[2] As a general of the Rashidun Caliphate, Uqba accompanied Amr ibn al-As in his initial capture of cities in the Maghreb starting with Barqa, then proceeding to Tripolitania in 644.

[4] In 670 now the emir or commander, Uqba led an Arab army to North Africa, crossing the Egyptian deserts, and setting up military posts at regular intervals along his route.

In a region of what is now Tunisia, he established the town now called Kairouan (meaning "camp" or "caravanserai" in Persian) about 99 miles south of present-day Tunis, which he used as a base for further operations.

In it, Ibn Idhari describes the moment when Uqba reached the Atlantic Ocean, where he allegedly said: | "O God, if the sea had not prevented me, I would have galloped on for ever like Alexander the Great, upholding your faith and fighting the unbelievers!

"[11]Edward Gibbon, referring to Uqba ibn Nafi as Akbah, gives him the title "Conqueror of Africa," beginning his story when he "marched from Damascus at the head of ten thousand of the bravest Arabs; and the genuine force of the Moslems was enlarged by the doubtful aid and conversion of many thousand Barbarians."

Gibbon then tells the story of Akbah's conquest of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana:The fearless Akbah plunged into the heart of the country, traversed the wilderness in which his successors erected the splendid capitals of Fez and Morocco, and at length penetrated to the verge of the Atlantic and the great desert....

if my course were not stopped by this sea, I would still go on, to the unknown kingdoms of the West, preaching the unity of the holy name, and putting to the sword the rebellious nations who worship another gods than Allah.