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Walk this pathway
4steps · 30min · newcomer · student
The conquest
Al-Baladhuri says that Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj al-Kindi raided Sicily in the days of Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, and was the first to raid it. {cite:futuh-buldan-maarif-1407 p.329} The house of al-Aghlab ibn Salim then opened more than twenty of its cities, and Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Aghlab took the palace of Yana and the fort of Ghalyana in the caliphate of al-Mutawakkil. {cite:futuh-buldan-maarif-1407 p.329} Ibn Khaldun says that the army landed at the town of Mazara in "the year twelve", which the context places in 212 AH. {cite:tarikh-ibn-khaldun-ibar p.1026}
Palermo
Ibn Khaldun says that the Muslims besieged Balarm and then opened it; the lines read here do not give the year of the opening. {cite:tarikh-ibn-khaldun-ibar p.1026} In Ibn Jubayr's time the city was "the seat of Sicily", the king's seat, and he compares its building to Cordoba's. {cite:rihla-ibn-jubayr-1907 p.93} The Muslims there had quarters of their own, a qadi and a congregational mosque, and most of their mosques were used for teaching the Qur'an. {cite:rihla-ibn-jubayr-1907 p.92}
Learning and orchards
Al-Idrisi calls Sicily "unique in its age for excellence and virtues", and says that travellers from every region came to it and agreed on its excellence. {cite:nuzhat-al-mushtaq-2002 p.588} In Palermo, Ibn Jubayr describes open squares and plains that are all orchards. {cite:rihla-ibn-jubayr-1907 p.93} Most of the city's mosques, he records, were places where teachers of the Qur'an sat with their pupils. {cite:rihla-ibn-jubayr-1907 p.92}
The Normans
Al-Idrisi says that Roger ibn Tancred began to conquer the island in 453 AH and took all of it over thirty years. {cite:nuzhat-al-mushtaq-2002 p.589} He dedicated his book to the great king Roger, king of Sicily and Italy, and finished it in Shawwal 548 AH. {cite:nuzhat-al-mushtaq-2002 p.4} {cite:nuzhat-al-mushtaq-2002 p.7} In Ibn Jubayr's account of the king's palace, the concubines were all Muslims, a detail he reports from one of the king's servants. {cite:rihla-ibn-jubayr-1907 p.99}
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Do first:: Islam in Thirty Minutes
Overview
A path through the island in the sea: the Aghlabid conquest, Palermo, and the Normans who inherit the craft.
Sources
- Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition)
- Kitab al-Ibar of Ibn Khaldun
- Al-Idrisi, Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq (Cairo: Maktabat al-Thaqafa al-Diniyya, 2002), 2 vols.
- The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, Arabic text (Gibb Memorial, 1907)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Islamic Sicily”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/exhibits/path-sicily-islam/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-24.