Sabir al-Fata was a freedman who served the Fatimid caliph al-Mahdi Billah as a governor and military commander.
As his sobriquet of al-Fata ( lit. 'the young hero') demonstrates, Sabir was a Slavic ( saqaliba) military slave who had been set free and made an officer of the Fatimid army. [1] His original master had been Ibn Qurhub. [2]
He served under the first Fatimid caliph, al-Mahdi Billah, as governor of Kairouan. [3] In 927/28, he was sent to Sicily with a fleet of 44 ships to launch an offensive against the Byzantine Empire's provinces in southern Italy. [2] [4] In 928 with 30 ships, and joined by the Fatimid governor of Sicily, Salim ibn Abi Rashid, he attacked a locality named al-Ghiran ('the caves') in Apulia, and proceeded to sack the cities of Taranto and Otranto. [5] [2] At the sack of Taranto, on 17 August 928, some 6,000 inhabitants are reported to have been killed. [4]
The outbreak of a disease forced them to return to Sicily, but then Sabir led his fleet up the Tyrrhenian Sea, forcing Salerno and Naples to ransom themselves with money and precious brocades. [2] [4] [6] In 929, with four ships he defeated the seven ships of the local Byzantine strategos on the Adriatic coast, and sacked Termoli. [4] [6] [7] He returned to the Fatimid capital, al-Mahdiya, on 5 September 930, bringing 18,000 prisoners with him. [4] [8]
His successes encouraged Caliph al-Mahdi to prepare a new, even larger naval expedition against the Byzantines in Italy, but the arrival of a Byzantine embassy led to the conclusion of a treaty instead (931/32). [6] [8] [9]