Abu Nu'aymAlso Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, cf. . Mu'awiya ibn HudayjIbn Khadīj, according to the Jamhara of Ibn al-Kalbī, cf. . ibn Jafna ibn Qatira al-Sakuni al-Tujibi Usd al-Ghabah 4 / 383 al-KindiAl-Bidāya wa-n-Nihāya/Part Seven/Then I entered the year thirty-eight (), was a general of the Kinda tribe who served under the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I. Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj participated in the early Muslim conquests against the Byzantines in Syria, Sicily and Ifriqiya, and also against the Sassanids at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah.
Biography He first participated in the Battle of the Yarmuk, the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah,Ṭabarī, ., & Friedmann, Y. (1992). The battle of al-Qādisiyyah and the conquest of Syria and Palestine: A.D. 635–637/A.H. 14–15. Albany: State University of New York Press. Page 12. and the Battle of Jalula.L' Afrique vandale et byzantine: Revue internationale d'histoire et d'archéologie (IVe - VIIIe s.). (2002). Turnhout: Brepols. Page 282 According to Ibn al-Athir, Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj took part in the Arab conquest of Egypt under Amr ibn al-As, and in the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb under Abd Allah ibn Sa'd. Ibn Hudayj continued to serve under Abd Allah ibn Sa'd during the siege of Dongola, the capital of the Nubian Kingdom of Makuria. During this battle, Ibn Hudayj lost one of his eyes.
He was an adherent of the third Rashidun caliph Uthman ibn Affan, and refused to recognize the accession of the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib following Uthman's assassination in 656. Consequently, he became the leader of the Uthmaniyya in Egypt, and led them in revoltṬabarī, A.-G. M. I.-G., & Yar-Shater, E. (1996). The first civil war. Albany, NY: State Univ. of New York Pr. Page 144 against the Alid governor Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa until 657, when Ibn Abi Hudhayfa was captured and killed by the Umayyad governor of Syria, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. As open war broke out between Ali and the Syria-based Umayyads under Mu'awiya, he opposed Ali's appointment of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as the new governor of Egypt. In mid-658, he participated in the Umayyad invasion of Egypt under Amr ibn al-As that defeated the Alid loyalists, with Ibn Hudayj personally capturing and executing Ibn Abi Bakr.
In 664–665, he launched a raid on Sicily.A. I. Akram, The Muslim conquest of Egypt and North Africa. Ferozsons, 1977. Page 201 Ibn Hudayj was provided with two hundred ships for the invasion by Caliph Mu'awiya. Ibn Hudayj had managed to seized massive spoils of war from this campaign, when he returned to Syria in 665 AD. According to Al-Baladhuri, he was the first Muslim commander to invade Sicily. After the first invasion, Ibn Hudayj continued to raid the island routinely.
In 664–665, he also led 10,000 troops in the area of Sousse.Muslim Expansion and Byzantine Collapse in North Africa By Walter E. Kaegi, Walter Emil Kaegi. Page 180. He garrisoned troops in KairouanAbun-Nasr, J. M. (1987). A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Page 28 and conducted operations against Hadrumetum in the Tacape region (Lesser Syrtis). He was made the governor of Cyrenaica in 669.A. I. Akram. The Muslim conquest of Egypt and North Africa. Ferozsons, 1977. Page 206
Ibn Taghribirdi, Ibn al-Athir and al-Tabari all record a story that Ibn Hudayj blocked the appointment of Ibn Umm al-Hakam as governor of Egypt in 678, although he was long dead by that time.
See also Islamic Tripolitania and Cyrenaica Umayyad rule in North Africa
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