Abd al-Rahman or Abd ar-Rahman (Arabic: عبد الرحمن or occasionally عبد الرحمان; DMG ʿAbd ar-Raḥman) is a male Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words Abd, al- and Rahman. The name means "servant of the most merciful", ar-Rahman being one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give rise to the Muslim theophoric names.
The letter A of the al- is unstressed, and can be transliterated by almost any vowel, often by u. Because the letter R is a sun letter, the letter l of the al- is assimilated to it. Thus although the name is written in Arabic with letters corresponding to Abd al-Rahman, the usual pronunciation corresponds to Abd ar-Rahman. Alternative transliterations include ‘Abd ar-Rahman, Abdul Rahman, Abdur Rahman, Abdur Rehman, Abdul Rehman, Abidur Rahman, and others, all subject to variant spacing and hyphenation. Certain transliterations tend to be associated with certain areas, for example, Abdirahman in Somalia, and Abderrahmane in French-speaking North Africa.
Abd Al-Rahman was the head of an Abadite dynasty, which existed in central Maghrib (now known as Morocco) from about 776 or 778 CE to 908 CE. He was also the founder of the new Tahert.
He is purported to be the son of a Persian man, Rostem b. Bahram, according to a number of scribes from the Abadite sect. Bahram was also supposedly of royal descent and had bloodlines tracing back to the Sasanide dynasty.
Abd Al-Rahman was born in Iraq, after his parents had supposedly gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca that year. While Al-Rahman's father died in Mecca, his mother had quickly remarried a pilgrim she had met from Maghrib and the couple raised Al-Rahman at Kairawan.
Abd Al-Rahman was a quick and energetic learner, and had studied under Abu Ubaida Muslim in Basra. Abd Al-Rahman became one of the five missionaries who was ultimately responsible for the spread of the Abadite doctrine in Morocco.
The first Imam of the Abadites had captured Kairawan from the Warfadjuma warriors and after his conquest, he gave several parts of Ifrikiya to Abd al-Rahman (unfortunately, in June 758- the same year- Ibn al-Asha'ath retook Kairawan). Ibn al-Ash'ath was after him though.