Uqba ibn Nafi's Charge over Zawila and the Marches to Barqa

ولاية عقبة بن نافع على زويلة وما بينها وبرقة

c. 22 AH

In al-Baladhuri on Mu'awiya ibn Salih's report: Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him) wrote to Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) that he had given Uqba ibn Nafi' al-Fihri the Maghreb — he had reached Zawila, and all between Zawila and Barqa had submitted in good obedience, their Muslims paying sadaqa and their covenant-holders confirmed in jizya — and that he had laid on Zawila's people and those between it and Barqa what he judged they could bear; and he charged all his agents to take sadaqa from the rich and return it to the poor, to take the jizya of the dhimma borne to him in Egypt, to take tithe and half-tithe from Muslim lands, and the treaty-terms from treaty folk.

Depth

At a glance

Era: The Rashidun Caliphate
Region: Maghreb
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Overview

Al-Baladhuri relates from Mu'awiya ibn Salih that Amr ibn al-As wrote to Umar ibn al-Khattab that he had appointed Uqba ibn Nafi al-Fihri over the Maghrib, and that he reached Zawila. ¹

What the letter says

Amr mentioned that everything between Zawila and Barqa had submitted; their Muslims paid the alms, and their covenanters acknowledged the poll tax. He imposed on them what he thought they could bear. ¹

He ordered his agents to take the alms from the rich and return it to the poor, to take the poll tax from the protected people and carry it to him in Egypt, and to take a tenth and a half-tenth from the lands of the Muslims, and from the people of the peace what they had agreed to. ¹

The date

The event is dated around 22 AH, after the peace of Barqa and before Tripoli, and the conversion is derived. A second source is needed to fix the year.

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant: Uqba ibn Nafi' al-Fihri· Amr ibn al-As
Occurred at: Zawila· Barqa (Cyrenaica)

People and things also explored

The Treaty of Barqa (Antabulus)· Quraysh· The Revolt of Abu Rakwa al-Umawi against al-Hakim· the Alexandria rising and its recovery (25 AH)· Ali spares Amr ibn al-As after he was exposed· Amr's Dismissal and Ibn Abi Sarh's Sole Charge of Egypt· The Battle of Dathin· The Battle of Uhud

Sources

Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition) , p.315

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Uqba ibn Nafi's Charge over Zawila and the Marches to Barqa”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/uqba-zawila-appointment/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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The Treaty of Barqa (Antabulus)

In al-Baladhuri: when Amr ibn al-As 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'.