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Battle of Sufetula (647)

For the 6th-century battle at the same location, see Battle of Sufetula (546 or 547).
Battle of Sufetula
Part of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb
(Arab–Byzantine wars)

A 19th-century glass painting from Sfax depicting the Battle of Sufetula.[1]
Date647
Location
Sufetula, North Africa
35°13′47″N 9°7′46″E / 35.22972°N 9.12944°E / 35.22972; 9.12944
Result Rashidun victory
Belligerents
Rashidun Caliphate Byzantine Empire
Zenata and Maghrawa
Commanders and leaders
Abdallah ibn Sa'd
Uqba ibn Nafi
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr		 Gregory the Patrician †
Wazmar ibn Saqlab (POW)
Strength
20,000 men[2] (Arab claim) 120,000 men[2] (Arab claim)
Casualties and losses
Unknown Heavy
Battle of Sufetula is located in Tunisia
Battle of Sufetula
Battle of Sufetula
Location within Tunisia

The Battle of Sufetula (Arabic: معركة سبيطلة, romanized: Ma'rakat Sbeitla) took place in 647 CE between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa.[3]

Background

The Exarchate of Africa was in internal turmoil due to the conflict between the mainly Orthodox Chalcedonian population and the supporters of Monothelitism, an attempt at compromise between Chalcedonianism and Monophysitism devised and promoted by Emperor Heraclius in 638.

In 642–643, the Arabs had seized Cyrenaica and the eastern half of Tripolitania, along with Tripoli. According to Ibn Abd al-Hakam, Amr ibn al-As captured Tripoli after seven of his soldiers from the clan of Madhhij, a sub-branch of the Kinana, accidentally discovered a breach in its walls.[4] The seven infiltrated the city and raised a disturbance; thinking that a much larger Muslim force had broken through their defenses, the Byzantine garrison fled and left Tripoli to Amr.[4] It was only an order from Caliph Umar (r. 634–644) that halted their westward expansion.[5]

In 646, the exarch Gregory the Patrician launched a rebellion against Emperor Constans II. The obvious reason was the latter's support for Monothelitism, but it undoubtedly was also a reaction to the Muslim conquest of Egypt, and the threat it presented to Byzantine Africa. The revolt seems to have found broad support among the populace as well, not only among the Romanized Africans, but also among the Berbers of the provincial hinterland.

Battle

In 647, Umar's successor Uthman ordered Abd Allah ibn Sa'd to invade the Exarchate with 20,000 men. Muslim historians call this campaign "The Conquest of the Seven Abd Allahs", after seven leaders named Abd Allah, they are: Abd Allah ibn Sa'd, Abd Allah ibn Abbas, Abd Allah ibn Ja'far, Abd Allah ibn Umar, Abd Allah ibn Amr, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, and Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud.[6] The Muslims invaded western Tripolitania and advanced up to the northern boundary of the Byzantine province of Byzacena. Gregory confronted the Arabs on their return at Sufetula.[7][8] To encourage his soldiers, Gregory offered to marry his daughter to anyone who killed Ibn Sa'd. When Ibn Sa'd heard about this, he in turn promised to give his daughter to anyone who killed Gregory.[9] Records from al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah state that Abdallah's troops were completely surrounded by Gregory's army. However, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr spotted Gregory in his chariot and asked Abd Allah ibn Sa'dd to lead a small detachment to intercept him. The interception was successful, and Gregory was slain by Ibn al-Zubayr's ambush party. Consequently, the morale of the Byzantine army started crumbling and they were soon routed.[10]

Agapius of Hierapolis and some Syriac sources claim that he survived the defeat and fled to Constantinople, where he was reconciled with Constans, but most modern scholars accept the Arab chroniclers' account of his death in battle.

The Arab accounts also claim that the Muslims captured Gregory's daughter, who is named Amina, according to popular accounts. She was carried back to Egypt as captive, but she threw herself from the camel while on the march and died.[11] Other accounts claim she was taken by Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr as an Umm Walad, at the promise of Abd Allah ibn Sa'd of giving her to whoever killed her father.[9]

Aftermath

After Gregory's death, the Arabs sacked Sufetula and raided across the Exarchate, while the Byzantines withdrew to their fortresses. Unable to storm the Byzantine fortifications and satisfied with the huge amounts of plunder they had made, the Arabs agreed to depart in exchange for the payment of a heavy tribute in gold.[12]

During this battle, Wazmar ibn Saqlab (or his son Sawlat), chief of the Maghrawa and the Zenata, was captured by the Muslims, and taken to Medina, where he converted to Islam by Caliph Uthman, and was appointed on his people and returned to his home, this led to the Zenata and Maghrawa tribes being more inclined towards the Umayyads over the Abbasids in the future.[13]

Despite the fact that the Arab raid was not followed up for some time, and the restoration of ties with Constantinople, Byzantine rule over Africa was shaken to its roots by Gregory's rebellion and the Arab victory. The Berber tribes in particular shook off their allegiance to the Empire, and most of southern Tunisia seems to have slipped outside the control of Carthage.[14] Thus the Battle of Sufetula marked "the end, more or less near, but inevitable, of Byzantine domination in Africa".[15]

References

  1. ^ Boularas, Al-Habib (2011). History of Tunisia (2 ed.). Tunis: Cérès editions. pp. 198–199. ISBN 978-9973-19-789-4.
  2. ^ a b معركة سبيطلة سنة 27هـ، مقال لمحمد منير الجنباز، شبكة الألوكة Archived 2018-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Kaegi, Walter E. (2010). Muslim Expansion and Byzantine Collapse in North Africa. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-19677-2.
  4. ^ a b Khalid, Mahmud (2020). "Libya in the shadows of Islam.. How did Amr ibn al-Aas and his companions conquer Cyrenaica and Tripoli?". aljazeera (in Arabic). p. Ibn Abd al-Hakam: al-Maqrib, pp. 198, 199. Retrieved 5 December 2021. Ibn Abd al-Hakam: al-Maqrib, pp. 198, 199
  5. ^ Diehl (1896), pp. 557–558
  6. ^ al-Zawi, Tahir (2004). History of the Arab conquest in Libya (4 ed.). Dar al-Madar al-Islami. p. 69.
  7. ^ Pringle (1981), p. 47
  8. ^ UNESCO (2011-12-31). The different aspects of islamic culture: The Spread of Islam throughout the World. UNESCO Publishing. ISBN 978-92-3-104153-2.
  9. ^ a b Ibn Adhari (2013). Al-Bayan al-Mughrib (in Arabic). Vol. 1 (1 ed.). Dar al-Gharb al-Islami. pp. 33–34.
  10. ^ Johnston, Harry H. (2011-06-09). A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-23128-2.
  11. ^ Diehl (1896), p. 559
  12. ^ Diehl (1896), pp. 559–560
  13. ^ Ibn Khaldun (2000). Kitab al-Ibar (in Arabic). Vol. 6. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr. p. 141.
  14. ^ Diehl (1896), pp. 560–561
  15. ^ Diehl (1896), p. 562

Bibliography

  • Charles Diehl (1896), L'Afrique byzantine: histoire de la domination byzantine en Afrique (533-709) (in French), Paris{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Denys Pringle (1981), The defence of Byzantine Africa from Justinian to the Arab conquest: an account of the military history and archaeology of the African provinces in the sixth and seventh centuries, B.A.R., ISBN 978-0-86054-119-6
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