Southern Italy under Muslim Rule

Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On October 27, 710 AD, the first Arab invasion of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia took place, and the conquest was completed in 720, making it part of the expanding world of Islam. Muslim rule lasted three centuries until 1016.
On December 7, 983 AD, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II died crestfallen, a year after he was decisively defeated by the Muslim forces of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi'ite caliphate of Egypt-North Africa at the Battle of Capo Colonna, in Calabria, southern Italy. The Fatemids, who after taking control of Sicily in the 960s had advanced into southern Italy, came into conflict with the Germans under Otto advancing from the north with the intention of seizing Apulia and Calabria from the Byzantines.
Otto was met by the forces of the Sicilian Emir, Abu'l-Qassem, to whom the Greek Christians had appealed for aid against the Roman Catholics. After initial success, Otto's army was bogged down in a pitched battle south of Crotone at Cape Colonna, and although Abu'l-Qassem was martyred, the Muslim troops did not flee. They regrouped and managed to surround the German forces, killing many of them and inflicting a severe defeat upon the Holy Roman Emperor. The defeat changed the political makeup of southern Italy, where the Muslims retained their presence, while the Greek Orthodox forces joined with the Muslims to regain possession of Apulia from the Roman Catholics.
The Muslim presence in southern Italy lasted for over three centuries until 1300 AD, when as a result of loss of political power they were expelled, while the remaining were forcibly converted to Christianity and mosques turning into churches.