The Peaceful Entry of Islam into Sudan — the Baqt Treaty That Lasted Six Centuries

When the Muslims conquered Egypt in 20 AH/641 CE, the land of Nubia to its south was home to strong, organized Christian kingdoms, chief among them the Kingdom of Makuria with its capital Dongola. Amr ibn al-As dispatched the first campaigns led by Uqba ibn Nafi, and the Muslims collided with fierce resistance from the Nubian archers who had mastered marksmanship so well they were called "the pupil-smitters," according to al-Baladhuri — and the campaign withdrew with many wounds and no conquest.

A decade later, in 31 AH/651 CE, Abdallah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh, Egypt's governor in the caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan, dispatched an army of five thousand fighters, besieged Dongola and bombarded it with the catapult — a weapon the Nubians had never seen before — damaging its main church (excavations have uncovered a damaged church from that period outside the city walls). But the siege ended with heavy losses in the Muslim ranks, and the 9th-century historian Ibn Abd al-Hakam says Abdallah "could not overcome them," while an Arab poet described the battle: "Never did my eyes witness a battle like Damqula."

Instead of conquest by the sword, both sides turned to diplomacy: the "Baqt Treaty" was born — a rare exception in the history of the early Islamic conquests. No preserved original text of it is known, but the sources (Ibn Abd al-Hakam, al-Baladhuri, al-Maqrizi) agree on its broad lines: mutual non-aggression, freedom of trade and passage and safety guarantees for travelers, a ban on settlement in the other's land, the return of fugitives, and the Nubians' pledge to maintain a mosque in Dongola for visiting Muslims.

Its most famous clause: Nubia would send 360 slaves annually to Egypt in exchange for shipments of wheat, lentils and textiles — which later historians saw as a balanced exchange closer to trade than to tribute. Remarkably, this treaty was regularly renewed for more than six centuries — from the seventh to the fourteenth century — making it one of the longest-lived treaties in history.

More important than its clauses are its results: the Nubian Sudan remained politically independent and Christian for long centuries, and Islam entered gradually through trade, merchants and intermarriage, until the first Muslim king ascended the Makurian throne in the fourteenth century CE, then the Islamic Sennar Sultanate was established in 1504 CE — a process of Islamization and Arabization that spanned nearly a thousand years, and never began with a military conquest.

📚 Sources:

  • "Baqt" article — Wikipedia (with its references to Ibn Abd al-Hakam, al-Baladhuri, al-Maqrizi)
  • "Islamization of the Sudan region" article — Wikipedia (with its academic references)
  • Al-Baladhuri's text in "Futuh al-Buldan" on Uqba ibn Nafi's campaign and the "pupil-smitters"

— Editorial Team