Umayyad

The Meccan chief who led Quraysh against the Muslims at Uhud and the Trench, whose caravan set off the Battle of Badr, and who was questioned about the Prophet by the emperor Heraclius at Jerusalem. He accepted Islam at the conquest of Mecca, when his house was declared a sanctuary.

Al-Andalus was the Islamic territory in the Iberian Peninsula from 711 to 1492 CE. Over nearly eight centuries it produced major intellectual and architectural achievements, and its mix of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities left a lasting mark on European and Islamic civilization.

Córdoba was the capital of Muslim Spain from the eighth century to the eleventh, and for much of that time the largest and most cultivated city of the western Mediterranean. This article follows the city itself: its Roman origins, its rise under the Umayyads, its court and learning, and its fall.

The Great Mosque of Córdoba (Mezquita) is one of the most magnificent examples of Islamic architecture. Built over two centuries by Umayyad rulers, it features horseshoe arches and represents the pinnacle of Moorish achievement in Spain.

The Umayyad Caliphate (661-750 CE) was the first major Islamic dynasty, ruling from Damascus and expanding the Islamic empire from Spain to Central Asia through unprecedented territorial growth and administrative innovation.

The third Rashidun Caliph (644-656 CE), known for standardizing the Quran and expanding the Islamic navy. A wealthy merchant from the Umayyad clan, he was one of the earliest converts to Islam and married two daughters of Prophet Muhammad.