Musa ibn Nusayr

c. 640 - 716 CE

Umayyad governor of Ifriqiya (North Africa) who authorised the crossing to Iberia in 711. Sent Tariq ibn Ziyad with 7,000 men, then crossed himself with 18,000 to complete the conquest. Recalled to Damascus and died in disgrace, a warning about the politics of empire.

Life

Musa ibn Nusayr was born about 640 CE, of Yemeni-Arab ancestry, and rose through Umayyad service to become governor of Ifriqiya (roughly modern Tunisia, Algeria, and eastern Morocco) in about 698. Over the following decade he consolidated Umayyad control across the Maghreb, pacifying Berber resistance and turning many Berber tribes into willing recruits for the Islamic army.

In 710, on Julian of Ceuta's invitation, he sent a small reconnaissance force across the strait to Iberia. In 711, satisfied with the reconnaissance, he sent his Berber freedman Tariq ibn Ziyad across with 7,000 men. Tariq's landing at the rock that took his name, his burning of the boats, and the victory at Guadalete broke the Visigothic kingdom in a single afternoon.

In 712, Musa crossed himself with a larger force, about 18,000 men, and continued the conquest. He took Seville, Merida, and pushed north. He and Tariq met near Toledo.

Musa was recalled to Damascus in 714 by the caliph al-Walid, who was jealous of his success. He was received in Damascus with honour, briefly, and then punished, fined ruinously, publicly humiliated, and stripped of his position. He died in disgrace in about 716 CE while on Hajj.

His name is remembered for the campaign he authorised, the son he lost as a governor of Ifriqiya (Abd al-Aziz, assassinated in Seville), and as a warning across Islamic historical literature about the politics of empire, how a general who serves a caliphate too well can be destroyed by the caliphate for the crime of having succeeded.

Stories

Each story below is drawn from the classical Islamic historical sources.