The Reign of the 10th Century Umayyad Caliph Abd Al-Rahman III - Essay Example

The reign of the 10th century Umayyad caliph Abd al-Rahman III Abd al-Rahman was the son of Al-Hakam who rose to the throne after the bereavement of his grandfather. He led a mysterious life during his reign, but significant people emerged during his reign. He was a wise person with a kind heart and slow in determination but very eloquent. Abd al Rahnan was also brave and indulging, but he did not entrust the government to any of his close allies. He undertook some of his duties alone and other times he accompanied his soldiers to war. After succeeding his grandfather, Abd al Rahman rose to the position of the commander in chief. He then started to turn the fortunes of the Cordoba for the better through his well equipped military. 1He managed to conquer and defeat his foe and for the first time in the history of the Umayyad, he managed to capture the enemies’ strongholds. Others submitted to his expedition without resisting. He used the technique of pursuing regional rebels to their strongholds then he later executed them and took their heads for display in his empires gate. The rebels who did not support his reign were charged with treason, which corresponded with external enemies, and they were later crucified at the pathway to the palace with a letter on their hands accounting to their crime. During the reign of Abd al-Rahman, Cordobia came to be identifiedwith wealth, which consisted of the numerous buildings such as schools, workshops and inns. The architecture was as a result of the alliance it had formed with the North African and other regions such as Byzantine Empire and Syria. The alignment also gave rise to the introduction of distinct motifs and designs. Art work that made the Medina al-Zahra was used to produce the indigenous tradition of Spain and Umayyad, which had the Mediterranean taste in it. 2There was also the crafting that was masterfully done to luxurious items such as carved ivory containers. The manuscript of Quran among many others meant that the trade between al-Andalus, Syria North Africa and Byzantine Empire had blossomed. Security was a key factor that Abd al-Rahman first dealt with in al Andalus. He got rid of the people who were opposing his style of rule and conquered some other empire as others joined in their own free will. This brought about stability within al-Andalus; stability attracted traders who set up their businesses without fear of being raided. After traders, other people with interest such as architecture, art, blacksmith followed, and this made the dynasty to develop rapidly. The trade came in due to the peaceful coexistence within al-Andalus, and this made many businesses to flourish as well as giving rise to merchants. The availability of merchants was very important for business since there was a steady flow of goods and services. The other thing that came as a result of the trade was specialization of labor; this created wealth to the citizens as well as employment. The other factor that was eminent during this period was the spread of Islam. This stoppable change came as a result of interaction dialect that was used in urban areas. There were good road networks, which linked the trading centers. The prosperous trade within al-Andalus meant that there was an improved living standard. Therefore, trade generally played a major role in the reign of Abd al Rahman. Though al-Andalus comprised of many religions, Abd al-Rahman introduced a strong Islam faith in the Umayyad dynasty, which was highly effective since the local traders and other people that visited the al-Andalus made it easy for them to interact, worship and share ideas together. This helped the locals and the visitors foster a good relationship between them. Though there was the existence of Jews and Arabs in the Umayyad dynasty, it was united. This facilitated their peaceful coexistence.3 The dynasty of Umayyad enjoyed peace and stability after the post conquest era. There was the existence of mixed cultures within the dynasty; these cultures were very distinctive in virtue of the places where they came from. However, they were all absorbed in a Muslim dynasty. They shared and lived together within the dynasty without having to define their divergences. The capital of the Umayyad dynasty became rich after adapting the economic, political, and ideological ways of working. There were also classical roots adopted that filtered Christianity. This development led to Al-Andalus becoming the capital of the dynasty. Abd al-Rahman restored legitimacy on the eastern part of the Islamic nations. This was continuous between Christians and Roman and it led to the implementation of architecture and models. These two factors led to drastic change as the dynasty evolved with time. Abd al-Rahman discovered caliphates and he believed that caliphates were chosen by god himself. There were claims that that denied these believes but some and rejected the claims. However, Ai-Rahman stood by this alternative source of authority and instead backed it as a claim by saying that the Fatimids were extended to the prophets through the aid of the Caliphs to his dynasty of Umayyad. 