"Al-Ghazali of al-Andalus": Ibn Barrajan, Mahdism, and the Emergence of Learned Sufism on the Iberian Peninsula.

• Author: Bellver, Jose

Although Ibn Barrajan (d. 536/1141) was one of the foremost Sufi masters in al-Andalus, he remains a controversial figure. He is mainly known for an accurate prediction of the Muslim capture of Jerusalem on 583/1187, for his close relationship with the other leading Andalusian Sufi master of his time. Ibn al-(Arif (d. 536/1141), and for his obscure death. Ibn Barra is not mentioned in Ibn Bashkuwal's Sila--the main source for study of the Andalusian ulema of this time--and as a result has been taken to be an outsider among the Andalusian ulema. one who threatened the theological and political establishment. However, this image is distorted by the socio-political context of the time and by the paucity of our references. The aim of this article is to shed light on the figure of Ihn Barra from a historical point of view so as to improve our understanding of the role played by Sufism in Mandist movements and in the political changes in the Islamic West during the sixth/twelfth century.

INTRODUCTION

While preparing the introduction to a paper on Ibn Barrajan's prediction of the Muslim capture of Jerusalem in which I intended to summarize the biography of this Andalusian Sufi master from the Almoravid period, I could not help feeling that our historical view of him--as a rebellious Mandist leader who challenged the political authority of the Almoravids--was at odds with the quietist and pious Sufi that resonates in his works. The aim of this article is thus to reconsider the historical data we have about Ibn Barrajan (d. 536/1141), one of the foremost Sufis on the Iberian peninsula, whose volume and range of works ensured that he was known in an day already as "al-Ghazali of al-Andalus." Today, however, he remains a little-known, controversial figure whose writings have yet to be studied in depth.

Ibn Barrajan's life ran parallel to the Almoravid dominion over al-Andalus (1091-1145). He is mainly known for an accurate prediction of the Muslim capture of Jerusalem in 583/1187, for his close relationship with the other prominent Andalusian Sufi master of his time, Ibn (d. 536/1141), and for his obscure death after being summoned, along with Ibn al-(Arif, by the Almoravid sultan All b. Yihut* b. Tashufin (d. 537/1143), shortly before the revolt of the Muridan in the Algarve (539/1144) led by Ibn Qasi (d. 546/1151) and the ascent to power of the Almohads. Ibn Barra.* is referred to in a few sources as imam and it has been alleged that in some 130 villages the Friday sermons were read in his name rather than in that of the sultan. These textual references within the context of the revolt of the Muridun shortly after his death, along with his having been summoned by the sultan, his trial, imprisonment, and death, have sketched a picture of a political activist, a self-proclaimed imam, and a rebellious Mahdi who challenged the political and religious authority of his time and was eventually executed for this insubordination.

Ibn Barrajan's summons and death took place against a background of political, economic, and military crisis in al-Andalus caused by the Christian advance onto the peninsula and accentuating the decline of the Almoravids during the first half of the sixth/twelfth century. Due to Almoravid passivity in the face of the Christian threat, the Andalusian population sought the leadership of members of the judiciary, the fuqahti).

Since the fall of the Umayyads in 422/1031 and the political instability of the mulak al-tawiiI that followed, local power in Andalusian cities tended to concentrate around lineages of important families whose members in many cases inherited posts in the judiciary. These elites were mostly supported by the local population. At different times, and particularly during the crisis following the fall of the Almoravids (shortly after Ibn Barrajan's death), judges stepped into the power vacuum and ruled over local populations. Hence in order to understand the events that surrounded Ibn Barrajan's summons and imprisonment, we should bear in mind that the power structure in al-Andalus was not only linked to the Almoravid elite of governors and the military, but also to the power of the judiciary concentrated around local lineages with the endorsement of religious authority.

The aim of this article is to reconsider the historical data that we have about Ibn Barrajan in order to debunk the currently accepted view of him as a scholar on the margins and a rebellious political contender, since a careful reading of the sources shows this not to be the case. I propose that the events surrounding Ibn Barra* were a result of religious--not political--tensions brought about by the emergence of a class of learned Sufis whose increasing numbers of disciples were seen as a threat by the judiciary. With the spiritual and religious authority he had acquired, Ibn Barrajan came to personify in the Islamic West of his day an equivalent role to that of al-Ghazali in the Islamic East. These tensions resulted in Ibn Barrajan's being tried for and found guilty of bicl'a; as a mubtadi' he was omitted from the most important biographical work of his day, Ibn Bashkuwal's al-Pa, which erroneously fostered the impression that he was a minor scholar, leading to a mistaken reputation to this very day.

