The name of the light leader Tariq bin Ziyad has shone in Islamic history as one of the most prominent military leaders in the forefront of Islam, as he combined courage and organizational ingenuity, and his role has emerged, especially at the beginning of the second century AH, where the accounts of Ibn Abdul Hakam indicate in “Fattouh Egypt and Morocco” and Al -Tabari in his history, until Tariq was one of the loyalists who joined the Islamic armies in Morocco, where he showed a combat efficiency that made him confident The General Governor of Africa, Musa bin Naseer.
As for its origin and lineage, the narratives differed in a clear difference, as some sources, such as Ibn Khaldun in “Al -Abar” indicating that he was Berber, a name that Islamic sources launched on the inhabitants of the countries of Morocco from the Nafza or Sanhajah tribe, while Al -Muqri in “Nafah Al -Tayyib” goes that he is one of the Persians who merged into the Islamic community in Morocco, and it seems closest to health.
Read also
list of 2 itemsend of list
The name of Tariq was linked to a close relationship with his leader Musa bin Naseer, that relationship that combined military obedience and leadership ability, and Al -Muqri mentioned in “Nafah Al -Tayeb” that Moses chose Tariq to lead the Berbers who entered Islam recently, a choice that reflects Moses’s appreciation for Tariq’s standing and his ability to deal with local fighters on the one hand, and with the orders of the central leadership in Damascus on the other hand. This integrative relationship between the two men will become a basis later in the campaign to open Andalusia.
The road to Andalusia
Prior to the starting towards the northern bank of the Mediterranean, the internal conditions on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), especially the intense conflict between the Gothic king known as Dahriq and his opponents of the nobles and neighboring Christian kings, have contributed to preparing the ground for the idea of opening Andalusia among Muslims.
The historical sources of Al -Maqri, Ibn Al -Kardabus and Ibn Khaldun indicate that these competitors sought to correspond to the Umayyad caliph Al -Walid bin Abdul Malik, offered him support and coordination against the guilt, which prompted the caliph to assign his and his destiny to Africa Musa bin Naseer by looking at the possibility of expanding west and opening Andalusia, so Musa assigned this sensitive task to his prominent leader Tariq bin Ziyad.
The governor of Ceuta, known as Yilayan, played a catalyst in this direction.
Accordingly, Moses prepared a small force to cross from the nearest maritime outlets, that is, the port of Ceuta, and assigned its leadership to one of the qualified leaders, which is Tarif bin Malik, and this force carried out quick raids on Andalusian lands, whose goal was to collect information about the nature of the land and the power of defenses, which was the practical introduction to crossing the great army led by Tariq bin Ziyad later.
There are many accounts on how Tariq bin Ziyad crossed his army to the northern West Bank from the Strait of Gibraltar, but most of them are the researchers that indicate the role of the ruler of Ceuta, who found in alliance with Tariq an opportunity to take revenge on the king of the Goth old.
According to these accounts, he assumed the task of securing the maritime transport of the Islamic army, so his ships began to cross the strait on selective trips to transport the soldiers at another time after, until the arrival of the force led by Tariq himself in the last trips, and it is striking that this maritime activity did not cause suspicion at its beginning, because the movement of commercial ships in the region, which helped the success of the operation without the remembrance resistance.
The novel for burning ships among Arab historians and researchers
As for the famous story after crossing the strait, and the burning of Tariq bin Ziyad for ships so that they do not remain hope for returning and insisting on the conquest and completing it, the sources differed about it, while a number of them went to the fact that the goal was to push the soldiers to the questioning and not thinking about retreating because of the absence of a way to return, other accounts saw that this act – if he fell – was carrying a symbolic dimension, he wanted Tariq to confirm his absolute loyalty to the Arabs He cut off the way for those who might question his sincerity because of his barbarian origins.
His famous engagement was mentioned in a number of historical sources such as Al -Maqri in “Nafah Al -Tayeb”, Ibn Hadhil Al -Andalusi in “The Masterpiece of the Spirit and the slogan of the residents of Andalusia”, and Ibn al -Kardabus in “Al -Iqbah”, and Al -Adraisi in “Nuzha Al -Mushtaq”, and Al -Hamiri in his book “Al -Rawd Al -Mu’tam”, and it is striking that it came in a Hama enthusiastic language in which he says:
O people: Where is the escape?
