CHAPTER 19

I B N A L - K H AT I B
Alexander Knysh

The great Andalusi polymath and statesman Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn
Abd Allah ibn Sad al-Salaman, better known as Lisan al-Dn ibn alKhatb, was a bright star in the pleiad of great minds of his age, which consisted of such luminaries as Abd al-Rahman and Yahya ibn Khaldun, Ibn
Marzuq, Ibn Battuta, and Ibn Zamrak.1 He was born in 713/1313 in the town
of Loja of a family of Arab notables, whose members had traditionally been
employed in the religious and civil service of Andalusi rulers (al-Maqqar
5:50). When Ibn al-Khatb was only several weeks old, his father was invited
to take a high post at the court of the new emir of Granada, Ismal I (r.
713/1314725/1325), and the family moved to the capital. In Granada, Ibn alKhatb received an excellent education under the guidance of the best scholars of the epoch, whose biographies he gratefully included in his works
(al-Maqqar 5:189251, 350603). He studied a broad variety of subjects:
Arabic language and grammar, sharia and exegesis, adab and poetry, medicine
and falsafa, history, and Sufism. Ibn al-Khatbs breadth of background is mirrored in a dazzling multiplicity of the topics treated in his writings. His vast
knowledge, noble pedigree, and the high post of his father, combined with his
unique literary talent and extraordinary memory, destined him for a splendid
career at the Granadine court.
In 741/1340, Ibn al-Khatb suered a severe personal crisis, when his father
and elder brother were killed in the battle of Tarf (Salado). Fortunately,
despite Ibn al-Khatbs young age, his former teacher Ibn al-Jayyab, vizier of
the emir Yusuf I (r. 733/1333755/1354), decided to appoint Ibn al-Khatb his
personal secretary. Upon Ibn al-Jayyabs untimely death of plague in
749/1349, Ibn al-Khatb became head of the royal chancery with the title of
vizier.2 He was put in charge of the emirs diplomatic correspondence and was
occasionally sent as ambassador to Andalusi and Maghribi rulers. In addition,
he was responsible for formulating and editing royal decrees and edicts,
which he later collected in the book Rayhanat al-kuttab wa-nujat al-muntab
(Sweet Basil of the Secretaries and the Provision of the Seekers) and which,
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along with his diplomatic epistles, were praised by the historian al-Maqqar as
the pinnacle of literary perfection (5:40446). To these functions he later
added those of master of the royal household, which in his own words gave
him full authority over the financial, military, administrative, and political
aairs of the Granadine court and state as a whole (Ihata 1:22, 2:1718). Ibn alKhatb retained all these posts and titles under the new emir Muhammad V
al-Ghan bi-llah (from 755/1354 to 760/1359), his former disciple and confidant. Moreover, it appears that Ibn al-Khatb was instrumental in ensuring
the young emirs ascent to the throne and soon became his right-hand man
(Bencheneb 76). He further distinguished himself by successfully accomplishing an important diplomatic mission to the Marinid ruler Abu Inan,
who, impressed by Ibn al-Khatbs spirited panegyric, pledged to support the
Granadine emir in his struggle against the Reconquista (Ibn al-Khatb, Ihata
1:2324). From then on, Ibn al-Khatb invariably steered Granadas foreign
policy toward a closer cooperation and, in the long run, union with the powerful Marinid state (Ibn al-Khatb, Ta
rkh al-maghrib p. lam).
When in 760/1359 Muhammad V was deposed by his half brother Ismal
and a group of disloyal courtiers and narrowly escaped with his life, Ibn alKhatb, as doyen of the deposed regime, landed in prison with his property
confiscated by the new ruler. However, he was soon released thanks to the
interference of the Marinid sultan Abu Salim and joined his fugitive sovereign in his Maghribi exile. In Fez they were welcomed by Abu Salim and his
retinue, which featured such consequential figures of Western Islamdom as
Ibn Marzuq and Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun (Ibn al-Khatb, Ihata 1:2527;
Ari 1089). After a brief stay in Fez, Ibn al-Khatb asked the emirs permission to tour his vast realm. His colorful impressions of this trip are described
in a travelogue (rihla) titled Nufadat al-jirab f ulalat al-ightirab (The
Shaking of the Bag: On the Diversion of the One Who Travels Abroad) a
mine of illuminating information on the political and cultural life of the
Marinid Far Maghrib with an informative excursus into its recent history (alTitwan 11440).
Ibn al-Khatb finally settled in a quiet town of Sal, which he had visited
on an earlier diplomatic trip to Morocco. He spent almost two years there,
immersed in writing and pious meditation yet not neglectful of his mundane
interests. With a generous monthly stipend of five hundred silver dinars
awarded to him by Abu Salim he lived a life of ease. His calm was shattered by
the sudden death of his wife, whom he bemoaned in moving elegies. Ibn alKhatbs residence in Sal was a rare occasion for nurturing his personal predilection for Sufi spirituality.3 While in Sal, Ibn al-Khatb frequented local
Sufi lodges and cemeteries and was favorably received by Sals most popular
wal, the reclusive Ibn A shir (al-Nasir 3032; Ibn A shir, EI 2 ). At the same

