Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya facts for kids

Ibrahim II (born June 27, 850, died October 23, 902) was a ruler, or Emir, of a kingdom called Ifriqiya. This kingdom was located in North Africa, in what is now Tunisia. He ruled from 875 until he stepped down in 902.

After his brother passed away, Ibrahim became the emir. He worked hard to make his kingdom safer and help businesses grow. He also built many important public works. These included a huge water reservoir, new city walls, and improvements to mosques. He also built his own grand palace city called Raqqada.

Ibrahim was a strong ruler who wanted to control everything himself. He didn't trust the powerful Arab noble families in Ifriqiya. He also had conflicts with the Tulunids, another powerful group who ruled Egypt and Syria. Ibrahim was known for being very strict, but also fair to common people. However, some stories say he could be very cruel. In 901, the Abbasid Caliph (a very important Muslim leader) ordered Ibrahim to step down because of his harsh rule. Ibrahim then decided to lead a holy war against Christians in Europe. He marched through Sicily, capturing Taormina, and then went to Italy. He became sick and died while fighting in Italy in 902.

Becoming Emir

Ibrahim II was the son of Ahmad of Ifriqiya, who was also an Aghlabid emir. When his father died in 863, the rule passed to his uncle, Ziyadat Allah II of Ifriqiya. But his uncle died soon after. So, the rule went back to Ibrahim's family line, to his brother Muhammad II of Ifriqiya.

Muhammad II was known for being playful and loving fun. During his brother's rule, Ibrahim was in charge of the city of Kairouan. He did this job very well and seriously, which made many people admire him. When Muhammad II died early in 875, people had high hopes for Ibrahim. The people and religious scholars in Kairouan supported Ibrahim to become the new emir. They chose him over his young nephew, Muhammad II's son.

Building Raqqada and Other Projects

Aghlabid gold dinar from 899, during the reign of Ibrahim II.

Even though a terrible plague in 874 had reduced the population, Ibrahim II's time as ruler was good for the economy. He brought back religious police to keep order. He also made the roads safe from robbers, which helped trade. In 888, he changed the money system. This caused some riots, but it also brought a lot of valuable metals from the eastern caliphate. He also worked to improve farming by building better irrigation systems.

Ibrahim built many public works. He finished the al-Zaytuna Mosque in Tunis and made the Mosque of Uqba in Kairouan larger. He also built a huge new water reservoir for Kairouan. He put up walls around the city of Sousse. He even set up a line of signal towers along the coast. These towers could send messages very quickly, from Morocco to Egypt, in just one night!

In 876, Ibrahim built a brand new palace-city called Raqqada. It was located a few kilometers southwest of Kairouan. This new city replaced the old palace-city used by earlier Aghlabid rulers. Raqqada was built on a grand scale. Its walls were ten kilometers long, and it was as big as Kairouan itself. It had a tall tower called Abu al-Feth, meaning "Father of Victory." The city featured many palaces and army barracks, with large gardens and pools.

Raqqada was split into two main parts. One part was just for the emir. The other part was for his nobles and had everything a city needed, like a mosque, markets (souks), and public baths. This separation showed how important the emir was and how he was independent from the nobles.

Stronger Central Rule

When Ibrahim II first started ruling, people thought he was a fair and wise leader. But over time, he became known for being very strict and sometimes cruel. He wanted to have all the power himself. He didn't trust the old Arab noble families of Ifriqiya. These nobles had often caused trouble for previous Aghlabid emirs.

Every week, after Friday prayers, Ibrahim held an open court in Raqqada. Poor people could come directly to him with their problems. He saw himself as a protector of the common people. If a noble mistreated a common person, Ibrahim considered it a serious crime against himself. He gave out harsh punishments, even to members of his own family.

Ibrahim was a very focused ruler. He seemed to make decisions on his own, without much advice from his officials. Only a few people were close to him, like his son Abdullah II of Ifriqiya, his chamberlain, and two tough slave-generals. His mother, known as the Sayyida (Supreme Lady), was said to be the only person whose opinion he truly respected.

Ibrahim wanted to weaken the power of the Arab army groups, called junds, which the nobles controlled. Instead, he built up a loyal army of black African slave-soldiers, called "Abid" or "Sudan." When Raqqada was opened in 878, Ibrahim had his predecessor's palace guard killed. This made way for his new Sudanese guard. He increased the number of Sudanese soldiers to as many as 10,000. This made the Arab jund commanders very unhappy. The Arab nobles didn't like being less important. They also disliked the high taxes Ibrahim put on them to pay for his large army.

