Page "Abd al-Rahman I" Paragraph 4

After barely escaping with their lives, Abd al-Rahman and Bedr continued south through Palestine, the Sinai, and then into Egypt.

Abd al-Rahman had to keep a low profile as he traveled.

It may be assumed that he intended to go at least as far as northwestern Africa ( Maghreb ), the land of his mother, which had been partly conquered by his Umayyad predecessors.

The journey across Egypt would prove perilous.

At the time, Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri was the semi-autonomous governor of Ifriqiya ( roughly, modern Tunisia ) and a former Umayyad client.

The ambitious Ibn Habib, a member of the illustrious Fihrid family, had long sought to carve out Ifriqiya as a private dominion for himself.

At first, he sought an understanding with the Abbasids, but when they refused his terms and demanded his submission, Ibn Habib broke openly with the Abbasids and invited the remnants of the Umayyad dynasty to take refuge in his dominions.

Abd al-Rahman was only one of several surviving Umayyad family members to make their way to Ifriqiya at this time.