Sicily, a magnificent Mediterranean island, which belongs to Italy politically, was once part of the history of Islamic geography in its medieval era, and from this island Muslims were able to penetrate gradually to the south of Italy, to be close to Rome, the capital of the Catholic papacy in the world I gather for the first time in the history of the confrontation between the two sides, since the emergence of Islam.
This Islamic presence in Sicily was exciting and bizarre in its novice and its finale.It lasted just over two centuries.Muslims over the settlement and reconstruction managed to establish a civilization, and to retain a legacy that is still a witness to their existence to this day through several witnesses and a thousand years after their departure. Why did Muslims enter Sicily? How did they confront the mighty Byzantine power that dominated the Mediterranean and its islands at the time? What are the most important effects and evidence of their presence in this volcanic island rich?
Create fleets .. First Ghaith!
The first sun of the first century AH was completed, but Muslims conquered the whole of North Africa and Andalusia, as well as the Levant and Egypt, and the Byzantine Islamic confrontation became stronger than before. The Romans retreated from the Levant to Anatolia, from North Africa and Andalusia to the depth of the European continent, and the Mediterranean became The arena of confrontation and constant fighting, and the continued retaliation of Byzantine forces on coastal cities and Islamic fleets, which Muslims realized with him the need to establish strong fleets and ports on their long coasts.
Recognizing the seriousness of these raids, the Abbasids kept the maritime industry house founded by the Umayyads in Tire, then transferred it to the city of Acre in 247 AH / 681 CE. These skirmishes continued between the two sides until the Abbasids, at a moment of weakening Byzantine, managed to seize the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean for a period of time. Later, Crete, and increased maritime control points on the coast of the Levant until the city of Tarsus became one of the offensive military ports of the Islamic Navy, and the Tulunids exploited these ports and the role of the maritime industry in both Syria and Egypt and worked to strengthen them and increase their fleets [1].
This was in the Levant and Egypt, but in North Africa, the Byzantine Islamic confrontation did not stop since the first Islamic conquests, the first naval expeditions on the nearby island of Sicily and Sardinia in 44 AH / 664 AD, and was launched from the city of Cyrenaica was the fleet receiving supplies This campaign was followed by a number of other campaigns, as in 84 AH and 92 AH, although fleeting naval campaigns were not aimed at capturing Sicily and remaining there.
The first attempts to establish a house for the manufacture of warships in Tunisia by the then ruler Musa bin Nusair, and that was in 84 AH / 703 AD, one of the important leaders of the Andalusian conquest later, and in fact Moussa established a shipbuilding house or "arsenal" and linked to the Mediterranean. The construction of one hundred boats, and there are other accounts indicate that the governor Hassan bin Numan built this military arsenal before the mandate of Musa bin Nusair.
From Tunisia to the Mediterranean
Thus, Tunisia became a strategic maritime center for the Islamic fleets since the end of the first century AH, including invasions against the presence of the Byzantine-Romans in the Mediterranean, has sent Musa bin Nusseir Tunisian fleet in 89 AH / 707 AD to attack the naval bases of the Roman islands near the Islamic property in North Africa , The Islamic fleet attacked the islands of Menorca and Mallorca near the coast of Spain, and not only this, but was able to annex them to Islamic sovereignty [2].
From that important moment in the history of the Islamic Navy, Muslims realized the strategic and economic importance of the island of Kousra near Tunisian coasts with Sicily. Muslim geographers and travelers praised the island's excellent location because it is "off Africa near Tunisia, between it and Sicily, and brought them figs and cotton, was designed by Musa ibn Nusayr in 88 AH / 707 AD to seize this island, and take the front base of his fleet in repelling the attacks of the Byzantines, and was assigned to this task one of the most skilled leaders, Abdul Malik bin Cotton Fihri, Abdul has succeeded King in His mission was a great success, and he was able to annex the island of Qusra near Sicily to an African state or Tunisia. [3]
From Qusra, under the Umayyad rule and the early Abbasid caliphs before Harun al-Rashid, fleets and warships went out to raid Sicily, and were able to inflict sabotage and destruction on the Roman fleet in its ports, and day after day the Muslims were gaining experience of this island, its locations, and its importance at sea. The Mediterranean, in deterring the rum from raiding the coasts and Islamic cities.
