One of the city troops named ʿImrân ibn-Mujâlid rose in a revolt and was joined by the army of the region, who demanded that their subsistence allowances be given them, and laid siege to Ibrâhîm in al-Ḳairawân. Soon after that, those who pay allowances and stipends came bringing money from the kharâj of Egypt; and when the dues were given, they [the rebels] dispersed themselves. Ibrâhîm built al-Ḳaṣr al-Abyaḍ [the white citadel] two miles to the ḳiblah of al-Ḳairawân, and parceled out the land around it among the Moslems, who established themselves and their residences there. Thus did that section become populated. Ibrâhîm also built a cathedral mosque with gypsum and brick and marble columns, and covered it with cedar wood, making it 200 dhirâʿs in length and almost 200 dhirâʿs in width. He bought slaves to the number of 5,000, emancipated them and made them settle around it. This city he called al-ʿAbbâsîyah, which is still flourishing to-day.
Al-Abbâsîyah. Muḥammad ibn-al-Aghlab ibn-Ibrâhîm ibn-al-Aghlab[1] built in the year 239 a city near Tâhart[2] and named it al-ʿAbbâsîyah, too. This city was destroyed by Aflaḥ ibn-ʿAbd-al-Wahhâb al-Ibâḍi, who wrote to the Umaiyad chief of Andalusia, informing him of his act in order to win his favor. The Umaiyad chief sent him 100,000 dirhams.
Bârah. There lies in al-Maghrib a land known as al-Arḍ al-Kabîrah[3] [the big land], situated at a distance of 15 days, more or less, from Barḳah. In it lies a city on the coast, called Bârah, whose inhabitants were Christians, but not Greeks. This city was invaded by Ḥablah,[4] the freed-
