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Andalusi exceptionalism: the example

of “Philosophical Sufism” and the
significance of 1212
a
Anna Akasoy
a
University of Bochum , Germany
Published online: 11 May 2012.

To cite this article: Anna Akasoy (2012) Andalusi exceptionalism: the example of “Philosophical
Sufism” and the significance of 1212, Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 4:1, 113-117, DOI:
10.1080/17546559.2012.677197

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 Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies
Vol. 4, No. 1, March 2012, 113–117

Andalusi exceptionalism: the example of “Philosophical Sufism” and the

significance of 1212
Anna Akasoy*

University of Bochum, Germany

Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:02 31 August 2015

In both medieval and modern times, al-Andalus was often seen as distinctive or even
exceptional within the Islamic world and within Islamic history. Among its distinctive
features figure the almost uniform Malikism and the long-lasting support for the Umayyad
cause. Others are associated with the end of Muslim rule over al-Andalus. In this context,
1212 can be seen as a prelude to the iconic event, 1492. The defeat of the Almohads can
also be considered responsible for other distinctive features of Andalusi culture. Another
phenomenon mostly associated with Andalusis is the “intellectual” or “philosophical”
Sufism of Ibn ʿArabī (1165–1240), Ibn Sabʿīn (1217–70), al-Shushtarī (1212–69) and ʿAfīf
al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī (1213–91), most of whom emigrated from al-Andalus to the East. It
remains unclear to what extent this branch of Sufism existed in al-Andalus before the
Almohad period, not least because the works of these Sufis do not lend themselves to a
reconstruction of a coherent doctrine which combines elements of philosophy and of
mysticism. In fact, the phenomenon of “philosophical Sufism” may be a creation of Eastern
responses to these Sufis. The exodus of Andalusi Sufis to the Mashriq in the aftermath of
1212, in particular following the Christian conquests of cities in the 1230s and 1240s, may
thus have led to the development of an intellectual and religious phenomenon that is
considered characteristic of al-Andalus.
Keywords: Sufism; philosophy; Andalusi exile; Ibn ʿArabī; Ibn Taymiyya; Andalusi
exceptionalism; Andalusi marginality; Las Navas de Tolosa

Scholars of the Islamic world regularly debate the question what holds this world together, trying
to establish unity in a vast and diverse geographical area. Likewise, they sometimes enquire
which features distinguished the individual regions within this sphere. Historians of al-Andalus
address this issue frequently, albeit rarely in a systematic and comprehensive manner. Arguments
in favour not only of a distinctive character of Muslim Spain, but of an Andalusi exceptionalism
within the Islamic world can be easily found.1 Most notably, al-Andalus is the only major land-
mass which was conquered by Muslims within the first century of Islamic history but did not
remain under Muslim rule. To Gil Anidjar this loss marks an essential feature of the meaning
of al-Andalus in the modern world. 1212 could be seen as a prelude to 1492, a defining
moment for the exceptional phenomenon of Muslim Spain as it is conjured up in our time.
To Muslim contemporaries of the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, it may not have been obvious
that territorial losses would mark such a distinctiveness of al-Andalus. Not least, in about the same
period, lands were also lost to Mongols and Crusaders. Unlike the Holy Land and Iran, however,

*Email: akasoy@gmx.net
1
For further Andalusi peculiarities see Aguadé, “Some Remarks.”

ISSN 1754-6559 print/ISSN 1754-6567 online

© 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17546559.2012.677197
http://www.tandfonline.com
 114 A. Akasoy

