Tha'laba ibn Salama al-Amili

Abd al-Malik, governor of Al-Andalus from 732 to 734, is a very wealthy member of a noble Arab family.

Spurred by critics who lashed out at his lack of military victories, he had led an expedition north to Pamplona, where a Frankish or Aquitanian party had taken over after the Battle of Poitiers.

Despite his failure to capture the Basque fortress, he had left troops to invest it, and had decided to continue his way north across the Pyrenees, where he engaged the Basques in skirmishes and was eventually overcome, but managed to escape back to Al-Andalus.

After being deposed and incarcerated by his successor Uqba ibn al-Hajjaj or possibly the governor of Ifriqiya ("was bound in chains"), he had made his way back to prominence in 740, when he is appointed wali (governor) of Al-Andalus again after the natural death of the former.

Abd al-Malik is a more popular figure among local Arabs and Berbers alike The news of the Berber victory in Morocco echoes through Spain.

Berbers heavily outnumber Arabs in al-Andalus, and the Andalusian Arab elite fear the Berber garrisons in their own lands might take inspiration from their Moroccan brethren.

Caliph Hisham, shocked at the news of the defeat, had dismissed Ubayd Allah in February 741 and had begun preparations to dispatch a large eastern Arab army under a new governor, Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi to crush the Berber rebellion.

The disgraced Ubayd Allah leaves Ifriqiya in April 741, and returns to the east.

Kulthum is to be accompanied by fresh Arab army of thirty thousand raised from the Syrian regiments (junds) of the east—specifically, Damascus, Jordan, Qinnasrin, Emesa (Hims), Palestine and Egypt.

The military command of this elite 'Syrian' army is given to Kulthum's nephew and designated successor Balj ibn Bishr al-Qushayri and the vice-command to the designated second successor, Thalaba ibn Salama al-Amili (should tragedy befall the prior two).

The elite Syrian cavalry under Balj ibn Bishr, which had moved ahead of the bulk of the forces, is the first to arrive in Kairouan in the summer of 741.

Their brief stay is not a happy one.

The Syrians had arrived in haughty spirits and quarreled with the Kairouan city authorities, who, suspicious, had given them a rather cool reception.

Interpreting it as ingratitude, the Syrian barons had imposed themselves on the city, billeting troops and requisitioning supplies without regard to local authorities or priorities.

(The members of the Syrian expedition are of different tribal stock than the Arabs they came to save.

The early Arab colonists of Ifriqiya and al-Andalus had been drawn largely from tribes of south Arabian origin (known as Kalbid or 'Yemenite' tribes), whereas the Syrian junds were mostly of north Arabian tribes (Qaysid or Mudharite tribes).

The ancient and deep pre-Islamic tribal rivalry between Qaysid and Yemenite finds itself invoked in repeated quarrels between the earlier colonists and the arriving junds.

Kulthum ibn Iyad, moving slower with the bulk of the forces, does not himself enter Kairouan, but merely dispatches a message assigning the government of the city to Abd al-Rahman ibn Oqba al-Ghaffari, the qadi (a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law) of Ifriqiya.

Collecting the Syrian vanguard, Kulthum hurries along to make junction with the remaining Ifriqiyan forces (some forty thousand) of Habib ibn Abi Obeida al-Fihri holding ground in the vicinity of Tlemcen.

The junction between the North African and Eastern forces does not go smoothly.

News of the Syrian misbehavior in Kairouan had reached the Ifriqiyan troops, while the Syrians, incensed at the poor reception, treat their Ifriqiyan counterparts in a high-handed fashion.

Habib and Balj bicker and the armies nearly come to blows.

By smooth diplomacy, Kulthum ibn Iyad manages hold the armies together, but the mutual resentments will play a role in subsequent events.

The Berber rebel army, under the leadership of Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati (perhaps jointly with a certain Salim Abu Yusuf al-Azdi, while boasting great numbers (some two hundred thousand), are very poorly equipped.

Many Berber fighters have nothing but stones and knives, dressed in a mere loin cloth, heads shaved in puritan fashion.

But they make up for this in knowledge of the terrain, excellent morale, and a fanatical Sufrite-inspired religious fervor.

The Berber Uprising in Al-Andalus (741 CE)

The coup that installed Abd al-Malik ibn Qatan al-Fihri as ruler of Al-Andalus in early 741 CE was intended as a failsafe measure to maintain stability. However, when news of the disastrous defeat at Bagdoura (in North Africa) spreads, a general Berber uprising in Spain becomes inevitable.

The Berber Mutiny and Rebellion

In October 741 CE, Berber garrisons in northwestern Galicia mutiny, overthrowing their Arab commanders, abandoning their fortifications, and forming a Berber rebel army to challenge Andalusian Arab rule in the south.

Although the names of their leaders are lost to history, the Spanish Berber rebel army is well-organized into three columns, each assigned a strategic objective:

1. One force marches on Toledo, targeting the main garrison city of the central march.
2. Another heads for Córdoba, the Umayyad capital of Al-Andalus.
3. A third advances toward Algeciras, hoping to seize the Andalusian fleet and ferry reinforcements from North Africa.

This large-scale Berber rebellion threatens to overthrow Arab dominance in Al-Andalus, ushering in a period of instability and power struggles across Muslim Spain.

The Berber and Arab armies finally clash at the Battle of Bagdoura (or Baqdura) in October–November, 741, by the Sebou river (near modern Fes).

Disdaining the experience and cautious advice of the Ifriqiyans, Kulthum ibn Iyad makes several serious tactical errors.

Berber skirmishers dehorse and isolated the Syrian cavalry, while the Berber foot falls upon the Arab infantry with overwhelming numbers.

The Arab armies are quickly routed.

By some estimates, two-thirds of the Arab army are killed or captured by the Berbers at Bagdoura.

Among the casualties are the new governor Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi and the Ifriqiyan commander Habib ibn Abi Obeida al-Fihri.

The Syrian regiments, now reduced to some ten thousand, are pulled together by Kulthum's nephew, Balj ibn Bishr and scramble up towards the straits, where they hope to get passage across the water to Spain.

A small Ifriqiyan contingent, under Habib's son Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri, joins the Syrians in their flight, but …

…the rest of the Ifriqiyan forces flee in disorder back to Kairouan.

The bulk of the Berber rebel army sets off in pursuit of the Syrians, and lays siege to them in Ceuta.

The Zenata Berber leader Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati, who has delivered the two great victories over the Arab armies, disappears from the chronicles shortly after Bagdoura, but news of the defeat emboldens hitherto quiet Berber tribes to join the revolt.

Berber uprisings erupt across the Maghreb and al-Andalus.

The most immediate threat arises in southern Ifriqiya, where the Sufrite leader Oqasha ibn Ayub al-Fezari raises a Berber army and lays siege to Gabès and …

…Gafsa.

The Kairouan qadi Abd al-Rahman ibn Oqba al-Ghaffari manages to defeat and disperse Oqasha's forces near Gafsa in December, 741, by a rapid sally south with the remnant of the Ifriqiyan army, but the qadi possesses far fewer Arab troops to put up a pursuit, and …

…Oqasha immediately sets about reassembling his forces quietly around Tobna in the Zab valley of western Ifriqiya.

Command of the Syrian armies devolves to Thalaba ibn Salama al-Amili, who is of 'Yemenite' tribal stock, like most Andalusian Arabs, rather than the usual 'Qaysid' stock of the Syrians.

For the next few months, the Syrians remain bunkered down in Córdoba, while …