Ifriqiya, Fihrid Emirate of
Years: 745 - 757
The Fihrids (also known as Oqbids) are an illustrious Arab family and clan, prominent in North Africa and Muslim Iberia during the 8th century.The al-Fihri were originally an Arabian clan Banu Fihr attached to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet.
Probably the most illustrious of the Fihrids was Oqba ibn Nafi al-Fihri, the Arab Muslim conqueror of North Africa in 670-680s, and founder of Kairouan.
Several of his sons and grandsons participated in the subsequent conquest of Hispania in 712.As spearheads of the western conquest, the al-Fihris are probably the leading aristocratic Arab family of Ifriqiya and Al-Andalus in the first half of the 8th century.
They produce several governors and military leaders of those provinces.
After the Berber Revolt of 740-41, the west falls into a period of anarchy and disorder.
The Umayyad Caliph in Damascus, facing revolts in Persia, does not have the resources to re-impose their authority in the west.
In the vacuum, the Fihrids, the pre-eminent local Arab family, seize power in the west.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri in Africa (745-755) and Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri in Al-Andalus (747-755) rule their dominions virtually independently of the Caliphate.
