ʽAbd al-Raḥmān III and the Caliphate of Cordoba

Abd al-Rahman III was born in 890 and died in 961, having ruled for 50 years, initially as emir and then as the first Cordoban caliph. He was a resourceful military commander who put an end to internal rebellions and carried out an expansionist policy in North Africa to check the threat of the rival caliphate established by the Fatimids, who were not only political but also doctrinal enemies as they were Shiʽis (Ismaʽilis). How the need to counteract their appeal led to certain political and religious developments in Umayyad al-Andalus is a relatively new field of study, here dealt with as regards the approach to Islamic law. Abd al-Rahman III was also a clever political leader under whose rule al-Andalus experienced increased wealth and taxation, development of trade, and a cultural agenda that energized the world of scholarship and produced a local historiography that served the legitimizing needs of the Cordoban Umayyads and contributed to the creation of an “Andalusi” identity. The memorialization of Abd al-Rahman III also included, however, unflattering episodes of violence, here analyzed.Peer reviewe