Islam in north africa
The muslim conquest in north africa started during the reign of the second caliph umar bn al-khattab (d.644). The caliph reluctantly sent a first expedition in the year 640 AD under the command of his best general who was in syria amr bn l-As, the expedition was initially his idea thus made it reluctantly, and the letter was sent to amr bn l-As to return if they were still in syria, but they further extent their mission to egypt in accordance with agreement.
Cyrus whom emperor heraclius had chosen to govern egypt has misgovern it into hatre of the empire, Eventually, the muslim army appeared before the city of babylon main city were the government official located. but in several occassion muslim armies where outnumbered by the egyptian troops, they had to seek refuge to a place portable for their occupation and request further reinforcement, a 12,000 men arrived and this gave the muslim armies power to won a battle of heliopolis in July 640 AD, and made for them to put the capital under siege.
An envoys were sent to deliver the following message to Amr,
"You and your army have invaded our country, and seem bent on fighting us. Your
stay in the land is long, no doubt: but you are a small force, far outnumbered by the Byzantines, who are well equipped and well armed. Now too you are surrounded by
the waters of the Nile, and are in fact captives in our hand. It would be well for you, therefore, to send envoys with any proposals you wish to make for an agreement, before the Byzantines overwhelm you. Then it will be too late and you will regret your error."
In respond to that "‘Amr mentioned his terms which include that: (i) Islam with brotherhood and equality, (ii) payment of tribute and protection with an inferior status, (iii) war till God gave the decision.
In the end the cyrus accepted the 2nd term but the heraclius didn't approve and thus sent a cyrus into exile and after seven months the city was surrendered on easter monday 641 AD. Then Amr march to Alexandria city, and the heraclius had dead and chaotic nature of the politics at that time lead to recall of cyrus and reappointed as governor to complete the treaty he has started, he continue to with his maltreatment to the native copts, the people agree to pay tribute, it was in November 641 AD, upon hearing this a thanksgiving ceremony was held by khalipha ‘Amr now built near Babylon the city of Fustat, which for three centuries remained the capital, Cyrus passed away on March 20, 642. At the end of the peace agreement, September 29, 642, ‘Amr’s troops entered Alexandria and the Byzantine rule ended in Egypt. Benjamin, the Patriarch of the Egyptian was hidden he was declare to return and continue the affair of his church, protection were grant to him.
Khalifa ‘Umar was of the view that an
increased tribute should be sent to him, but ‘Amr did not approve, Amr was removed and Abdullahi bin sa'd was appointed in his stead, after a while the city was retake, Amr at once was resent with an army of 15,000 men to recapture the city in 646 AD in summer. and remained a governor until his dead 663 AD at the age of ninety.
The war in Africa had now to be carried on by other men. There were two opposing forces: the Byzantine population with their garrison, and the native Berbers, Northern Africa from one end to the other became a theatre of religious persecution, wasted
with fire and sword, but through all these uproars and changes,
the mountaineers preserved their barbarism and independence.
The africa were never considered again untill when khalifah Mu'awiyya seated into a throne, 669 AD. prepare another expedition rising up to 10,000 men under the command of Uqbah bn nafi, in 670 AD, he built a city of qayrawan, and latter he was called by khalifah and sent Maslama ibn Mukhallad to took his place. The recall was a grief to ‘Uqba who at length gained the consent of the Khalifa Yazid to return to Afrikia in 682 AD.
Uqbah rival with the one berber tribe leader "Kusaila" and engaged in a war with him which in the end Uqbah met with his death at the war of tahuda, and Kusaila occupied the throne in the city of qayrawan. A Berber chief now for five years ruled over the Berbers, and carried on the administration of Qayrawan and the adjacent country.
During the time of khalifah Abdul malik another fourth expedition was sent to avenge the dead of Uqbah bin nafi and brought egypt under islam, between 688-689 AD under the command of Zubayr ibn Qays, and in the end Kusaila was terribly wounded and this lead to his demise, Zubair then entered Qayrawan and once more restored Arab rule. He is quoted to
have said that he feared that Afrikia would draw him towards the affairs of the world. instead he decided to move to barka and the people of that city terrified and started flee and landed their troops to destroy city, and in the battle that follow he and his chief men were slain a few who fleed took the news to the khalipha Abdulmalik in Damascus. after a while the khalifah summone courage to the armies and prepare for another expedition which is the fifth expedition.