The Aghlabids and the conquest of Sicily
In AH 184 / AD 800, the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid issued his decision to take Ibrahim ibn al-Ghalib al-Tamimi on an African state, Tunisia, and made it in his wake and his offspring after him, provided that the political and financial dependence was sent annually to Baghdad. It was taken by the Abbasids to show great wisdom, by lifting the embarrassment and costs to the Abbasids while at the same time benefiting from these states, as long as the subordination and allegiance to the Abbasid caliph was declared.
Shortly after he took office, Ibrahim bin al-Ghalab managed to exclude rivals, rebels, and outsiders from his obedience to Iraq.
The Arabs and Berbers underwent the tradition of the state, and condemned obedience to Ibrahim ibn al-Ahlab, and was a prince with a great deal of wisdom and political training, and was able shortly after assuming the reins of power to exclude rivals and revolutionaries and out of obedience to Iraq, and to restore the strong cohesion among the elements of the Arab and Berber population His state expanded until it reached Tripoli in the west, "West Libya today," and the state settled for him and his sons after him. [4]
In the end of 201 AH / 817 AD, he rose to the throne of the majority state in Africa, Prince Ziadullah bin Ibrahim bin Al-Aghlab, the greatest kings of this state at all, and the highest reputation, and the farthest in view of things, he was strong stubborn, aware of the seriousness of the revolutionary elements inherent in the majority army, He was able to conquer them by the elements of the Sudanese squads "Zinj" in his army, and then realized that the orientation towards conquests and invasion is the best way for his state and his army and the entire population, he ordered from an early period of his mandate to prepare the fleet, and mobilize the soldiers, and ordered their exit to the island of Sardaniya, near Sicily. On that day they belonged to the Byzantine Rum, and they defeated them in p The fleet returned to Mansoura amid tumultuous celebrations in the Abbasid majority capital near Kairouan [5].
In 212 AH / 827 CE, the Roman Emperor of Constantinople was used on the island of Sicily by a road named Constantine, and this penguin, who assumed political and religious leadership on the island, appointed a skilled commander on the fleet. Femi, who immediately decided to invade the African coasts "Tunisia and its neighbors", and his raids succeeded in inflicting terror, seizing the spoils and many captives, and after an internal dispute, Femi was able to win the king of the island, but this leadership did not last because of renewed armed opposition In front of him, which forced him to Resort to Prince Aghlabide increase God Istngda, and prepared by the King of Sicily [6].
Ziadullah al-Aghlabi and a group of senior scholars and people of the solution and the contract, such as Imam Sahnoun and Judge Assad bin Euphrates and others have met to discuss the question of the invasion and capture of Sicily, the attendees were divided into two teams, a team led by the mark Sahnoun al-Maliki, who saw the seriousness of the island because of its proximity to the Italian shore, and ease of invasion The eradication of Muslims in the event of weakness, and delayed the arrival of them from Tunisia compared to Italy, and another team led by Ziadallah and judge Ibn Euphrates, where he saw this golden opportunity to crush the Byzantines and the establishment of jihad and the dependence of the island for Muslims, the strategic island in the Mediterranean.
In the end, Ziyadat Allah, and the army and fleet commanded the judge to Asad bin Euphrates, and the Arabs, Berbers, Andalusians, and the great men of science and African society joined them. They set out from the city of Sousse in the spring of 212 AH / 827 CE, and arrived on the island. They crushed their armies, drowned their fleets, and seized their most important cities, such as Mazra, Balata and Qaluria.
However, these conquests have shaken Constantinople, whose emperor sent tremendous military and naval support, and this support reached to confront the Muslim forces that were besieging the city of Sarkoza in the heart of the island, and there was a big military battle, in which the judge and Mujahid Assad bin Euphrates was martyred in the month of Rabi I in 213 AH In 828 AD, the Muslims withstood their fight, and the time came from Africa in a huge fleet of 300 ships, and after months of fighting and fleeing, they were able to defeat the Byzantines and seize one of the most important and oldest cities of the island, the city of Palermo, which they entered in the month of Rajab year. 216 AH / 831 CE.
