The Great Arab Conquests (40 page)
Read The Great Arab Conquests Online
Authors: Hugh Kennedy
The conquest of North Africa seems to have begun as a natural follow-on to the conquest of Egypt. Our information about the first raids comes entirely from the Egyptian chronicler Ibn Abd al-Hakam, whose narrative is used by all later sources. It was probably in the summer of 642, very shortly after the final surrender of Alexandria to the Muslims, that Amr led his troops west.
13
The journey does not appear to have been a difficult one and the army seems to have moved fast and without encountering any real opposition until they reached Barqa. The Byzantine garrison, accompanied by some local landowners, withdrew before them and retired to the coastal port of Tokra (ancient Tauchira), from where they later left by sea. Most of the population of the city seem to have been Luwāta Berbers,
14
and it was with them, not with any Byzantine authority, that Amr made peace in exchange for a tribute (
jizya
) of 13,000 dinars. The treaty is said to have included the somewhat bizarre provision that the people could sell their sons and daughters into slavery to raise the money. This may point to the beginning of the massive exploitation of Berbers as slaves that was characteristic of the first century of Muslim rule in North Africa. It was also agreed that no Muslim tax collectors should enter the area and that the people of Barqa themselves would take the tribute to Egypt when they had collected it.
13
The journey does not appear to have been a difficult one and the army seems to have moved fast and without encountering any real opposition until they reached Barqa. The Byzantine garrison, accompanied by some local landowners, withdrew before them and retired to the coastal port of Tokra (ancient Tauchira), from where they later left by sea. Most of the population of the city seem to have been Luwāta Berbers,
14
and it was with them, not with any Byzantine authority, that Amr made peace in exchange for a tribute (
jizya
) of 13,000 dinars. The treaty is said to have included the somewhat bizarre provision that the people could sell their sons and daughters into slavery to raise the money. This may point to the beginning of the massive exploitation of Berbers as slaves that was characteristic of the first century of Muslim rule in North Africa. It was also agreed that no Muslim tax collectors should enter the area and that the people of Barqa themselves would take the tribute to Egypt when they had collected it.
Amr then led his men around the Gulf of Sirte, bypassing Tokra, to Tripoli. Here they encountered more serious resistance. The Byzantine garrison held out for a month. Ibn Abd al-Hakam recounts how the end came in one of those anecdotes that enliven the Arab narratives without encouraging any belief in their credibility. The story goes that one day one of the Arabs besieging the city went out hunting with seven companions. They went round to the west of the city and, becoming separated from the main bulk of the army and overcome by the heat, they decided to return along the seashore. Now the sea came up to the walls of the city and Roman ships were drawn right up to the walls of their houses in their anchorage. The Arab and his companions noticed that the sea had retreated a little from the walls and that there was a gap between the water and the walls. They made their way through it as far as the main church, where they raised the cry ‘
Allhu akbar
!’ The Romans panicked and fled to their ships with what they could carry, hoisted sail and fled. Amr, seeing the chaos, led his army into the city, which was then pillaged.
15
There is no evidence of Arab occupation at this stage and the city probably reverted to Byzantine control when the Muslim forces left.
Allhu akbar
!’ The Romans panicked and fled to their ships with what they could carry, hoisted sail and fled. Amr, seeing the chaos, led his army into the city, which was then pillaged.
15
There is no evidence of Arab occupation at this stage and the city probably reverted to Byzantine control when the Muslim forces left.
Amr was soon off again, leading his men west to Sabra (Sabratha). Here the local people, imagining that Amr was far away and occupied with the siege of Tripoli, had dropped their defences. The city was taken and plundered. Soon after this Leptis Magna (
Labla
) also fell into Arab hands. Amr then returned to Egypt, no doubt well pleased with the booty he and his followers had amassed. It had been a great raid, but it was not a conquest. Only in Barqa did Amr leave any sort of presence by imposing taxes and appointing a governor, Uqba b. Nāfi, who was to become the hero of of the Muslim conquest of North Africa and whose name, like that of Khālid b. al-Walīd in Iraq and Syria, was to go down in history and legend as an example of military leadership and derring-do.
