Andalusi Romance in the context of "Iberian Romance languages"

A kharja or kharjah (Arabic: خرجة, romanized: kharjah, lit. 'exit' [ˈxardʒa]; Spanish: jarcha [ˈxaɾtʃa]; Portuguese: carja [ˈkaɾʒɐ]; also known as a markaz مَرْكَز 'center'), is the final couple of abyāt, or verses, of a muwaššaḥ (مُوَشَّح 'girdle'), a poem or song of the strophic lyric genre from al-Andalus. The kharja can be in a language that is different from the body; a muwaššaḥ in literary Arabic might have a kharja in vernacular Andalusi Arabic or in a mix of Arabic and Andalusi Romance, while a muwaššaḥ in Hebrew might contain a kharja in Arabic, Romance, Hebrew, or a mix.

The muwashshah typically consists of five strophes of four to six lines, alternating with five or six refrains (qufl); each refrain has the same rhyme and metre, whereas each stanza has only the same metre. The kharja appears often to have been composed independently of the muwashshah in which it is found.

Muwashshah (Arabic: مُوَشَّح muwaššaḥ 'girdled'; plural مُوَشَّحَات muwaššaḥāt; also تَوْشِيْح tawšīḥ 'girdling,' pl. تَوَاشِيْح tawāšīḥ) is a strophic poetic form that developed in al-Andalus in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The muwaššaḥ, embodying the Iberian rhyme revolution, was the major Andalusi innovation in Arabic poetry, and it was sung and performed musically. The muwaššaḥ features a complex rhyme and metrical scheme usually containing five aghṣān (أَغْصَان 'branches'; sing. غُصْن ghuṣn), with uniform rhyme within each strophe, interspersed with asmāṭ (أَسْمَاط 'threads for stringing pearls'; sing. سِمْط simṭ) with common rhyme throughout the song, as well as a terminal kharja (خَرْجَة 'exit'), the song's final simṭ, which could be in a different language. Sephardic poets also composed muwaššaḥāt in Hebrew, sometimes as contrafacta imitating the rhyme and metrical scheme of a particular poem in Hebrew or in Arabic. This poetic imitation, called muʿāraḍa (مُعَارَضَة 'contrafaction'), is a tradition in Arabic poetry.

The kharja, or the markaz (مَـْركَز 'center') of the muwaššaḥ, its final verses, can be in a language that is different from the body; a muwaššaḥ in literary Arabic might have a kharja in vernacular Andalusi Arabic or in a mix of Arabic and Andalusi Romance, while a muwaššaḥ in Hebrew might contain a kharja in Arabic, Romance, Hebrew, or a mix.

The Mozarabs (from Arabic: مُسْتَعْرَب, romanized: musta‘rab, lit. 'Arabized'), or more precisely Andalusi Christians, were the Christians of al-Andalus, or the territories of Iberia under Muslim rule from 711 to 1492. Following the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania, the Christian population of much of Iberia came under Muslim control.

Initially, the vast majority of Mozarabs kept Christianity and their dialects descended from Latin. Gradually, the population converted to Islam—an estimated 50% by the year 951—and was influenced, in varying degrees, by Arab customs and knowledge, and sometimes acquired greater social status in doing so. The local Romance vernaculars, with an important contribution of Arabic and spoken by Christians and Muslims alike, are referred to as Andalusi Romance (also called Mozarabic language). Mozarabs were mostly Catholics of the Visigothic or Mozarabic Rite. Due to Sharia and fiqh being confessional and only applying to Muslims, the Christians paid the jizya tax, the only relevant Islamic law obligation, and kept Roman-derived, Visigothic-influenced civil law.