The Most Beautiful Mihrab

One thousand years ago, Islam was the predominant religion of a great expanse of territory stretching from Spain and North Africa in the West to the borders of China in the East. In the 10th century CE, there were three caliphates in the Islamic world: the Umayyads of Spain, the Fatimids of Egypt and the Abbasids of Iraq. The 10th century CE was a golden age for the Spanish city of Cordoba which became the most important centre of learning in the Islamic West. The caliphs of Cordoba frequently had friendly relations with Orthodox Christian Byzantium (Constantinople or Istanbul) at the opposite end of the Mediterranean Sea. As the wealth of the Spanish Umayyads increased, their Great Mosque in Cordoba was expanded and made even more beautiful. This book tells the true story of a unique example of cooperation between the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople and the Spanish caliph in Cordoba that led to the building of the most beautiful Mihrab in the world!