Midhat Pasha, then governor-general, seized the occasion of asserting Turkish dominion on the Persian Gulf coast, and in 1875, in spite of British protests, occupied El Hasa and established a new province under the title of Nejd, with its headquarters at Hofuf, of which Abdallah was appointed governor.
The invasion of Syria by Mehemet Ali in 1831 caused Beshir to desert Abdallah and throw in his lot with Ibrahim Pasha; but he was not cordially followed by the Druses in general, and had good excuse for revolt in 1839, and intrigue with the British admiral in 1840.
Another great historical movement, headed by a leader who proclaimed himself the mandi (Mahommed ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart), was that of the Almohades.
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He set himself to work to establish law and order throughout the state, to arrange its finances, and to encourage the settlement in Hail of artificers and merchants from abroad; the building of the citadel and palace commenced by Mehemet Ali, and continued by Abdallah Ibn Rashid, was completed by Taal.
On the Arab invasion this work was in great danger of perishing at the hands of the iconclastic caliph Omar and his generals, but it was fortunately preserved; and we find it in the 2nd century of the Hegira being paraphrased in Arabic by Abdallah ibn el Mokaffa, a learned Persian who had embraced Islam.
On the fall of Abu Abdallah Ibn Khaldun raised a large force amongst the desert Arabs, and entered the service of the sultan of Tlemcen.
His uncle Obed, to whom equally with Abdallah is due the foundation of the Ibn Rashid dynasty, laboured to extend the Shammar boundaries.
On the death of Abdallah in 1843, his son Taal succeeded.
The name Geber has long been used to designate the author of a number of Latin treatises on alchemy, entitled Summa perfectionis magisterii, De investigatione perfectionis, De inventione veritatis, Liber fornacum, Testamentum Geberi Regis Indiae and Alchemia Geberi, and these writings were generally regarded as translations from the Arabic originals of Abu Abdallah Jaber ben Hayyam (Haiyan) ben Abdallah al-Kufi, who is supposed to have lived in the 8th or 9th century of the Christian era.
As he could not or would not tell, he together with all his brothers and some other relatives were seized and transported to Irak, where Abdallah and his brother Ali were beheaded and the others imprisoned.