The emergence of the Christian kingdoms of Sudan
The events associated with the emergence of three kingdoms that were later converted to Christianity in Kush after the collapse of the Meroe kingdom are still mysterious. As we mentioned, the Ezana inscription confirms that his army found the Nuba who settled in the Meroe cities up to the confluence of the Atbara River with the Nile. According to Kirwan, the city of Soba was one of the Meroe cities in which the Nuba settled (Kirwan 1981). Ezana also directed an expedition to the Kasu (the Meroes), and Kirwan therefore assumes that the destruction that resulted from that campaign must have led to the collapse of the kingdom (for a different interpretation of Ezana's text, see Behrens 1986). The most important thing is that Ezana held, among other titles, the title of ruler of Kaso and Beja. Data indicate that Caleb, who was king of Aksum in about 52 AD. He kept the title of King of the Kaso and Beja for himself, adding to it the title of King of the Nuba, while his son after him returned to using the titles of Ezana. Did the King of Axum retain those titles in the sixth century AD indicate that the Axumite kings exercised a degree of political control over part of a region that came to fall within the borders of the Alwa Kingdom that existed at that time? However, this issue is still far from being clearly settled, but it seems clear that Aksum did not exert any cultural or religious influence on the inhabitants of the Nile Valley during that period.
Although the name of a city named Alwa was mentioned in the Ezana inscription, Hintza put forward a hypothesis that this name refers to the capital of the Meroe Kingdom in Al-Bajrawiya, which is located 190 kilometers north of Soba, which became the capital of the Christian Kingdom of Alwa. If the Hintza hypothesis is correct, and it is a hypothesis that we accept, then the adoption of the name Alwa to include the entirety of the emerging kingdom in this part of Kush after the dissolution of the Meroe Kingdom, may indicate that the Alwa Kingdom was viewed, at least by its rulers, as a legitimate heir to the earlier Meroe Kingdom, and in this sense the inhabitants of the medieval Alwa Kingdom can be viewed as a fabric of the Meroes and the Nuba, and thus it is assumed that Against this Nubian Meroe cultural background, the Kingdom of Alwa developed.
The medieval kingdom of Alwa, which became Soba, located twelve miles south of Khartoum on the west bank of the Nile on the Khartoum-Bahri Al-Ailun road, had the southernmost metropolis of the three kingdoms established in Kush following the disintegration and general collapse of the Meroe kingdom. The Kingdom of Alwa extended its borders north to the area between the Fifth Cataract and the city of Berber. We do not know anything specific about its southern and western borders, which often extended south to the Abyssinian border. There is no evidence to indicate that Alwa was politically affiliated with Abyssinia at any time if we exclude Aizana’s claim. As for the west, it is possible that Kordofan had followed Alwa at some point, which may explain the quarrels between Alwa and the people of the West that Monneret de Villard 1938 refers to. Suba
To the north of Alwa, the second kingdom was established on the ruins of the Kingdom of Meroe, which is the Kingdom of Makuria with its capital in Old Dongola (the current village of Al-Qaddar on the eastern bank of the Nile), and its northern borders extended to Mount Farka (Mawa - according to Al-Yaqoubi, and Mount Mama according to European travelers in the early nineteenth century of the last millennium), while its southern borders were in later times at the Kingdom of Al-Abwab, which can be identified with the region located on both banks of the Nile between The fourth and fifth waterfalls. The northern part of Maqra was divided into districts (wilayats): Saqluda, Bakun, and Safd Bakl or Baql. Ibn Salim al-Aswany mentions that Saqluda means the seven governors (Al-Maqrizi, Plans 141), which may be confirmed by the fact that Golodu or Kolodo in the language of treasures means seven, while the first part of the word “Sa” is one of the common place names in the Abu Hamad-Berber region. Crawford believes that Saqlouda is schematically similar to the Al-Sukkut area, Baqun is similar to the Al-Mahas area, and Safd Baqal is similar to Dar Al-Jawabra, i.e. the northern part of Dongola.
