ABSTRACT
Following the final destruction of the Umayyad caliphate in the east (132/750), the ‘Abbāsīds commenced a cruel persecution of the Umayyad house. On one occasion they slew more than 70 prominent Umayyad figures. A grandson of the caliph Hishām b. ‘Abdilmalik was among the few fortunates who escaped this terrible massacre. This was ‘Abdulraḥmān b. Mu’āwiya b. Hishām.1 ‘Abdulraḥmān had been born in 113/731 near Damascus, in a place called Dayr Hanīn or Dayr Hasina. His mother was a Berber captive of the Nafza tribe from North Africa. His father, Mu’āwiya, had died while ‘Abdulraḥmān was still a child.2 After many difficulties, ‘Abdulraḥmān managed to escape from his ‘Abbāsīd pursuers, and to reach Palestine, where he was joined by both his client Badr and his sister’s client Sālim, Abū Shujā’. The latter, who was possibly of Byzantine origin, was very familiar with Spain and North Africa, since he had entered Spain with Mūsā b. Nusayr or soon after, and participated in the campaigns there.3 ‘Abdulraḥmān and the two freedmen left for Egypt and then for Ifrīqiya (i.e. Tūnisia), where the authority of the ‘Abbāsīds had not yet been recognised. Many other Umayyad refugees also went to Ifrīqiya. Nevertheless, this was not really a suitable place of refuge: its governor, ‘Abdulraḥmān b. Ḥabīb al-Fihrī, who did not recognise the ‘Abbāsīds, had tried to rule independently and to bequeath the province to his descendants; and he therefore became very wary of the existence of the many Umayyad princes in his country. He had the two sons of the caliph al-Walīd II killed, and decided to annihilate the others, but ‘Abdulraḥmān b. Mu’āwiya succeeded in escaping to the west of North Africa, where he sought safety among the Berber tribes.
