MUSLIM MINORITIES AND THE OBLIGATION TO EMIGRATE TWO FATWĀS FROM FIFTEENTH-CENTURY GRANADA TO ISLAMIC TERRITORY:

Abstract

AbstractWhen Christian forces conquered the entire eastern regions (sharq al-Andalus) of the Iberian peninsula in the thirteenth century, a large population of Muslims became subject to Christian rule. Now known as Mudejars, these Muslims continued to practice their religion and regulate their communities according to Islamic law, but their residence in dār al-Harb (abode of war) became the subject of divided legal discourse among Mālikī jurists. Some of the controversies which surrounded a Mudejar's obligation to emigrate to Islamic lands are preserved in fatwā s issued by jurists in Granada, the Maghrib, and Ifrīqiya. The aim of this essay is to present two previously unknown fatwās, issued by al-Haffār and al-Mawwāq, that address two particular aspects of the Mudejar predicament: the validity of sadāq contracts authenticated by Mudejar judges and the obligations of Muslims to their Mudejar families and communities living under Christian rule.