The First Raid on Ifriqiya and the Killing of Its Patrikios

غزوة إفريقية الأولى وقتل بطريقها

27? AH

Ifriqiya

In al-Baladhuri: when Uthman gave Abdallah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh Egypt and the Maghreb he sent out light cavalry squadrons that struck Ifriqiya's outskirts and took spoil, Uthman hesitating over its conquest until he resolved upon consultation and wrote to Abdallah in year 27 — or 28 or 29 by other reports — ordering the raid, reinforcing him with a great army in which were Mu'bad ibn al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (may God be pleased with him), Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya and his brother al-Harith, Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (may God be pleased with him), al-Musawwar ibn Makhrama ibn Nawfal ibn Uhayb ibn Abd Manaf ibn Zuhra ibn Kilab, Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) (may God be pleased with him), Abdallah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him), Asim ibn Umar, Ubaydallah ibn Umar, Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr, Abdallah ibn Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him), Busr ibn Abi Artat ibn Uwaymir al-Amiri, and Abu Dhu'ayb Khuwaylid ibn Khalid al-Hudhali the poet — who died there, Ibn al-Zubayr attending him till he laid him in his grave; and many Arabs from around Medina rode out in this raid. Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr said: Uthman ibn Affan (may God be pleased with him) sent us raiding to Ifriqiya, where a patrikios held sultanate from Tripoli to Tangier; Abdallah ibn Sa'd marched till he halted at Sbejtla — Yaquba in one copy — fighting him some days till God killed him — and it was I who killed him — his army fleeing in rout; Ibn Abi Sarh scattered sariyyas through the land taking great spoil and driving off what herds they could, whereupon Ifriqiya's grandees gathered and begged Abdallah ibn Sa'd to take three hundred qintar of gold for staying his hand and quitting their land, which he accepted; on Ibn Ka'b's report he compounded with Ifriqiya's patrikios for two million five hundred thousand dinars — Qudama noting al-Waqidi put the treaty at two million five hundred and twenty thousand, which shows the qintar at eight thousand four hundred dinars. The treaty done, he returned to Egypt appointing no governor over Ifriqiya — it had then no Qayrawan nor garrison city; and at Ifriqiya Mu'bad ibn al-Abbas was martyred in this raid — some say he died in the days of fighting, the martyrdom being firmer.