When the Jews came to rule over the poor

The horses and their saddles vanished

A shameful state was founded among us

The administration fell into the hands of sold-out traitors

Tell the blind Dajjal

It is high time for your appearance.”

-Ibn Bassam

The year 711 marks a turning point for the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula. Indeed, the arrival of Muslims in the region turned the Jews' hell into a paradise. Freed from Visigothic oppression, the Jews became the freest and most prosperous Jews of the Middle Ages under the Islamic administration of Al-Andalus. Over time, the Jews, who began to harvest the fruits of Andalusian tolerance, were employed in the highest administrative office of the state, the vizierate. Some viziers were appointed to multiple administrative fields, gaining a say in almost all units of the state. These Jewish viziers, possessing expanded powers, established dominance over the Muslims with the political and economic power they obtained, filled state positions with Jews, grew wealthy by adding to their assets, and flaunted their riches. This situation drew reactions from the Muslims of Al-Andalus. Complaints increased significantly during the era of the father-and-son Jewish viziers, Ismail b. Nagrila and Yusuf b. Nagrila. This book questions the reasons why Jews, without changing their own religious beliefs, were brought to the administration of a state whose people and ruler were Muslim, while remaining dhimmi.