Joe Machine

Towards the end of his life Abd al-Rahman proclaimed ‘Oh man place not thy confidence in this present world.’

Yet, while the petty nations of Europe were still climbing from the confusion of the dark ages there was a realm of light in Spain. Vast libraries preserved the ancient learning of the Greeks, the Roman poems Ovid and Virgil. Quiet palaces and stately mosques rose in serene marble. Gardens were laid out with cool fountains.

There have been many attempts to create heaven on earth. The very aspiration invariably lays the path towards disaster. The kingdom of Cordoba was imaginably the closest man has come to achieving the goal of a tangible paradise.

Then again, perhaps this is all fancy. For most of his reign Abd al-Rahman was beset by wars. Many enemies plotted Cordoba’s destruction. Nevertheless, for nearly fifty years commerce, art and religion were held in the balance. There is a sense that moments in Al-Andalus had a fleeting perfection.

And it would have been good to recline under the lemon trees at night and listen to the sonorous, calming oud, while a bishop, a rabbi and an imam conversed freely and kindly.