Abd al-Rahman I
Abd al-Rahman was the founder of the Emirate of Cordoba and ruled as Abd al-Rahman I from 756-788 CE. As one of the lone survivors of the Umayyad Dynasty after the Abbasids defeated the Umayyad Caliphate, Abd al-Rahman bridged the Umayyad Caliphate and the Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba in Spain. Although he did not start Muslim rule in Spain, Abd al-Rahman established it as a vibrant, independent, and long-lasting political and cultural power.
The Rise & Fall of the Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Dynasty had established itself as the leader of Islam in 661 CE under Muawiya, the governor of Islamic Syria. Syria and Syrian Arabs became the power base for the Umayyads during their nearly century-long rule of the Islamic world. From their capital at Damascus, the Umayyads expanded their empire to reach the borders of China in the east and into Europe in the west. They launched assaults on the Byzantine capital at Constantinople twice and skirmished with the Tang Empire of China and the Franks.
In short, the Umayyads established the most powerful and wealthy empire of their day. Born into this glittering and powerful Umayyad court was Abd al-Rahman, the grandson of Caliph Hisham (r. 724-743 CE). But the opulent court where Abd al-Rahman was raised, and likely planned to live the rest of his life, was snatched from him in the fires of revolution when he was still a teenager. The Umayyads had focused on Syria and the Arabs almost to the exclusion of other peoples inside the empire, and this now came back to haunt them. In the border province of Khurasan, the local leader Abu Muslim declared a revolt against Umayyad authority in 747 CE. This revolution advanced on the core of the empire and defeated the last Umayyad caliph in the Battle of the Zab in 750 CE. The Abbasid Caliphate was now in control.
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