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time, his luxurious lifestyle drew the criticism of a local notary whom Ibn alKhatb rebued in a lengthy treatise against the men of this legal profession
(Turki).
Ibn al-Khatbs seclusion ended in 763/1362, when Muhammad V regained
his throne with the help of the Marinid sultan. Ibn al-Khatb returned to
Granada to assume his former post at the head of the civil and military
authority (dhu l-wizaratayn) of the Granadine kingdom. Soon after his return
to the capital, he ran afoul of the able commander of the Maghribi volunteer
troops stationed in Granada, Yahya ibn Al, whom he viewed as a rival. In an
eort to maintain his undivided control over the state politics and the military, Ibn al-Khatb launched a series of intrigues aimed at besmirching the
reputation of this general in the eyes of the ruler. His eorts led to the expulsion of Yahya ibn Al and his supporters, leaving Ibn al-Khatb the sole senior
executive of the Granadine state (Ari 205). In a similar vein, he disposed of
the ambitious Maghribi migrs, the Marinid prince Ibn Yaflusn and the exvizier Masud ibn Masay, although this time he was driven by the desire to
please the Marinid sultans of Fez (Ibn al-Khatb, Ta
rkh al-maghrib pp.
lam and mm; Ari 440).
His intense scheming aroused the hatred of the emirs courtiers sympathetic with the banished Maghribi migrs and, moreover, alienated his
friends and disciples. In a drive to secure his undivided influence on the emir,
Ibn al-Khatb did not hesitate to trample even his most loyal friends. Thus,
when Muhammad V showed favor to the Maghribi vizier Abd al-Rahman
ibn Khaldun, who had successfully accomplished a delicate diplomatic
mission to the court of Peter the Cruel of Seville, Ibn al-Khatbs envy sent his
old friend packing to the Maghrib in 766/1365 (Ari 441; Ibn al-Khatb, Ihata
1:30; Ibn Khaldun, EI 2 ).
In the meantime, his position at the Granadine court began to erode due to
the intrigues and hostile rumors instigated by his disciples and aides Ibn
Zamrak and Ibn Farkun, who joined hands with his powerful enemy, the
grand qadi of Granada, Al al-Nubah. The former two secretly craved their
teachers position, whereas the latter was oended by Ibn al-Khatbs mystical
ideas expounded in the Rawdat al-tarf as well as his leniency toward those
whom the qadi condemned as heretics (al-Maqqar 5:11822). More important, the emir, already in his forties, began to resent the viziers overbearing
control over the aairs of the state as well as his single-minded loyalty to the
Marinids, which, in the emirs mind, was detrimental to Granadas own interests (Bencheneb 77).
Apprehensive of the emirs growing displeasure, Ibn al-Khatb entered into
secret negotiations with the Marinid sultan Abd al-Azz, who resided in
Tlemcen. Having secured the sultans support, Ibn al-Khatb left the capital

