User:Al Ameer son/Sa'ifa

A sa'ifa, (pl: sawa'if), was a term used to describe a summertime raid or military campaign by early Muslim forces against enemy frontiers. In the east, the sawa'if usually referred to the summer raids against Byzantine Anatolia by the forces of the Umayyad and then Abbasid caliphates between c. 640 and the 9th century. In the west, the term is used to describe the raids by the forces of Islamic Spain against the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula between the mid-8th century and the 10th century.

History
Arab Muslim armies conquered Syria and Egypt from the Byzantine Empire in the 630s–640s. A frontier zone (thughur) thereafter developed, separating Islamic Syria, including the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), from Byzantine Anatolia. On an almost annual basis, the Muslims mobilized from posts on or near the frontier zone to launch raids into Anatolia. They usually took place in the summer (sayf), from which the term sa'ifa derives, to avoid the harsh Anatolian winter. The marshaling points for the campaigns were either in Tarsus or Mopsuestia (al-Massisa in Arabic), from which troops would enter Anatolia through the Cilician Gates, or Melitene (Malatiya in Arabic), from which the troops would enter through pass of al-Hadath (between Malatiya and Mar'ash).

The Muslim governor of Syria, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, led the first sa'ifa in c. 640, raiding across Cilicia as far north Euchaita. Four years later, he launched a sa'ifa against the Anatolian city of Amorium. Mu'awiya became caliph in 661, founding the Umayyad Caliphate. Between 643 and his death in 680, summer and/or winter campaigns were launched by his order nearly every year, interrupted by the First Muslim Civil War (656–661). A number of the raids reached as far as one thousand kilometers into Anatolia, but no permanent territorial gains were achieved in Anatolia. Nonetheless, the raids boosted the prestige of the Caliph, secured considerable treasure for the Muslim troops, which helped recruit more Arab tribesmen to the Caliphate's war efforts, while keeping Muslim manpower losses minimal. The devastation of town and countryside, the serious causalities inflicted, the captives and property taken, and the disruption of trade and cultivation all kept the Byzantines from undertaking serious offensives against Islamic Syria. The sawa'if diverted Byzantine attention away from other fronts, enabling the Muslims to extend their control or influence to Armenia, Cyprus and the North African coastline.

Commanders
Leadership of the sawa'if was a prestigious command. The 9th and 10th-century Muslim historians al-Ya'qubi, Khalifa ibn Khayyat, and al-Tabari recorded the names of the commanders for each sa'ifa. At times, caliphs, most prominently Mu'awiya, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, Harun al-Rashid and al-Mu'tasim, led the campaigns in person. Most often, however, the command was held by princes of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties, most prominently Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik, Salih ibn Ali and Abd al-Malik ibn Salih.