Abu 'l-Gharaniq Muhammad II ibn Ahmad ( ar, أبو الغرانيق محمد الثاني بن أحمد) (died 875) was the eighth

Emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...

of Ifriqiya from 864 to 875. He succeeded his uncle

Ziyadat Allah II Ziyadat Allah II ibn Muhammad () was the seventh Aghlabid emir of Ifriqiya, ruling from 28 December 863 to his death on 23 December 864. Ziyadat Allah rule Ifriqiya during the Extreme instability in Abbasid Caliphate. He succeeded his brothe ...

(863–864), inheriting from his predecessors a stable and prosperous state. An aesthete fond of wine and hunting, he felt able to devote himself to extravagance and displays of pomp. His reign saw the conquest of Malta, the siege of Salerno and continuous raids into mainland Italy, forcing

Pope John VIII Pope John VIII ( la, Ioannes VIII; died 16 December 882) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 14 December 872 to his death. He is often considered one of the ablest popes of the 9th century. John devoted much of his papacy ...

to pay tribute. Towards the end of his reign a caravan of pilgrims from

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...

introduced the plague into Ifriqiya – this, and an ensuing famine led to severe depopulation and the weakening of the emirate. On 20 July 875,

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttal ...

caliph

al-Mu'tamid Abu’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن جعفر; – 14 October 892), better known by his regnal name Al-Muʿtamid ʿalā ’llāh (, "Dependent on God"), was the Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 870 t ...

formally arranged for the governance of the state and his succession: Ja'far, given the honorific name , was named

heir-apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

and assigned the western half of the Caliphate, while al-Mu'tamid's brother, Abu Ahmad, known as , received the eastern provinces and was named second heir, except for the event that the Caliph died while al-Mufawwid was still a minor. Al-Mufawwid was thus nominally responsible for Ifriqiya,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

, Syria, the Jazira and

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

, Mihrajanqadhaq and

Hulwan Hulwan ( fa, حلوان) was an ancient town on the Zagros Mountains in western Iran, located on the entrance of the Paytak Pass, nowadays identified with the town of Sarpol-e Zahab. History Later Arab tradition, as recorded by al-Tabari, cons ...

, with Musa ibn Bugha as his deputy. Nevertheless, it was

al-Muwaffaq Abu Ahmad Talha ibn Ja'far ( ar, أبو أحمد طلحة بن جعفر}; 29 November 843 – 2 June 891), better known by his as Al-Muwaffaq Billah (), was an Abbasid prince and military leader, who acted as the ''de facto'' regent of the Abba ...

(his uncle) who held the actual power in the state. Muhammad was succeeded by his brother

Abu Ishaq Ibrahim II Abu Ishaq Ibrahim II or Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Abu-Bakr ( ar, أبو إسحاق إبراهيم بن أبي بكر) was the Hafsid caliph of Tunis from 1350 to 1369. He was the son of Abu Yahya Abu Bakr II. Ibn Tafragin In 1350 the Almohad sheikh I ...

(875–902).

References

Sources

* * 875 deaths Year of birth unknown Aghlabid emirs of Ifriqiya {{Africa-royal-stub