Abd al-Rahman I


Born near Damascus in Syria, grandson of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik,
Abd al Rahman was the son of the Umayyad prince Mu'awiya ibn Hisham and a Berber mother.
He was twenty when his family, the ruling Umayyads, were overthrown by a popular revolt known as the Abbasid Revolution, occurring in the year 750.

Flight from Damascus

Abd al-Rahman and a small selection of his family fled Damascus, where the center of Umayyad power had been;
people moving with him include his brother Yahiya, his four-year old son Sulayman, and some of his sisters, as well as his former Greek slave (a freedman), Bedr.
The family fled from Damascus to the River Euphrates.

All along the way the path was filled with danger,
as the Abbasids had dispatched horsemen across the region to try to find the Umayyad prince and kill him.
The Abbasids were merciless with all Umayyads that they found.
Exile years
After barely escaping with their lives, Abd al-Rahman and Bedr continued south through Palestine, the Sinai, and then into Egypt.

In 755, Abd al-Rahman and Bedr reached modern day Morocco near Ceuta.
Their next step would be to cross the sea to al-Andalus,
where Abd al-Rahman could not have been sure whether or not he would be welcomed.
Following the Berber Revolt of the 740s, the province was in a state of confusion, with the Muslim community torn by tribal dissensions
among the Arabs and racial tensions between the Arabs and Berbers.
At that moment, the nominal ruler of al-Andalus, emir Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri Among the Syrian junds were contingents of old Umayyad clients, numbering perhaps 500, and Abd al-Rahman believed he might tug on old loyalties and get them to receive him.

Bedr was dispatched across the straits to make contact.
Yemenite commanders felt they had little to lose and much to gain, and agreed to support the prince.
Bedr returned to Africa to tell Abd al-Rahman of the invitation of the Umayyad clients in al-Andulus.

Abd al-Rahman landed to the east of Málaga, in September 755.

Fight for power

Upon landing in al-Andalus, He was able to take advantage of the rivalry between the Qais and the Yaman tribes.

During his brief time in Málaga, he was able to amass local support quickly.
Waves of people made their way to Málaga to pay respect to the prince they thought was dead, including many of the aforementioned Syrians.
News of the prince's arrival spread like wildfire throughout the peninsula.
In order to help speed his ascension to power, he was prepared to take advantage of the feuds and dissensions.

However, before anything could be done, trouble broke out in northern al-Andalus.

Zaragoza, an important trade city on the Upper March of al-Andalus, made a bid for autonomy.

Al-Fihri and al-Sumayl rode north to quash the rebellion.
This might have been fortunate timing for Abd al-Rahman, since he was still getting a solid foothold in al-Andalus.

By March 756, Abd al-Rahman and his growing following of Umayyad clients and Yemenite junds, were able to take Sevilla without violence.

Battle of Musarah

Then The two contingents met on opposite sides of the River Guadalquivir,
just outside the capital of Córdoba on the plains of Musarah.

Abd al-Rahman led the charge toward al-Fihri's army.
Al-Sumayl in turn advanced his cavalry out to meet the Umayyad threat.

After a long and difficult fight "Abd ar-Rahman obtained a most complete victory, and the field was strewn with the bodies of the enemy.".

Both al-Fihri and al-Sumayl managed to escape the field (probably) with parts of the army too.

Abd al-Rahman triumphantly marched into the capital, Córdoba.
Danger was not far behind, as al-Fihri planned a counterattack.
Again Abd al-Rahman met al-Fihri with his army;
this time negotiations were successful, although the terms were somewhat changed.

Al-Fihri eventually did make another bid for power.
He quit Córdoba and quickly started gathering supporters.
While at large, al-Fihri managed to gather an army allegedly numbering to 20,000.

Abd ar-Rahman's appointed governor in Sevilla took up the chase,
and after a series of small fights, managed to defeat al-Fihri's army.
Al-Fihri himself managed to escape but later he was promptly killed.

Al-Fihri's head was sent to Córdoba, where Abd al-Rahman had it nailed to a bridge. With this act, Abd ar-Rahman proclaimed himself the emir of al-Andalus.

However, one final act to take over southern Iberia had to be performed:
al-Fihri's general, al-Sumayl, had to be dealt with, and he was garroted in Córdoba's jail.
Now most of central and northern al-Andalus (Toledo, Zaragoza, Barcelona, etc.) was out of his rule,
with large lands remaining in the hands of Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri's supporters until 779 (submission of Zaragoza).
Rule
Indeed, Abd al-Rahman only proclaimed himself as emir, and not as caliph.
This was likely because al-Andalus was a land besieged by many different loyalties,
and the proclamation of caliph would have likely caused much unrest.

In the meantime, a call went out through the Muslim world that al-Andalus
was a safe haven for friends of the house of Umayya,

Abd al-Rahman probably was quite happy to see his call answered by waves of Umayyad faithful and family.
Abd al-Rahman placed his family members in high offices across the land, as he felt he could trust them more than non-family.
The Umayyad family would again grow large and prosperous over successive generations.