Farther to the north, in the northern outskirts of Kush (Lower Nubia), which, as we mentioned, came under the control of the Blemmyes and Noubadians from the third century, the kingdom of Nobadia, or Nobiatia in another reading, was founded, and this is the name from which the Arabs derived the name of the country Nubia, and they also called it in some cases Palmris. This was divided into two parts, the northern part was called the Land of the High, which mostly corresponds to the twelfth province of Roman Egypt (Dodekaschoinos), while the southern part was called the Land of the Mountain, which can be identified with the last thirteenth province, the southern border of which can be fixed at Okasha, where, according to Abu Saleh’s account, there was a customs center. Fares was the capital of the mountainous country and the headquarters of its ruler, known as the owner of the mountain. During the time of Abu Salih (1200 AD), the owner of the mountain had two other headquarters in both Ibrim and an unknown place called Basuqa, close to a gold mine. Nobadia then extended over the Nile Valley between the First Cataract and Akasha, and placed its southern border point with Maqra, fourteen miles north of Mount Farka.
These three Kushite kingdoms were converted to Christianity in the sixth century AD, Nobadia and Alwa, by missionaries from the followers of the Nicene Orthodox doctrine (which believes in the one nature of Christ, peace be upon him), sent from Constantinople. During the reign of Justinian, when missionary activity became a powerful tool for diplomacy and strategy, the motives for such missionary missions were not only religious. Christianity and the empire were one and inseparable matter. Conversion to Christianity was equivalent to union with the empire. Justinian and his successors were in dire need of allies among the Kushites to avoid a possible Persian invasion of Egypt from the south through the Kingdom of Aksum, or across the desert to the north towards the caravan line that connected the northern outskirts of Alwa with Egypt, bypassing the bends, windings and waterfalls of the Nile. The Kushites, including the Nobadians who became allies of the Romans, were fighters whose movements were difficult to predict. They had attacked Egyptian territories throughout previous history and it is likely that they They take a position alongside the Persian invaders, and hence the necessity of integrating them into the Byzantine Empire arose.
Early sources agree that the sixth century AD witnessed the existence of these three Christian kingdoms in what was known as Kush and became known in Arab sources as Nubia. But we now know that at some point, Makuria and Nobadia became a unified kingdom under the authority of one king, a fact recorded by many Arab historians and geographers and with the reliability of Akbar Ibn Salim al-Aswani, who traveled through the lands of Nobadia and Makuria on an official visit to the King of Dongola at the end of the tenth century. However, the issue of unifying the two kingdoms remains pending in terms of its history and details. The autobiography of Saint Isaac of Alexandria, written around the year 690, indicates the existence of two different kings for both Makuria and Nobadia at that date, and even the emergence of a kind of hostility between them. This information led Monneret de Villard to conclude that monotheism must have been completed early in the eighth century during the reign of King Mercurius of Makuria, who described himself as “the new Constantine” Monneret de Villard 1938. However, we must point out that the Arab commander Amr ibn al-Aas had hardly finished conquest of Egypt 640-642 when he turned his attention to the south and mobilized a cavalry force of twenty thousand men. The fighters, and pushed it south to the lands of the Kingdom of Makuria without facing resistance or having to conclude agreements in the land of Nobadia. However, after this force penetrated as far as Dongola, it faced resistance that no other Arab army faced in the first century of Islamic conquests. The First Battle of Dongola was a disaster for the attacking Arab force, which was forced to negotiate and withdraw. The Arab blogs that documented this event recorded their fascination with the devastating effectiveness of the Nubian archers. As we mentioned earlier, Kush had been known for its famous archers since ancient times, dating back to the Middle Egyptian Kingdom 2150-1729 BC. So Kush was given the name Tasiti, meaning the land of the Qasi, and the Arabs confirmed this fact by using the expression “throwers” in reference to the Kushites defending their kingdom. Follow the Battle of Dongola and the Baqt Agreement.
