Tariq ibn Ziyad

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Tariq bin Ziyad
طارق بن زياد
Born 670
Died 720
Damascus, ash-Sham
Buried at Damascus , Syria
Allegiance Umayyad Caliphate
Rank General
Battles/wars Conquest of Hispania
 • Battle of Guadalete
Other work Governor of Al-Andalus

Tariq ibn Ziyad (Arabic: طارق بن زياد‎, died 720) was a Muslim general who led the Islamic conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711–718 A.D. He is considered to be one of the most important military commanders in Iberian history. Under the orders of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I he led a large army from the north coast of Morocco, consolidating his troops at a large hill now known as Gibraltar. The name "Gibraltar" is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Tāriq (جبل طارق), meaning "mountain of Tariq",[1] named after him.

Origin

An illustration of Tariq ibn Ziyad.

Most medieval historians give little or no information about Tariq's origins or nationality. Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, Ibn al-Athir, Al-Tabari and Ibn Khaldun[2] do not say anything, and have been followed in this by modern works such as the Encyclopedia of Islam and Cambridge History of Islam. There are three different accounts given by a few Arabic histories which all seem to date from between 400 and 500 years after Tariq's time. These are that:

  • He was a Berber from North Africa. Even here there are several different versions, and modern workers who accept a Berber origin tend to settle on one version or another without giving any reason for so doing.[3] The Berber tribes associated with these ancestries (Zenata, Walhāṣ, Warfajūma, Nafzā) were, in Tariq's time, all resident in Tripolitania.[4]
    • The earliest reference seems to be the 12th-century geographer al-Idrisi, who referred to him as Tariq bin Abd 'Allah bin Wanamū al-Zanātī, without the usual bin Ziyad.[5]
    • The 14th-century historian Ibn Idhari gives two versions of Tariq's ancestry (the differences may be caused by copyist errors). He is referred to as Tāriq bin Zīyād bin Abd 'Allah bin Walghū bin Warfajūm bin Nabarghāsan bin Walhāṣ bin Yaṭūfat bin Nafzāw (Arabic: طارق بن زياد بن عبد الله بن ولغو بن ورفجوم بن نبرغاسن بن ولهاص بن يطوفت بن نفزاو‎) and also as Tāriq bin Zīyād bin Abd' Allah bin Rafhū bin Warfajūm bin Yanzghāsan bin Walhāṣ bin Yaṭūfat bin Nafzāw (Arabic: طارق بن زياد بن عبد الله بن رفهو بن ورفجوم بن ينزغاسن بن ولهاص بن يطوفت بن نفزاو‎).[6]

Most historians, Arab and Spanish, seem to agree that he was a slave[7] of the emir of Ifriqiya (North Africa), Musa bin Nusayr, who gave him his freedom and appointed him a general in his army. But his descendants centuries later denied he had ever been Musa's slave.

The earliest reference to him seems to be in the Mozarab Chronicle, written in Latin in 754, which although written within living memory of the conquest of Spain, refers to him erroneously as Taric Abuzara.[8]

Tariq's name is often associated with that of a young slave girl, Umm Ḥakīm, who is said to have crossed to Spain with him; but the nature of their relationship is left obscure.[9]

History

The Moorish Castle's Tower of Homage, symbol of the Muslim occupation of Gibraltar.

Musa bin Nusayr appointed Tariq governor of Tangiers after its conquest in 710-711,[10] but an unconquered Visigothic outpost remained nearby at Ceuta, a stronghold commanded by a nobleman named Julian.

After Roderic came to power in Spain, Julian had, as was the custom, sent his daughter to the court of the Visigothic king to receive an education. It is said that Roderic raped her, and that Julian was so incensed he resolved to have the Arabs bring down the Visigothic kingdom. Accordingly he entered into a treaty with Tariq (Musa having returned to Qayrawan) to secretly convey the Muslim army across the Straits of Gibraltar, as he owned a number of merchant ships and had his own forts on the Spanish mainland.

About April 29 711, the army of Tariq, composed of recent converts to Islam, was landed at Gibraltar by Julian.[11](the name Gibraltar is derived from the Arabic name Jabal at Tariq, which means mountain of Tariq).

