22 and a tradition in which the Prophet is reported to have said: «Madina is sacred.Whoever introduces into it an innovation or shelters an innovator, upon him be the curse of God, the angels and the people all together».^^ Both texts make it clear that whoever helped a heretic would be doing something unlawful and therefore subject to punishment.Ibn Hâtim had found refuge with the king of Badajoz, but when Ibn Labid al-Murábit arrived there with documents where such an action was deemed to be unlawful, the king disavowed any responsability for Ibn Hâtim.Ibn Bâjja's pupil 'All b.Jüdi (d.530/1135), also considered a heretic and persecuted, had to escape and took refuge with bandits.^^ Abu Bakr b.Sârim al-Ishbïlî was also persecuted for zandaqa: fearing the death penalty, he decided to escape to the East, but died tragically in the burning of the house where he had taken refuge.^^ Another scholar involved in philosophical studies, Sa'id b.Fathün al-Saraqustï, left al-Andalus never to return.^^ Challenging the witnesses {i'dhâr).This legal possibility was usually denied by some of the jurists involved in trials of heresy, and even if granted, as in the case of Ibn Hâtim, it revealed itself to be unsuccesful in freeing the accused.In Ibn Hâtim's trial, all the jurists consulted agreed that he should be granted the option of challenging the witnesses for the prosecution (al-i'dhar), on the understanding that if he could produce convincing evidence against them.then the death penalty would be dismissed.In spite of the granting of i'dhâr, Ibn Hâtim must not have felt safe, because he escaped from Toledo.Later on, other jurists consulted in his case were of the opinion that the / 'dhâr should not be granted on two grounds: that the Vdhàr weakens the testimony of a witness whose probity has been certified beforehand, and that a precedent had been established in a former case, that of Abu 1-Khayr, ^^ when the Umayyad caliph had supported the faction that was against granting the Vdhàr to him.Other jurists, however, like Ibn Sahl, insisted that Màlikî doctrine was in favour of every accused having the right to challenge his accusers on account of the possibility of enmity existing between them.Ibn Hatim was finally granted the / 'dhàr and given two months to challenge the testimonies against him.But he was by then in Cordoba, whereas the trial against him had taken place in Toledo.
After the two months granted for the Vdhàr had passed, Ibn Hâtim was considered not to have been able to challenge the witnesses and was crucified (pierced to death on the cross with lances).^^ Witnesses were essential for the trial to take place.When al-Yuhânisî informed the governor of Málaga of the behaviour of the false prophet al-Fazari, the governor told him: «Two witnesses against him would be enough evidence to sentence him to death by decapitation».^^^ In some cases there was no need for witnesses, as «heretical» books were considered to be enough evidence.Al-Bunnâhî (d.792/1390) wrote: «If some written material, dealing with philosophical matters, which are contrary to the sharVah is found in someone's hand-writing, the practice is to examine the writing.If it is clear that it is in his hand-writing and that it is written as his opinion or implies his agreement to that matter the case will be decided against him, even if he denies verbally and even if it is a quotation from a book of philosophy... Who could be worse than the person who possesses such books.Such books must be burnt and such persons must be punished.»'°^ ^^ See Fierro,Heterodoxia, The trial could lead to a proclamation of innocence of the accused, as was the case with al-Talamanki: the qàdi of Saragossa rejected the accusations against him and produced a certificate attesting his innocence.^^^ The accused and those jurists who were against capital punishment could also insist that the case was ambiguous and, therefore, that someone who was not a küfir could be condemned as such.This was argued in the case of the alleged blasphemer Hârûn b.Habib, who escaped the death penalty and had to suffer only prison and ta'zir.^^ What is clear from the trials on which we have data, is that even if the jurists involved belonged all of them to the same school, there was always discrepancy among them and there was always someone who was in favour of acquitting or exculpating the accused.
