We also know that a few years later ʿAbd al-Rahman Ibn Muawiya, grandson of the Umayyad Caliph of Damascus, managed to escape the persecution of the ʿAbbasid dynasty and took refuge in al-Andalus, where he stayed until the end of his days. He called himself ʿAbd al-Rahman I, the independent emir of al-Andalus and founded the Umayyad dynasty of Córdoba, of a Sunni-Maliki character. It is also a known fact that his descendant ʿAbd al-Rahman III (popularly known as Abderramán III) auto-proclaimed himself as caliph in the year 929.
What is less known is that ʿAbd al-Rahman III created the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba in response to the threat caused by the establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate, Shií-Ismaili, in Ifriquiya (now Tunisia) in 909, few hundred kilometers away from Cordoba. The rivalry between the two caliphates was enormous and took many forms, especially in the political and religious arenas, but also in the cultural and artistic field.
For example, the caliphal town that ʿAbd al-Rahman III built on the outskirts of Cordoba was called Madinat al-Zahara (the bright city). Several researchers are of the opinion that the Umayyad was inspired (which is another way of saying that it borrowed the idea) from the Fatimid context, where the term Zahraʿ was used widely for its emblematic meaning (see in this bulletin the article on the Tasbih of Bibi Fatima).
In the year 2021 in Spain, a considerable amount of information has been posted online, dealing with the legacy of al-Andalus, and the construction of Madina al-Zahara. Please find attached a list of selected videos (documentaries and academic presentations).* I hope you enjoy them.**
- “Al-Ándalus, el legado” on the history channel (Canal Historia), (for those who are not subscribed to the history channel, summaries of each chapter can be seen on YouTube, that is, short versions of four minutes each):
-- ¿Cómo era la convivencia en al-Ándalus | Al-Ándalus, el legado | Canal HISTORIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1y_Uwh3f6k
-- Palabras (de origen) árabe que usas a diario | Al-Ándalus, el legado | Canal HISTORIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXic1Tubs_U
-- Este es el origen de la dieta mediterránea | Al-Ándalus, el legado | Canal HISTORIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEl-VoPEP3M
-- Así festejaban nuestros antepasados | Al-Ándalus, el legado | Canal HISTORIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPP8yZrTkjI
-- La asombrosa construcción de Medina Azahara | Al-Ándalus, el legado | Canal HISTORIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsQORYitB14
-- Documental “Córdoba y Medina Azahara” produced by Canal Andalucia Turismo
(30 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSEANBYh45M
-- Documental "Madinat al-Zahra. La Ciudad Brillante" produced by Conjunto Arqueológico Madinat al-Zahra (30 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR71nK-3za8
-- “La estética andalusí” by Prof. Susana Calvo Capilla, Universidad Complutense (1 hour)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-0jQUUyqJQ&t=662s
-- “Las artes de la España islámica: Las artes decorativas” by Prof. Susana Gómez Martínez, Universidad de Évora (1 hour)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPL7UQ3ddFg
*In the following issues of the newsletter we will explore more information and visual media about the relationship between the Umayyads and the Fatimids.
** The videos included here allow you to choose subtitles in multiple languages (including Arabic, Persian, Gujarati or English). To choose subtitles go to the bottom bar of the video, select Settings, go to SubtitlesCC, click and choose the Auto-translate option and then you will be able to select the desired language.
