So the Madlaij and his companions looked, so if the sea overlooked from the side of the city, and found a path to it from the place from which the sea overlooked, then they entered from it until they came from the side of the church, and they were enlarged, and the Romans had no fear but their ships; and Amr and his companions saw the basement of the city, so he accepted his army Until he entered upon them, the Romans escaped except with the relief of their boats. "
(The historian Ibn Abd al-Hakam al-Masri described the events of the conquest of Tripoli in the West)
The peoples of North Africa from Egypt in the east to Morocco in the far west in pre-Islamic history under the authority of the conquerors of the Romans at times and their Byzantine successors the Romans at another time, and the suicide of both Queen Cleopatra and Antonio marked the end of the Ptolemaic Greek rule in Egypt since the year 30 AD.
But the division of the Roman state on itself between Rome in the west and Constantinople in the east since 476 AD was the beginning of the rise of influence in the Eastern Byzantine Empire, which will remain the history of the medieval period for a whole thousand years, had begun to retreat before Islam in the Levant regions and then North Africa between the years 632 AD To 642 AD / 12-22 A.H., and the Muslims helped their rapid progress. This is due to several combined reasons, the foremost of which was the sharp division within the Orthodox Christian doctrine between Egypt and Constantinople, and the systematic persecution of Egypt’s Christians to force them to abandon their faith that they saw as the closest For the Orthodox spirit.
In light of this religious persecution and in conjunction with it, the peoples of North Africa in Libya and Africa (Tunisia) and others were also suffering from dire security and political situations, because the long wars "carried out by these tribes against the Byzantine rule had exhausted their powers, calmed their entity, and made them leave To the stillness, and you owe the Byzantines to obedience, and these Byzantines resided between them and the cities as guardians and ligaments, and they imposed on them the taxes and excuses they wanted when they approached or approached the cities, and this was why Berat was to be discontented with the Byzantines, hated their unfair rule, and their arbitrariness in collecting taxes, as we do To their many grievances "(1).
Thus the picture of the situation was on the eve of the Islamic conquest of Egypt and Libya. The parents were thirsty for salvation from the Byzantines ’religious, security, and economic grievances that were mainly based on the arrogant colonial view, then the Muslim Arab leader Amr ibn al-As - may God be pleased with him - argued the Caliph Umar al-Faruq on the necessity of conquering Egypt after the completion of the conquest of Palestine, and the conquest of Egypt had the greatest impact in opening the three provinces of Libya; Barqa, Tripoli, and Fezzan later, so how did this happen? How did the Libyan tribes receive the Arab Islamic conquests in their country?
The Islamic conquest of Egypt from 19-21 AH was one of the reasons for the consideration of Amr bin Al-Aas - may God be pleased with him - to the next step, it is true that the Islamic Army managed to open the fortress of Babylon, and then completed the operations of the conquests in Upper Egypt at the end of 19 AH and throughout 20 AH And, with the help of a large crowd of the Copts of Egypt who were persecuted by the Byzantines, and in that Ibn Abd al-Hakam al-Masri (d. 257 AH) says in "Fetouh of Egypt and Morocco":
"Alexandria had a bishop for the Copts called Abu Binyamin, when when Amr bin Al-Aas came to Egypt, he wrote to the Copts informing them that the Romans had no state and that their king had been cut off, and he commanded them to receive Amr. He said that the Copts who were in Al-Farma (Port Said and its environs) were then to Amr Our agents "(2).
However, Alexandria was the ancient fortress of philosophers, the Orthodox Patriarchate, and the Byzantine presence on the Mediterranean Sea continued to resist Muslims to the last breath, and the Byzantine Emperor Hercules was aware of the seriousness and importance of this coastal city, saying: “While the Arabs appeared on Alexandria, that is the interruption of the Roman king and their destruction, because there are no churches greater than The churches of Alexandria ... So he ordered his apparatus and his interest to go out to Alexandria, so that he would start fighting himself as a bone for her, and he commanded that no one from the Romans would be left behind, and he said: When the Romans left after Alexandria, then when he finished his device, God gave him death and he died, and the Muslims were satisfied with his provision, and his death was in the year of nine Ten, and God, by His death, broke the thorn of the Romans, and many of those who had gone to Alexandria returned, "as Ibn Abd al-Hakam mentioned in its history.
Indeed, Amr bin Al-Aas, may God be pleased with him, completed the conquest of Alexandria in the year 21 of the Hijra, and purified the areas of the West Coast in Egypt from the remaining pockets of the Byzantine Roman presence, and then realized with his military experience that the Byzantine presence in the strongholds of Barqa and Tripoli in the areas bordering Egypt might be a cause for a military move Counterattack by them, so he immediately sent his commander and his cousin, Uqba ibn Nafi 'al-Fihri, in his first military campaign to find out the general conditions in those areas and annex them to the Muslims.
It appears that Amr ibn al-As's plan was aimed at securing the southern regions during the passage of the Islamic army from Alexandria to Cyrenaica, fearing that the path of return to Muslims from the Libyan tribes in the south in the Fezzan region and its most important city at that time, Zuweila, would be cut, says al-Tabari in “History of the Messengers and Kings”. : “And in it [the year 21 AH, and it was said in the year 22 AH], Amr ibn al-As sent Uqba ibn Nafi al-Fihri, and Zuweila was opened with peace, and between Barqa and Zuweila Sallam for Muslims” (3).
And when the Libyan tribes of the South in Zuweila and Fezzan regions came under the obedience of the Muslims, Amr went to Burqa, whose tribes were thirsting for the conquest of the conquerors to rid them of the oppression of the Byzantines crouched on their chests a century ago, and indeed "Amr ibn al-As walked in the horse until Barqa was presented, so his people reconciled with three Ten thousand dinars, to which they will pay him a tribute, provided that they sell those who loved their children in their tribute. (4) It seems that selling children was an optional order for those who remained on his debt and could not pay the tribute estimated in one gold dinar to each person, which was the thing that was followed At the time, it was confirmed by other accounts that mention "to sell those who loved their children for their tribute" (5).
Libyan historian Saleh Mustafa Moftah says in his book “Libya from the Arab Conquest to the Fatimid Caliphate” on the issue of selling sons and daughters affirmed in the Dhimma contract and the era of peace concluded between Muslims and the people of Cyrenaica: “It is highly unlikely that the Arabs would ask them to sell their children in case they were unable to pay the tribute, It is believed that they were the ones who suggested to Amr that exaggeration in showing their goodwill, and selling offspring and children to fulfill the tribute was a common thing for the Berbers at that time, and Amr had no choice but to welcome this offer (6).
The two parties adhered to the terms of the conciliation agreement concluded between them, so he did not “enter Barqa at the time, and I would receive an abscess, but would send the tribute if its time came.” Amr bin Al-Aas was keen to remind his aides and the general public of the necessity of respecting the agreement with the people of Barqa, which was called “Antaplus” at that time, One of the contemporaries stated to Amr ibn al-Aas that he heard him “say on the pulpit: The people of Antelius have a covenant that will be fulfilled to them” (7).
Thus, it was not a few months after the end of the year AH 21 / AD 642 that Amr ibn al-Aas had controlled two-thirds of the area of Libya, and there was nothing left for him except for the launching of control of its most important areas in the West, which are “Tripoli” located on the Mediterranean, and when Amr was assured of securing his roads, Concluding treaties and conciliation with the tribes of the south and east, he set out in the following year 22 AH / between spring and summer of 643 AD to Tripoli, which confirms most of the accounts that Omar surrounded the city for a month and resided with his army at a high called the "dome" east of the city, which was perhaps one of the ancient Roman installations that Whale wells to water that army (8).
The fate had its role in the Islamic conquest of Tripoli, which was subject to Roman rule, and it had a number of churches, and a strong wall protected it, preventing the Muslims for a whole month from storming them; A number of Muslim soldiers, estimated by the accounts, came out with seven soldiers from the Bani Mudlaj tribes, the Canaanites, for the purpose of hunting from the east to the west of the city, while they were immersed in their hunting, and they became tired of them, and decided to return by sea due to the severity of the heat.
Ibn Abd al-Hakam said in his history: “The sea was attached to the city wall, and between the city and the sea there was no wall, and the Roman ships were starting in their moorings to their homes. So the Madlaji and his companions looked, and if the sea had turned a blind eye (it happened to him) on the side of the city, they found a path To it from the place from which the sea turned a blind eye, and they entered from it until they came from the side of the church, and they grew up, and the Romans had no fear except their ships; and Amr and his companions saw the basket in the belly of the city, so he accepted his army until he entered them, and the Romans escaped except with the relief of their boats and sheep. Amr was not in Medina "(9).
While some other accounts indicate that Omar faced resistance from some internal enclaves in Tripoli and from the tribes of Nafusa who came from the south to support the city, but Amr quickly eliminated this resistance, and the conquest of Tripoli was one of the conquests facilitated by Muslims, and he was more spoils "with Bazon loads" (Al-Sondos and Al-Harir) are many with one of their merchants, so he sold it and divided its price among the Muslims, "as Al-Balazari recounts in" Fattuh al-Balad ".
Immediately, and according to his military strategy to secure his conquests, Amr bin Al-Aas, may God be pleased with him, decided to take control of one of the most important cities that were supporting Tripoli with food and supplies at the time from the west, which is the city of "Sabratha" or "probed" as it is called the Islamic novel, so he sent to him Amr quickly, a military battalion of his army, was able to surprise the people of Sabratah who became "they overlooked, and they opened their doors to demobilize their livestock, so they entered it and nobody escaped from them, and Amr contained what was in it and returned to Amr" (10).
Amr bin Al-Aas completed the process of opening Tripoli and Sabratha, and the entire Libyan coast from Burqah to Tripoli became in the grip of Muslims, condemning its people to obedience, according to the terms of the reconciliation between them, that it remained a city in central Libya in the Jufra region that had not yet been opened, which was the city of Wadan which was It has a strategic importance in its central location between Barqa in the east and Tripoli in the west, and because of this importance, Amr decided to send an army led by Basr bin Arta al-Qurashi after months in the year following the opening of Tripoli in the year 23 AH / 644 AD to control Wadan and its conquest, and it seems that he sent it from Tripoli, as He had not left her after all these months, Ibn Al-Abar Al-Andalusi (d. 658 AH) says: “And Bessar bin Artata bin Abi Artata Al-Qurashi Al-Amiri invaded Tripoli with Amru bin Al-Aas, so he sent him to Waddan, and he opened it and imposed upon its people three hundred and sixty heads” (11) Cattle deliver them every year.
Thus, by the year 23 of the Hijrah, Amr ibn al-Aas had opened the entire Libyan country with its three provinces, in Cyrenaica to the east, and Fezzan (and its capital at that time Zuweila) in the south, then Tripoli, Sabratha and its surroundings in the west, and his eyes were looking to complete the conquests in the West in Ifriqiya (Tunisia) This time, he sent a request to the Caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattab to allow him to open it, but Al-Faruq feared for the Muslims to penetrate more than that, and Amr stopped, and Libya has since become a part of the state and Islamic civilization, but some events have emerged that forced Uqba bin Nafie and Bessar bin Arta return to full control and control over the rebellious provinces.
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