I wrote it wrong "The correct one would be had gained popularity " Sorry
This is an interesting thing to think about. When the slave soldier is on the rise in the Islamic world, the opposite would occur in Al-Andalus. This in theory is great, while Mamelukes are great warriors they are terrible for the health of the country, especially when they take power. A good example is the Mamluks in Egypt who withstood the Mongol advance but at the same time stagnated and in many ways destroyed the Egyptian economy (with the country becoming a cash cow for the Venizians with Mamluk support).
Yes, especially in the Middle East. But this image of Faris is what a Banu Qasi knight would look like. So considering that he is not Arab or Berber, the climate and environment is not the same, I would say that Faris is well represented in this case. Islamic iberia has a tradition of adopting more European armor (especially if we are talking about locals and not outside groups). The armor of the last emir of Granada, for example, was European.
No, because Andalus was not tolerant. Well, no more or less than other Islamic kingdoms of the time. Even with the reforms imposed by Umar that will make this issue considerably more flexible, it is always in the context of Abrahamic religions. That is, in the religions tolerated by Islam (Christianity and Judaism), paganism will not be tolerated or accepted. Now whether they are going to enter the new world dispute or not, natives will be converted or given the sword (similar to what happened with the Christian powers).