Labla
) also fell into Arab hands. Amr then returned to Egypt, no doubt well pleased with the booty he and his followers had amassed. It had been a great raid, but it was not a conquest. Only in Barqa did Amr leave any sort of presence by imposing taxes and appointing a governor, Uqba b. Nāfi, who was to become the hero of of the Muslim conquest of North Africa and whose name, like that of Khālid b. al-Walīd in Iraq and Syria, was to go down in history and legend as an example of military leadership and derring-do.
The dismissal of Amr from the governorship of Egypt in 645 (see p. 164) meant that there was a pause in Arab operations. It did not last long. In 647 the caliph Uthmān sent a new army to Egypt to help in the African campaign. A list of the composition of the army suggests that it numbered between 5,000 and 10,000, mostly recruited, like the majority of the Arabs who had originally conquered Egypt, from south Arabian tribes.
16
They were commanded by the new governor of Egypt, Abd Allāh b. Sa
c
d b. Abī Sarh. The expedition moved fast along the North African coast into what is now southern Tunisia. They do not seem to have wasted time trying to retake Tripoli. The Byzantine forces in the area were commanded by Gregory, the exarch of Africa. He seems to have decided to move from the traditional capital at Carthage and base himself at Sbeitla in southern Tunisia, probably so that he could meet up with Berber allies and oppose the invaders more effectively. The two armies met outside the city. The Byzantines were heavily defeated and, according to Arabic sources, Gregory was killed in the battle, though according to Theophanes and other Christian sources, he escaped and was later rewarded by the emperor.
16
They were commanded by the new governor of Egypt, Abd Allāh b. Sa
c
d b. Abī Sarh. The expedition moved fast along the North African coast into what is now southern Tunisia. They do not seem to have wasted time trying to retake Tripoli. The Byzantine forces in the area were commanded by Gregory, the exarch of Africa. He seems to have decided to move from the traditional capital at Carthage and base himself at Sbeitla in southern Tunisia, probably so that he could meet up with Berber allies and oppose the invaders more effectively. The two armies met outside the city. The Byzantines were heavily defeated and, according to Arabic sources, Gregory was killed in the battle, though according to Theophanes and other Christian sources, he escaped and was later rewarded by the emperor.
This was the only major military encounter between the Muslims and the Byzantine forces in North Africa. It is interesting to note that Gregory made no attempt to use the Byzantine fortresses constructed in the area, but chose to encounter the enemy in an open field battle. After this defeat, what remained of the imperial army seems to have retreated to Carthage and left the Arabs and the Berbers to fight for control of the countryside.
The quantity of booty was enormous and, as often, the Arabic sources spend as much space telling us how much there was and how it was divided up as they do on the whole of the rest of the campaign. (For example, horsemen received 3,000 gold dinars, 1,500 for the horse and 1,500 for the man, and foot soldiers were given 1,500.)
For almost twenty years after this Arab forces made no extended attempt to make more permanent conquests in North Africa. It is probable that Barqa and Cyrenaica remained under Muslim rule in this period, but that seems to have been the limit of expansion. Intermittent raids by Arab-Egyptian leaders using Egyptian troops were made into Tripolitania and the Fezzan but the armies always returned to their bases after seizing as much booty as they could.
During this long period, only Uqba b. Nāfi seems to have maintained a vision of doing anything more than short-term raiding. In central Algeria, where the mountains of the north gradually flatten out and meet the fringes of the Sahara, lies the little town of Sidi Okba, built around an ancient shrine, still visited by pilgrims, hoping for the
baraka
(blessing) that can be acquired from coming close to a great saint. The term Sidi comes from the classical Arabic
sayyidī
, meaning ‘my lord’: it is this Arabic word which gave the title El Cid to the Castillian hero. The Okba is Uqba b. Nāfi al-Fihri, the man credited in historical record and popular imagination with bringing Islamic rule to the Maghreb. He is the only one of the great early Muslim commanders whose grave is still honoured in this way. He also had a claim to be a Companion of the Prophet, if only in the sense that he had met Muhammad when he was a small child. This gave him immense prestige in the eyes of posterity. Born in Mecca towards the end of the Prophet’s life, Uqba came from Muhammad’s own tribe, Quraysh, but from a different sub-group, the Fihr. His background in the urban aristocracy of Mecca was typical of that of the men who formed the elite of the early Islamic state and led its armies. He was the only Companion to have played an important role in the conquest of Algeria and Morocco, and he can be said to have brought the
baraka
of the Prophet himself to this part of North Africa. In addition, he was the only important member of Quraysh to have fought there, which also contributed to his status and reputation. To cap it all, Uqba became a martyr when he and his small band of warriors were confronted by a much larger Berber army in 683 and he himself was killed.
