Nubians

Overview

According to al-Baladhuri, the Nuba were a people who shot arrows at the Muslims until they put out the eyes, and were called "the archers of the eyes". Their homeland is Nubia. ¹

In the Conquests of the Lands

Al-Baladhuri reports from a shaykh of Himyar who witnessed them his saying that he had never seen a people more keen in war than they were, and that one of them would ask the Muslim where he wished his arrow to land, and would never miss. He mentions that a hundred and fifty eyes put out were counted in a single line. ¹

Abd Allah ibn Sa'd made a truce with them, a truce without poll tax. ¹

The Nubian Peace

In al-Baladhuri via al-Walid ibn Kathir via Yazid ibn Abi Habib via Abu al-Khayr: when the Muslims opened Egypt Amr ibn al-As sent the cavalry to the villages around it to trample them, sending Uqba ibn Nafi' al-Fihri — Nafi' being al-As's maternal brother; their horses entered Nubia like the Romans' summer raids, the Muslims met fierce fighting and were showered with arrows till most were wounded, returning with many wounds and gouged eyes — called 'eye-bleeders' — until Abdallah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh governed Egypt; they asked him for peace and truce which he granted not on jizya but on a truce of three hundred heads yearly, the Muslims gifting them equal food. A Himyari shaykh who twice witnessed Nubia under Umar: no people sharper in war — one would ask a Muslim 'where would you like me to place my arrow?' and not miss; they lined up one day and shot till eyes were gone — a hundred and fifty gouged eyes counted — so they said nothing better than peace with them, their spoil little and their vexation severe; Umar never made peace with them and kept harassing them until he died, and Abdallah ibn Sa'd made peace with them. At Nubia Mu'awiya ibn Khudayj al-Kindi's eye was lost — he was one-eyed.

At a glance

Overview

In the Conquests of the Lands

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

The Nubian Peace