3399399

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Judging with God's Law on Earth: Judicial Powers of the Q al-jama of Cordoba in theFifth/Eleventh Century Author(s): Christian Mller Source: Islamic Law and Society, Vol. 7, No. 2, Islamic Law in Al-Andalus (2000), pp. 159-186Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3399399Accessed: 01-03-2015 01:39 UTC

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JUDGING WITH GOD'S LAW ON EARTH: JUDICIAL POWERS OF THE QADi AL-JAMA'A OF CORDOBA

IN THE FIF H/ELEVENTH CENTURY*

CHRISTIAN MULLER

(Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin)

Abstract Court cases from al-Ahkdm al-kubrd, afatwC collection compiled by the Andalusian qddi Ibn Sahl (d. 486/1093), form the basis for this inquiry into the judicial authority of the qddi al-jamd'a. The article, which deals with both institutional and legal aspects of the office, demonstrates that adherence to procedural law during court procedure and consideration of the jurisconsults' legal opinions were required to produce a judgment that was binding but potentially reversible. The possible influence of Malikifiqh on the range of qdti jurisdiction in Cordoba is tested on a sample of fifty cases that originated in the period between 456/1064 and 464/1072. These cases are noteworthy for their reliability as source material and because they were handled not only by the qddi al-jamd'a but also by other judicial magistrates.

Know that the qadiship is the most powerful and the most venerable office. The qd4. is the key element of judgment (maddr al-ahkldm) and he is responsible for all aspects of qa.dd'-no matter how large or small, without limitation.1

IN THIS EXCERPT FROM HIS RENOWNED WORK on qadiship and judgment, Tabsirat al-hukkdm, the Maliki jurist Ibn Farhun (d. 799/1397) quotes the Andalusian qadd Ibn Sahl (d. 486/1093) and his fatwa collection al-Ahkdm al-kubrd2 on the wide-ranging authority of the

* This article is the revised version of a paper presented to the II Joseph Schacht Conference on Theory and Practice of Islamic Law, Granada 1997. It draws on my Gerichtspraxis im Stadtstaat C6rdoba. Zum Recht der Gesellschaft in einer mdlikitisch-islamischen Rechtstradition des 5./11. Jahrhunderts (Leiden, 1999). I wish to thank Christa Salamandra for her help in editing the conference version, David Powers for his valuable comments on later drafts of the article, and, last but not least, the anonymous readers for their suggestions.

1 Text: I'lam anna khuttata l-qadd'i a'zamu l-khutati qadran wa ajalluhd khataran wa 'ald l-qddi madaru l-ahkdmi wa ilayhi n-nazaru fi jami'i wujihi l- qa.da'i min al-qalili wa'l-kathiri bi-la tahdidin, Ibn Farhun, Tabsirat al-hukkdm fi usul al-aqdiya wa mandhij al-ahkdm, ed. Taha 'Abd al-Ra'uf Sa'd, 2 vols. (Cairo, n.d.), vol. I, 93.

2 Ed. R. Nu'aymi, An Edition of Diwdn Al-Ahkdm al-Kubrd by 'Isd b. Sahl (D.486 A.H./1093 A.D.). Unpublished Ph.D.Thesis, St. Andrews 1978 (hereinafter "Ahkdm"), which I use with the kind permission of the faculty. I had no access to

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CHRISTIAN MjLLER

qddi. Ibn Farhin reflects the view of later Maliki jurists on how the office of the qadi was conceived,3 although his representation of the position held by Ibn Sahl is problematic.4

The present article analyzes the q.d['s jurisdiction during Ibn Sahl's lifetime on the basis of several dozen court cases transmitted in legal literature. This case study focuses on Cordoba, the former Umayyad capital of al-Andalus, which had a long scholarly tradition in Maliki legal interpretation (fiqh). It investigates how the q.df's role as judge was defined by legal norms and judicial practice. The decisive question in legal terms is whether and how the Cordovan qd.di al-jarn'a applied the sacred law of Islam.5 After an introduction to the sources, I will discuss the office of the q.di al-jamd'a, its major fields of jurisdiction and its relation to the other judges of Cordoba.

Sources Ibn Sahl's al-Ahkdm al-kubrd,6 which contains more than 600 legal cases dating from the third/ninth to the fifth/eleventh century, covers

the unpublished edition of the Ahkdm al-kubrd by N. Najjar (Madrid 1974). Several partial editions prepared by Muhammad 'Abd al-Wahhab Khallaf are sometimes more precise than Nu'aymi's; but they do not cover the entire work and they quote each case out of context.

3 On the qddi office in general, the standard work is Tyan, Histoire de l'organisation judiciare en pays d'lslam (Leiden, 1960), 100-429. 4 Ibn Farhufn's statement is composed of different quotations pieced together without regard for their context. He took the invocation "know that" (i'lam anna) from Ibn Sahl's initial enumeration of six different judicial offices (Ahkdm, 6) and connected it to the latter's statement on the qddi's authority. In this excerpt, Ibn Farhun omitted Ibn Sahl's assertion that the qddi's authority was increased by the addition of Friday-prayer leadership (sahib al-saldh) (ibid., 7). The assertion that qddt jurisdiction applies to claims of any amount (min al-qalll wa'l-kathir bi-ld tahdid) did not originate with Ibn Sahl, but was part of a legal response to a case from the turn of the fourth/tenth century (ibid., 10). 5 This question, thought to be decided negatively by Schacht once and for all, cp. Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (5th ed., Oxford, 1982), 76-85, has recently been reopened for discussion, see, for example, Wael Hallaq, "Model Shurut Works and the Dialectic of Doctrine and Practice", Islamic Law and Society 2 (1995), 109-34, esp. 109-12; on the link between judicial system and legal norms, see Baber Johansen, "Wahrheit und Geltungsanspruch: zur Begriindung und Begrenzung der Autoritat des Qadi-Urteils im islamischen Recht", La giustizia nell'alto medioevo II (secoli IX-XI). Quarantaquattresima Settimana di studio: Spoleto 11-17 aprile 1996 (Spoleto 1997), 975-1065. 6 "Al-Ahkam al-kubrd" is the title most commonly used by contemporary scholars. For the title of this treatise in the Arabic biographical literature, see M. Khallaf, "Makht.ut 'Nawazil Ibn Sahl al-Asadi al-Andalusi' suira li-l waqi' al- ijtima'i wa-l-iqtisadi fi'l-Andalus fi'l-qarnayn al-rabi' wa-l-khamis al-hijri al-'ashir wa-l-hadi 'ashar al-miladi", Majallat Ma'had al-Makhtutat al-'arabiyya, 26 (1983), 735-44, esp. 735.

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many aspects of judicial practice in Cordoba. Unlike other collections of legal responsa, Ibn Sahl transmitted the legal proceedings that led to the issuance of fatwas, in addition to the fatwas themselves. His declared intention was to teach students how to issue afatwa for court and to give them practical examples of fatwd-giving.7 Providing a careful transmission of all important judicial facts, al-Ahkdm al-kubrd served as a textbook for the technical training of judges and jurisconsults.8

In this collection, Ibn Sahl provides a detailed description of some fifty court cases that were heard in Cordoba between the years 456/1064 and 464/1072. These eleventh-century cases stand out for the richness of historical detail and the vividness of the legal discussions contained therein. It would be hard to explain this specific material as the theoretical reasoning of some jurists trying to develop the legal matter of their time. Ibn Sahl not only lived at the time that the events took place, but also participated in most of the lawsuits as a scribe or jurisconsult. A considerable proportion of these cases were dealt with by judicial magistrates (hukkdm, sing. hakim), appointed officials in the service of the ruler. Of the fifty cases considered here, thirteen were heard exclusively by one or two qadls, twenty-three by a market inspector (sahib al-shurta wa'l-suq), and three by the town inspector (sahib al-madina). Two cases dealt with by the q.dil were later resumed for different reasons by the market inspector; and in one other case, the opposite occurred. The judge of complaints (sahib al-mazalim) took up one case of a qcdl, and, in another case, a qddl was called in to confirm a judgment by the sahib al-mazalim. One case heard by the market inspector was resumed by the sahib al-mazalim; in four cases involving the sahib al-mazalim no other judges are named. This leaves only one case to the administrator of endowments (.sahib al-ahbds).

This detailed sample of cases sheds light on the qddl's jurisdiction as it relates to other judicial magistrates. The selection of eleventh- century cases for inclusion in al-Ahkdm al-kubrd was obviously due to a personal link with Ibn Sahl rather than to systematic legal considera- tions. The cases collected from the third/ninth and fourth/tenth century by Ibn Sahl are mostly abridgements of court cases decided by the qi.di al-jama'a Ahmad Ibn Ziyad (d. 312/924)9 and the qddl al-jamd'a

7 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 2. 8 Ibn Bashkuwal, Kitdb al-Sila (Cairo, 1966), no. 942, cf. Khallaf, Makhtut, 740.

9 M.Muranyi, "Das Kitdb Ahkdm Ibn Ziydd. Uber die Identifizierung eines Fragments in Qairawan (Qairawdner Miszellaneen V.)", Zeitschrift der Deutschen

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Muhammad Ibn Zarb (d. 381/991).10 These earlier cases can be used to contextualize our understanding of the range of the qa.di's jurisdiction. Cases of non-qadi magistrates, however, are not transmitted for that early period, 1 a fact that renders any direct comparison between the jurisdiction of different magistrates impossible.

