Manifestations of Political Thought in the Zayyanid State: Authority between Symbolic and Religious Legitimacy

Abstract

This study examines the mechanisms through which Zayyanid political thought was established. Under particular historical circumstances, it relied on the strength of tribal solidarity and dispensed with the religious mission and noble lineage. It also examines how the Zayyanids sought to employ political symbols, especially religious ones. They did so by reviving Sunni doctrine and Maliki jurisprudence, encouraging Maliki legal studies, caring for jurists, employing royal titles, and establishing an administrative system for the designation of the heir apparent.

This study seeks to analyze the objective reasons that contributed to the revival and expansion of the celebration of the Prophet's Birthday and made it an important feature of the state's political thought. It also examines the purpose of using royal mosques to invoke blessings upon the sultan from their pulpits on Fridays. The study does not rely on a chronological sequence of events in the Zayyanid state. Rather, it confines itself to examining the general foundations of political thought from the state's establishment in the thirteenth century CE until its fall in the sixteenth century CE.