Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri

Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri was the Umayyad governor of Narbonne in Septimania and later governor of al-Andalus from 747 to 756, ruling independently following the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate in 750. Between 716 and 756, al-Andalus was ruled by governors sent from Damascus or appointed on the recommendation of emirs of Ifriqiya to which it administratively belonged. [Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. (1987). "A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-33767-4, p. 71.]

After becoming ruler, al-Fihri conducted a census, [Wolf, Kenneth Baxter (2000). "Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain". Liverpool University Press, ISBN 0-85323-554-6, p. 156.] as part of which Bishop Hostegesis prepared a list of tax and jizya payers. The bishop then made annual visits to makes sure the taxes were collected properly. [Imamuddin, S. M. (1981). "Muslim Spain - 711-1492 A.D: A Sociological Study". Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-06131-2, p. 58.]

He led a campaign against the Basques of Pamplona in 755 but was defeated [Trask, R. Larry (1996). "The History of Basque". London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-13116-2, p. 12.] and is said to have horrified tribal sensibilities by raping two of Abd ar-Rahman's slaves, thus contributing to the factional conflicts in al-Andalus at that time. [Scales, Peter C. (1994). "The Fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba: Berbers and Andalusis in Conflict". Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-09868-2, p. 66.]

Yusuf al-Fihri was defeated at the Battle of Musarah [Al-Sulami, Mishal Fahm (2004)." The West and Islam: Western Liberal Democracy Versus the System of Shura". London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-31634-0, p. 207.] just outside Córdoba in March 756 by Abd ar-Rahman I, who, having fled Syria in 755 to escape from the Abbasids, became the first Emir of Córdoba.

ee also

*Battle of Avignon
*Battle of Narbonne (737)
*Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula

References

s-ttl|title=Governor of Al-Andalus
years=747–756