Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Siqlabi

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥabīb al-Fihrī , called al-Ṣiqlabī , was an Abbasid-appointed governor of al-Andalus (Spain) in the 770s. He was sent from Ifrīqiya to oppose the Umayyad ruler ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I. He landed in and demanded the submission of Sulaymān ibn Yaqẓān al-Kalbī al-Aʿrābī, commander of Barcelona. When this was refused, he marched against him and was defeated near Valencia. Shortly afterwards he was assassinated by a Berber. His was the last effort by the Abbasids to assert their rule in al-Andalus.

Ibn Ḥabīb was a member of the Fihrid family, which was prominent in Ifrīqiya. A Fihrid, Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Fihrī, was the governor of al-Andalus deposed by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I in 756. According to some modern historians, Ibn Ḥabīb was also related by marriage to Yūsuf, but this is not supported by any primary source. Ibn Ḥabīb's nickname, al-Ṣiqlabī, literally means "the Slav", but according to Ibn ʿIdhārī it was given to him not on account of his origins but because of his tall height, fair complexion and blue eyes. Pierre Guichard, basing his conclusion on Ibn al-Athīr and al-ʿUdhrī, places Ibn Ḥabīb's arrival in 161 (777). Guichard believes he held out in Tudmīr for several months before being forced to hide out in "the mountains of the land of Valencia" until his assassination in 163 (779).

Some modern historians have linked Ibn Ḥabīb to the embassy sent by Sulaymān al-Aʿrābī of Barcelona and Ḥusayn of Zaragoza to Charlemagne, king of the Franks, in 777. This search for an alliance abroad against ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I precipitated the Frankish campaign that ended in disaster at the battle of Roncevaux Pass. Ibn Ḥabīb's involvement, however, is chronologically impossible as well as incongruous with al-Aʿrābī's cool reception to Ibn Ḥabīb's overtures.