The Jewel of the world

A story from history

The Jewel of The World (Spain)

The Jewel of The World” by HItti gives us a glimpse of the glorious civilization of Muslims in Spain. 

Spain map

The fame of the capital Cordoba had reached distant Germany where a nun described as the ‘jewel of the world’. The conquest of Spain by the Umayyads makes a remarkable and almost unbelievable story. In 750, the Umayyad dynasty was overthrown in Damascus. 
A grandson of the tenth caliph of Damascus, Abd-ul-Rahman, a distinguished young man of twenty, had dramatic escape from the hands of the Abbasides. One day when he was camping on the left bank of river Euphrates, Abbaside soldiers found him. He and his brother plunged Into the river. 

Spain

The soldiers promised that they would be unharmed if they surrendered. The younger brother returned and was killed. Abd-ul-Rehman swan to the opposite bank. Friendless and penniless, he set out on foot. After great hardships he reached Palestine. He stayed there with a friend for some time. 
Then he set off once again towards , the West. He - succeeded In reaching North Africa where he barely escaped being killed by a government officer. He wandered from tribe to tribe while abbaslde's spies pursued him. After five years he reached the tribe of his maternal uncles. They gave him refuge. In the south of Spain, there were stationed some Syrian troops from Damascus. 
He made his way to them and they accepted him as their leader. One city after another opened its gates to him. In a few years all Spain came under his control. The Abbaslde Caliph in Baghdad sent a new governor to Spain. 
Abdul Rahman caught hold of him and beheaded him. He sent his head to the Caliph in Baghdad. Abd-ul-Rheman had a weil disciplined army of 40,000 c’ more Berbers. He was a man of great qualities. He developed arts and culture. He beautified h|s cities. He ordered the construction of a vail round the capital, and erected for himself a palace and a garden outside Cordoba, bui|t In 788. Abd-ul-Rehman made Islamic Spain a center of world culture. His court was one of the most glorious in all Europe. It received envoys from Germany, Italy and France. Commerce and agriculture flourished. The sources of income for the State were  multiplied. In this way Abd-ul-Rehman established himself as the supreme ruler of Spain.
 Abd-ul-Rehman 111
 Rehman III came to power In 912. By that time empire founded by Abd-ul-Rehman had turned Into small states by tribal wars. The "Amir" had control over only the capital4 and its surroundings. Abd-ul-Rehrten III was a young man when he took office. Like his famous grandfather, he was a man of Intelligence and determination.
 He began consolidating the empire with resolution. One by one, he reconquerred the lost provinces and restored law and order. He ruled with remarkable ability and wisdom for fifty years. His predecessors, although supreme rulers of Spain, had called themselves ’Amlres’ and not 'Caliphs’. 
He proclaimed himself caliph, thus breaking all ties with the caliphate In Baghdad. Abd-al-Rehman’s reign marks the height of Muslim rule in West. His capital, Cordoba, became famous throughout the world as the most cultured city In Europe, and one of the three cultural centres of the world. 
The other two were Baghdad and Constantinople. It consisted of one hundred and thirteen thousand homes and twenty suburbs. It had seventy libraries, numerous mosques and bookshops. It had miles of paved streets lighted from the bordering houses. Great cities of Europe like londoh and Paris were much inferior to Cordoba. It was seven hundred years later that London and Paris began paving and lighting their streets. 
4Whenever a European .ruler needed a surgeon, an architect or a dress maker, he applied to Cordoba. It was undoubtedly. The Jewel of The World" as a German nun called It. Muslim Spain in the 10th century was one of the richest and most thickly populated countries of Europe.
 All arts and crafts flourished in the land. The art of tanningand embossing leather was at its very height. From Spain it was carried to Morocco and later to England and France. Wool and silk fabrics were manufactured in many parts of Spain. Raising of silk worms was Introduced into Spain by Muslims. Glassware and brasswork were produced In Almeria. Paterna was famous for its pottery . There were numerous mines in the country which produced gold, silver, iron, lead and precious stones.
 Muslims Introduced better methods of agriculture Into Spain. Wheat and other grains as well as olives and other fruits were grown by farmers. ; The government had a regular postal Service and minted its own coins . 
Arab coins were in use In many parts of Europe which had no coinage of their own. The real glory of this period lies in the development of knowledge and arts. Abd-al-Rehman’s successor, Al-Hakani started where Abd-al-Rehman had left off. Al-Hakam was a great scholar and he patronized learning. 
He founded the university of Cordoba, the first of great Muslim universities. Students from all parts of Europe came to the University. The caliph also founded a library containing 400,000 books collected from all parts of the civilized world. In Muslim Spain under Abd-al-Rehman III and AI-Hakam nearly everyone could read and write, it was at a time when only a few churchmen In Europe had knowledge and learning.