ABSTRACT
UP to the time of Mahdi, the third Caliph of the House 169-567 of Abbas, the whole of the African possessions acknow·· A.I1. 785 ledged the Abbasside sovereignty. In the reign of -I I? 1 Hadi, Idris, a descendant of Hassan 1., escaped into A. c. Western Mauritania, l and there, with the assistance of the Berber tribes, who accepted him as their chief and Imam, established a powerful kingdom, which for a long time flourished in Northern Africa. He built the city of Fez, and made it his capital; under his enlightened administration it soon became a famous seat of culture and learning. He is said to have been poisoned by an emissary of the Abbassides, and was succeeded on the throne by his infant son, also called Idris, under the
regency of the mother and the Vizier Ghalib. Idris II. Idris II. proved himself a great warrior, and made large con-alo Asgka1' quests towards the south. Ibn Khald(ln says, "The rule
A.C. west (Mauritania) from Sus ul-Aksa to Shilf (Silves)." On
Death of his death in 2 13 A. H. his son Mohammed became Caliph. Idris II., His policy of entrusting the provincial governorships to 213 A.H. 825 A.C. members of his family appears to have succeeded admirA7e~ion ably, for, with one exception, his brothers whom he
h~mm~d. appointed as governors remained loyal to the end. Death of
Mohammed died in 22 I A.H., and was succeeded by his son Ali, who was only nine years of age at the time. Ali's accession was loyally accepted by all his subjects, and the government was conducted with such success by the faithful servants of his father that the historian observes, "his reign was extremely prosperous." On his death without issue in the twenty-second year of his age,
Death his brother Yahya bin Mohammed was raised to the of Ali, throne. During his long reign, he extended his power in
878 A.C. in which he was expelled from the kmgdom. He fled to Accession Spain, where he died. Yah~~ II. Upon the dethronement of Yahya II., his cousin, Ali
His bin Omar,2 made himself master of the capital. He did dethrone-h . I - . f F
ment. not, owever, remam ong m possesslOn 0 ez, as a Khariji rising compelled him to take shelter in Spain.
