e information extant respecting it is somewhat scanty, would
appear to have been little less than a struggle between the two races
for the dominion of Spain. One of the Muwallad chiefs, named Omar Ibn
Hafssun,[16] maintained for years a sort of semi-independence in the
Alpuxarras. Al-mundhir fell in a skirmish against him in 888, only two
years after his accession; and the insurrection, after continuing
through the whole reign of Abdullah, was only finally suppressed under
Abdurrahman III.

[15] No fewer than twenty-seven insurgent leaders, in the
reign of Abdullah alone, are enumerated in the translator's
notes from Ibn Hayyan.

[16] The epithet of _kelb_, "dog," frequently applied to this
leader, has led Conde into the strange error of creating for
him a son, whom he calls _Kalib_ Ibun Hafssun. The term
_Muwallad_ is said to be the origin of _mulatto_.

The system of government under these princes, appears to have remained
in nearly the same form as it had been fixed by Abdurrahman I. The
monarch nominated, during his lifetime, one of his sons as his
successor; and the _wali-al-ahd_, or crown-prince, thus selected,
received the oaths of allegiance of the dignitaries of the state, and
was admitted to a share in the administration--a wise regulation,
which prevented the recurrence of the civil wars arising from the
ambition of princes of the blood, which had distracted the reigns of
Al-hakem I. and Abdurrahman II. The council of the sovereign was
composed of the _vizirs_ or ministers of the different departments,
the _katibs_ or secretaries, and the chiefs of the law; the _walis_ of
the six great provinces into which Abdurrahman I. divided his
empire,[17] as well as the municipal chiefs of the principal cities
were also summoned on emergencies:--while the prime minister, or
highest officer of the state, in whom, as in the Turkish
_Vizir-Azem_,[18] the supreme direction of both civil and military
affairs was vested, was designated the _Hajib_ or chamberlain. Of the
four orthodox[19] sects of the Soonis, the one which predominated in
Spain, as it does to the present day in Barbary and Africa, was that
of Malik Ibn Ans, whose doctrines were introduced in the reign of
Al-hakem I., by doctors who had received instruction from the lips of
the Imam Malik himself at Mekka; and was formally established by that
prince throughout his dominions. The judicial offices were filled, as
in other Moslem co