Medieval Arabic historians give contradictory data about Tariq's origins or nationality. Some conclusions about his personality and the circumstances of his entry into al-Andalus are surrounded by uncertainty. The vast majority of modern sources state that Tariq was a Berber mawla of Musa ibn Nusayr, the Umayyad governor of Ifriqiya.
History
Musa ibn Nusayr appointed Ṭāriq governor of Tangier after its conquest in 710-711 according to Ibn Abd al-Hakam, 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 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. About April 26, 711, the army of Ṭāriq, composed of recent converts to Islam, was landed on the Iberian peninsula by Julian. They debarked at the foothills of a mountain which was henceforth named after him, Gibraltar. Tariq's army contained about 7,000 composed of largely Berber stock but also Arab troops Roderic, to meet the threat of the Umayyads, assembled an army said to number 100,000. Most of the army was commanded by, and loyal to, the sons of Wittiza, whom Roderic had brutally deposed. Ṭāriq won a decisive victory when Roderic was defeated and killed on July 19 at the Battle of Guadalete. This led Musa ibn Nusayr to assemble 18000 troops to plan a second invasion and within a few years Tariq and Musa captured two third of the Iberian peninsula from the Visigoths. Tariq split his army into four divisions which went on to capture Córdoba under Mughith al-Rumi, Granada and other places, while he remained at the head of the division which captured Toledo. Afterwards, he continued advancing towards the north, reaching Guadalajara and Astorga. Ṭāriq was de facto governor of Hispania until the arrival of Mūsā a year later. Both Tariq 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. The son of Musa, Abd al-Aziz who took the command of troops of Al-Andalus was assassinated in 716. 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 al-Baladhuri merely states that Mūsā wrote Ṭāriq a "severe letter" and that the two were later reconciled.
Speech
The 16th-century historian Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari, in his The Breath of Perfume, places into Ṭāriq's mouth a long speech to his troops before the Battle of Guadalete.
Primary sources
Pascual de Gayangos y Arce, The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain. vol. 1. 1840. English translation of al-Maqqari.
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., Mozarab Chronicle.
Ibn Abd al-Hakam, Kitab Futuh Misr wa'l Maghrib wa'l Andalus. Critical Arabic edition of the whole work published by 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:
Enrique Gozalbes Cravioto, "Tarif, el conquistador de Tarifa", Aljaranda, no. 30 .
Muhammad al-Idrisi, Kitab nuzhat al-mushtaq. Critical edition of the Arabic text: Opus geographicum: sive "Liber ad eorum delectationem qui terras peragrare studeant.". Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples. French translation:.
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 Idhari, 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.
