Harun's Appointment of Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab over the Maghreb

تولية هارون إبراهيم بن الأغلب بلاد المغرب

between 795 and 800 CE

In al-Baladhuri: Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab was of Egypt's army notables; he rose with twelve men who took from the treasury only the measure of their rations and fled, reaching a place called al-Zab over ten days' march from Qayrawan, the frontier's agent then being Harun's Harthama ibn A'yan; Ibrahim claimed the leadership over that district's troops, sending gifts to Harthama, courting him and writing that he had not left obedience nor embraced sin — only need and necessity had driven him — so Harthama gave him his district and sufficed him for it; when Harthama left the frontier Ibn al-Akki ruled after him and his conduct soured until the province rose on him, so al-Rashid consulted Harthama on a man to appoint and he counselled reconciling Ibrahim, cultivating him and giving him the frontier; al-Rashid wrote that he had pardoned his offence and seen fit to give him the Maghreb as a benefaction — Ibrahim ruled that frontier, stood over it and held it firm.

Overview

Al-Baladhuri relates how Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab became governor of the Maghrib in the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid, after having been one of the notables of the army of Egypt. ¹

From rising to governorship

Ibrahim rose up with twelve men, who took from the treasury only as much as their pay and no more, and they went to the place of al-Zab east of Qayrawan. The governor of the frontier at that time was Harthama ibn Ayan. Ibrahim won his favour with gifts, and wrote that he had not gone out of obedience, and that need had driven him. So Harthama gave him charge of his district. ¹

Al-Rashid's decision

When Harthama was removed, Ibn al-Akki came after him, and his conduct grew so bad that the district rose against him. Al-Rashid consulted Harthama, who advised reconciling with Ibrahim and appointing him. Al-Rashid wrote to him that he had pardoned his offence and appointed him over the Maghrib; he stood at the frontier and held it. ¹

The date recorded in the data is approximate, between about 795 and 800 CE, and the conversion is derived.

The Building of Tarsus

In al-Baladhuri from al-Waqidi: al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba al-Ta'i raided Byzantine lands in year 162 with the men of Khurasan, Mosul and Syria, Yemenite reinforcements and the volunteers of Iraq and the Hijaz, setting out by way of Tarsus, and reported to al-Mahdi the great benefit for Islam in building, fortifying and manning it and the check and vexation it would give the enemy — al-Hasan having fought so well on that raid and harried the Byzantine land that they named him the Shaytan; coming out of Byzantine territory he camped at Tarsus's meadow and rode to the ruined city, circling it on every side and reckoning its capacity at a hundred thousand; he described it to al-Mahdi and likewise told him of al-Hadath, rousing him to build it, so al-Mahdi ordered him to build Tarsus beginning with al-Hadath city, which was built, and charged him with Tarsus; in year 171 al-Rashid heard the Byzantines had conspired to go to Tarsus to fortify and man it, so he sent the summer raid of year 171 under Harthama ibn A'yan ordering him to settle, build and fortify it, putting the work in the hands of Faraj ibn Sulaym the eunuch at his command, and Abu Sulaym marched him to Madinat al-Salam whence he mustered the first levy of Khurasanis — three thousand men — who entered Tarsus, then a second levy of two thousand — a thousand of Masisa's people and a thousand of Antioch's, each man on a ten-dinar increase over his pay — who camped with the first levy at al-Mada'in at the Jihad gate at the opening of Muharram year 172 until Tarsus's building, fortification and mosque were complete; Faraj surveyed from river to river four thousand lots, each twenty cubits square, granted the Tarsusis their lots, and the two levies settled it in Rabi' II year 172; Abd al-Malik ibn Salih had appointed Yazid ibn Makhlad al-Fazari over it, whom the Khurasanis expelled in resentment for the Hubayriyya, and Abu al-Fawaris replaced him, confirmed in 170-and-odd.

Harun's Appointment of Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab over the Maghreb

At a glance

In time

Overview

From rising to governorship

Al-Rashid's decision

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Time

The Building of Tarsus