In 230 AH, a force of the Ardmaniyan Majus (1) sailed up the river to Seville in eighty ships. They found the townspeople off their guard, having grown complacent because the truce had lasted so long and being unfamiliar with the enemy’s style of warfare. The invaders disembarked, noticed the inhabitants’ weakness, engaged them, overpowered the Muslims, and put them to the sword. After a sweeping massacre—even women and livestock were not spared—they took possession of Seville and remained there for seven days.
When word reached the Caliph ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam, he mustered his army and dispatched it to Seville. The troops encamped to the east, battle was joined, the crisis intensified, and the Muslims triumphed. Slaughter raged among the accursed until the entire host of unbelievers was wiped out—may Allah curse them. The Muslims burned thirty of their ships, and only forty-three days separated the pagans’ entry into Seville from their flight.
This was the event that led to the construction of the city’s river-side wall (2).
In 235 AH an immense flood struck: it swept away the suburb adjoining Córdoba’s bridge and carried sixteen villages—together with their people and livestock—down to the sea. The dead were beyond counting; there is no power except through Allah.
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam was born in Toledo in Shaʿbān 176 AH, and he died on the third of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir 238 AH.