What Should They Do? Depictions of Ribāṭ and Murābiṭūn in Early Islamic Ifrīqiya

Abstract

What was ribāṭ in early Islamic Ifrīqiya and what was its primary function? The answer often differs depending on the sources that are used, and whether they focus on the building or the institution more generally. Rather than approaching the question through either of these aspects, this study will consider the expectations, reflected in textual sources, about the behavior of the murābiṭūn, or the men who inhabited them. Analyzing expectations about the character of the murābiṭūn and the activities carried out in the ribāṭ offers an insight into how the writer of the text viewed the institution, including its function and significance in early Islamic society. By comparing the expectations reflected in various texts, it is also possible to recognize different views of the ribāṭ building and institution and to relate these to the historical context or the perspective of the writer. The analysis in this study will focus on the ribāṭ in the Ifrīqiyan tradition but will relate some of the developments to the significance of the institution in the wider Islamic Empire and its intellectual tradition.