The People of Gibraltar

 2020 - Once upon a time in Islamic Gibraltar

Ibrahim ibn al-Raqiq (900)
Author, poet and courtier of the Zirids in Ifriqiya, he died in the late 1020s.
He wrote a “History of North Africa” known as “Tarikh” - which some suspect was not actually written by him. The quotes below are taken from an analysis by Pedro Chalmeta published in 1994 appearing in in Al Qantir 10 of 2010.


Pages from the incomplete manuscript written by Ibrahim ibn al-Raqiq

Tariq decidió invadir al-Andalus enrolando para ello a los beréberes . . . Mientras Musa estaba en Ifriqiya y ni siquiera se enteró. . . los [beréberes] que acompañaban a Tariq, subgobernador de Musa b. Nusayr en Tánger, menospreciaban a los autóctonos a los que maltrataron y oprimieron. [Razón por la que éstos] escribieron a gente de al-Andalus, informándoles de lo que sufrían de parte de los beréberes y de su execrable conducta. . .

Notes: The ill-treatment of the “natives” by the Berbers is difficult to understand - Ibrahim ibn al-Raqiq was himself a Berber. That these people communicated with those in Iberia suggests that the author may be referring to Visigoths who had settled in North Africa previously.

A modern depiction of a Berber army in al-Andalus – In actual fact the Berbers were racially white

Julián empezó a trasbordar a los beréberes en barcos de comercio . . . Julián como jefe de su pueblo y de los armadores explica a los suyos la nueva política adoptada: 

Notes: An interesting first mention of the use of Julian's merchant ships to transport Tariq’s men across the Straits, presumably to allay Visigothic suspicions of an intended invasion. As regards Julian, he certainly would have had a lot of explaining to do to his followers in Iberia.

“Yo (Julian) os respondo. Habéis de saber del imperio que va a señorear al-Andalus" e incitó a (ellos) a adoptar este partido, cosa que aceptaron. Entonces, Tariq les escribió un aman, cubriendo sus vidas, familias y bienes.

Notes: Short and anything but sweet, this hard to understand document is certainly controversial. It is the only account I have come across  that suggests that Tariq acted on his own initiative as regards the invasion of al-Andalus, rather than being ordered to do so by Musa ibn Nusayr.


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