Abd ar-Rahman I

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For individuals with the same or similar name, see Abd-ar-Rahman

Abd ar-Rahman I (Arabic: عبد الرحمن الداخل) (born 731; ruled 756-circa 788) was the founder of a Muslim dynasty that ruled Andalusia al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia) for nearly three centuries. It should be noted that there are various spellings in English for his name, such as Abd al-Rahman.

1 Origins
2 Flight from Syria
3 Exile
4 Rule
5 Bibliography

[edit] Origins

Abd al-Rahman was the grandson of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, the tenth Umayyad Caliph. Abd al-Rahman was a prince, and was groomed from an early age to be a caliph. More specifically, he was the son of Muawiya, son of Hisham, son of al-Malik.

[edit] Flight from Syria

Abd al-Rahman was about 20 when his family, the ruling Umayyads, were overthrown by a popular revolt known as the Abbasid revolution. This occurred in the year 749. Abd al-Rahman and a small selection of his family fled the Damascus, where the center of Umayyad power had been. Some of the family which fled with Abd al-Rahman were his brother Yahya, his 4-year old son Sulayman, and some of his sisters. Also fleeing with Abd al-Rahman was his former Greek slave (now a freedman) Bedr. The family fled south from Damascus following the River Euphrates. All along the way the path was filled with danger. The Abbasids had dispatched horsemen across the region to try and find the Umayyad prince and kill him. The Abbasids were merciless with all Umayyads that they found. While hiding in a small village, Abbasid agents closed in on Abd al-Rahman and his family. Knowing that it was him and his brother that they were after, he left his young son with his sisters and fled. Accounts vary, but Bedr likely initially escaped with Abd al-Rahman. Some histories indicate that Bedr met up with Abd al-Rahman at a later date.^[1] Abd al-Rahman, Yahya, and Bedr quit the village narrowly escaping the Abbasid assassins. Later, on the way south, Abbasid horsemen again caught up with the trio. In a desperate attempt to save themselves, Abd al-Rahman and his companions threw themselves into the River Euphrates. While trying to swim across the dangerous Euphrates, Abd al-Rahman became separated from his brother Yahya. Yahya began swimming back towards the horsemen, possibly from fear of drowning. The horsemen beseeched the escapees to return, and that no harm would come to them. 17th century Egyptian historian Ahmed ibn Muhammad al-Makkari (AKA: al-Makkari) poignantly described Abd al-Rahman's reaction as he implored Yahya to keep going: "O brother! Come to me, come to me"!^[2] Yahya returned to the near shore, and was quickly cut down by the horsemen. They cut the head off their prize, leaving Yahya's body to rot. Al-Makkari quotes prior Muslim historians as having recorded that Abd al-Rahman said he was so overcome with fear at that moment, that once he made the far shore he ran until exhaustion overcame.^[3] Only he and Bedr were left to face the unknown.

[edit] Exile

In 755 he had reached modern day Morocco near Ceuta. He sent an agent to Iberia to ask for the support of other former leaders loyal to the family and descendants of the conquerors of Iberia. There were many based in the province of Elvira, modern Granada. The province however was in a state of confusion caused by the weak rule of the current Emir Yusef. He was a puppet ruler controlled by a tribal faction. The community was torn by tribal dissensions between the Arabs and racial tensions between the Arabs and Berbers. Abd ar-Rahman saw an opportunity he had failed to find in Africa. At the invitation of former loyal followers he landed at Almuñécar, to the east of Málaga, in September 755.

offended Obeidullah one of Abd's supporters and promoter of the Umayyad cause. After being taunted for his ability to write Arabic well, Obeidullah attacked the messenger and conflict with Yusef became inevitable.

In 756 the two parties fought a campaign in the Guadalquivir valley, which ended, on May 16, in the defeat of Yusef outside Córdoba. However Abd ar-Rahman's army was so poorly equipped that he was mounted on one of the few war-horses; he had no banner, and one was improvised by unwinding a green turban and binding it round the head of a spear. Subsequently the turban and the spear became the banner and symbol of the Andalusian Umayyads.

[edit] Rule

The long reign of Abd ar-Rahman was spent in a struggle to bring his Arab and Berber subjects to order. Many had sought independence rather than to create a new master. As he sought to impose greater control unrest grew. In 763 Abd was compelled to fight at the very gate of his capital against rebels supporting the Abbasids. He won a decisive victory. He then ordered the heads be cut off the rebel leaders, filled them salt and camphor and sent them as an act of defiance to the rulers of the eastern caliph.

During his final years, Abd ar-Rahman had to contend with a succession of palace conspiracies, which he brutally put down. However the dynasty he founded remained in control of Iberia until 1031.

[edit] Bibliography

1. Ahmed ibn Muhammad al-Makkari. "The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain; extracted from the Nafhu-T-Tib Min Ghosni-L-Andalusi-R-Rattib Wa Tarikh Lisanu-D-Din Ibni-L-Khattib". Translated by Pascual de Gayangos, member of the Oriental Translation Committee, and late professor of Arabic in the Athenæum of Madrid.In Two Volumes. VOL. II. Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York, NY. 1964. Pages 96 (Book VI, chapters 1 & 2). It should be noted that al-Makkari quotes from historian Ibnu Hayyan's "Muktabis" when detailing Abd al-Rahman's flight from Syria.

2. Ahmed ibn Muhammad al-Makkari. "The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain",58-61.

3. Ahmed ibn Muhammad al-Makkari. "The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain",60.