Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Rise of the Umayyads at Cordova and the Aghlabids at
Qayrawan
The Umayyad possessions beyond Egypt hardly recognized the Abbasid rule. As Umayyad Amirat was established at Cordova by Abdul Rahman son of Marwan b. Hashim in 756 and all connections, political and religious were cut off from the East. Arabs and Berbers in North Africa inclined to the Kharijite doctrines resisted the Abbasid supremacy the foundation of an Aghlabid dynasty was laid at Qayrawan. The founder of the dynasty was killed in one of the battles the Berbers fought against the ’Abbasids near Tunis. In 151/769 Mansur appointed Abu Ja’far Amru bin Hafs as the governor of Ifriqiyah. He maintained peace for three years. It was only towards the end of the rule of Abu Jafar Mansur peace could be established in the eastern part of North Africa, from 800 onwards the Aghlabids ruled over North Africa independently sending gifts out of the booty obtained in newly conquered countries only occasionally to the Abbasids court at Baghdad they extended their territory in the west as far as Bon, in the southwest as far as Zab having common boundary with the Kharijits Rustamids of Taherat and in the east as far as Tripoli.
During the time of the third ruler Ziyadat Ullah (817-838) conquest of Sicily began. It’s capital Palermo fell in 831 and by 840 a third of Sicily was conquered. In 875 Syracuse fell. Battles were fought with various results but finally it fell in 965. It was reconquered by Roger in 1060. During this interval they Islamicized the administration of the country and social and cultural outlook of the people was so much changed that Normans even after conquest lived the life of the Arabs for years.
The rich hinterland and Mediterranean commerce made Aghlabids wealthy and powerful. Their mosque built by Zaidat Ullah at Qayrawan though not as magnificent as the gigantic structures of Samarra and Cairo still speaks of their love of architecture, the Aghlabid ruler Ahmad (956-963) adorned the qiblah wall with fancy tiles and constructed a dome on the Mihrab. He also erected a pulpit of Baghdad plane-tree wood. Ibrahim II, the seventh ruler of the dynasty, built a palace for his residence about five miles in area in alRaqqadah.
Abu Jafar Al-Mansur
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