Power and Political Criminalization of the Opposition in the Maghreb and al,Andalus of the 10th century CE/4th century AH

Abstract

This study discusses the policy of political criminalization adopted by the Fatimid and Umayyad Caliphates against their internal opposition. The political conflict experienced by the Maghreb and al,Andalus during the 10 th century between Shi'i 'Ubaydis in Ifriqiyya and their Sunni Umayyad counterparts in al,Andalus, which took a doctrinal form, led to both of them criminalizing the other; opposition positions thus shifted from the realm of the confessional and the doctrinal to a political concept. The Ismailis and the Marwanids were both aware of the power of the Ulema, who constituted an intellectual authority framing society, and opposition was thus given a both religious and political coloring, whose symbols both Caliphates were forced to fuse elements from the religious dictionary in order to combat as part of attempts to politically criminalize their behavior – in a context where the political overlapped with doctrine and confession.