The office of the qddi-institutional aspects From the time of the Umayyad emirs and caliphs, the qadi of Cordoba was called qadi al-jamd'a. Appointed and dismissed directly by the ruler, the Cordovan qddi stood in the stream of an Islamic moral-legal tradition that was several centuries old.12 When the qadi al-jama'a Ibn al-Saffar, appointed by the last Umayyad caliph, died in 429/1038, his successors were no longer called qddi al-jamt'a, a title associated with the now defunct Umayyad dynasty.13 Beginning in 448/1056, however, the ruling Banfi Jahwar revived the old title, displaying their sovereign powers at a time when other quddt al-jama'a (or variants of this title) were invested in several capitals of the ta'ifa-kings.14

Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft, 148 (1998), 241-60. On Ahmad Ibn Ziyad, see also M. Fierro, "Tres familias andalusi6s de 6poca omeya apodadas Banf Ziyad", Estudios onomistico-biogrificos de al-Andalus V, ed. M. Marnn and J. Zan6n (Madrid 1992), 85-142; Khushani, Kitab al-quddh bi-Qurtuba, ed. Ibrahim al- Abyari (Cairo/Beirut, 1982), 204-11, Qadi 'Iyid, Tartib al-maddrik, ed. M. al- Tanji et al., 8 vols. (Rabat, 1965-83), vol. V, 189, Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rlkh 'ulamd' al-Andalus (Cairo: al-Dir al-misriyya 1966), no. 81, Ibn Sa'id, al-Mughrib fi hul al-Maghrib, ed. Sh. Dayf, 2 vols. (2nd ed., Cairo, 1953-55, 1964), vol. I, 155, no. 97.

10 Qadi 'Iyad, Tartib, VII, 114-18, Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rikh, no. 1363, Humaydi, Jadhwat al-Muqtabis, (Cairo: al-Dar al-misriyya 1966), no. 170, Nubahi, K. al- Marqaba al-'ulyd (Beirut: Maktabat al-tijari li'l-tiba'a wa'l-tawzi' wa'l-nashar, n.d.), 77-81, Ibn Sa'id, Mughrib, I, 214, no. 143.

1 Outside the period between 456/1064 and 464/1072, only five cases heard by the market inspector were transmitted; see Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 286-87 and 318-19, 471-73, 473-82, 593-95 and 1032-35 (for the latter case cf. Marin, "Law and Piety: A Cordovan fatwa", British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Bulletin, 17 [1990], 129-36), however, the judge who investigated the tenth-century heretic Abu'l-Khayr was a market inspector and qadi of Ecija, Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 1157-60. 12 Biographies of Cordovan qddis are included in biographical dictionaries of religious scholars, such as the Ta'rikh 'ulamd' al-Andalus of Ibn al-Faradi, al-Sila of Ibn Bashkuwal or Tartib al-maddrik of Qadi 'Iyad. Biographical data on Cordovan qddis are collected in Khallaf, Ta'rikh al-qadi' fi'l-Andalus min al-fath al-isldmi ild nihdyat al-qarn al-khdmis al-hijrl (al-hddi 'ashar al-milddi) (Cairo, 1992), 25-131.

13 When Ibn al-Saffar died, his contemporaries believed that the office of qddi al-jamd'a had come to an end. Ibn Hayyan in Qadi 'Iyad, Tartib, VIII, 17; cf. Maria Jesus Viguera, "Los jueces de C6rdoba en la primera midad del siglo XI. (Analysis de datos)", Al-Qantara, 5 (1984), 123-45, esp. 133. 14 There was a qadi al-jamd'a in Zaragoza; in Toledo he was called qddi'l- qu.dh, M. Khallaf, "La justicia. Cadies y otros magistratos", Los reinos de

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The qddi al-jamd'a was the sole qddi in the city of Cordoba. He had no deputy (nd'ib). If he delegated judicial tasks to a proxy (mustakhlaf),15 this is not documented in the cases examined here. Among his subordinates were the administrator of endowments (sahib al-ahbds) and the "supervisor of inheritance" (sahib al-mawdrith).'6 Both lacked the authority to pass a legally binding judgment (hukm). The afore- mentioned judicial magistrates (hukkdm), however, were neither depu- ties nor proxies of the qdadi al-jamd'a, but were appointed as officials by the ruler.17

The qddi al-jamd'a sat in judgment over lawsuits brought forward by the claimant.18 In Cordoba, the qCddl al-jamd'a was not entitled to pursue a case ex officio without the necessary legal evidence or personal knowledge(see below). The sources indicate that he applied the procedural norms of Milikifiqh, which defined the legal conditions under which a judgment was legally valid. The qddi al-jamd'a held his sessions publicly, either in the Friday mosque (jdmi'), at his own house or in a smaller mosque.19

No Cordovan qddi could not pass a binding judgment solely at his own discretion. To pass a binding judgment, the judge asked the board of jurisconsults (shard) for their legal opinion.20 The qddi informed them of the legal facts in a written report, called khitdba, sealed in an

Taifas. Al-Andalus en el siglo XI (Historia de Espafa Menendez Pidal, Vol. VIII-1), ed. M.J. Viguera (Madrid 1994), 171-72. 15 For the legal restrictions placed on a mustakhlaf, see Ibn al-'Att.r, Kitdb al- wathd'iq wa'l-sijilldt, ed. P. Chalmeta and F. Corriente as Formulario notarial Hispano-Arabe por el alfaqui y notario cordobes Ibn al-'AttCir (s. X) (Madrid 1983), 642-43.

16 Cp. L6vi-Proven9al, Histoire de l'Espagne musulmane, 3 vols. (Paris/Leiden 1950-1953), vol. III, 151-53.

17 The labeling of hukkam as "magistratures secondaires" as compared to the qddi al-jamd'a is therefore misleading. Ibid., 142-43. 18 The following remarks on court procedure in Cordoba are made on the basis of the cases examined here. For the early centuries of Islam, see also Johansen, Wahrheit und Geltungsanspruch, esp. 1014-15; for the much later Ottoman qddl, compare with Jennings, "Limitations of the Judicial Powers of the Kadi in Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Kayseri", Studia Islamica, 50 (1980), 151-84, esp. 171-73.

19 See Khallif, Ta'rikh al-qadd', 224-34. 20 This is a major difference from judicial practice in seventeenth-century Ottoman Kayseri, where fatwds were presented only by plaintiffs, see Jennings, "Limitations", 157, and "Kadi, Court and Legal Procedure in Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Kayseri", Studia Islamica, 48 (1978), 133-72, esp. 134-35. The Andalu- sian scholar Abfi 1-Mutarrif al-Sha'bi (d. 497/1104) claims that the qddi's duty to consult with jurisconsults was based on old tradition (sunna), cf. Wansharisi, Kitdb al-mi'yar al-mu'rib, ed. M. Hijji et al., 13 vols. (Rabat/Beirut 1981-1983), X, 58-59; cp. also Tyan, Histoire, 231-32.

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envelope (tayy)21 which also contained copies of all relevant documents. The jurisconsults (mushdwarun) then issued a fatwd on the decision to be taken in this particular case. The jurisconsults, as a rule, did not participate in the court proceedings.22 The shaur was a well- established institution in al-Andalus.23 Its members were appointed and sometimes dismissed (unless they died in office) by the ruler in consultation with the qcdli. In the fifth/eleventh century, the mushd- warin received a fixed salary provided by revenues from public endowments.24 The number of jurisconsults was limited, although it changed over time.25 The court cases studied here mention at least two and not more than four jurisconsults in each case. In one of Ibn al- Saffar's cases (d. 429/1038), however, ten jurisconsults participated.26

In matters of doubt, a qddl might consult with the jurisconsults at any stage of court proceedings, but he was obliged to ask for their legal opinion on a final judgment (hukm). Jurisconsults sometimes criticized the legal steps taken by a judge during court proceedings.27 Although they had no means to impose their views on the judge, they had the authority to decide which aspect of legal doctrine should be applied in a particular case. A legally valid court decision had to be based on the sacred law, including its rules of procedure and evidence. If a judge openly disregarded the legal opinion of the jurisconsults-an outcome for which there is no evidence in our source-he risked seeing his

21 See Ibn Sahl, Ahkam 545, as well as 70, 194, 247, 348, etc. Cf. Khallaf in Viguera (ed.), Reinos de Taifas, 175. On the legal proof of a "sealed writing" (kitab matwiy), see Baji, al-Muntaqa, 7 vols. (Rabat: Dar al-fikr al-'arabi, n.d.), vol. V, 198.

22 Contrary to Tyan, Histoire, 235. Cordovan fatwas often began with the formula, "I read and examined what you [viz. the judge] gave us as information" (qara'tu wa-tasaffahtu ma adrajta ilaynd), Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 213, 423, etc.; cp. ibid., 70, 194, 211, etc. The formula may also be a legal device to explain that the fatwd was based on the facts as presented in writing without any concern for their truth in reality.

