For a closer understanding of Islamic legal practice and for the application and social function of Islamic fiqh, medieval al-Andalus offers some highly fascinating source materials. Apart from a wealth of legal textbooks of the Maliki madhhab that originate from that region and a wide range of biographical and historical texts covering the different stages of the history of Islamic Spain, al-Andalus provides some of the earliest surviving collections of reported court cases (nawazil and ahkam) whose coverage of decisions in some cases reaches well back into the 9th century.