- Rustamid
The Rustamid (or "Rustumid", "Rostemid") dynasty of Ibāḍī
Kharijite imāms ruled the centralMaghreb as a Muslim theocracy for a century and a half from their capitalTahert in presentAlgeria until the IsmailiteFatimid Caliphs destroyed it. The state's extent is not entirely clear, but it stretched as far east asJabal Nafusa inLibya .History
The Ibādiyya reached North Africa by
719 , when the missionarySalma ibn Sa'd was sent from the Ibādī "jama'a" ofBasra toKairouan . By740 , their efforts had converted the major Berber tribes ofHuwwara aroundTripoli ,Nafusa inJabal Nafusa andZenata in westernTripolitania . In757 (140 AH), a group of four Basra-educated missionaries (includingAbd ar-Rahman ibn Rustam ) proclaimed an Ibādī imamate, starting an abortive state led byAbul-Khattab Abdul-A'la ibn as-Samh which lasted until theAbbasid s suppressed it in761 , andAbul-Khattab Abdul-A'la ibn as-Samh was killed. On his death, theTripolitania n Ibādiyya electedAbul-Hatim al-Malzuzi as imām; he was killed in772 after launching a second unsuccessful revolt in768 .After this, the center of power shifted to
Algeria , and ˤAbd ar-Rahmān ibn Rustam, aTunis ian-born convert to Ibadiism of Persian origins already mentioned as one of the four founders of this imamate, was elected imām; after this, the post remained in his family, a practice which the Ibādiyya justified by noting that he came from no tribe, and thus his family had no bias towards any of the tribes of which the state was formed.The new imamate was centered on the newly built capital of
Tahert ; several Ibādī tribes displaced fromTunisia andTripolitania settled there and strong fortifications were built. It became a major stop on the newly developingtrade route s with sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. It is described by visitors such as theSunni MuslimIbn as-Saghir as notably multi-religious, with a significant and loyalChristian minority and a substantial number ofSunni s andJew s, and open religious debate was encouraged.Ibn as-Saghir also describes the imām as notably ascetic, repairing his own house and refusing gifts; the citizens sharply criticized him if they considered him derelict in his duty. Religious ethics were strictly enforced by law.
The Rustamids fought the
Aghlabid s of Ifriqiyya (based inQairawan ) in812 , but otherwise reached a "modus vivendi"; this displeased the Ibādī tribes on the Aghlabid border, who launched a few rebellions.After Abdu l-Wahhāb, the Rustamids grew militarily weak; they were easily conquered by the
Ismaili Shiite Fatimid s in909 , upon which many Ibādiyya - including the last imām - fled to theSedrata tribe ofOuargla , whence they would ultimately emigrate to Mzab.Rustamid Imams
*
Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rustam ibn Bahram (776 -784 )
*Abd al-Wahhab ibn Abd ar-Rahman (784 -832 )
*Aflah ibn Abd al-Wahhab (832 -871 )
*Abu Bakr ibn Aflah (871 )
*Muhammad Abul-Yaqzan ibn Aflah (871 -894 )
*Yusuf Abu Hatim ibn Muhammad Abil-Yaqzan (894 -897 )
*Yaqub ibn Aflah (897 -901 )
*Yusuf Abu Hatim ibn Muhammad Abil-Yaqzan, again (901 -906 )
*Yaqzan ibn Muhammad Abil-Yaqzan (906 -909 )
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.