Tariq's army contained about 7,000 men, and Musa is said to have sent an additional 5.000 reinforcements.[12] Roderic, to meet the threat, assembled an army said to number 100,000.[13] Most of the army was commanded by, and loyal to, the sons of Wittiza, whom Roderic had brutally deposed.[14] Tariq won a decisive victory when Roderic was defeated and killed on July 19 at the Battle of Guadalete.

On the advice of Julian, Tariq split his army into various divisions which went on to capture Cordoba, Granada and other places, while he remained at the head of the division which captured Toledo and Guadalajara. Tariq was de facto governor of Hispania until the arrival of Musa a year later.

Both Tariq and Musa were simultaneously ordered back to Damascus by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I in 714, where they spent the rest of their lives.[15]

Tariq vs. Musa

In the many Arabic histories written about the conquest of Spain, there is a definite division of opinion regarding the relationship between Tariq and Musa bin Nusayr. Some relate episodes of anger and envy on the part of Musa, that his freedman had conquered an entire country. Others do not mention, or play down, any such bad blood.

On the other hand, another early historian al-Baladhuri (9th century) merely states that Musa wrote Tariq a "severe letter" and that the two were later reconciled.[16]

Solomon's Table

The most widespread story regarding the enmity between Tariq and Musa concerns a fabulous piece of furniture, reputed to have belonged to the Biblical Solomon. Said to have been made of gold, and encrusted with precious gems, this important relic was noted even in pre-Islamic times to be in the possession of the Spanish Visigoths.[17]

Tariq took possession of the table after the surrender of one of Roderic's nephews. Most stories say that, fearing duplicity on the part of Musa, he removed one leg of the table and (in most accounts) replaced it with an obviously inferior one. The table was then added to Musa's collection of booty to be taken back to Damascus.

When both men appeared before the caliph, Musa gave out that he was the one who had obtained the table. Tariq drew the caliph's attention to the inferior (or missing) leg, for which Musa's only explanation was that he had found it like that. Tariq then produced the real leg, leading to Musa's disgrace.[18]

There is none of the above story in al-Baladhuri's account, which simply mentions the table being presented to the caliph.[19]

New title Governor of Al-Andalus
711–712 		Succeeded by
Tariq bin Ziyad

Namesakes

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "History of Gibraltar". Government of Gibraltar. Retrieved 2007-12-20. 
  2. ↑ al-Maqqari, p. 255 of English translation by Gayangos, states that Ibn Khaldun referred to Tariq as al-Laythī but this does not appear in modern editions of Ibn Khaldun's works.
  3. ↑ e.g. M. De Slane, in an editorial note to the French translation of Ibn Khaldun's Kitab al-Ibar, vol. 1 p. 215 opines that he belonged to the Walhāṣ tribe. Numerous more recent works give his tribe as Warfajūma, e.g. van Sertima's Golden Age of the Moor p. 54. Both these opinions derive from Ibn Idhari, whose text (quoted above) does not single out one tribe.
  4. ↑ Yves Modéran, Les Maures et L'Afrique Romaine (IVe-VIIe Siècle). Ecole Française de Rome, 2003. ISBN 2-7283-0640-0.
  5. ↑ al-Idrisi, Arabic text fasc. 5 p. 539-540; vol. 2 p. 17 of French translation. "Wanamū" is uncertain, as the various manuscripts differ in spelling this name.
  6. ↑ Ibn Idhari, Arabic text vol. 1 p. 43 & vol. 2 p. 5 respectively.
  7. ↑ Ibn Khallikan, vol. 3 p. 81 of English translation, even refers to him as "Târik Ibn Nusair", but as De Slane says in a footnote, this is probably caused by accidental omission of the words "freedman of Musa".
  8. ↑ Para. 34 of the Chronicle. There is some confusion with Tarif ibn Malik, as noted by al-Maqqari. For a recent discussion see the article by Enrique Gozalbes Cravioto cited below.
  9. ↑ See, for example, numerous references in Ibn Abd al-Hakam, and some in Akhbār majmūa
  10. ↑ Alternatively, he was left as governor when Musa's son Marwan returned to Qayrawan. Both explanations are given by Ibn Abd al-Hakam, p. 41 of Spanish translation, p. 204 of Arabic text.
  11. ↑ There is a legend that Tariq ordered that the ships he arrived in be burnt, to prevent any cowardice. This is first mentioned over 400 years later by the geographer al-Idrisi, fasc. 5 p. 540 of Arabic text (Arabic: فٱمر بإحراق المراكب‎), vol. 2 p. 18 of French translation. Apart from a mention in the slightly later Kitāb al-iktifa fī akhbār al-khulafā (English translation in Appendix D of Gayangos, The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain) this legend was not sustained by other authors.
  12. ↑ Akhbār majmūa, p. 21 of Spanish translation, p. 6 of Arabic text.
  13. ↑ Akhbār majmūa p. 8 of Arabic text, p. 22 of Spanish translation.
  14. ↑ According to some sources, e.g., al-Maqqari p. 269 of the English translation, Wittiza's sons by prior arrangement with Tariq deserted at a critical phase of the battle. Roger Collins takes an oblique reference in the Mozarab Chronicle par. 52 to mean the same thing.
  15. ↑ Reilly, Bernard F. (2009). The Medieval Spains. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-521-39741-4. 
  16. ↑ P. 365 of Hitti's English translation.
  17. ↑ Noted, for example, by the 6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius.
  18. ↑ Ibn Abd al-Hakam, p. 50 of Spanish translation, pp. 210–211 of Arabic text.
  19. ↑ P. 366 of Hitti's English translation.

