Zirids of Ifriqiya break with Fatimids

1048

The Berber ruler al-Mu'izz ibn Badis formally shifted his allegiance from the Shia Fatimids of Cairo back to the Sunni Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, a provocation that brought severe retaliation from Cairo in the form of releasing the Banu Hilal Arab tribes to invade North Africa. The ensuing devastation transformed the Maghreb's demographics permanently, replacing Berber farmers with Arab pastoralists across vast stretches of countryside.