Islamic History and Culture

The masjid was built by Abd al-Rahman I also known was the Emir of Cordova. Abd al-Rahman was from the Umayyad family, the ruling family of Damascus which was overthrown by the Abbasid Revolution, and he fled to Cordova. Later in 1236, the masjid was converted into a Catholic church and so remains to this day.

The four false prophets from early Islamic History were, Aswad al-Ansi, Tulayhah al-Azdi, Sajjah bint al-Harith, and Musaylimah al-Kazzab. Although he initially accepted Islam, later he claimed that he was a prophet. The Battle of Zhu Qissa was between the Muslim forces led by Ali ibn Abi Talib, Talha ibn Ubaidullah, and Zubair ibn al-Awam against those led by Tulayha, the false prophet. The Muslims won the battle, Tulayha escaped to Syria. Later when Syria was conquered by Muslims, Tulayha accepted Islam again. He was forbidden by Caliph Abu Bakar to fight in any of the battles. Later in the time of Caliph Umar, he was allowed to fight and he died in the battler of Qasidiyya, between the Muslims and the Sassanid Empire.

Kitab Al Masalik wal Mamalik or Book of Roads and Kingdoms is a geography book written in the 9th century by Abul Qasim Ubaid Allah Ibn Khordadbeh the Persian geographer.

Imam e Azam Abu Hanifa was the founder of the Sunni Hanafi School of fiqh. A person trained in Fiqh is called a Faqih. He was born during the time of the Umayyad Caliph Abdul Malik. The other three major fiqhs are, Shafi founded by Imam Shafi, Maliki founded by Imam Malik, and Hanbali founded by Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal.