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| Fihrids الفهريون | |
|---|---|
| Parent family | Quraysh |
| Country | Ifriqiya (745–757) Al-Andalus (747–756) |
| Place of origin | Mecca,Arabia |
| Founded | 745 |
| Founder | Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib |
| Final ruler | Habib ibn Abd al-Rahman |
| Seat | Al-Qayrawan,Ifriqiya Qurtubah,Al-Andalus |
| Titles | Emir |
| Dissolution | 757 |
TheFihrids (Arabic:الفهريون,romanized: al-Fihriyyūn), also known asBanū Fihr (Arabic:بنو فهر), were anArab family and clan, prominent inIfriqiya andAl-Andalus in the 8th century.
The Fihrids were from the Arabian clan of Banu Fihr, part of theQuraysh,[1] the tribe of theProphet. Probably the most illustrious of the Fihrids wasUqba ibn Nafi al-Fihri, theArab Muslim conqueror ofNorth Africa in 670-680s, and founder ofal-Qayrawan. Several of his sons and grandsons participated in the subsequentconquest of Hispania in 712.
As spearheads of the western conquest, the al-Fihris were probably the leading aristocratic Arab family ofIfriqiya andAl-Andalus in the first half of the 8th century. They produced several governors and military leaders of those provinces. After theBerber Revolt of 740-41, the west fell into a period of anarchy and disorder. TheUmayyad Caliph inDamascus, facing revolts in Persia, did not have the resources to re-impose their authority in the west. In the vacuum, the Fihrids, the pre-eminent local Arab family, seized power in the west.Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri in Ifriqiya (745–755) andYusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri in Al-Andalus (747–756) ruled their dominions virtually independently of theCaliphate.
For a moment, it seemed as if the Fihrids might succeed in turning the western half of the Islamic world into a private family empire. The Fihrids greeted the fall of the Umayyads in 749-50 with delight, and sought to reach an accommodation with the newAbbasid Caliphs of the east to allow them to continue. But when the Abbasids rejected their offer of nominal vassalship and demanded full submission, the Fihrids broke with the Abbasids and declared independence.
In a decision that would prove fatal,Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib invited the remnants of the fugitiveUmayyad clan to take refuge in his dominions. He soon regretted his decision. The arriving Umayyad princes, as the sons and grandsons ofcaliphs, were of more noble blood than the Fihrids themselves, and became a focal point of conspiracies among the Arab nobles ofal-Qayrawan, resentful of Ibn Habib's autocracy. Ibn Habib set about persecuting the exiles. One of them, the youngAbd al-Rahman, would flee to Al-Andalus, depose the Fihrids there and erect the UmayyadEmirate of Qurtubah in 756.
While the Andalusi branch was eclipsed by the Umayyads, the Ifriqiyan branch of the Fihrids descended into a bloody family quarrel in 755, that threw Ifriqiya into chaos, and ended with them being overrun and extinguished in aKharijiteBerber uprising in 757–758.
The al-Fihri name continued to have a magical effect in Al-Andalus, and pretenders drawn from that family continued to challenge Umayyad rule until the end of the century. The descendants of this family are found inFez, Morocco under the name of al-Fassi al-Fihri, and some are found inTunisia.[2]
The genealogy of the Fihrids:[3]