23 Tyan, Histoire, 230-36, Levi-Provencal, Histoire, 127-28, Marin, "Shard et ahl al-shurd dans al-Andalus", Studia Islamica, 62 (1985), 25-51, Khallaf, Ta'rikh al-qada', 321-80. The shard is mentioned already in the reign of 'Abd al-Rahman II (206-238/822-852); cf. Khushani, Qudah, 112. The opinions of jurisconsults issued in connection with cases heard by the qddl al-jamd'a Ibn Ziyad (d. 312/924) are mentioned frequently in Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, passim. 24 See Ibn Bassam, al-Dhakhira fi mahasin ahl al-jazira, ed. Ihsan 'Abbas, 8 vols. (Beirut 1978-79), vol. III, 517-18 (a scandal over the mushawarun's payment). 25 Tyan, Histoire, 231-32. 26 Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 1015-23 (also edited in M. Khallaf, Wathd'iqfi shu'an al- hisba (Cairo, 1985), 67-79). The caliph al-Mustakfi (414-416/1024-1025) reported- ly raised the number of mushawarun to 40 (!), which should not be taken literally, Ibn Bassam, Dhakhira, I, 435. 27 E.g. Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 346-52.

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decision overturned by his successor. But jurisconsults were not always unanimous. Minor differences in thefatwds appear in most of the cases examined, and in some even significant dissent. If consultation gave rise to substantial differences, jurisconsults could issue a secondfatwd, in which they explained their position with reference to the literature on Maliki legal doctrine. There were different principles indicating which fatwd of which jurisconsult a qddl had to choose in case of prolonged disagreement.28 Confronted with two opposing opinions, the judge was free to accept one opinion and disregard the others. It appears that unanimity of legal opinion was no prerequisite for a judgment and that judges did in fact choose between diverging legal opinions. But no general statement on the liberty of choice for the qddi in such cases can be made due to the small number of court decisions available. Jurisconsults sometimes allowed a qddl to decide certain points of a lawsuit at his own discretion ('al ijtihddihi).29 To sum up: the qddl was concerned with the facts of the case, and the mushdwar, as a mufti, gave his answer to the question posed to him on the basis of Maliki legal doctrine.

Procedural law and court proceedings The legal conditions for a valid and binding judgment (hukm) are an important aspect of qddl jurisdiction. The fiqh rules that are used to establish any material fact beyond doubt-necessary for a qadd' decision-are as follows: Any fact about which the qddi has no personal knowledge ('ilm al-qtdd) has to be either acknowledged (iqrdr) by the defendant or proved by the claimant on the basis of testimonial evidence (bayyina). In certain fields of law determined by Malikifiqh, the claimant may take an oath that confirms the testimony of the one witness in his favor (al-yamin ma'a shdhid) to the effect that

28 See Ibn Farhun, Tabsira, I, 27 and 65, for a discussion of whether it is obligatory for the qddl to follow the majority of the jurisconsults or the one with the highest legal reputation.

29 On ijtihdd as scope for discretion, granted by the jurisconsults to the judge, to decide specific aspects of the case in the form of a court order (nazar), see Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 212, 785; as judicial discretion in general, see ibid. 436, 718, 847, 1016; and as independent reasoning, see ibid. 377, 644, 718. This usage of the term ijtihdd for a judge is not to be confused with the concept of "independent reasoning" or "authentic scholarly endeavor" in legal theory, that apply to the activities of a mufti; on the latter, see, e.g. Muhammad Khalid Masud, Brinkley Messick and David Powers, "Muftis, Fatwas, and Islamic Legal Interpretation", Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftis and their Fatwas, ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud, Brinkley Messick and David Powers (Cambridge, MA, 1996).

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no second witness testimony is necessary.30 In addition to certain general requirements, all witnesses must be accepted by the qadi as men of integrity ('addla);31 otherwise, their testimony is not legally binding. In conflicts between people, the q.di has to follow the principle of "accusation" (da'wt), which means that he leaves the initiative for presenting claims and proof to the parties.32 If he personally witnesses a tort, he is allowed to take action, but should not inquire into the hidden aspects of the case.33 In this sense, the qadi did not act preventively, as did the police officer (.sahib al-shurta).34

In judicial practice, certain claims require the establishment of a legal title (haqq) and others do not. Court cases requiring proof of a specific legal title included those relating to reclaiming an endowment (habs),35 the right to buy back real estate on the grounds of preemption (shufa),36 or the annulment of a sale because the vendor had been declared "incapable of conducting business transactions" (safih).37 In the absence of proper legal evidence, a qddl would refuse to give a positive decision and might allow the defendant to swear an oath to establish his right. As for claims that did not require evidence for a qa.dd' decision, these included many cases on inheritance and family disputes. Most family members, according to Maliki legal doctrine, could not testify in favor of each other.38 In cases that pitted one family

30 For the Maliki law of evidence, see Scholz, Malikitisches Verfahrensrecht (Frankfurt, 1997), and Santillana, Istituzioni di diritto musulmano malichita con riguardo anche al sistema sciafiita, 2 vols. (Rome 1926-1938), vol. II, 589-630; for discussions of qadd' bi'l-haqq and witness testimony that are very close to the Cordovan setting, see Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, al-KTfi fi fiqh ahl al-Madina al-malikt (Beirut, 1987), 461-96, and Baji, Muntaqd, V, 182-224; see also Ibn Farhfn, Tabsira, I, 240-487, I, 1-135. 31 See Ziadeh, "Integrity ('Addlah) in Classical Islamic Law", Islamic Law and Jurisprudence, ed. Nicholas Heer (Seattle/London, 1990), 73-93.

32 Baber Johansen, "VWritd et Torture: ius commune et droit musulman entre le Xe et le XIIIe siecle", De la violence, ed. F. HWritier (Paris, 1996), 125-68, esp. 136. 33 This is explained by the following anecdote: A qadi of Cordoba met a man in the street who carried a drum in his hand and balanced a vessel on his head. The qddi wanted to destroy the illegal drum and search the vessel, presumably for additional illegal items. But a jurist who was in his company told him that it was not his business, as a qadi, to search other people's household articles. His only task was to prevent what was obviously reprehensible (innama 'alaykd an tughay- yira md zahara min al-munkar), that is, he had to destroy the drum. Khushani, Quddh, 197.

34 On these legal differences, see Johansen, Verite, 129-32. 35 See cases in Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 52-53, 67-73, and 969-71. 36 Ibid., 639-45. 37 Ibid., 132-34. 38 Baji, Muntaqd, V, 204-06, Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, Kdfi, 461-62.

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member against another, the qcddi would grant the right of a corroborative oath (al-yamin) to one of the parties, invoking the risk of punishment in the next world in case of a false oath.

The qddl's role in court was to guarantee the rights of any of the parties concerned. Before a legally binding judgment could be passed, a defendant was required to appear personally in court to make a statement on the plaintiff's claims and evidence. This right, called i'dhdr (lit. giving an excuse), was mandatory. If the defendant was absent or unwilling to appear in court, despite several summonses, the qddi could either pass a binding judgment or, under certain circumstances, postpone the defendant's right to resume court action (irjd' al- hujja).39 If the defendant did not accept the claim or the evidence presented by the plaintiff, a counter-charge (midfa') ensued, which switched roles in court. The defendant could either present testimony that the original plaintiff's witnesses were untrustworthy or try to prove his own claim. In the case of such a counter-charge, the judge fixed several terms (ajl, pl. djdl) for both parties to corroborate their claims. Thus, a lawsuit of this type usually required more than one court session. All legally important facts established during the proceedings, such as claims and evidence, acknowledgments or counter-charges by the defendant as well as terms fixed by the judge, were recorded, either in the document presented by the plaintiff or in a separate report (mah.dar). The proceedings were certified by a minimum of two court witnesses. Before passing his sentence, the q.dd consulted the board of muftis (mushdwarun); ideally, he would follow their advice.

The court secretary documented any final judgment of the qd.di al- jama'a in a sijill (court record). The judgment was executed by attesta- tion of the q.di (tanfidh al-hukm): beginning with the qadd al-jamd'a of Cordoba, Muhammad b. Abi 'Isa (d. 339/950-1),40 all documents issued by qdlss were drawn up by the court secretary. The qcddl checked the contents of the document and attested personally to the summoning (ishhdd) of the witnesses. Finally, he had the document authenticated by witnesses.41 The judgment itself was issued in tripli- cate: the original was placed in the qdadi register, and one copy (nuskha) each went to plaintiff and defendant.42 In al-Andalus, the registration

39 On this Cordoban judicial practice, see below. 40 Khushani, Quddh, 233-36, Nubahi, Marqaba, 59-63, Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rikh, no. 1253.

