220 EARLY MEDIEVAL SPAINMalaga. Also, various local potentates established themselves as ef-
fectively independent over long stretches of time, as in the case of
Abu Fariinik, who ruled a region of north-western Andalus untouched
by the central government for twenty years. Mter his death he was
succeeded by his nephew, who held out for another five years before
having to submit to 'Abd al-Ra}:tmiin III in 930.
Of all the rebels of this period, 'Umar ibn l;Iaf~Un is the most
remarkable. He successfully defied the authority of four successive
amirs, and as leader of most of the muwallads of south-eastern Andalus
dominated the region until his death in 917/8. His power rested in
the holding of a large number of small fortresses, with Bobastro as
his main base. Successive expeditions from Cordoba failed to make
headway against his strongholds, each in tum holding out against
siege, delaying the advance of the Umayyad forces. On occasion, as
when Bobastro itself was threatened, Ibn l;Iaf~Un took to the moun-
tains to carry on successful guerrilla campaigning, or when it suited
him, he would make token submission to the amir, who was powerless
to replace him. In 890 he tricked the rebel governor of jacn, mur-
dered him and sent his head to the amir, while in the same year his
own followers were even raiding in the vicinity of Cordoba.
The roots of Ibn l:Iaf~un's power, probably like that of muwallad
leaders such as 'the Galician', lay in the inability of the Umayyads to
suppress local conflict. What was virtually a civil war raged around
Granada between Arabs and muwallads in the 890s. As successive Arab
leaders were murdered, so the violence and obligations of blood feud
intensified. Neither side had much use for the Cordoban regime,
except when it suited them. The muwallads, hard pressed by the Arabs,
called for the aid of the governor of jacn, promising to restore their
allegiance to the amir, but when he was defeated trying to assist them,
no more was heard of that. Instead, help was sought from Ibn l:Iaf~Un.
From a series of local conflicts and rebellions, together with the as-
sassination of rival muwallad leaders, the regional strength of Ibn
l;Iaf~Un was created. It did not survive his death, as his several sons
fell to quarrelling and murder, and a series of campaigns by 'Abd
al-Ra}:tmiin III finally broke the power of the last of them in 927.85
It is possible that this period of disturbances marks a time of some
religious ambivalence. The family of Ibn l:Iaf~Un converted to Islam
around 840, but according to Ibn Hayyiin, when the amir finally took
Bobastro in 927 he had the body of Ibn l;Iaf~Un exhumed, and found
that he had been given Christian burial. Ibn l;Iaf~un is also reported