‘Abd al-Rahmān III al-Nāṣir

Spanish emir (912-929) and caliph (929-961)

• Born: January 891
• Birthplace: Córdoba (now in Spain)
• Died: October 15, 0961
• Place of death: Córdoba (now in Spain)

ՙAbd al-Raḥmān became the first full-fledged caliph of Córdoba, on the Iberian Peninsula, inaugurating the Umayyad caliphate in Spain. His reign, characterized by sound administrative, fiscal, and religious policies, military successes, astute diplomacy, and patronage of learning, marked the apex of Islamic power in Spain.

Early Life

The grandson of Emir ՙAbd Allāh and his Christian wife, great-grandson of Emir al-Mundhir and a Christian princess from Navarre, and grandnephew of the powerful Navarrese queen Toda, ՙAbd al-Raḥmān III al-Nāṣir (uhb-dool-rahk-MAHN uhl-NAH-sihr) spent his youth in the wealth and culture of his grandfather's palace in Córdoba. This ancestry illustrates the complex nature of Spanish society in the tenth century. Clearly the Christians and the Muslims were in conflict, but the conflict was rooted more in political and economic rivalries than in religious or cultural antagonisms. This background provided ՙAbd al-Raḥmān with perspective and connections that he was able to exploit effectively, as his grandfather had not. When ՙAbd al-Raḥmān inherited the emirate, his authority extended only to the area around Córdoba.

During the preceding decades, Arab aristocrats and Berber military men had amassed huge landed estates that gave them a power base from which to ignore central authority. This independence was apparent particularly in certain areas of Aragon, Toledo, and Estremadura. Religious fanatics of one kind or another were in repeated revolt. Through sporadic raids and warfare, the Christian princes in the north had regained vast tracts of land that the emirate had controlled earlier. The absence of political unity and social stability had devastated the economy of Spain. Although ՙAbd Allāh was not the strongest or wisest of emirs, he did make one outstanding decision: From among his many grandchildren, he chose ՙAbd al-Raḥmān as his heir.

Life's Work

In 912, when ՙAbd al-Raḥmān was twenty-one, he became the emir. He immediately undertook to rectify the political, economic, and social problems that he had inherited. His interests were many, but he gave primary attention to three major activities: the unification of his kingdom, the construction of the Madinat az-Zahra palace, and the promotion of an economic revolution.

The first of these tasks, the unification and centralization of his kingdom, took the first twenty years of ՙAbd al-Raḥmān's reign. He neutralized the power of the aristocracy and curbed the bellicosity of the Berber tribes by establishing a standing army, made up of slaves and foreigners from the whole of the Mediterranean world, soldiers whose first loyalty was to the caliph. This army ultimately numbered one hundred thousand and was supported by a third of the royal revenues.

ՙAbd al-Raḥmān defeated the religious rebels whose power centered on Bobastro and who had virtually declared their independence from the central government. He deliberately broke the independence of the governors of Saragossa, Toledo, and Badajoz, restoring their function as frontier marches whose purpose was to prevent Christian intrusion into the Córdoban kingdom. He campaigned repeatedly, though not always successfully, against the Christian kingdoms of León, Castile, Navarre, and Galicia. In the end, it was to the caliphate that the Christians went in search of physicians, musicians, architects, negotiators, tutors, and marriage alliances.

By the end of his reign, ՙAbd al-Raḥmān had centralized his authority over Islamic Spain. He had made the Christian kingdoms tribute states but allowed them to retain governmental autonomy. By 937, he had stopped the westward expansion of the Fāimids out of Tunis, extending his sovereignty over Morocco and western Algeria. In recognition of his power, rulers of all European and eastern Islamic kingdoms commissioned emissaries to his court.

To add to his prestige and focus his authority, in 929, ՙAbd al-Raḥmān declared himself caliph of Islamic Spain, based on his Umayyad lineage. He also took the titles “commander of the believers” and “defender of the religion of God,” tacitly supporting the Malikite theological position, which was then dominant among Muslims in Spain. His assumption of these titles allowed petty chieftains in North Africa to recognize the Spanish caliph as their sovereign, rather than the schismatic and fanatical Fāimids. It also did much to focus the emerging patriotism and loyalty of his Spanish subjects.

