The tribe was the unit of military organisation. Each tribe rallied round its chief and its standard. The soldiers received pay at the end of the campaign at the rate of five to ten gold pieces, and the baladīs, who were descended from Mūsā's Arabs, were never summoned except in case of need. Campaigns were generally conducted in the spring and had the character of an algaras or raid. The object was booty and with that secured the army invariably retired from any position conquered. The commander-in-chief was called al-ḳā'id (alcaide); the cavalry was mounted on mules and without stirrups. They used the sword, the pike, the lance and the bow, while their defensive armour consisted of helmets, shields, cuirasses and coats of mail. Their siege weapons were the same as these employed by the Byzantines.
The army underwent many changes in organisation, as the Caliphs became more dependent on foreign troops, and Almanzor completed this process. He substituted the regimental for the tribal division, and thus put an end to the power of the tribal chiefs. There were, moreover, foreign elements: first the Slaves and then the mercenary Christian troops from Leon, Navarre and Castile, who became dangerous to the tranquillity of the country when Almanzor's iron grasp relaxed.
The navy under 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān III, with Almería as its chief harbour, became the most powerful in the Mediterranean. Their raids, under commanders of a squadron called the Alcaides of the fleet, extended to Galicia and Asturias, and also to Africa where they attacked the Fātimites. In fact, Muslim piracy was the terror of the Mediterranean, and it was from Spain that the colonists of Fraxinetum came[1]. When at the end of the tenth century the Fātimite danger disappeared, the Arabs neglected their navy.
The Muslim religion is based on the recognition of one God and of Mahomet as his prophet, and the Caliph is the supreme spiritual head. But among Arabs and Berbers alike grew up many heterodox sects. These made proselytes in Spain, but were not openly professed for fear of the populace. Among orthodox Muslims in Spain the Mālikites were dominant. Fervent Muslims were inclined to asceticism and were called Zāhids. There sprang up regular monasteries, such as those of Ibn Masarra at Montaña and of Ibn Mujāhid of Elvira at Cordova, where apparently they devoted their time to the study of philosophy and other forbidden branches of learning.
The basis of Muslim law was the Koran and the traditions concerning the acts and sayings of the Prophet. These were known as Sunna. The chief collection of them, so far as Spain was concerned, was called Al-Muwaṭṭa, composed by Mālik ibn Anas, and contained one thousand seven hundred eases, to which additions were made later.
They had no code, properly speaking, until much later than this
- ↑ See supra, pp. 140, 152, 155, 168.
