Did Tariq bin Ziyad actually burn his ships? Tales and legends about the conquest of Andalusia
A wonderful table, a beautiful young woman whose father avenged her, ships that Tariq bin Ziyad burned, in addition to a great sermon he delivered, and other stories and legends that accompanied the story of the conquest of Andalusia.
Dr. Mahmoud Ali Makki, who is the most famous of books on Andalusia in contemporary history, says: “It was natural for the massive victory achieved by Tariq bin Ziyad to inflame the imagination of Muslims, so they added to the account of the conquest details made by imagination about its causes, events and personalities, and this remained The details are enlarged generation after generation, until the conquest of Andalusia became surrounded by episodes and circles of legends, which made distinguishing the strands of historical truth in it from the narrative fabric very difficult.
The story of the conquest
The armies of the Arab commander, Musa ibn Nusayr, were following the expansion in the Maghreb, and there was nothing left in front of them except the city of Ceuta, which was ruled by Julian.
References differ about Julian, some of whom said that he was Gothic, some of them claimed that he was a Roman, and others considered that he was a barbarian from Ghumara.
During that period, the star of Luzriq shone in Spain, and he revolted against the ruler, Ghaetsha, and isolated him, so Julian tried to stand up for his isolated ally, and this is one of the accounts that explains the reason for his cooperation with Muslims to bring them to Spain, while the second legendary reason is due to his daughter Florinda, who was residing in Toledo. Like the majority of girls from the ruling class at that time, they used to go there to learn the principles of etiquette with the etiquette of kings, and the legend says that she fell in a good position in the eyes of Zareq, so he assaulted her, and when her father found out, he became very angry, and according to Ibn Adhari: “His resentment was from an indecency His daughter is the reason for the conquest of Andalusia.” And the author of the book “Akhbar Majmoua” says that Yulian, when he heard the news, said: “And the religion of Christ is to remove his possession and to dig at his feet.”
Historian Hussein Moanis mentions in his book The Dawn of Andalusia that this story was repeated in almost all Arab books, but Latin books did not know it until after the year 1110, as it was mentioned in a Spanish-Latin reference, and Moanis believes that it is not necessary for the Arabs to have invented this story. , but there is no way to confirm it, as Violian, as we mentioned above, harbored enmity for the offspring, and it was illogical for him to send his daughter to his palace.
conquest plan
Musa bin Nusayr was impressed by Yulian's idea, and after exploring the situation in Spain, he sent Tariq bin Ziyad in the year 92 AH / 711 AD to carry out the campaign, and Ibn Adhari mentions in his book "The Moroccan Statement," that Yulian was carrying Tariq's companions in the merchants' boats that diverged to Andalusia And the people of Andalusia do not feel this, and they think that the boats differ with the merchants, so the people carried regiment after regiment to Andalusia.” There is no doubt that Moses used some pieces of his fleet to cross, which were produced by Dar Al-Sinaa in Tunisia.
The Islamic army gathered in Mount Calpe, which was later known as Gibraltar, and here the narrators and historians transmitted the two most famous legends associated with this young leader, the first of which is the story of his burning his ships and blocking the way back in front of his soldiers.
burning ships
It must be noted first that the story of the burning of ships was not the first in history, and Dr. Mahmoud Ali Makki mentions that the Persian commander "Wahriz" burned his fleet when he helped Saif bin Dhi Yazan in liberating Yemen and overcoming the Abyssinians, and also mentions the professor of Islamic history, Dr. Abdel Halim Aweys, the author of the book "The Legend of Tariq Ibn Ziyad's Burning of Ships", is a well-known incident in the Spanish heritage, which was carried out by one of the Spanish leaders when invading Mexico.
Omar Rajih Shalaby reviews in his article the occurrence of this story among historians, and refers to Ibn Kardbous, Al-Idrisi and Al-Himyari, so he quotes the first: “And he departed towards Cordoba after he burned the boats and told his companions to fight or die.” And he quotes from Al-Idrisi: “It was called Gibraltar, because Tariq bin Abdullah bin Wenmou Al-Zanati, when he permitted those with him from the Amazighs and barricaded themselves in this mountain, he felt in himself that the Arabs did not trust him, so he wanted to remove that from him, so he ordered the burning of the boats with which he was permitted, so he cleared himself of what he was accused of. almost identically.
