Who is Axel? And who is Uqba bin Nafi? Simple comparison:
The conflict between the two characters Axel and Uqba always comes to the surface, and this is when one of them is mentioned either in a post on social networking sites, in comments, or in discussions. It has become one of the most closely linked duos over time. Therefore, we will discuss the comparison between them in terms of the actions they have taken or in terms of humanity.
Uqba bin Nafi, who entered North Africa for the first time in the year 46 AH, was returned to it in the year 62 AH, and died in the year 63 AH. In the historical narration, astonishment has been said about the events that occurred in one year, but this is not our topic. We will present before you some of the actions that Uqba performed, and not all of them. We begin with his action in He condemned what Al-Bakri Al-Andalusi mentioned in his book “Al-Masalik wal-Mamalek”
Where Uqba and Dan entered and took their king and cut off his ear, the king said to him: Why did you do this to me when the Muslims had made a covenant with me? Uqba replied to him, “Be polite to you, if I touch your ear, you mention that and you do not fight the Arabs.”
The second act of Uqba was “sending Uqba a message to the city of Fezzan, and they responded to him by converting to Islam, and their king went out to receive Uqba, who was about 10 km away from the city, but the king was not allowed to ride his horse, but was forced to walk all that distance until he spat blood due to his old age, and upon his arrival.” Uqba said to him: Why did you do this to me when I came to you obediently? Uqba replied, “Be polite, if you mention him, you will not fight the Arabs.”
As for Uqba's third act, he did so after arriving at Khawar, which he was unable to enter after he besieged it for a whole month. He had another appointment with her before his return to Kairouan, where he attacked its people while they were asleep and at peace, desecrating them, killing them, and captivating them.
As for Axel, who fought Uqba, defeated him, and killed him in Judaization in Biskra, he ruled Kairouan and North Africa for five full years. He never killed or fought the Arabs there, nor did he prevent the rituals of Islam, nor did he demolish any mosque there. He is a Muslim who converted to Islam at the hands of Abu Al-Muhajir Dinar. He was not racist against the Arabs who remained in Kairouan, and he did not take revenge on Uqba’s followers. Everyone in Kairouan, Amazigh, Muslims, Christians, and Arabs, lived in complete safety and bliss. History did not record the occurrence of bad things. He made promises to the Arabs that they would be in complete safety, and he did not break that promise. The evidence for this is his departure from Kairouan to fight the Arabs when they came from Cyrenaica and Egypt, and this was in order not to break his covenant with the Arabs who remained in Kairouan, and this is the highest meaning of Islam and to be a Muslim. There is another matter, which is that Axel went to Kairouan, which is the incubator of Muslims and Islam in North Africa did not go to Carthage or any other large city, especially since Carthage is considered a Christian center. If it had been a Christian, it would have gone to Carthage.
What is observed here for the reader of these lines of history is that it is possible alone to compare these two figures. Uqba, whom many people claim to be an example of a true and pious Muslim, and who wanted to spread Islam, is far from the morals of Islam.
، فقد قال تعالى : ادْعُ إِلَى سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُمْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ ضَلَّ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ...سورة النحل : 125
و قال أيضا عز و جل : وَلَوْ كُنْتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ الْقَلْبِ لَانْفَضُّوا مِنْ حَوْلِكَ فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ....سورة آل عمران159
قال تعالى:وَقَاتِلُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ وَلاَ تَعْتَدُواْ إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يُحِبِّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ....191 سورة البقرة
و قال أيضا عز و جل : فَمَنِ اعْتَدَى عَلَيْكُمْ فَاعْتَدُواْ عَلَيْهِ بِمِثْلِ مَا اعْتَدَى عَلَيْكُمْ وَاتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَاعْلَمُواْ أَنَّ اللّهَ مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ... 194 سورة البقرة
The Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, called people to Islam in the best way, and he was never rude and hard-hearted with people, otherwise they would have dispersed from around him and abandoned the religion of Islam. Uqba is far from this matter and has the quality of treachery, deception, and deception, so he did what is decisive. The permission of the King of Wadan, who had a treaty with the Muslims regarding peace and security, is the best evidence, and also in his action with the King of Fezzan, who accepted to convert to Islam and he accepted it obediently, but he was prevented from riding his horses and led to him spitting blood due to his old age. And his major deed was his attack on people who were sleeping at peace. This is an attribute of treachery in its utmost meaning. He attacked safe people, and God has a sign about this matter, but there is an obstacle, as is clear, that on the one hand, and Islam on the other hand, they do not meet. An obstacle that is racist to the core, so it is every time. He mentions the Arabs when he did this, meaning that he came to fight for the wealth and power of the Arabs, not Islam or its spread, and this is the truth. These actions of his have nothing to do with Islam at all. They are the actions of people far from the Islamic religion, full of racism, hatred, resentment, love of blood, materialism, and exploitation. Preparedness and betrayal of people The main obstacles to the characteristics known to him are racism, fanaticism toward Arabs, hatred, hatred, and a dark heart that is treacherous. All of these characteristics are not characteristics of a Muslim, especially when he is a leader. As for Axel, whom many are trying to atone for the reason that he killed Uqba or that he allied according to them with the Romans against Uqba the Muslim, they start from That Axel is not a Muslim, or that this alliance made him lose his conversion to Islam. They do not go back to understand why Axel killed Uqba. There are a succession of reasons, including the insult to which he was exposed, Uqba’s notoriously heinous actions, his not-good qualities, and also his arrest and handcuffing of Axel’s friend, Abu Al-Muhajir Dinar. That is, they are reasons. It is logical and does not make its owner an infidel. As for the issue of alliance with the Romans, this falls into the imagination. There is no such alliance at all, so how could it be an alliance when most of the Byzantines left North Africa because of the Berber revolutions? And liberating most of their lands themselves before the arrival of the Arabs, and the Byzantines cannot be present in the desert or ally in those circumstances, as is known, and if they ally as they claim, we will remind you that the Umayyads allied with the Byzantines against the Abbasids, and that Muawiyah subdued the Romans to kill and fight internal problems and other fighting. Among the Muslims at that time, would you also consider them infidels? Or is it permissible for them and forbidden for Axel? In the end, Axel is a true Muslim, tolerant, non-racist, respects covenants, and is a just ruler. These are the characteristics of a true Muslim.
What we have presented is only a very simple comparison that anyone can make by comparing the actions of these two characters (Axel and Uqba) with the Islamic religion and with the human person, and it will become clear who is the true Muslim and who is following it. Rather, those who tried to deify and glorify this personality will be exposed. Any obstacle, they do not mention his actions because mentioning them will lead to people being disgusted.
Source :
Paths and Kingdoms by Al-Bakri Al-Andalusi, Part Two, pages 185-186
Musa Liqbal Uqba bin Nafi’, pages 76-77-78-79-80-81-82