Sea of the Caliphs by Christophe Picard

Author:Christophe Picard
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Harvard University Press

Razzias and the Conquest of the Islands of the Western Mediterranean

The term “razzia” (ghazwa) refers to the operational mode of Muslims who crossed the march to attack in the war zone. While ideally the declared objective remained territorial conquest aimed at expanding the Dar al-Islam, the results could only be assessed after the fact. The chronicles report the armies of Islam’s victories over enemy nonbelievers, either by announcing a territory forced into submission and recording the clauses of the treaty or by referring to the spoils gathered during the incursion. The spoils were divided between the fighters once the share owed the state was set aside according to rules established since the time of the Prophet. These accounts combine the two phases of the razzia, spoils and conquest, but do not describe the incidents of battle, outside of occasional tribute to the martyrs. In discussing attacks on the Mediterranean islands, Arab chroniclers such as Khalifa b. Khayyat and Ibn A‘tham al-Kufi only mention successful expeditions, that is, those that led to surrender, or more rarely a treaty, with the amount of booty serving as proof.

This was the case with the 705–706 expedition against the Balearics, which is either presented as a razzia from which the attackers brought back generous spoils or as the beginning of the island’s conquest. The second version is closely tied to the ambitions attributed to Musa b. Nusayr, who reported that his son ‘Abd Allah had captured the island’s kings on his orders.46 This situation seems very similar to when Mu‘awiya ordered the attack on Cyprus: the island was first turned into a land of razzias, following a tactic tried and tested on the continent. Yet the intention to conquer is unmistakable in the reference to relentless attacks launched from Egypt on orders from ‘Abd al-‘Aziz b. Marwan as of 703–704, then from Tunis on orders from ‘Abd Allah b. Musa b. Nusayr. These attacks were aimed against Sicily and up to the walls of its capital, Syracuse, as of 705–706, against the Sardinians every year until 710, and again against the Balearics in 707–708, at which point the islands were forced to surrender. Similarly, the Arab and Greek sources are in agreement that the naval attacks launched against Crete during the same period were the first stage of a strategy of conquest.

The will to conquer these island territories appears clearly in a statement reported to have been made by the conqueror of the Visigothic kingdom when he appeared before the caliph accused of embezzling part of the spoils. After having led offensives in all three directions—the western Maghreb, Spain, and the islands—he states that he has left his legacy to his three sons, like a ruler leaving the shares of his kingdom to his children: “When Musa arrived before Sulayman in 714–715, the latter asked him questions regarding his sons and the confidence Musa had displayed by letting ‘Abd al-‘Aziz govern al-Andalus and ‘Abd Allah govern Ifriqiya and the Maghreb. Musa answered: ‘Do you have

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