we find testimonies to a sense of vulnerability of the region and its people throughout the history
of al-Andalus. This perception of precariousness partly arose from its geographical marginality.
The Andalusi scholar Ibn H.abīb (c. 796–853), for example, encouraged jihad even under bad
Muslim leaders so that the “extreme parts” of the Islamic world were defended.2 Rooted in the
conquest period, this anxiety persisted in the following centuries and was repeatedly confirmed
by political events. Thus, when in 1085 Toledo – “the centre of al-Andalus” for S.āʾid al-Andalusī
(1029–70)3 – was conquered by Christian armies and Andalusis wrote about the weakness of their
land, they combined the old topic with renewed worries. Against the background of such conti-
nuity in self-perception and literary representation, 1212 seems to be only another manifestation
of the tragic destiny of Muslim Spain: perhaps a turning point within the Almohad period, but
much less exceptional if the military history of al-Andalus was one of repeated defeats.
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Yet in 1212 it was probably not evident that, as an almost unique case in Islamic history, al-
Andalus as such would come to an end. Nor did medieval Muslims put much stress on that aspect
of medieval Iberia which constitutes its exceptionalism in the modern world, namely the inter-
religious makeup of its society. To Muslims of thirteenth-century Egypt or Iraq, the presence
of Christians and Jews would not have been extraordinary. Furthermore, Muslims in Syria, for
example, would have been familiar with the presence of these religious groups and with being
a neighbour of a Christian empire. It is hardly surprising that we assess the significance of
1212 in different terms than contemporary Muslims would have done. We look at the battle
with hindsight and from a European perspective where religious heterogeneity is less usual
than in a Middle Eastern context.
How exceptional did medieval al-Andalus seem to contemporary Muslims in the Mashriq?
Easterners depended for their knowledge of things Andalusi to a certain extent on literature
(such as geographical treatises) which presented a picture of marginality that complemented
the political vulnerability. As another relic from the conquest period, al-Andalus appeared as a
land of wonders and riches. In addition to that, Westerners who travelled to the East were able
to provide much more up-to-date information. Easterners probably knew of two other features
of Andalusi society which modern historians sometimes highlight as peculiar to the country,
namely the long-lasting support for the Umayyad cause and, connected with it, the almost
uniform Mālikism. Andalusis had always travelled to the East to perform the pilgrimage, in
search of knowledge, to trade, on diplomatic missions and for other reasons. Biographical diction-
aries suggest that travels to the East were very common for Andalusi scholars in the tenth century,
but it is assumed that this rih.la became less frequent in the twelfth century. It is impossible to tell
how it would have developed if the Almohad armies had won the battle in 1212 and managed to
re-establish their empire, but the defeat in all likelihood led to an increase in the number of tra-
vellers and emigrants. There were those who decided they could not live under non-Muslim rule,
and, as Manuela Marín has pointed out, scholars sometimes learned while away in search of
knowledge that their home city was conquered by Christians and subsequently did not return.4
It is difficult to tell precisely what the impact of 1212 was on these emigrations. Did Andalusis
already decide in the aftermath of the battle that the time was going to come sooner rather than
later when Christian armies would also conquer their homes? More obviously, the ensuing Chris-
tian conquest of Andalusi cities – Cordoba in 1236, Murcia in 1243, Seville in 1248 – had a criti-
cal impact. In addition to that, the rebellions in the Levant of al-Andalus, in particular Murcia and
Valencia, between 1228 and 1238 must already have led to a deterioration of living conditions.

2
Arcas Campoy, “El criterio de Ibn Habīb,” 923.
3
al-Andalusī, Science in the Medieval World, 59.
4
Marín, “Des migrations forces.”
 Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies 115