IBN BARRAJAN IN HISTORIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The treatment of Ibn Barrajan in historiographical sources has changed over time, which has caused considerable confusion regarding his role in history. The source that is chronologically closest to his lifetime--the biographical dictionary al-571a (the main source for our knowledge of the Andalusian ulema of this period)--is silent about him. Its author, Ibn Bashkuwal (d. 578/1183), was in his late thirties at the time of Ibn Barrajdn's death and although he wrote his biographical dictionary under both the Almoravids and the Almohads, he makes no reference to Ibn Barrajan. There is no evidence that Ibn Bashkuwill had a negative view of Sufism as such; among many other indications of his (generally speaking) favorable attitude, he included an entry on Ibn al-(Aiif praising his piety. Ibn Bashkuwal's silence regarding Ibn Barrajan has led some scholars to suggest that Ibn Barrajan was such a minor scholar in al-Andalus that he did not deserve mention in the most complete biographical dictionary of his time.

In the seventh century A.H., the picture of Ibn Barrajan in historiographical sources begins to change, once the prediction of the Muslim capture of Jerusalem was fulfilled. During this period 1bn Barrajan's reputation and those of others who suffered under the Almoravids were restored by the Almohads, who tended to support Sufis even though they did not entirely trust them: and the sources of this period are generally sympathetic toward Ibn Barrajan and Sufism. Even though these historiographical sources are among those closest to Ibn Barrajdn's time, none describes him as an imam in a political sense or as a contender for political authority, and none indicates a violent death or execution, although mention is made that he was summoned, judged, and imprisoned on allegedly religious grounds. The reason given for his having been summoned was the fugahe's growing envy of Ibn al-sArif. These sources include biographical dictionaries by al-Tddili, Ibn al-Abbdr, Ibn al-Zubayr, and Ibn (Abd al-Malik al-MaiTakushi. There are notices of Ibn Barrajdn in other biographical dictionaries of this period, but most rely on Ibn al-Abbar.

The first mention of Ibn Barrajdn in a biographical dictionary in this period was by Yfisuf (d. 627 or 628/1229 or 1230) in al-Tashawwuf iia rijal al-tayawwuf writ- ten ca. 617/1220, (2) some eighty years after Ibn Barrajdn's death and some fifty years after Ibn Bashkuwal completed in 564/1169. Al-Tashawwuf is a biographical dictionary devoted to Maghribi Sufi masters of the fifth and sixth centuries A.H., and is thus sympathetic to Sufism. Al-Tddili does not include an entry on Ibn Barrajdn himself, but he mentions Ibn Barrajdn's burial in the biographical notice of the Moroccan Sufi master Ibn Hirzihim (d. 559/1164), who played an important role in the events subsequent to Ibn Barrajdn's death.

The first biographical notice completely devoted to Ibn Barrajan is found in Ibn al-Abbar's (d. 658/1260) Takmila a work begun in 631/1233, one century after Ibn Barrajdn's death. (3) This is a classic biography in the Islamic tradition, with plain references to teachers, students, and works. There is no reference to the events surrounding Ibn Barrajdn's death or to any political interest of his. Later biographical dictionaries quote from this biography extensively. Ibn al-Abbar supplies additional information about Ibn Barrajdn in the biographies of some of his students and disciples. In particular, Ibn al-Abbdr's biography of Ibn al-cArif--in his dictionary of Abu 'Ali al-Sadafi's students (4)--provides some explanation regarding the summoning of Ibn Barrajan and Ibn al-Arif to Marrakesh.

This second period is completed with biographies by Ibn al-Zubayr (d. 708/1308) (5) and Ibn 'Ali al-Malik al-Marrakushi (d. 703/1303), although the latter is only extant through Ibn Hajar al-Asqaldni's Lisan a1-mizan. (6) Ibn al-Zubayr is extremely sympathetic to Ibn Barrajdn. However, his biography is mostly drawn from reading Ibn Barrajdn's works and provides little additional information. Ibn 'Ali al-Malik al-Marrdkushi provides an account of Ibn Barrajan's summons, trial, death, and burial, but no reference is made to his being a contender for political authority.

The perception of Ibn Barrajan begins to change in the seventh century A.H., with Ihn Taymiyya's (d. 728/1328) polemics against the watidat al-wujad strand of Sufism. Ibn Tay-miyya raised some concerns about Ibn Barrajan by linking him to supporters of the doctrine in which God is both transcendent and immanent, such as Abi Talib al-Malcki (d. 386/996) and the alleged Salimiyya. Even though Ibn...