Abd al-Rahman I

“ Abd-al-Rahman rivalled the most enlightened khalifs of the East in his zeal for the encouragement of learning; in his patronage of science and the arts; in his admiration for the works of the Greek philosophers, which, during his reign, were introduced into the Peninsula. One of his greatest pleasures was to listen to the reading of the productions of the great scholars of antiquity. In every town schools sufficient to meet the requirements of the population, and provided with the best available facilities for the imparting of instruction, arose. ”

“ The greatness of the Moslem power in Spain under Abd-al-Rahman III. is to be attributed to the extraordinary administrative capacity of that renowned monarch. The glory in fact is exclusively his own. ”

“ While these events were transpiring, a formidable conspiracy for the assassination of the Khalif and the promotion of one of his cousins, Abd-al-Rahman-Ibn-Obeydallah, to the royal dignity, was maturing in the capital. The great majority of the literary men,—the former companions and instructors of Ibn-abi-Amir,—with officials who had viewed his elevation with unconcealed envy and hatred, stimulated by mediocrity and conscious incompetence, were the promoters of the enterprise. ”

“ There have existed few examples of a ruler so perfectly identified with the spirit of his age and the genius of his people as was Al-Hakem, whose name most appropriately signifies The Wise. Nature had not bestowed upon him the consummate talents for organization, and the prophetic sagacity with which she had gifted the founder of his dynasty, Abd-al-Rahman I. He did not possess either the political tact or the military capacity of Abd-al-Rahman III. [681] But in all the substantial acquirements of useful knowledge; in the appreciation of the works of genius, and the disposition to reward them ”

“ In the non-poetical realm one man stands out, the theologian and jurist Abd-al-Rahman ibn-Amr al-Awzai. Born in Baalbek in 707, he flourished in Beirut, where he died in 774. Al-Awzai was noted for his learning, asceticism and moral courage, speaking out in disapproval of excessive harshness in the treatment of Christians, such as destroying their churches and homes, cutting down their trees and expelling the villagers from al-Munaytirah. The legal system worked out by this jurist was applied in Syria for about two centuries before it was supplanted. ”

“ Peradventure somewhat may befal thee; so shall the folk know him for thy son and he shall lay his hand on thy leavings. But, an thou die, as the case now is, and he say to the folk:—I am the son of the merchant Abd al-Rahman, verily they will not believe him, but will cry, We have never seen thee and we knew not that he had a son, wherefore the government will seize thy goods and thy son will be despoiled. In like manner the girl; I mean to make her known among the folk, so may be some one of her own condition may ask her in marriage and we will wed her to him and rejoice in her. ”

“ When the jeweller went in to Abd al-Rahman’s daughter, he found her handsomer than Halimah and a thousand-fold lovelier. So he took her maidenhead and on the morrow, he went to the Hammam with Kamar al-Zaman. Then he abode with them awhile in pleasance and joyance, after which he began to yearn for his native land: so he went in to Abd al-Rahman and said to him, “O uncle, I long for my own country, for I have there estates and effects, which I left in charge of one of my prentices; and I am minded to journey thither that I may sell my properties and return to thee. ”

“ Description An indigenous Egyptian Islamic extremist group active since the late 1970s; appears to be loosely organized with no single readily identifiable operational leader. Shaykh Umar Abd al-Rahman is the preeminent spiritual leader. Goal is to overthrow the government of President Hosni Mubarak and replace it with an Islamic state.
Activities Armed attacks against Egyptian security and other government officials, Coptic Christians, and Egyptian opponents of Islamic extremism. The group also has launched attacks on tourists in Egypt since 1992. ”

“ Abd-al-Rahman, aware of the political necessity of making a demonstration to counteract the effects of the inroads that his helpless situation had invited, and not unwilling to inaugurate his reign with a brilliant military exploit, prepared to invade the Gothic March with the army already collected for the suppression of the insurrection fomented by Abdallah. The advance guard, commanded by the wali Abd-al-Kerim, approaching from Valencia met the Christians not far from Barcelona, and, after a short but hotly contested engagement, drove them inside the gates. ”

