The Origins of the Islamic State/Part 8/Chapter 1

by Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá al-Balādhurī

PART VIII

NUBIA

CHAPTER I

Terms made with Nubia

ʿUḳbah leads the attack. Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from abu-l-Khair:—When the Moslems subdued Egypt, ʿAmr ibn-al-ʿÂṣi sent to the surrounding villages, in order to overrun and pillage them, a detachment of cavalry under ʿUḳbah ibn-Nâfiʿ al-Fihri (Nâfiʿ being a brother of al-Âṣi on his mother's side). The cavalry entered the land of Nubia^[1] as the summer expeditions of the Greeks do. The Moslems met in Nubia determined resistance. They were subjected to such severe showers of arrows until most of them were wounded and had to return with many wounds and blinded eyes. Therefore were the Nubians called the "archers of the eyes".

The terms made. This state of affairs continued until ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd ibn-abi-Sarḥ ruled over Egypt. The Nubians asked for peace and conciliation from ʿAbdallâh, who granted their request, the terms being that they pay no tax but offer as a present three hundred slaves per annum; and that the Moslems offer them as a present food equivalent to the value of the slaves.

The Nubians as archers. Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from a sheikh of the tribe of Ḥimyar:—The latter said, "I have been to Nubia twice during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb, and I never saw a people who are sharper in warfare than they. I heard one of them say to the Moslem, 'Where do you want me to hit you with my arrow?' and in case the Moslem would disdainfully say, 'In such a spot', the Nubian would never miss it. They were fond of fighting with arrows; but their arrows would scarcely ever hit on the ground.^[2] One day, they arrayed themselves against us and we were desirous to carry the conflict with the sword ; but they were too quick for us and shot their arrows, putting out our eyes. The eyes that were put out numbered 150. We at last thought that the best thing to do with such a people was to make peace. We could carry very little booty away from them; and their ability to inflict injury was great. ʿAmr, however, refused to make peace with them and went on contending against them until he was dismissed and was succeeded by ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd ibn-abi-Sarḥ, who concluded peace with them."

According to al-Wâḳidi, Muʿâwiyah ibn-Ḥudaij al-Kindi lost his eye in Nubia and thus became one-eyed.

The legality of selling their children as slaves. Abu-ʿUbaid al-Ḳâsim ibn-Sallâm from Yazîd ibn-abi-Ḥabîb:—The latter said, "Between us and the black tribes [Ar. asâwid], no treaty or covenant exists. Only a truce was arranged between us, according to which we agreed to give them some wheat and lentils, and they to give us slaves. It is all right to buy their slaves from them or from others."

Abu-ʿUbaid from al-Laith ibn-Saʿd:—The latter said, "The terms we made with the Nubians stipulated only that we neither fight against them nor they against us, that they give slaves and we give them their value in terms of food. If they desire, therefore, to sell their wives or children, there is no reason why they should not be bought."

In a report of abu-l-Bukhturi and others, it is stated that ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd ibn-abi-Sarḥ made terms with the Nubians to the effect that they give four hundred slaves per year, whom they shall bring forth and for whom they shall receive food in exchange.

The caliph al-Mahdi ordered that Nubia be held responsible every year for 360 slaves and one giraffe, and that they be given wheat, vinegar, wine, clothes and mattresses or the value thereof.

The Nubians recently claimed that the tribute^[3] is not due on them every year, and that it was demanded from them in the caliphate of al-Mahdi, at which time they told the caliph that the tribute was a part of what they took as slaves from their enemies and therefore they had, if they could not get enough slaves, to use their own children and offer them. Al-Mahdi ordered that they be tolerated, and that the tribute of one year be considered as if for three. No confirmation, however, could be found in the registers of al-Ḥaḍrah;^[4] but it was found in the register in Egypt.

Al-Ḳummi in al-Bujah. Al-Mutawakkil ordered one, Muḥammad ibn-ʿAbdallâh, known as al-Ḳummi, to be sent and put in charge of al-Maʿdin^[5] in Egypt. He also put him in charge of al-Ḳulzum [Suez], the road of al-Ḥijâz, and the furnishing of guides to the Egyptians when on holy pilgrimage. Arriving in al-Maʿdin, he conveyed provisions in ships from al-Ḳulzum to the land of al-Bujah. He then proceeded to a sea-coast, called ʿAidhâb,^[6] where the ships met him. With these provisions, he and his followers were strengthened and fed until they came to the castle of the king of al-Bujah. Al-Ḳummi attacked him in small force, and the king of al-Bujah made a sally with his numerous men on camels fastened with girths. Al-Ḳummi brought bells and put them on his horses. As soon as the camels heard the bell sounds, they ran away with the al-Bujah men over hills and valleys. The chief of al-Bujah was killed and was succeeded by his sister's son,^[7] whose father was one of the kings of al-Bujah. He sued for a truce, which al-Mutawakkil granted only on condition that he [the chief] should tread on his [al-Mutawakkil's] carpet. Accordingly, he came to Surra-man-raʾa and made terms in the year 241, agreeing to pay tribute in money and slaves. He was then sent back with al-Ḳummi. Thus, the people of al-Bujah are in a state of truce in which they pay tax and do not prevent the Moslems from working in the gold mine, which terms are mentioned in the conditions imposed upon their chief.

Footnotes

1. An-Nâbah. See Idrîsi, Ṣifat al-Maghrib, p. 19.
2. i. e. they scarcely ever missed their aim.
3. Ar. baḳṭ, Quatremère, Mémoires Géographiques et Historiques sur l'Égypte, vol. ii, pp. 42, 53.
4. Perhaps al-Khaḍrâʾ. See Idrîsi, Ṣifat al-Maghrib, p. 84; Hamadhâni, Buldân, pp. 79–80.
5. The mine land. Maḳrîzi, vol. i, pp. 313, 318; Masʿûdi, Tanbîh, p. 330.
6. Idrîsi, Ṣifat al-Maghrib, p. 27.
7. Maḳrîzi, vol. i, p. 317: "his brother's son"; cf. Quatremère, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 136.