Berber Revolt tax-collectors finally broke Berber patience. It is reported that following Ubayd Allah ibn al-Habhab's instructions to extract more revenues from the Berbers, Omar ibn al-Moradi, his deputy governor in Tangiers, decided to declare the Berbers in his jurisdiction a 'conquered people' and consequently set about seizing Berber property and enslaving persons, as per the rules of conquest, the 'caliphal fifth' was still owed to the Umayyad state (alternative accounts report he simply doubled their tribute). This was the last straw. Inspired by the Sufrite preachers, the North African Berber tribes of western Morocco - initially, the Ghomara, Berghwata and Miknasa
Berber Revolt Egyptian army westwards and reached Kairouan around April 742, just as Oqasha was returning to try his luck again. Handhala's forces pushed Oqasha back again. When Oqasha was reassembling his forces once more in the Zab, he came across a large Berber army coming from the west, under the command of the Hawwara Berber chieftain Abd al-Wahid ibn Yazid al-Hawwari (possibly dispatched by the Berber caliph Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati, although he is not mentioned in the chronicles). Abd al-Wahid's army was composed of some 300,000 Berber troops, ostensibly the largest Berber army ever seen. After a quick consultation, Oqasha