later historians such as Ibn Hayyan (d. 1076) and Ibn Idhari (d. 1310).

Abd al-Rahman was the grandson of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, who ruled as caliph from 724 to 743. He was twenty when his family, the ruling Umayyads, were overthrown by the Abbasid Revolution in 748-750. Abd al-Rahman and a small