Since that date, the Islamic conquests have continued throughout Sicily. From 220 AH / 835 CE, the Islamic forces were able to launch into southern Italy, besieging one of its major cities, Naples, which caused great shock to both Byzantine and Roman circles, where the presence expanded. Islamic in southern Italy until the capture of a large part of the Italian coasts located on the Adriatic Sea [7].
Sicily .. Two centuries of Islamic presence!
During the reign of the majority rule, the conquests in Sicily were from west to east, especially from the city of Mazer and Palermo. The war was a controversy for four years until 831, and during the next ten years, from 831 to 841, the Arabs tightened their grip on The territory of Mazar, where they established their first settlements, and transferred slaves and peasants to work on their farms that supported their presence, and the economic prosperity of the island, and during the next eighteen years, ie from 841 to 859 AD / 226-242 AH, the Arabs doubled their efforts to subdue the territory of Notus Fertile, and after the year 860 m / 246 e, they found in the last stage of the opening of the province of Daman Who succeeded last command in the seizure of the year 902 AD / 289 AH [8].
The majority state fell and the Fatimid Obeidis took over their territories in Africa by the Mahdi ascension to the throne since 297 AH / 338 AD, and the establishment of the new capital "Mahdia", and when the situation settled for him, he sent to Sicily some of his loyalties to ensure its dependence, that the reception of the island to these governors was not like their predecessors Aghlabid year.
The Fatimids were common enough to resist, and attempts to impose their conditions on the Sicilians, but the Fatimid caliph al-Mahdi did not obey them.He sent to them a number of hardline rulers, such as Salim ibn Abi Rashid, and later Khalil ibn Ishaq, supported by large military forces. He crushed all revolutions on the island, so that Khalil ibn Ishaq was proud of the large number of Muslims killed in Sicily, saying: "I killed a thousand thousand says the multiplier, and the lesser says: a hundred thousand in that trip, and then said: No God but more; The congregation by saying: O Abu Abbas you in the killing of one breath is enough for you "[9].
That Sicily breathed a sigh of relief when Hassan bin Ali bin Abi al-Hussein came from the family of the Bani Kulab family in 336 AH, the most sincere families to the Fatimids, and characterized by good biography, and the administration of justice, and not to infringe on the rights and blood of the people, so loved him Sicily, and stayed five years until he died Her family was saddened by the grief, and then the succession of the island from ten dogs in ninety-five years witnessed progress in urban life and in science and literature, as well as their continued jihad in southern Italy and in the resistance of the Roman ambitions on the island. Sicily was quiet, and reaped the best fruits. Part of the reason for this calm was that the soldiers were often preoccupied with the wars in southern Italy, the dedication of the dogs to the defense of Sicily, and the fact that they considered themselves independently independent in the affairs of the island.
Nearly a century after the rule of the dogs, Sicily plunged into chaos, revolt and violence, and a number of revolutionaries emerged, each of whom wanted to exclusively rule the island or parts of it, as the Fatimids turned to Cairo, and became an African prone to revolutions, looting, and loss. The Sicilians lost their most important supporter of fuel and aid to the people of Tunisia when they plunged into the quagmire of rebellion and murder.
The New Testament was like the reign of the kings of sects in Andalusia, and soon each emir took a piece of the island, and it did not stop there. Two of the largest of these princes, Ibn al-Thamina and Ali ibn Nehmeh, clashed. The Norman enemies, who ruled parts of central and southern Italy, responded to the call, took advantage of the Islamic fragmentation of the island, and were able to enter it very easily in 444 AH / 1053 AD [11]; Islamic sovereignty over the island forever after a two-century rule.