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in 773/1371 with his youngest son, Al, on the pretext of inspecting fortresses
in the western part of the Granadine kingdom. Instead, he headed for
Gibraltar, from where he set sail for the Maghribi coast (Ibn al-Khatb, Ihata
1:3336).
Ibn al-Khatbs sudden departure infuriated his enemies, especially Ibn
Zamrak and al-Nubah, who hastened to accuse him of treason. The latter
also declared him a heretic who had belittled the reputation of the Prophet,
espoused the atheistic teachings of the falasifa, and propagated the incarnationist doctrine (h ulul ) of the monistic Sufis. Shortly after Ibn al-Khatbs
escape to the Maghrib, al-Nubah issued a fatwa that called for the destruction of the viziers works and the confiscation of his property. The books were
put to torch in Granadas market square. The qadi then sent Ibn al-Khatb a
letter exposing the viziers alleged abominations and excommunicating him
from the community of the faithful. The ad hominem nature of this letter,
which apart from heresy and desertion accused Ibn al-Khatb of venality,
unscrupulousness, and detraction from the reputation of living and deceased
scholars, suggests that al-Nubah had a personal grudge against the disgraced
vizier. This impression is corroborated by his reference to the instances of Ibn
al-Khatbs unsolicited interference with, or disregard for, legal rulings and
criminal verdicts meted out by al-Nubah.
Stung by these accusations, Ibn al-Khatb wrote a refutation of his detractor titled Khal al-rasan f l-tarf bi-ahwal abu l-hasan (Giving Free Rein to
the Exposition of the Condition of Abu l-Hasan), in which he ridiculed alNubah as an impish, apelike dwarf, grossly ignorant of the nuances of the
Islamic tradition. His ungenerous treatment of the qadi contrasts sharply
with Ibn al-Khatbs earlier portrayal of al-Nubah as the greatest scholar of
the epoch (Katba 14653; Ihata 1:4041).
At al-Nubahs instigation, Muhammad V demanded that the sultan Abd
al-Azz either extradite or execute his heretical protg. Unconvinced by alNubahs accusations, the Marinid sultan declined the request as motivated
by personal hatred. Although the Marinid ruler died soon afterward, Ibn alKhatb continued to enjoy the patronage of vizier Abu Bakr ibn Ghaz, who
became regent on behalf of Abd al-Azzs minor son. The new ruler and his
retinue moved to Fez, where they received another letter from the Nasrid
emir demanding the extradition of the fugitive vizier. Ibn Ghazs blunt
refusal to grant his request infuriated Muhammad V and may have contributed to his decision to support the opponents of Ibn Ghaz and his young
ward, whom the Granadine emir had deliberately cultivated at his court.
With his military and political support the rebels soon gained the upper hand
in the dynastic struggle that ensued and proclaimed Abu l-Abbas Ahmad alMarn the new sultan.

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With Ibn Ghaz no longer by his side, Ibn al-Khatb was left face to face
with the victors who owed their triumph to the Granadine emir and were
eager to repay their debt. They threw the disgraced vizier into prison until the
arrival of a delegation from Granada headed by Ibn al-Khatbs discipleturned-enemy Ibn Zamrak, who had served as vizier since the formers escape
to the Maghrib. Upon the delegations arrival in Fez, the new sultan ordered a
public hearing of Ibn al-Khatbs case, which was conducted by a council of
scholars loyal to him as well as the members of the Granadine delegation.
Undaunted by the intimidation and torture, Ibn al-Khatb protested his
innocence and flatly denied the accusations of heresy and unbelief leveled at
him by Ibn Zamrak. His plight was aggravated by the fact that the person in
charge of the trial was his old enemy Sulayman ibn Da
ud, whom Ibn alKhatb had denied a lucrative post in the Granadine military a few years
earlier (al-Maqqar 5:11011).
Although some ulama pronounced Ibn al-Khatb guilty of heresy, the vote
was far from unanimous and no conclusive decision was reached by the
council. Ibn al-Khatb was sent back to prison, where he was strangled in the
night by thugs sent by the vizier Sulayman ibn Da
ud, who acted in collusion
with Ibn Zamraks Andalusi delegation. The next morning (the end of
776/MayJune 1375), his body was buried at Bab al-Mahruq in Fez.
Unsatisfied, his vengeful enemies exhumed his body and threw it on a
bonfire, whereupon his charred remains were finally laid to rest. Soon after
Morocco wrested its independence from France (1956), a modest mausoleum
was erected over his grave under the orders of the Moroccan king
Muhammad V (al-Nasir 80, 141).
A detailed account of Ibn al-Khatbs last ordeal was left by Abd alRahman ibn Khaldun, who remained his friend and admirer despite the brief
alienation that occurred between them at Granada. At the close of his narrative, Ibn Khaldun quotes the poignant verses that the imprisoned vizier
reportedly composed on the eve of his assassination:
We travel far away, albeit the dwellings are near
Although we have a message to deliver, we remain speechless
Our breath suddenly stopped
As if a loud prayer was followed by a silent recitation
Of noble ancestry we were, but, alas, we have turned into a stack
of dry bones4
We used to feed others, but lo, now we ourselves are food [for
worms]
We were like shining suns that travel high in the sky above,
But, lo, the suns have set and been lamented by the [orphaned]
stars