“ Abd al Rahmân, scandalised at the misappropriation of religious property devoted to the poor, laid hands upon the animal, slaughtered it, and divided the flesh among the people. The personal reverence attaching heretofore to the ‘Successor of the Prophet of the Lord,’ gave place to slight and disregard. Even in the streets, Othmân was greeted with cries, demanding that he should depose Ibn Aámir and the godless Abu Sarh, and put away from him Merwân, his chief adviser and confidant. ”

“ For the World never handed to humans a cup with its right, ✿ But with left it compelled them a beaker of ruin to drain. Then Kamar al-Zaman and his father took Obayd and carrying him into the saloon of the Harim, shut themselves up with him; and Abd al-Rahman said to him, “We did not hinder thee from speaking before the folk, but for fear of dishonour to thee and to us: but now we are private; so tell me all that hath passed between thee and thy wife and my son.” ”

“ Had Abu Obeida been yet alive, Omar declared that he would have chosen him; and the succession now offered to Abd al Rahmân was (as we have seen) declined. Weak and faint from the assassin’s dagger, the emergency came upon the dying Caliph altogether unprepared to meet it. So, relieving himself of the responsibility, [287] he fell upon the expedient of nominating the six chiefest Companions, on one or other of whom he knew that the choice must needs fall, to be the Electors of a successor from amongst themselves. These were Abd al Rahmân, Othmân, Aly, Sád, Zobeir, and Talha. ”

“ At daybreak, his head having been raised upon a pike, the soldiers took to ignominious flight; the fickle multitude greeted with execrations the features they had so recently admired; the aristocracy and the merchants embraced a cause which might afford protection to their persons and their estates; and, Ibn-Ocacha having convoked the citizens in the mosque of Abd-al-Rahman, the vast assemblage proclaimed, with vociferous but hollow acclamations, their doubtful allegiance to the Emir of Toledo. ”

“ Everywhere the insurgents were welcomed with enthusiasm; the bravest warriors joined their ranks; and the towns, one after another, including Seville, the most important city of Andalusia in point of population, opened their gates to the pretender. Abd-al-Rahman had scarcely received the homage of his new subjects before he learned that Yusuf, who, aided by his counsellor Al-Samil, had collected a formidable army in the provinces of Toledo and Murcia, had marched from Cordova to intercept him. ”

“ The Master smiled as he put up the receiver in the little box and closed the door with a snap. Regretfully he shook his head.
"These Arabic gentlemen, et ál," he remarked, "don't seem agreeably disposed to treat with us on a basis of exchanging the Sheik Abd el Rahman for what we want from them. My few remarks in Arabic, via this etheric megaphone, seem to have met a rebuff. Every man in the Haram, the minarets, the arcade, and the radiating streets heard every word I said, gentlemen, as plainly as if I had spoken directly into his ear. Yet no sound at all developed here." ”

“ Wonderfully favored by nature, as well as by the industry of a numerous population, the province of [Pg 131] Granada early began to give evidence of that greatness which culminated in its erection into an independent and powerful kingdom. The Jews, attracted by the productiveness of its soil, the salubrity of its climate, and the mercantile advantages of its situation, had settled there in such numbers that the capital was, even before the accession of the first Abd-al-Rahman, known as a Jewish city. ”

“ The choice of his heir was tacitly left to the sovereign, to be ratified by the homage of the great officers of the kingdom; a mere formality whereby a concession was made to the prejudices of the tribesmen, but which was, in fact, devoid of political significance. The omission of this ceremony would not have affected the investiture of the heir, nor have impaired the validity of his title; it would only have afforded a plausible pretext for some ambitious chieftain to foment an insurrection. Several reasons combined to induce Abd-al-Rahman to prefer Hischem to his elder brethren. ”

“ But he had not calculated on the frailty of human nature; and selfish ends proved more powerful than loyalty to Islam. Abd al Rahmân was the only real patriot amongst them. Talha, Zobeir, and Sád, not yet beyond the age of fifty, had none of them any special reason to aspire to the Caliphate. They were all warriors of renown. Zobeir was closely related to the Prophet. Sád was the nephew of Mahomet’s mother; but his recall from Kûfa (although Omar had declared it to involve no discredit) could not but in some measure tarnish the fame of the conqueror of Medâin. ”

