CHAPTER IV
The Conquest of Tripoli
Bakr ibn-al-Haitham from ʿAli ibn-abi-Ṭalḥah:—In the year 22,[1] ʿAmr ibn-al-ʿÂṣi advanced to Tripoli.[2] He met resistance but reduced the place by force, carrying away many loads of fine silk brocade from its merchants. This booty he sold and divided its price among the Moslems. He wrote to ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb, "We have arrived in Tripoli which lies nine days from Ifrîḳiyah. If the 'Commander of the Believers' thinks it best to allow us to invade the latter, it will be well." ʿUmar wrote back, ordering him not to go, saying, "This should not be called Ifrîḳiyah, but Mufarriḳah,[3] which is treacherous to others, and to which others are treacherous." ʿUmar wrote that because its inhabitants used to pay something to the king of the Greeks and often treated him treacherously, while the king of al-Andalus, who had made terms with them, treated them treacherously. These facts were known to ʿUmar.
According to a tradition communicated to me by ʿAmr an-Nâḳid on the authority of certain sheikhs, Tripoli was taken by ʿAmr ibn-al-ʿÂṣi through a covenant made by him.
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