Battle of Al-Qarn (1160)

The Battle of al-Qarn also known as the Battle of Gabal al-Qarn, was part of the Almohad conquest of Ifriqiya, and opposed the Almohads led by Abd al-Mu'min against the Banu Riyah led by Muhriz ibn Ziyad, it lasted 10 days from 19 to 29 April 1160.

Context

After having conquered all of Ifriqiya, Abd al-Mu'min called on the emirs of Banu Riyah, in which he demanded 10,000 Arabs that he could take to Iberia, to battle the Christians. Abd al-Mu'min was then escorted to the mountains of Zaghouan by the Riyahides contingents. At this point Yusuf ibn Malik, emir of the Banu Mohamed Riyahides, told Abd al-Mu'min that his tribe refused to go with him to Iberia, since they suspected the caliph would remove them out of their lands. The Arabs are then excluded from Abd al-Mu'min plans, and the Arab leaders took their tribes and moved to the desert. Abd al-Mu'min marched westwards towards Wadi-l'Nisa (near Constantine) and would remain there for 20 days, blocking every route, and he would not let any soldier leave the camp.

The Arab tribes regained confidence and returned to Ifriqiya, where they once lived. After Abd al-Mu'min found this out he sent out an army of 30,000 men, led by his two sons Abu Muhammed and Abu Abdallah. The sons attacked the Arabs from behind, through the Sahara, [...] off all escape routes. The Arab tribes had settled south of Kairouan near the Gabal al-Qarn, there were 80,000 men, led by 3 Arab leaders, Muhriz ibn Ziyad, Gabbara ibn Kamil, and Ma'sud ibn Zaamam.

Battle

As soon as the Almohads started attacking the Arabs, a disagreement broke out between the three Arab chiefs, in which Gabbara and Ma'sud would escape with their tribes, while Muhriz and his forces remained to fight the Almohads. The battle lasted from 19 to 29 April, and would end in the complete rout of the Arab army, and the death of Muhriz ibn Ziyad. His corpse would be placed on a lance and implanted on the walls of Kairouan. The Arab forces were massacred, and the remaining survivors of the battle abandoned everything to the victors, from tents, children, women and livestock which would all be given to Abd al-Mu'min.

Aftermath

Abd al-Mu'min took the Riyahides women to the western Maghreb where a deputation from Banu Riyah was sent to retrieve the captives. Abd al-Mumin returned all of the women back to these deputations.