The Limits of Regional Rule
When Abū Zakariyā Yaḥyā II al-Wāthiq succeeded al-Mustanṣir to the throne in Tunis, he was young and, according to the Ḥafṣid historian Ibn Qunfudh, his ḥājib (vizier) treated him “as an adult guardian [treats] a child.”24 A native of Murcia, this ḥājib, Ibn al-Ḥabbabar, had risen in the ranks under al-Mustanṣir, becoming chief of the customs house in Tunis before being appointed to the highest office. He married into the Hintātī clan and wielded a great deal of power, eliminating potential competitors and appointing his own men, many of whom were Andalusis, to sensitive positions. He also appointed his own brother as governor of Bijāya.
The Bijāyan notables did not appreciate the newcomer’s haughty attitude and cavalier treatment of them, and not long after his arrival, conspired to rid themselves of him, of al-Wāthiq, and of their supporters. To do so, they sent for al-Wāthiq’s uncle, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhim in Tilimsān. Abū Isḥāq had fled to Granada during al-Mustanṣir’s rule (1249–77), and upon hearing of al-Mustanṣir’s death, he had reentered the Maghrib to await his moment at the ‘Abd al-Wādid court in Tilimsān. The moment arrived when a delegation of Bijāyans arrived and offered him their city. He accepted readily and was proclaimed emir in Bijāya in April 1279.
Ibn al-Ḥabbabar responded to this move by sending an army to Bijāya under the command of Abū Ḥafṣ ‘Umar—another uncle of al-Wāthiq’s—who promptly defected and joined Abū Isḥāq on Bijāya’s side. This major defeat left Tunis with no real army and forced al-Wāthiq to abdicate in favor of Abū Isḥāq in August 1279.25 Abū Isḥāq then arrested Ibn al-Ḥabbabar, confiscated his property, and had him killed. The young al-Wāthiq was arrested for plotting with the leader (qā’id) of the Christian militia and was executed in 1280, together with his three sons. Prominent individuals associated with al-Mustanṣir and Ibn al-Ḥabbabar received the same treatment.
As a ruler of Tunis and Bijāya, Abū Isḥāq showed a clear policy of favoritism toward Andalusis. Abū al-Qāsim Aḥmad b. al-Shaykh was put at the head of the palace while Abū Bakr b. Ḥasan b. Khaldūn, the grandfather of the famous historian, headed the treasury. The Ḥafṣid ruler then appointed his son Abū Fāris governor of the province of Bijāya and agreed to the appointment of Muḥammad b. Khaldūn, the son of his treasurer, to the highest office, that of ḥājib, in Bijāya. In turn, the new governor of Bijāya, Abū Fāris, designated the Almohad Ibn al-Wazīr governor of Qasanṭīna, and two sons of the powerful Banū Muznī from Biskra as governors of the southern regions of al-Zāb and al-Jarīd. By appointing them as governors, the Ḥafṣids extended their influence over the Banū Muznī dynasty, which ruled in that oasis town. The move gave the Ḥafṣids more consistent access to Saharan caravans and consolidated the Banū Muznī in their capital, even if they had to recognize the Ḥafṣids as overlords.26
Abū Isḥāq attempted to stretch his influence even further over the region by maintaining good relations with his western neighbors, the ‘Abd al-Wādids (1236–1555). The founder of that dynasty, Yaghmurāsan (r. 1236–83), renewed his allegiance to Abū Isḥāq and, in 1282, sent his heir to Tunis with gifts to ask for the hand of a daughter of Abū Isḥāq for one of his sons. The union of the two dynasties was thus sealed. Soon after that, the new couple became the parents of two future ‘Abd al-Wādid sultans. But the relative peace between the eastern and western Maghribī dynasties did not afford the government of Tunis the relief it sought. Crop failure in 1280 and the reluctance of the Bedouins to pay taxes led Abū Isḥāq to send his two sons, Abū Zakariyā and Abū Muḥammad, at the head of important military units to collect the taxes in fall 1282.27 Doing so was no easy task. The powerful Dabbāb had rallied behind a man who claimed to be al-Faḍl, the son of the former Ḥafṣid ruler al-Wāthiq (r. 1277–79), and sought to unseat Abū Isḥāq.