And if the days extend to you for your lack and you did not accomplish an order for you, your wind went and the hearts have been compensated for its horror from you, the boldness on you, then pay for yourselves to let this consequence of your command in the accomplishment of this tyrant, then you threw his fortified city, and if you have the opportunity in it, it is possible that if you allow yourselves to die. And I did not warn you of an order that I am with a skill, nor your campaign on a plan that is cheaper in which the souls, I start myself, and know that if you are patient with a little, you enjoyed the most delicious luxury. “
It was mentioned by a number of contemporary historians in the lesson and analysis, including Muhammad Abdullah Annan, Abdul Aziz Al -Douri, Hussein Moanes, Mahmoud Ali Makki, Ahmed Mukhtar Al -Abadi, Abdel Halim Awais and others.
It is striking that most of the modern historians tend to question the validity of the story of the burning of Tariq bin Ziyad for his ship after his army crossed towards Andalusia, considering that it is closer to the literary building than it to the historical incident, yet the historical heritage is not without voices that support the possibility of their occurrence, based on the fact that such actions were repeated in similar facts within Islamic history and others, which makes it possible in a symbolic framework.
Among the evidences that the supporters market is what Al -Tabari mentioned in his history about the horses of Al -Habashi, who led his army to cross the sea to Yemen to occupy it, so his ships and speeches in his soldiers were burned a sermon that urges them to persevere, in a scene similar to what is attributed to Tariq later, as Al -Tabari also refers to the Persian leader and the jesus of the Kesra envoy to Yemen to liberate it, which in turn resorted to a way to Returning in front of his army to guarantee their steadfastness.
The researchers also cite what Abu Bakr al -Maliki narrated in “Riyad al -Nafous” on the authority of the leader, the jurist, Asad bin Al -Furat (d. 212 AH), Fatih Sicily, who thought about burning his boats when some of his soldiers revolted against him, demanding withdrawal, and this position was considered the closest Islamic model for Tariq bin Ziyad’s supposed step.
As for the European context, history provides a relatively recent example with the Spanish leader, Aroun Kortis, Fatih Mexico in 1519 AD, where Dr. Ahmed Mukhtar Al -Abadi narrates in his book “In the History of Morocco and Andalus The idea is not attributed to Tariq bin Ziyad.
Therefore, those who say that the story is not only based on Ibn al -Kardabous, Ibn Hudhail, and the narration of al -Muqri or Ibn Adhari, but they are trying to strengthen it with clues of similar events in the experiences of other leaders through the ages, which gives the story a framework of historical reasonable even if it remains a matter of controversy.
But in exchange for voices that tend to prove the burning of ships, a team of historians and researchers presents a set of methodological objections that weaken from the credibility of the story and make it closer to symbolic literature than to the historical event.
The first of these objections is related to military logic, as it is not imagined that a commander like Tariq bin Ziyad will destroy the only way to survive his army while he is on an unknown land, in which he faces a great power such as the Gothic army, so the behavior in this case equals mass suicide more than a deliberate war plan.
Moreover, the accounts themselves tell us that Tariq sent to his supreme leader Musa bin Naseer, seeking al -Muddar when he faced the armies of the Goths, so Moses extended five thousand additional fighters, and here the question emerges: How did Moses manage to send these large numbers across the sea if the ships were already burned? This offering in turn leads to another problem related to logistical ability. Was the Islamic marine arsenals in that era to make in a short period of new fleet to transport thousands of soldiers? It seems far from historical reasonable.
And some skeptics add another dimension to criticism, even if we assume that the ships were returning to the ruler of Ceuta following, so what right is Tariq to burn it? Is not the ownership of the private man as part of his agreement with the Islamic army? Rather, how does Tariq ally in the state resources without the permission of the Umayyad caliph to whom the final word is used? From here, these people see that the attributed sermon and the scene of the burning of ships reflects a rhetorical image to spread enthusiasm in the soldiers more than it reflects a real reality.
