View source for Tariq ibn Ziyad

{{Short description|Umayyad commander in Hispania (died c. 720)}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād<br />{{lang|ar|طارق بن زياد}}
| image         = Tariq ibn Ziyad.jpg
| caption       = A depiction of Tariq in the ''[[Semblanzas de reyes]]'', {{circa|1300s}}
| birth_date    = {{circa|670}}
| birth_place   = [[North Africa]]
| death_date    = {{circa|720}}
| death_place   = [[Damascus]], Syria
| allegiance    = [[Umayyad Caliphate]]
| battles       = [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Conquest of Hispania]]
* [[Battle of Guadalete]]
* [[Battle of Écija (711)]]
| laterwork     = {{ubl|Governor of [[Tangier]]|Governor of [[Al-Andalus]]}}
}}

'''Tariq ibn Ziyad''' ({{langx|ar|طارق بن زياد}} {{tlit|ar|Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād}}; {{circa|670|720}}), also known simply as '''Tarik''' in English, was an [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] commander who initiated the [[Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula]] (present-day [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]) against the [[Visigothic Kingdom]] in 711–718 AD. He led an army and crossed the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] from the [[North Africa]]n coast, consolidating his troops at what is today known as the [[Rock of Gibraltar]]. The name "Gibraltar" is the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] derivation of the Arabic name {{tlit|ar|Jabal Ṭāriq}} ({{lang|ar|جبل طارق}}), meaning 'mountain of Tariq', which is named after him.

== Origins ==
Medieval Arabic historians give contradictory accounts of Ṭāriq's origins and ethnicity. Some conclusions about his personality and the circumstances of his entry into [[al-Andalus]] are surrounded by uncertainty.{{sfn|Molina|2000|p=242}} The vast majority of modern sources state that Ṭāriq was a [[Berbers|Berber]] ''[[mawla]]'' of [[Musa ibn Nusayr]], the Umayyad governor of [[Ifriqiya]].{{sfn|Molina|2000|p=242}}{{sfn|Abun-Nasr|1993|p=71}}{{sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=6}}{{sfn|Nicolle|2009|p=64}}

According to [[Ibn Khaldun]], Tariq Ibn Ziyad was from a Berber tribe in what is now [[Algeria]].<ref name="David Nicolle">{{cite book|author=David Nicolle|title=The Great Islamic Conquests AD 632–750|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZyHCwAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014 |isbn=978-1-4728-1034-2|pages=64–65}}</ref> Heinrich Barth mentions that Tariq Ibn Ziyad was a Berber from the tribe of the Ulhassa,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barth |first=Heinrich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_pQSAAAAYAAJ&dq=the+great+general+tarek+e'bn+ziyad,+who+was+a+berber+from+the+tribe+of+the+ulhassa&pg=PA226 |title=Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition Undertaken Under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the Years 1849–1855 |date=1857 |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts |language=en}}</ref> a tribe native to the Tafna<ref>Sidi Yakhlef, Adel. [http://dspace.univ-tlemcen.dz/bitstream/112/2267/1/Approche-Anthropo-biologique.pdf "Approche Anthropo-biologique de la consanguinité sur les paramètres de fitness et de morbidité dans la population de Oulhaça dans l’Ouest Algérien."] PhD diss., 2012.</ref> that currently inhabits the [[Béni Saf]] region in [[Algeria]].<ref>Khelifa, Abderrahmane. [https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/2864 "Oulhassa (Tribu)."] Encyclopédie berbère 36 (2013): 5975–5977.</ref> According to David Nicolle, Tariq Ibn Ziyad is first mentioned in historical records as the governor of [[Tangier]].<ref name="David Nicolle" /> Additionally, as per David Nicolle, it is traditionally believed that he was born in Wadi Tafna (a region in present day [[Tlemcen]]).<ref name="David Nicolle" /><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9yX2DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA123 الأدب العربي لغير الناطقين بالعربية.] الجزء الأول‬‎. Al Manhal, 2014.</ref> He had also lived there with his wife prior to his governance of Tangier.<ref name="Shākir">Shākir, Maḥmūd. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NQssAQAAIAAJ&q=طارق+بن+زياد+أم+حكيم+تلمسان موسوعة اعلام وقادة الفتح الاسلامي‬‎.] ‫دار أسامة للنشر والتوزيع‬‎, 2002.</ref>

