Aghlabid dynasty | ||||||||||
Banū al-Aghlab (بنو الأغلب) | ||||||||||
Semi-independent emirate, nominally vassal or subject of the Abbasid, but de facto independent since 801. | ||||||||||
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Capital | Kairouan | |||||||||
Languages | Berber, Arabic, African Latin | |||||||||
Religion | Sunni Islam (Maliki) | |||||||||
Political structure | Semi-independent emirate, nominally vassal or subject of the Abbasid, but de facto independent since 801. | |||||||||
President | ||||||||||
• | 800–812 | Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab ibn Salim | ||||||||
• | 903–909 | Abu Mudhar Ziyadat Allah III ibn Abdallah | ||||||||
History | ||||||||||
• | Established | 800 | ||||||||
• | Fatimid overthrown | 909 | ||||||||
• | Disestablished | 909 | ||||||||
Currency | Aghlabid Dinar | |||||||||
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Today part of |
Algeria Tunisia Libya Malta Italy |
The Aghlabids (Arabic: الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimids.
In 800, the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid appointed Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab, son of a Khurasanian Arab commander from the Banu Tamim tribe, as hereditary Emir of Ifriqiya as a response to the anarchy that had reigned in that province following the fall of the Muhallabids. At that time there were perhaps 100,000 Arabs living in Ifriqiya, although the Berbers still constituted the great majority.
Ibrahim was to control an area that encompassed eastern Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania. Although independent in all but name, his dynasty never ceased to recognise Abbasid overlordship. The Aghlabids paid an annual tribute to the Abbasid Caliph and their suzerainty was referenced in the khutba at Friday prayers.
After the pacification of the country Ibrahim ibn al Aghlab established a residence at a new capital, al-Abbasiyya, which was founded outside Kairouan, partly to distance himself from the opposition of the Malikite jurists and theologians, who condemned what they saw as the luxurious life of the Aghlabids, and disliked the unequal treatment of the Muslim Berbers. Additionally, border defenses (Ribat) were set up in Sousse and Monastir. The Aghlabids also built up the irrigation of the area and enhanced the public buildings and mosques ofal-Abbasiya. It was recorded that 5,000 black Zanj slaves were used which were supplied from Trans Sahara trade route