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Many a warrior armed with the sword was felled by a rain of

sharp-pointed arrows
Many a lucky one was suddenly failed by his good fortune
Many a young nobleman, who used to don the royal mantle, was
put in his grave wrapped in rags
So, tell the enemies: Yes, Ibn al-Khatb is gone, but is there
anyone who will not be gone one day?
And tell those of you who rejoice at this news: Only he who
thinks he will never die can rejoice on a day like this!
(Ibn al-Khatb, Dwan 1:185; cf. al-Maqqar 5:11112)

ibn al-khat i bs legacy

Ibn al-Khatbs work provides ample evidence of his unusual versatility and
places him squarely among Islams greatest polymaths. In a vast corpus of an
estimated sixty works he treated such diverse subjects as history, biography,
the art of government, politics, geography, poetics, theology, fiqh, Sufism,
grammar, medicine, veterinary medicine, agriculture, music, and falconry
(al-Maqqar 7:97102). His literary heritage was popularized by the great
champion of Andalusi culture al-Maqqar (d. 1041/1632),5 who dedicated the
second part of his monumental historical and literary encyclopedia Nafh altb min ghusn al-andalus al-ratb wa-dhikr wazriha lisan al-dn ibn al-khatb
(Breath of Perfume from the Tender Branch of al-Andalus and an Account of
its Vizier Lisan al-Dn ibn al-Khatb) to the Granadine vizier (1:15). With the
first European edition of al-Maqqars work in 1855, Ibn al-Khatb was introduced to the European reader. From the outset, European scholars tended to
focus on his historical writings, which are indeed a real mine of variegated
information on the kingdom of Granada and its Andalusi predecessors.6 Of
these writings, three have received the lions share of scholars attention: alLamha al-badriyya f l-dawla al-nasriyya (Flash of Moonlight: On the History
of Granada), a political history of the Nasrids of Granada
(634/1237897/1492) up to 765/1364 arranged according to the dynastic principle; al-Ihata f akhbar gharnata (Comprehensive Book on the History of
Granada), which, in addition to dynastic history, provides detailed biographies of the celebrities connected with Granada from the earliest days of the
Muslim conquest up to Ibn al-Khatbs own time; and, finally, Kitab amal alalam f man buyia qabl al-ihtilam (Deeds of the Great: On Those Who
Came to the Throne before Reaching Maturity), a general Muslim history in
three parts dealing with the central lands of Islam, al-Andalus, and the
Maghrib respectively, which Ibn al-Khatb started in Tlemcen between
774/1372 and 776/1374 and completed shortly before his death (Dunlop, Arab
Civilization 146; Ari 17980). In these and other works,7 Ibn al-Khatb made

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extensive use of the historical and biographical writings of his predecessors,

especially Ibn al-Qutiyya, Ibn al-Sayraf, Ibn Hayyan, Ibn Idhar, Ibn Ab
Zar, Ibn Sad al-Maghrib, Ibn al-Abbar, Ibn Bashkuwal, and Ibn alZubayr, whose contribution he readily acknowledged.8
In addition to the biographies of Granadine notables in his historical
works, Ibn al-Khatb compiled specialized biographical dictionaries of
Andalusi literati, which were patterned on Ibn Bassams al-Dhakhra
(Treasury), al-Fath ibn Khaqans Qala
id al-iqyan (Gold Necklaces) and
Matmah al-anfus (The Desire of Souls), Ibn Dihyas al-Mutrib (The
Delightful), and Ibn Sads al-H
ulla al-siyara
(The Garment of Pure Silk) in
propagating the achievements of Andalusi litterateurs among Eastern
Muslims.9 In one such work, al-Katba al-kamina (A Troop in Ambush),
written toward the end of his life, Ibn al-Khatb revised the earlier laudatory
biographies of some of his friends-turned-enemies from the Ihata, presenting
them in unfavorable light. This collection of 103 biographies in florid rhymed
prose is arranged according to the professional background of the men of
letters treated in it: the preachers and the Sufis; the Qur
an reciters and
instructors; the judges; and the functionaries in the royal chancery.10 By
citing selected poetic pieces from the works of his predecessors, Ibn al-Khatb
implicitly attempted to convey his own standard of good poetic taste as well
as his personal sympathies and antipathies (17).
His concern for proper poetic style and imagery is even more pronounced
in his poetic anthology al-Sihr wa l-shir (Enchantment and Poetry), which
was designed by the author as a guide to good poetry and literary taste and
featured numerous excerpts from the occasional, descriptive, and ascetic
poetry by distinguished oriental authors: Abu l-Atahiya, Abu Nuwas, Ibn alRum, Ibn al-Mutazz. On the occidental side, Ibn al-Khatb gave preference
to Ibn Rashq, al-Mutamid, Ibn Ammar, Ibn al-Labbana, Ibn Sahl, and Ibn
Hamds (Ari 454). He was also fond of the indigenous poetic forms such as
zajal and muwashshah, the best samples of which he collected in a special
anthology titled Jaysh al-tawshh (The Striking Army of Stanza Poetry) (see
Stern).
Ibn al-Khatbs own poetry, especially at the early stage of his career, displays his intimate knowledge of, and dependence on, the work of the great
court poets of the Muslim East, namely, Abu Nuwas, Abu Tammam, and alMutanabb. The themes and genres of his poetic works are also quite traditional: description of nature (wasf ), court panegyric (madh), love lyric
(ghazal ), lamentation (ritha
), satire (hija
), epigram (tahakkum), wine
poetry (khamriyya), and ascetic and devotional poems. He also composed
political and didactic verses that lavishly adorn his historical works and travel-

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ogues. Much of his poetic output, which had been dispersed throughout his
vast corpus of writings, was only recently gathered under one cover (Dwan).
A great master of rhymed prose (saj ), Ibn al-Khatb collected the most
elegant and involved samples of his diplomatic correspondence with the
Maghribi rulers as well as the royal edicts he had edited in the anthologies
Kunasat al-dukkan (The Sweeping of the Shop) and Rayhanat al-kuttab,
which served as models for occidental Muslim diplomats and writers for centuries to come. His diplomatic epistles range from the transparently lucid and
concise to the deliberately equivocal and obscure evidence of the authors
remarkable ability to adapt to rapidly changing political circumstances and
shifting diplomatic alliances.
Although an impeccable and refined saj runs like a red thread across the
texture of Ibn al-Khatbs entire literary production, his mastery of this form
reaches its culmination in his assemblies (maqamat), the stylistic and imaginative sophistication of which often verges on preciosity. In a sense, Ibn alKhatb was a resuscitator of this long-neglected genre (Ari 448), although his
interpretation of it was quite distinct from that of its classical exponents, alHamadhan and al-Harr the Islamic precursors of the picaresque novel. In
Ibn al-Khatbs Khatrat al-tayf f rihlat al-shita
wa l-sayf (The Trembling of
the Apparition: On Travel in Summer and Winter) we find neither a picaro
nor a traditional picaresque plot. Rather, we witness a typical Muslim travelogue (rihla), in which the author recounts, in meticulous and colorful detail,
the sultans trip across his Andalusi domain. The exquisitely refined narrative
of this geographic maqama is put in the mouth of the courtly companion of
the royal traveler an astute observer of the customs, landscape, and cultural
characteristics of his native country (Abbad). The rhymed prose of the
maqama is interspersed with poetic quotations and rare pieces of erudition
that, in line with the exigencies of adab literature, are designed both to entertain and to edify. Here, as in many other of Ibn al-Khatbs works, we observe
a hybridization and intertwining of several traditional genres and trends of
medieval Arabic literature a fact that alerts us to the inherent limitations of
conventional taxonomy.
In his other maqamat, Mufakharat malaqa wa-sala (Boasting Match
between Mlaga and Sal) and Miyar al-ikhtiyar (The Preferred
Measurement), Ibn al-Khatb draws an extended comparison between the
respective merits of Andalusi and Maghribi cities. In the latter work, written
during his stay in Sal, in the passages that are eminently balanced
and marked by the [skillful] choice of synonyms and the [smooth] progression of rhythmical units, Ibn al-Khatb brings forth the advantages of the
Nasrid metropolis against its less sophisticated and spectacular Maghribi