baraka
(blessing) that can be acquired from coming close to a great saint. The term Sidi comes from the classical Arabic
sayyidī
, meaning ‘my lord’: it is this Arabic word which gave the title El Cid to the Castillian hero. The Okba is Uqba b. Nāfi al-Fihri, the man credited in historical record and popular imagination with bringing Islamic rule to the Maghreb. He is the only one of the great early Muslim commanders whose grave is still honoured in this way. He also had a claim to be a Companion of the Prophet, if only in the sense that he had met Muhammad when he was a small child. This gave him immense prestige in the eyes of posterity. Born in Mecca towards the end of the Prophet’s life, Uqba came from Muhammad’s own tribe, Quraysh, but from a different sub-group, the Fihr. His background in the urban aristocracy of Mecca was typical of that of the men who formed the elite of the early Islamic state and led its armies. He was the only Companion to have played an important role in the conquest of Algeria and Morocco, and he can be said to have brought the
baraka
of the Prophet himself to this part of North Africa. In addition, he was the only important member of Quraysh to have fought there, which also contributed to his status and reputation. To cap it all, Uqba became a martyr when he and his small band of warriors were confronted by a much larger Berber army in 683 and he himself was killed.
Uqba owed his initial rise to power to the fact that his maternal uncle was none other than Amr b. al-Ās, the conqueror of Egypt. It was only natural that Amr should entrust his able and ambitious young nephew with important roles. Uqba soon showed his appetite for adventure. He joined in Amr’s first campaign to Cyrenaica in 642 and distinguished himself by leading a raiding party to the oasis of Zuwayla, to the south of Tripoli. We hear of him raiding as far away as Ghadāmis, deep in the Libyan desert, and, perhaps more importantly, establishing links with the Luwāta Berbers in the Tripoli area.
17
According to the Arab geographer Yāqūt, Uqba ‘had remained in the area of Barqa and Zuwayla from the days of Amr b. al-Ās and he gathered around him the Berbers who had converted to Islam’.
18
17
According to the Arab geographer Yāqūt, Uqba ‘had remained in the area of Barqa and Zuwayla from the days of Amr b. al-Ās and he gathered around him the Berbers who had converted to Islam’.
18
In 670 the Caliph Mu
c
āwiya appointed Uqba as governor of the land under Muslim rule in North Africa under the overall control of the governor of Egypt.
19
He decided to launch a campaign to conquer Ifrīqīya (that is roughly modern Tunisia) and bring it firmly under Muslim rule. With his long experience in the area, Uqba would have known that it was a good moment to strike. The Byzantine administration was weakening by the day. The Arabs were attacking Constantinople itself and all the resources of the empire were required to defend it. Just as dangerous was an outbreak of that internal dissent which had undermined the empire so often before. Emperor Constantine IV (668-88) was faced by a pretender to his throne in Sicily and had been forced to withdraw troops to combat him. The Romans, however, were not the real challenge: it was conquering or working with the Berbers which was to be the crucial issue.
c
āwiya appointed Uqba as governor of the land under Muslim rule in North Africa under the overall control of the governor of Egypt.
19
He decided to launch a campaign to conquer Ifrīqīya (that is roughly modern Tunisia) and bring it firmly under Muslim rule. With his long experience in the area, Uqba would have known that it was a good moment to strike. The Byzantine administration was weakening by the day. The Arabs were attacking Constantinople itself and all the resources of the empire were required to defend it. Just as dangerous was an outbreak of that internal dissent which had undermined the empire so often before. Emperor Constantine IV (668-88) was faced by a pretender to his throne in Sicily and had been forced to withdraw troops to combat him. The Romans, however, were not the real challenge: it was conquering or working with the Berbers which was to be the crucial issue.
