Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi

Who is Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi?

Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi was an Umayyad governor of Kairouan, Ifriqiya for only a few months, from February to October, 741.

Kulthum ibn Iyad, an Arab aristocrat of Qaysid stock, was appointed by Umayyad Caliph Hishamin February 741 as governor of Kairouan, with authority over all the Maghreb and al-Andalus. He was to replace the disgraced Obeid Allah ibn al-Habhab, whose misgovernment had provoked the Great Berber Revolt in Morocco and led to the defeat of the Arab army at the Battle of the Nobles in late 740.

Kulthum was give a fresh Arab army of 30,000, raised from the regiments of the east - specifically, Damascus, Jordan, Qinnasrin, Emesa, Palestine and Egypt. The military command of this elite 'Syrian' army was given to Kulthum's nephew and designated successor Balj ibn Bishr al-Qushayri and the vice-command to the designated second successor, Thalaba ibn Salama al-Amili.

Kulthum ibn Iyad arrived in the environs of Kairouan in the summer of 741. He did not enter the city, but dispatched a messenger assigning the government of the city to Abd al-Rahman ibn Oqba al-Ghaffari, the qadi of Ifriqiya. Kulthum then hurried along the coast to make junction with the remaining Ifriqiyan forces of Habib ibn Abi Obeida, then holding ground against the Berber rebellion around Tlemcen.