Ibn Hafsun: the unredeemed rebel

There are historical figures whose lives go beyond what the most fantastic novel could be. This is the case of Ibn Hafsun, a rebel leader who, until the reign of Abd al-Rahman III, will keep the emirate and the Cordovan caliphate.

Muhammad I succeeded his father, Abd al-Rahman II, and since his accession to the throne the internal peace that al-Andalus had enjoyed until that time was broken. Toledo, with the help of Christian troops from the north, revolted, and after some initial successes, they were soundly defeated in the battle of Guazalete, with thousands of victims among the insurgents and his allies. The region of Mérida also rose under the command of Ibn Marwan al-Chillíquí, “the son of the Galician”, a muladí, to whom he submitted in first moment, and with which the emir will end up agreeing, maintaining this region a regime almost independent of Umayyad power. But it would be another muladí, the one who would raise the flag of rebellion in the mountainous areas from the south of al-Andalus, resisting the Cordoban forces for many years

Umar ben Hafsun was the son of a wealthy family. His father, a nobleman peasant, lived on the income provided by his possessions of Ronda. He was a muladí, let's say second generation, since his grandfather was the first convert to Islam in his family. They called him Cha'far al-Islamí, ““the new Muslim." Some Arab historians point out that the family descended directly from a Visigoth count, Alfonso.

Umar ben Hafsun was the eldest of two other brothers and always distinguished himself for having a very temperamental and impulsive character. One bad day he argued with a neighbor and the argument led to the impetuous young man killing him without mercy. Fearing the action of justice, his father, even disowning him, He sent a few of them to hide among the fragility of the mountains kilometers away from Ronda, in the same place where, years later, he would establish his headquarters. But that restless spirit was bored in those solitudes mountains and opted, in the company of some bandits, to carry out several blows by hand through the fields, until they captured him. It didn't come out at all badly, because the governor of Malaga, who knew nothing of the crime Ibn Hafsun had committed on the unfortunate neighbor, limited himself to giving him a sovereign beating.

In case things got worse, he decided to go to Africa. Once there he settled in the city of Tahart, where a compatriot who was tailor, took him as an apprentice. It was evident that the boy was not going to win life with the needle and fate wanted another Andalusian to pass through the workshop of tailor shop and struck up a conversation with Ibn Hafsun. They talked about the country and how, for a brave soul, it would be

easy to achieve great goals if he rose up in rebellion. -;You think, unhappy thing, that By handling the needle are you going to free yourself from misery? Go back to your country and wield the sword. You will be a fearsome adversary of the Umayyads and you will reign in a great nation. Something like that seems to have been said to him by the Andalusian traveler and it gave the tailor's apprentice something to think about. He decided to return home, take advantage of his father's protection. or take advantage of the protection of an uncle who was more tolerant than his father.

In the year 850 he returned and it was not difficult for him to gather around him a series of subjects who, like him, were willing to live outside the law. The environment was conducive to the designs of the future rebel. They frequented the southern districts the agitators and highwaymen, without the power center had enough strength to finish them off. Soon, he and his crew, established in an almost impregnable enclosure, perched on the heights of a rocky crag, the famous Bobastro, earned a reputation for daring and brave men, carrying out looting operations on the rich towns of the plain. So many blows of the hand ended up awakening the restlessness of Córdoba who sent an expedition under the command of one of the best generals of al-Andalus, Hashim ben Abd al-Aziz, who managed to get the rebel. Ibn Hafsun agreed to march to Córdoba and place himself at the service of the emir, and for a time, he belonged to the army, distinguishing himself in various actions of war, but that life of discipline on the one hand, and the limitations of citizen life for another, were not made for him. To this we must add the contempt that high court dignitaries felt for Muslims of recent conversion, which led to a discussion with the prefect of Córdoba. Ibn Hafsun fled to his Bobastro, in

those moments guarded by an Umayyad officer. He evicted him, he appropriated of his concubine and, as soon as his arrival was known, the crowd that had always accompanied him began to gather. Now, more than ever, he was determined to emancipate himself from Umayyad power and create an independent "principality".

They resumed the action, continued with the robberies and their good fortune made that several towns fell into their power: Auta, Mijas, Comares and perhaps the important stronghold of Archidona. Around the year 886 he helped another rebel like him that had become strong in Alhama, besieged by the Cordoban forces at command of the emir's son, al-Mundhir, who twice rejected the departure of the defenders of Alhama. But, after two months of siege, when the chances of success were in favor of Córdoba, al-Mundhir received the news of the death of his father and he had to leave to take over power, raising the siege of the city.