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alexander knysh

counterpart and perhaps unwittingly evinces his secret preference for . . .

his Andalusi homeland (Ari 450). The influence of the maqama genre is
evident in Ibn al-Khatbs other works, such as Muthla al-tarqa f dhamm alwathqa (The Exemplary Path: On the Condemnation of the Notaries),
which, in the rather ungenerous remark of a contemporary investigator,
accounts for an unfortunate combination of the exuberance of expression
with the poverty of idea and of the search for an exquisite and rare word with
the banality of the theme (Turki 170).
Much more typical of the rihla genre in its traditional sense, as established
by Ibn al-Khatbs famous compatriot Ibn Jubayr (d. 614/1217) and developed
by another Andalusi, Ibn Rushayd (d. 721/1321), is his work with the odd
name, Nufadat al-jirab f ulalat al-ightirab. Composed during the viziers
first exile to the Maghrib following the aforementioned coup dtat, it provides unique information about places in the Far Maghrib visited by the
author. Apart from the usual poetic quotations and melancholic reflections
on the transience of life inspired by the sight of ancient ruins, this work
abounds in illuminating descriptions of local notables, politics, historical
monuments, cemeteries, mosques, madrasas and ribats, which makes it a precious source for the historical geography of medieval Morocco. Typical of this
genre is the following vivid description of Bedouin life in the Sahara desert
cast in the usual florid and sonorous saj:
The sun descended and waned, then [suddenly]
melted and plunged headlong into the lap of the
twilight. Finally, after the hardship
we had endured and the arduous labor we had
accomplished we could enjoy the award of a
long-awaited rest. So we dismounted next
to the tents that arched [on the horizon]
like the camels hump the tents
with tangled ropes, whose mounds were crowded
like the [houses] of a city made of wool.
It was a city, whose hearths were camel dung,
whose walls were acacias, and whose vegetation
was not free from mud.
In its vicinity [we found] the ponds overflowing
with water, the dwellings full of people, the
meadows intricately embroidered [with herbage],
and the swift streams that arched their silver bosoms.
Then the sheikh [of the tribe] appeared;
he greeted us and talked to us eloquently and
with great aection. He was a mature man,
whose hair was whitened by his age . . .

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ibn al-khat. i b
[Fa-zalat al-shams wa-malat//thumma salat
wa-nharat//f hijr al-maghrib wa-nhalat//
wa baada la
yi ma balaghna//wa-min al-kadd
faraghna//wa-minhat al-raha tasawwaghna//
wa-nazalna bi-iza
i khiyam//istadarat f
sanam//wa-qad ishtabakat hibaluha//
wa-tarassat jibaluha//. . .]

367

(al-Titwan 1:128)

In returning to the maqama genre, mention should be made of Ibn alKhatbs Maqamat al-siyasa (Maqamat on Politics) (al-Maqqar 6:43145) that
brings out the political spectrum of his multifaceted literary work. This short
treatise on the art of government was shown by D. M. Dunlop to be a paraphrase of the Book of the Greek Testaments Extracted from . . . the Politics of
Plato by the Tulunid historian Ahmad ibn Daya11 about a certain king of
the ancient Greeks, who leaves his testament to his son, together with the
parallel testaments of other fathers (Work 5253).
In the Bustan al-duwal (Garden of the States), Ibn al-Khatb moves away
from this classical prototype and presents the functioning of the state government in the allegory of the garden of ten trees. Each tree corresponds to an
institution or constituency of the monarchical state: the sultanate, the vizierate, the chancery, the judgeship and religion, the police, the governorship, the
ministry of war including the navy and the cavalry, the royal entourage,
including the physicians, astrologists, veterinarians, royal hunters, falconers,
boon-companions, chess players, poets, and musicians, and, finally, the tree
of the commoners, who constitute the bulk of the sultans subjects. The divisions and subdivisions of each institution are, in turn, allegorized as the trees
branches, roots, trunk, bark, leaves, blossoms, and so on. The well-being of
all the trees is dependent on the tree of the sultanate. Although ingenious,
this conceit is too schematic to add to our understanding of the real Andalusi
state in Ibn al-Khatbs epoch.
To gain a better insight into the realpolitik of the Granadine court, one
should look to Ibn al-Khatbs chronicles and biographical collections, which
provide a wealth of concrete data absent from his theoretical writings on the art
of government. Ibn al-Khatbs chronicles are often compared unfavorably
with the monumental history of the Maghrib by his great contemporary Ibn
Khaldun. Although he may have lacked Ibn Khalduns analytical depth, Ibn alKhatb succeeded in furnishing a lively picture of Andalusi history, whose
actors are real, down-to-earth individuals driven by the universal human
impulses of hatred, passion, love, fear, and greed. This vivid and at times
openly subjective historiography deliberately discards the appearance of historical objectivity, boldly proclaims the personal sympathies and antipathies of
its author, and passes candid judgments on historical figures. In his historical