“ Accepted by the Arab tribes, whose influence in the West was paramount, Abd al Rahman now laid the foundation of a new Dynasty and perpetuated the Omeyyad name at the magnificent court of Cordova. ... Thus, with the rise of the Abbassides, the unity of the Caliphate came to an end. Never after, either in theory or in fact, was there a successor to the Prophet, acknowledged as such over all Islam. Other provinces followed in the wake of Spain. The Aghlabite dynasty in the east of Africa, and, west of it, the Edrisites in Fez, both of Alyite descent; Egypt and Sicily under independent rulers ”

“ It was also stipulated that Yusuf should reside permanently at Cordova, where two of his sons, Abu-Zaid and Abu-al-Aswad, were detained as hostages.
The renunciation of authority by Yusuf left Abd-al-Rahman the nominal master of the Peninsula. But the elements of discord, which had so long [395] harassed the country, were too powerful to be restrained by the influence of a youth who was a comparative stranger to the majority of his subjects. ”

“ A report, perhaps well founded, gained credence in Cordova that another descendant of Abd-al-Rahman would soon lay claim to his hereditary and usurped prerogatives. When the rumor of this movement reached the court, Kasim adopted the most radical measures for the prevention of a new revolution. An indiscriminate proscription was inaugurated against the Ommeyades. The uncertainty of the candidate for regal honors, whose pretensions were to be exhibited for the approval of the people, stimulated the animosity and increased the vigilance of the authorities. ”

“ Abdallah son of Omar, Hosein son of Aly, Abdallah son of Zobeir, and Abd al Rahmân son of Abu Bekr. The first, a pious devotee, would surely succumb. The last might be persuaded by his fellows to set up his claim; but he was too much engrossed with the pleasures of the harem to be the cause of much anxiety. [587] ‘As for Hosein,’ he continued, ‘the factious people of Irâc will not leave him alone till he shall attempt the empire; when thou hast gotten the victory, then deal gently with him, for verily the Prophet’s blood runneth in his veins. ”

“ I fear not death; and verily I am dying; but the fear of the wolf followeth in its wake.
For wolf (zeib) some read sin (zanb) . It is difficult to say what can have given rise to this strange tradition. Possibly Káb, seeing the sullen and threatening attitude of Abu Lulû, may have warned him accordingly.
[421] It is possible that Abd al Rahmân’s subsequent renunciation of the Caliphate in the coming conclave may have led to the tradition of this supposed conversation with Omar; but I give the tradition as I find it; and the facts as stated in the text are not in themselves improbable. ”

“ In the meantime, the armies of Abd-al-Rahman ravaged at will the Christian frontier. Raid followed raid with the assurance derived from constant impunity. The market-places of the Andalusian cities were heaped up with the significant trophies of victory,—crosses and crucifixes, embroidered vestments and jewelled censers, side by side with ghastly pyramids of heads, the number of [591] the latter in one instance reaching five thousand. Distracted by the double peril of Castilian revolt and Moslem invasion, Ordoño III. sent ambassadors to Cordova to solicit peace. ”

“ The embarrassment of Abd-al-Rahman, who, at the moment of his accession, found himself confronted with an insurrection whose consequences threatened to be serious, was not lost upon his enterprising neighbors of the Gothic March. They raised a numerous army, ravaged the Moorish territory at the North as far as the left bank of the Segre, returning without having encountered any opposition and laden with the spoils of war. This expedition was commanded by Bernhart, Count of Barcelona, son of the renowned William of Toulouse, upon whom Louis had conferred the fief ”

“ But some more definite choice he would, in all probability, have formed. We know that the perils of disunion hung heavily on his mind. The unbridled arrogance of the Arabian tribes at Al-Kufa and Al-Basra, flushed with the glory and spoils of war, was already felt to be a growing danger; while family rivalries among Koreish themselves had begun to weaken their hold upon the people. So much is plain, that ('Abd ar-Rahman excepted) 'Omar saw no one amongst them endowed with sufficient power and influence to hold the reins of government ”