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Siege of Malaga and the captivity of its people

حصار مالقة وأسر أهلها

1487 CE · 892 AH

Malaga

In 892 the Christians besieged Malaga by land and sea; its people fought with cannon, horse and foot until the food ran out and they ate beasts, horses and donkeys, wrote to both shores for relief and got none — promised safety, they surrendered the citadel keys in late Sha'ban and were taken captive, a deception the chronicler calls the infidels' trickery 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
Region
al-Andalus & Europe
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In time

1470148014901500
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Gunpowder Empires · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

In space

Malaga

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Wars and campaigns

Overview

In 892 AH the Christians besieged Malaga by land and sea, and then its people were taken captive in late Sha'ban, as al-Maqqari relates. 1

The siege

The people of Malaga fought them with cannon, horses and men. The Christians surrounded the city with trenches and walls on the land side and with ships from the sea, and prevented anyone from entering. Only a group of the Murabitun entered it. 1

Food ran out, and the people ate cattle, horses and donkeys. They wrote to the two shores asking for relief, and no one came to them. 1

The surrender

When they despaired of al-Nasir, they asked for safe conduct. They were promised safety from being killed if they handed over the key of the castle and the fortress; when they did, the enemy took them captive. This was at the end of Sha'ban that year. 1

The date of the year is derived. 2

Connections

Explore the connections

Occurred at
Malaga

People and things also explored

Malaga· Ahl al-Harb (the people at war with the Muslims, their status and the rules that govern dealings with them)· Anfal (spoils and the other gains taken from the enemy, and their divisions)· The angels at Badr· Dissuading others from fighting· Ghanima (spoils of war)· Hudna (truce with non-Muslims)· Hujna (hybridness, in the fiqh sense: spoils shares and speech)

Sources

  1. Nafh al-Tib min Ghusn al-Andalus al-Ratib — al-Maqqari , p. 520-521
  2. Nafh al-Tib min Ghusn al-Andalus al-Ratib — al-Maqqari , p. 521
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Siege of Malaga and the captivity of its people”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/siege-of-malaga-892/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Wing

Time

Eras, timelines, this day in history, any year in the Islamic world. Related

Malaga

Malaga, the great Andalusi port on the Mediterranean in the kura of Rayya; besieged by land and sea in 892, its people fought with cannon and cavalry until the stores ran out and they ate beasts, horses and donkeys — taken captive in late Sha'ban.