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works Ibn al-Khatb focuses on the underlying motives, intellectual and moral
qualities, and strengths and weaknesses of the characters whose outward
actions had previously been the sole subject of traditional Islamic historiography (Bencheneb 59).
Ibn al-Khatbs vision of historical process receives its most mature articulation in his Amal al-alam, which was scarcely completed before his death.
To Ibn al-Khatb, the history of the Muslim states of the East and the West
provides valuable lessons to be learned by every ruler and statesman, especially because of historys tendency to repeat itself in broad outlines as well as
in details. This repetition, in the viziers view, is determined by the recurrent
patterns of human responses to similar historical circumstances, which, in
turn, answer to their position in the five-stage class structure he establishes
through a perceptive analysis of historical phenomena.
The activities of the five social strata (sinf ; pl. asnaf ) are seen as turning
around the oce of the sultan, which is equally beneficial to everyone and
therefore held sacred by all his subjects. This outward propriety, however,
quickly vanishes at the time of succession, when the sultanate becomes the
bone of contention of the three politically active groups that is, the rapacious
and unscrupulous courtiers, the aristocratic adventurers and princely pretenders, and the materialistic and ignorant masses (awbash) each pursuing its
vested interests. The other strata the apolitical government ocials and
administrators, the retiring religious scholars and jurists, and the idealistic
ascetics and mystics remain aloof and passively accept the outcome of the
wicked court politics. As the struggle over succession unfolds, all dynastic principles and rights, not to mention elementary human decency, are overshadowed by the base instincts of greed, vanity, self-aggrandizement, and political
expediency (Hoenerbach, Islamische Geschichte 3334; Historiador 5456).
The complex interplay of these social forces and their egoistic instincts,
combined with the passivity and aloofness of the others, determine the course
of human history. Remarkably, the masses, which had been almost totally
absent from the historical scene in earlier dynastic chronicles, are allotted a
substantial, if not entirely independent and invariably negative, role in Ibn alKhatbs Alam a fact that can be explained by the viziers aristocratic disdain
for profanum vulgus (Hoenerbach, Historiador 57). Ungrateful and hard to
please, they hate and vilify the ruler, even when he acts for their own good.
This deaf, dumb, and mindless mass (Hoenerbach, Islamische Geschichte
6869) never comes to the rescue of its royal benefactor in times of crisis and
takes gleeful delight in his downfall.
The ignorant populace falls easy prey to sedition by all manner of troublemakers and is quick to rebel against the legitimate government at the first sign
of its weakness. In analyzing the causes of the rebellious spirit of the Andalusi
populace, Ibn al-Khatb oers a remarkably modern, almost positivistic
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explanation (Hoenerbach, Historiador 5152). The viziers scheme

