Baqt Treaty

References

Sources

1. 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 63)

   The Baqt was a negotiated agreement between ‘Abdallah ibn Sa’id ibn Abi Sarh, the Umayyad governor of Egypt, and the Nubian king of MAKOURIA. It was concluded at DONGOLA in A.D. 632 following an unsuccessful Muslim attempt to subjugate the Nubian kingdom.

2. 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 64)

   The Baqt remained at least nominally in force for more than 600 years, and it largely shaped the course of Egyptian-Nubian relations in the Middle Ages. After its signing, the Egyptians never again attempted the conquest of Makouria, although they often complained of the Nubians' failure to abide by the terms of the treaty. In 835 the annual payment of slaves had apparently not been met for fourteen years, and the newly installed Caliph al-Mu‘tasim sent an urgent demand that the full arrears be made up. Such a demand was far beyond the resources of the Nubian king Zacharias, and consequently h

3. 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 393)

   Their first attack, in 642, resulted in a resounding defeat of the invaders. A second attack ten years later was militarily inconclusive and was followed by the conclusion of a negotiated truce, called the BAQT. Under its terms the political and religious independence of the Nubians was guaranteed, in exchange for an annual tribute of slaves.

4. 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 63)

   The name Baqt is presumed to be derivative from Greek pakton (agreement), and is unique to this one document; no other covenant made by the medieval Arabs was given the same designation. This reflects the fact that the agreement itself was in many ways unique in the annals of Arab foreign relations, since it exempted the Nubians from the dar al-harb (the community of nations at war with Islam) without including them in the dar al-Islam (the community of Islam).

5. 5.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 63)

   Several different versions of the Baqt have been recorded by different authors. Most of them wrote at a time when the agreement was still nominally in force but long after the original date of its execution. The earliest written account of the Baqt appears to be that of Al-Baladhuri (d. 892), who merely states that the Nubians were exempted from paying JIZYAH (poll tax) but agreed to furnish annually a gift of 300 slaves in exchange for the equivalent value in food. Later writers mention various other conditions, such as provision of horses by the Nubians and of wine and various kinds of cloth

6. 6.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 63)

   The fullest recorded version of the agreement is that in al-MAQRIZI's al-Khitat (Plans), written more than 700 years after the actual date of the treaty. According to al-Maqrizi, the Egyptians and the Nubians promised not to make war on one another, and each agreed to guarantee safe conduct of the other's citizens when traveling. In addition, the Nubians were to return any runaway slaves or Muslim outlaws who fell into their hands, to look after a mosque that the Muslims had built at Dongola, and to furnish an annual tribute of 360 slaves. In al-Maqrizi's text there is no mention of any quid p

7. 7.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 7)

   Some of the finds from Qasr Ibrim, particularly the textual finds, are of outstanding historical importance. They include letters relating to the BAQT treaty, to the commercial relations of the eparchs of Nobatia, and to the late medieval kingdom of Dotawo.

8. 8.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 64)

   In the letter, which bears the date A.H. 141/A.D. 758, the Abbasid governor Musa ibn Ka‘b complains to the king of Makouria about various Nubian transgressions of the Baqt. Among his specific complaints were that the Nubians were not making the annual payment of slaves, were harboring runaway slaves, were protecting Egyptian fugitives, and were mistreating Egyptian merchants and diplomats. The one provision of the Baqt, as reported by al-Maqrizi, that appears to be clearly anachronistic relates to a mosque at Dongola. There was certainly no mosque at Dongola in 632, or even 300 years later, wh

9. 9.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 64)

   Because of its unusual provisions, the status of the Baqt was disputed by Muslim jurists themselves. The annual payment of slaves was regarded by some as a kind of tribute, but most commentators characterized it as a gift (hadiyyah). The agreement itself was sometimes designated as a sulh, or imposed settlement, but in fact the Nubians had not been militarily defeated or subjugated. Consequently, other writers rejected the term sulh, and referred to the Baqt as a truce (hudnah) or neutralization (muwada‘ah).

10. 10.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 65)

    The advent of Fatimid rule in Egypt in 969 was accompanied by a renewed demand for payment of the Baqt, which was evidently once again in arrears. This was the occasion for the famous diplomatic mission of Ibn Salim al-Aswani, who went to Dongola to present the Fatimid demand directly to the king of Makouria. His mission resulted in the establishment of exceptionally cordial relations between the Nubians and the Fatimids, even though the Baqt payment seems to have lapsed. There is no further mention of it either in Fatimid or in Ayyubid times.

11. 11.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 229)

    In their relationship with Christian Nubia, the Fatimids had inherited a particular situation based on the BAQT TREATY, which laid down that the king of Nubia had to pay an annual tribute to Egypt. For a long period this tribute consisted mainly of 360 black slaves, together with animals that were unknown or rare in Egypt. Through several historians, al-Maqrizi in particular, we know that this practice continued under the Fatimids, but only intermittently.

12. 12.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 65)

    The coming of Mamluk rule in 1260 was accompanied by an immediate demand for a resumption of the Baqt. The Mamluks, unlike their predecessors, evidently looked upon the agreement as a sulh, and upon the Nubians as vassals. Consequently, they were quite ready to back up their demands by military force. Mamluk armies invaded Nubia eight times between 1276 and 1323, usually for the purpose of installing a puppet king who would acknowledge Mamluk suzerainty and would resume the Baqt payment. Nevertheless, they were outmaneuvered by the Muslim BANU AL-KANZ, who eventually obtained the throne of Mak