ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥabīb al-Fihrī (), called al-Ṣiqlabī (), was an

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

-appointed governor of

al-Andalus Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...

(Spain) in the 770s. He was sent from

Ifrīqiya Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna ( ar, المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (today's western Libya). It included all of what had previously ...

to oppose the Umayyad ruler ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I. He landed in Tudmīr and demanded the submission of Sulaymān ibn Yaqẓān al-Kalbī al-Aʿrābī, commander of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. When this was refused, he marched against him and was defeated near

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Shortly afterwards he was assassinated by a Berber. His was the last effort by the Abbasids to assert their rule in al-Andalus.Roger Collins, ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797'' (Basil Blackwell, 1989), pp. 174–177. Ibn Ḥabīb was a member of the Fihrid family, which was prominent in Ifrīqiya. A Fihrid, Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Fihrī, was the governor of al-Andalus deposed by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I in 756.Pierre Guichard, "The Population of the Region of Valencia During the First Two Centuries of Muslim Domination", in Manuela Marin (ed.), ''The Formation of al-Andalus, Part 1: History and Society'' (Ashgate, 1998), p. 143. According to some modern historians, Ibn Ḥabīb was also related by marriage to Yūsuf, but this is not supported by any primary source.Abdurrahman A. El-Hajji, "Andalusian Diplomatic Relations with the Franks during the Umayyad Period", ''Islamic Studies'' 30 (1991), pp. 241–262. Ibn Ḥabīb's nickname, al-Ṣiqlabī, literally means "the

Slav Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

", but according to

Ibn ʿIdhārī Abū al-ʽAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʽIḏārī al-Marrākushī ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد ابن عذاري المراكشي) was a Moroccan historian of the late-13th/early-14th century, and author of the famous '' Al-Bayan al- ...

it was given to him not on account of his origins but because of his tall height, fair complexion and blue eyes. The region of Tudmīr in southeastern Spain, which Ibn Ḥabīb made his base of operations, was originally an autonomous Christian tributary under

Theodemir Theodemir, Theodemar, Theudemer or Theudimer was a Germanic name common among the various Germanic peoples of early medieval Europe. According to Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel (9th century), the form ''Theudemar'' is Frankish and ''Theudemir'' is Gothi ...

, who gave his name to the region. It was still under the rule of Theodemir's son

Athanagild Athanagild ( 517 – December 567) was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. He had rebelled against his predecessor, Agila I, in 551. The armies of Agila and Athanagild met at Seville, where Agila met a second defeat. Following the death of ...

as late as 754. Ibn Ḥabīb's decision to target Barcelona when the centre of Umayyad power, Córdoba, lay closer to Tudmīr is difficult to explain. Possibly Ibn Ḥabīb believed there was more support for the Abbasids among the

Yemenis Yemenis or Yemenites ( ar, يمنيون) are the nationals of Yemen. Social hierarchy There is a system of social stratification in Yemen that was officially abolished at the creation of the Republic of Yemen in 1962 but, in practice, this syst ...

of the northeast and hoped by his challenge to Ibn al-Aʿrābī to draw them to his following. The 11th-century '' Collection of Anecdotes on the Conquest of al-Andalus'' places Ibn Ḥabīb's arrival shortly after ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I had defeated a Yemeni rebellion in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, so perhaps he judged that his base of support near Córdoba had been too weakened for an immediate attack on the centre. The

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

sources are inconsistent in dating Ibn Ḥabīb's arrival in Spain. The ''Collection of Anecdotes'' placed it around 775, but

Ibn al-Athīr Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian a ...

writing in the 13th century placed it in 778. Collating the Arabic and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

sources,

Roger Collins Roger J. H. Collins (born September 2, 1949) is an English medievalist, currently an honorary fellow in history at the University of Edinburgh. Collins studied at the University of Oxford ( Queen's and Saint Cross Colleges) under Peter Brown ...

places it in the early 770s. Antonio Ubieto Arteta, accepts a date of 161 AH, which fell between 9 October 777 and 27 September 778.Antonio Ubieto Arteta
''La Chanson de Roland y algunos problemas históricos''
(Anubar, 1985), p. 108. Pierre Guichard, basing his conclusion on Ibn al-Athīr and

al-ʿUdhrī Al-Udri or Al-Udhri (in full ''Abu al-abbas Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Anas ibn Dilhat ibn Abu al-Jiyar Anas ibn Faladan ibn Imran ibn Munayb ibn Zugayba ibn Qutba al-Udri'', ar, أحمد بن عمر بن انس بن دله� ...

, places Ibn Ḥabīb's arrival in 161 (777). Guichard believes he held out in Tudmīr for several months before being forced to hide out in "the mountains of the land of Valencia" until his assassination in 163 (779). According to the ''Collection of Anecdotes'', the Berber who assassinated him, Sḥaʿān, had ingratiated himself with Ibn Ḥabīb for just that purpose. Having killed him, he led the pro-Abbasid cavalry over to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I.David James (ed.), ''A History of Early al-Andalus: The Akhbār majmūʿa. A Study of the Unique Arabic Manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, with a Translation, Notes and Comments'' (Routledge, 2012), pp. 106–107 and p. xv (map). Some modern historians have linked Ibn Ḥabīb to the embassy sent by al-Aʿrābī of Barcelona and Ḥusayn of Zaragoza to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

, king of the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

, in 777. This search for an alliance abroad against ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I precipitated the Frankish campaign that ended in disaster at the

battle of Roncevaux Pass The Battle of Roncevaux Pass ( French and English spelling, ''Roncesvalles'' in Spanish, ''Orreaga'' in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on th ...

. Ibn Ḥabīb's involvement, however, is chronologically impossible as well as incongruous with al-Aʿrābī's cool reception to Ibn Ḥabīb's overtures.

References

{{Umayyad governors of al-Andalus 770s deaths Monarchs in al-Andalus Governors in Europe Governors of the Abbasid Caliphate Assassinated people in the medieval Islamic world 8th-century Arabs Slavs of the medieval Islamic world