41 Ibn al-'Attar, Wathd'iq, 642. 42 Text: sujilat [...] sijillan yakana 'ald thaldthi nusakhin li-yakuna bi-yadi l-hdlifi minhu nuskhatan wa bi-yadi t-tdlibi nuskhatan ukhrd siwd llati takinu ft

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of court judgments in qddl registers can be traced back to the time of the qd.di al-jama'a Muhammad b. Bashir (d. 198/813-14).43

The qddi-register (diwan al-q.dl), bearing his name and period of office, was transmitted from one qa.di to his successor.44 Only qddls had the right to draw up a register of this kind; hukkdm did not. The diwdn al-q.di must have been very important for the judicial practice of the time. Recorded in the q.dd register were all properties of absentees (amwal al-ghayb), bequests (wasdyd) and the genealogies of beneficiaries of ahbds mu'aqqaba (endowments for a lineal descent group)45 that were subject to the supervision of the qddl.46 Revenues of public endowments and the names of endowed slaves working on the estates of Umayyad rulers also were listed.47 In addition to the property of orphans and absentees deposited with fiduciaries by order of the q.di, the register contained records of debts that had been confirmed by a court judgment.48 These rights were not extinguished by the death of either the debtor or the creditor, or by the replacement of the qddi who had issued the judgment. Once a debt was liquidated, this fact was entered in the register to avoid a second claim. In the absence of a quittance, a debt recorded in the court register could be redeemed only by an additional bill of receipt attested by two 'adl-witnesses.49 The registration of a debt in the dtwdn al-q.dl, therefore, was more than a non-binding indicator; it served as legal evidence for a debt. To avoid manipulation, the register was handed over personally from one qddi to his successor.50 In the case of a qadd's sudden death, the register was safeguarded by the town inspector until a successor was named.51 The

d-diwdni, Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 196. See also Ibn al-'Attar, Wathd'iq, 131. For a case in which the documents presented by both parties contained the former hukm of the qddl, see Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 68. 43 Khushani, Qu.ddh, 75, and Nubahi, Marqaba, 48.

44 Al-Khushani (d. 361/971-72) used the qddi registers as a source for his history of Cordovan judges, Quddh, 141. 45 David S. Powers, "The Maliki Family Endowment: Legal Norms and Social Practices", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 25 (1993), 379-406, esp. 392-94.

46 Cf. Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 9. On the registration of bequests, see also ibid., 232- 33 (one case). 47 Ibid., 1015 and 1115 (also edited by M. Khallaf, Wathd'iq fi ahkam al- qadd' al-jind'i al-andalusL [Cairo, 1980], 74-76). 48 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 873-78 (several cases). 49 Ibid., 877, on a case of missing acquittal in the qidl register: man kCna 'alayhi fi diwdni l-qudCiti malun lam yusqi.thu 'anha illa l-bard'atu l-thabitatu bi'l- bayyinati l-'adlati.

5u Khushani, Quddh, 145. 51 Ibid., 204.

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new qddi checked the register and held his predecessor responsible for missing payments.52

The appointment of a new qddi had considerable implications for the administration of justice. The new qddi al-jamd'a had to reassess the witnesses of current lawsuits-and might reject them as unqualified. In one case, the ruler took advantage of this procedure when the well- known scholar, Baqi b. Makhlad (d. 276/889), was confronted with a large number of testimonies by hostile fuqaha'. To prevent a judgment against Baqi, the ruler dismissed the acting qddi al-jamd'a, whose successor was not bound to the testimonies that were never renewed by the witnesses. Thus, under the new judge no lawsuit ensued.53 When the qddi al-jamc 'a Ibn Siraj54 died suddenly in 464/1072, the market inspector took over a lawsuit and reassessed the witnesses.55

The longer a qcddi stayed in office, the more his power to accept or reject witnesses influenced the judicial life of the city. If people objected to a qdd's decision or wanted to renew cases that he had rejected, they had to wait for his successor.56 A new qadi might accept a lawsuit which had been rejected by his predecessor as unjustified. Therefore, it is probably more than a coincidence that a man claimed the inheritance share of his absentee cousin shortly after the death of the qddi al- jamd'a, Ibn Siraj, who had deposited this share with a third person as fiduciary.57

In some situations, the intrinsic powers of a qddi to monopolize jurisdiction led to the establishment of qdid dynasties that might rule a particular town.58 In Cordoba, however, the presence of the Umayyad

52 Ibid., 173-75. 53 Ibid., 153-54. On details of this complex case, see M. Fierro, "La heterodoxia en al-Andalus durante el periodo omeya", Madrid: I.H.A.C., 1987, 80- 88, esp. 84-85. 54 On this patronym, see Elias Teres, "Antroponimia Hispano,rabe (Reflejada por las fuentes latino-romances) (IIa parte), ed. J. Aguade, C. Barcelo and F. Corriente, Anaquel des Estudios Arabes 2 (1991), 13-34, esp. 18, note 199. 55 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 827-30, also edited by Khallaf, Wathd'iq fi ahkcm qada' ahl al-dhimma fi'l-Andalus (Cairo, 1980), 60-65, with Khallaf's summary ignoring important aspects of the proceedings, ibid., 25-26. 6 See Khushani, Quddh, 183-84, on the succession to Sulayman b. Aswad in the year 273/886.

57 It was known that the absentee heir had died previous to the division of the estate, a fact that excluded him from inheritance. For the case, see Ibn Sahl, Ahkim, 627-29.

'58 For al-Andalus, see Fierro, "The qadi as a ruler", in "Saber religioso y poder politico en el Islam", Actas des Simposio International (Granada, 15-18 octubre 1991), Madrid, 1994, 71-116, and M.L. Avila, "Cargos hereditarios en la administraci6n judicial y religiosa de al-Andalus", in ibid., 27-37, and appendix with genealogical charters.

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rulers limited the qcdl's influence. It is true that members of the same few families frequently were appointed as qddi al-jamd'a, but they never succeeded in founding a dynasty of officeholders. Even after a long period in office, as during the third/ninth and fourth/tenth centuries, it was the Umayyad ruler who chose the next qddi al-jamd'a. In 429/1038, at the beginning of Jahwarid rule, the last qddi al-jamd'a, Ibn al-Saffar, who had been appointed by the Umayyad caliph, was unsuccessful in his attempt to designate his grandson as his successor in office.59 Jahwar settled with the city's notables on the new qddi, Muhammad b. Dhakwan, previously market police-officer (sahib al- shurta wa'l-suq).60 To limit the religious authority of the new qc.di, he was not invested with leadership of the Friday prayer.61 From that date onwards, the political power of the Cordovan qddi did not pose any serious threat to the ruling Banu Jahwar, who appointed and deposed Cordovan q.dis at will.

The qc.di's judgment The legal function of a q.di judgment is best understood as binding but potentially reversible in character. Any ratified court decision is legally valid, irrespective of its conformity to the law. Otherwise no court judgment would have the affect of settling a conflict. 62 To revise a valid judgment, it had to be annulled (fusikha) by another judgment. This holds true for qadi judgments as well as for those of magistrates.63 There are three circumstances in which a judgment may be reversed: first, if the issuing judge lacked proper jurisdictional authority; second, if the original judgment is challenged on the grounds of a point of law; and third, if it is challenged on the grounds of new evidence, that is, as a question of fact.64

59 Ibn Sa'id, Mughrib, I, 159, no. 101, Qadi 'Iyad, Tartib, VIII, 17. 60 Ibn Sa'id, Mughrib, I, 70, no. 14, and Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila no. 1150, both cite Ibn Hayyan (d. 469/1076); although they differ regarding who invested the qddi, both agree that the decision was unanimous.

61 See Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, no. 1390, Qadi 'Iyad, Tartib, VIII, 13 (regarding the new .sdhib al-salah wa'l-khutba Ibn Makki, who died 437/1045 while still in office). 62 See Scholz, Verfahrensrecht, 426-31. 63 For a judgment by the sahib al-shurta wa'l-suq that was annulled by a qddi, see Khushani, Quddh, 127; for the annulment of qddl judgments, see below. 64 Cf. David S. Powers, "On Judicial Review in Islamic Law", Law & Society Review (1992), 315-41. Pace Powers, ibid. 324, the Cordovan cases suggest that the grounds for reconsideration were not restricted to questions of law, but also included the presentation of new facts, see below.

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With regard to the first circumstance, the jurist al-Baji (d. 474/1081) listed the qualities that are essential for a qCdi.65 Half a century later, the Cordovan judge Ibn Rushd (d. 520/1126) systematically differen- tiated the legal consequences of a q.di's lacking personal qualities: he enumerated the qualities that are necessary for a valid appointment, others necessary to exercise the charge, and yet others that are not necessary but recommended for a qddi. An invalid appointment results in unconditional annulment of all judgments; if a qddl lacks the qualities to exercise his office, all judgments issued after the proclama- tion of his incapability should be annulled; however, if he lacks only those qualities that are recommended for the office, his judgments should not be invalidated on grounds of lacking jurisdictional authority.66

Regarding the second circumstance (questions of law), the judgments of a qd.di may be reviewed by his successor.67 Usually, however, only a clear and obvious injustice (jawr bayyin) will lead to the annulment of a judgment.68 The qd.di al-jamd'a Ahmad Ibn Ziyad (d. 312/924) dealt with several requests to overturn the judgments of his predecessor Ibn Salma (d. 289/902).69 A general revision of all decisions issued by this upright but juridically inexperienced qddl,70 however, was never considered. We do not know the extent to which earlier qddl judgments were reversed by succeeding qddis. Generally speaking, the revision of a qada' judgment was carried out only when a qddi was regarded as unjust (min ahl al-jawr).

