Abd al-Rahman's establishment of a government in al-Andalus represented a branching from the rest of the Islamic Empire, which had been brought under the Abbasid following the overthrow of the Umayyads from Damascus in 750.

17th century historian Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari poignantly described Abd al-Rahman's reaction as he implored Yahiya to keep going: " O brother!

Although the Umayyads did not have a historical presence in the region ( no member of the Umayyad family was known to have ever set foot in al-Andalus before ) and there were grave concerns about young Abd al-Rahman's inexperience, several of the lower-ranking Yemenite commanders felt they had little to lose and much to gain, and agreed to support the prince.

When some local Berber tribesmen learned of Abd al-Rahman's intent to set sail for al-Andalus, they quickly rode to catch up with him on the coast.

One of the Berbers held on to Abd al-Rahman's vessel as it made for al-Andalus, and allegedly had his hand cut off by one of the boat's crew.

Nevertheless, food was still scarce, and Abd al-Rahman's army suffered from hunger.

In an attempt to demoralize Abd al-Rahman's troops, al-Fihri ensured that his troops not only were well fed, but also ate gluttonous amounts of food in full view of the Umayyad lines.

Even before the fight began, dissension spread through some of Abd al-Rahman's lines.

In the meantime, a call went out through the Muslim world that al-Andalus was a safe haven for friends of the house of Umayya, if not for Abd al-Rahman's scattered family that managed to evade the Abbasids.

Various Arab and Berber tribes fought each other for varying degrees of power, some cities tried to break away and form their own state, and even members of Abd al-Rahman's family tried to wrest power from him.

Revenge for the massacre of his family at the hands of the Abbasids must surely have been the driving factor in Abd al-Rahman's war plans.

By 783 Abd al-Rahman's army advanced on Zaragoza.

Included in the arsenal of Abd al-Rahman's army were thirty-six siege engines.

Abd al-Rahman's warriors spilled into the city's streets, quickly thwarting al-Husayn's desires for independence.

Abd al-Rahman's policy of taxing non-Muslims, which was often carried out by later rulers, changed the religious dynamic of al-Andalus.

The date of Abd al-Rahman's death is disputed, but is generally accepted to be sometime around 785 through 788.

Abd al-Rahman's alleged favorite son was his choice for successor, and would later be known as Hisham I. Abd ar-Rahman's progeny would continue to rule al-Andalus in the name of the house of Umayya for several generations, with the zenith of their power coming during the reign of Abd al-Rahman III.

Abd al-Rahman's mother was a member from the Nafza Berbers with whom he found refuge after the murder of his family in 750.

' Abd al-Rahman's court physician and minister was Hasdai ben Isaac ibn Shaprut, the patron of Menahem ben Saruq, Dunash ben Labrat, and other Jewish scholars and poets.

During ' Abd al-Rahman's term of power, the scholar Moses ben Enoch was appointed rabbi of Córdoba, and as a consequence al-Andalus became the center of Talmudic study, and Córdoba the meeting-place of Jewish savants.

Hasdai retained his high position under ' Abd al-Rahman's son and successor, Al-Hakam II, who even surpassed his father in his love for science.

When Abd al-Rahman's name was mentioned in the document, Umayyah protested, saying " I do not know Ar-Rahman " and requested that the pre-Islamic name " Abdu Amr " should be used, to which Abd al-Rahman yielded.

Legend says that their father, Abd Manaf ibn Qusai, separated his conjoined sons with a sword and that some priests believed that the blood that had flowed between them signified wars between their progeny ( confrontations did occur between Banu al ' Abbas and Banu Ummaya ibn ' Abd Shams in the year 750 AH ).

Another speculation is that since the event of Mobahela is the highlight of this surah, Al Imran could very well refer to the progeny of Abu Talib ibn ‘ Abd al-Muttalib, whose real name was Imran.

Legend says that their father, ' Abd Manaf ibn Qusai, separated his conjoined sons with a sword and that some priests believed that the blood that had flown between them signified wars between their progeny ( confrontations did occur between Banu al ' Abbas and Banu Ummaya ibn ' Abd Shams in the year 750 AH ).

Their next step would be to cross the sea to al-Andalus, where Abd al-Rahman could not have been sure whether or not he would be welcomed.

The trio approached the Syrian arch-commander al-Sumayl ( then in Zaragoza ) to get his consent, but al-Sumayl refused, fearing Abd al-Rahman would try to make himself emir.

If that did not work, then Abd al-Rahman would have to be killed.

Abd ar-Rahman, however, would settle for nothing less than control of the emirate, and an impasse was reached.

Al-Fihri would have to report once a day to Abd al-Rahman, as well as turn over some of his sons and daughters as hostages.

Little could Abd al-Rahman have known that as he set off to settle matters in that northern city, his hopes of warring against Baghdad would be indefinitely put on hold.

Within two years, however, al-Husayn broke off relations with Abd al-Rahman and announced that Zaragoza would be an independent city-state.

Abd al-Rahman knew that one of his sons would one day inherit the rule of al-Andalus, but that it was a land torn by strife.

` Abd al-Malik then appointed one of his most able generals and administrators who would later change the face of the Umayyad Empire, al-Hajjaj bin Yousef to march against ` Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr, the governor of Hejaz.

Replying to a hypothetical question as to why God does not do that which is ethically wrong ( la yaf ` alu al-qabih ), ' Abd al-Jabbar replied ( as translated in Martin et al., 1997 ): Because He knows the immorality of all unethical acts and that He is self-sufficient without them … For one of us who knows the immorality of injustice and lying, if he knows that he is self-sufficient without them and has no need of them, it would be impossible for him to choose them, insofar as he knows of their immorality and his sufficiency without them.

After the overthrow of the Umayyads, the Abbasids would present themselves as representatives of the Hashemites, as they claimed descent from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of Muhammad.

In recognition of his efforts to resolve the Moroccan Crisis leading up to the international conference, Abd al-Aziz appointed al-Muqri as his Minister of Finance and in 1908, his Grand Vizier, a post he would hold on and off under each of the succeeding sultans until 1955.

However, the British would not support ' Abd al-Rahman in his ambition to become King of Sudan when the country gained independence.

France, which in any case laid claim to territory in the southern Rif, realized that allowing another North African colonial power to be defeated by the native Berbers would set a great threat to their controlled territories, and after Abd el-Krim invaded French-occupied Morocco in April 1925, entered the fray.

The only survivor, Abd ar-Rahman I, escaped to Al-Andalus ( Spain ), where the Umayyad caliphate would endure for three centuries.

On December 21, 1847, after being denied refuge in Morocco because of French diplomatic and military pressure on its leaders, Abd al-Qādir surrendered to General Louis de Lamoricière in exchange for the promise that he would be allowed to go to Alexandria or Acre.

The remainder of his forces were led by his son ' Abd al-Aziz, who would return to Seville to deal with an uprising.