In this context, the historian Mahmoud Ali Makki indicates in a study entitled “The Legend of Burning Ships in History” indicates that among the models that feed the historical imagination in the east is this legend that was associated with the Persian leader and Heriz when he crossed to Yemen to support Saif bin Dhi Yazan in the expulsion of the Ethiopians, it was attributed to him that he burned his ship after his army came to land, and he gave in his soldiers to his soldiers. Their determination, a rhetorical image that you will find later in the accounts of some historians to open Andalusia.
Makki believes that the story of burning and hormonal for his coarse, coupled with a sermon that urges steadfastness, represents the first roots of the legend of burning ships attributed to Tariq bin Ziyad, as a symbol of sacrifice and redemption, and since then it has become a preferred example in the narrators of the seafood news, where a small army faces a discount that exceeds a number and several.
From this legendary ground, Makki moves to talk about the facts of the conquest of Andalusia itself, distinct between what is a literary imagination and what is historically fixed. The sources agree on the details of the transit and the battle of Shazouna (Wadi Lakka) clearly indicates the reality The scene of the burning of ships in the narration, and so Makki explains that the Andalusian conquest was based on real military data, while the eastern legend was called to enrich the story and granted it a dramatic heroic dimension.
The story of burning for Spanish researchers
The overwhelming majority of Spanish researchers go today that the story of the burning of Tariq bin Ziyad for ships is nothing more than a legendary literary news that was later added to the novels of Al -Fateh, and it is not a historical fact that the first sources are proven, and their main argument in that is that the oldest texts such as “Mozarbia Criona” for the year 754, and it is the oldest Latin witness written after the events of the conquest forty years, as well as the early Arab sources, as well When Al -Baladhari, Ibn Abd al -Hakam and others did not mention anything about burning, but rather mentioned the role of Julian, the ruler of Ceuta in facilitating the transit.
This result is confirmed by the researcher Alejandro Garcia Sanjuan in his study “The Causes of the Islamic Conquest of the Iberian Peninsula”, where he explains that the scenes of the sermon, miracle and burning belong to a late narrative class that cannot be considered conclusive evidence of the event.
In the same curriculum, Eduardo Manthano Moreno, a researcher at the Supreme Council for Scientific Research in Madrid, presents a critical reading in his research “Arab sources on the conquest of Andalusia: a new reading”, in which he confirms that the novels of Andalusian conquest in the late Andalusian and legislative sources were filled with literary expansions and rhetorical traditions, including the story of burning, which is what the historian must prevail And avoid raising this dramatic news to the rank of historical truth.
As for the researcher, Oumira Eriro Soto, a study entitled “The sermon of Tariq bin Ziyad: An example of rhetorical formulation in Arab history” was dedicated, in which it was found that the scene of burning ships is nothing but “Topos Blaghi” or just a repeated thermist in the literature of invasion in different cultures, as it is used to communicate the idea of ”non -return”, with the aim of raising the morale Realistically.
In a later study of the researcher herself entitled “Tariq bin Ziyad: The various visions of a barbarian leader in intermediate sources” confirm that the presence of the story of burning in the sources is very limited, but it is established in the subsequent literary memory as a heroic symbol.
In his article, “A Novel on Fatah Al -Andalus”, Luis Molina adds that the book “Akhbar Group”, which was collected in Cordoba in the eleventh century, is the only Arab text that frankly states the phrase of burning, and Molina concludes that these dramatic details may not be dealt with as original news; Because it belongs to a late narrative layer that relied on older materials, but added imaginative elements to it.
Thus, most of the contemporary Arab and Spanish researchers and historians agree to reject the story of burning ships for historical and rational reasons, foremost of which was the need for messages and extends to the new conquerors from the Supreme Command in North Africa, which was led by Musa bin Nusair at the time, and the absence of an Islamic arsenal capable of making other alternative ships to complete the opening process that started in Ramadan in the year 92 AH.
(Tagstotranslate) History (T) Dimensions (T) Conflict