Abd al-Rahman (731-788) was a prince of the Umayyad dynasty, which had ruled a gigantic empire from their capital, Damascus, for nearly a century. Abd al-Rahman was the grandson of the Caliph, and second-in-line to the throne.

In 750, the Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasids. When the conquering army entered Damascus, they killed all the surviving members of the Umayyads, except for the young prince Abd al-Rahman, who managed to flee the city with his family.

Abbasid horsemen were sent to scour the countryside to find and kill Abd al-Rahman. The soldiers closed in on the prince and his family while they were hiding in a small village. The prince narrowly escaped by swimming across the Euphrates. He was 19 years old. Although Abd al-Rahman had managed to escape, his years in exile were very difficult for him. Constantly on the run from his enemies, he reached Ceuta, near modernday Morocco. His future was bleak. Once heir to a vast empire, he was now a homeless pauper with no place to go.

Opportunities will never cease.

Across the sea, al-Andalus was in chaos. Once a province of the original Umayyad empire, the Abbasids had lost control of it, due to the monthslong delay in communication over long distances. Hearing that the people were essentially leaderless, the prince crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. He quickly amassed local support, by dint of his extraordinary capability as a leader and his lineage. He raised an army and defeated the rebellion.

He established a new cultural and social order in al-Andalus. He built roads and aqueducts and began construction of the now world-famous Great Mosque of Córdoba. His enemy, the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur grudgingly said of him, “He wandered through deserts in Asia and Africa, had the boldness to seek his fortune without an army, in lands unknown to him beyond the sea. Having naught to rely upon save his own wits and perseverance, he nonetheless exterminated rebels, organized cities, mobilized armies, secured his frontiers, founded a great empire and reunited a realm. No man before him ever did such deeds. He did it alone.”

There is no end to the opportunities in this world. When one opportunity ceases to exist, another opportunity always arises elsewhere. When stages in our careers come to an end, there are always opportunities to enter new phases.

But new opportunities will bear no fruit if they are not seized at once and made use of. Nothing happens on its own. It takes a person of courage to grasp opportunities that present themselves. We must also have the endurance and the determination for the struggle which necessarily ensues. If we possess these essential qualities, we are guaranteed to succeed.

This world has been devised by God so that we may succeed—but only through struggle. Success does not come to the faint of heart, those lacking in determination, or to the impatient. If we give up the struggle, we will only pay the price of our own shortcomings.

The sun will rise every morning. But for the sun to rise, the world must unceasingly continue to turn. Success lies ahead. But for us to achieve it, we must unceasingly continue to struggle.