Tariq ibn Ziyad
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| Tariq ibn Ziyad, Muslim Berber General | |
|---|---|
| d.720taf | |
 Tariq ibn Ziyad conquered Hispania in 711 CE |
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| Nickname | Taric el Tuerto |
| Place of birth | unknown |
| Allegiance | Umayyad Caliphate |
Tariq ibn Ziyad or Taric bin Zeyad (Arabic: طارق بن زياد, 15 November 689 – 11 April 720[citation needed]) was a Berber Muslim and Umayyad general who led the conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711 under the orders of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I.
Tariq ibn Ziyad is considered to be one of the most important military commanders in Iberian history. He was initially the deputy of Musa ibn Nusair in North Africa, and was sent by his superior to launch the first thrust of a conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom (comprising modern Spain and Portugal).
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[edit] Origin
At the bottom of page of Volume I of the book of Ibn Khaldun on the origins of the Berbers figure, without any reference or date or place, the following annotation: "the branch of Ulhasa (French: Oulhaça), information it would return the writings of the historian Ibn Idhari author of the Al Bayan Al Moghrib.[1]
If this branch is currently sedentary tribes on the banks of the wadi Tafna in current Algeria, the absence of any reference in the writings of Ibn Khaldun does not identify where it was located in the time of Tariq ibn Ziyad, futhermore, The Ulhasa tribes could be found at that time on both sides of the river tafna which streched all the way to Constantine, Bejaia, and the Aures.[2]
Apart from its name, the surname of his father, date and place of his death, the civil of the military is uncertain. As for his ethnicity, historians today agree that he was Berber, although there are some sources giving him Persian ancestry.[3].
If like Ibn Khaldoun, an Arabic historian, wrote Tariq ibn Ziyad was a berber so his initial family'name could not be Tariq Ibn Ziyad ; Indeed this name is Arabic which means Tariq son of Ziyad. In Berber today the name is known as Ouziad or Ouziyad.
The name Tariq, which can also be written as Tarik or Tarek, has many meanings in Arabic:
- Morning star, like At-Tariq, the Sura N°86:1 of Qur'an of the same name
- someone who knocks at the door
- Road or Way (which there is a female " tariqa " meaning the way or method religious Sufi)
The Tareq surname would mean in Arabic "conqueror or traveler" but it is unclear whether this name is related or not to his father's Arab first name.
Given the symbolism of the name of the conqueror, it is likely that Tariq's nickname was given to him after the conquest.
The Spanish historian Ignacio Videla Olago in his essay La revolución Islámica Occidente published in 1974, supports that the name TARIC is of Germanic origin meaning "son of Tar". The suffix " ic " meaning " son of ", found in many termination Germanic names such Euric, Alaric, Gesalic, Roderic, etc.... supports the hypothesis that was the TARIC Visigothic governor of the province of Tangier whose existence was confirmed by Witiza, Visigothic king of Toledo whose his sons were allies of Taric against the Visigothic King Roderic.
Beyond his hypothesis on the probable origin Visigothic Tariq, the arguments put forward by Videla tend to deny the stories of Arab-Muslim historians of an Arab invasion of Spain, the french historian Pierre Guichard responded to the assumptions of Videla in his book full of information about Muslim Spain, entitled The Arabs have invaded Spain [4]
For Joaquin Vallvé the name Tariq refers to a eponymous figure and simply means Leader.
[edit] History
Around the Tariq's life , there are many legends.
On April 29 711, the armies of Tariq landed at Gibraltar (the name Gibraltar is derived from the Arabic name Jabal al Tariq, which means mountain of (the) Tariq, or the more obvious Gibr Tariq, meaning rock of Tariq).
The 17th century Muslim historian Al-Maqqari wrote that upon landing, Tariq burned his ships and then made a speech, well-known in the Muslim world, to his soldiers.
| “ | 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 you, 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 freely 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.[5] |
” |
The Muslim armies swept through Hispania and, in the summer of 711, won a decisive victory when the Visigothic king, Roderic, was defeated and killed on July 19 at the Battle of Guadalete. Afterwards, Tariq was made governor of Hispania but eventually was called back to Damascus by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I, where he spent the rest of his life.
| New title | Governor of Al-Andalus 711–712 |
Succeeded by Musa bin Nusair |
[edit] Namesakes
- Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine, Minnesota.
[edit] See also
- List of military commanders
- Umayyad conquest of Hispania
- Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula
- Al-Andalus
- Moors
- Musa ibn Nusair
- Tarif ibn Malluk
- History of Gibraltar
[edit] References
- ^ Ibn Khaldoun: History of the Berbers and the Muslim dynasties in northern Africa, ed. Berti, Algiers, 2003, p. 161, ISBN 9961690277
- ^ Ibn Khaldoun: History of the Berbers and the Muslim dynasties in northern Africa, ed. Berti, Algiers, 2003, p. 230, ISBN 9961690277
- ^ Encyclopédie universalis: Tariq ibn Ziyad
- ^ Les Arabes ont bien envahi l'Espagne : les structures sociales de l'Espagne musulmane
- ^ Medieval Sourcebook: Al Maggari: Tarik's Address to His Soldiers, 711 CE, from The Breath of Perfumes
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: Tariq ibn-Ziyad |
