The Origins of the Islamic State/Part 5/Chapter 2
CHAPTER II
The Conquest of Alexandria
The battle of al-Kiryaun. When ʿAmr ibn-al-ʿÂṣi conquered Miṣr, he settled in it and wrote to ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb soliciting his orders to march against Alexandria [al-Iskandarîyah].[1] ʿUmar wrote and ordered him to do so; so ʿAmr marched against it in the year 21, leaving as his substitute [lieutenant] over Miṣr Khârijah ibn-Ḥudhâfah ibn-Ghânim ibn-ʿÂmir ibn-ʿAbdallâh ibn-ʿUbaid ibn-ʿAwîj ibn-ʿAdi ibn-Kaʿb ibn-Luʾai ibn-Ghâlib. In the meantime, those Greeks and Copts who lived below Alexandria had gathered and said, "Let us attack him in al-Fusṭâṭ before he reaches here and makes an attempt on Alexandria." ʿAmr met them at al-Kiryaun[2] and defeated them with a great slaughter. In their ranks were men from Sakha, Bilhît, al-Khais and Sulṭais, and others who came to their assistance and support.
Alexandria reduced. ʿAmr kept his way until he arrived in Alexandria, whose inhabitants he found ready to resist him, but the Copts in it preferred peace. Al-Muḳauḳis communicated with ʿAmr and asked him for peace and a truce for a time; but ʿAmr refused. Al-Muḳauḳis then ordered that the women stand on the wall with their faces turned towards the city, and that the men stand armed, with their faces towards the Moslems, thus hoping to scare them [Moslems]. ʿAmr sent word, saying, "We see what thou hast done. It was not by mere numbers that we conquered those we have conquered. We have met your king Heraclius, and there befell him what has befallen him." Hearing this, al-Muḳauḳis said to his followers, "These people are telling the truth. They have chased our king from his kingdom as far as Constantinople. It is much more preferable, therefore, that we submit." His followers, however, spoke harshly to him and insisted on fighting. The Moslems fought fiercely against them and invested them for three months. At last, ʿAmr reduced the city[3] by the sword and plundered all that was in it, sparing its inhabitants of whom none was killed or taken captive. He reduced them to the position of dhimmis like the people of Alyûnah. He communicated the news of the victory to ʿUmar through Muʿâwiyah ibn-Ḥudaij al-Kindi (later as-Sakûni) and sent with him the [usual] fifth.
Some state that al-Muḳauḳis made terms with ʿAmr to the effect that he should pay 13,000 dînârs, that those who prefer to leave Alexandria should leave, and those who prefer to stay should stay, and that two dînârs be assessed on every adult Copt. To this end, ʿAmr wrote a statement. He then left in his place over Alexandria ʿAbdallâh ibn-Ḥudhâfah ibn-Ḳais ibn-ʿAdi ibn-Saʿd ibn-Sahm ibn-ʿAmr ibn-Huṣaiṣ ibn-Kaʿb ibn-Luʾai at the head of a cavalry guard of the Moslems, and departed for al-Fusṭâṭ.[4]
Manuwîl captures Alexandria. The Greeks wrote to Constantine, son of Heraclius, who was their king at that time, telling him how few the Moslems in Alexandria were, and how humiliating the Greeks' condition was, and how they had to pay poll-tax. Constantine sent one of his men, called Manuwîl[5] [Manuel], with three hundred ships full of fighters. Manuwîl entered Alexandria and killed all the guard that was in it, with the exception of a few who by the use of subtle means took to flight and escaped. This took place in the year 25. Hearing the news, ʿAmr set out at the head of 15,000 men and found the Greek fighters doing mischief in the Egyptian villages next to Alexandria. The Moslems met them and for one hour were subjected to a shower of arrows, during which they were covered by their shields. They then advanced boldly and the battle raged with great ferocity until the "polytheists" were routed; and nothing could divert or stop them before they reached Alexandria. Here they fortified themselves and set mangonels. ʿAmr made a heavy assault, set the ballistae and destroyed the walls of the city. He pressed the fight so hard until he entered the city by assault, killed the fighters and carried away the children as captives. Some of its Greek inhabitants left to join the Greeks somewhere else; and Allah's enemy, Manuwîl, was killed. ʿAmr and the Moslems destroyed the wall of Alexandria in pursuance of a vow that ʿAmr had made to that effect, in case he reduced the city.
According to certain reports, this invasion took place in the year 23; and according to others, the insurrection took place in the years 23 and 25; but Allah knows best. ʿAmr assessed on the land of Alexandria kharâj; and on its people, poll-tax.
Al-Muḳauḳis. Some report that al-Muḳauḳis forsook the people of Alexandria when they violated the covenant, but ʿAmr reinstated him with his people on the terms of their first capitulation. Others assert that he died before this invasion.
Alexandria taken by capitulation. Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from ʿUmar ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿAzîz:—The latter said, "Not a town in al-Maghrib did we take by capitulation except three: Alexandria, Kafarṭîs and Sulṭais. ʿUmar used to say, 'Whosoever of the inhabitants of these places accepts Islâm will be set free together with his possessions'."