In 893, some Arab lords from Belezma (in western Ifriqiya) rebelled against his army changes and taxes. Ibrahim invited them to Raqqada to discuss their concerns. The Arab lords and their followers were welcomed with feasts. But during the night, while they slept, Ibrahim's guards attacked and killed almost a thousand people.

This massacre caused other Arab lords to revolt, especially those from Tunis. The rebellions spread across Ifriqiya in 893–94. For a while, Ibrahim was almost trapped in his capital, Raqqada. But his Sudanese army crushed the revolts with much bloodshed.

Conflict with Egypt

Ibrahim II also had conflicts with the Tulunids, a powerful group who had taken control of Egypt in 868. In 879, the Tulunid emir's son, Abbas, decided to invade Ifriqiya without his father's permission. He led a large Egyptian army west. Abbas falsely claimed he had orders from the Abbasid caliph for Ibrahim to step down. The Egyptian army reached Tripoli, Libya, but they were defeated by the Nafusa, a Berber tribe. Ibrahim II arrived just in time to capture the Tulunid army's supplies and money, which greatly helped his treasury.

After the Tulunid emir Khumarawaih was killed in 896, Egypt fell into chaos. In 896–97, Ibrahim II led an army to secure his eastern borders against the Tulunids. Some stories of Ibrahim's cruelty come from this time. He attacked and defeated the Nafusa tribe in a big battle. After the battle, it is said that Ibrahim personally killed many prisoners until he grew tired.

Sicily and Naval Battles

When Ibrahim became emir in 875, most of Sicily was already under Aghlabid control. During his rule, the governors of Aghlabid Sicily changed almost every year.

In 877, Ibrahim II's commander in Sicily, Jafar ibn Muhammad al-Tamini, took over the Byzantine-held eastern part of the island. After a long siege, the important city of Syracuse, Sicily fell in May 878. This meant that the Muslim conquest of Sicily was almost complete. Only a few places like Taormina and Catania were still held by the Byzantines.

The fall of Syracuse seemed to open the way for an Aghlabid invasion of mainland Italy. But in 880, the Aghlabid navy faced a major defeat. A Byzantine fleet destroyed the Aghlabid fleet in the Battle of Cephalonia off western Greece. With the sea clear, the Byzantines attacked Muslim areas in southern Italy. They captured Taranto, which the Aghlabids had held for forty years. Many Muslim refugees fled to the western coast of Italy.

The loss of the fleet delayed any major Aghlabid attacks. Small fleets from Sicily continued to help the remaining Muslim groups in Italy. However, a growing conflict within Sicily itself soon took up most of Ibrahim's attention. Since the conquest began in the 820s, Arab and Berber settlers on the island had been fighting each other. Ibrahim II's governors in Sicily often sided with the Berbers against the Arab lords.

Aghlabid governors in Sicily often led raids on the Italian mainland to get wealth and prisoners. These raids usually helped calm the internal tensions over land. But a Greek attack in 885–86 weakened the Aghlabid army in Sicily. In December 886, the Arab lords of Palermo revolted. They kicked out the governor and chose their own leader. This uprising didn't last long, and the Aghlabid governor returned the next year.

In 888, with the Aghlabid fleet rebuilt, Ibrahim II ordered a huge raid on the coast of Calabria. The Byzantine fleet was sent to stop them, but the Aghlabids destroyed it in the Battle of Milazzo (888) in September 888. However, problems within Sicily kept the Aghlabids from fully using their naval victory. In March 890, the Arab nobles of Palermo rebelled again. The Berbers of Agrigento stayed loyal to Ibrahim II and fought against the Arabs. This led to a civil war in Sicily.

In 892, Ibrahim sent a new governor, Muhammad ibn Fadhl, with a large army. He managed to enter Palermo and briefly bring back Aghlabid control. But things soon fell apart again. The nobles' revolt in Ifriqiya in 893–894 kept Ibrahim busy, so the Sicilians fought among themselves for a few years.

In the summer of 900, Ibrahim was finally ready. He sent a strong army to Sicily, led by his son Abu al-Abbas Abdallah. They landed in Mazara and began to attack Trapani, which was held by the rebels. The Arabs of Palermo and the Berbers of Agrigento tried to make peace with the Aghlabids, but negotiations failed. The Sicilians gathered an army to fight the Aghlabids. They clashed in the Battle of Trapani (900), but neither side won clearly. The Sicilian Arabs went back to Palermo to gather more fighters.

