Ḥasday Ibn Shaprūṭ

Ḥasday Ibn Shaprūṭ was a Jewish courtier who served in the court of the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Raḥmān III (r. 912–961) in Córdoba, in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). Born to a prominent family from Jaén, Ḥasday was educated in medicine and foreign languages. His skill as a translator proved useful to the caliph, and Ḥasday was appointed to a diplomatic position. In 949, he represented the caliph on a mission to the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII. Later Jews remembered Ḥasday as a patron of Jewish intellectual life who shaped al-Andalus as a center of Jewish learning.