Al-Mundhir might have ended Ibn Hafsun's nightmare if he had not had such a short reign. Enterprising, brave and generous, the Umayyad prince died in just two years, in dramatic circumstances and so strange.

Meanwhile, Ibn Hafsun was making a name for himself, moving away from his image of robber. Now he was establishing himself as a politician and as a champion of the oppressed. Al-Mundhir was busy receiving the oath of allegiance and in thebcelebrations that were celebrated for his ascension to the emirate... and the rebel of Bobastro, a good orator, inflamed the spirits talk-

ing to free themselves from the oppressive yoke of the Umayyads, which overwhelmed them with taxes and despised all those who were not Arabs or Muslims always. His speech was very well received everywhere, especially among the muladíes, who saw in him their natural leader. There was no longer any talk other than Ibn Hafsun throughout the mountains, of his respect for women, of his sense of the justice that repressed any mischief or violence, of his respect for those who fought at his side. He had invented some military decorations, consisting of gold bracelets, which he gave to those who had fought with courage, in the middle of a solemn ceremony... He was already behaving like a true lord. At the same time, its area of influence was increasing, and his domains grew. He took Priego and reached Cabra. He took over the castle of Iznájar and left it in the hands of his supporters. It was becoming a real headache for the emirate.

Al-Mundhir went out to fight him a year after his accession to the throne. The Cordoban forces recovered the castle of Iznájar and the rebels wereb evicted towards Lucena, but these successes did not put an end to IbnvHafsun's activity. In the spring of 888 the emir, in person, besieged Archidona, captured the representative of Ibn Hafsun, another muladi, who ended up crucified among a pigband a dog. The city surrendered and its leaders ran the same luck, as well as other rebels faithful to the cause of Bobastro.

Al-Mundhir planned to deliver the final blow in the rebel's citadelband established his war camp at the foot of the imposing castle. Did the muladí got scared

seeing the Córdoban troops at the gates of his fortress, or did he believe that he would not have sufficient capacity to withstand a long siege? We will never know, but Ibn Hafsun entered into talks with the emir, promising to surrender whenever he and his family were offered privileged treatment in Córdoba. Al-Mundhir must have thought that this approach of his enemy was sincere and he wrote a letter in which he was promised immunity and total respect, sending it to him along with fifty mules to transport his belongings. But the temptation was stronger than the supposed good intentions of Ibn Hafsun. As the convoy ascended toward the steep Bobastro, the rebel who had arranged to stay with the emir, fled at night, caught up with the convoy and drove away the horsemen who accompanied him, requisitioned the cavalry and appropriated the gifts that al-Mundhir sent to the rebel's family.

Seeing himself mocked, the emir renewed the siege and swore not to move from there until he finished with Ibn Hafsun, but a few days later, al-Mundhir fell ill. made come from Córdoba to his brother Abd Allah to maintain the siege, but the arrival of the prince coincided with the death of the emir. The throne passed to Abd Allah, since the deceased had no children of age to succeed him. The emiral troops wanted continue the siege, burying al-Mundhir there, but Abd Allah did not seemed to agree with this idea, and in the end his opinion prevailed. He carried the body of his brother to take to Córdoba, and the siege of Bobastro was gotten up. The new emir requested Ibn Hafsun to refrain from harassing the funeral procession, and that his desire, as ruler, was to maintain good relations with him. Honored as an enemy to be reckoned with, the rebel

behaved like a gentleman respecting the troops who were retreating accompanying al-Mundhir's corpse.

Under Abd Allah, Ibn Hafsun's activity was incessant, making use of any means to maintain their domains, which extended from the south of Córdoba to the Mediterranean. It will not hesitate to put on, for short periods of times, in the service of the Umayyads, to later walk away without caring about sacrificing the hostages he has left with them. On other occasions he will ask for help from Muslims from North Africa... Many times he will be the winner and many times will be defeated. In 891 he suffered perhaps his most notorious defeat at the hands of Abd Allah, partly because some of the muladi's troops abandoned him. He lost the majority of the places that considered him as their lord and had to make a pact with Córdoba. The pact was maintained for a short time and in 892 it was already, again, in war footing, Re-conquering for him the squares of Archidona, Elvira and Jaén, to recover its former power, it only lacked the fortress of Poley and the population of Écija. However, in the six years that followed these rebel successes, Ibn Hafsun was more or less still, and even Elvira lost.

