The Nubian Peace

صلح النوبة

c. 645 CE · c. 24 AH† †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

In al-Baladhuri via al-Walid ibn Kathir via Yazid ibn Abi Habib via Abu al-Khayr: when the Muslims opened Egypt Amr ibn al-As sent the cavalry to the villages around it to trample them, sending Uqba ibn Nafi' al-Fihri — Nafi' being al-As's maternal brother; their horses entered Nubia like the Romans' summer raids, the Muslims met fierce fighting and were showered with arrows till most were wounded, returning with many wounds and gouged eyes — called 'eye-bleeders' — until Abdallah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh governed Egypt; they asked him for peace and truce which he granted not on jizya but on a truce of three hundred heads yearly, the Muslims gifting them equal food. A Himyari shaykh who twice witnessed Nubia under Umar: no people sharper in war — one would ask a Muslim 'where would you like me to place my arrow?' and not miss; they lined up one day and shot till eyes were gone — a hundred and fifty gouged eyes counted — so they said nothing better than peace with them, their spoil little and their vexation severe; Umar never made peace with them and kept harassing them until he died, and Abdallah ibn Sa'd made peace with them. At Nubia Mu'awiya ibn Khudayj al-Kindi's eye was lost — he was one-eyed.

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The Founding of Qayrawan

In al-Baladhuri: Mu'awiya ibn Khudayj sent — or, some say, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan gave him the Maghreb — Uqba ibn Nafi' al-Fihri, who raided Ifriqiya with ten thousand Muslims, conquered it, and laid out its Qayrawan, whose site was a thicket of trees and thickets unapproachable for beasts, snakes and deadly vermin; Uqba being a righteous man whose prayer was answered, he prayed to his Lord and all that was removed — till the very beasts carried away their young in flight; and Musa ibn Ali said the first to build it was Uqba ibn Nafi', who laid it out then built — the people building houses and dwellings with him — and built its congregational mosque; and a body of Ifriqiya's people told from their shaykhs that when Uqba wished to make Qayrawan a misr he pondered where its mosque should be, and saw in a dream as though a man gave the call to prayer in the place where its minaret stood — so when morning came he built the minarets in the man's station, then built the mosque. Al-Waqidi said Abdallah ibn Sa'd stayed governor until Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa seized Egypt; then Mu'awiya gave Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari Egypt and the Maghreb, and he gave the Maghreb to his mawla Abu al-Muhajir; when Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ruled he restored Uqba to his office — who raided Sus al-Adna beyond Tangier, roaming unchallenged till he returned; Abu al-Abbas gave Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath al-Khuza'i Ifriqiya — he repaired Qayrawan's city and mosque — then al-Mansur dismissed him and gave his place to Umar ibn Hafs Hazarmard.

The Nubian Peace

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The Founding of Qayrawan