6 Abd al-Rahman I ibn Muawiya
the KABA. Marwan died in Damascus in 684, and his son,
Abd al-Malik, was proclaimed caliph in 685.
HIS CALIPHATEWith great effort Abd al-Malik defeated all the forces
opposing him over the next few years. He restored
Umayyad rule by 692 with the help of his great general
and administrator al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. He then continued
the reforms started at the very beginning of his reign,
putting more non-Arab Muslims into positions of power
and decreasing the number of non-Muslims in adminis-
trative posts. He made Arabic the language of his bureau-
cracy. He struck the first Arab-Islamic coins in 693,
replacing the Persian and Byzantine coins in use until
then. He managed further territorial expansion and con-
solidated caliphate control into Khurasan, the al-
Maghrib, Transoxiana, and southern Pakistan or Sind,
but he failed to make any headway against the BYZANTINE
EMPIRE. There were further rebellions against heavy taxa-
tion throughout the caliphate, but especially among the
COPTSin EGYPT. The people of al-Kufa were still reluctant
to accept Umayyad rule. Abd al-Malik successfully over-
came all of them.
RELIGIOUS AND
CULTURAL ACCOMPLISHMENTSAbd al-Malik built the DOME OF THEROCKin JERUSALEM,
demonstrating the permanent presence of Islam in that
most religious of cities. Damascus and Jerusalem were
connected with roads, and garrison towns were estab-
lished in the newly pacified regions. Abd al-Malik’s
regime took on more courtly practices and monarchical
qualities, distancing it from the society. He promoted
more professional administration and institutions cen-
tered on himself, the caliph; some Muslims perceived the
trend as unacceptable secularization. Abd al-Malik gained
some acceptance among religious dissidents because of
his personal devotion to the practice of Islam. He spon-
sored the collection and standardization of the large
number of ideas and quotations circulating about the
opinions of the Prophet on religious questions, leading to
more acceptable versions of the Hadith. Over time he
became more autocratic and placed more of his relatives
in positions of power; immediately before his death the
succession became problematic once again. He tried to
simplify the succession by removing his brothers and
naming his three sons to succeed him in order: AL-
WALID, Sulayman, and Yazid. With his realm essentially
at peace, expanding its borders, and prosperous, Abd al-
Malik died in Damascus in October 705. The peaceful
succession of his eldest son, al-Walid, suggests a growing
acceptance of dynastic succession.
Further reading: Bayt al-Maqdis: ‘Abd al-Malik’s
Jerusalem, ed. Julian Raby and Jeremy Johns (Oxford:
Oxford University Press for the Board of Faculty of Ori-
ental Studies, University of Oxford, 1992); H. A. R. Gibb,
“‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan,” Encyclopedia of Islam,
1.76–77; Wilferd Madelung, The Succession to Muham-
mad: A Study of the Early Caliphate(Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1997); A. L. Siddiqi, The Builder
of Umayyad Empire(Allahabad: Senate House, 1951).Abd al-Rahman I ibn Muawiya (al-Dakkil [the Immi-
grant], the Hawk of Kuraysh)(731–788)emir of Cór-
doba, founder of an Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus
Abd al-Rahman was born about 731, perhaps to a Berber
mother. As a teenager, he barely and dramatically escaped
being killed when the ABBASIDSoverthrew the UMAYYAD
caliphate in 750. Another tradition suggested that he was
a collaborator with the new Abbasid dynasty. Abd al-Rah-
man fled westward through PALESTINE,EGYPT, and
Ifriqiya. He eventually reached the Iberian Peninsula, on
August 14, 755. He had laid the groundwork for his
acceptance there by exploiting resentment against taxes,
manipulating differences among the Arab factions in AL-
ANDALUS, and defeating the governor of al-Andalus, Yusuf
al-Fihri. He captured SEVILLE in March of 756 and
entered CÓRDOBA, the capital, proclaiming himself emir.
From 757 onward he did not include the name of the
Abbasid ruler in Baghdad in his Friday prayers, to declare
his independence of the caliphate. Over the next few
years he had to defeat several rebel armies, including
rebels given assistance by CHARLEMAGNE and the
Abbasids. After establishing a new and somewhat stable
administration and winning enough military confronta-
tions for his new dynasty to continue in power, Abd al-
Rahman died in Córdoba on September 30, 788.
Further reading: Roger Collins, Early Medieval
Spain: Unity in Diversity, 400–1000(London: Macmillan,
1983); Roger Collins, The Arab Conquest of Spain,
710–797(Oxford: Blackwell, 1989); Hugh Kennedy, Mus-
lim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus
(New York: Longman, 1996); Évariste Lévi-Provençal,
“‘Abd al-Rahma ̄n,” Encyclopedia of Islam,1.81–82.Abd al-Rahman III al-Nasir li-dini llah(891–961)
first caliph, most successful Umayyad dynasty ruler in al-
Andalus
Born in 891 and named heir because of his excellent
promise, Abd al-Rahman reigned as prince of CÓRDOBA
from October 912. Snubbing both the FATIMIDSin Africa
and the ABBASIDs in BAGHDAD, he became caliph in 929,
choosing the title al-Nasir li-dini llah(He Who Fights
Victoriously in the Name of God). He spent the first part
of his long reign establishing order and suppressing
rebellion all over southern Iberia. He ended resistance to
his rule by taking the last center of resistance in TOLEDO
in 933 and fought and resisted successfully the ambitions
on his realm of the Fatimids in AL-MAGHRIB. His Chris-
tian neighbors were periodically aggressive, so he had to
campaign against them in person on many occasions.