== History ==
[[File:The Moorish Castle.jpg|thumb|200px|The [[Moorish Castle]]'s Tower of Homage, symbol of the [[Moorish Gibraltar|Muslim rule in Gibraltar]]]]
According to [[Ibn Abd al-Hakam]] (803–871), Musa ibn Nusayr appointed Ṭāriq governor of [[Tangier]] after its conquest in 710–711,<ref>Alternatively, he was left as governor when Mūsā'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.</ref> but an unconquered Visigothic outpost remained nearby at [[Ceuta]], a stronghold commanded by a nobleman named [[Julian, Count of Ceuta]].

After [[Roderic]] came to power in Spain, Julian had, as was the custom, sent his daughter, [[Florinda la Cava]], to the court of the Visigothic king for education. It is said that Roderic raped her, and that Julian was so incensed he resolved to have the Muslims bring down the Visigothic Kingdom. Accordingly, he entered into a treaty with Ṭāriq (Mūsā having returned to [[Qayrawan]]) to secretly convoy 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Menon |first=Ajay |date=2021-04-17 |title=10 Interesting Facts About The Straits Of Gibraltar |url=https://www.marineinsight.com/know-more/10-interesting-facts-about-the-straits-of-gibraltar/ |access-date=2023-01-12 |website=Marine Insight |language=en-US}}</ref>

On or about April 26, 711, the army of Ṭāriq Bin Ziyad, composed of recent [[Berbers|Berber]] converts to Islam, was landed on the Iberian peninsula (in what is now Spain) by Julian.{{efn|There is a legend that Ṭāriq ordered that the ships he arrived in be burnt, to prevent any cowardice. This is first mentioned over 400 years later by the geographer [[Muhammad al-Idrisi|al-Idrisi]], fasc. 5 p. 540 of Arabic text ({{langx|ar|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.}} They debarked at the foothills of a mountain which was henceforth named after him, Gibraltar (''Jabal Tariq'').{{sfn|Molina|2000|p=243}}

Ṭāriq's army contained about 7,000 soldiers, composed largely of Berber stock but also Arab troops.<ref>''Akhbār majmūa'', p. 21 of Spanish translation, p. 6 of Arabic text.</ref> Roderic, to meet the threat of the Umayyads, assembled an army said to number 100,000,<ref>''Akhbār majmūa'' p. 8 of Arabic text, p. 22 of Spanish translation.</ref> though the real number may well have been much lower.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Collins|first=Roger|title=Visigothic Spain 409–711|publisher=John Wiley and Sons Ltd |year=2004|isbn=978-1405149662|location=New Jersey|page=141}}</ref> Most of the army was commanded by, and loyal to, the sons of [[Wittiza]], whom Roderic had brutally deposed.<ref>According to some sources, e.g., [[al-Maqqari]] p. 269 of the English translation, Wittiza's sons by prior arrangement with Ṭāriq deserted at a critical phase of the battle. Roger Collins takes an oblique reference in the ''[[Chronicle of 754|Mozarab Chronicle]]'' par. 52 to mean the same thing.</ref> Ṭāriq won a decisive victory when Roderic was defeated and killed on July 19 at the [[Battle of Guadalete]].{{sfn|Molina|2000|p=242}}{{sfn|Reilly|2009|p=52}}
[[File:Conquistaislamicapeninsula2.svg|thumb|Map Conquest of Iberian Peninsula.]]
Ṭāriq Bin Ziyad split his army into four divisions, which went on to [[Siege of Córdoba (711)|capture]] [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] under Mughith al-Rumi, [[Granada]], and other places, while he remained at the head of the division which captured [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]]. Afterwards, he continued advancing towards the north, reaching [[Guadalajara, Spain|Guadalajara]] and [[Astorga, Spain|Astorga]].{{sfn|Molina|2000|p=242}} Ṭāriq was ''de facto'' governor of Hispania until the arrival of Mūsā a year later. Ṭāriq's success led Musa to assemble 12,000 (mostly Arab) troops to plan a second invasion. Within a few years, Ṭāriq and Musa had captured two-thirds of the Iberian peninsula from the Visigoths.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rogers|first=Clifford J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzwpq6bLHhMC&q=Tariq+ibn+Ziyad+berber+arab+troops&pg=PA13|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533403-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Esposito|first=John L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HUDXkJIE3EC|title=The Oxford History of Islam|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-988041-6|pages=21}}</ref>

