2020 - Once upon a time in Islamic Gibraltar - 45
A manuscript with the title - Traditional stories relating to supreme commanders and wise rulers.
Muslim and Christian cavalry
This chapter is based on a translation of an Islamic manuscript by Pascual de Gayangos. It appears as Appendix E in his translation of Al-Makkarí’s History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain. This is what the translator had to say about it.
The MS. bears no date, nor is the name of the copyist any where mentioned; but I learn from a note at the end . . . that the MS.. . . was executed in . . . 1554. Ibn Koteybah (Ibn Qutaybah) (is) the supposed author of this book but I have strong reasons to suspect that the present work has been falsely attributed to him.
Others seem to share Gayangos’ scepticism about this MS being the work of the Persian author Ibn Qutaybah (823-889) The current state of affairs on this one is that the author of the MS remains an unknown quantity. He is at present referred to by the cognoscenti as the “pseudo Ibn Qutaybah."
The following quotes are from Gayango’s translation:
Musa orders Tariq to take TangierMusa sent his freedman Tarik (Tariq ibn Ziyad) against Tangiers and the neighbouring districts. Tarik accordingly marched thither, and took the cities and the castles of the Berbers. This being done, Tarik wrote to his master, Musa,
“I have found here six vessels;” and Musa answered him, “Try to make them seven, and when the number is completed, take them to the sea shore, and fill them with men and provisions; thou wilt then look for a man acquainted with the months of the Syrians, and when the twenty-first day of the Syrian month called “Adar“ has come, put to sea with thy men, after imploring the favours of the Almighty."
Legend of Musa asking Tariq to choose a leader with certain characteristics
When at sea, thou must pursue thy course until thou seest before thee a small mountain deprived of vegetation, and of a reddish hue, having on one of its sides a fountain running towards the east, and by the side of the fountain a building with an idol at the top in the shape of a bull. Thou must first break the idol to pieces, and then thou wilt look among thy men for a tall man having red hair and a white complexion, with a cast in one of his eyes and a mole on his hand; give that man the command of the van, and remain wherever thou mayest be at the time, waiting for further instructions from me, if God be pleased.
Tariq becomes the leaderThey say that when Tarik received the above orders from Musa, he answered him thus:“I have scrupulously fulfilled thy orders, but respecting the man thou didst describe to me, I can nowhere find one of his description, except in my own person.”
Tariq lands in Iberia, Roderick prepares to meet himAccordingly, Tariq set out on his expedition with seventeen hundred men. . . Ludherik, (Roderick) being at that time engaged in making war on some enemies of his called Bashkans (Basques), had appointed one of his nobles, named Tudmir (Teodomiro), to command and rule the kingdom in his room. When Tudmir, therefore, heard of the landing of Tarik and his followers on the coast of Andalus, he wrote immediately to Ludherik (Roderick), his master, telling him to hasten to meet the enemy.
This Ludherik (Roderick) did at the head of ninety thousand cavalry, bringing all his treasures and riches in wagons; he himself came borne on a litter placed between two mules, and having over his head a vaulted canopy richly set with pearls, rubies, and emeralds; he brought also with him ropes to tie the hands of the captives, for he doubted not but that he should take every one of the Moslems prisoners.
Note: Other accounts record that Tariq and Teodomiro met on the battlefield but that their skirmish ended up as a draw. In 713 AD after Rodrigo had been defeated by Tariq, Teodomiro managed to persuade Musa’s son Abd al Aziz to enter into a pact with him in which he would keep control of his territories in Murcia and allow his people to practice their religion as long as he paid his taxes and did no aid the enemies of Islam.
The Treaty of Orihuela (713 AD)
Note: This treaty is significant in that it highlights Muslim policy as regards their treatment of conquered foes.
Tarik burns his boatsWhen Tarik heard of the arrival of Ludherik with his formidable host, he praised and exalted God; he then called together his men, and urged them to fight for religion and the cause of God, setting before them the advantages of martyrdom, and strengthening their hopes in the Almighty. He then exclaimed,
“O ye men! Whither can ye fly? the sea is at your backs; the enemy in front of you: by Allah! there is no salvation for you but in courage and perseverance, two virtues that never were defeated, and which are like two victorious armies; with them small numbers cannot but succeed, while a multitude without them is of no avail, especially to men, like those now before you, oppressed by tyranny, enervated by luxury, weakened by discord, and stained by cowardice and vanity.
O ye men! imitate my example, and whatever ye see me do, do it also; if I charge, charge; if I stop, stop. Let all your movements be uniform, as if you were only one man. For my part, I intend to make for the tyrant, and shall not desist from my intention, nor deviate from my course, until I reach the spot where he is, or die in the attempt.
If I should be killed, let not fear enter your hearts, or the want of a commander throw confusion into your ranks; for if once you are overpowered by terror, if the gales of victory cease to blow for you, if you turn your backs on the enemy, you may all count yourselves either slain or prisoners.
If you have, therefore, any attachment to this world, do not throw away with your own hands the splendid opportunity now offering itself of gaining numberless treasures to spend them hereafter in a life of luxury and comfort, or of gaining a still greater reward, the bright crowns of martyrdom,—for if ye do, (which God forbid!) your names will be hereafter coupled with infamy and shame, and will only be matter of derision and contempt to your friends the Moslems. Follow me, O men! I shall not stop until I reach the tyrant in the middle of his steel-clad warriors.”
Battle of GuadaleteHaving said this, Tarik charged, and his men charged also; they mixed with the infidels, and a most desperate battle ensued. Tarik kept his word, he penetrated to the spot where the tyrant was, and killed him with his own hand. Ludherik’s followers were then disheartened and dispersed, and the rout became general. After this Tarik took Ludherik’s head and sent it to his master, Musa, who dispatched one of his sons with it to the Khalif Al-Walid.
Notes: The story continues to describe of the life of Musa during the conquest and later after his return to Africa. The passage ends with his death in AD 716.
A note on Pascual de Gayangos y Arce (1809-1897)
Gayangos’ translation of Al Makkarí’s History of the Mohammedan Dynasties and its interesting appendices – all much quoted by everybody including by me in these essays - was criticised by the American author and educationalist Henry Coppée in his History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors which was published in 1881.
The Arabian history in chronological order is most readily consulted, although presented briefly and in a desultory way, in The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain collated rather than written by Ahmed Ibn Mohamed Al Makkarí, translated and annotated by Don Pascual de Gayangos, an elegant and critical Arabic scholar. . .
The notes of Gayangos are more voluminous and far more valuable than his author’s work and the reader regrets at every page, that he did not expend his great labours upon an original history, which would have rendered such volumes as mine, unnecessary. . . how much I have owed to Gayangos and his Translation will appear on many pages of this work.
The 20th Century historian Felipe Maíllo Salgado was perhaps more critical of his work:
No pretendo aquí erigirme en juez de tan insigne arabista como fue Gayangos, ni creo que mi critica empañe en nada su labor pionera; sin embargo, importa dejar sentado que su forma de traducir, buena y apetecida en su tiempo, no lo es ya en nuestra época, en la que los estudiosos demandan rigor científico antes que cualidades estéticas.
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