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An aerial view of Gibraltar to put the sea, the mountain and plain land into perspective. Suggested reading: Blessed Are the Meek, For They Will Inherit the Twitter
Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times
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.
Tarik ibn Ziyad. Suggested reading and viewing: Jihad with Pen or Sword: Saladin’s Video and Jihadist’s Video?
Tariq’s army contained about 7000 men, and Musa, his boss, is said to have sent an additional 5000 reinforcements.[15] Roderic, the Spanish leader, to meet the threat, assembled an army said to number 100,000.[16] Most of the army was commanded by, and loyal to, the sons of Wittiza, whom Roderic had brutally deposed.[17] Tariq won a decisive victory when the Visigothic king, Roderic, was defeated and killed on July 19 at the Battle of Guadalete.
After he burnt his own boats, taking away any route to escape for his army, the following is the address he delivered. Burning of the boats, was a masterly strategy that won him the loyalty and courage of his army, who could face enemies twenty times bigger.
When Tarik had been informed of the approach of the enemy, he rose in the midst of his companions and, after having glorified God in the highest, he spoke to his soldiers thus:
Oh my warriors, whither would you flee? Behind you is the sea, before you, the enemy. You have left now only the hope of your courage and your constancy. Remember that in this country you are more unfortunate than the orphan seated at the table of the avaricious master. Your enemy is before you, protected by an innumerable army; he has men in abundance, but vou, as your only aid, have your own swords, and, as your only chance for life, such chance as you can snatch from the hands of your enemy. If the absolute want to which you are reduced is prolonged ever so little, if you delay to seize immediate success, your good fortune will vanish, and your enemies, whom your very presence has filled with fear, will take courage. Put far from you the disgrace from which you flee in dreams, and attack this monarch who has left his strongly fortified city to meet you. Here is a splendid opportunity to defeat him, if you will consent to expose yourselves freelv to death. Do not believe that I desire to incite you to face dangers which I shall refuse to share with you. In the attack I myself will be in the fore, where the chance of life is always least.
“Remember that if you suffer a few moments in patience, you will afterward enjoy supreme delight. Do not imagine that your fate can be separated from mine, and rest assured that if you fall, I shall perish with you, or avenge you. You have heard that in this country there are a large number of ravishingly beautiful Greek maidens, their graceful forms are draped in sumptuous gowns on which gleam pearls, coral, and purest gold, and they live in the palaces of royal kings. The Commander of True Believers, Alwalid, son of Abdalmelik, has chosen you for this attack from among all his Arab warriors; and he promises that you shall become his comrades and shall hold the rank of kings in this country. Such is his confidence in your intrepidity. The one fruit which he desires to obtain from your bravery is that the word of God shall be exalted in this country, and that the true religion shall be established here. The spoils will belong to yourselves.
“Remember that I place myself in the front of this glorious charge which I exhort you to make. At the moment when the two armies meet hand to hand, you will see me, never doubt it, seeking out this Roderick, tyrant of his people, challenging him to combat, if God is willing. If I perish after this, I will have had at least the satisfaction of delivering you, and you will easily find among you an experienced hero, to whom you can confidently give the task of directing you. But should I fall before I reach to Roderick, redouble your ardor, force yourselves to the attack and achieve the conquest of this country, in depriving him of life. With him dead, his soldiers will no longer defy you.
Source.
From: Charles F. Horne, ed., The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, (New York: Parke, Austin, & Lipscomb, 1917), Vol. VI: Medieval Arabia, pp. 241-242.
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by Prof. Arkenberg.
This text is part of the Internet Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use.
© Paul Halsall, August 1998
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
Suggested reading
Blessed Are the Meek, For They Will Inherit the Twitter
Gibraltar and the surrounding bay
What is the purpose of posting such an article now? Please guide us. Make us wise. Thanks.
Are you not interested in Islamic History? We should be.
Yes, and the fact that we’ve just opened the 2nd Mosque in Spain.
So that we know the history behind it and also, the name Gibraltar is the Latinized name of Jabal Tariq, the original.
If we are ignorant of all this history, we would not be able to appreciate and the whys and wherefores of the present, would we?
Such information is not easily available on search media. This is the beauty of the Muslim Times- bringing rare Islamic posts to our attention.
I read this when I was in school and was pretty much dumbfounded by the fact that the boats were burned after reaching the shore!! Only as an adult, I understood & realised what “burning your ships” ( no going back ) means : you have to work hard for your goal, with all your might & trust Allah to reward you. Thank you TMT for a great post & reminding us the importance of faith in life.
Yes, quite, but present day history is much different from the old time. We need a new depiction of peace now, peaceful approach instead of any reference to war type bravery. It may show our courage and bravery but what use it is for our present approach and entry into Spain. Does it mean that we came before and conquered you and we are coming again to do something?
I am well aware of Gibraltar and Valencia streets. The net news, if it is only for the Muslim readers, it may be alright. But if it is for every one then I do not understand why we depict any old war scenes. That is why I said that I could not understand the purpose of the post.
If I have erred then I sincerely apologize.
Ghulam Sarwar: No need to apologize. As you have explained further you of course do have a point also.
Assalam.Great indeed.Thanks for the splendid effort.Let me raise a doubt too.By just reading a part one may think Tarik to be an invader who wanted to spread Islam.The reasons of conquest may also be included in the upcoming issues.
Indeed. The first era of Islam was a Jihad with sword and since the coming of the Messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, under Divine plan, Islam has entered a new era of Jihad with pen.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, had himself prophesied that when the Messiah will come in Islam, he will suspend Jihad with sword.
Thank you for all the comments above.
Wow! Masha’Allah!
Muslims can instead take inspiration from Khalifa(r.t.) of Islam who has conquered whole of world with love(including Spain).
In the dark age there was desert in arabia
so that is why those people went to spain to look
for anything
very simple
Like British and European criminal came to usa and killed the indians
and now living in luxry !!!!!!
not quite, muslims went into spain because jews and unitarian christians fled into arabia from these lands at the hands of trinitarian christians who persecuted others in their lands for their disbelief in the trinity. they sought refuge in the muslim lands, practiced freely, and eventually had the muslims liberate others from the tyrants of their homelands.