Uqba ibn Amir

Uqba ibn Amir al-Juhani (Arabic: عقبة بن عامر‎‎, romanized: ʿUqba ibn ʿĀmir al-Juhanī; died 677/78) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the Umayyad governor of Egypt in 664–669 and died in the province.

Life

Uqba ibn Amir hailed from the Juhayna tribe, a branch of the Quda'a confederation resident across Syria and northwestern Arabia.[1][2] He became a well-known companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and had been the latter's muleteer.[3][4] Uqba was also a poet and became known for his writing skills.[3] He developed a reputation as an early reader of the Quran and possessed a version of the Muslim holy book that was different than the version descended from Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656).[1][3] Uqba is credited with the transmission of several hadith (traditions of Muhammad).[3]

During the First Muslim Civil War, he was an active supporter of his friend Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan against Caliph Ali (r. 656–661).[3] Mu'awiya became caliph in 661 and appointed Uqba the governor of Egypt,[1] replacing the caliph's deceased brother, Utba ibn Abi Sufyan, in 664.[4] According to the 9th-century historian al-Tabari, in 668/69, Uqba led the Arab troops of Egypt alongside the troops of Medina in a naval raid against Byzantine territory.[5] He was replaced as governor by Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari in 669.[4] He died in Egypt in 677/78.[1] An honorary tomb was built on his grave in the cemetery of Qarafa al-Kubra near Fustat. During the Mamluk period in the 14th century, it was one of several ziyarat (Muslim pilgrimage sites) visited by Egyptian Muslims.[6]

References

1. Landau-Tasseron 1998, p. 293, note 1329.
2. Madelung 1992, pp. 182, 237.
3. Landau-Tasseron 1998, p. 32, note 144.
4. Kennedy 1998, p. 69.
5. Morony 1987, p. 93.
6. Taylor 1999, pp. 1, 66.

Bibliography

• Kennedy, Hugh (1998). "Egypt as a Province in the Islamic Caliphate, 641–868". In Petry, Carl F. (ed.). Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume One: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–85. ISBN 0-521-47137-0.
• Landau-Tasseron, Ella, ed. (1998). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXIX: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions and their Successors: al-Ṭabarī's Supplement to his History. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-2819-1.
• Madelung, Wilferd (1992). Religious and Ethnic Movements in Medieval Islam. Variorum. ISBN 9780860783107.
• Morony, Michael G., ed. (1987). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XVIII: Between Civil Wars: The Caliphate of Muʿāwiyah, 661–680 A.D./A.H. 40–60. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-87395-933-9.
• Taylor, Christopher S. (1999). In the Vicinity of the Righteous: Ziyāra and the Veneration of Muslim Saints in Late Medieval Egypt. Leiden, Boston and Koln: Brill. ISBN 90-04-11046-1.

Preceded by Utba ibn Abi Sufyan

Governor of Egypt 664–669

Succeeded by Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari