Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ III. Filologiâ (Dec 2020)
The arab sources on the war of the Caliphate with the christian Nubia and the role of the peace treaty of 651/652 in the political confrontation between Egypt and Nubia
Abstract
At the end of the 6th century, Christianity became an offi cial religion of the three Nubian kingdoms, i. e. Nobadia, Makuria, and Alwa, and as early as the second third of the 7th century, the expansion of Islam to the African continent begins. After conquering Egypt, the Islamic rulers attempted to conquer Nubia twice, in 641/642 and in 651/652, but both times they faced strong resistance and suff ered heavy losses from the Nubian archers — the “shooters to pupils of an eye”. Under these circumstances, an agreement — the Baqt, unique for the mediaeval Islamic expansion — was signed as to mutual non-aggression, trade and diplomatic relations, which acknowledged mutual trade interests. In addition, the Nubians were obliged to hand over slaves who escaped from the Muslims, to maintain mosques for Muslim visitors and not to prevent Muslims from visiting the mosques, to send to Egypt 360 slaves annually. However, the loss of the original treaty has led to various interpretations. Some Arab historians (al-Baladhuri and al-Tabari) write that Nubia not only sent slaves to the Arabs, which would symbolise its submission to Egypt, but in exchange received an appropriate amount of victuals and clothing, which put the parties on a relatively equal grounds. Other historians (al-Masudi, al-Maqrizi) insist that the material obligations were imposed by the treaty only on the Nubians. This simplifi ed interpretation of the Baqt allowed one to avoid stating the defeat suff ered by the Arab army from the Nubians during jihad. The word baqt itself is not Arabic, but Coptic in origin and corresponds to Latin pactum which refers to a contract or exchange of obligations. This indicates a possible practice of entering into the baqt type agreements during the period of Roman- Nubian relations. Perhaps Baqt represented a kind of agreement about mutual gifts of equal value. In connection with this, the Nubians, who hoped to receive clothing and food from the Muslims for the slaves that they were handing over, suggested a form of agreement understandanble for them.
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