History of Islam Vol 3 of 3 by Akbar Shah Najeebabadi

72 The History of Islam,
to the hills. On the announcement of a reward for Abdur Rahman bin
Habib, one of his companions out off his head and presented it to
Abdur Rahman the Umayyad and got his reward.
Shortly after that, Dihya Ghassani took refuge in fort of Almeria in 163
A.H. and raised his standard of revolt. Abdur Rahman sent Shaheed
bin Isa to punish him who defeated and killed the rebel. After a short
while the Berbers raised their heads in revolt under Ibrahim bin
Sajrah, Abdur Rahman sent Badr to deal with him. Badr killed
Ibrahim and dispersed the Berbers. During the same days, a
Commander named * Salama escaped to Cordova and rose in revolt
after seizing Toledo. Abdur Rahman sent Habib bin Abdul Malik to
punish Salama. Habib surrounded Toledo and Salama died during the
siege and his companions dispersed.
Reasons behind the Revolts
Abdur Rahman could not rule peacefully and the reasons are not hard
to find. The Muslim population of Spain had in those days developed
a
taste and temperament for rivalries and insurgence. They also could
not obey anybody sincerely. They could not tolerate the reign of
Abdur Rahman because his dynastic rule had perished in the East. The
main reason behind the worries of Abdur Rahman was that the Abbasid
caliphs were continually hatching plots against him. The Abbasid
caliphs had chosen Baghdad to be their Headquarters, which was far
from Abdur Rahman and a large sea kept Baghdad and Spain apart.
They would hear about the
power and strength of Abdur Rahman's
rule but were unable to do away with him due to the great distance
between them. Twice they tried to invade but every time their
commanders were killed and the Abbasid campaigns had to face
ignominious
defeat. Failing to achieve military victory, they made use
of the same secret planning against Abdur Rahman that they had
already used to bring about the ruin of the ancestors of Abdul
Rahman the Umayyads. They began to propagate their favor among
Arab tribes and men of treasonous nature and to win their support for
the Abbasid caliphate.
Thus, most of the Arab chiefs and the Berbers
who had recently accepted Islam stood by the Abbasids. They rose in