The Devastating Plague and Its Impact on Intellectual Life in the Islamic Maghreb

Abstract

This study examines the state of scientific and cultural activity in the major urban centers of the Islamic Maghreb during the period of the devastating plague, particularly in terms of teaching and authorship. It explores the spread of the plague in the Maghreb and Al-Andalus, the factors that contributed to its expansion, and its impact on intellectual life.
The study highlights both the negative and positive effects of the epidemic. On the one hand, it reveals the scale of the catastrophe, as scholarly gatherings declined, teaching was largely reduced to Qur’anic memorization and basic Arabic texts, and prominent scholars in various fields were lost. On the other hand, the epidemic stimulated scholarly writing on the plague itself, emphasizing the scientific value of such works in promoting preventive measures such as isolation, quarantine, and the burning of contaminated materials—practices later adopted in modern medicine from Andalusian physicians.