Andalusia. The indigenous subject populations
consisted of Christians (mostly Roman Catho-
lic) and Jews known as the Sephardim (Spanish
Jewry). Non-Muslims were treated as dhimmis
(protected subjects) under the sharia, despite
sporadic persecution at the hands of some zeal-
ous Muslim rulers. The interrelationship between
Muslim and non-Muslim in Andalusia produced a
unique mix of cultural identities: Arab and Berber
immigrants, local converts to Islam (muwallads),
Christian admirers of Arab culture (Mozarabs),
Arabized Jews, mUdeJars (Muslims living under
Christian rule), Conversos (Jews forcibly bap-
tized as Christians during the Reconquista), and
Moriscos (Muslims forcibly baptized as Chris-
tians after 1492). These groups spoke a mixture
of languages—Arabic, Berber, and Latin-based
Romance dialects.
Historians have called the golden age of har-
monious coexistence shared by Andalusian Mus-
lims and non-Muslims the convivencia. It began
with the Umayyad caliphate, which was trans-
planted from damascUs to Cordova in 756. The
Umayyads ruled Andalusia until 1009, when their
caliphate disintegrated and subsequent Muslim
leaders turned against each other, while simulta-
neously they tried to hold off invading Christian
armies from the north. The ideal of the convivencia
nevertheless persisted, as exemplified in Anda-
lusian (Moorish) architectUre, poetry, mUsic,
and philosophy. Among the stellar individuals
contributing to this unique mix of cultures were
religious thinkers and philosophers such as ibn
hazm (d. 1064), ibn rUshd (d. 1198), and Moses
Maimonides (d. 1204, Jewish author of Guide for
the Perplexed); poets such as Ibn Zaydun (d. 1070)
and Judah Halevi (d. 1174, Jewish philosopher-
poet); and mystics such as ibn arabi (d. 1240)
and Moses de Leon (d. 1305), author of the Zohar,
a Jewish mystical text. Some of the great philo-
sophical and literary works of these men eventu-
ally were translated into European languages and
helped enhance intellectual life in the high Middle
Ages and Renaissance. The cultural heritage of
the golden age is also reflected in cuisine, as new
foods and flavors introduced by the Arabs from
the east changed the eating habits of Andalusian
peoples. Rice dishes, citrus fruits, and aromatic
spices found their way into Andalusian palaces
and homes and later enriched the eating traditions
of Europe, just as Andalusian learning and the arts
enriched the cultural life of Islamicate lands and
the west.
See also agricUltUre; almohad dynasty;
almorvid dynasty; berber; christianity and islam;
eUrope; JUdaism and islam; sephardic JeWs.Further reading: Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ed., The Legacy
of Muslim Spain. 2 vols. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994); Maria
Rosa Menocal, The Ornament of the World: How Mus-
lims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance
in Medieval Spain (Boston: Little Brown & Co., 2002);
W. Montgomery Watt and Pierre Cachia, A History of
Muslim Spain (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh
Press, 1965).angel
An angel (from the Greek word for “messenger”)
is a supernatural being that participates in the
relations between God and human beings. Belief
in angels usually occurs in monotheistic religions
such as Judaism, Christianity and islam, where
there is a belief in only one god and there exists a
clear separation between this god and the created
world. Islamic belief in angels first appears early in
the seventh century in the qUran, and it is based
on related beliefs held previously by Zoroastrians,
Jews, and Christians in the Middle East. Indeed,
according to the Quran and early Muslim theolo-
gians, belief in angels is one of the requirements of
Faith. Islamic understandings about angels have
developed through the centuries and continue to
be part of the spiritual outlook of many Muslims
today, although skeptics deny their existence.
According Islamic tradition, angels submit
to God’s commands and serve as his messengers
and helpers. In heaven, they sing his praise,K 42 angel