The Conquest of Barah

فتح بارة

c. 847 CE · c. 232 AH† †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

In al-Baladhuri: in the Maghreb lies a land known as the Great Land, fifteen days' march from Barqa — or a little less or more — with a sea-shore city called Barah whose people were Christians though not Romans; Jabala, al-Aghlab's mawla, raided it but could not take it, then Khalafun al-Barbari — said to be a mawla of Rabi'a — raided it and opened it at the start of al-Mutawakkil's caliphate.

Overview

al-Baladhuri relates that Barah lies in a land of the Maghrib known as the Great Land, about fifteen days' march from Barqa. Jabala, client of al-Aghlab, raided it and could not take it. It was then conquered by Khalafun al-Barbari at the start of the caliphate of al-Mutawakkil. ¹

Details

It was a city on the seashore, and its people were Christians, but not Byzantines. It is said that Khalafun was a client of Rabi'a. ¹

al-Mufarraj ibn Sallam's Conquest of Twenty-Four Fortresses

In al-Baladhuri: after Khalafun rose a man called al-Mufarraj — one copy: al-Mufarrikh — ibn Sallam who opened twenty-four fortresses and seized them; he wrote the postmaster in Egypt his news and that he deemed the absentee prayer unlawful for himself and the Muslims with him, asking the imam to contract him over his district and appoint him, to leave the state of usurpers — and he built a congregational mosque. Then his companions mutinied and killed him; Sawran — also read Sudan — succeeded and sent his envoy to al-Mutawakkil asking patent and letter of appointment, but al-Mutawakkil died before the envoy reached him, and al-Muntasir died whose caliphate was six months; al-Musta'in Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Mu'tasim ordered his Maghreb agent Utamish — the caliph's mawla — to contract it for him, but before his envoy could leave Samarra Utamish was killed and Wasif the caliph's mawla took the district and contracted and dispatched it.

The Conquest of Barah

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al-Mufarraj ibn Sallam's Conquest of Twenty-Four Fortresses