Page:Baladhuri-Hitti1916.djvu/373

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The Conquest of Ifrîḳiyah
357

Tripoli to Ṭanjah [Tangiers]. ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd ibn-abi-Sarḥ marched against him and occupied ʿAḳûbah. After a few days' fight, I was enabled to kill, by Allah's help, the patrician. His army took to flight and was torn to pieces. Ibn-abi-Sarḥ sent detachments and scattered them all over the country; and they carried away a large booty and drove before them all the cattle they could. Seeing that, the great men of Ifrîḳiyah met together and offered ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd 300 quintals[1] of gold provided he would let them alone and leave their land. Their request was granted."

Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from ibn-Kaʿb:—ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd ibn-abi-Sarḥ made terms with the patrician of Ifrîḳiyah, stipulating that the latter should pay 2,500,000 dînârs.

ʿUḳbah ibn-Nâfiʿ. Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from Mûsa ibn-Ḍamrah-l-Mâzini's father:—When ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd made terms with the patrician of Ifrîḳiyah, he returned to Egypt without appointing anyone to the governorship of Ifrîḳiyah, which at that time had no meeting-place[2] or central town. When ʿUthmân was murdered and Muḥammad ibn-abi-Ḥudhaifah ibn-ʿUtbah ibn-Rabîʿah ruled over Egypt, he sent nobody to Ifrîḳiyah; but when Muʿâwiyah ibn-abi-Sufyân came to power, he assigned over Egypt Muʿâwiyah ibn-Ḥudaij as-Sakûni who, in the year 20, sent ʿUḳbah ibn-Nâfiʿ ibn-ʿAbd-Ḳais ibn-Laḳît al-Fihri to Ifrîḳiyah. ʿUḳbah invaded it and parceled it out into lots among the Moslems.

ʿUḳbah sent Busr ibn-abi-Arṭâh[3] to a castle in al-Ḳairawân, which he reduced, killing and capturing many. It is now known as Ḳalʿat Busr and lies near a city called Majjânah, near the silver mine.

  1. Ar. ḳintâr = "1,200 dînârs, and in the language of Barbar = 1,000 mithḳâls of gold or silver"; T.ʿA.
  2. Ar. ḳairawân. See De Goeje's edition of Balâdhuri, gloss., pp. 92–93.
  3. Maḳrîzi, vol. i, p. 272, does not have "abi" in the name.