We have evidence that social conflicts between Andalusi emigrants and the local population in
North Africa increased towards the middle of the thirteenth century, but I leave it to others to
decide how much weight to attribute to Las Navas de Tolosa in this context.
Andalusi travellers and emigrants brought their own traditions with them: the way they spoke
Arabic, their dress and manner, their poetry and music, their religious doctrines and practices. If the
displacements were significant, the resulting encounters offered new and expanded opportunities
for Easterners to learn about a culture to which they previously had less exposure. In particular, the
decades during which Almohad rule disintegrated witnessed a peak of what seems to have been a
distinctive form of Western Sufism. Variously referred to as “intellectual,” “theoretical” or “philo-
sophical” Sufism, this trend is mostly associated with Ibn ʿArabī (1165–1240), Ibn Sabʿīn (c. 1217–
70), al-Shushtarī (1212–69) and ʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī (1213–91).5 All these men settled in the
East and remained there. Except for ʿAfīf al-Dīn, who was a North African, they moved to the East
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at a time that their Andalusi home cities were under threat or conquered by Christians.
In the East, this kind of Sufism attracted both followers and critics who sometimes met in
heated encounters. An incident in the year 1308 exemplifies this. The scholar Ibn Taymiyya
(1263–1328), an opponent of Ibn ʿArabī’s ideas, had just left the citadel of Cairo, where he
had been voluntarily imprisoned, and followers of the Sufi soon protested against him. In the fol-
lowing year, a similar confrontation took place in Alexandria. It is possible that a significant pro-
portion of these Sufis came from the West, as Henri Laoust has suggested.6 Alexandria harboured
a large community of Western emigrants and it may also have been here that Ibn Taymiyya heard
about the doctrines of the Almohad mahdi Ibn Tūmart which he condemned in a fatwa. We can
only suspect that Western travellers and emigrants had introduced this ideology into the East and
that it was from such men too that Easterners learned about the philosophy of Ibn Rushd which
Ibn Taymiyya discussed in his Darʾ taʿārud. al-ʿaql wa’l-naql (Averting the Conflict between
Reason and [Religious] Tradition). A criticism that Ibn Taymiyya directs against the Sufis
around Ibn ʿArabī and Ibn Sabʿīn as well as against Ibn Tūmart concerns their use of philosophical
notions, more specifically ontological concepts derived from Ibn Sīnā’s thought.
Western emigrants in the Eastern Mediterranean offered a snapshot of learned culture under
Almohad rule. The resulting image of al-Andalus in the Mashriq may thus be described as a con-
sequence of the displacements of Andalusi scholars in the four decades or so following 1212.
What seems less clear, however, is to what extent these Western trends were (or, indeed,
should be) identified as peculiar to the Almohad period or rather as representative of a much
older tradition of al-Andalus. In other words, 1212 and the ensuing exodus may have been respon-
sible for the impression that a phenomenon of “philosophical Sufism” was peculiar to al-Andalus,
but identifying the phenomenon behind the conflicts in the East is a different matter.
The attempts of earlier scholars to identify the roots of “philosophical Sufism” have been
revised substantially. Most notably, in 1914, Miguel Asín Palacios famously presented the idea
of a “School of Almería,” an influential tradition of philosophical Sufism inspired by the
works of Ibn Masarra (883–931) and founded by Ibn al-ʿArīf (1088–1141).7 According to the
Spanish scholar, this “school” opposed the destruction of al-Ghazālī’s works. During two cam-
paigns in 1109 and under Tāshufīn ibn ʿAlī (r. 1143–45), his Ih.yāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn was burned in
al-Andalus at the instigation of scholars.8 In more recent scholarship, Asín Palacios’s theory is
no longer accepted. The relationship between Ibn Masarra and Ibn al-ʿArīf seems less obvious

5
Akasoy, “What is Philosophical Sufism?”
6
Laoust, “Une fetwà.”
7
Asín Palacios, Abenmasarra.
8
Serrano Ruano, “Why Did the Scholars,” 137.
 116 A. Akasoy

