Abd al-Rahman ibn Utba al-Fihri

Abd al-Rahman ibn Utba al-Fihri, also known as Ibn Jahdam, was the governor of Egypt for the rival caliph Ibn al-Zubayr in 684, during the Second Fitna.

Abd al-Rahman ibn Utba al-Fihri
Governor of Egypt
In office 684 – 684 (less than a year)
Preceded by	Sa'id ibn Yazid ibn Alqama al-Azdi
Succeeded by	Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan
Personal details
Father	Utba al-Fihri

Egypt's Kharijites proclaimed themselves for Ibn al-Zubayr when the latter proclaimed himself Caliph at Mecca, and Ibn al-Zubayr dispatched Abd al-Rahman ibn Utba al-Fihri to become the province's governor. Although the incumbent governor, Sa'id ibn Yazid, gave way, the resident Arab elites of the province barely tolerated his presence, and began contacts with the Umayyad caliph Marwan I in Damascus. These contacts encouraged Marwan to march against Egypt, where Abd al-Rahman vainly tried to muster a defence: although he fortified the capital, Fustat, an army he sent to stop the Umayyad advance at Ayla, melted away, and his fleet was wrecked by storms. Marwan entered Egypt unopposed, and after a couple of days of clashes before Fustat, the city's nobles surrendered it to him. Abd al-Rahman was allowed to leave Egypt with his possessions.[1]

References

1. Kennedy (1998), p. 70

Sources

• Kennedy, Hugh (1998). "Egypt as a province in the Islamic caliphate, 641–868". In Petry, Carl F. (ed.). Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume One: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–85. ISBN 0-521-47137-0.