International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 3 No. 18 [Special Issue – September 2012] 178 The Founders of al-Andalus: Awail evket Yıldız, PhD Department of History of Islam and Islamic Arts Faculty of Theology Uludag University Bursa-Turkey Abstract This paper deals with the first educators and the scholars who contributed to the foundation of the Andalus civilization. These personalities took up an important place in the Andalusian community and culture in terms of both their masters and the disciples they raised. On the other hand, the biographies of these personalities not only show the sources of this culture, but also the extent to which it is related to the eastern part of the Islamic world. The biographies of the first Andalusian scholars help us to understand and evaluate the influences and the deep roots in the foundation period. Sources give us detailed information as to their environments, scientific journeys, their masters and disciples. Moreover, dealing with all scholars in the foundation period exceeds the limits of this paper. Therefore, this study only talks about the most influential personalities in the foundation period of the Andalusian Civilization, giving special reference to the environment, scholars and the students. Some of these scholars did not have any official duties and continued freely their teaching and guiding activities. These scholars, who devoted their lives to science and education, can also be called “the invisible heroes” of the Andalus Civilization. These masters had a special place in the course of history for teaching the most eminent scholars of the Andalusian culture. In this study, which deals with the first figures of the Andalus scholars, I will take as a subject the biographies of several scholars, including Muawiya b. Salih al-Hadrami(158/774), Sa’sa’a b. Sallam al-Dimashqi (180/796,192/807 or 202/817), Ghazi b. Qays (199/815) and Ziyad b. Abdurrahman(192/807) (193/809 or 199/815). 1. Muawiya b. Salih (158/774) His name is Muawiya b. Salih b. Hudayr b. Said b. Sa’d b. Fihr 1 ; his personal record Abu Amr, Abu Abdurrahman; his nisba al-Hadrami, al-Hımsi, al-Shami and his epithet al-Hafız, al-Imam, Qadi al-Andalus. 2 Among his masters and narrators are Abdurrahman b. Cubayr b. Nufayr, Shaddad b. Shaddad, Sulaym b. Amir, Shurayh b. Ubeyd and Makhul –these were the most important- Ziyad b. Abi Savda, Abu al-Zahiriyya Hudayr b. Kurayb, Rabia b. Yazid al-Kusayr, Rashid b. Sa’d, Abu Maryam al-Ansari, Nuaym b. Ziyad al-Anmari, Yunus b. Yusuf, Yahya b. Cabir al-Tai, Amir b. Cushayb, Damra b. Habib, Azher b. Said al-Harrazi, Hatam b. Haris, Habib b. Ubayd, al-Safar b. Nusayr, Abdullah b. Abi Qays, Salih b. Jübayr al-Urduni, Abdulkahir Abu Abdullah, Abdulwahhab b. Buht, Umayr b. Hani, Ala b. al-Haris, Kasir b. al-Haris, Qasim b. Abu Abdurrahman al- Dımashqi, Yahya b. Said al-Ansarî, and Mikdam b. Ma’di Karb. 3 1 There are two Muawiya b. Salihs. One of them is known under the personal record Hafiz Abu Ubeydullah al-Dımashki. The other one is Abu Abdurrahman al-Hadrami, who was appointed as the judge of Andalus. See. Ahmad al-Herewî, al- Mu’cam fi Mushtebihi Esami al-Muhaddisin, ed. Nazar Muhammed al-Feryabi, Riyad: Maktaba al-Rushd, 1411 A.H., I, 246. 2 Ibn Manzur, Mukhtasar Tarîkh Dımashk, Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, 1984, I, 320-321; Ibn al-Esîr al-Cezerî, Câmi’ al-Usûl fi Ahadis al-Rasul, Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, XII, 908; Zehebî, Muhammed b. Ahmad b. Osman b. Kaymaz b. Abdullah al- Turkmani al-Mısri, Tazkira al-Huffâz, Beyrut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1998, I 132-13. 3 Zehebî, Tazkira al-Huffâz, I, 132-133; Ibn al-Esîr al-Cezerî, Câmi’ al-Usûl, XII, 908.