|
Islamic Military Base in the Rhodes Island
The
Rhodes island was conquered by Muslims under the leadership of
Junadah bin Abi Umayya .Muslims then settled there and staged
frequent attacks against the disbelievers in the sea, with the
support of the Caliph, Mu`awya, nevertheless they were very careful
about the Europeans, they used to spend the nights in a huge castle
with all their possessions. This castle had watching towers whereby
they’d keep watch guard over enemies and attackers to know if
there was imminent danger.
They stayed on this island until the reign of Yazeed, who sent them
back home after they had lived there for a long time and had much
money and agricultural activities of their own.
(Al-Bedaya wa An-Nehaya, Vol. 7)
Explaining this briefly we say that Mo`awya bin Abi Sufyan wanted
to conquer the Byzantine capital, the Constantinople, and made
great preparations for that, like preparing 300 great ships loaded
with heavy weapons specially the mangonels and 1000 fighters each
and another group of 500 smaller ships with 100 fighters each.
He also tried to control the Mediterranean sea, to ensure safety of
this huge fleet and also to find supplying stations. Actually
Muslims by the time of Mu`awya had no control but on Cyprus Island.
Rhodes was a vital target for Muslims, because it was a small
island near the coasts of Constantinople and Romanian troops used
to attack Muslim coastal cities and ships from this little island.
That's why Muslims started with this island, and it was conquered
by the help and support of Allah in Ramadan 53A.H. Immediately
after conquering it, Mu`awya sent Muslim families to settle there,
providing them with regular finance, turning this island to be an
important base for the Islamic navy, causing Muslims to feel safe
and pose as a pain on the neck of their enemies. It also helped a
lot to conquer other Mediterranean islands and consequently put the
Constantinople under siege.
|