now and the ideological connection between these two and al-Ghazālī’s mystical opus magnum
even less evident. A more convincing story remains a desideratum, although Sarah Stroumsa and
Sara Sviri have recently begun a promising re-examination of Ibn Masarra’s works.9 Even though
the idea of an Almería-based Sufi resistance movement in favour of al-Ghazālī is no longer
upheld, he is still believed to have had a significant impact among Andalusi scholars with mys-
tical, ascetic and – broadly speaking – “intellectual” tendencies. Kenneth Garden even credits him
with the rise of Western Sufism in the twelfth century.10
A fundamental difficulty in writing the history of “philosophical Sufism” lies in determining
not only where the phenomenon may have begun, but also what exactly it might have entailed. We
all know who the “philosophical Sufis” were, but we do not know which “philosophico-mystical”
ideas they may have shared. The Sufis who were the main targets of Ibn Taymiyya’s criticism
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combined philosophical and mystical elements in a great variety of ways. Indeed, the fact that
we consider them nowadays one movement is at least in part owed to their joint appearance in
their opponents’ polemical writings. It seems to be suspiciously frequently in situations of conflict
that the “philosophical Sufis” of al-Andalus become discernible. The case of the burning of Ih.yāʾ
ʿulūm al-dīn illustrates that the reasons behind the opposition against “philosophical Sufism” are
not always clear or owed to the combination of philosophy and Sufism. The hostility of the scho-
lars is frequently explained as a response to al-Ghazālī’s criticism of his fellow ʿulamāʾ for their
involvement in politics in the Ih.yāʾ, although the authority he assigned to Sufis and philosophical
elements in his Mad.nūn corpus may also have been crucial.11 “Philosophical Sufism” may thus be
a product of its critics. Given that the most eminent representatives of this branch of Sufism were
Andalusis who emigrated to the East, Eastern critics were particularly important for this
development.
As mentioned above, modern scholars have identified a number of distinctive features of
Andalusi culture. It is more difficult, however, to explain why these features developed in al-
Andalus rather or more than in other parts of the Islamic world. Although scholars have
largely abandoned the assumption of a liberal and cosmopolitan Andalusi zeitgeist, collective
mental dispositions are sometimes adduced as explanations for peculiarities of learned life in
al-Andalus. A particularly frequently cited feature is an Andalusi inferiority complex vis-à-vis
the East, which has been used for example to account for the phenomenon of “continuations”
of biographical dictionaries.12 Although plausible, such psychological interpretations are
highly speculative. Likewise, if our interest is the impact of 1212 on the mindset of Andalusi
scholars, our answers can only be very speculative. Did the impact resemble that of the
Mongol conquests? Did the defeat give scholars, as is frequently assumed for the East, a heigh-
tened sense of insecurity and increase their desire to look for certainty elsewhere? Did it prove
wrong a movement with an ambitious ideological agenda?
It is easier to appreciate infrastructural aspects of the significance of 1212 for the learned life
in al-Andalus. Thus, the defeat may be considered the beginning of the end of Almohad patronage
for philosophy in al-Andalus, although it probably continued in North Africa. In all likelihood the
loss of urban centres in the three decades following Las Navas de Tolosa and the ensuing displa-
cement of scholars were more significant. These migrations had a decisive impact on the image of
al-Andalus in the medieval Mashriq and ultimately today.

9
Stroumsa and Sviri, “The Beginnings.”
10
Garden, Al-Ghazālī’s Contested Revival.
11
For explanations for the burning see also Fierro, “Opposition to Sufism,” 184–97, and al-Akiti,
“The Good,” 90–1.
12
Al-Qād.ī, “Biographical Dictionaries.”
 Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies 117

Furthermore, while these scholars left a Western imprint on Eastern learned culture, they no
longer contributed to the intellectual output of the Iberian Peninsula. This disruption of learned
life which unfolded in the course of the first half of the thirteenth century had another important
consequence which is better characterized by the absence of certain features than by the presence
of distinctive aspects. Thus, by the thirteenth century, two important institutions had clearly estab-
lished themselves in the Mashriq: madrasas and Sufi brotherhoods (t.arīqas). Both are largely
absent from al-Andalus and it may be said that the defeat of 1212 and the subsequent loss of
urban space prevented that they ever spread in any meaningful way on the Iberian Peninsula.
The irreversible military and political decline following Las Navas de Tolosa may also explain
why a significant trend of Eastern philosophy never gained a foothold in al-Andalus, namely Avi-
cennism. It may also explain why what one might nowadays consider the great philosophical
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pride of Muslim Spain, Ibn Rushd, hardly made it beyond the Maghrib.
Thus, to summarize, while the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa may not have had an immediate
effect on intellectual life in al-Andalus, it opened the door to a series of further territorial losses
which did have an effect. The loss of urban space in particular led to the displacement of a critical
mass of scholars. Their emigration meant that a number of developments did not take place in
al-Andalus and they contributed to the image of Muslim Spain as it existed among medieval
Easterners and as it exists today.

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