Literature

  • Roger Collins: The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797 (Oxford and Cambridge Mass.: Blackwell, 1989). Revised reprint (in paperback) published in 1994, reprinted 1995, 1998.
  • Pascual de Gayangos y Arce, The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain. vol. 1. 1840. English translation of al-Maqqari.
  • al-Baladhuri, Kitab Futuh al-Buldan, English translation by Phillip Hitti in The Origins of the Islamic State (1916, 1924).
  • Anon., Akhbār majmūa fī fath al-andalūs wa dhikr ūmarā'ihā. Arabic text edited with Spanish translation: E. Lafuente y Alcantara, Ajbar Machmua, Coleccion de Obras Arabigas de Historia y Geografia, vol. 1, Madrid, 1867.
  • Anon., Mozarab Chronicle.
  • Ibn Abd al-Hakam, Kitab Futuh Misr wa'l Maghrib wa'l Andalus. Critical Arabic edition of the whole work published by Torrey, Yale University Press, 1932. Spanish translation by Eliseo Vidal Beltran of the North African and Spanish parts of Torrey's Arabic text: "Conquista de Africa del Norte y de Espana", Textos Medievales #17, Valencia, 1966. This is to be preferred to the obsolete 19th-century English translation at: Medieval Sourcebook: The Islamic conquest of Spain
  • Enrique Gozalbes Cravioto, "Tarif, el conquistador de Tarifa", Aljaranda, no. 30 (1998) (not paginated).
  • Muhammad al-Idrisi, Kitab nuzhat al-mushtaq (1154). Critical edition of the Arabic text: Opus geographicum: sive "Liber ad eorum delectationem qui terras peragrare studeant." (ed. Bombaci, A. et al., 9 Fascicles, 1970–1978). Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples. French translation: Jaubert, P. Amédée, trans. & ed. (1836–1840). Géographie d'Édrisi traduite de l'arabe en français d'après deux manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du roi et accompagnée de notes (2 Vols). Paris: L'imprimerie Royale.  .
  • Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa'l-Qahira. Partial French translation by E. Fagnan, "En-Nodjoum ez-Zâhîra. Extraits relatifs au Maghreb." Recueil des Notices et Mémoires de la Société Archéologique du Département de Constantine, v. 40, 1907, 269-382.
  • Ibn Khallikan, Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-anbāʾ abnāʾ az-zamān. English translation by M. De Slane, Ibn Khallikan's Biographical dictionary, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, 1843.
  • Ibn Idhari, Kitāb al-bayān al-mughrib fī ākhbār mulūk al-andalus wa'l-maghrib. Arabic text ed. G.S. Colin & E. Lévi-Provençal, Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord et de l'Espagne intitulée Kitāb al-Bayān al-Mughrib, 1948.
  • Ivan Van Sertima. Golden Age of the Moor. Retrieved August 23, 2012. 

External links

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