The difference between lack of jurisdictional authority and a case- by-case consideration of judgments was the issue of debate in the case of the former minister Ibn al-Saqqa', whom the ruler Abi'l-Walid b. Jahwar had invested with the ahkam al-qadd' (qddl jurisdiction) of Cordoba for a year and a half beginning in 447/1055. After his assassination in the year 455/1063, Ibn al-Saqqa's judgments were accepted by the q.ddi of Toledo, but were generally annulled by the qd.di of Badajoz. In Cordoba, some legal experts upheld the validity of Ibn

65 Baji, Muntaqd, V, 182. 66 Ibn Rushd, al-Muqaddamat al-mumahadddt, 3 vols., ed. S. A. Urab (Beirut 1988), II, 258-59. See now Alfonso Carmona Gonzales, "Le Mal6kisme et les conditions requises pour 1'exercice de la judicature," in this theme issue, 122-58, esp. 140. 67 On Islamic successor review, see Powers, "Judicial Review," 317-24. 68 See Ibn al-'Attar, Wathd'iq, 636-37; cp. Scholz, Verfahrensrecht, 437-38. 69 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 145-46, 682-83, 695-96, 709-10. 70 He was characterized as "rajul sdlih qalil al-'ilm", Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rikh, no. 1141.

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al-Saqqa's judgment holding that a woman who had been sold as a slave was in fact free. They argued that Ibn al-Saqqa' in this case had ruled according to the law of evidence and had consulted with the fuqahd' of the city. Other jurisconsults recommended a general annulment of all his judgments since he was regarded as unjust (min ahl al- jawr wa'l-i'tidd').71 The jurists who upheld Ibn al-Saqqa's judgment did so because they considered his exercise of office to have been valid, notwithstanding their opinion of his person. In an action against the minister's last will and testament, all the jurisconsults recommended the confiscation of property that he had acquired in office. His heirs should inherit only the property that he owned before rising to power.72 The absence of an entry for Ibn al-Saqqa' in any of the relevant biographical dictionaries suggests that he was not regarded as a proper qa.di of the city of Cordoba.73

With regard to the eight-year period considered here, I am not aware of any other case in which a qadi judgment was reversed on grounds of law. In one inheritance dispute, however, a qddi ratified an amicable settlement, i.e. a decision not based on legal evidence; subsequently, the settlement was disregarded by one of the parties. When the opposing side complained to the market inspector, most jurisconsults opted to annul any settlement that contradicted legal rules. Only the prestigious jurist Ibn 'Attib (d. 462/1069)74 held that no ratified settlement should be annulled.

That brings us to the third circumstance in which a judgment might be reversed, namely, on the ground of new evidence. A legally correct judgment may conceivably be revised if new witness testimony contra- dicts the winning party's corroborative oath. The Milikis were not as strict about the authority of a judgment as the Hanafis.75 According to Maliki legal doctrine, a q4di may easily revoke his own judgment (rujui 'an qadd') if he realizes that he made a mistake, so long as his decision does not contradict the unanimous opinion of the jurisconsults.

71 For this case, see Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 261-64, also cited in Wansharisi, MiXar, IX, 220-22. 72 Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 728-30. 73 This is corroborated by the fact that Ibn Sa'id avoided the expression "q.dr' and referred to Ibn al-Saqqa's office as "ahkdm al-qa.dc"', Ibn Sa'id, Mughrib, I, 161, no. 104.

74 Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, no. 1194, Qadi 'Iyad, Tartib, VIII, 131-34, also Ibn Farhin, al-Dibdj al-mudhdhahab fi ma'rifat a'ydn 'ulamd' al-madhhab, 2 vols., ed. M. al-Ahmadi (Cairo, n.d.), II, 241-42. 75 For the Hanafis, see Baber Johansen, "Le jugement comme preuve. Preuve juridique et v6rite religieuse dans le Droit Islamique hanefite", Studia Islamica 72 (1990), 5-17, esp. 13-15.

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Contrary to the annulment by a successor, this mistake need not be of a grave nature and may be connected with the witnesses in the case (amr al-shuhud) as well as with internal aspects of the claim (bdtin qissat al- tdlib).76 A q.dfi's ability to revoke his own judgment was justified with reference to an alleged writing by the second Caliph 'Umar to his governor in Iraq, Abf Mfsa al-Ash'ari: "It is not forbidden to you to withdraw a qa.da' judgment of today, if you withdrew your comprehen- sion of it and were guided rightfully to this by your good sense. Withdrawing to the rightful is better than insisting on the vain."77

Having said this, I have encountered only one case in which a judgment was reversed on grounds of new evidence, and this case was brought to the market inspector rather than to a q.dl. The case involved a farmer who claimed joint ownership of certain land and oxen. The defendant was granted the right to swear that he was the sole owner of land and oxen. A court decision ruling out further claims or actions was ratified. Subsequently, however the farmer produced witnesses testifying to the defendant's repeated acknowledment of their joint ownership of the land and oxen. Subsequently, the jurisconsult Ibn 'Attab held that the earlier judgment should be reversed and the farmer should be required to swear that he had been unaware of the testimonial evidence in his favor when compelling the defendant to take an oath for his claim.78 In the absence of parallel cases tried by a qdl,, we cannot know, whether a qddl in the first instance would have passed a judgment on the basis of the defendant's oath, which then could have become subject to reversal. But since the qddl dealt with inheritance disputes and other family matters that did not always involve witness testimony, the possibility of the revision of a judgment, based on oath, in the light of new testimonial evidence cannot be ruled out.

Another, slightly different aspect of the revision of judgments is the so-called "postponement of pleading" (irjd' al-hujja). Here the judge issues a judgment against an absentee, but grants him the right to appear in court at a later date. In such a case, it is conceivable that a defendant would produce evidence that might lead to the rejection of the

76 Ibn al-'Attar, Wathd'iq, 635-36. 77 Text: la yamna'ukd qadd'un qadaytaha l-yawma fa-rdja'ta fihi 'aqlakd wa- hudita fihi li-rushdika an tarji'a fihi fa-inna r-ruju'a ild l-haqqi khayrun mina t- tamddi 'ald l-batili, ibid; see also Powers, "Judicial Review," 320; cp. Scholz, Verfahrensrecht, 432-36, on a qddi's being bound to his own judgment. 78 On this action, see Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 716-18; the case is reduced to a question-and-answer situation in Wansharisi, Mi'ydr, VI, 525.

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claimant's witnesses and eventually require a different decision by the judge. The "postponing of pleading" was based on the idea that the right of an absentee to be heard in court (i'dhdr) could be postponed if he was too far away to be summoned to court; but a legally valid judgment could be issued against him in the meantime.79 The granting of the irjd' al-hujja was ratified by the judge, together with his judgment against the absentee. Common practice in Cordoba,80 the irjd' al-hujja nevertheless was contested among later Malikis.81

In one fifth-century case, the revision of a court decision was claimed under such circumstances: The qddi Ibn Siraj ordered the division of a jointly owned vineyard when one of the co-owners was absent; he recorded this decision as a judgment (hukm) based on testimonial evidence. Several years later, the former partner returned to Cordoba where he approached the qddl Ibn Manzir (d. 464/1072). Claiming that the division had resulted in the neglect of his plot of land, he demanded that it be canceled. Some jurisconsults argued that the division (qisma) was reversible because Maliki doctrine teaches that a judicial division of property generally has not the legal quality of a binding judgment (hukm). At least one jurisconsult objected that this particular division was binding, because it had been decided by a hukm. The qddl Ibn Manzir decided to ratify the initial judgment (hukm) because it had been based on unchallenged witness testimony.82

It seems unlikely that there existed a hierarchy of appeal among the different courts in Cordoba.83 From the above-mentioned case of the violation of a qdi' s settlement in an inheritance dispute, it is not clear whether a market inspector had the authority to annul a qddl judgment, even if he wished to do so. A qddi could annul a decision made by a market inspector on the grounds of a unanimous jurists' vote.84 The judge of complaints (sahib al-maztlim) dealt with some cases formerly heard by a qddl al-jamd'a and also had the power to annul a qddi

79 Cp. my Gerichtspraxis, 402-05, Farhat J. Ziadeh, "Compelling Defendant's Appearance at Court in Islamic Law", Islamic Law and Society, 3 (1996), 305-15, esp. 312.

80 Ibn Sahl considered the irjd' al-hujja to be a principle (asl ma'mul), see Ahkdm, 633, also Wansharisi, Mi'ydr, X, 90-91, cf. my Gerichtspraxis, 404, note 19; irjd' al-hujja is also cited in Ziadeh, "Compelling," 312; for examples from Cordovan legal opinions, see Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 348, 352, 442, 563, 618, 628, 631, 637, 639, 641. 81 Ibn Farhun, Tabsira, I, 99-100. 82 Wansharisi, Mi'yar, VIII, 118-19. 83 This supports Powers' argument against the term "appeal" in this context, see "Judicial Review," 315-17, 324 and 337-38. 84 Khushani, Quddh, 127.

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judgment. But his jurisdiction was not superior to that of the qddl. In one case, claimants recovered usurped land in a mazdlim court; subsequently, they tried to confirm their rights through a qd.di decision on the same legal grounds.85 Such a claim makes sense only if a qcdli judgment had in fact greater authority than that of a judge of complaints. Three former judges of complaints became quddt al-jamd'a later in their respective careers.86 From the Cordovan cases we conclude that the judge of complaints dealt with cases that could not be satisfactorily decided by the qadi.87

The range of qadi jurisdiction In Cordoba, jurisdiction in matters of Malikifiqh was not the exclusive preserve of the qdad al-jama'a. Various judicial officials (hukkdm) also applied fiqh regulations in court proceedings and as a basis of their judgments. This is not the place to examine the range and limits of this "magistratal" jurisdiction, but its mere existence in the field of sacred law requires a definition of the q.di's jurisdiction that goes beyond its assumed correspondence with shari'a jurisdiction that is opposed to siydsa jurisdiction.88 Bearing in mind what has been said regarding procedural and evidential rules necessary for the soundness of a qa.d'- sentence and its possible annulment, we may now examine the qddl's jurisdiction in Cordoba within the setting of court cases between the years 456/1064 and 464/1072. Although these cases are not representative and do not cover all aspects of contemporary qddi jurisdiction, they constitute the only currently available source bearing upon judicial practice-apart from the evidence of legal theory.