Kings and Kingmakers
This man was Aḥmad b. Marzuq b. Abī ‘Umāra. His family was from al-Masīla (M’sila) and had emigrated to Bijāya, where he had grown up. He worked as a tailor in Bijāya, then traveled to the western Maghrib, where he claimed to possess supernatural powers and to be the awaited mahdī. In order to demonstrate his good faith and messianic status, he promised to produce miracles that would convince the skeptics. On the appointed day, the miracles he promised failed to materialize and he had to escape the region. He traveled back to Ifrīqiyā and stayed with Bedouins in the region of Tripoli, where a former servant of the Ḥafṣid al-Wāthiq claimed he recognized Ibn Abī ‘Umāra as al-Faḍl.
The two managed to convince the chief of the Dabbāb of this, put together an army, and openly rebelled against Tunis. The powerful Ku‘ūb promptly joined the rebels and, with their support, Ibn Abī ‘Umāra was declared caliph in the regions south of Tunis. In December 1282, Qābis (Gabēs) fell to the rebels, and in fear, a Ḥafṣid army led by a son of Abū Isḥāq disbanded before battle. Leaders from al-Qayrawān, Safāqis (Sfax), and their surrounding areas joined the new caliph against the ruler of Tunis. In January 1283, more Tunisan soldiers, led by the Almohad sheikh Mūsā b. Yāsīn, sent to fight the rebels deserted and joined the other side.
Isolated and defeated, the Ḥafṣid ruler Abū Isḥāq fled Tunis in the dead of winter with a few of his supporters. Repeatedly robbed and harassed en route, he finally reached Bijāya where his son Abū Fāris was governor. But he would not find the support he sought even there. Sensing an opportunity in his father’s arrival, Abū Fāris obtained his father’s abdication and was declared caliph in Bijāya in March 1283. Ifrīqiyā now had two caliphs: Abū Fāris in Bijāya and Ibn Abī ‘Umāra in Tunis.
A war between the two Ḥafṣid caliphs was inevitable. It took place in June 1283 in the plains of Marmājanna and lasted an entire day. Abū Fāris was killed, his three brothers and his nephew captured. Ibn Abī ‘Umāra ordered their heads severed. The only Ḥafṣid who survived the battle was Abū Fāris’s uncle Abū Ḥafṣ ‘Umar, who fled the scene in the company of a small group of loyalists.28
The news of the defeat created great commotion in the now defeated Bijāya. The two Ḥafṣid emirs in town, the old Abū Isḥāq and Abū Zakariyā, fled in the direction of Tilimsān. Abū Isḥāq did not get very far before being captured in the land of the Banū Ghubrīn by the partisans of a Bijāyan who led a pro–Ibn Abī ‘Umāra party. They imprisoned him until an emissary of Ibn Abī ‘Umāra arrived from Tunis, then killed him and sent his head to Tunis, where it was paraded. Abū Zakariyā was far luckier, arriving in Tilimsān, where he received a warm welcome from the ‘Abd al-Wādid ruler who had married his sister not long before.
Meanwhile in Tunis, Ibn Abī ‘Umāra attempted a purge of the old Ḥafṣid guard. He appointed the Almohad sheikhs Mūsā b. Yasīn and Abū al-Qasim b. al-Shaykh to the two highest positions and had the chief of the treasury, Abū Bakr b. Khaldūn, arrested, confiscated his possessions, tortured him, and had him strangled to death. In a bid for support from the urban elite, Ibn Abī ‘Umāra canceled an unpopular tax and behaved outwardly like a pious man, visiting the shrines of saints and ordering the building of a mosque at the place wine was sold.
But Ibn Abī ‘Umāra’s purge went too far. On the advice of the Almohad Abd al-Ḥaq b. Tafrākīn al-Tinmāllī, he jailed many Bedouin chiefs, thus angering the very groups who had brought him to power. His attitude toward the region’s notables was no better: he killed many of them, including his highest officials, on the tiniest of suspicions. Having alienated the Bedouin chiefs, the urban notables, and the Almohads, Ibn Abī ‘Umāra found himself without much support. His demise was even more precipitous than his rise.
And soon enough, in 1284, the chief of the Ku’ūb went to meet Abū Ḥafṣ ‘Umar, the sole survivor of the battle of Marmājanna, swore an oath of loyalty to him and led a rebellion to bring down Ibn Abī ‘Umāra. The two armies met south of Tunis; Ibn Abī ‘Umāra’s soldiers