The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

3)S IIISIIAM [chap.lv.
A.M. 105- provinces of Africa continued all in uproar till 124 A. II.,
^^^'
when the governor of Egypt was sent to stem the insurrection,
and peace was at last restored. During this period
the navy was not inactive. In the year iii A.H., a descent
was made on Sicily, and great spoil brought back ; but
three years after the fleet was wrecked, when the Admiral,
for exposing it to the winter storms, was cast into prison
and publicly beaten in the streets of Kairawan. In 117
A.M., Sardinia was ravaged; and in 122, Sicily was again
invaded, and Syracuse laid under tribute. A project set
on foot for reducing the island was dropped, owing to the
troubled state of Africa.
Spain. Spain, as a dependency of Africa, was closely affected
by the insurrection there, and by the constant change of
governors. It was also distracted by the disloyalty of the
Berber population, which streamed across the strait, vastly
outnumbering the Arabs, who, as elsewhore, were divided
among themselves by their chronic tribal enmity. Elements
of trouble thus rife all round produced the natural
result of disorder and revolt.
Campaign in 'Anbasa, appointed to the government of the Peninsula
loS^A.H.
early in this reign, occupied himself at first in restoring order
726 A.D. within its bounds. Afterwards he crossed the Pyrenees, with
the view of restoring the shattered prestige of the Muslim
arms in France. Carcassone was stormed Nismes fell
;
into his hands ;
the south of France was overrun ;
and the
churches and convents were despoiled. Shortly after, he
was killed ;
and the restless state of Spain prevented further
'Abd ar- action for the time. Some six years after, 'Abd ar- Rahman
Rahman, appointed to command, renewed offensive operations, and
113 A.H.
chastised 'Othman ibn Abi Nes'a, a Berber chief, who had
joined Count Eudo.^ For the Berbers, as Muslims and
fighting men, claimed equal treatment with the Arabs. In
the following year he marched to the North with an enormous
force, and overran the land as far as Poitiers. It was then
that Charles Martel, in answer to the bitter cry of Eudo for
help, hurried south to stem the sweeping Muslim wave.
engagement was named "the battle of the Nobles, from the vast
number of Arab chiefs slain in it." It would be unprofitable to follow
these campaigns further in their wearisome and often fabulous detail.
1
Abu-nes'a is changed by European writers to Munuza.