In September 900, the Aghlabids caught up with and defeated the Sicilian army outside Palermo. The remaining Sicilian rebels went into the fortified part of Palermo, leaving the rest of the city open to the Aghlabid army. After about a week, on September 18, 900, the rebels surrendered. They gave up the fortified area in exchange for safe passage for their leaders to leave the island. Many people from Palermo fled east to areas controlled by the Byzantines.

The next year (901), Abu al-Abbas Abdallah led the Aghlabid army against the remaining Byzantine areas in Sicily. He heard rumors of a Byzantine army gathering in Italy. So, he quickly moved his army to Messina and crossed the water to Italy. In June 901, they appeared outside Reggio Calabria. The Byzantine soldiers there were not ready and left the city. The Aghlabids captured Reggio and took much wealth from the city.

Stepping Down

Many reports of Ibrahim II's cruel actions reached Baghdad. This finally made the Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tadid take action. The caliph sent a messenger to Tunis in late 901. The message said that because Ibrahim was mistreating his people, he was removed from his position as governor of Ifriqiya. His son, Abu al-Abbas Abdallah, who was fighting in Sicily, was appointed the new emir.

Surprisingly, Ibrahim II accepted the news without arguing. He seemed truly sorry for his actions. He dressed simply, declared he had changed his ways, and stopped collecting unfair taxes. He also freed his prisoners and slaves. He gave a large part of his money to the religious scholars in Kairouan to give to those in need. Ibrahim II gave up his power to his son, Abu al-Abbas Abdallah. His son returned from Sicily in early 902 to become the new emir, Abdallah II of Ifriqiya.

Final Campaign

However, Ibrahim, who was no longer emir, did not go to Baghdad as ordered. Instead, he declared himself a mujahid, meaning he would fight a holy war against Christians to make up for his past mistakes. Ibrahim went to Sousse and gathered a large army of volunteers. He promised to march across Europe and conquer Constantinople for Islam. (In a letter to the caliph, Ibrahim claimed he was obeying orders and just taking a very long way to Baghdad).

In May 902, his army set off for Sicily. They landed in Trapani and went to Palermo, where even more volunteers joined. Ibrahim II led his army against Taormina, the last major city in Sicily still held by the Byzantines. He defeated the Byzantine army that came out to meet him. Taormina was built on a rock and seemed impossible to capture. But Ibrahim ordered volunteers to climb the rocky side facing the sea, which the defenders had not watched closely. Once the black flag of the caliphate was raised at the top, Ibrahim's army rushed the gates. The defenders were overwhelmed, the gates were opened, and Taormina fell on August 1, 902.

With the fall of Taormina, after 75 years, all of Sicily was finally under Muslim control. A few small Byzantine outposts remained, but they either surrendered or were not important.

In September 902, after making sure the defenses were removed and accepting surrenders, the former emir marched to Messina. He then took his army across the water to Calabria in Italy. This was the start of his planned march to Constantinople. News of a large army led by the fierce Ibrahim caused panic in southern Italy. Several towns were evacuated, and fortresses were destroyed so the Ifriqiyans couldn't use them. However, Ibrahim got stuck trying to capture Cosenza, a small city in northern Calabria that should not have been a big problem. He suddenly became sick with dysentery and died on October 23, 902, near Cosenza. Command of the army passed to his grandson, Ziyadat Allah III of Ifriqiya, who immediately stopped the attack and returned with the army to Sicily.

The body of Ibrahim II was buried either in Palermo or Kairouan. If there was a grave marker, it disappeared soon after.

What Happened Next

Ibrahim II's rule marked the beginning of the end for the Aghlabid kingdom. He probably couldn't have stopped the Aghlabids from losing their hold on mainland Italy. Although he completed the conquest of Sicily, Ibrahim II's harsh rule caused civil war and division among the island's Muslim communities.

Perhaps more importantly, Ibrahim II's destruction of the Arab noble families left the Ifriqiyan army groups weak and discouraged. Soon after most of the Ifriqiyan army left for Ibrahim's last campaign in Italy in 902, a Berber tribe called the Kutama began to attack. They were led by a preacher named Abu 'Abdullah al-Shi'i. The weakened army groups could barely stop them. The Kutama easily captured all of Ifriqiya by 909. This ended the Aghlabid dynasty and started the Fatimid dynasty.

The reputation of Ibrahim II's feared Sudanese soldiers was so strong that during the campaigns of 902–909, the Fatimids killed any black African soldiers they captured.