Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri

Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib was the great-grandson of Uqba ibn Nafi. In 745 AD, amid the chaotic collapse of the Umayyads in Damascus, Abd al-Rahman seized control of Kairouan, proclaimed the independence of Ifriqiya, and repulsed both Kharijite incursions and early Abbasid envoys.

For a decade, he ruled a sovereign North African state stretching from Tripoli to eastern Algeria, fortifying Kairouan's walls and minting independent gold dinars before his tragic assassination in his palace by his jealous brothers in 755 AD.