Rustamid dynasty

The Rustamid dynasty was an Ibadi dynasty of Persian origin that ruled a Muslim theocracy in North Africa for a century and a half. Its founder, Abd al-Rahman ibn Rustam, was a Persian mawla who was elected imam by Ibadi communities, and the state was centred on Tahert, near present-day Tagdemt in Algeria. At its height Rustamid authority extended across central and western Algeria, parts of southern Tunisia, and the Jebel Nafusa and Fezzan regions of Libya as far as Zawila. The Rustamids grew wealthy from the caravan trade that carried gold, slaves and salt across the Sahara, and Tahert became a noted centre of Ibadi scholarship. The dynasty's rulers bore the title of imam rather than king, and succession was often contested. In 909 the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate destroyed the state, and the last imam fled eastward, though Ibadi communities survived in the M'zab and elsewhere. The Rustamids also sponsored scholars and kept diplomatic and commercial links with the Abbasids, the Umayyads of Cordoba and the kingdoms of the Sahara.