Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya - Final Campaign

Final Campaign

The deposed Ibrahim, however, did not go to Baghdad, as ordered. Instead, he declared himself a mujahideen, that he would seek to expiate his crimes by pursuing holy war on the Christians. Ibrahim proceeded to Sousse, and raised a large army of volunteers, which he promised to march across Europe and conquer Constantinople for Islam (in a letter to the Abbasid Caliph, Ibrahim assured he was obeying orders and that he was simply taking a long, circuitous route to Baghdad).

In May 902, the army set out for Sicily, landing in Trapani, and proceeded to Palermo, where he raised even more volunteers. Ibrahim II directed his army against Taormina, the last great citadel still in Byzantine hands. He crushed the recently reinforced Byzantine army that came out to meet him at Giardini. Taormina itself, sitting upon a rock, seemed impregnable. Ibrahim nonetheless ordered volunteers to climb the rocky seaward face of the citadel, which the remaining defenders had neglected to watch. Once the black flag of the Caliphate was unfurled at the top, Ibrahim's army surged towards the gates. The defenders were overwhelmed, the gates flung open and Taormina fell on August 1, 902.

With the fall of Taormina, after seventy-five years, all of Sicily was finally in Muslim hands. A few scattered Byzantine outposts remained, but they either surrendered immediately afterwards, or were of little consequence.

In September 902, after dismantling defenses and accepting surrenders, the ex-emir marched to Messina and ferried his army across the straits to Calabria, to begin his advertised march overland to Constantinople. News of the landing of a large Ifriqiyan army headed by the ferocious Ibrahim (his bloodthirsty reputation preceded him) prompted a panic in southern Italy, several towns began evacuations, fortresses were demolished lest the Ifriqiyans made use of them. But Ibrahim did not get very far. He got bogged down laying siege to Cosenza, a small citadel in northern Calabria that should not have been much of an obstacle. Taken suddenly ill with dysentery, the ex-emir Ibrahim II died on October 23, 902 in a chapel near the siege camp of Cosenza. Command of the expeditionary army passed to his grandson, Ziyadat Allah, who immediately lifted the siege and returned with the army to Sicily.

The remains of Ibrahim II were buried either in Palermo or Kairouan. If the grave had a marker, it disappeared soon after.