Maslama ibn Mukhallad ibn Samit al-Ansari () was one of the

companions of the Prophet The Companions of the Prophet () were the Muslim disciples and followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who saw or met him during his lifetime. The companions played a major role in Muslim battles, society, hadith narration, and governance ...

and active in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in the decades after its conquest by the Muslims.

Biography

He was born in 616 or 620, and participated in the

Muslim conquest of Egypt The Arab conquest of Egypt, led by the army of Amr ibn al-As, took place between 639 and 642 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long Roman Egypt, Roman period in Egypt that had begun in 30 BC and, more broa ...

, remaining in the country after its conquest and until his death. He was an adherent of the third

Caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

Uthman Uthman ibn Affan (17 June 656) was the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruling from 644 until his assassination in 656. Uthman, a second cousin, son-in-law, and notable companion of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, played a major role ...

, and refused to recognize the succession of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

's son-in-law Ali after Uthman's assassination. Consequently, he was one of the leaders of the pro-Uthman party, under Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj, and participated in their revolt against governor Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa in 657, until the governor of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan Mu'awiya I (–April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

, reimposed order. In 658, as the conflict between Ali and the Syria-based Umayyads under Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan became open, he opposed Ali's appointment of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as governor of Egypt, and it is probable that he participated in the Syrian invasion under

Amr ibn al-As Amr ibn al-As ibn Wa'il al-Sahmi (664) was an Arab commander and companion of Muhammad who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and was ...

that led to Ibn Abi Bakr's defeat, capture and execution in the summer of that year. Maslama served loyally under Amr ibn al-As, who was governor of Egypt until his death in January 664, but remained on the sidelines under his three successors, Abd Allah ibn Amr al-As,

Utba ibn Abi Sufyan Utba ibn Abi Sufyan ibn Harb () was a member of the Umayyad ruling family and served as the Umayyad governor of Egypt in 664–665, during the reign of his brother, Caliph Mu'awiya I (). Life Utba was a son of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb of the Ban ...

and Uqba ibn Amir. Finally, in 667/8, Maslama himself petitioned Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, now Caliph, and was appointed governor of Egypt. He held the post until 670 according to

al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

, though other sources report that he governed the country continuously until his death on 9 April 682. Little is known of is tenure, except that he was active in the

wars War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of State (polity), states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or betwe ...

against the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, sending regular expeditions against them, and rebuilt the

Mosque of Amr ibn al-As The Amr ibn al-As Mosque () is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt. Named after the Arab Muslim commander Amr ibn al-As, the mosque was originally built in 641–642 CE as the center of the newly founded capital of Egypt, Fustat. The original structure ...

Fustat Fustat (), also Fostat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, though it has been integrated into Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by the Rashidun Muslim general 'Amr ibn al-'As immediately after the Mus ...

, to which he added

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

s. Otherwise his period of office seems to have been one of domestic tranquility. Some sources claim that Maslama was also responsible for the Muslim campaigns in

Ifriqiya Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna (), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (roughly western Libya). It included all of what had previously been the Byzantine province of ...

and the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

in general, although others insist that these areas did not come under his authority until ca. 675; at any rate, he replaced Uqba ibn Nafi, who had been in charge in Ifriqiya until then, with Abu al-Muhajir Dinar in 671 or in 675. Maslama remained a firm adherent of the Umayyads to the last, and when Mu'awiya died in 680, he immediately recognized his son,

Yazid I Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan (; 11 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from April 680 until his death in November 683. His appointment by his father Mu'awiya I () was the first ...

, as his successor; he reportedly threatened even Amr ibn al-As's son Abd Allah, another Companion and respected ''

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

'' scholar, with execution when he objected.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maslama Ibn Mukhallad 7th-century births 682 deaths 7th-century Umayyad governors of Egypt Ansar (Islam) Arab people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Companions of the Prophet