The fifth expedition set out in 693 AD under the command of Hasan ibn Nu’man. He entered Egypt with 40,000 men, Meanwhile in Qayrawan the Arabs were passive spectators of all that was going on; the Byzantines were seeking to regain their lost powers; the Berber chiefs were
jealous of each other. This was the condition of the various parties, when the most powerful army yet sent to Afrikia arrived. after Hassan has fought many wars he has to face the succesor of Kusaila who was Al-khahinah(divineress) a berber queen who gain a great influence among the tribe, she also told the inhabitant that "those people are coming to our country because of the abundant we have so they decided to destroy the goodness in their country, and so they did in the command of Al-kahinah. For the first time Hassan was defeated retired some of their armies in hand of Al-kahinah and march eastward to the city of barka, afterward the berber were angered by the Al-kahinah's decision of removing the good resources possessed by their country and this result in helping Hassan bin Nu'man to defeat Al-kahinah in their second battle.
and between the year 698 and 705 AD Musa ibn Nusair was sent to replace hassan bn Nu'man. the conquest of africa was completed and soon islamisation will begin.
Islamisation of north africa
Islamisation of North africa.
The conquest of North africa and islamisation were happened in different occasion, at the beginning Arab primarily focused on capturing cities and establishing themselve to dominate, later the islamisation proceed even the conquerors are different from those who islamised the region. around 705 AD the conquest completed however, the islamisation began after the emerged of kharijite and the shi'ite.
After their departured they headed to africa and started spreading out islam among africans particularly north, they formed into three different dynasty: banu Midrars, Rustamid and Idirissid, they built mosques and continue to convert many africans into islam until around 909 when they were invaded by fatimid shi'ite, the idrissid were also among of them, their leader mawla idris managed to converted some of jews and christian to islam in 790 AD when he conquered tilimsan.
In the year 895, an Ismaili propagandist called ash-Shi‘i came to North Africa and managed to convert the Ketama Berbers, who consequently accepted his master.
Other smallest dynasties later established and around 1171 AD, when Salahadin, subsequently leader of the Islamic world against the intruding crusaders, deposes the last of the Fatimid line, Additionally, it was through these native led movements that orthodox Islam was fully established in the hearts and minds of the North African Muslims.
Almoravids and Almohads
From the mid 11th century the islamic movements falls under the hands of berbers tribe, they are moving north from the Western Sahara up past
the Atlas Mountains. Known as the Almoravids, they are fired by a new zeal for Islam, in 1062 they establish a base at Marrakech, The Almoravid territory in north Africa stretches along the coast as far as Algiers, Their leader Yahya bn Ibrahim started expanding their movement known as Almoravids (lit. means ‘Those who stand together in defense of Religion’), derived from Ribat, in which both religious and military training was given, After him, a scholar called Ibn-Tashfin took over the Almoravid Empire. in 1062 AD. in 1086 Spanish empire was attacked by christians and too weak to defend themselve ibn tashfin sent them a huge armies from magrib and they defeated them later ibn tashfin went to Spain and conquered them. ibn tashfin died at the age of 100 in 1106.
Similarly the Almohads appeared in 1147 and they easily spread out and conquered all the berber tribe even thought they are from them, they brought all berbers into a single empire, This movement was founded by a Berber reformer from the Atlas called Ibn Tumart. the core teaching of this leader was “this world and this life are plunged to God”. Thus, the name of his movement: “Al-Muwahhidun” (The upholders of Divine Unity). Maghreb was under their control till the Libyan Desert. In 1170, Spain also fell into their hands and for a while Seville became
the capital, although the rulers preferred to stay in Marrakesh, The two great philosophers of the Maghrib, Ibn Tufayl and Ibn Rushd were of that period, the Almohads empire started to collapse when they faced a defeat at Las Navas de Tolosa, in 1212, by the combined armies of Castile, Aragon, Navarre and Portugal, In about 1229 their governor in Tunis
declares he independent, in 1269 they take Marrakesh and bring to an end
Almohad rule in Morocco.
CONCLUSION
From this century down to 20th many schools of thought were established including mysticism and sufisms their practising were spread out through magreb till 20th century when Wahhabism was formerly introduced to the Maghreb.
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