Volunteers of the Faith

Volunteers of the Faith
Arabic: الغزاة المجاهدين, romanized: al-ghuzāt al-mujāhidīn
Active13th and 14th centuries
CountriesMarinid Morocco (origin)
AllegianceEmirate of Granada
Main HQFuengirola[1]
EngagementsReconquista
Commanders
Notable
commanders

The Volunteers of the Faith (Arabic: الغزاة المجاهدين, romanized: al-ghuzāt al-mujāhidīn, lit. 'warriors of the jihad'[2];) was a military institution of the Emirate of Granada, composed by soldiers recruited from Zenata Berbers who were exiled from the Marinid Sultanate, to defend the Emirate against the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula.[2][3]

Many of them volunteered because they saw the defense of Muslims as their religious duty.[4] Although North African volunteers appear in the Iberian peninsula already in the 11th century under the term ghuzāt,[2][5] recruitment was expanded during the last years of Muhammad I of Granada (r. 1238–1273),[5] and they were institutionalised and further expanded by his son Muhammad II al-Faqih (r. 1273–1302). Over time, the Volunteers eclipsed Granada's indigenous troops and became its main military force, numbering 10,000 by the end of Muhammad II's rule.[6]

Their leader, the shaykh al-ghuzat, held an influential position in the emirate's politics, as did regional ghuzat commanders appointed in major cities such as Guadix, Ronda, and Malaga.[5][7]

  1. ^ Nicolle & McBride 2001, pp. 38–39.
  2. ^ a b c Manzano Rodríguez 1992, p. 321.
  3. ^ Kennedy 2014, pp. 282.
  4. ^ Harvey 1990, pp. 160–161.
  5. ^ a b c Arié 1973, p. 239.
  6. ^ Kennedy 2014, pp. 282–283.
  7. ^ On the history of the office of shaykh al-ghuzat and its holders, cf. Manzano Rodríguez 1992, pp. 334–366