o
 

CHAPTER   THE  THIRD
THE   FOUNDATION   OF   EMPIRE

(IDREESI PERIOD)
788-1061

N    the   dispersion    of   the   family   of   the   Imam

Mohammed bin Abd  Allah, fifth in descent from

the so-called prophet,—in consequence of their

unsuccessful  rivalry with  the  Abbasi  khalifas

Abu J^afar el Mansur and El Mehdi—one of the Imam

762,785     Mohammed's brothers,   Idrees  or  Enoch,  fled

into Egypt*    He was accompanied by a faithful follower

named Rasheed, and the two, forced by emissaries of the

khalifa  to flee  yet  further, struck across   North  Africa,

until they reached Morocco at Tangier, then its chief city.

Volubilis,^ the ancient Roman city, six days inland, was

at that time under a certain Abd el Majid of the Auraba

tribe,2 a partisan, we are told, of the Muatazila or Shia

* The immediate cause of his flight was an unsuccessful rising of his family
at Mekka and Madina. " Strange to say this arose from the inteipperance of
some members of the saintly house of Ali, vi^ho, for drinking wine, were
paraded with halters about their necks in the streets of the holy cities. The
family thereupon broke out into rebellion, and some hard fighting was needed
before peace could be restored. Among those who escaped was Idrees, great-
grandson of Ali, aided by postal relays . . . The post-master of Egypt was
beheaded for having connived at his flight."^

1  Raod el Kartas, p. 7.

2  Ibn KhaldOn, vol. i., p. 290

3  Sir William Muik, The Caliphate, 1891, p. 470.

35