The Middle East Institute at Columbia University cordially invites you to attend the newest session of its new Islamic History Workshop. The workshops regularly feature leading scholars of Islamic history from across periods and regions for detailed discussions of their current research.

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Abstract

This chapter, drawn from Balbale's book in progress on the history of al-Andalus through fifty objects and spaces, focuses on the fragmentary minbar once used in the Mosque of the Andalusīs in Fez. The minbar, as the site from which the khuṭba is delivered, was a potent symbol for the legitimation of caliphal power. The minbar of the Mosque of the Andalusīs in Fez was initially constructed by pro-Fatimid Zirids in 980 and then partially reconstructed in 985 by the ʿĀmirids under al-Manṣūr, chamberlain of Caliph al-Hakam of Cordoba. This reconstruction, just five years after the minbar's initial construction, occured during a brief moment of direct control by al-Manṣūr and the Umayyads over much of Northwest Africa. When the Almohads took control of Fez in the twelfth century, they encased this minbar within a new design, preserving its form even as they hid its dueling Fatimid and Umayyad inscriptions underneath a declaration of their own power. The minbar remained in use in the mosque until the twentieth century. Centering this object in a history of al-Andalus demonstrates the interconnections between Iberia and North Africa, and showcases how ideas about caliphal authority were contested by newcomers to power across the Islamic world.