Abd-ar-Rahman III

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

Abd-ar-Rahman III (Arabic: عبد الرحمن الثالث) was the Emir and Caliph of Cordoba (912-961), and the greatest and most successful of the princes of the Ummayad dynasty in the Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia). He ascended the throne when he was barely twenty-two and reigned for half a century. His life was so completely identified with the government of the state that he offers less material for biography than his ancestor Abd-ar-Rahman I. Abd-ar-Rahman III was the grandson of his predecessor, Abdullah, one of the Andalusian Umayyads.

Abd-ar-Rahman came to the throne when the country was exhausted by more than a generation of tribal conflict among the Arabs, and of strife between them and the Muslims of native Iberian descent. Iberians who were openly or secretly Christians had acted with the renegades. These elements, which formed the bulk of the population, were not averse from supporting a strong ruler who would protect them against the Arab aristocracy. These restless nobles were the most serious of Abd-ar-Rahman's enemies. Next to them came the Fatimids of Egypt and northern Africa, who claimed the caliphate based on descent from the Prophet Muhammad, and who aimed at extending their rule over the Muslim world. Abd-ar-Rahman subdued the nobles by means of a mercenary army consisting of Slavs.

He repelled the Fatimids, partly by supporting their enemies in Africa, and partly by claiming the title caliph, ruler of the Islamic world, for himself. On January 16, 929, Abd-ar-rahman III declared himself as the Caliphate of Cordoba, effectively breaking all ties with the Fatimid and Abbasid caliphs. His ancestors in Iberia had been content with the title of emir. The caliphate was thought only to belong to the prince who ruled over the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina. But the force of this tradition had been so far weakened that Abd-ar-Rahman could proclaim himself caliph, and the assumption of the title gave him increased prestige with his subjects, both in Iberia and Africa. Abd-ar-Rahman based his claim to the caliphate on his Umayyad ancestry who held undisputed control of the caliphate until they were overthrown by the Abbasids. After declaring the caliphate, Abd-ar-Rahman built a massive palace complex known as the Medina Azahara. The Medina Azahara was modeled after the old Umayyad palace in Damascus and served as a symbolic tie between the new caliph and his ancestors.

Unfortunately, while there is copious Spanish and Arabic literature on this period, little appears to have been translated into English. Coope, Scales and Woolf provide important social and historical overviews of Christian/Muslim relations within the Caliphate of Cordoba during its history that may provide historical context for this subject.

Saint Pelagius and Reconquista Polemic

A story is told of him falling in love with a pious thirteen-year old boy (later enshrined as a Christian martyr and canonized as Saint Pelagius of Cordova) who refused the caliph's favors. Some accounts having him stripping himself naked before he did so. Enraged, Abd-ar-Rahman had the boy tortured and dismembered.^[1][2] After he was defeated by the Christians at Alhandega in 939 through the treason of the Arab nobles in his army (see History of Spain) he never again took the field.

Bibliography

• Jessica Coope: Martyrs of Cordoba: Community and Family Conflict in an Age of Mass Conversion: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press: 1995: ISBN 0-8032-1471-5

• Maribel Fierro: Abd-al-Rahman III of Cordoba: London: Oneworld Publications: 2005: ISBN 1-85168-384-4

• Peter Scales: Fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba: New York: EJ Brill:1994:

ISBN 90-04-09868-2

• Kenneth Wolf: Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 1988: ISBN 0-521-34416-6

Notes

ar:عبد الرحمن الناصر لدين الله ca:Abd al-Rahman III de:'Abd ar-Rahman III. es:Abderramán III fr:Abd al-Rahman III gl:Abd ar-Rahman III ja:アブド・アッラフマーン3世 pt:Abderramão III sk:Abdarrahmán III. sv:Abd ar-Rahman III zh:阿卜杜勒·拉赫曼三世

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