Abd al-Rahman I: the emir who founded Cordoba’s Great Mosque

A vast building of columns and arches stands on the bank of the Guadalquivir river in the southern Spanish city of Cordoba. UNESCO describes it as a unique artistic creation because of its size and the height of its interior. The building was founded in the eighth century by Abd al-Rahman I, known in history as “Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil”, meaning “the one who entered”. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, he was a member of the Umayyad family of Syria who founded a new Umayyad dynasty in Spain. He ruled from 756 to 788.

Early life

Abd al-Rahman was born in Syria around 731. He was a grandson of the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, who was mentioned in the previous instalment of this series. According to the British orientalist Stanley Lane-Poole, early historians describe him as tall, intelligent and very hardworking.

Arrival in al-Andalus

According to Britannica, Abd al-Rahman left Syria in 750, when the Abbasids brought the Umayyad caliphate to an end. Lane-Poole says he was then about 20 years old and spent the next five years or so in North Africa. From there he sent his loyal servant Badr to al-Andalus, where many Arab chiefs were old supporters of the Umayyad family. After winning the support of these chiefs, Abd al-Rahman crossed the sea and reached al-Andalus in September 755.

According to Lane-Poole, in the spring of 756 he defeated Yusuf, the governor of al-Andalus, entered Cordoba and made it his capital.

Cordoba: the capital

Cordoba was an old city. According to UNESCO, it was settled by the Romans in the second century BC and was the capital of the Roman province of Baetica. The Roman-era bridge over the river still stands. According to UNESCO, Cordoba became the capital of an emirate in the eighth century, and Abd al-Rahman III established the caliphate there in 929. Abd al-Rahman I did not take the title of caliph himself but was called emir. According to UNESCO, from the eighth to the tenth century Cordoba was the largest urban and cultural centre of the Western world.

Administration

According to Britannica, when news of Abd al-Rahman’s success reached the East, people who had earlier served in the Umayyad administration came to Spain and joined him. His administrative system thus took the same form as the one that had earlier existed in Damascus. He appointed members of his own family to important posts and built up a regular army and civil staff.

In the portrait Lane-Poole gives, citing the Andalusian historian Ibn Hayyan, he was eloquent and quick of understanding. He was slow to decide, but once he had decided he acted on it with firmness. He ran the government himself rather than hand the work to others, but consulted experienced and wise men on difficult matters. According to Lane-Poole, the Abbasid caliph Mansur also acknowledged his courage and shrewdness and called him the “Falcon of the Quraysh”.

The Great Mosque of Cordoba

Abd al-Rahman’s greatest building project was the start of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. Sources differ slightly on the year it was begun. UNESCO gives it as about 785, the year 785-786 is commonly taken, and Lane-Poole writes 784. According to Lane-Poole, Abd al-Rahman spent 80,000 gold coins on it, and his son Hisham I completed its first part in 793.

According to UNESCO, columns from ancient Roman and later periods were reused in the building, which is a notable feature of its construction. It was then continuously extended over the next three centuries, with each ruler adding a new section or decoration. According to UNESCO, its size and the exceptional height of its interior ceilings make it a unique artistic achievement. Since the eighth century the building has had a deep influence on Islamic architecture in the West, and traces of it can be seen even in the “Neo-Moorish” style of the nineteenth century.

Lane-Poole writes that travellers who visit even today stand amazed in this “forest” of columns, which spreads in endless rows in every direction, and that its courtyard is still green with orange trees. According to UNESCO, it was added to the World Heritage List in 1984. In 1994 the list was extended to include the historic centre of Cordoba, the Roman bridge and the riverbank.

A garden and memories of Syria

Lane-Poole, citing the historian al-Maqqari, writes that Abd al-Rahman had a garden laid out in Cordoba on the pattern of the garden of his grandfather Hisham in Syria, where he had spent his childhood. He had a date palm brought from Syria and planted in the garden. He composed a short poem on it, addressing the tree and saying that, like him, it had grown in a foreign land, far from its homeland and its own people.

According to Lane-Poole, Abd al-Rahman sent people far and wide to bring rare trees, plants and seeds. Thanks to the skill of his gardeners, these foreign plants soon thrived in the local climate and spread from the royal garden across the country. The pomegranate, too, reached al-Andalus in this way, through a plant brought from Damascus.

Death

Abd al-Rahman died in Cordoba in 788. According to Lane-Poole, he ruled for 32 years. He was succeeded as emir by his son Hisham I, who was 30 years old.

Legacy

According to Lane-Poole, the dynasty founded by Abd al-Rahman ruled Cordoba for nearly three centuries. According to UNESCO, Cordoba was the centre of the caliphate from 929 to 1031. It is said that in this period the city had 300 mosques and countless palaces and public buildings, rivalling Constantinople, Damascus and Baghdad.

His greatest memorial is the Great Mosque of Cordoba. It still stands after more than twelve centuries and recalls the prince from Damascus who carried the Syrian traditions of architecture and gardening to al-Andalus.