Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib had come to power essentially as the figurehead of the local Arab high military caste, a group much despised and feared by the common population. Their appetites and aspirations had long been kept in check by the Umayyad governors. But with the connection with Damascus now cut, the high nobles fully expected to be allowed free rein by 'their' emir. But they were soon to be disappointed. Ibn Habib wanted a country to govern, and was not prepared to see it fragmented and handed over to the anarchic ways of a feudal nobility. Ibn Habib consequently faced the prospect of revolts whatever he did - should the nobles be let loose, the people would revolt; hold the reins tight, the nobles would turn against him. To assert himself Ibn Habib consequently turned to his greatest asset - his family, the
Fihrids. No sooner had Ibn Habib installed himself in
Kairouan, then revolts by Arabs and Berbers, began erupting all over the country.
Tunis was raised to revolt by Orwa ibn ez-Zobeir es-Sadefi,
Tabinas by Ibn Attaf el-Azdi,
Béja was taken by the
Sanhaja Berber rebel Thabit al-Sanhaji, and many more. Ibn Habib patiently and ruthlessly crushed the revolts one by one. The most serious threat came from
Tripolitana, then governed by Ibn Habib's brother
Ilyas ibn Habib al-Fihri. In 747, Ilyas tried to crack down on the fledgling
Ibadites, a puritanical
Kharijite sect, that was growing strong in the cities of
Djerba and
Tripoli and among the Berbers in the surrounding districts. The Ibadites, inspired by the success of their brethren in
Hadramut and
Oman, revolted under the leadership of their imam al-Harith, and seized control of much of Tripolitana (between
Gabès and
Sirte). But in 752, Ibn Habib dispatched an Ifriqiyan army and reconquered Tripolitana from the Ibadites, driving their remnants south into the
Jebel Nafusa. In Spain, Handhala's deputy
Abu al-Khattar ibn Dirar al-Kalbi had been toppled in 745 and civil war broke out anew between the Syrian and the Andalusian Arabs. Ibn Habib intervened, dispatching an Ifriqiyan force to help restore order. In 747, Ibn Habib's kinsman (by patronymic record, his son),
Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, was put forward as a compromise candidate and installed as governor of
al-Andalus. But the western Maghreb - Morocco and eastern Algeria - remained out of his reach. Since the
Berber Revolt of 740, the region had descended into tribal anarchy. It was fragmented and ruled autonomously by Berber tribes. The Masmuda Berber tribes established an independent state in 744, the
Berghwata confederation, with their own 'prophet' and
syncretist beliefs. Ibn Habib's attempts to reimpose his rule there failed. In 752, perhaps feeling confident in the possession of his lands for the first time, Ibn Habib transported an Ifriqiyan army to
Sicily, perhaps hoping to resume the invasion
his father had interrupted back in 740. But finding the defences too strong, the expedition limited itself to raiding the coasts and returned to North Africa. ==Relations with the Caliphs==