How the dwellings were divided. ʿAmr an-Nâḳid from Yazîd ibn-abi-Ḥabîb:—ʿAmr ibn-al-ʿÂṣi conquered Alexandria, and some Moslems took up their abode in it as a cavalry guard. Later, they withdrew, after which they made an assault and hastened to secure dwellings. Some of them would come to the houses they once occupied and find them already held by a fellow Moslem. Regarding this, ʿAmr remarked, " I am afraid the dwellings would fall into ruins if different ones of you should occupy them in turn." Consequently, when the invasion was made and the Moslems arrived in al-Kiryaun, he said, "Go with Allah's blessing. Whosoever of you sticks his lancet into a house, that house is his and his father's sons'." Thus, the Moslem would enter a house and stick his lancet into some apartment of it; then another would come and stand his lancet in the same house. The same house would thereby be in the possession of two or three persons,[6] which they would occupy until their withdrawal, at which the Greeks would come and occupy it.
Yazîd ibn-abi-Ḥabîb used to say, "No money from the rent of these houses is legal.[7] They can neither be sold nor bequeathed, but they are dwelling-places for the Moslems during the time they hold their post as guard."
The second conflict. During the second conflict with Alexandria, when Manuwîl, the Greek eunuch, came, the people closed the gates; but ʿAmr reduced it and destroyed its wall.
ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd replaces ʿAmr. No sooner had ʿAmr returned to al-Fusṭâṭ after assigning his freedman, Wardân, as governor of Alexandria, than he was dismissed. In the place of ʿAmr, ʿUthmân appointed ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd ibn-abi-Sarḥ ibn-al-Ḥârith of the banu-ʿAmr ibn-Luʾai,[8] ʿUthmân's foster-brother. That took place in the year 25.
According to others, ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd was in charge of the kharâj of Egypt in behalf of ʿUthmân. Between ʿAbdallâh and ʿAmr, a verbal dispute arose and ʿAbdallâh wrote and accused ʿAmr. ʿAmr was dismissed by ʿUthmân, who assigned ʿAbdallâh to both functions, and wrote him saying that Alexandria was taken once by force and revolted two times, and ordering him to station in it a cavalry guard that would never depart from it, and to assign abundant subsistence allowances to the guard, and change its personnel once in every six months.[9]
Ibn-Hurmuz. Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from al-Wâḳidi:—ibn-Hurmuz al-Aʿraj al-Ḳâri [the lame "reader"] used to say, "Your best coast, from the standpoint of guard, is Alexandria." At last he left al-Madînah and joined the guard stationed in Alexandria, where he died in the year 117.
The capitation tax. Bakr ibn-al-Haitham from Mûsa ibn-ʿAli's father:—The capitation tax from Alexandria was 18,000 dînârs; but when Hishâm ibn-ʿAbd-al-Malik became caliph, it amounted to 36,000.[10]
ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd made governor. ʿAmr from Yazîd ibn-abi-Ḥabîb:—ʿUthmân dismissed ʿAmr ibn-al-ʿÂṣi from Egypt and assigned in his place ʿAbdallâh ibn-Saʿd. But when the Greeks occupied Alexandria, the Egyptians asked ʿUthmân to keep ʿAmr until he was through with the fight against the Greeks, because he had special knowledge of warfare and inspired awe in the enemy. ʿUthmân did so; and ʿAmr defeated the Greeks. ʿUthmân then wanted ʿAmr to be in charge of the army, and ʿAbdallâh in charge of the kharâj; but ʿAmr refused, saying, "My case is that of one who holds the horns of the cow while the chief milks it." ʿUthmân then appointed ibn-Saʿd to the governorship of Egypt.
The Abyssinians of al-Bîma. For seven years after the conquest of Egypt, the Abyssinians of al-Bîma[11] kept up their resistance, and could not be subjugated because of the water with which they flooded their thickets.
The second conquest of Alexandria. ʿAbdallâh ibn-Wahb from Mûsa ibn-ʿAli's father:—ʿAmr conquered Alexandria for the second time by capitulation, which conquest took place in the caliphate of ʿUthmân after the death of ʿUmar.
Footnotes
[edit]- ↑ Duḳmâḳ, vol. v, p. 121.
- ↑ Chaereum, Butler, pp. 288–289; al-Idrîsi, Ṣifat al-Maghrib, as-Sûdân, Miṣr w-al-Andalus, p. 160.
- ↑ Cf. ibn-Iyâs, Taʾrîkh Miṣr, vol. I, p. 22.
- ↑ Maḳrîzi, vol. i, pp. 263 seq.
- ↑ Butler, pp. 468–475.
- ↑ Maḳrîzi, vol. i, p. 269: "tribes".
- ↑ Duḳmâḳ, vol. v, p. 118.
- ↑ Nawâwi, pp. 345–347.
- ↑ Maḳrîzi, vol. i, p. 270.
- ↑ Maḳrîzi, vol. i, p. 269.
- ↑ Ṭabari, vol. iii, p. 1106.