As-Suyuti

[pp. 743-744]

AṢ-ṢUYŪṬĪ

(d. 1505 A.D.)

Abū-l-Faḍl A. Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr Jalāl ad-dīn aṣ-Ṣuyūṭī ash-shāfi'ī. An Egyptian polygraph, who summarized earlier sources.

EI (s.v.); GAL 2, 143-158

K. al-khulafa'

Ed. : Bulaq; English transl.: H. Sullivan Jarret, History of the Caliphs, repr. Amsterdam 1970

T.: Bulaq and Jarret A:Jarret

The Conquest of Barqa and Nubia.

Ibn 'Abd al-Ḥakam said: - 'Amrū b. al-'Āṣ sent Nāfi' 'Abd al-Qays al-Fihrī, who was a uterine brother to 'As b. al-Wā'il. Their horsemen invaded Nubia, [dividing themselves into] groups (ṭawā'if)<ref>Although most of the earlier historians have the words ṣawā'if which they explain as "summer (ṣayf) expedition", it seems to me that the word "ṭawā'if" – which I have found only in Suyuti (Bulaq edition) – [p. 744] is more likely to be the original word. This reading finds support in Kitāb al-futūḥāt (q.v.), where it is plainly stated that the early Arab raiders, led by 'Amrū, divided themselves into many groups.</ref> like the raiding [p. 744] groups of the Rūm. These raids continued until b. Abī Sarḥ was appointed governor after him. He made a peace agreement with the Nūba in the year 31 H. [652 A.D.], on the condition that they pay, every year, 360 slaves to the Moslems and 40 slaves to the governor of the country. (Bulaq, p. 68).

In the year 674 H. [1275 A.D.] the Sultan sent an army against Nubia and Dongola and was victorious. The king of Nubia was taken prisoner and sent to al-Malik aẓ-Ẓāhir and a tribute was laid on the people of Dongola - Praise be to God!

The first expedition against Nubia, says adh-Dhahabī, took place in the year 31 H. [652 A.D.], when it was attacked by 'Abdalla b. Abī Sarḥ at the head of 5,000 horsemen. He did not conquer it, but concluded a peace agreement and returned.

Nubia was invaded again in the time of Hishām [684 - 705 A.D.], but unsuccessfully. Tekin az-Zankī next invaded it under the reign of al-Mansur; then Kāfūr al-Ikhshīdī, and later on Nāṣir ad-Dawla b. Ḥamdān and finally Tūrānshāh, brother of Saladin, in the year 568 H. [1172 A.D.]; but Nubia was never conquered until this year [674 H. = 1275/1276 A.D.]. About this expedition [of 674 H.], Ibn aẓ-Ẓāhir said: 'This is a victory, unheard of, neither from eye-witnesses, nor from declarations [of others]. (Jarret, p. 507).

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