Understanding Medieval Morocco and Granada in 22 Reads

OCTOBER 15, 2024 — Mohamed Seif El Nasr’s debut novel, Then He Sent Prophets, is out today from Daraja Press. This striking novel, set between fourteenth-century Morocco and Spain, follows a young scholar named Zakaria trying to do “right” in the world as he balances individual ego, his responsibilities to his family, and his love of the wider community and world. Today on ArabLit, Mohamed discussed the book with us. (In Conversation: The Possibilities for Doing ‘Right’ in 14th Century Morocco & Spain.)

Also today, Mohamed shares a list of twenty-two books that were essential for understanding the era:

Contemporary books

Predominantly, I relied on the works of Ibn Khaldun and Ibn al-Khatib, which, in my opinion, should be read together if one is to form a clear picture of medieval Morocco and Granada until the time of the novel. This is because both men were politically biased and had different red lines that they could not cross, even when describing historical events that preceded their time. Ibn al-Khatib, naturally, rarely criticized the Nasrid dynasty of Granada—never mentioned, for example, that many of them were considered vassals to the kings of Castile—and disregarded or belittled anything that might be considered offensive to them. The same applies to Ibn Khaldun regarding the Marinid sultans—though admittedly, to a lesser extent—which, I believe, is partly due to his character and partly due to him finishing his major historical work in Tunis, outside of Marinid dominion. What I also found useful was reading a translation of Pero López de Ayala’s Chronicle of King Pedro, which made me see things from the Castilians’ point of view and showed me how little they knew about their neighbors, which is also clear from Arabic sources.

A selection of Ibn al-Khatib’s works

الإحاطة في أخبار غرناطة

This is arguably the most well-known book about the Emirate of Granada. It covers everything there is to cover about the city itself, its history and landmarks, moving on to describe its people and their social and intellectual life, and then lists the biographies of hundreds of Granada’s notable citizens. The beginning of the book (the narratives about the city itself and its people) is a must-read, but the biographies are hard to navigate because they are not offered chronologically. I used the biographical part as a sort of encyclopedia when I wanted to learn more about any historical character who lived in Granada at the time of the novel or before that.

اللمحة البدرية في الدولة النصرية

In my opinion, this relatively short work is the book to read if one wants to learn about the history of Granada and its Nasrid rulers until the mid-14th century. It also begins by describing the emirate’s natural geographic conditions, gives a brief about the city and its history, and then dedicates a chapter to each of the Nasrid rulers until Ibn al-Khatib’s time. In each chapter, Ibn al-Khatib describes the ruler himself, lists the political events during his rule, provides information about his viziers and his army commanders, and also, most usefully, gives a brief about his contemporary rulers in the Iberian Peninsula and the greater Maghreb.

نفاضة الجراب في علالة الاغتراب

This book was very helpful to me because it focuses explicitly on the period of the novel. It describes in great detail the state of Granada after the overthrow of its sultan, Muhammad ibn Yusuf, his exile to Morocco, and his return and attempt to reclaim his throne. It is, of course, very biased because of Ibn al-Khatib’s relationship with Muhammad ibn Yusuf, but still incredibly helpful.

خطرة الطيف في رحلة الشتاء والصيف

This book details Ibn al-Khatib’s journey to Almeria with his sultan, Yusuf (Muhammad’s father) in 1347. He describes several cities, like Granada and Guadix, in great detail and how the people of each city welcomed their sultan. I found it useful for the description of the places and also for the description of the relationship between the people and their rulers.

A selection of Ibn Khaldun’s works

كتاب العبر، وديوان المبتدأ والخبر في أيام العرب

This is, of course, Ibn Khaldun’s most notable work, which includes his famous prolegomenon. It was honestly an arduous task to read all of it. Other than learning about Ibn Khaldun’s well-known theories in the prolegomenon, it was truly insightful to read the sections about the history of the world, which allowed me to understand what people in 14th century Morocco believed about Creation, the days of the Prophet, the Islamic civil wars, and so on. The last sections deal exclusively with the history of the Berbers in the Maghreb, with many sections dedicated to the Emirate of Granada. It is here that Ibn Khaldun’s history becomes indispensable as a complementary read to Ibn al-Khatib’s works and where one can find Ibn al-Khatib’s omissions—from large issues like the vassalage of some Nasrid rulers to Castilian kings to explicit details, like how the “madman” who assassinated Ibn al-Khatib’s sultan actually claimed descent from a Nasrid ruler and believed he was the rightful sultan.

For those interested in the history of medieval Morocco and Spain, I would recommend reading the prolegomenon, skipping the sections in the middle dealing with the history of the world, and reading the last two sections dealing with the history of the Berbers in the Maghreb.

لباب المحصل في أصول الدين

This is Ibn Khaldun’s first book (written when he was 19). I could not help reading it because it was a sort of dissertation he had written under the supervision of al-Abili, whom Zakaria’s character in the novel is partly based on. Though you get a sense of how detail-oriented and meticulous Ibn Khaldun was from a young age, I found it an extremely difficult read and do not really recommend it.

