The Role and Position of Qumis Institution in the History of Muslim Spain

Islam entrance into different regions has various consequences due to their cultural conditions and the interaction of their people with Islam. Muslims as the governors of these new conquered lands laid down new religious and political rules based on Islam and sometimes on the community custom, culture and their historical heritage. Al-Andalus was one of the countries that captured by the Muslims at the end of the first Hijra century. This area was under governorship of the Gotis before that and had its specific religious and political rules. The majority of the Spain people were Christian at the beginning of the Islam entrance, and the Muslim governors entrusted solving some judicial and financial issues to themselves to observe their rights. For this reason, they recognized the Qumis institution that was remained from the Gotis era. This research seeks to study the role of Qumis institution in the Muslim Spain especially relative to social conditions of Christians by analytical – descriptive method and based on the historical sources and the recent studies. The results show that Qumis had some functions like leadership of Christian communities, solving their judicial issues and collecting their taxes.