Ibrahim II of Aghlabids

Abu Is`haq Ibrahim II ( _ar. أبو اسحاق ابراهيم الثاني; died 23 October 902) was the ninth Emir of the Aghlabids in Ifriqiya (ruled 875-902)

He succeeded to the Emirate on the death of his brother Muhammad II (864-875). Although he inherited a kingdom depopulated by the plague of 874, his reign was economically prosperous. In 876 he built a new palace, Ar-Raqqada, near Kairuan and sought to develop agriculture by building up the irrigation system.

Nevertheless, the start of the decline of the dynasty can be dated to his reign. Although the conquest of Sicily was completed in 878, the Byzantines drove the Muslims out of Bari and Taranto in Apulia after a naval victory. Also, in 882 an attack by the Tulunids of Egypt had to be fought off and several Berber revolts against the tyrannical rule of Ibrahim had to be put down. From 893 there began the missionary work of the Ismaili under Abu 'Abdullah al-Shi'i amongst the Kutama Berbers in Algeria - this would eventually lead to the downfall of the Aghlabids and the rise of the Fatimids.

As unrest amongst the population against his tyrannical rule deepened, he was forced to abdicate by his son Abu l-Abbas Abdallah. Ibrahim went to Sicily to carry on the campaign against the Byzantines, and died of dysentery during an invasion of Calabria.

ee also

*History of Islam in southern Italy