Warfajuma conquest of Ifriqiya

After the death of Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib, the governor of Ifriqiya, a power struggle erupted within the Fihri family. His son, Habib ibn Abd al-Rahman, claimed leadership, but his uncle Ilyas also sought complete control. To avoid civil war, the governorship was temporarily divided among family members; however, Ilyas rejected this arrangement. Ilyas ibn Habib moved against his relatives and attempted to consolidate his power. Open conflict broke out with Habib, and the two sides eventually met near Laribus. According to the sources, Habib ibn Abd al-Rahman proposed settling the dispute through a duel. Ilyas accepted the offer and was killed. Habib returned to Kairouan with Ilyas’s head in a procession in December 755. Despite this victory, internal divisions within the Fihri family persisted. The supporters of the defeated Ilyas, led by Abd al-Warith, fled south after his death. Seeking protection and an opportunity to regain influence, they allied themselves with the Berber tribe of Warfajuma, a group of Sufri Kharijites opposed to Arab rule. == Campaign ==

In 756 AD, heeding the danger, Habib ibn Abd al-Rahman set out south against the Warfajuma, leaving the qadi Abu Quraib in charge of Kairouan. But the Ifriqiyan army was roundly defeated by the Berber rebels. Habib proceeded to take shelter in Gabès and appealed to Abu Quraib to dispatch reinforcements from Kairouan. But these were intercepted by the Berber force. In 757 AD, the Warfajuma forces, led by Asim ibn Jamil al-Warfajumi, entered the city of Kairouan without resistance and proceeded to carry out massacres. Asim bin Jamil subsequently departed from Kairouan, appointing Abd al-Malik ibn Abi Ja’d al-Nafzawi as its governor. He then advanced with his forces toward Habib in Gabès, where he defeated him and compelled him to withdraw from Gabès to the Aurès Mountains. There, Habib reorganized his forces and launched an attempt to recapture Kairouan; however, he was defeated and killed by the Berbers in a battle on the outskirts of the city in May/June 757. Thus ended the rule of the Fihri family, descendants of Uqba ibn Nafi and Kairouan fell to the Sufrite, who continued to plunder the city. They reportedly tied their animals within the Great Mosque, killed the Arab Qurayshi and massacre inhabitants. == Aftermath ==

A year later, the Ibadis of Tripoli seized Kairouan and the rest of Ifriqiya from the Warfajuma, their center of power remaining in Tripoli, where Abu al-Khattab had established himself.This rebellion was significant because the Arab conquest of North Africa had been almost entirely reversed. The new rulers were Muslim Kharijites, but they were Berbers who owed no allegiance to the Caliphate. == See also ==