In the economic sphere, ՙAbd al-Raḥmān met with equal success. Production of gold, iron, silver, lead, and rubies increased. He improved and extended the canals and irrigation systems. Despite the Qur՚ānic dictates against wine drinking, the growing of grapes and the making of wine became important economic enterprises. Agriculture was diversified and expanded. Rice, peaches, oranges, apricots, sugar, cotton, pomegranates, figs, and saffron had been introduced by the Muslims into Spain; traditional crops such as wheat, other grains, and olives also continued to be cultivated.

This diversification and increased agricultural production were key elements of the prosperity of ՙAbd al-Raḥmān's caliphate, but industry played a crucial role as well. The caliphate became known for its fine leather, superb steel, olive oil, and paper. These products were traded as far east as India for slaves, cloth, and exotic spices. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān expanded the navy in order to protect trade routes and the merchant fleet from attacks by the Normans, Byzantines, or ՙAbbāsids. In the end, ՙAbd al-Raḥmān's navy and merchant marine came to dominate the western Mediterranean.

In 936, ՙAbd al-Raḥmān embarked on the construction of his great palace, Madinat az-Zahra (which means “she of the shining face”). Az-Zahra was the caliph's favorite wife; curiously, initial funding for the palace came as a gift to the caliph from one of his concubines. The construction of the palace became a major public works project, employing ten thousand workers and three thousand animals for twenty-five years at an expense of one-third of the annual royal revenues. Materials such as ebony, gold, and ivory were imported to decorate the palace; luxurious gifts for its embellishment were received from other rulers. This sprawling palace complex, located about three miles outside Córdoba, provided a beautiful view of the city and surrounding countryside. Some have deemed it the crowning achievement of ՙAbd al-Raḥmān's reign.

Significance

ՙAbd al-Raḥmān III al-Nāṣir died at the age of seventy, leaving the caliphate to al-Hakam II, his son by his Basque Christian wife, Subh. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān had been a determined and successful ruler. His energy was boundless, his ability undisputed, his power immense and wisely controlled. He demanded respect; he extended charity. He carefully and intelligently tended to the demands of state and religion, while conscientiously expanding the culture, refinement, and economic well-being of his realm. He had established not only the most magnificent but also the most powerful kingdom in Europe and nowhere was this better exemplified than in his capital, Córdoba.

Half a million people populated the city, whereas London had perhaps five thousand; indeed, the population of Spain as a whole had exploded during ՙAbd al-Raḥmān's reign. The streets of the city were paved and lighted. Resplendent with palaces, seven hundred mosques, and at least three hundred public baths, Córdoba contained seventy libraries, countless bookstores, and twenty-seven free schools.

The caliph founded the University of Córdoba in the Great Mosque and established chairs and scholarships there; it was an institution that attracted teachers and students from the whole Mediterranean world and western Asia. During the reign of his son, the royal library founded by ՙAbd al-Raḥmān reached 400,000 volumes, a number of which serve today as the basis of the Arabic collection in the Library of the Escorial. In addition to the university, a leading center for Jewish theological studies flourished in Córdoba. Indeed, ՙAbd al-Raḥmān's physician, Hasdai ibn Shaprut (915-970), was Jewish, a member of the Ibn Ezra family educated at the University of Córdoba. A man of tact and goodwill, he became a diplomatic, financial, and commercial adviser for the caliph. He patronized learning and gave scholarships and books to deserving students. It is said that the stature of a leader can, at least in part, be determined by the quality of those who serve him; Hasdai, then, serves as a case in point.

Córdoba became one of the three great cultural centers of the medieval world, rivaling both Constantinople and Baghdad. Its glory, however, was not only cultural. The economic power of the caliphate centered in Córdoba as well. The city processed and marketed the products of the agricultural revolution of the tenth century. Great brass, glass, pottery, paper, and leather works were located there. The city housed at least thirteen thousand silk, wool, and cotton weavers. Through Córdoba and Seville (the premier port of the caliphate) flowed Spain's exports in marble, sugar, figs, cotton, olives, olive oil, wine, and saffron. Revenues from import-export duties alone financed the caliphate.