Both Ṭāriq 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.{{sfn|Reilly|2009|p=52}} The son of Musa, Abd al-Aziz, who took command of the troops of al-Andalus, was assassinated in 716.{{sfn|Abun-Nasr|1993|p=71}} In the many Arabic histories written about the conquest of southern Spain, there is a definite division of opinion regarding the relationship between Ṭāriq and Musa bin Nusayr. Some relate episodes of anger and envy on the part of Mūsā 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, [[Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri|al-Baladhuri]], writing in the 9th century, merely states that Mūsā wrote Ṭāriq a "severe letter" and that the two were later reconciled.<ref>p. 365 of Hitti's English translation.</ref>

== Speech ==
The 16th-century historian [[Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari]], in his {{Interlanguage link|Nafh at-Tib|ar|نفح الطيب من غصن الأندلس الرطيب|italic=y}}{{Efn|''Nafḥ al-ṭīb min ghuṣn al-Andalus al-raṭīb wa-dhikr waziriha Lisān al-Dīn ibn al-Khaṭīb'' (نفح الطيب من غصن الأندلس الرطيب وذكر وزيرها لسان الدين بن الخطيب 'The Breath of Perfume from the Dew-Laden Branch of al-Andalus and Mentions of its Vizier [[Lisan ad-Din Ibn al-Khatib]]')}}, attributes a long [[Khutbah|''khuṭba'']] speech to Ṭāriq, which he gave to his troops before the [[Battle of Guadalete]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PVSdSscBcZwC&dq=tariq+ziyad+burned&pg=PA47 {{cite book | last = Falk| first = Avner | year=2010 |title = Franks and Saracens: Reality and Fantasy in the Crusades |page = 47 }}]</ref><ref> {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-6ghsWDMTAC&dq=tariq+ziyad+ships+perfume&pg=PA85 | last = McIntire, E. Burns | first = Suzanne, William | year=2009 |title = Speeches in World History |page = 85 | publisher = Infobase | isbn = 978-1-4381-2680-7 }}</ref><ref name="Horne1917">{{cite book|author=Charles Francis Horne|title=The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East: With Historical Surveys of the Chief Writings of Each Nation...|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106019088944;view=1up;seq=271|volume=VI: Medieval Arabia|year=1917|publisher=Parke, Austin, and Lipscomb|pages=241–242}}</ref>

== Legends and cultural references ==

* Ṭāriq appears in one story of the ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'' (nights 272-273). He is referenced as having killed the king of the city of Labtayt (probably Toledo), in accordance to a prophesy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Burton Nights: The city of Labtayt |url=http://www.mythfolklore.net/1001nights/burton/labtayt.htm |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=Tales from the 1001 Nights}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==

=== Primary sources ===

*[[Pascual de Gayangos y Arce]], ''The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain.'' vol. 1. 1840. English translation of [[al-Maqqari]].
*[[Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri|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., ''[[Chronicle of 754|Mozarab Chronicle]]''.
*[[Ibn Abd al-Hakam]], ''Kitab Futuh Misr wa'l Maghrib wa'l Andalus''. Critical Arabic edition of the whole work published by [[Charles Cutler Torrey|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: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/conqspain.html 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: {{cite book|last=Jaubert|first=Pierre Amédée|author-link=Pierre Amédée Jaubert| year=1836–1840|title=Géographie d'Édrisi traduite de l'arabe en français d'après deux manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du roi et accompagnée de notes (2 Vols)|publisher=L'imprimerie Royale|place=Paris}}.
*[[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]], ''[[Al-Bayan al-Mughrib|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.