It seemed that, winning or losing, the emirate could never end that dissidence, but a personal decision by Ibn Hafsun was going to turn the situation. The rebel returned to the faith of his elders, he turned to Christianity and he had himself baptized with the name Samuel, while his wife took the name of Columba. The Mozarabs of Córdoba celebrated this decision in style, but among the muladíes, some sincere converts to Islam, they did not like it at all. Part of hisbfaithful turned their backs on him and refused

to obey him. This conversion had such an impact that even a pious Maghrebi warrior led a small troop of fighters for the faith who went to al-Andalus to fight the renegade.

He turns to the Christians, who do not trust him, and tries withbnewly established monarchies in North Africa... and of course keep going playing "cat and mouse" with the emiral troops. But the death of the emir Abd Allah and the ascension to the throne of his grandson, the future first caliph of al-Andalus, Abd al-Rahman III, will completely change this state of affairs. The failures of Ibn Hafsun were multiplying. Slowly but surely, Abd al-Rahman was recovering, one by one, the rebel strongholds that, day by day, were more isolated. Only his children remained by his side and were in charge of continuing maintaining the insurrection in the mountains of Córdoba and Málaga.

In 914 a cruel drought struck the entire country. Several epidemics were declared and famine appeared with its aftermath of countless deaths. Nor Abd al-Rahman III nor Ibn Hafsun were in a position to fight. Furthermore, the rebel was sick and seemed to have forgotten the care earthly, he only cared about being right with God, the God of the Christians, and locked up in the church of Bobastro, he dedicated himself to exercises of pity imploring the eternal salvation of his soul. His life was extinguished inbSeptember of the year 917, and he was buried as a Christian. His death saddened the Mozarabs and delighted the Muslims who celebrated it with actions of gratitudes.

Ibn Hafsun was never completely defeated and with a program of action and governmentbless erratic, perhaps he would have achieved great things. It cannot be denied that he was brave, audacious and reckless on many occasions and that Abd al-Rahman, sobgenerous with the defeated, he would have done well to respect their remains. When Ibn Hafsun died, he took control of Bobastro, he will have them unearthed and displayed in Córdoba as a trophy, in a gesture inappropriate for a character as great as him.

How did Bobastro end? Well, as was predictable. Ibn Hafsun left four sons and a woman. The eldest, Cha'far and his sister Argéntea, seemed to be Christians, while the other three, Sulayman, Abd al-Rahman and Hafs,bcontinued to be Muslims. Only Cha'far had inherited some of the spirit combative of his father, but the others would soon be fighting among themselves.

Cha'far, before the first victories of Abd al-Rahman III over the ancient strongholds who had belonged to Bobastro, requested a truce. It was granted and they waited events. Abd al-Rahman, the third son of Ibn Hafsun, was established in Ojén, when the Cordoban troops reduced it. He asked for forgiveness and was transferred to Córdoba where he ended up earning a living as a calligrapher.

Sulayman and Cha'far did not get along and the latter was murdered in Bobastro on October 30, 920, perhaps at the hands of his brother or at his instigation. Sulayman took up his position in Bobastro and Abd al-Rahman III continued to surround the stronghold through the capture of all the surrounding towns. In 927 he achieved to get rid of Sulayman

who died in an ambush. His corpse was decapitated and his head sent to Córdoba.

Only Hafs remained, who took possession of Bobastro for the fourth time, but without great hopes of being able to retain it for long. After six months of trying to resist, Hafs wrote to the monarch offering his surrender and the abandonment of that eagle's nest that was the fortress of Bobastro. In January 19, 928 the white flag of the Umayyads waved over those rocks. Hafs and the remaining members of his family were sent to Córdoba, but since they had surrendered without fighting they were not punished. Hafs was even able to enlist in the Umayyad army. Argéntea professed in a convent and, over time, she would become a martyr, condemned for apostasy and for insult the official religion.

It had taken Abd al-Rahman III ten years to take over Bobastro after the death of Ibn Hafsun. The peaceful conquest of this enclave of so much significance had an enormous impact throughout Spain, both in the Muslim as in the Christian and, also, in North Africa where the rebel was well known. Abd al-Rahman III wanted to set foot in that cursed place of rebellion, which had caused so many troubles to his predecessors and to him, and together with his son, Prince al-Hakam, who was only thirteen years old, ran, to the last corner of the Bobastro fortress, with the legitimate pride in having been its definitive conqueror. Andalusia remained completely pacified.