The false prophet al-Fazârî alleged that his followers attributed things to him and spread them around, and that those things were not true.Al-Yuhânisï commented that al-FazM should have left his followers, especially if he were innocent.^^"^ Istitàba.The accused could regain his freedom by accepting the possibility of repentance and showing it.However, that did not ensure anything: the nephew of 'Ajab, accused of blasphemy, stated his belief in God, but nevertheless was executed.^^^ Documents of recantation of apostates and unbelievers have been preserved.*^^ One of those documents refers to the case of a person who left Islam either for Judaism or Christianity because a humiliation that humiliated him or for an anger that angered him, he escaped from himself and threw away Islam behind his back... and proclaimed his infidelity and made it public.Afterwards, the magistrate such and such contacted and fetched him, informing him of what he had entered into and explaining to him the ugUness of what he had done and what felony he had perpetrated against himself.The magistrate reminded him of Islam and the merit (fadila) of his religion and the religion of his fathers and exhorted him to return to it and to cling to it.God reconciled him to his good direction and inspired him towards taking the exalted line of the salvation of his soul from the punishment of God.[The apostate] returned to the religion of Islam and entered it, confessing to God with M. FIERRO AQ.XXII, 2001 In the case of a scholar accused of heresy, the inclusion of his name in a biographical dictionary without mentioning any accusation or deviation could be taken as evidence that his memory was vindicated: this is the case of Süfís like Ibn al-'Añf or Ibn Barrajan.^^^ Muslim biographical dictionaries of scholars and others might show a tendency towards inclusion more than towards exclusion.*^^ The doctrine considered «heretical» could be described but without giving the name of its holder ^^"^ If the accusation were mentioned, the words or deeds that led to it could be explained away as being those of an ignorant or drunk person, ^^^ of someone who was just joking (case of the blasphemy pronounced by the nephew of 'Ajab), ^^^ of someone angered or infimated (case of the young Muslims who apostasized in Sicily) ^^^ or of a mad person.^^^ During the 5th/11th century there was in al-Andalus a current of religious scepticism and relativism that led to the doctrine of the «equivalence of proofs» {takàfu ' al-adilla), according to which there was no way to prove the existence of God and of prophecy, or to prove which, if any, religion contained the truth.The Jewish doctor Ibn al-Qarrad, when invited by Ibn Hazm to convert.
""^ See Ibn Rushd al-Jadd, Bay an, XVI, 406 where the name of someone holding a suspected view in the issue of God's attributes, is not mentioned.Hallaq has pointed that «the practice of omitting names was of particular significance and had an important function, for th&fatwà was not merely an ephemeral legal opinion produced for a specific occasion or purpose but was also an authoritative statement of the law considered to transcend the individual case and its mundane reality» {Authority, continuity and change in Islamic law, 176).However, some Andalusî/aiâwâ on heresy and blasphemy preserve the name of the accused, which might be an attempt to avoid transcending the individual case.
" ' ^^ The connection between heresy and madness has been briefly explored by Dois, M. W., Majnün: the madman in Medieval Islamic Society, Oxford, 1992, 412-3, 450-1 and Capezzone, L., «La ftinzione iconica della malattia nella rappresentazione islámica dell' erético», Annali di Ca ' Foscari XKKVI'i (1996), 425-32.Persecution could engender madness as happened in the case of answered that to change religion was a mockery (al-intiqalfl l-milal tala'ub).^^^ One of the effects of his scepticism can be seen in the following case: when Toledo was conquered by the Christians, a Muslim scholar converted to Christianity saying that the God of both religions was the same and therefore he had no qualms about his conversion or apostasy.For religious sceptics or relativists, religious differences were of no importance.^^^ Finally, the followers of a new doctrine would feel that there was no need for them to try not to be excluded from a community to which they felt no longer belonging.This must have been the case with the followers of the Süfí Ibn Qasî, who called themselves ghurabà', «strangers», making reference to the hadlth that says «Islam started by being stranger and it will again be stranger» {bada 'a l'islam gharîban wa-sa-ya'üd ghariban kamà bada'a).Many are the interpretations of this hadîth, but one of them could be that, in the same way that at the beginning Muslims were considered to be strangers, so renewal must come from people who will be considered «strangers» or deviants by their contemporaries, althought they are the true Muslims.^^^ CONCLUSIONS Persecution and suppression of heresy took place through a number of practices that can be best described as «diffuse» or «informal», as M. Chamberlain has shown.' ^^ Labels of heresy conveyed the idea of impurity; heretics were not only non Muslims, but they were even becoming like Jews and Christians.There were mechanisms of social and religious exclusion related to the fields of prayer, funeral practices, inheritance, marriage.Loss of probity barred the access to become witness, a position of authority and prestige in the community, those who set ethical and social standards, and rank among the urban hierarchy.Scholarly life revolved mainly around meetings and debates: the company of heretics was avoided, refusing to engage in discussions with them; if debate took place, those victorious were those who could claim to be M. FIERRO AQ.XXII, 2001 «orthodox» and their victory was recorded for posterity.Criticism and rejection of heretical words and deeds were recorded in different kinds of works, including legal opinions (fatâwâ), usually advocating the death penalty: regardless of whether they ever acted upon (and it happened very rarely), their mere existence contributed to create fear and to establish disapproval and repugnance.Books were burnt at a time when writing a book was a long and expensive endeavour and when few copies of a work were in circulation.Even if, as Ibn Hazm pointed, the burning of a book did not bum the memory of its writer, the writer would eventually die and with him his memory.Heretical doctrines, even if the books that contained them were burnt, could be preserved in the refutations written of them.The advantage of this kind of preservation of heretical doctrines is that they could reappear and, at least, their refutation will then be available to future scholars.Special treatises against innovations, mainly in the field of ritual practices, were written as repositories of what had to be avoided.But there were also stronger measures.The voluntary or officiai miihtasib may act publicly against the heretic, starting a more specialized procedure ending up in trial.Witnesses made accusations of zandaqa signing special documents.The qadi proceeded to bring the accused to trial.^^^ In case the latter was granted the possibility of repentance, a special document was ready for him to sign.In case he was not granted it, he still could try the possibility of challenging the witnesses for the prosecution.While in prison, he could be subject to physical punishment.If execution was sentenced, it was public and involved being crucified alive and then pierced to death in the cross.Exile was another possible punishment which had the advantage that it might be followed by pardon and rehabilitation.