includes three major factors: (1) the geopolitical the mountainous terrain
and relative isolation of some provinces vis--vis the central government; (2)
the psychological the sti-necked, obdurate, and undisciplined character of
the Andalusi Arabs and Berbers; and (3) the circumstantial the destabilizing
and intrusive presence of the Christian states of the north. Curiously, Ibn alKhatb all but ignores the role of religion and messianic movements in instigating large-scale social and political transformations the role that is so
critical to Ibn Khalduns understanding of historical process (Ibn Khaldun
2:192220).
At the same time, Ibn al-Khatb agrees with his Maghribi colleague in discerning several distinct cycles that dominate the evolution of Muslim dynasties. Thus, he describes the Umayyad state in al-Andalus as a living organism
or plant, which developed from a small sprout to a full-grown tree that blossomed, bore fruit, and eventually withered. This Machiavellian concept of
social and political organization, based on the empirical observation of
human activities and psychology, implicitly deemphasizes the fideistic belief
in the arbitrary will of God as the sole cause of historical process that had
been taken for granted by earlier Islamic historians (Hoenerbach,
Historiador 61).
Ibn al-Khatbs political ideal rests on the notion of a legitimate dynastic
rule supported by an all-powerful vizier personified by the great Almanzor
(Ibn Ab A mir al-Mansur), who, ruling with the iron fist on behalf of the
minor caliph, revived the decaying caliphal state and forestalled the impending anarchy (Hoenerbach, Islamische Geschichte 32).
The political views of Ibn al-Khatb display remarkable parallels with those
of his younger contemporary on the Christian side, Pero Lpez de Ayala a
professional court functionary who served under five kings of Aragon. In his
El rimado de palacio Ayala summarizes his ideas regarding the politics and
internal life of the Spanish courts and provides a number of theoretical observations that bear close resemblance to the conclusions reached by his Muslim
counterpart. Like Ibn al-Khatb, Ayala singles out five estates (estados),
which form the foundation of the monarchical state (Hoenerbach, Islamische
Geschichte 1617, 3738): the courtiers and the kings confidants (priuados del
rey e los sus allegados); the generally apolitical ocials of the royal administration; the noble adventurers driven by political ambitions; the aloof men of
religion who serve as the kings counselors and the judiciary (cf. Ibn alKhatbs ulama and fuqaha
); and the townsfolk and petty bourgeoisie (who
correspond to Ibn al-Khatbs awbash, yet, in Ayalas work, are described in
positive terms) (Hoenerbach, Historiador 56).
Despite these striking resemblances, there are a few dierences also.
Whereas Ayala is generally optimistic regarding the human character and

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alexander knysh

condition and even tries to improve them in the pious sermons included in El
rimado, Ibn al-Khatb takes a much more disillusioned view of mankind. He
seems to resign himself to human imperfection and to accept the cyclical
notion of history with its vicious circle of rebellion, anarchy, cowardice,
treachery, and mayhem.
Unlike Ibn Khaldun, who was preoccupied primarily with establishing the
general laws and stages of historical progression, the Granadine vizier was
more concerned with the role of the human factor in history a concern that
makes his approach complementary, not inferior, to that of the Maghribi
thinker. His pessimistic world outlook must have been influenced by his own
tragic experiences, especially his eventual disgrace after long years of faithful
service at the Granadine court. Yet, unlike Ibn Khaldun, who judiciously
withdrew from active political life into a legal career (Ibn Khaldun, EI 2 ),
Ibn al-Khatb did not learn from his misadventures and remained loyal to the
familiar courtly environment after his escape from al-Andalus. For this
loyalty he eventually paid the ultimate price.

notes
1. See respective articles in Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn. (Leiden, 1954) (hereafter EI 2).
2. For the oce of the vizier in the Granadine administration, see Ari 198208.
3. Ibn al-Khatbs views of Sufism and its various trends are laid out in his Rawdat
al-tarf bi l-hubb al-sharf (Garden of Instruction: On Chaste Love) a work in
which he treats Sufism as a sympathetic outsider rather than as a practicing Sufi.
See Santiago Simon.
4. A pun based on the ambiguity of the word izam, which means both nobility
and bones.
5. See al-Makkar, EI 2.
6. See, e.g., Simonet; Mller; for further references see al-Waragil 1618.
7. I.e., T
urfat al-asr f dawlat ban nasr (The Wonder of the Age: On the History of
the Nasrid State) (no longer extant), A
id al-sila (A Revision of the
Continuation), following the Kitab silat al-sila (Continuation of the
Continuation) by Ibn al-Zubayr (d. 708/1308), and Raqm al-hulal f nazm alduwal (The Ornamentation of the Garments: On the Organization of States).
8. al-Titwan 7678; for these Andalusi authors, see articles in EI 2.
9. Among the works of this genre are al-Taj al-muhalla (The Adorned Crown), alIkll al-zahir (The Flowery Wreath), and al-Niqaya baad al-kifaya (The
Selection from the Sucient Amount). See Ibn al-Khatb, Katba 1718.
10. This structure was apparently borrowed from the poetical anthologies of al-Fath
ibn Khaqan; see EI 2.
11. See EI 2.

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8 Monreale Cathedral, exterior of apse

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