Uqba arrived in southern Tunisia with an army largely drawn from the Arabs of Egypt. He is said to have had 10,000 Arab horsemen with him and the numbers were swelled by Berbers, probably mostly from the Luwāta tribe, who had already converted to Islam. His first objective was to establish a military base in the heart of Ifrīqīya. The story of the foundation of the city of Qayrawān is told by the thirteenth-century geographer Yāqūt working from older sources now lost to us.
He went to Ifrīqīya and besieged its cities, conquering them by force and putting the people to the sword. A number of Berbers converted to Islam at his hand and Islam spread among them until it reached the lands of Sudan.
h
Then Uqba gathered his companions [
ashb
] and addressed them saying, ‘The people of this country are a worthless lot; if you lay into them with the sword, they become Muslims but the moment your back is turned, they revert to their old habits and religion. I do not think it would be a good idea for the Muslims to settle among them but I think it would be better to build a [new] city here for the Muslims to settle in.’
They thought this was a sound plan and came to the site of Qayrawān. It was on the edge of the open country and covered with scrub and thickets which even snakes could not penetrate because the trees were so thickly intertwined.
Uqba went on: ‘I have only chosen this place because it is well away from the sea and Roman ships cannot reach it and destroy it. It is well inland.’ Then he ordered his men to get building, but they complained that the scrub was full of lions and vagabonds and that they were afraid for their lives and refused to do it. So Uqba collected the members of his army who had been Companions of the Prophet, twelve of them, and cried out, ‘O you lions and vermin, we are Companions of the Prophet of God, so leave us and if we find any of you here we will kill them!’ Then the people witnessed the most extraordinary sight, for the lions carried their cubs and the wolves carried their young and the snakes carried their offspring and they left, one group after another. Many Berbers were converted to Islam as a result of this.
He then established the government house and the houses for the people around it and they lived there for forty years without ever seeing a snake or a scorpion. He laid out the mosque but was uncertain about the direction of the
qibla
and was very worried. Then he slept; and in the night heard a voice saying, ‘Tomorrow, go to the mosque and you will hear a voice saying “
Allhu akbar
”. Follow the direction of the voice and that will be the
qibla
God has made pleasing for the Muslims in this land’. In the morning he heard the voice and established the
qibla
and all the other mosques copied it.
20
With all its miraculous trappings, this foundation myth still reveals a good deal about the motivation for the founding of the city. It was to be a permanent garrison for the Muslims in this area. The site was chosen because there were no earlier buildings there. Different accounts also stress the importance of grazing in the area.
21
It was well away from the coast. The Romans were still considered to be a threat from the sea, if not on land. Founding the city was quite simple. It required only the laying out of the mosque, the government house and the plots on which people could build their houses. There is no evidence that the Arab authorities constructed markets, baths,
funduqs
or any other public building. Despite its modest beginnings, Qayrawān thrived. Alone of all the garrison towns erected by the Arabs in the immediate aftermath of the conquests, it has remained an inhabited city on the same site down to the present day: in Iraq, old Basra is a hardly visible ruin on the edge of the desert, old Kūfa has disappeared, Fustāt in Egypt is a deserted archaeological site and rubbish tip and Merv in Khurasan a vast desolate ruin field. Qayrawān, by contrast, is a charming old town, redolent with Muslim antiquity.
21
It was well away from the coast. The Romans were still considered to be a threat from the sea, if not on land. Founding the city was quite simple. It required only the laying out of the mosque, the government house and the plots on which people could build their houses. There is no evidence that the Arab authorities constructed markets, baths,
funduqs
or any other public building. Despite its modest beginnings, Qayrawān thrived. Alone of all the garrison towns erected by the Arabs in the immediate aftermath of the conquests, it has remained an inhabited city on the same site down to the present day: in Iraq, old Basra is a hardly visible ruin on the edge of the desert, old Kūfa has disappeared, Fustāt in Egypt is a deserted archaeological site and rubbish tip and Merv in Khurasan a vast desolate ruin field. Qayrawān, by contrast, is a charming old town, redolent with Muslim antiquity.
The foundation of Qayrawān was a decisive step in the establishment of a Muslim presence in Ifrīqīya but it did not mean the end of conquest. Carthage still remained in Roman hands and no Muslim army had yet penetrated west of the modern Tunisia-Algeria frontier.
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