Sicily's Golden Civilization
Under Islamic rule, the island witnessed a civilizational renaissance in all economic, cultural and urban fields. Muslims introduced Sicily to many types of agriculture. They came with lemons, oranges, reeds, rice, palms, cotton, and papyrus. The Sicilian method of growing onions is called, for example, the Sicilian people in cotton cultivation, or their own way of making a grape of sweet grape juice. Most people grow vegetables, some of which are introduced by Muslims to the island. Balram and its environs were full of orchards, embryos and mills on Wadi Abbas. The nearby sabkha lands were planted with Persian reeds and good makati. [12]
The island also witnessed a very active cultural and scientific movement, the famous traveler Ibn Hawqal owner of the geographical encyclopedia "Image of the Earth" during his visit to Sicily during the fourth century AH, an elaborate picture of the social and urban conditions of Sicily at the time, especially the city of Palermo, which noted the large number of mosques and teachers He believed that the number of mosques in Palermo at that time exceeded two hundred mosques, and was very surprised by this number confirmed that he did not see such a number in one of the big countries, except for Córdoba, the capital of Andalusia, then famous for the large number of mosques [13].
The people of Sicily venerate teachers, and see them as "their objects and their door and their jurisprudence and collectors and the heads of their fatwas and their justice, and the Halal and Haram and hold the judgments, and the implementation of the testimonies are writers and preachers" [14] Ibn Haql says, perhaps this veneration and exaggerated learning and the establishment of mosques was due to the island Gaps in a permanent confrontation with the Byzantine neighbors, Italians and other anti-Christian forces, the people of the island keen on the Islamic cultural renaissance, and adhere to the fringes of their religion and legislation that they saw to achieve through the mosque and the teacher.
Sunset and the end!
Despite the entry of the Norman Christians to the island, led by Roger I, the sabotage of many Muslim villages, and the imposition of taxes on them, the Muslims under its early rulers were blessed with some freedom of worship, worship and litigation, and contributed a great deal in the political, economic, cultural and military affairs of the island. However, the migration of the Italian and French Lampardians to the island turned the lives of Muslims into hell. They were forced to lose their possessions from fertile agricultural land. [15]
In the state of Roger II, the same policy as his father continued to work, involving many Muslim cavalry in the Norman army, and did not care much about the Christianization of Muslims, and the pressure of the papacy in Rome, which accused him of collusion with Muslims, but many of his bodyguards were Muslims, and introduced the geographical mark Al-Shareef Al-Idrisi gave him huge money to make the first silver-made model of the globe. The conclusion of He vetoed, condemned in his religion religion of justice, and included them with the length and credit, and the reasons for his kingdom the best establishment, and Sunan conducted his state on the best system "[16].
| Roger II (networking) |
However, the pressure of the papacy at the end of the rule of Roger, and yielded to these claims, and began to take a policy of evangelizing Muslims, and the decision to disarm Muslims in the era of his predecessor William I, the beginning of the end of the true Muslims on the island, they fell easy prey to the discontent of the Norman Barons The Lambard, who descended from the palace staff of the Muslims, were a massacre, and the massacres soon spread in the countryside and the land, then the major cities such as Palermo, and the Muslims fled to the bushes and remote mountains, and they made several revolts against these injustices that William I was able to suppress easily.
The Andalusian traveler Ibn Jubayr al-Balansi, who visited the island during the last days of Islam and Muslims during the time of King William II in 580 AH / 1185 AD, gave us horrific and painful scenes of what was befalling Muslims at the time of massacres and systematic eradication, forced evangelization, and the prevention of prayers, and the conversion of mosques to churches He saw that the Muslim community in Palermo was better off than others, but the heart of that Muslim Sicilian man who offered them to take his young daughter away from this island, which oppresses Muslims, and expected them to massacres, and take care of them, and then marry those who see him as good Muslims In Andalusia, it wasn't This cried everyone, as Ibn Jubair says [17].
Those were the last days of Islam in Sicily, and then the massacres increased, and Muslims became among the dead, displaced and evangelized, and sunset of Islam after more than two centuries of their entry there under the leadership of the judge and jurist Assad bin Euphrates, to keep those events witness to this existence and its tragic fate And its end!