The Treaty of Barqa (Antabulus)

صلح برقة وأنطابلس

c. 21 AH

In al-Baladhuri: when Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him) had taken Alexandria he marched with his army seeking the Maghreb until he came to Barqa — that is, the city of Antabulus — whose people compounded for a jizya of thirteen thousand dinars, in which they might sell whom of their children they wished; in Abdallah ibn Hubayra's account, after he had besieged and fought them, on the jizya and that they might sell whom they wished of their children toward their jizya — and he wrote them a book of it. Barqa's people would send their kharaj to Egypt's governor with none to press or hasten them — the most prosperous folk of the Maghreb, no fitna entering it — and Abdallah ibn Amr ibn al-As used to say 'but for my property in the Hijaz I would have settled in Barqa; I know no abode safer nor more wholesome'.

Overview

After the conquest of Alexandria, Amr ibn al-As marched with his troops toward the Maghrib until he reached Barqa, that is Antaboulus, and made peace with its people for a poll tax of thirteen thousand dinars, and allowed them to sell whichever of their sons they wished in it. ¹

The reports

In the report of Abd Allah ibn Hubayra, Amr besieged them and fought them for the poll tax, and then wrote them a letter of peace. ¹

The state of Barqa after the peace

Al-Baladhuri says that the people of Barqa used to send their tribute to the governor of Egypt without anyone urging them, and that no civil strife entered it. He quotes Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn al-As saying that were it not for his property in the Hijaz he would have settled in Barqa, and that he knew of no dwelling safer than it. ¹

The date of the event

The date is approximate, in 21 AH after the conquest of Alexandria; the conversion to the Gregorian calendar is derived.

Conquest of Egypt and Alexandria

Tabari records it under year 20 with dating dispute: Ibn Ishaq year 20, Sayf year 16, heading 'the report of the conquest of Egypt and Alexandria'. In al-Baladhuri: Amr ibn al-As was besieging Caesarea when the armies returned from Yarmuk; leaving his son over it he marched on Egypt on his own initiative with three thousand five hundred — or, some say, on Umar's written order — camping at al-Arish, then al-Farama where he fought its defenders and seized their camp, then pitched at Jinan al-Rayhan while Fustat's people ditched — the city being called al-Yuna, renamed al-Fustat by the Muslims as 'the people's encampment and gathering', or for the tent Amr pitched; al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam joined him with ten thousand — or twelve, among them Kharija ibn Hudhafa al-Adawi and Umayr ibn Wahb al-Jumahi — fighting from one face while Amr fought from another, until Zubayr brought a ladder, mounted the fortress bare-sworded crying takbir, the Muslims echoing and following, and the fortress fell by force; Umar established its people as dhimma, jizya on their necks and kharaj on their land; Zubayr laid khittas at Misr and Alexandria, built his known house, and his ladder stayed in Egypt. On the manner of the conquest they differed: some said by force, others by treaty — the soundest in Abdallah ibn Amr's account being that his father fought al-Yuna's folk and took it by overpowering, then its king compounded with him on Syria's terms — two dinars on every free male save the poor, a dinar and three ardabbs of grain on the jarib, three ardabbs of wheat plus a qist each of oil, honey and vinegar per landholder as the Muslims' provision gathered in Dar al-Rizq, and for every Muslim yearly a wool jubba, a burnus or turban, drawers and boots or its worth in Coptic cloth — covenanting that their women and children be neither sold nor enslaved and their wealth and treasures remain theirs; al-Yuna's king then compounded for all Egypt on the same. Another chain has 'we opened Egypt without covenant', Amr himself preaching that no Copt held a pact with him save Antabulus's people; Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz wrote his governor Hayyan ibn Shurayh that Egypt was conquered by force without covenant or contract; Urwa ibn al-Zubayr — who dwelt there seven years — held Amr conquered it only by treaty, covenant and fixed levy; and Uqba ibn Amir al-Juhani testified that Egypt's people hold covenant and contract: secure in wealth, blood, women and children, none of them sold, a kharaj never to be increased, and protection from their enemy's fear.

The Treaty of Barqa (Antabulus)

At a glance

Overview

The reports

The state of Barqa after the peace

The date of the event

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Time

Conquest of Egypt and Alexandria