The Aragonese capture of Djerba

In Rajab 683 AH the fleets of Frederick, son of the king of Barcelona, took the island of Djerba, with about seventy ships of ravens and galleys. Ibn Khaldun describes it as among the greatest events and the most grievous to the Muslims. ¹

The leadership of the island belonged to Muhammad ibn Sammun, one of the elders of the Wahbiyya, and to Ibn Amghar, the elder of the Nakkaza. These are two sects of the Kharijites, according to Ibn Khaldun. ¹

They plundered its wealth and carried its people off as captives and slaves. It is said they reached eight thousand, after they threw the infants into the water jars. They built a fortress on its shore and garrisoned it with troops and weapons, and imposed on the rest a fine of a hundred thousand dinars each year. It remained in the hands of the Christians until the late forties of the eighth century. ¹

The Gregorian date (about September 1284 CE) is calculated from the Hijri date. ¹