Two principles defining the range of qddi jurisdiction overlapped and intertwined in judicial practice. First, Muslim, and more specifi- cally, Cordovan legal doctrine reserved some fields of law for qddl- jurisdiction. Second, thefiqh rules of evidence placed substantial con- straints on the qddi's authority to investigate the hidden aspects of a case (see above), while guaranteeing the full legality of his judgments to establish certain legal rights. These two principles-which sometimes clashed with one another-limited the q.d4's role in crime preven- tion. In defining the range of q.di judicial authority, Ibn Sahl refers to

85 Cf. Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 504-06. 86 Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, nos. 672, 682 and 1150 (also Qadi 'Iyad, Tartlb [ed. Rabat], VIII, 87). 87 For cases involving the judge of complaints, see my Gerichtspraxis, 333-62. 88 On the tension between sharl'a jurisdiction and siydsa jurisdiction, see Schacht, Introduction, 54, and Tyan, Histoire, esp. 446-51 and passim.

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the teaching of former Cordovan jurists and judges. The jurisconsult Muhammad b. 'Umar Ibn Lubaba (d. 302/914-15) reserved the following fields of law for the qddi without excluding him from others: supervision of bequests (wasdyd) and endowments (awqdf), release (itldq) from guardianship, restrictions on legal capacity (tahjir), judicial divisions (qism), inheritance (mawdrlth) and the supervision of orphans and their property.89 The exclusive authority of the qddl in these fields was justified by the teaching of Malik and his disciple, Ibn al-Qasim.90 In practical terms these fields of jurisdiction were closely connected to registration in the diwdn al-qd.dl.91 At the same time, the qddt's exclusive authority to pass judgment in other fields of the law was disputed. The opinion of Ahmad b. Yahya b. Abi 'Isa (d. 297/ 909),92 reserving cases of talio (qisds) to the qddl, was probably common practice in the third/ninth century. Later, this view was supported by the qddl al-jamd'a Ahmad b. Baqi b. Makhlad (d. 324/936) and others.93 But in the fifth/eleventh century, homicides were dealt with by the town inspector (sahib al-madina) on behalf of the ruler,94 and Ibn Sahl was opposed to the earlier view that cases of talio should be referred exclusively to the qddi.95 According to a later Andalusian source, however, hudad cases should be reserved for the qdd.96 In this regard, Ibn Sahl quoted a fatwd from the turn of the fourth/tenth century stating that judicial officers (saldttn) transferred their hudid cases to the qddl.97 In the year 464/1072, the case of the Toledan heretic Abfi'l-Hatim was presented to the Cordovan qddl Ibn Manzur and, after the latter's sudden death, was decided by the ruler himself.98

89 Cf. Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 10. Compare also the synopsis of Ibn Farhun, which is based on Ibn Sahl and other authorities, Tabsira, I, 94. 90 Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 8. 91 Ibid., 9. 92 Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rikh, no. 61, Qadi 'Iyad, Tartib, V, 160. 93 Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 10. For talio cases heard by qddi al-jamd'a Ibn Ziyad, see ibid., 1127-41. For Ahmad b. Makhlad, see Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rikh, no. 103, Qadi 'Iyad, Tartib, V, 200. 94 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 1141-46 (the cases of al-Tubni and Rahima Ibn Shuhayd). 95 Ibid., 10-11.

96 al-Jarsifi, Risala fi'l-hisba, ed. 1. L6vi-Proven9al in: Trois traites hispaniques de hisba (Cairo, 1955), 123, cp. Ibn Farh.un's quotations arguing for the qjddis competence in hadd-cases, Tabsira, 1, 18. 97 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 9. 98 Ibid., 1150-57 (also edited by Khallaf, Thaldth wathd'iq fi muhdrabat al- ahwa' wa'l-bid'afi l-Andalus (Cairo, 1981), 111-24), cf. M. I. Fierro, "El proceso contra Ibn Hatim al-Hulaytuli (afos 457/1064-464/1072)", Estudios onomdstico- biogrdficos de al-Andalus (Madrid/Granada) 6 (1994), 187-215, esp. 197.

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In my analysis of the court cases heard between 456/1064 and 464/1072, I will first deal with cases from the legal fields described as the exclusive preserve of qddl jurisdiction, such as inheritance, endowments and the legal rights of orphans. In order to characterize the qd.d's jurisdictional preserve, special attention will be paid to the legal evidence presented in each case as well as to those cases touching these fields of law that were dealt with by other judges.

During the period under consideration, the Cordovan qi.dls Ibn Siraj (448/1056 to 456/1064), Ibn Baqi (456/1064 to ca. 461/1069) and Ibn Manzur (d. 464/1072) dealt with several lawsuits concerning the legal validity of inheritance, as well as disputes over whether and how to divide inherited property. Consider the following four cases:

1. Following the assassination of Ibn al-Saqqa in 455/1063, witnesses testified that the former minister had acquired his wealth through abuse of office. When his inheritance and bequest were contested, the presiding qddi al-jamd'a, Ibn Siraj, ruled that only property belonging to Ibn al-Saqqi' before his rise to power should be treated as part of his estate, subject to inheritance.99

2. A widow quarreled with her husband's offspring over some carpets that he had deposited outside her dwelling. Were these carpets domestic utensils, and, therefore, her personal property, or did they belong to her husband? In the absence of witness testimony, the jurisconsults referred to local custom ('urf) to decide which party should swear an oath in support of its claim.?00

3. In an inheritance dispute between a widow and her husband's relatives (see above), the qddi al-jamd'a, Ibn Baqi, negotiated an amicable settlement. When the deceased's relatives did not honor the settlement, the widow turned to the market inspector, Ibn Harish. 10

4. The wazir Ibn 'Amir, died, leaving two sons, one in Cordoba, the other in Seville. The Cordovan heir demanded that the q.dl al-jamtn'a, Ibn Baqi, divide the land that they had inherited. The qddi had witnesses confirm the borders of the property and the absence of the

99 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 728, see also Khallif, "Wathiqa fi ightisab Ibn al-Saqqa"', Awrdq, 5-6 (1982-3), 99-104, and D. Wasserstein, "Toledan Rule in Cordoba", Israel Oriental Studies, 13 (1993), 259-62.

100 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 388, also Wansharisi, Mi'ydr, III, 412. The qddl was Ibn Manziir.

101 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 843-47 (the amicable settlement is dated Safar 457/ January 1065).

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brother. Ibn Baqi consulted with his jurisconsults, who disagreed as to whether it was necessary to summon the brother to Cordova before issuing a judgment. Was the distance between Seville and Cordoba short enough for the defendant to appear in court or sufficiently distant that his right of legal hearing (i'dhdr) should be postponed? 102

Not all inheritance cases and subsequent disputes, however, belonged to the preserve of the qddi: In one instance, a person died leaving heirs, some of whom lived in a house that formed part of the estate, while others did not. Since the house was too small to divide among the heirs, those who did not live in the house asked their co- heirs to leave the house so that it would command a better price. The heirs living in the house refused to comply, and the case was presented to the market inspector (sahib al-shurta wa'l-suq).103 I do not know whether this lawsuit was preceded by a formal qdid decision corrobo- rating the death of the deceased, the number of his heirs and the identity of his property. One general reason for testimony regarding the number of heirs was the legal requirement that any person had the right to be heard at court (i'dhdr) in a matter in which he was involved.

Inheritance as a method of property transfer was involved in many other lawsuits which were presented not only to the qc.d of Cordoba but also to the judge of complaints (sahib al-mazalim), the market inspector (sahib al-shurta wa'l-suq), or to the town inspector (sahib al- madina). A legal claim to inherited property could be accepted only through the legal proof of the testator's death and the number of his heirs. To show how these legal subjects became entangled in practice, I will mention some of the cases involving proof of inheritance that were presented to judges other than the qi.d of Cordoba.

In a dispute over real estate claimed as an endowment (habs), the judge of complaints demanded that the present owners, who had bought the estate from the heirs of the first buyer, substantiate his inheritance by witness testimony.104 Another case was heard by the market inspector (sahib al-shurta wa'l-suq): the plaintiff sued his uncle to share the costs of his aunt's maintenance during her twelve-year stay in his father's house. He had to substantiate his father's death and inheritance, his heirs and the fact that he, the son, was their representative

102 Ibid., 615-16 (the case can be dated between Rabi' II and Jumada II 460/February-March 1068), cf. Mtiller, Gerichtspraxis, 219. 103 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 730-32. 104 Ibid., 69 (the case is dated 464/1072).

