Medieval Islamic Jurisprudence and the Formation of Early Modern International Law:

Tracing Mālikī Legal Influence in the School of Salamanca (1526-1617)

Muhammad Ahmad Ibrahim Aljahsh

Ahmed Abdelgayed Hussiny Basiouny

 

Abstract: The School of Salamanca’s pivotal role in establishing the foundational principles of modern international law has traditionally been portrayed as emerging from Renaissance humanism and the Thomistic revival. This article challenges the Eurocentric narrative by demonstrating substantial influence from Islamic jurisprudence, particularly Mālikī fiqh (jurisprudence), transmitted over centuries of scholarship in the Andalusian region. Drawing on primary sources including Vitoria’s Relectio de Indis, Soto’s De Justitia et Jure, and comparative analysis with Ibn Rushd’s Bidāyat al-Mujtahid, this research explores systematic parallels in concepts of legitimate warfare (jihād/bellum iustum), sovereignty of non-Christian peoples (dhimmī protections and indigenous rights) and natural law foundations (fiṭra/lex naturalis). Archival evidence from translated Mālikī texts and analysis of Alfonso X’s Las Siete Partidas demonstrates concrete transmission channels through Toledo’s translation movement, Mudéjar communities, and converted Moriscos who maintained dual legal competencies. Employing digital humanities methodologies and postcolonial theoretical frameworks, this study argues that Islamic fiqh provided both substantive content and methodological frameworks that Salamancan theologians adapted to Thomistic natural law. These findings support the decolonisation of international law historiography. They show the transnational Islamic foundations of the field. They also show that modern legal principles have formed through cross-cultural jurisprudential exchange, rather than exclusively through European innovation.