Ibn al-Qutiyya

Ibn al-Qūṭiyya, whose name means "son of the Gothic woman", claimed descent from Wittiza, the last king of the united Visigoths in Spain, through a granddaughter, Sara al-Qutiyya, who travelled to Damascus and married ʿĪsā ibn Muzāḥim, an Arab client of the 10th Umayyad caliph Hisham.[1] Sara and ʿĪsā then returned to Al-Andalus.

Ibn al-Qūṭiyya was born and raised in Seville. His family was under the patronage of the Qurayshi tribe, and his father was a qāḍī (judge) in Seville and Écija. The Banu Hajjaj, also of Seville, were close relatives of his family, also claiming descent from Visigothic royalty. Ibn al-Qūṭiyya's student al-Faraḍī composed a short sketch of his master for his biographical dictionary, preserved in a late medieval manuscript discovered in Tunis in 1887. Al-Faraḍī tells us Ibn al-Qūṭiyya studied first in Seville,[lower-alpha 1] then in Córdoba.[lower-alpha 2] Al-Faraḍī cautions that Qūṭiyya's histories were tales(akhbār), and not serious history(ta'rīkh).[2] Under Saʿīd ibn Qāhir he studied, memorized and transmitted the great work of history known as Al-Kāmil (The Complete) by the famous Baṣriyyan philologist, al-Mubarrad. He died in old age at Córdoba.[3]

Al-Qūṭiyya's highly anecdotal history is unusual among the Arab chronicles. The influence of his royal ancestry probably lies behind his defense of treaties between the Arab Muslim conquerors and the Gothic aristocracy—both secular and ecclesiastical— that preserved them on their estates. Al-Qūṭiyya contests criticisms by historians such as Rhazes, arguing that these treaties bolstered Islamic hegemony at minimal military cost. He refutes a claim that the Umayyad emirs of Córdoba retained the fifth (quinto or khums, a tax) for the Caliph of Damascus. His history retells the legend of the part played by "the sons of Wittiza" at the Battle of Guadalete.

• Ta'rikh iftitāḥ al-Andalus[4] (تاريخ افتتاح الأندلس), 'History of the Conquest of al-Andalus'; found in only a single extant manuscript, Bibliothèque Nationale de France No. 1867. Speculation about a copy's existence among the rich manuscript collection at Constantine, Algeria, of Si Hamouda ben Cheikh el-Fakoun, seems unlikely according to recent scholarship.[5] The 18-volume history was written at the height of the Umayyad Caliphate of al-Andalus and spans its first 250 years. Ibn al-Quṭīyya treats of lives of Christians, Jews and Muslim converts, and in addition to accounts of rulers are intrigues among servants, minor officials, poets, judges, concubines and physicians.[6]
  • Taʼrīj iftitāḥ al-Andalus, critical transcript of the unique manuscript edited by P. de Gayangos (with collaboration by E. Saavedra and F. Codera), 1868.[7]
  • Historia de la conquista de España de Aben al-Cotia el cordobés, seguida de fragmentos históricos de Abencotaiba (y la noble carta dirigida a las comarcas españolas del wazīr al-Gassānī), Spanish translation by Julián Ribera, Madrid, 1926.[8]
  • Early Islamic Spain: the History of Ibn al-Qūṭīya, English translation by David James, Routledge, 2009.[9]
• Kitāb Taṣārīf al-af’āl, ('Book on the Conjugation of Verbs')—The oldest MS of an Arabic dictionary extant.[10]
• Kitāb al-Maqṣūr wa 'l-Mamdūd ('Book on the Shortened and Extended Alif').—This title is mentioned by al-Faraḍī but no copy survives.[3]