Islamic leaders, their biographies and accomplishments. Saul Silas Fathi

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Название Islamic leaders, their biographies and accomplishments
Автор произведения Saul Silas Fathi
Жанр Биографии и Мемуары
Серия
Издательство Биографии и Мемуары
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781626203761



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      The date of Abd al-Rahman’s death is disputed, but is generally accepted to be sometime around 785 through 788. Abd al-Rahman died in his adopted city of Cordoba and was supposedly buried under the site of the Mezquita. Abd al-Rahman’s alleged favorite son was his choice for successor and would later be known as Hisham I. Abd ar-Rahman’s progeny would continue to rule al-Andalus in the name of the house of Umayyah for several generations, with the zenith of their power coming during the reign of Abd al-Rahman III.

       Legends:

      In his lifetime, Abd al-Rahman was known as al Dakhil (“the immigrant”). But he was also known as Saqr Quraish (“The Falcon of the Quraish”), bestowed on him by one of his great enemies, the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur.

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      Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad, better known as Abd al-Rahman III, was born in Cordova during the reign of his grandfather, Amir Abdullah. Young Abd al-Rahman grew up under the care of his Frankish mother, Muzna, and his grandfather, Amir Abdullah. His mother, Muzna, and grandmother, Iniga, were of European origin. Young Abd al-Rahman was aware of the difficult challenges which confronted his country and contributed as much as he could to alleviating the problems until Amir Abdullah died in 912.

      Abd al-Rahman succeeded his grandfather at the age of twenty-two and became the new ruler of Islamic Spain. Immediately after becoming Caliph, his main priority was to restore political stability and civil order across al-Andalus. The Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad, he reminded his people, would not come to their aid should the neighboring Christian powers decide to attack al-Andalus. His message to his people was very loud and clear: unite or you will be consigned to the dustbin of history.

      After establishing political and civil order across Cordova and its immediate surroundings, Abd al-Rahman turned his attention to other major cities like Seville and Toledo. But when these self-appointed rulers rejected his conciliatory measures, he launched military actions against them. Since Ordono II, the Christian ruler of Leon, was the chief instigator of these raids, Abd al-Rahman sent an expedition and inflicted a crushing defeat on his forces in 923. After successfully subduing these cities, Abd al-Rahman finally restored peace, order and security across much of al-Andalus. In 929, at the age of thirty-nine, he became the undisputed master of Islamic Spain and adopted the title of al-Khalifah al-Nasir li-din Allah (‘the Caliph, the Defender of the Religion of God’).

      Indeed, under Abd al-Rahman’s stewardship, Spain became a beacon of light for the rest of Europe. When there was hardly a college or library worth its name in Europe, al-Andalus boasted some of the finest, and also largest, libraries and educational institutions in the Western world. He transformed the Academy in Cordova into one of the world’s most dazzling centers of higher education and research. The thriving and tolerant civil society, known as the convivencia, fostered by Caliph Abd al-Rahman enabled everyone including Muslims, Jews and Christians to live and work together in peace and tranquility. Renowned Jewish thinkers such as Ibn Gabirol and Judah Halevi also lived and thrived in Islamic Spain.

      Then, in 936, Caliph Abd al-Rahman ordered the construction of a new palace city which became known as Madinat al-Zahra (or ‘the dazzling city’). This mammoth project took more than forty years to complete. It was in fact Caliph al-Hakam, his son and successor, who finally achieved this in 976.

      For nearly eight centuries, under her Mohammedan rulers, Spain set to all Europe a shining example of a civilized and enlightened State. Mathematics, astronomy and botany, history, philosophy and jurisprudence were to be mastered in Spain, and Spain alone.

      His reign of forty-nine years was therefore a truly remarkable period in the history of Islamic Spain and Europe as a whole. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III died in Cordova at the age of seventy-one. Al-Andalus began to decline after his death and the Umayyads of Spain were eventually ousted from power in 1031.

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