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in court (wakil).105 In a case brought before the sahib al-mazdlim, the plaintiffs claimed that the former ruler, 'Abd al-Malik b. Jahwar, had usurped land in a nearby village; the plaintiffs had to substantiate their father's ownership (milk) of the land, as well as his death and inheritance.106 The legal proof of the testator's death and the number of his heirs also played a role in a case against the widow of the deceased Ibn Labib dealt with by the town inspector (sahib al-madina) (see below). In another case, an entrepreneur (musta'mil) demanded that the market inspector sell some hand mills included in the inheritance to a fugitive weaver to whom he had advanced money for some pieces of cloth that were never delivered. He had to present witness testimony establishing the death of the father and the number of heirs. The jurisconsults disputed whether the testimony given was sufficient, because the absent weaver had to be alive at the time of his father's death in order to inherit.107 Another case was brought to the qddi al- jamd'a: A garden was leased to a cultivator for twelve years, at which time a man claimed that he was a descendant of the beneficiary for whom the garden had been designated as an endowment. The qddi al- jamd'a Ibn Baqi asked the plaintiff to present witness testimony substantiating his claim that he and his mother were the only heirs of his father.108

These cases demonstrate that inheritance was involved in a great variety of cases that fell under different jurisdictions. However, it is not clear that testimonial proof of an inheritance and heirs had to be corroborated in the presence of a qddi, as suggested by the insistence that inheritance was part of qddi jurisdiction. In theory, testimony relating to an inheritance could be given by witnesses, without a q.di.

Inheritance cases concerning minor orphans and absentee heirs were, in general, dealt with by the qddi al-jamd'a. If a father did not appoint a legal guardian (wasiy) for his children before his death, this was done by the qddi al-jamd'a,109 who also could dismiss the guardian.110 There is no reason to believe that any other judicial magistrate performed this function on behalf of the qddi or the ruler. The qddi al-jamd'a was also responsible for the shares of absentee heirs, which he disposited with a third person as fiduciary. But a

105 Ibid., 374-78 (the father died in Sha'ban 459/July 1067). 106 Ibid., 504-06. The Banf Jahwar were expelled from Cordoba in 461/1069. 107 Ibid., 629-39, abridged in Wansharisi, Mi'ydr, X, 88-92. 108 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 969-70. 109 See, e.g., ibid., 728. 110 See ibid., 193-96.

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dispute over the sum deposited also could be taken to the market inspector. In one of these cases (see above), a qcdi al-jama'a deposited money with a fiduciary on behalf of an heir. When the qadl al-jamd'a died, a cousin of the heir turned to the market inspector, claiming that he was the only surving agnate ('asaba) of the deceased entitled to the inheritance share. 11

A widow indicted for stealing money from an inheritance was subject, however, to trial by the sahib al-madina, who put her under house arrest. This treatment was severely criticized by the jurisconsult Ibn 'Attab, because the inheritance concerned an orphan whose rights are protected by the qddi.112 Two lawsuits concerning the rights of "orphans" (their mother might still be alive), however, were obviously not resolved by Islamic legal doctrine, but had to be decided by political jurisdiction: When a man died, he appoined a legal guardian for his minor child. Subsequently, this legal guardian was replaced by another, who sued the first guardian in the ma.zdlim court in an effort to recover capital invested by the deceased in a trading partnership (qirdd) with the first guardian. The first guardian claimed that the capital had been lost in a business transaction, thereby absolving him of liability.113 In the other case, the division of an estate was impeded by the discovery that the deceased, a woman by the name of 'Ula, had, while she was still alive, acknowledged having a second husband in Ja6n, of whom no one was aware. This case, which involved a missing heir was presented to the sahib al-mazdlim. The claimants, the mother and brother of a minor heir, needed the judge's consent to sell the minor's inheritance share to cover the costs of his maintenance.114

It is clear that not every case relating to an inheritance fell under the jurisdiction of the qddl. In practice, the formal legal distinction between inheritance cases and other cases may have been restricted to the establishment of such rights. Disputes over, and claims for, a share in an inheritance were presented not only to the qd.di but also to the market inspector, perhaps because the case was connected to a claim relating to a commercial transaction. Complicated cases that could not be resolved according to the rules offiqh (e.g., when the number of heirs

1 1 On a similar claim for deposited money that was also heard by the market inspector, see Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 611-12. 112 Ibid., 718-27. 113 Ibid., 193-96, Wansharisi, Mi'ydr, VIII, 213-15, legal response also ibid., IX, 468-69. Cp. A. Udovitch, Partnership and Profit in Medieval Islam (Princeton, 1970), 239 and 241. 114 Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 245-51.

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was not known) could be brought to the judge of complaints (sahib al- mazdlim) for resolution by political jurisdiction. A similar division of judicial labor existed in the field of pious endowments. Claims for the existence or restoration of an endowment were presented to the qddt al-jamd'a. In one such case, a man created an endowment but subsequently revoked his act and sold the property. Some fifty years later, the founder's heirs reclaimed the property on the basis of the original endowment deed. In response, the present owners produced not only the sale document but also a document testifying to the founder's intention to revoke the endowment, which he had established out of fear (taqiyyatan) of expropriation. Both parties therefore possessed a legal title to the land. The solution proposed by the qc.dl was unacceptable to both parties, who turned to the sdhib al- mazdlim for revision under special authority of the ruler.115 In a similar case, a man designated a garden as an endowment, but later sold it to cultivators, who possessed a legally binding sale contract. Neverthe- less, the Cordovan qatd Ibn Zarb (d. 447/1055)1l6 subsequently restored the garden as an endowment; undeterred, the beneficiaries now leased the garden to its former owners in a twelve-year contract. When the lease expired, the heirs of the initial plaintiff claimed the property as an endowment.117

Endowment disputes were also brought to the market inspector. In one dispute, certain heirs had successfully claimed a landed estate as a pious endowment in the market inspector's court, but could not present testimonial evidence establishing all of its boundaries. The present owners, therefore, did not have to leave the property. Subsequently, the claimants took the case to the sdhib al-mazalim, who followed Ibn Sahl's legal opinion holding that the property be cleared from its present inhabitants.118

The qddl al-jamd'a's responsibility for the endowments of the city went beyond judgments on individual cases. He was responsible for the distribution of revenues from those pious endowments that were administered publicly rather than by the founder's family.l19 Every year,

115 Ibid., 67-73. 116 Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, no. 1472, Ibn Sa'id, Mughrib, I, 161, no. 104. 117 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 696-71. 118 The case of the sahib al-shurta wa'l-siq Ibn Harish is described at ibid., 52-53.

119 Ibid., 961-63 (a family endowment becomes subject to public supervision after its line of beneficiaries comes to an end).

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contracts of lease for endowed property were auctioned publicly in the presence of the qa.d al-jamd'a and his legal counselors.120 The qa.di al- jamd'a might issue a judgment that granted a general reduction of the stipulated lease in case of economic decline or natural disaster.'12 But the everyday affairs of endowments under public supervision were administered by the sahib al-ahbds, who, in Umayyad times, was appointed by the qdadi al-jamd'a; this may have changed subsequently.122 It was the sahib al-ahbcas, not the qtdi, who asked the jurisconsults about a woman living in an endowment established for virtuous women who wanted to remain there with her new husband.123 The decision obviously did not require a hukm, which the saChib al- ahbds was not authorized to issue. In a case of attachment for unpaid rent, the sa.hib al-ahbds administrating the dwelling sued the lease- holder in the qddi court.124

In cases involving economic transactions, the q.dl al-jamr'a played a much smaller role than the market inspector, at least during the period under consideration.125 Ibn Baqi presided over two cases in which buyers claimed major defects ('uyab) in recently purchased estates and sued to recover damages. One case was complicated by the experts' disagreement over the gravity of the defects.126 In the other case, the new owner of the property had already reconstructed parts of the building when the defects became known to him.127 Other claims concerning defects in real estate were presented to the court of the market inspector,128 which meant, at least in theory, that he had been specially authorized (taqdim) to hear these cases by the qddl or the ruler.129 All these cases fell within the domain of contract law,

120 Ibid., 604 and 974. 121 For a judgment of this nature by the qddl al-jamd'a Ibn Bishr in the year 407/1016, issued against the declared will of some jurisconsults, see ibid., 1015- 23.

122 Khushani, Qudah, 126, Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rikh, no. 1385, Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, no. 684. With the exception of Ibn al-Faradi, Ta'rikh, no. 1257, the office of sihib al-ahbds is always specified with the name of the qddl al-jamd'a whom he served. Ibid., nos. 1053, 1184, 1396. 1538, 1540. In Jahwarid times, the sahib al- ahbds Ibn Makki (d. 474/1081) held the office of the market inspector ([ahkam] al- shurta wa'l-siq), Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 1003-04, Ibn Bashkuwal, Sila, no. 1210. 123 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 1004-05. 124 Ibid., 879-80 (the qadl al-jamt'a Ibn Bartal [d. 394/1003-04]). 125 Cp. Ibn Sahl's statement that the market inspector's main activities were in the market, Ahkdm, 6. 126 Ibid., 583-84. 127 Ibid., 579-82. 128 See ibid., 572-76 and 577-79. 129 Cp. ibid., 7.

