Conquest of Maghrib

[KALKI]

Abu Abdullah, on the other hand, conquered almost whole Maghrib within 16 years in 296/909 and routed the Aghlabid rule of 112 years. He decisively subdued the Aghlabids near Laribus, and established supremacy over the Aghlabid empire and got an end of the Abbasid suzernaity over it in Maghrib. Six days later he entered the Aghlabid capital, Raqada which was about six miles south of Kairwan with a covered area of 6 square miles, on 1st Rajab, 296/March 26, 909 and relieved Abul Abbas in Tripoli. He started the Fatimid khutba and the Shiite formula was used in the call to prayer.



Makrizi writes in his "al-Khitat" (Cairo, 1911, 1st vol., p. 350) that Abu Abdullah had coins struck bearing the legends "the proof of God has arrived" on the obverse and "the enemies of God are dispersed" on the reverse. Conserved in the Musee du Bardo in Tunis is a rare gold dinar minted in Kairwan in 297/910 that bears precisely the preceding legend, vide "Monnaies fatimites du Musee du Bardo"



(cf. Revue Tunisienne, 1936:

343-44, cat. no. 1 and pl. no. 1). It is a typical Aghlabid type of dinar, except that the legends occupy the space which would normally have held the ruler's name. Since the ruler (al-Mahdi) had not yet been revealed, these two appropriate phrases filled the void. Ibn Hammad (d. 628/1230) writes in "Akhbar al-Muluk Bani Ubayd wa Siyaratihim" (Paris, 1927, pp. 7-8) that the slogans were also inscribed on banners, weapons, trapping and seals. On banner: "Soon will their multitude be put to flight and they will show their backs" (Koran, 54:45); on weapons: "Multitudes on God's path;" on trapping: "Dominion is God's;" on Abu Abdullah's personal seal: "Put your confidence in God and you are on the path of manifest truth" (Koran, 27:79); on his official seal: "The orders of your Lord have been accomplished in truth and justice. His words are immutable. He is the Hearer and the Knower" (Koran, 6:116).



Abu Abdullah remained there for about 3 months to set the administrative machinery in motion.