Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri

Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri (Arabic: يوسف بن عبد الرحمن الفهري‎‎) was an Umayyad governor of Narbonne in Septimania and governor of al-Andalus from 747 to 756, ruling independently following the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate in 750. He was a descendant of 'Uqbah, the founder of al-Qayrāwan.^[1]

Governor in Narbonne

After the Battle of Poitiers, Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman was appointed governor of Narbonne according to the Chronicle of Moissac, where he was in command of military operations. During four years he is said to have raided and pillaged the Lower Rhone, and in 735 he took Arles.^[2]

Infight and Berber revolt

Between 716 and 756, al-Andalus was ruled by governors sent from Damascus or appointed on the recommendation of the Umayyad regional governors of Ifriqiya to which it belonged administratively.^[3] Like many of his predecessors, Yusuf struggled to control infighting between the Berbers (the bulk of his power base) and the Arabs, and also had to deal with perennial feuding between 'Adnani and Qahtani Arab tribes comprising his forces.^[4]

Governor of al-Andalus

After the instability of the Berber Revolt in al-Andalus, an arrangement was concluded between different Arab factions to alternate in office. However, after taking over and completing his term, he refused to give up the reins of power, ruling unchallenged for nine years, while in Damascus the Umayyads were definitely overthrown in 750. It has been pointed that he actually ruled as king (malik), and not as governor (wali). After becoming ruler, al-Fihri conducted a census,^[5] as part of which Bishop Hostegesis prepared a list of tax and jizya payers. The bishop then made annual visits to make sure the taxes were collected properly.^[6]

Arrival of Abd al-Rahman I and downfall

Yusuf had just broken an attempted revolt in Zaragoza (755) when he launched a campaign against the Basques of Pamplona in 755, but the detachment sent was annihilated.^[7] This was the moment chosen by the Umayyad prince Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hisham, who had fled Syria some years before to escape from the Abbasids, to disembark on the southern coast of present-day Spain. He went on to capture important southern strongholds such as Málaga and Seville.

On Abd al-Rahman's arrival, Andalusian forces were divided, with both commanders claiming the allegiance of both Berbers and the Syrian junds. Generally, Yemeni units within the latter joined the Umayyad contender, while their Mudar and Qays rivals remained loyal to Yusuf.^[8] After failing to arrange a compromise deal with Abd al-Rahman by which the Umayyad survivor would succeed him, Yusuf al-Fihri was defeated at the Battle of Musarah^[9] just outside Córdoba in May 756^[10] by Abd al-Rahman, who thus became the first independent Emir of Córdoba.

Still Yusuf managed to flee the battlefield north and make his way towards Toledo, possibly first attempting to recapture Seville, but failing. Yusuf may have been killed on his retreat to Toledo, while other accounts locate him in that stronghold still for two or three years, where he was eventually killed by some of his own men.^[11]

See also

• Umayyad conquest of Hispania
• Septimania
• Battle of Avignon
• Battle of Narbonne (737)
• Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula

References

1. Hitti, Philip Khuri (1970). History of the Arabs from the Earliest Times to the Present. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-09871-4, p. 504.
2. Collins, Roger (1989). The Arab Conquest of Spain 710-797. Oxford, UK / Cambridge, USA: Blackwell. p. 91. ISBN 0-631-19405-3.
3. Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. (1987). A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-33767-4, p. 71.
4. Gerli, E. Michael & Armistead, Samuel G. (2003). Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. ISBΝ 9780415939188, p. 4.
5. Wolf, Kenneth Baxter (2000). Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain. Liverpool University Press, ISBN 0-85323-554-6, p. 156.
6. Imamuddin, S. M. (1981). Muslim Spain - 711-1492 A.D: A Sociological Study. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-06131-2, p. 58.
7. Trask, R. Larry (1996). The History of Basque. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-13116-2, p. 12.
8. Collins, Roger (1989). p. 122.
9. Al-Sulami, Mishal Fahm (2004). The West and Islam: Western Liberal Democracy Versus the System of Shura. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-31634-0, p. 207.
10. Payne, Robert (1959). The Holy Sword: the story of Islam from Muhammad to the present. New York: Harper.
11. Collins, Roger (1989). p. 132.