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according to which the seller is obligated to provide the sale object in adequate condition; failure to do so might lead to cancellation of the contract.130

The q.ddi al-jama'a Ibn Baqi, on the other hand, also dealt with three different cases aimed at the reversal of a legally binding contract. In the first case, a father sold some real estate to a third party. Subsequently, the seller's sons challenged the sale on the ground that their father previously had been declared incompetent to conduct business affairs (saflh).131 In the second case, a son had sold his share of a jointly- owned vineyard during his father's absence. After his return, the father claimed the right of preemption (shufa) to recover this share from the buyers, who were absent at the time of the lawsuit.132 The third case of a claim to reverse a legally binding contract in the a qddil's court involved a woman who granted some credit to her husband, who subsequently divorced her. Following the divorce, the woman demanded early repayment of the debt. The man, however, insisted on fulfillment of the contract.133 It is noteworthy that none of these qddl cases on the reversal of a legally binding contract was based on a claim for breach of contract but rather aimed at a higher legal principle not fixed in the contract.

Two maintenance questions pertaining to the property rights of absentees were brought to the qa.d. The first concerned the claim of an umm walad for immediate manumission because her owner had not supported her during his absence, which had lasted for several years.'34 (In contrast to this case, a "normal" female slave who had no children turned, in similar circumstances, to the market inspector demanding to be sold to somebody else.)135 The second case of maintenance involved a penniless man whose son had settled in the Maghrib years earlier. The man demanded that the q.dd al-jamr'a Ibn Baqi sell his son's real estate in Cordoba to provide sustenance for himself and his wife.136

130 A claim of defect ('ayb, pl. 'uyab) is based on a contract and differs from a claim of "damage", which is based on the legal principle "la darara wa ai dirara" and never linked to a contract. On the latter, see Akel Kahera and Omar Benmira, "Damages in Islamic Law: Maghibi Muftis and the Built Environment (9th-15th Centuries C.E.)", Islamic Law and Society 5 (1998), 131-64. 131 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 132-34.

132 Ibid., 639-45. 133 Ibid., 782-87. 134 Ibid., 266-68. According to Maliki legal doctrine, an umm walad was to be

manumitted automatically with the death of her master. 135 Ibid., 611-12. 136 Ibid., 636-38.

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The position of the qi.di al-jama'a in Cordoba must be seen not only from a legal perspective defining qa.da' jurisdiction but also within the wider framework of the city's many judicial institutions. In looking for functional differences between the qddl al-jama'a and other judicial magistrates in Cordoba, we see that the market inspector dealt with a number of disputes in which the parties presented witness testimony that was either contradictory or insufficient. In some of these cases, the market inspector rejected the witnesses on the grounds that they lacked credibility ('adala) or harbored enmity toward the defendant.137 These cases had to be decided by the judge, although no legal title (haqq) could be established according to the norms of evidence pertaining to the sacred law. In legal terms, they could be described as "settling controversy" (fasl al-khuswma).

In cases heard by qdids, legal problems resulting from unacceptable or incomplete witness evidence were of minor importance. Also, the qd.di did not deal with civil torts, nor was he primarily concerned with breach of contract. His primary task was to establish legal entitlement using the methods of the sacred law, and to sanction these rights by issuing a judgment. In cases in which witness testimony had substan- tiated opposing rights, the qddi might conclude the action without a judgment in favor of either party, as happened in the above-mentioned dispute over real estate that was claimed to be an endowment. If the claimant's witnesses were unknown to a qddi or his court witnesses, the qhdi might give the claimant permission to choose a different judge (hakim) in town.138 If a qddi believed that a claim was baseless, he would not initiate an action and the case would not be presented to the jurisconsults (and thus would leave no trace in our source).139 This being said, I find a crucial difference relating to evidence in inheritance disputes. In these disputes, hardly any action was corroborated by testimonial evidence, except for the general statement confirming the death of the person concerned and the names and numbers of the heirs; evidence which could be given by strangers in the form of "hearsay

137 See for example ibid., 577-79, where the defendant obstructed the testimony of payment to prevent a claim for major defects in the vineyard sold. See also the dispute over a cistern, ibid., 736-41, and the rejection of a witness in a dispute between neighbors concerning damages to a wall, ibid., 1071-73. On cases involving the market inspector, see my "Administrative Tradition and Civil Jurisdiction of the Cordovan sahib al-ahkdm", Al-Qantara (forthcoming ). 138 Ibn Sahl, Ahkam, 31, with a case of the qddi al-jamd'a Ahmad Ibn Ziyad (d. 312/924). Also cited by Ibn Farhu.n, Tabsira, I, 58, thus pointing to the importance of this case.

139 In case of rejection, the other party was not summoned at all, Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 19; also cited in Ibn Farhuin, Tabsira, I, 54, and Nubahi, Marqaba, 194.

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testimony" (shahdda bi'l-samd'). This observation may be explained by the fact that M&likifiqh prohibits testimony in favor of near relatives and others dependent on a claimant. Therefore, in inheritance disputes, qd.dis and jurists often recommended an amicable settlement. Alterna- tively, a qddi might decide to allow one party to swear the oath corro- borating its claim; the oath was considered sufficient proof on which to base a judgment. The decision as to which party should be granted the right to swear the oath was often determined by local custom ('urf).

A judgment, according to Maliki legal doctrine, must be based on witness testimony, on an acknowledgment, or, in certain cases, on the oath of the claimant (see above). Clearly, however, not every decision issued by Cordovan qddls met the requirements of the law of evidence. At the same time, we cannot be sure that the qddi was the only judge in Cordoba to issue qadd' judgments, despite the close semantic relation between the terms qddi and qadd'. Maliki legal theory allows the supreme authority (imam) who installs the qdadi to authorize his officers to act as qddi in defined areas.140 The sources indicate that judicial authorities other than the qddi heard civil cases in the early centuries of Islam.141 In Cordoba, some fatwds issued in connection with cases heard by the market inspector Ibn Harish opted for a hukm bi'l-qadiyya without explicitly requiring a transfer to the qddi. To reopen a lawsuit with another judge, it was necessary to reproduce and reexamine all relevant legal evidence, which may have been a burden for many plaintiffs.142 Since a judgment's resistance to amendment depends on its evidential basis and its compliance with procedural and substantive law as interpreted by the jurisconsults, a decision by the market inspector would be as safe as that of any qddi, as long as he was regarded as possessing the required integrity ('adl). Yet we do not have any indication that the market inspector of Cordoba passed qadd' judgments that had the same legal and moral authority as judgments of the qadl al-jamd'a.143 Clearly, a qddi judgment was valued higher than judgments by other judicial magistrates, as indicated by the case in which two plaintiffs recovered their property rights in land that had been usurped by the former ruler of Cordoba, 'Abd al-Malik Ibn

140 Cf. Baji, Muntaqd, V, 226. 141 Hiroyuki Yanagihashi, "The Judicial Functions of the sultan in Civil Cases according to the Malikis up to the Sixth/Twelfth Century," Islamic Law and Society, 3 (1996), 41-74. 142 Ibid., 50, citing al-Azdi (d. 606/1209). 143 On this, see my forthcoming article "Administrative Tradition and Civil Jurisdiction of the Cordovan sdhib al-ahkam".

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Jahwar; the plaintiffs sought a qddt's corroboration of the judgment issued by the judge of complaints (sahib al-mazdlim), Ibn Adham. Whereas some jurisconsults allowed such a procedure, Ibn Sahl opposed it, on the grounds that the judgment of Ibn Adham was binding on the q.dl, and a qddi judgment would not create a different legal situation; only if there were a substantially new and different claim for the land should the qa.di deal with the matter. 44

Due to his general authority for qadd' judgments and his capacity to register them as legally binding in his dlwan, the qdli al-jamat'a of Cordoba was in an excellent position to preserve and uphold long-term legal rights. No wonder many of the cases preserved in al-Ahkdm al- kubrd fell within the fields of inheritance, bequests and endowments, or concerned the property of minors, orphans and absentees. The qddl al- jamd'a was part of a judicial system in which various judges com- plemented each other by their adherence to Maliki legal doctrine. Unlike other officials, the qdi'ds jurisdictional authority could be terminated only by dismissal; it could not be temporarily interrupted by the inter- ference of the ruler in a particular case. The cases examined here indicate that although the role played by the qdid al-jamd'a in Cordovan society was not exactly the role accorded to him by Islamic legal theory, he nevertheless served as a guarantor of an "Islamic jurisdiction" in a particular historical time and place.

144 Ibn Sahl, Ahkdm, 505-06.

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Article Contentsp. [159]p. 160p. 161p. 162p. 163p. 164p. 165p. 166p. 167p. 168p. 169p. 170p. 171p. 172p. 173p. 174p. 175p. 176p. 177p. 178p. 179p. 180p. 181p. 182p. 183p. 184p. 185p. 186

Issue Table of ContentsIslamic Law and Society, Vol. 7, No. 2, Islamic Law in Al-Andalus (2000), pp. 119-288Islamic Law in Al-Andalus: [Introduction] [pp. 119-121]Le Malkisme et les Conditions Requises pour l'exercice de la Judicature [pp. 122-158]Judging with God's Law on Earth: Judicial Powers of the Q al-jama of Cordoba in the Fifth/Eleventh Century [pp. 159-186]Legal Practice in an Andalus-Maghrib Source from the Twelfth Century CE: The Madhhib al-ukkm f nawzil al-akm [pp. 187-234]Rulers and Qs: Their Relationship during the Narid Kingdom [pp. 235-255]Muslim Minorities and the Obligation to Emigrate to Islamic Territory: Two fatws from Fifteenth-Century Granada [pp. 256-288]

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