Uqba ibn Amir

Uqba ibn Amir al-Juhani (Arabic: عقبة بن عامر الجهني‎‎, romanized: ʿUqba ibn ʿĀmir al-Juhanī; died 677/78) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the Umayyad governor of Egypt in 665–667 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

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.