THE ARAB CONQUEST 171For all their justifiable pride in their ancestry and achievements,
the Umayyads in Spain rarely gave the kind of offence to religious
sensibilities that their family had been notorious for in Syria.^53 The
individual piety of most of them is amply recorded in the histories.
They did not always satisfY the more fundamentalist elements amongst
their fellow Muslims. In the reign of Al-J:lakam I (796-822) some
religious teachers led the population of one of the suburbs of Cordoba
into a revolt against the amir. This 'revolt of the suburb' was violently
suppressed by the ruler's guard and on his order the offending por-
tion of the city was completely destroyed.^54
A measure of egalitarianism had always been a feature of Arab
society, as a result of its nomadic origins, and this was reinforced by
the teachings of Islam. Autocratic and resplendent as some Muslim
rulers could make themselves, popular rebellion or at least agitation
quickly developed if they were thought to have disregarded the rules
of the Qu'ran. The Muslims of Al-Andalus were particularly well known
for their forthright attitude in this respect, leading to 'the pelting of
judges and governors whenever the inhabitants thought that proper
justice was not given to them in their trials or that they were
despotically treated by their rulers'. Thus 'their disobedience to their
rulers and their want of submission and respect to their superiors
have become almost proverbial. ,55
Generally the Umayyads did not fall foul of their volatile subjects.
As well as the positive benefits which they conferred upon Cordoba,
the rulers of the dynasty cultivated the proper virtues of piety and of
respect for learning. The latter in particular was made great play of.
One, probably apocryphal, account of why 'Abd al-Ral}man I chose
his younger son Hisham I (788-796) to succeed him rather then the
elder Suleyman describes a secret enquiry that he had made into the
company that the two brothers kept: 'If thy son Hisham receives com-
pany, his hall is thronged with learned men, poets or historians who
discuss the exploits of the brave, and converse about military affairs
and so forth; whereas the h~ll of thy son Suleyman is always filled with
sycophants, fools and cowards.'56 'Abd al-Ralpnan II (822-852) in par-
ticular brought men of learning and discrimination to his court from
all over the Islamic world. The most notable of these was a Persian
Mawali called 'Ali ibn Ziryab, a famous musician and singer who was
also learned in astronomy and geography. He became an arbiter of
elegance to Andalusi high society, introducing a new fashion in hair
style, the eating of asparagus, and the use of an under-arm deodorant.^57