4Caliphates from Cordoba were so good that they beat other urban centers. Abd al-Rahman used caliphate to revive the consistency of the past reigns. However, he used different models to diverge historical contents. With the caliphates, he shared the general ideas that were used by his predecessors; his work was to elaborate metaphors that were rooted in the past. Abd al-Rahman kept to the tradition of the ancestor in the modern world and he identified himself as a Fatmid and Abbasids.5 During his time, he used their language in presenting himself just like the case of appropriation of image in Mahdi. He was quick to present himself as a defender of faith and that he would do anything in his power to protect Fatmid from its rivals. He denied his dynasty the legitimacy of conception of the caliphate and the views of the past as a prologue to the present through the force of the arm. Given the success of the Umayyad as a dynasty, it also faced some triumphs and disasters, racism developed in the dynasty. There was abuse to the children belonging to mothers who were formerly slaves. This was due to their generic appearance, several children carried the characteristics that they inherited from their Christian slave mothers, and these resulted to segregation of such families’ since they carried the physical appearance that did not correspond to those of the Arab families. These families lacked comfort when they were around their Arab counterparts. This was due to the racial gestures since they were tormented with by the Arab families, especially from the tribe of Quraysh. The remedy that Abd al-Rahman resorted to was dying his hair and beard so as to conform to the desired image. This was also evident during the reigns of the successive amirs and the caliphs, though Abd al-Rahman had slave wives. The dynasty of Umayyad only allowed the freeborn to become the established future of the dynasty. Fatima was the youngest wife of Abd al-Rahma. She enjoyed the rank of the first wife; her rank was later strip off because she did not bear a son. The dynasty of Umayyad became conscious of ancestry, reality and imagination; this highlighted the aspect of physical appearance There was the consequence of dealing with the immediate detrimental of acute consciousness of the ancestry in reviving the ethnic disparagement that was directed against the Berbers and the Saqaliba. All the slave soldiers were castrated, and the majority of male soldier were slave. Castration of the male slave soldiers meant that even if they were free they still depended on their masters. The slave soldiers were loyal to the dynasty due to their continued legal ties and also the fear of being despised. 6The non-Christians slaves were mainly pagans brought from southern Baltic The fall of the Umayyad Caliphate started with the declining health of al-Hakam II that led to the abandonment of Madinat al-Zahra as the doctor advised him that he was being affected by the breeze that came off the mountain. Al-Hakam obeyed the doctors advises, and he returned to the fortress palace. When al-Hakam died, the coins that were made through the mint stopped, and the administrative activities were also transferred to Cordoba. Though the existence of the palace continued for a few decades, when the succession time came, the commanders of the slave guard tried to stage a coup in order to block the succession of a minor by implanting Hisham II to the throne. Bibliography Collins, Roger. 2012. Caliphs and kings: Spain, 796-1031. 1st edition. Chichester, UK: Wiley- Blackwell. Page 168-183. Fierro, Ma. Isabel. 2005. ʻAbd al-Rahman III: the first Cordoban Caliph. Oxford, England: Oneworld. Janina, Safran, 2 (May, 1998)The Command of the Faithful in al-Andalus: A Study in the Articulation of Caliphal Legitimacy, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 30, No., pp. 183-198 Makki, Mahmoud. “The Political History of al-Andalus.” In The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. Leiden: Brill, 1994. page 35 - 38 Roberto Marínguzmán, THE END OF THE REVOLT OF UMAR IBN ḤAFṢŪN IN AL- ANDALUS: THE PERIOD OF ABD AL- N III (912-28) Source: Islamic, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Summer 1995), pp. 153-205. Safran, Janina M. 2004. The sun rises in the west: the ideology of the Umayyad caliphate of al- Andalus. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 2004. Read More