The Battle of Dongola and the Baqt Agreement
In the years 651-652, the Arabs launched a second attack on Makuria during the reign of Caliph Othman bin Affan. Once again, the Arab army penetrated as far as Dongola to face a fierce battle, which was expressed by one of the contemporary poets of the event by saying:
My eyes have never seen anything like the day of Dongola and the horses were wearing heavy armor
The Second Battle of Dongola was inconclusive, as it ended in a negotiated truce. Arab historians called the agreement reached between the two parties the Baqt, which was interpreted in various ways as a forcibly imposed tribute at times [Mustafa Muhammad Saad], and as a treaty for commodity trade exchange between two sovereign powers at other times [Ahmed Elias]. According to what Al-Maqrizi reported, the terms of the baqt stipulate the following: The Second Battle of Dongola was indecisiveBy the wayMustafa Mohamed Saad
“A covenant from Prince Abdullah bin Saad Abi al-Sarh to the Great of Nubia and all the people of his kingdom. A covenant he concluded between the great and small of Nubia from the border of the land of Aswan to the border of the land of Alwa. Abdullah bin Saad established for them a security and a truce, ongoing between them and the Muslims who were neighboring them from the people of Upper Egypt and other Muslims and people of the Dhimma. You, the people of Nubia, are secure in the safety of God and the security of His Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace. We will not fight you, nor will we We will attack you as long as you adhere to the conditions between us and you, provided that you enter our country through non-residents, and you must protect whoever enters your country or leaves it until he leaves you, and you must return every Muslim slave who left you until you return him to the land of Islam, and you must not seize him or turn him away from him, and you must protect the mosque that the Muslims built in the courtyard of your city So you must prevent him from praying, and you must hand over to him every year three hundred and sixty heads of slaves from among the slaves of your country who are not defective, including two males and two females, and there is no old man or an old woman or a child who has not reached puberty. You must hand that over to the governor of Aswan, and it is not the duty of a Muslim to push back an enemy who comes to you or prevent him from entering the land of Aswan Which the Muslims built, or you abstained from the three hundred and sixty heads, then this truce and the money have been released from you, and you and I have promised each other until God judges between us, and He is the best of judges over us. Thus, God’s covenant, His covenant, and the covenant of His Messenger Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and we have upon you the greatest obligation that you owe from the Messiah, the covenant of the disciples, and the covenant of those whom you honor from among the people of your religion and religion, and God is the witness. "Between us and you on that."
Thus, the Kingdom of Makuria appeared - under the terms of the Baqt - as if it had been granted a status that made it a client kingdom of the Islamic State. But there are still arguments about whether this treaty is considered a victory for the Macrians or the Arabs. On the one hand, the political and religious independence of Makuria was guaranteed, but on the other hand, a heavy compensation of three hundred and sixty heads was imposed on the kingdom. Other accounts of the agreement refer to the exchange of goods of equal value that the Makrians received when they handed over their slaves in Aswan, where Al-Masoudi also mentions: “On the authority of Abu Khalifa Hamid bin Hisham Al-Buhtari, the one with whom Nubia made peace were three hundred and sixty heads for a group of Muslims, and the owner of Egypt had forty heads, and he paid them a thousand ardabs of wheat, and to his messengers three hundred ardabs of barley as well, and a thousand qatiz of wine. The possessor and his messengers have three hundred qutiz, and knights made from the horses of the emirate, and of the types of clothing a hundred garments, and from the Qabati four garments, and from the possessor and his messengers three garments, and from the Baqtariya eight garments, and from the parameter five garments, and from the Akhss ten garments” (Al-Masoudi and Al-Baladhuri). Al-Masoudi and Al-Baladhari
Our belief that the Baqt Treaty, by guaranteeing the sovereignty of a non-Muslim nation as it did, had no precedent in the early history of Islam. Among the peoples of the world, they are the only ones who have excluded the Macrians from the abode of Islam, and at the same time from the abode of war. Because of its unusual nature, the Baqt Treaty became a source of controversy among contemporary jurists. Whatever it may be, the Baqt agreement from a legal standpoint seems clear enough. The treaty itself declares that the Arabs' interest was focused on Makuria as a source of slavery, and as long as the enslavement of any Muslims or Christians living under the tutelage of the Islamic State is not permissible, there is a benefit to be gained from keeping Makuria independent but politically neutral outside the Islamic horizon. Some later Arab jurists have argued that the treaty actually gave the Makurians the status of demagogues, and thus taking slaves from them became immoral, but this problem was addressed by assuming that the people of Makuria themselves were capturing slaves from the rest of the pagan people of Kush.
The Baqt Treaty remained in effect for six hundred years, determining the course of relations between the Makrians and Muslims. Makuria was left in peace throughout the centuries that witnessed the invasion of North Africa, Spain, the Byzantine Empire, and Central Asia by Islamic armies. Aswan was truly the only border that the emerging Islamic state officially recognized. At the same time, the Baqt terms ensured the legalization of economic relations to ensure the continuation of Egyptian interests in Kush. Adams believes that in the economic field, the Treaty of Baqt may have had a more effective impact on the course of the history of Kush than did the introduction of Christianity. If the people of Makuria had not previously been experienced slave raiders, the necessity resulting from the condition of handing over four hundred head annually quickly forced them to embark on this difficult path. This resulted, as he put it, in their closed dependency on their riverine environment coming to an end, as they were forced, as the centuries passed, to ride larger and larger waves, looking further and further outside their vital field in search of a commodity required not only for the sake of trading in it, but also to secure the independence of their kingdom.
Footnotes
(1) Bandali Salbia says that pactum is a tax, treaty, truce, or peace. It was a tax of grains that the Byzantines collected from the residents of Egypt to supply their armies with supplies, so they began paying this tribute to the Muslims besieging Egypt. It later became an indication of the agreement or treaty between Nubia and the Arabs. (See Studies in Language and Social Economic History among the Arabs, Beirut, Dar Al-Tali’ah 1977, p. 35).
(2) Al-Masoudi, Meadows of Gold and Substantial Minerals, edited by Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid, Cairo, Tahrir Book 1966, p. 29. Al-Baladhuri mentions, Abdullah bin Saleh said, on the authority of Abu Lahi’ah, on the authority of Yazid bin Habib, who said: There is no covenant or covenant between us and the lions. Rather, it is a truce between us and them, on the condition that we give them some wheat and lentils, and they give us slaves. There is no harm in buying their slaves from them or from them. Change them. As Abu Abdullah Bam Salih told us on the authority of Al-Layth bin Saad, he said: The peace agreement between us and the Nuba is that we will not fight them and they will not fight us, and that they will give us slaves and we will give them as much food as that, and if they sell their wives and children, I see no harm in that for us to buy. Yazid bin Habib, who died in the year 128 AH, Al-Layth bin Saad, who died in the year 166 AH, and Ibn Lahi’ah, who died in the year 174 AH, believe that the agreement is an expression of a safety truce and not a covenant or covenant. As for Al-Waqidi, who died in the year 207 AH, Ibn Abd al-Hakam, who died in the year 254 AH, and Al-Kindi, who died in the year 361 AH, most of the later authors quoted from them, such as Ibn al-Atheer, who died in the year 630 AH, and Al-Maqrizi, who died in the year 854 AH, reported on the authority of Al-Baqt that it was a truce, safety, an end to the war, and the exchange of slaves for food supplies.
Mustafa Muhammad Saad 1960, Islam and Nubia in the Middle Ages, Cairo. Mustafa Mohamed Saad
Ahmed Elias 1990, Abdullah bin Abi Al-Sarh’s peace with the Kingdom of Nobadia, Letters, Khartoum University Publishing House, issues 2-3 double, December/March.
(1) The name Soba in the Mahs language, and Sabi in the language of treasures, were associated with the meaning “wall”, but Crawford preferred to translate them based on the fact that they include the meaning of “ancient walls” or “ruins” more than just city walls, since Soba was of Meroe in origin and the same name was used for many ancient sites located on the Blue Nile near Roseiris.
(2) We put forward the above hypothesis regarding the location of the Kingdom of Al-Abwab based on the results of the archaeological exploration that I supervised in 1990 for the area that is threatened by drowning in the event of the construction of the Al-Hamdab reservoir. Unfortunately, I was not able to publish the full results due to the circumstances of my arrest, then my dismissal from my position as Director General of Antiquities and National Museums, and then my forced exit from Sudan, so the basic materials of the final report remained locked up in the General Administration of Antiquities, but I am currently seeking to enable me to access the material to publish it, and let us hope that God will end the exile of Sudanese abroad and at home.
L.P.Kirwan: Aksum, Meroe and the Ballana Civilisation. In: Studies in Ancient Egypt, the Aegan and the Sudan. W.K.Simpson and W.M.Davies(eds.), Boston.
P.Behrens: The 'Noba' of Nubia and the 'Noba' of Ezana Inscription: a matter of confusion, AAS.
U.Monneret de Villard: Storia della Nubia Cristiana. Roma.
Unification of Makuria and Nobadia