In this presentation Maribel Fierro and José C. Carvajal López will talk about the recently published book Intellectual Connections between Jazirat al-‘Arab and Jazirat al-Andalus. In the first part of the presentation, Carvajal López will introduce the book and the project that led to the collection of articles. In the second part, Fierro will present a taste of her research in the book. She will discuss the ways in which the Holy City of Madina, in the Hejaz, became present in religious practices in Maghreb and al-Andalus. Madina is the resting place of the Prophet and the birthplace of the founder of the Maliki school of law (Malik ibn Anas). It became the object of so strong devotion that believers unable to travel would undertake ‘virtual’ pilgrimages by sending letters to be read at Muhammad’s Grave. Fierro also notes how the narrative of the attempt of two Iberian Christians to steal the body of Muhammad was instrumentalised as a call to protect al-Andalus from the advance of the Christian polities. She explores the ways in which a vision of Umayyad Cordoba as a new Madina was built as an attempt to boost the Umayyad’s political credentials
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