Bismillahi Ta’ala
Author: Umme Danyaal Bilal
Whenever we speak about Islam in Europe we always immediately think of Islamic Spain and while Al Andalus was the epicenter for many centuries other countries in Europe also had great Islamic influence in this era.
Sicily
Sicily has been at the crossroads of cultures, landscapes, and cuisine for years and was also a prize contested for amongst the major Mediterranean powers in the Middle Ages because of its strategic placement geographically. Forming the ‘toe’ of the ‘boot’ of Italy on the map and being its largest island just a few 100 kilometers from Northern Africa it played a crucial role in the Mediterranean trade routes. The first Navy in Islam that was formed was under the Khilafah of Uthmaan RA and even though in the year 652 AD they reached Sicily they were unable to conquer it, some sahabah are buried in the area called Marsala but unfortunately, the locations of their graves are unknown.
Abu Abdullah Asad bin Al Furat bin Sinan
Abu Abdullah Asad bin Al Furat bin Sinan was born in Harran, a city in modern-day Turkey, and nicknamed son of the Euphrates ( Bin Al Furat) as this was olden days Mesopotamia. He was the son of a soldier and the family later relocated to Ifriqiyah (modern-day Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria) as his father was part of the Muslim army that had conquered North Africa. While being the son of a professional soldier sheikh Asad chose the path of Islamic jurisprudence and excelled in it, he was one of the last students of the Imam Maalik and was responsible for the spread of the Maliki madhab in North Africa and was a chief judge appointed by the governor Ziyatul Allah, Sheikh Asad later evolved into a politician and statesman, however, he made his mark in Islamic history as the commander of the Islamic forces that conquered the Island of Sicily bringing it into the Islamic empire for close to 3 centuries.
Around the year of 212 AH, a renegade Byzantine general by the name of Euphemius from Sicily sent word to North Africa which at the time was under the Aghlabid rule offering his assistance in taking over Sicily, Governor however was not prepared for various reasons and his advisors supported this except for Sheikh Asad who used an ayaah of the Qur’aan from Surah Muhammad, Ayah 35 to support his reasoning in which Allah mentions ‘So do not weaken and call for peace while you are superior and Allah is with you and will never deprive you of the rewards of your deeds.’ Ziyatul Allah the Governor accepted Sheikh Asad’s proposition and appointed him as the leading General of the army.
In June of 212 AH, Sheikh Asad bin Al Furat who was 68 years old at that time appeared in public with a cavalry of 10000 soldiers in a dazzling procession in front of Ifriqiyah’s most eminent scholars and dignitaries together with the palace advisors and officials who escorted the army to the town of Sousse from where the campaign would be launched, here Sheikh Asad gave a very short but important speech before they headed to Sicily.
“There is no God but Allah Himself He has no partners. I swear to you by Allah. Oh people that neither a father nor grandfather created for me a state nor chose for me to rule. No one before has seen such a sight and I have only read about what you see now. Exert your minds and labor your bodies in the search and pursuit of knowledge increase it and be patient with its intensity, for you will gain with it this world and the next.”
The Conquest of Sicily
Although Sheikh Asad died a martyr in the first year of the conquest of Sicily and he didn’t witness Sicily as an Islamic state if it was not for his efforts the expedition to Sicily would not have taken place. In the long term, Sheikh Asad succeeded for himself a special place in Islamic history for his last great crossing, one which began a long and rich chapter that would end at the court of Frederick II a few centuries later.
Sicily unlike Al Andalus was not a quick conquest and took almost 60 years to conquer city to city beginning with Mazara their base in 827, Palermo in 831, Messina in 843, Enna in 859, and thereafter the Island was effectively under Muslim control. The Muslim expeditionary force was a remarkable expression of the whole character of Islam as a religion and civilization. It was an infinitely mixed lot of Arabs, Berbers, Spaniards, and Sudanese, such as the Island under Muslim rule, where ethnic and religious diversity distinguished the people of the Island. The majority of the inhabitants retained their religious identity and were able to use their religious sights freely and this was the beauty of Muslim leadership, and religious tolerance, they didn’t banish the natives nor did they massacre them instead peace and harmony were established.
Ibn Hawqal who was a traveler and geographer explains the beauty of this merging of cultures and religions. He says “The mosque of the city and its quarters around it outside the wall exceed 300″ he had never seen this number of mosques even in cities twice as large. These buildings even more than places of worship served as schools each with its schoolmaster. There was also the University of Palmero which though scarcely rivaled that of Cordoba had its fair share of capable scholars such as Ibn Hamdis. The schools of Muslim Sicily just as those of Muslim Spain had long been the resort of students, ambitious of literary attainments and distinction from every country of Europe.
An interesting fact to know is that Arabic was spoken fluently by all including the Christians and Jews even after the Muslim rule was over Arabic continued and to date, the Sicilian language is a dialect of the Arabic language, so even though Muslims ruled for approximately 260 years their influence remained for close to 2 centuries later. The period of Muslim rule in Sicily also coincided with the early phases of the commercial revolution and was an era of brilliant economic prosperity for the Island. The Muslim presence also affected agriculture considerably, the introduction of new techniques and crops by the Muslims allowed the local economies to thrive and some such products, citrus in particular up until now constitute the foundations of the Sicilian economy.
Sicily had been attacked almost 728 times before it was captured and made Muslim and despite not making it to mainland Italy it still had a great impact internationally. Unfortunately, not much information is written in English regarding Muslim Sicily and this has just been my humble effort in the revival of our lost Islamic history I hope now that when we think of Italy or Sicily we don’t just imagine tasty pasta, fashion or luxury brands but rather remember the sacrifices that Muslims made through the years to defeat a superpower like the Byzantines to make Sicily Muslim.
We end with a poem by Ibni Hamdis who went into exile and thereafter spent most of his time writing poetry regarding Sicily. “For I have been vanished from paradise and I long to tell you tell her story, were it not for the saltiness of tears I would image my tears as her ( Sicily’s) rivers, I laughed at 20 years old out of youthful passion now at 60 I cry for her crimes.”
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of Halaal Travels. While we encourage diverse perspectives, these views are solely the author’s and are not intended to represent the position of Halaal Travels.