# Baqt Treaty

Source: https://coptic-lore-forge.lovable.app/wiki/baqt-treaty — Coptic Orthodox Wiki (updated 2026-10-02)

The Baqt was an agreement between Egypt’s governor and the Nubian kingdom of Makouria that regulated relations for more than six centuries, with differing accounts of its terms and obligations.[^1][^2]

## Origins and significance

The Baqt was a negotiated agreement between ‘Abdallah ibn Sa’id ibn Abi Sarh, governor of Egypt, and the Nubian king of Makouria, concluded at Dongola after an unsuccessful attempt to subjugate the kingdom.[^1]

Its date is disputed. The agreement is dated to either 632 or after a second Arab attack ten years after 642, indicating 652.[^1][^3]

The name is presumed to derive from Greek *pakton*, meaning “agreement.” The Baqt article describes its diplomatic status as unusual: Nubia was excluded from the *dar al-harb*, the community of nations at war with Islam, without being incorporated into the *dar al-Islam*, the community of Islam.[^4] The Makouria article presents the agreement as guaranteeing Nubian political and religious independence in return for an annual delivery of enslaved people.[^3]

## Recorded terms and interpretations

The treaty survives in differing accounts written after its conclusion. Al-Baladhuri, identified as the earliest recorded witness, states that the Nubians were exempt from *jizyah*, or poll tax, and agreed to provide an annual gift of 300 enslaved people in exchange for an equivalent value in food. Later accounts mention horses supplied by Nubia and wine and cloth supplied by Egypt.[^5]

Al-Maqrizi’s fuller account, written more than seven centuries after the agreement, describes mutual promises of peace and safe conduct. It also requires the Nubians to return runaway slaves and Muslim outlaws, maintain a mosque at Dongola, and deliver 360 enslaved people annually. This version mentions no reciprocal Egyptian payment.[^6]

A letter from Qasr Ibrim supports several reported obligations.[^7] Dated 758, it records the Abbasid governor Musa ibn Ka‘b’s complaints about missed deliveries, the sheltering of runaway slaves and Egyptian fugitives, and mistreatment of Egyptian merchants and diplomats. However, the mosque clause is anachronistic, as there was no mosque at Dongola during Ibn Salim al-Aswani’s later visit.[^8]

Muslim jurists also differed over the agreement’s classification. Some regarded the annual delivery as tribute, while most commentators called it a gift (*hadiyyah*). Its description as an imposed settlement (*sulh*) was disputed because Nubia had not been subjugated; alternatives included truce (*hudnah*) and neutralization (*muwada‘ah*).[^9]

## Renegotiation and later history

The Baqt remained nominally in force for more than 600 years. In 835, fourteen years of unpaid obligations prompted a demand from Caliph al-Mu‘tasim. King Zacharias sent his son George to Baghdad, where the arrears were forgiven and the payment interval was changed from annually to every three years.[^2]

Fatimid rule in Egypt, beginning in 969, brought renewed demands and a diplomatic mission by Ibn Salim al-Aswani to Dongola. The Baqt article reports cordial relations but suggests that payments lapsed, with no further mention during Fatimid or Ayyubid times.[^10] A separate account of Fatimid relations with Nubia states that payments continued intermittently under the Fatimids; the supplied sources therefore differ on their continuation.[^11]

The establishment of Mamluk rule in 1260 brought another demand for payment. The Mamluks treated Nubia as a vassal and launched eight invasions between 1276 and 1323, usually seeking to install a compliant king. The Banu al-Kanz nevertheless secured the throne, and the accession of a Muslim ruler at Dongola in 1323 was followed by the formal termination of the Baqt payment requirement.[^12]

## Sources
[^1]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 63)
[^2]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 64)
[^3]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 393)
[^4]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 63)
[^5]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 63)
[^6]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 63)
[^7]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 7)
[^8]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 64)
[^9]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 64)
[^10]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 65)
[^11]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 229)
[^12]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 65)