=== Secondary sources ===

*{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC|title=A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period|last=Abun-Nasr|first=Jamil M.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0521337670}}
*{{Cite book|title=The Arab Conquest of Spain: 710–797|last=Collins|first=Roger|publisher=Wiley|year=1995|isbn=978-0-631-19405-7|author-link=Roger Collins|orig-year=1989}}
*{{Cite book|title=تأسيس الغرب الإسلامي|last=Djait|first=Hichem|publisher=دار الطليعة|year=2008|isbn=978-9953410876|edition=2nd|location=Beirut|language=ar|author-link=Hichem Djait}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAC81Tsh2bwC|title=Golden Age of the Moor|access-date=August 23, 2012|author=Ivan Van Sertima|isbn=978-1412815369|year=1992|publisher=Transaction Publishers }}
*{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFfJAwAAQBAJ|title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus|last=Kennedy|first=Hugh|publisher=Routledge|year=1996|isbn=978-1317870418|author-link=Hugh N. Kennedy}}
*{{EI2|volume=10|last=Molina|first=L.|title=Ṭāriḳ b. Ziyād|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/tarik-b-ziyad-COM_1182}}
*{{Cite book|title=The Great Islamic Conquests AD 632–750|last=Nicolle|first=David|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2009|isbn=978-1846032738|author-link=David Nicolle}}
*{{cite book|last=Reilly|first=Bernard F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NdJjn1HpSy4C|title=The Medieval Spains|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-521-39741-4}}

== External links ==

* [https://books.google.com/books?id=dRVlWhdJkZYC Pascual de Gayangos y Arce, ''The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain.'' vol. 1. 1840. Authoritative English translation of al-Maqqari available from Google eBooks]. This is the translation still cited by modern historians.
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/711Tarik1.html Tarik's Address to His Soldiers, 711 CE, from ''The Breath of Perfumes'']. A translation of [[al-Maqqari]]'s work included in Charles F. Horne, ''The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East'', (New York: Parke, Austin, & Lipscomb, 1917), Vol. VI: Medieval Arabia, pp.&nbsp;241–242. Horne was the editor, the translator is not identified. NB: the online extract, often cited, does not include the warning on p.&nbsp;238 (download [http://billheidrick.com/Orpd/Sacr1917/Sacred_Books_6.pdf the whole book from other sites]): "This speech does not, however, preserve the actual words of Tarik; it only presents the tradition of them as preserved by the Moorish historian Al Maggari, who wrote in Africa long after the last of the Moors had been driven out of Spain. In Al Maggari's day the older Arabic traditions of exact service had quite faded. The Moors had become poets and dreamers instead of scientists and critical historians."
* [[Ibn Abd al-Hakam]], rather outdated English translation in [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/conqspain.html Medieval Sourcebook: ''The Islamic Conquest of Spain'']

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{{s-ttl
| title = [[List of Umayyad Governors of Al-Andalus|Governor of Al-Andalus]]
| years = 711–712
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Musa ibn Nusayr]]
}}
{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tariq Ibn Ziyad}}
[[Category:7th-century births]]
[[Category:720 deaths]]
[[Category:Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate]]
[[Category:8th-century people from al-Andalus]]
[[Category:Berbers in Gibraltar]]
[[Category:7th-century Berber people]]
[[Category:8th-century Berber people]]
[[Category:Islam in Gibraltar]]
[[Category:Military history of Gibraltar]]
[[Category:Umayyad governors of Al-Andalus]]
[[Category:7th-century Muslims]]
[[Category:Umayyad conquest of Hispania]]
[[Category:Al-Andalus military personnel]]