Between East and West: The Spoils of the Conquest as "Triggers of Memory" in Umayyad al-Andalus
This paper addresses literary evidence on the spoils of al-Andalus, their origin and final fate once transported to the East. These objects, identified as the Table of Solomon, the crowns of the Visigothic kings, a gemstone ( yāqūt ) that belonged to Ḏū l-Qarnayn, and a jug of pearls ( qulayla ), we...
| Subtitles: | "Thematic Focus: The Umayyads from West to East: New Perspectives" |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
Der Islam
Year: 2023, Volume: 100, Issue: 2, Pages: 443-466 |
| Further subjects: | B
Sovereignty
B pre-Islamic B Reuse B Caliph B Relics B Display |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This paper addresses literary evidence on the spoils of al-Andalus, their origin and final fate once transported to the East. These objects, identified as the Table of Solomon, the crowns of the Visigothic kings, a gemstone ( yāqūt ) that belonged to Ḏū l-Qarnayn, and a jug of pearls ( qulayla ), were not only associated with pre-Islamic and Islamic characters but also with objects displayed in major Islamic shrines in the East, such as the pearl Yatīma and a gemstone called Qulayla, displayed in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and in the Great Mosque of Damascus, respectively. It is my contention that the accounts provided by Andalusi scholars such as Ibn Ḥabīb (d. 853) and Aḥmad al-Rāzī (d. 955) stressed the symbolic value of these spoils of conquest as signs of sovereignty and relics of the past and articulated an Umayyad discourse of legitimacy that highlighted their claim as rightful and pious caliphs, establishing a link between Past and Present and East and West. |
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| ISSN: | 1613-0928 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Der Islam
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/islam-2023-0023 |