Ramadan Day 22 thought for the day from my new book The History of Jihad: Abd al-Rahman III was the Umayyad caliph of Córdoba from 912 to 961. The eleventh-century Muslim historian Ibn Hayyan of Córdoba recounted one telling incident from his reign:
Muhammad [one of the officers of Abd al-Rahman III] chose the 100 most important barbarians [that is, Christians] and sent them to the alcazar of Córdoba, where they arrived Friday, 7 of the yumada I [March 2, 939], but since an-Nasir [Abd al-Rahman III] was vacationing in the orchard of an-Naura [La Noria], they were taken there, their marching coinciding with the people’s exiting from the aljama mosque of Córdoba, upon the conclusion of the Friday prayer, so that many gathered and followed to see what end the prisoners would have, and it turned out that an-Nasir was installed on the upper balcony over the orchard facing the river…to watch the execution. All the prisoners, one by one, were decapitated in his presence and under his eyes, in plain sight of the people, whose feelings against the infidels Allah alleviated, and they showered their blessings on the Caliph.
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