However, by 763 Abd ar-Rahman had to get back to the business of war.
Al-Andalus had been invaded by an Abbasid army.

Berber revolt 763

Berber revolt led by NorthAfrican Governor with support of Abbasides:
Far away in Baghdad, the current Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, had long been planning to depose the Umayyad who dared to call himself emir of al-Andalus.
Al-Mansur installed al-Ala ibn-Mugith (also known as al-Ala) as governor of Africa
(whose title gave him dominion over the province of al-Andalus).
It was al-Ala who headed the Abbasid army that landed in al-Andalus, .
The Abbasid contingent was vastly superior in size, said to have numbered 7,000 men.
The emir quickly made for the redoubt of Carmona with his army.
The Abbasid army laid siege to Carmona for approximately two months.

Abd al-Rahman hand-picked 700 fighters from his army and led them to Carmona's main gate.

There, he started a great fire and threw his scabbard into the flames.
Abd al-Rahman told his men that time had come to go down fighting than die of hunger.
The gate lifted and Abd ar-Rahman's men fell upon the unsuspecting Abbasids, thoroughly routing them.
Most of the Abbasid army was killed.
The heads of the main Abbasid leaders were cut off.
The heads were sent to the Abbasid caliph who was on pilgrimage at Mecca.
Upon receiving the evidence of al-Ala's defeat in al-Andalus, al-Mansur is said to have gasped,
"God be praised for placing a sea between us
!" Al-Mansur hated, and yet apparently respected Abd al-Rahman to such a degree that he dubbed him the "Hawk of Quraysh"
(The Umayyads were from a branch of the Quraysh tribe).[14]
Despite such a tremendous victory, Abd al-Rahman had to continuously put down rebellions in al-Andalus. Various Arab and Berber tribes fought each other for varying degrees of power,
some cities tried to break away and form their own state,
and even members of Abd al-Rahman's family tried to wrest power from him.


The city of Zaragoza on the Upper March remained out of reach of the Umayyad leader
since the times of Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, bidding for autonomy in 779.


Problems in the Upper March
Zaragoza

In 779 Abd ar-Rahman offered the job of Zaragoza's governorship to one of Sulayman's allies, a man named al-Husayn ibn Yahiya.
Within two years, however, al-Husayn broke off relations with Abd al-Rahman and announced that Zaragoza would be an independent city-state.

Once again Abd al-Rahman had to be concerned with developments in the Upper March.
He was intent on keeping this important northern border city within the Umayyad fold.
By 783 Abd al-Rahman's army advanced on Zaragoza.
Abd al-Rahman's army were thirty-six siege engines.
Zaragoza's famous white granite defensive walls were breached under a torrent of ordnance from the Umayyad lines.
Abd al-Rahman's warriors spilled into the city's streets,
quickly thwarting al-Husayn's desires for independence.

Military Mercenary Army:

Abd al-Rahman knew that one of his sons would one day inherit the rule of al-Andalus, but that it was a land torn by strife.
In order to successfully rule in such a situation, Abd al-Rahman needed to create a reliable civil service and organize a standing army.

He felt that he could not always rely on the local populace in providing a loyal army; and therefore bought a massive standing army consisting mainly of Berbers from North Africa as well as slaves from other areas.
The total number of army-men under his command were nearly 40,000.



Adminstration:

‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Dākhil
overpowered intrigues and insurgencies very wisely.
He displayed statesmanship of a high calibre in administering the Muslim state.
He reorganised the system of law and justice.
Abd al-Rahman continued in his improvement of al-Andalus' infrastructure.
He ensured roadways were begun, aqueducts were constructed or improved,

He divided Spain into six provinces.
Each province had a governor called wali.
Later on rime minister called Hajib was also appointed.
He also reorgnized the governmental system.
He reorganised the system of law and justice.

Social, Cultural and constructions works:
He was extremely fond of knowledge and learning.
He invited celebrated scholars from all over the world and
organized specialized debates and discussions.
It was mainly due to his patronage of knowledge that
Spain eventually rose to the position of the world centre of arts and sciences.


He took keen interest in constructing magnificent mosques and beautiful buildings.

A new mosque of Córdoba:
Construction of famous Great Mosque of Córdoba was started circa the year 786.
Qartaba, the capital of the Muslim Spain, was turned into an extremely pretty metropolis.


Palace of Rusafa :

AR 1 nostalgia of his birth place is beautifully reflected in place of Rusafa,
It was his private dwelling full of gardens,like the place of his grandfather Hisham.
He raised a charming garden outside the Qartaba city.

Flower and fruit trees of a vast variety were planted in that garden.
A date-palm tree, specially imported from Syria,
was also planted to serve as a refreshing symbol of the great Arab civilization and culture.