The peoples of the north in the eyes of the Muslims of Umayyad al-Andalus (711–1031)

This article explores how the Muslim inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula, known in Arabic as al-Andalus, located themselves in space and time in relation to other ‘Europeans’. It has been asserted that Muslims did not show much interest in the peoples living beyond the boundaries of the Islamic world before European imperialism impacted upon them, and that much of what they did write was formulaic and predicated on the primordial religious enmity which existed between Muslims and non-Muslims. While true up to a point, this article attempts to nuance this argument, and point to ways in which the Muslims of al-Andalus did refer to other peoples and other epochs, and incorporate them into their worldview, thereby positioning themselves not only within the dÄ r al-islÄ m but also within a Mediterranean historical trajectory. It also looks at the ways in which northerners did participate in and shape Andalusi society, despite the reluctance of much Arabic writing to fully record or recognize this phenomenon.