The collapse of the authority of the Damascus Caliphate over the western provinces is another consequence of the Berber revolt.

With the Umayyad Caliphs distracted by the challenge of the Abbasids in the east, the western provinces of the Maghreb and al-Andalus had spun out of their control.

From around 745, the Fihrids, an illustrious local Arab clan descended from Oqba ibn Nafi al-Fihri, have seized power in the western provinces and rule them almost as a private family empire of their own—Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri in Ifriqiya and Yūsuf al-Fihri in al-Andalus.

The Fihrids welcome the fall of the Umayyads in the east, in 750, and seek to reach an understanding with the Abbasids, hoping they might be allowed to continue their autonomous existence.

But when the Abbasids reject the offer and demanded submission, the Fihrids declare independence and, probably out of spite, invite the deposed remnants of the Umayyad clan to take refuge in their dominions.

It is a fateful decision that they will soon regret, for the Umayyads, the sons and grandsons of caliphs, have a more legitimate claim to rule than the Fihrids themselves.

Rebellious-minded local lords, disenchanted with the autocratic rule of the Fihrids, intrigue with the arriving Umayyad exiles.