Muslim Conquest of Egypt - Invasion of Nubia

Invasion of Nubia

The land of Nubia lay to the south of Egypt. It stretched from Aswan to Khartoum and from the Red Sea to the Libyan Desert. The Nubians were Christians and were ruled by a king. The capital of the kingdom was Dongola. In the summer of 642, 'Amr ibn al-'As sent an expedition to Nubia under the command of his cousin 'Uqbah ibn Nafi. The expedition was ordered by 'Amr on his own account. It was not a whole scale invasion but merely a pre-emptive raid to display the power of the new regime in Egypt to the bordering kingdoms. 'Uqbah ibn Nafi, who later made a great name for himself as the Conqueror of Africa, and led his horse to the Atlantic complaining that there were no lands left for him to conquer in the way of Allah, came in for an unhappy experience in Nubia. In Nubia, no pitched battle was fought. There were only skirmishes and haphazard engagements and in such type of warfare the Nubians excelled at. They were skilful archers and subjected the Muslims to a merciless barrage of arrows. These arrows were aimed at the eyes and in the encounter 250 Muslims lost their eyes.

The Nubians were very fast in their movements. The Muslim cavalry was known for its speed and mobility, but it was no match for the Nubian horse riders. The Nubians would strike hard against the Muslims, and then vanish before the Muslims could recover their balance and take counter action. The hit-and-run raids by the Nubians caused considerable damage to the Muslims. 'Uqbah wrote to 'Amr of this state of affairs. He said that the Nubians avoided pitched battle, and in the guerilla tactics that they followed the Muslims suffered badly. 'Uqbah further came to know that Nubia was a very poor land, and there was nothing therein worth fighting for or to tempt by way of booty. Thereupon 'Amr ordered 'Uqbah to withdraw from Nubia. 'Uqbah accordingly pulled out of Nubia with his forces.