M. Chamberlain has insisted on the fact that in Islam there was no sovereign or autonomous body capable of planning and carrying out long-term ideological strategies and there is no evidence of state or corporate bodies with jurisdiction over heresy.In Mamlùk Damascus: As there were no specialized agencies for determining truth from error, there were no specialized procedures such as trials or inquisitions.The form the identification and suppression of error took was usually the debate, in which a powerful amir or a group of scholars invited the object of their suspicion to debate *-^ The qadi did not act preventively, as did the pohce officer (sahib al-shurta) and he was not entitled to pursue a case ex officio without the necessary legal evidence or personal knowledge: see Millier, Ch., «Judging with God's law on earth: judicial powers of the qadi l-jama'a of Córdoba in the fifth/eleventh century», Islamic Law and Society 1 (2000), 159-186, 166 and 163.
(c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.eswith a shaykh in an audience before the a'yân.This crossing of the procedures of the trial before a qâdî with the debate among scholars raised inevitable ambiguities...Although many involved in such events were qàdïs, the «suppression» of heresy did not take the form of an official trial...When we tncomxitx fatwas and debates dealing with the struggle to define truth, these were objects and instruments of political competition and not formal mechanisms or procedures.When the ruler or governor took part in these struggles, it was usually at the instigation of an outside group; and in any case his interest was usually in maintaining a balance between social peace and the satisfaction of the scholarly factions that supported him... ^^"^ The Andalusî material, however, shows the existence of official trials in cases of accusations of heresy.It is true that of all the accusations of heresy recorded, formal trials took place in few cases during the existence of Andalusî Muslim society.In those cases, the accusation of zandaqa was closely connected to political strife.Because of that, it is difficult to establish to what extent the accused were truly «heretics», that is, whether the accusations made against them were forged in order to get rid of political opponents who had no deviant religious doctrine (this seems to have been the case of Ibn Hitim).The cases of Abu 1-Khayr and Ibn Hâtim show that suppression of heresy could take the form of an official trial, with formal procedures and documents.Abu l-Khayr's trial constituted a precedent that was refered to in Ibn Hátim's regarding the granting of a legal procedure (i'dhâr).
There is no clear evidence for the presence in al-Andalus of heretics «grand style» such as Ibn al-Râwandï, that is, enemies of the Islamic creed.^^^ There were, of course, rationalists who in many cases were not persecuted at all, ^^^ probably because they were not anti-religious.As Kraemer has shown, there are some circumstances wherein radical views can be propounded with impunity, but they might also arise the repressive apparatus of the state to action; active pursuit and suppression of zanàdiqa was often contemporaneous with heightened activity of heretical revolutionary movements.^^^ In al-Andalus, persecution of heretics and blasphemers was historically associated with the threat of the Fatimids, with Christian military success and with the fear of extreme Sufism.

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Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.esAQ.XXII, 2001 RELIGIOUS DISSENSION IN AL-ANDALUS 473 Sa'îd al-Ballûtï wrote a book of radd against sectarians and innovators (lost), ^^ SO did Ibn Hazm and Abu Bakr b. al-'ArabL ^^ The latter, Mâlikî-Ash'arï, refuted the doctrines of the Zàhirï Ibn Hazm.^^ In fact, the refutation of IbnHazm's or Zâhirï doctrines seems to have been a common occupation of Andalusî scholars.^^ Refutations of philosophy were written at the time of the trial of Ibn Rushd and the persecution of philosophers.^^ The refutations could produce counter-refutations, as shown in the case of the well known refutation of philosophy by al-Ghazâlï and its refutation by Averroes.^^ The same could happen regarding specific practices, as in the case of the invocation after prayer, studied by M. Kh.Masud.Al-Shâtibî opposed it.From a letter written by al-Shâtibî to one of his followers, it appears that an imam who rejected this practice in favour of al-Shàtibï's position was deposed from imâma and was denied all other privileges and put on trial.Refutations were written against al-Shâtibî by his contemporaries al-Bunnâhî(Mas 'alat al-du 'à ' ba 'd al-salât)  and Abu Sa'id b.Lubb (Mas'alat al-ad'iya ithr al-salat).Al-Shatibfs disciple Abu Yahyá b. 'Àsim (d.813/1410) wrote a treatise refuting Ibn Lubb and supporting al-Shâtibï.Muhammad al-Fishtàli, qàdi in Fez, wrote a refutation of Ibn'Àsim,  supporting Ibn Lubb (Kalâmfl l-du'à' ba'dal-salât 'ala al-hay'a al-ma'hüda).