Sara, the granddaughter of Witiza, penultimate king of the Visigoths, chartered a ship in Seville (Andalusia, Spain) to travel to Damascus with the intention of pleading her case to Umayyad Caliph Hisham. It was 739 or 740 CE when she left Seville, sailed down the river and upon entering the Mediterranean sailed east to the port of Ascalon. She then continued on to Damascus by land.
The purpose of her visit was to demand restitution of more than one thousand estates in Seville that had been confiscated by her uncle Ardabasto. Her right to inherit the estates were confirmed according to the Islamic law by the governor of North Africa (whose authority included Al-Andalus at the time) and the previous Caliph in Damascus. Caliph Hisham welcomed her warmly, upheld her claim and instructed his governor to enforce it immediately. Sara then married 'Isa ibn Muzahim, one of the Muslims at caliph's court and returned to Seville with her husband. The couple had two sons, Ibrahim and Ishaq.
Princess Sara's journey was described by historian Abu Bakr ibn al-Qutiyyah who died in 978. Abu Bakr was a great-grandson of Ibrahim and the 'ibn al-Qutiyyah' in his name means "the son of the Gothic woman," referring to his lineage. Because of their lineage to Sara, the Gothic princess, the Banu al-Qutiyyah had established themselves as a distinguished Hispano-Arab family....
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Copyright © 1997 Dr. A. Zahoor
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