THE UMAYYAD REGIME 221to have built a church in Bobastro, as had his father before him.
These may be no more than rumours put out to discredit a dead but
dangerous man in the eyes of his followers and later generations of
muwallads, but it is possible, although we cannot really see it in our
sources, none of which are contemporary, that these revolts represent
not a Christian revival but a reaction to the prospect of a more
fundamental Islamisation of Al-Andalus.
What is clear is that 'Abd al-Ral)man III, unlike his grandfather
'Abd-Allah, was able to make substantial and fairly speedy headway
against the rebellions and disorders that had virtually torn apart the
state in previous reigns. By about 930 they were all at an end. It is
hardly insignificant that this was the point, in 929, that he took the
titles of Caliph and Commander of the Faithful. A new Umayyad
Caliphate came into being. It was the name of 'Abd al-Ral].man, and
no longer that of the ephemeral 'Abbiisid in distant Baghdad, that
was publicly mentioned in prayers as that of the leader of the com-
munity of Muslims. This marks not only a new self-confidence in
terms of the secular power of the state, but more strikingly, a greater
sense of religious assurance. Islamic Al-Andalus was there to stay, or
so men might have thought.