AD 965 - 1072 - The Kalbid dynasty of emirs which governed Sicily was founded by Hassan al-Kalbi, who had been appointed to the post by the Fatamid caliph, Ismail al Mansur, in 948. Hassan was able to control the Byzantine presence in eastern Sicily and launch raids into southern Italy that continued for a century. However, a new force was by then making its presence felt in southern Italy, and from 1035 the semi-independent Kalbids (or Kalbis) gradually lost territory to the Normans of Apulia.
Palermo, the Fatamid capital of Sicily, with its numerous mosques, was a flourishing centre of Islamic sciences in the eighth century, and it played an important part in the transmission of Islamic culture into medieval Europe. Under the Kalbids, Sicilians enjoyed the benefits of land reforms which encouraged the growth of smallholdings at the expense of the great estates, and improved irrigation systems which increased harvests. For the most part, the island's population remained Romanised Catholic Christians, although the east was still dominated by Greek-speaking people, a partial survival (perhaps) of the Iron Age Greek colonies there, but also of the days of Byzantine rule and the surviving Byzantine strongholds in the east. All Christians under Islamic rule became subservient unless they converted to Islam, which of course many did, if only for a quiet life.
948 - 953 Hassan al-Kalbi Founder of the Kalbid rulers of Sicily.
953 - 969 Ahmed I ibn Hasan al-Muizziyya
969 Yaish Usurper.
969 - 970 Ahmed I ibn Hasan al-Muizziyya
970 - 982 Abu l-Qasim
982 The Kalbids, raiding into south-western Italy, are confronted by an army led by Holy Roman Emperor Otto II. The Kalbid forces prove their power at this time by defeating their opponents in battle near Crotone in Calabria. The chapel of San Cataldo in Palermo was built by the Saracen rulers of Sicily, and it operated as a mosque before its conversion into a Christian chapel
982 - 983 Jabir ibn 'Ali
983 - 986 Jafar I ibn Muhammad
986 Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad
986 - 998 Yusuf al-Kalbi The emirate began to decline.
998 - 1019 Jafar II
1017 - 1037 Ahmed II al-Akhal Killed by Abd-Allah Abu Hafs in 1037.
1035 The Hauteville brothers arrive in Italy from Normandy and soon found the county of Apulia. This coincides with a period of Kalbid rule that is becoming increasingly subject to internal division as factions vie for control. These factions ally themselves with the Byzantines and the Zirid governors of Fatamid Ifriqiyya, and in the meantime the counts of Apulia begin to capture their territory.
1035 - 1040 Abd-Allah Abu Hafs Usurper.
1040 - 1053 Hasan al-Samsam / Hasan II Ruled a highly fragmented emirate for much of his reign. Died.
1044 The Kalbids begin to disintegrate as a dynasty, paving the way for the Norman conquest of Sicily from 1061, and the island's permanent incorporation into Christendom. Under Hasan al-Samsam, the island breaks up into four minor states, or qadits. The four qadits are made up of one that incorporates Marsala, Mazara, Sciacca, and Trapani; one consisting of Castrogiovanni, Castronuovo, and Girgenti; another made up of of Catania and Palermo; and the fourth consisting of Syracuse. Hasan al-Samsam exercises very little real power during the remainder of his lifetime.
1053 - 1062/72 (Muhammed ibn Ibrahim) Ibn ath-Thumna Emir virtually in name only.
1060/1061 There are still three qadits on the Islamic portion of Sicily when Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia, and Roger Guiscard invade. With fresh-found blessing from Pope Nicholas II as the best way of ridding Sicily of the Muslims (and curbing Constantinople's influence in Italy), the brothers create a bridgehead by capturing Messina, on the north-eastern tip of the island.

Roger Guiscard defeated 35,000 Saracens at the Battle of Cerami in 1063 as part of his conquest of Sicily, depicted in this oil on canvas of about 1860 by Prosper Lafaye
1065 - 1068 The four qadits of Sicily have largely been rebuilt into a single emirate by Ayyub ibn Tamim, the son of the Zirid emir of Ifriqiyya (regional governors of the Fatamids). He departs in 1068, leaving behind an island that remains divided between Arabs and Byzantines, with the Arab section sub-divided into two qadits: Syracuse, which is under the control of Ibn Abbad (known as Benavert to the Christians), and Qas'r Ianni (modern Enna), under one Hammud.
1072 Roger Guiscard captures Palermo on Sicily in 1072, supported by a formidable uprising of the island's Christian population. The Kalbid emirate is quashed, paving the way for the creation of the Norman county of Sicily. Only a pocket of Islamic resistance remains under the command of Benavert, although the city of Qas'r Ianni also holds out until 1086, when its emir, Hamud, retires gracefully and converts to Christianity.
1071/72 - 1086 Ibn Abbad / Benavert Sole surviving Arab leader of any real importance.
1086 Opposed by the powerful nascent county of Sicily, Benavert is the last emir with a claim to meaningful control of any part of the island. With his removal, only a minor claimant remains in the form of Yusuf Ibn Abdallah, and when he in turn is removed in 1091, Sicily is entirely under Christian control.