Lightbulbs, batteries and switches: teaching about interfaith coexistence through medieval Muslim Spain

Good morning Year 7. Once upon a time in the mid-eighth century, a young prince was forced to abandon his home. His home was in Damascus, and there, one night, his family had been taken by surprise. The young prince belonged to a family called the Ummayads. The Ummayads had been invited by their rivals, the Abbasids, to a royal banquet. But it had turned out to be a trick. A massacre ensued. Nearly all the Ummayads were killed. The prince, however, made a dramatic escape. He swam for his life across the River Euphrates. The prince’s name was Abd al-Rahman. 

The young Umayyad ruler who fled the Abbasids had been part of a great Muslim ruling family. It was his family who had led the Muslims out of the deserts of Arabia, conquering vast stretches of the Byzantine and Persian empires. Now he, Abd al-Rahman, had no choice but to flee his homeland. A new dynasty, the Abbasids, were seizing control over the great empire of Islam...