The awe and admiration inspired by this “jewel of the world” that was Córdoba was only a reflection of the stature of the caliph himself. Never again could Islamic Spain claim such a one as ՙAbd al-Raḥmān III al-Nāṣir.

Córdoba’s Umayyad Caliphs, 756-1031

Reign

• Ruler

756-788

• ՙAbd al-Raḥmān I (emir)

788-796

• Hishām I (emir)

796-822

• al-Hakam I (emir)

822-852

• ՙAbd al-Raḥmān II (emir)

852-886

• Muḥammad I (emir)

886-888

• al-Mundhir (emir)

888-912

• ՙAbd Allāh (emir)

912-961

• ՙAbd al-Raḥmān III al-Nāṣir (emir 912-929, caliph 929-961)

961-976

• al-Hakam II al-Mustan;ṣir

976-1009

• Hishām II al-Muayyad

1009-1010

• Muḥammad II al-Mahdī

1009-1010

• Sulaimān al-Mustaՙīn

1010-1013

• Hishām II (restored)

1013-1016

• Sulaimān (restored)

1016-1018

• Alī ben Hammud

1018

• ՙAbd al-Raṣmān IV

1018-1021

• al-Qasim

1021-1022

• Yaṣyā

1022-1023

• al-Qasim (restored)

1023-1024

• ՙAbd al-Raṣmān IV

1024-1025

• Muḥammad III

1025-1027

• Yaṣyā (restored)

1027-1031

• Hishām III

1031

• End of Umayyads; dissolution of Umayyad Spain into small states

Bibliography

Chapman, Charles E. A History of Spain. 1918. Reprint. New York: Free Press, 1965. A classic survey of Spanish/Portuguese History, this work remains a standard reference because of its objectivity, detail, and organization.

Christopher, John B. The Islamic Tradition. 1972. Reprint. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1987. This is one of the best short introductions to the history, the basic religious tenets, and the great medieval cultural synthesis of Islam, including that which occurred in Spain. Indeed, it is out of this rich medieval cultural heritage that Islam faces the modern world.

Coppée, Henry. History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors: With a Sketch of the Civilization Which They Achieved and Imparted to Europe. 2 vols. Piscataway, N.J.: Georgia Press, 2002. This work, originally published in 1881, explores the conquest of Spain in 711 and the resulting Arab influences on European civilization.

Durant, Will. The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval Civilization Christian, Islamic, and Judaic From Constantine to Dante, A.D. 325-1300. New York: MJF Books, 1992. This is the fourth volume of the author’s Story of Civilization series, a massive synthesis. Good bibliography, helpful explanatory notes, and index.

Hayes, John R., and George N. Atiyeh, eds. The Genius of Arab Civilization: Source of Renaissance. 3d ed. New York: New York University Press, 1992. A lively collection of essays, suitable for the general reader, discussing Arab intellectual and cultural accomplishments. Includes a bibliography and index.

Hillgarth, J. N. Spain and the Mediterranean in the Later Middle Ages: Studies in Political and Intellectual History. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Variorum, 2003. A survey of the political and intellectual history of Spain from 711 through the sixteenth century. Includes bibliography and index.

Hitti, Philip K. Capital Cities of Arab Islam. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1973. Describes the uniqueness of six great capitals of Islam, including Córdoba.

Hitti, Philip K. History of the Arabs: From the Earliest Times to the Present. 10th ed. New York: Palgrave, Macmillan, 2002. A complete and useful study of the rise of Islam in Spain and elsewhere.

Jackson, Gabriel. The Making of Medieval Spain. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972. A most insightful and evenhanded examination of medieval Spain. It stresses the rich results of the long intermingling of the Islamic, Christian, and Jewish cultures. Packed with information, this short text is lucid and extremely well written. Includes many excellent illustrations and a short but enlightening bibliographic essay.

Watt, W. Montgomery, and Pierre Cachia. A History of Islamic Spain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1965. This well-informed study details the influence of Islam on the cultural development of Spain and through Spain, all Europe. Special attention is focused on the Umayyads, of whom ՙAbd al-Raḥmān was the greatest.