In the history of the Iberian Peninsula , a taifa ( from Arabic : طائفة ṭā ` ifa , plural طوائف ṭawā ` if ) was an independent Muslim-ruled principality , usually an emirate or petty kingdom , though there was one oligarchy , of which a number formed in the Al-Andalus ( Moorish Iberia ) after the final collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031 .
A taifa ( from Arabic : طائفة ṭā ` ifa , plural طوائف ṭawā ` if ) was an independent Muslim-ruled principality .