A selection of other contemporary works

رحلة ابن بطوطة

I think reading Ibn Battuta’s Rihla is essential to get an idea of the medieval Arab and Islamic world. The book helps anyone situate the Maghreb and al-Andalus in relation to the wider region and is full of anecdotes that I found funny and useful in my writing. I also read the abridgment in English, The Travels of Ibn Battutah, published by Picador in 2003 and thought it was good.

جني زهرة الآس في بناء مدينة فاس لعلي الجزنائي

This is the book to read if one wants to learn about the history of the city of Fes and how it was in the 14th century. It has information about the city’s foundation, its name’s etymology, and a description of its neighborhoods and famous sites, including everything there is to know about the Qarawiyyin mosque.

المسند الصحيح لابن مرزوق

This is a book of flattery written by Ibn Marzuq, the sultan’s advisor in the novel, to Sultan Abul Hasan’s son to gain his favor—shamelessly praising each and every characteristic of the late sultan. While it comically portrays the sultan as some sort of perfect human, I found it helpful because it paints a clear picture of how people believed their ruler should be and because it is full of details about the sultan’s daily life and routine and how people should behave around him.

حلية الفرسان وشعار الشجعان / تحفة الأنفس وشعار سكان الأندلس (ابن الهذيل)

These two books by the same author have everything there is to know about the military and warfare in medieval Morocco and Granada. One deals with knightly conduct, horses, and weapons, while the other deals with warfare.

روضة النسرين في دولة بني مرين لإسماعيل ابن الأحمر

This is a very short (about 40 pages) but important work, listing all the rulers of the Marinid sultanate in chronological order with a brief biography that includes year of birth, year of death, ruling period, physical description, their viziers and secretaries, and their offspring.

Chronicle of King Pedro by Pero López de Ayala

As mentioned earlier, I found this book helpful in understanding the Castilians’ perspective and attitude toward the Emirate of Granada and the Marinid Sultanate.

Not contemporary but close to the time of the novel

نفح الطيب من غصن الأندلس الرطيب وذكر وزيرها لسان الدين ابن الخطيب لأحمد المقري، نشر في القرن ال١٧ الميلادي

I read this book because it kept coming up in my research and because I thought it was interesting to know how a scholar like Al-Maqqari would write in the 17th century about al-Andalus. I thought it was good, but I honestly did not make much use of it because it sort of fell in the middle for me—It was neither as relevant as the contemporary sources nor as clear and easy to read as the modern sources. It is, however, probably the first thing anyone interested in Lisan al-din Ibn al-Khatib should read since it has everything to know about him.

الروض العاطر في نزهة الخاطر لأبو عبد الله محمد النفزاوي، نشر في القرن الخامس عشر الميلادي

This is an interesting book (known as the Arabic Kama Sutra). Other than being a sex manual (which I did not really benefit from in the novel), it gives a clear idea about which qualities men and women should have had (both physical and temperamental) to be considered attractive in medieval Morocco. It is indispensable when drawing characters for a story at that time. There is an English translation, The Perfumed Garden, published by Park Street Press in 1992 and translated by Richard Burton.

وصف أفريقيا لحسن الوزان، نشر في القرن السادس عشر الميلادي

Leo Africanus’s book is, of course, very well-known. I did not read all of it, but I used it to re-check the description of a few places in the novel and look for anecdotes.

Modern books 

Essential

1- Rachel Arié’s L’Espagne muslmane au temps des Nasrides (1232-1492), published in 1973, is, in my opinion, the best scholarly work about the Emirate of Granada. If one were to read only one book about Granada, this should be it. Similar to old Arabic sources, it begins by describing the natural geographic conditions that helped the emirate survive for a long time while surrounded by enemies, moves on to describe its political history and its complex relations with its neighbors, and then dedicates the rest of the book to describing life in Granada in incredibly amazing detail, from state intuitions to customs, culture, and traditions—not leaving one stone unturned.

2-

لمحمد عبد الله عنان، نشر سنة ١٩٤٩ دولة الإسلام في الأندلس (أ)

This book would serve the same purpose for the Arabic reader. Again, it is an excellent work of scholarship and would be great for someone who wants to get a clear idea about the history of the Emirate of Granada, including the period after its fall.

مظاهر الحضارة في الأندلس في عصر بني الأحمر لأحمد محمد الطوخي، نشر سنة ١٩٩٧ (ب)

This book is great for complementing Anan’s book, because it focuses on every aspect of social life in the Emirate of Granada.

3- L.P. Harvey’s Islamic Spain, 1250 to 1500, published in 1992, would be a good introduction to get a picture of the history of the Emirate for the English reader. It covers the political history well, although with fewer details about life in the emirate.

Other modern books

1- Mohammad Abdullah Enan’s Ibn Khaldun: His Life and Works, published in 1941.

This is a good biography of Ibn Khaldun.

2- A. J. Arberry’s Moorish Poetry, published in 1953.

This is the only poetry compilation I could find in English. I thought it was good, but not especially so.