It is possible to prove that the whole story is incorrect, according to Shalaby, from the writings of these historians, as the majority of Tariq’s army was from the Amazighs, and the number of Arabs in it was small, which makes the possibility of their suspicion of him weak, and his taking this step to satisfy them is illogical, and it must also be said that it is not possible A successful commander could burn a fleet that he would need even after victory, and the Umayyad caliph would not allow him to do so, because preparing another fleet is costly and takes time, in addition to the presence of a religious dimension, so burning ships is an act of suicide, which makes it unlikely that Tariq bin Ziyad would do so.
The blind sermon
Among the topics on which historians differed is the solemn sermon that Tariq bin Ziyad delivered among his soldiers, when he was informed of the approach of Zuraiq with his army, and according to al-Maqri in Nafah al-Tayyib, it came in it: “O people, where is the escape? The sea is behind you and the enemy is in front of you, and God has nothing but honesty And patience, and know that in this island you are more lost than orphans in the banquet of meanness.
Despite the praise of all Arab and Islamic novels for this sermon, many doubt its authenticity, because most of the early Arab historians do not refer to it, and it appears more in the books of later historians and writers, and this sermon is a literary piece that is difficult for Tariq al-Amazighi - who is new to the language. Arabic - worded so well, and difficult for his men to understand.
Solomon's table
In addition to talking about tournaments and victories, the imagination of the narrators occupied the stories of spoils and wonders that the Arabs seized in Andalusia, and the most exciting stories were a golden table found by Tariq bin Ziyad, after his conquest of Toledo.
Hussein Munis says in his book The Dawn of Andalusia: “Muslim historians did not dwell on anything as they did on describing the altar decorated with jewels that the Muslims took spoils in the university church. A jewel of art, adorned with the most precious gold and jewels of the Goths, and its occurrence in the hands of the Muslims aroused great astonishment among them.
Because of this astonishment and the spread of the news of the table, Musa asked Tariq for the table, and he brought it to him, and he removed one of its legs from it and hid it with him, so Musa asked him about it, so Tariq told him that he had no knowledge of it, and so he struck it, so Musa made it a man of gold that came different from the rest of the legs, and he did not appear Tariq is the real man except in the presence of Caliph Al-Walid bin Abdul-Malik, when he summoned them to Damascus, and he wanted from this position to prove to the caliph that he was the one who reached it.
The jealousy of Musa bin Naseer
The authors of this narration say that Ibn Naseer envied Tariq for his heroism, so he crossed to Spain in June 712 or Ramadan in the year 93 AH, and Ibn Hayyan says: “Musa descended on the mountain that Tariq dissolved, and he descended on the place attributed to him now known as Jabal Musa, and when he occupied the island Al-Khadra said: I would not follow the path of Tariq nor follow his trail.
Whoever rejects the idea of envy sees that Tariq was certainly in constant contact with his leader, informing him of all the details, and with regard to what Ibn Naseer said, it is logical not to enter lands previously conquered by Tariq.
The story of envy continues to inflate among the narrators. Ibn Abd al-Hakam says, "Musa bin Naseer tied Tariq and imprisoned him while they were killing him." But the intervention of Mughith al-Roumi, who informed the Umayyad caliph of the matter, saved Tariq. Then the friendship returned to them again, and of course there are those who absolutely reject the story of beating and imprisonment, and the evidence is that the two leaders continued their conquests until the order came to them to return to the capital of the caliphate.
Spanish legend
We can conclude our legends by referring to a Spanish story, woven by Spanish narrators to explain the defeat of their king and the crushing victory of the Muslims over him. This story is known as the House of Wisdom, and it talks about the existence of an enchanted house in Toledo, with talismans that protect the Iberian Peninsula from invaders. He did not care about their warnings, and entered it to see what was in it, and that was the reason for his defeat, and the end of the Gothic state in Spain.
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