Abd al-Rahman I
Founding emir of the Umayyads of Córdoba (756–788), who escaped the Abbasid massacre of his family and set up his own state at Córdoba in 756
Founding emir of the Umayyads of Córdoba (756–788), who escaped the Abbasid massacre of his family and set up his own state at Córdoba in 756
Descendants of Muhammad’s uncle al-Abbas harnessed the grievances of Persian converts and the Shia to overthrow the Umayyads and found the Abbasid dynasty.
Abd al-Rahman I, an Umayyad who survived the Abbasid revolution, founded the Umayyad state of Córdoba in Iberia. In 929 Abd al-Rahman III proclaimed himself caliph.
First Abbasid caliph (750–754), a descendant of Muhammad’s uncle al-Abbas, proclaimed caliph at Kufa in 749; he overthrew the Umayyads in 750
Umayyad ruler of al-Andalus (912–961) who proclaimed himself caliph in 929; under him Córdoba became the largest and most splendid city in western Europe
From the revelation to Muhammad to the Seljuk entry into Baghdad — 450 years in which a new faith from Arabia built a civilisation stretching from Iberia to Central Asia and reached as far as Silla by sea